Hotel Pacifico was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as FortisBC, and BCGEU.

Mike & Geoff welcome Don Wright back to Hotel Pacifico. The former head of BC’s public service has unleashed his views on his substack, Blindingly Obvious. The hosts discuss Wright’s hot takes on how Canada’s immigration levels have come at a cost to the economy, jobs, and the housing market; how we can have our own values, but can’t have our own arithmetic; and how energy illiteracy could kill us.

In the Strategy Suite, Mike & Geoff discuss the latest Angus Reid numbers on Premier Eby’s approval rating, the Teck Anglo mining merger, Premier Eby’s pending trip to Ottawa, BCGEU labour action, and reverberations from the Cowichan decision.

🏨🌄 Check into Hotel Pacifico for insights and interviews covering the latest in B.C. politics.

Thank you for joining us on #HotelPacifico. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from Hotel Pacifico via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Hotel Pacifico was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as FortisBC, and BCGEU.

Pollster and veteran campaigner Dimitri Pantazopoulos joins Mike for a rare 1:1 interview. He shares his perspective based on over three decades in national and provincial politics, including playing key roles in major political victories for Christy Clark, Stephen Harper, Jason Kenney, Andrew Wilkinson, and Doug Ford. Mike and Dimitri discuss how polling has changed over the past few decades, what it will take for the Conservatives to win federally, and what the BC Conservatives must do now to take their near win to a majority government in the next provincial election.

🏨🌄 Join Mike McDonald, Kate Hammer, and Geoff Meggs for insights and interviews covering the latest in B.C. politics.

Thank you for joining us on #HotelPacifico. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from Hotel Pacifico via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Hotel Pacifico was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as FortisBC.

🏨🌄 Mike & Kate are joined by Skeena MLA Claire Rattée, a first-term MLA serving as the Conservative Mental Health & Addictions critic. Rattée discusses her background as someone who battled and overcame addiction, and her journey that led her to northern BC and into municipal, federal, and provincial politics. Discussion includes how the newish BC Conservative caucus is taking shape, her priorities as Mental Health & Addictions critics and how those issues hit home in her own riding, and the impact that LNG development has had on her home community of Kitimat and the region-at-large. They wrap with a reflection on tattoo art.

In the Strategy Suite, Mike and Kate welcome political strategist Nicole Brassard who helps put the cuss into discuss as they debate the prime minister’s elbows, the “Grand Bargain” put forward by Energy minister Adrian Dix in a recent Globe & Mail profile, and the new phenomena of partisan party labels being affixed to municipal politics.

Join Mike McDonald, Kate Hammer, and Geoff Meggs for insights and interviews covering the latest in B.C. politics.

Thank you for joining us on #HotelPacifico. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from Hotel Pacifico via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Hotel Pacifico was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as FortisBC.

🏨🌄 Award-winning CBC Indigenous Affairs Reporter Wawmeesh Hamilton joins Kate and Mike to talk about his career and his indirect path to journalism, those who inspired him along the way, the evolution of Indigenous journalism, and reflections on the debate around the recent Cowichan decision.

In the strategy suite, Kate and Mike are joined by Richard Zussman from Global News. The trio do some housekeeping on recent viewer comments, a reckoning with a cat, and onto issues of the day including the Cowichan decision, recent BC fundraising results, the question of what direction West is – Brad West that is, and cap it off with a clipping of the week from a noted journalist-hiker.

Join Mike McDonald, Kate Hammer, and Geoff Meggs for insights and interviews covering the latest in B.C. politics.

Thank you for joining us on #HotelPacifico. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from Hotel Pacifico via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Hotel Pacifico was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as FortisBC.

🏨🌄 Geoff, Kate, and, even, Mike, welcome back the 31st Premier of British Columbia Glen Clark. The hosts and Clark talk about the parallels running a big business and government, the challenge of reducing government costs, whether or not an oil pipeline makes sense, the situation in the forest industry and what’s important to understand about dealing with 🇺🇸. Clark joins the hosts for the mini-bar and offers a contagious toast.

Join Mike McDonald, Kate Hammer, and Geoff Meggs for insights and interviews covering the latest in B.C. politics.

Thank you for joining us on #HotelPacifico. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from Hotel Pacifico via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Hotel Pacifico was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as FortisBC.

🏨🌄 This week at Hotel Pacifico, we explore the growing political consensus in BC to crack down on gender-based violence. Angela Marie MacDougall, a leader in that battle and head of Battered Women’s Support Services, takes Geoff through the latest developments.

In the strategy suite, Geoff and Mike talk LNG, softwood lumber, update on the Charleigh Pollock issue, Gavin Dew’s recent substack post, and the Green leadership race.

Join Mike McDonald, Kate Hammer, and Geoff Meggs for insights and interviews covering the latest in B.C. politics.

Thank you for joining us on #HotelPacifico. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from Hotel Pacifico via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Hotel Pacifico was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as FortisBC.

🏨🌄 This week, something completely different. As British Columbians head into the annual BC Day weekend, Mike & Geoff invite BC Press Gallery legend and hallway haunter Keith Baldrey (Global News), and data loving, BC nerd, cult favourite Justin McElroy (CBC) to face off in a BC Day BC Politics Trivia Duel. As they field questions from Mike & Geoff and vie to be Hotel Pacifico’s 2025 Trivia Champion, the lens-hardened human Hansards choose from five topics: (1) Leaders & Leadership Conventions; (2) General elections and by-elections; (3) Ridings and representation; (4) Floor crossers and party switchers; and (5) Library Stacks – a catch all category. Check out whether Baldrey or McElroy claims the crown, and hear some stories about what makes BC politics always interesting and sometimes a little weird.

Join Mike McDonald, Kate Hammer, and Geoff Meggs for insights and interviews covering the latest in B.C. politics.

Thank you for joining us on #HotelPacifico. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from Hotel Pacifico via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Hotel Pacifico was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as FortisBC.

🏨🌄 It’s ‘Hotel Pacifico Rim’ this week as Mike and Geoff welcome Canada’s Ambassador to Japan Ian McKay. Ambassador McKay discusses the importance of Canada-Japan trade, especially for BC which sends minerals, lumber, LNG, propane and other goods across the Pacific. McKay highlights the geopolitical tensions impacting Japan, Canada’s interests in the Indo-Pacific region, the challenge of Japan’s aging population, and the value of trade missions in reinforcing Canada’s and BC’s interests in the region.

In the Strategy Suite, Anita Zaenker joins Mike and Geoff as Kate is away this week. The trio chews over public sector negotiations in BC, the previous week’s cabinet shuffle, the ultimate resolution to who is funding medication for Charleigh Pollock, this week’s Council of Federation meeting, and BC’s opportunity as it relates to increased defence spending.

Join Mike McDonald, Kate Hammer, and Geoff Meggs for insights and interviews covering the latest in B.C. politics.

Thank you for joining us on #HotelPacifico. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from Hotel Pacifico via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.