Description: Police have never been more challenged. They have now been described as the “new social worker,” dealing on a daily basis with people with mental health and addictions issues. Jim Cessford is the Chief of Police in Delta, B.C., a force of more than 200 men and women.

Recorded: November 28, 2014

Episode Number 128: Karen Madeiros

Description: The process of adoption can be daunting and complicated. There are thousands of children in B.C. alone waiting for good homes, but matching them up with the single, couple or family that will work is always a challenge. the Adoptive Families of B.C. has been helping with this process for almost four decades now. Karen Madeiros is the Executive Director.

Recorded: September 4, 2014

Episode Number 129: Hans Finken & David Grigg

Description: The CPR and the City of Vancouver have been locked in a small battle for years over a stretch of land running through the west side of town. Meanwhile, folks have been planting gardens along the unused railway tracks. Hans Finken & David Grigg represent The Arbutus Greenway Improvements Society, which has some ripe ideas of its own on how to best use these lands.

Recorded: September 11,2014

Episode Number 130: Equal Parenting After Divorce

Description: Equal Parenting After Divorce shouldn’t seem like such a difficult idea to embrace, yet may people are against it. A father struggles several years after his own divorce to find more time with the son he loves and Georgialee Lang, a local lawyer, writer and social activist, supports the notion of children spending half their time with each parent in a divorce.

Recorded: September 18, 2014

Episode Number 131: Dr. Barbara Fitzgerald

Description: How is it possible that here, in one of the richest jurisdictions in the world, we still suffer children without sufficient food, clothing, shelter and educational opportunities? Barbara Fitzgerald has been working for many years to reverse those disturbing trends, both in private practice and also as the founder of The Mom2Mom Child Poverty Initiative Society.

Recorded: September 25, 2014

Episode Number 132: Sue Hammell, MLA

Description: Crime and concerns about public safety are such galvanizing issues in the City of Surrey these days that citizens have been staging protests, rallies and meetings to find answers and a sense of security. Sue Hammel, NDP MLA for Surrey – Green Timbers, has raised questions in the House about rogue recovery houses and trafficking in methadone by unscrupulous pharmacists.

Recorded: October 2, 2014

Episode Number 133: Cameron Eby

Description: Ambulance services are being underfunded by the Provincial Ministry of Health. The results include longer wait times for 911 calls and more firefighters doing basic paramedic work and at greater public expense. Cameron Eby is the Recording Secretary for the Ambulance Paramedics of OB – CUPE Local 873

Recorded: October 9, 2014

Episode Number 134: Mario Canseco

Description: Municipal elections are coming up in less than a month and so far no big fireworks. Who will w elect and why and what will candidates have to say about crime, housing, transportation and tat old favorite – transparency. Mario Canseco is the Vice President, Public Affairs for the polling company Insights West, and if anyone has his hand on the pulse of the local scene, it is he.

Recorded: October 16, 2014

Episode Number 135: Madeleine Shaw

Description: Social entrepreneur Madeleine Shaw is the founder of G DAY FOR GIRLS, an event and a social movement that offers girls age 10 – 12 the opportunity to explore and celebrate approaching womanhood.

Recorded: November 6, 2014

Episode Number 136: JIM STEPHENSON

Description: The Supreme Court of Canada is re-considering its previous ruling that would not allow assisted suicide. That decision should be revealed in the spring. Dying with Dignity Canada was one of the groups speaking in favour of a new law, and Jim Stephenson is a local volunteer of that organization.

Recorded: November 20, 2014

Episode Number 137: RICHARD TRUSCOTT

Description: High taxes, high rents and a grab bag of red tape all conspire to make running a small business a real challenge. In a country that depends so much on small business for productivity, employment and revenues, this just doesn’t make a lot of sense. Richard Truscott, Director of Provincial Affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, explains.

Recorded: November 27, 2014

Episode Number 138: MAYOR RICHARD WALTON

Description: Richard Walton, Mayor of the District of North Vancouver, is also chair of the Mayor’s Council on Transportation. Today, the Council approved a plan to levy a sales tax to pay for a multibillion dollar transit expansion plan over the coming 10 years. A public referendum will be mailed out to all Lower Mainland citizens in the spring seeking their broad support.

Recorded: December 11, 2014