Ward Stamer (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

SESSION OVER

MLA Stamer wraps up his first provincial session in Victoria with new understanding of partisan politics

Jun 3, 2025 | 4:28 PM

KAMLOOPS — The spring sitting of the B.C. Legislature came to a close last week. The session was filled with rookie MLAs getting their first taste of provincial politics and the inner workings of the house.

Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer was the mayor of Barriere before ascending to the legislature, calling the move to Victoria a massive leap, fueled by partisan politics.

“One of the main things that I tell people is there is a lot more politics involved, and at the municipal level there really isn’t. Even in the TNRD, everybody pretty much tries to work together and is pretty sincere about that. At the provincial level, there is ideology, there are party lines, there are different moving parts. And even in estimates, we thought there would be opportunities to get good answers to our questions and a lot of times we don’t,” said Stamer.

Stamer has written a private members bill on highway safety, looking to mandate dash cameras in every commercial truck. While he wasn’t high enough on the order paper to bring it forward in the spring, Stamer hopes to see action on the file this fall, under his bill or otherwise.

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“I would like to be able to do something that is effective and actually be able to get through (the legislature),” said Stamer. “I’m still passionate about dashcams. I think they work. I think they are an inexpensive way of making truck drivers more responsible on the highways and, if there is a crash, we have more evidence. Every time there is a crash (it’s asked), ‘Does anybody have any dashcam footage?’ I would hate to have to waste a private members bill on something like that but I think it would be worth it.”

Stamer, who was named co-chair of an all-party committee reviewing electoral reform, will spend much of the summer completing that work in communities across British Columbia.