Talk:BC150

Brochure revamp

This appears to originate with a govt/consultant-type author, hence hte funny bolding/format and the overall writing style; my reason for coming to the talkpage just now is that scanning it over it appears that some of the historical detail is "off", such as the circumstances of the Mainland Colony's creation.....the historical events this commemoration is supposedly for (really it's pre-Olympics hoo-hah) are certainly relevant to the article, but not in teh overall brochure-lecture here; this article isn't even about the sesquicentennial or whatever it's called; it's about the government programme/organization; the history needs a trim, some correcting, and the focus of this article as it grows/survives should be about the BC 150 programme, not why it's being, er, celebrated.....as with all BC-related political/org articles, pov-watch and brochure-watch should be vigilantly kept here; I'm just waking up so am not going to bother with the overdone boldings just now; I'll trim down the language/content but won't be able to watch page much; if someone with more access to BC local media can eyeball this or keep it on their watchlist; events and news related to this are more likely to turn up in the smalltown weeklies than in the Big Dailies......(who ignored it all last year, to hte point where the public-recognition on the "event"'s name is probably pretty thin....and it's a hell of a tacky name, too, but oh-so-BC, though, huh?).Skookum1 (talk) 14:45, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

2008 is not the sesquicentennial of the province of British Columbia

The problem with the "BC 150" commemoration is that it isn't the 150th anniversary of the present-day province of British Columbia. That anniversary will be in 2016, 150 years after the three parts of today's province were merged into one political jurisdiction with the same boundaries as today and with the capital at Victoria. (Or you could perhaps say that the province began in 1849, with the founding of the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island which was the first precursor to today's province -- except that the provincial government neglected to organise any celebrations in 1999 to mark that 150th anniversary.)

Most of the government's "BC 150" advertising takes pains to avoid saying explicitly that 2008 is the 150th anniversary of the province, but the news media have generally drawn the mistaken inference that 2008 is indeed the province's sesquicentennial.

The purpose of this article is to make it clear that (i) the "BC 150" programme is founded on a rather flimsy historical foundation as the basis for a feel-good series of public events and government grants in advance of the 2010 Olympics, and that (ii) the anniversary it marks is in fact the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the third of the constituent components of the modern-day province of British Columbia.

N921UBU (talk) 00:40, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

This is an obfuscation born in WaC Bennett's day with the BC Centennial of 1858; we hd yet another in 66 and another in '71 and you're right, the mainland colony was the third constituent part of what became the province after being a united colony for a while, plus the Stikine Territory and, upon provincehood, the Peace River Block and a chunk of the North-Western Territory (the rest of which is now the yukon/nwt). it also happens, this time round, to be the 200th snniversary of simon fraser's trip down the Fraser, the 25th of alex mackenie's trip to Bella Coola, and the 230th anniversary of the visit of captain cook, and what the hell let's throw in whatever happened in 1778 (uite a bit, actully). So the 50 thing is just one of several potential meaningless events....I disagree that the creation of the Mainland Colony was inconseuential; without its creation the Colony of Vancouver Island and the lesser one - nominal really only, of the Charlottes, would have survived; and it was because of the gross costs of subsidixing the Mainland Colony that what went down in 87 went down at all; without 58 there never would have been the tide of Canadians and maritimers bent on making the British Pacific Northwest part of Canada; the Colony of VI might still have ruled the mainland, just maybe, but without the influx of Confederationists BC never would have been part of Canada; it was also a significant colony in a population/economic exploitation sense, which Vancouver Islnd wasn't ; there's a big difference of a colony of a few hundred souls and one of many thousands; the comparison would be something like the Falklands or other low-population colonies. i think it's only or that the 60th anniversary of the Island Colony be celebrated in 2009. just for the record, in terms of internal BC goings-on, '71 was a blip; the key dates are '58 and '85 (completion of the CPR and affirmation of the confederation deal). i.e. in terms of significant to BC time periods/'realities/identity\. Confederation didn't come through on the deal until long after '71 for one thing...2008 is also t he 160th anniversary of Nicola's War Skookum1 (talk) 02:25, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

What is the point of this article?

In looking over this, and fixing the sloppy history that was throughout, I gave pause to wonder what this article is for; it's not about the programme of events/monuments/whatever, it's a re-hash of history already written up and titled as such, e.g. History of British Columbia, British Columbia#History, and the colonial and territorial articles. All the historical content here is superfluous except in simplest form; what should be here is a listing/account of teh various celebrations (not just hte cake-cutting on the ledge lawn). And is there an article for Canadian cenntennial celebrations, 1967, British Columbia Centennial (1871), British Columbia Centennial (1958), British Columbia Centennial (1966) - and others, or is this the only such article in Wikipedia?Skookum1 (talk) 14:15, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

To add

So what was the programme of events that formed BC150? All this article describes is what was being commemorated. RJFJR (talk) 00:37, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

Particulars can be found via this search on the BC Government website.Skookum1 (talk) 06:46, 23 March 2014 (UTC)