Hi everyone, In this update, I’ve got some good news and bad news. Don’t worry though, even the bad news comes with some good! We’ll start with the bad news. During the summer, I was in contact with Independent MLA Vicki Huntington who said she would consider introducing a private members bill in the Legislature (attached with our petition) to ban battery cages in BC. Since then, I have been in contact with one of her assistants on whether or not this will happen. Unfortunately Vicki and her staff decided against introducing the bill, due to how busy they are. Although I was disappointed, I can understand since Vicki is an Independent MLA and does not have the same resources as the MLA’s represented by parties. The good news of this is that I am still hopeful Vicki can do something to help our cause. I suggested three things to Vicki’s assistant for her to do: Present our petition in the Legislature (like Andrew Weaver is doing), make a statement by member in the Legislature talking about our petition and the cause, and/or publicly endorsing our petition and sharing it on her website and social media platforms. I have only recently sent these new requests to Vicki’s assistant so I haven’t yet heard back. When I do, I will be sure to post another update on their verdict. The REAL good news is my misinterpretation of Lana Popham’s promise to us. I thought Lana was going to make a statement by member in the Legislature about her party’s plan for battery cages, but it’s going to be better than that! Lana actually promised to introduce me in the Legislature during a statement by member then talk about our petition AND the importance of the cause! I am so excited about this because this means Lana will be directly working with us on this issue. If an NDP Government is elected in the next provincial election (May 2017) and Lana becomes the BC Minister of Agriculture, we will have that connection with her and will be able to work closely with her to do what we all want: Have battery cages and enriched cages banned! This is an exciting time for us as we are approaching the Spring Session for the Legislature. The Legislature will sit in early February for about three weeks. If we’re lucky, we could have our petition presented by Andrew Weaver, and spoken about by Lana Popham during these three weeks! I know both of these MLA’s are passionate about this issue so I’m confident this could be the case. As for our plans until then I will continue to keep in touch with Vicki Huntington’s staff to see if she would be willing to do something else for us in the Legislature. I am also working on getting a hold of Norm Letnick (BC Minister of Agriculture). So far I haven’t had much luck, but I will continue trying and keep you all posted through these updates in the coming weeks. Thank you all so much for making this happen, I look forward to the many things we will accomplish in the near future! If you have any questions, concerns or ideas please don’t hesitate to email me! My email is: nedtaylor27@gmail.com In solidarity, Ned Taylor