Reader support enables ad-free analyses of public issues. It allows IN-SIGHTS to keep available more than 2,500 articles published here since 2009. In addition, it helps me examine public projects and interview newsworthy officials and independent experts.
REPLAY: Liberal plan of action
Reader Lorne Finlayson provided this to us in 2011, but didn’t indicate when the changes he predicted would occur. With Kevin Falcon and his right-wing friends now in control of the BC Non-Liberal Party, the time may be close….
Megaprojects: over budget, over time, over and over again
John Horgan’s five years as Premier will cap a 30-year career in provincial politics. While current opinion polls show satisfaction with his leadership, history will discount the blarney and examine the achievements…
The Faux-Feathered Falcon
Led by the accomplished but politically naïve Andrew Wilkinson, BC Liberals were crushed in 2020 by John Horgan, a man who was an opposite of the Opposition leader. That led to BC Liberal influencers deciding an old reliable was needed to regain days when the region’s government was of business, by business, and for business. Democracy is targeted by rich and powerful groups determined to win at all costs. They are served by loyal agents moving in the halls of power. Guest writer Lew Edwardson remembers an issue that involved Kevin Falcon…
Status quo bias and climate destruction
Tenacious adherence to old methods of energy creation ensures substantial economic and environmental damage and a path to human extinction.
Guys’ rules for girls
I have been working to bring order to the electronic congestion and confusion on my computer. That is a slow process since I keep finding old material to read. One is repeated here. Original source unknown.
BC Hydro: a financial disaster that needs fixing
As managed since 2001 under Premiers Campbell, Clark and Horgan, BC Hydro has been an unqualified disaster. The company has used falsehoods to justify capital spending of about $40 billion during a decade and a half of flat demand. Instead of managing BC Hydro for the benefit of citizens, political officials in BC have directed or assented to disastrous utility policies. This is another case of supervision by policy regulators who do not believe in regulation. To them, private interests are foremost, public interests subordinate.
The way forward is privatization of BC Hydro and creation of a strong, independent, and unassailable regulator that ensures citizens are protected from capitalist profiteering and self-interested financial fraud orchestrated by corporate insiders and politicians.
Energy innovation
Hindered by the political power exercised by fossil fuel companies and financial institutions supporting those industries, Canada’s federal government has been little involved in development of non-destructive renewable energy sources. For the same reason, western provincial governments have been even less engaged. Values worth hundreds of billions of dollars flow from the public to private oil, gas and coal operators. Meanwhile, a pittance goes to energy technologies not firmly rooted in the 20th century…
Early forests in southwest BC
While clearing files from an old computer, I rediscovered one involving my maternal grandfather, long-time Chilliwack resident Jim Mahood (1885-1976). He recalled his career in the forests of southwest British Columbia in words published by the Forest History Association of British Columbia in 2006. When this was first written is unclear but I suspect it was done with assistance of his eldest son Ian Mahood (1915-2002). Like his three brothers, Ian spent his life working in the forest industry…
Behave like our house is on fire… because it is
A 2021 study published online by Cambridge University Press aimed to learn about “experts” promoting the claim that human impact on Earth’s climate is either non-existent or insignificant. Researchers examined multi-signatory documents opposed to the scientific consensus and judged the climate change contrarians…
Indisputable peril
Perhaps this year’s most important publication is by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Almost one hundred scientists from thirty-eight nations report that risks to long-term human survival are accelerating. Almost every legitimate climate scientist is alarmed. However, the developed world’s political and business leaders largely disclaim need for extensive action until vague points in the future. They remain detached from scientific reality and dedicated to the pursuit of endless economic growth.
Her Majesty’s Disloyal Opposition
It is sad that in 2022, Canada’s second largest political party has stopped believing in community responsibilities and cooperation, mutual respect between individuals, the rule of law, and democracy itself.
The planet you think you live on no longer exists
Ben Rawlence’s new book, THE TREELINE, is a blend of reportage, nature, travel and science writing. Telling the story of our changing climate through six species of tree, it documents the devastating effects of human activity – and offers reasons for hope.
Neoliberalism, racism, assimilation
SFU Assistant Professor Kyle Willmott finds neoliberalism behind calls for assimilation and the rewriting of history to elevate racist abuses to “remarkable works” and “good deeds.” Dr. Willmott identifies the Canadian Taxpayer Federation (CTF) as a contributing organization amplified by unjournalistic media that uses cookie-cutter stories from groups with hidden agendas…
Sociopathic political leaders
Moderating risks of viral illnesses depends on greater understanding of submicroscopic infectious agents. Political Leaders guided by business loyalties, myths and unfounded expectations will not support scientific resources needed for real solutions. Unfortunately, that description fits the people governing western Canadian provinces.
Porky pies
Porky Pies: Cockney slang for Lies. New York Times is willing to broadcast this about the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. I doubt they’ve done likewise for American Presidents, particularly the recent one who had even less regard for truth than Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.
Climate poison could be an asset
Methane, which the BC government has supported with billions of dollars in subsidies and tax relief, is a risk to public health. Methane emissions escaping from northeast BC gas fields are a topic that industry and government officials hesitate to acknowledge. Captured methane could be the basis of profitable fishfood manufacturing in a region where employment is now overly dependent on a fossil fuel industry that climate science says must decline immediately…
Malevolence, lies, and broken promises
As repugnant as protesting blockaders are, there is a connection between their behaviour and the lies and broken promises political operatives think unimportant.
Economic interests rank higher than human life
In this piece, I argue that political disdain for science endangers our lives. Evidence allows the inference that BC health policies known to be inadequate were followed to facilitate public gatherings, to continue spending on favoured megaprojects and to avoid spending on safer schools and public buildings. Not content with elevating short term dangers in the current pandemic, the BC government is a de facto climate change denier, elevating risks that threaten long term survival of humanity…
Curiouser and curiouser
English writer Lewis Carroll penned the title words for Alice in 1865. Carroll, born Charles Dodgson, was also an Oxford trained mathematician. Were he a 21st century resident of British Columbia, Carroll might be using that phrase about BC Hydro deals with SNC-Lavalin…
EVs will not disrupt the grid
As vehicles move from internal combustion engines to electric, some presume this will cause massive new demands for electricity. That assumption is encouraged by utilities and vested interests enriched by massive spending to build unneeded capacity. Of course, the global oil industry has its own reasons for promoting the idea that electrification of transportation will be disruptive. As vehicles move from internal combustion engines to electric, some presume this will cause massive new demands for electricity. That assumption is encouraged by utilities and vested interests enriched by massive spending to build unneeded capacity. Of course, the global oil industry has its own reasons for promoting the idea that electrification of transportation will be disruptive. So do automotive retailers that are financially reliant on services needed for internal combustion engines…
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