Before retirement, I worked in accounting and small business management. I have published commentary about public issues at IN-SIGHTS.CA since 2009.
In modern times, the Canadian union movement has lost influence but not relevance. It is easy to forget that unions enabled a broad middle class. Workers in unionized company towns in BC’s 20th century resource economy set the bar for others. They showed how positive full employment with good wages enables high quality life for the entire community.
Yesterday, a black bear was in our yard, but when it noticed humans, it scurried up the Seymour River western escarpment behind our home. Today, another bear visited. This time daughter Jennifer had a camera ready.
A friend of mine is deeply engaged with his local government. He is, by his own admission, a royal pain in the ass to people at city hall. His theory is that municipal politicians are the most accessible elected officials and the ones most likely to respond directly to the views of their constituents. I share his hope that people will become involved in October’s local elections. Talk to the candidates. Attend public meetings. Tell them what matters to you—and ask what they intend to do about it.
BC Hydro has released its annual report. Several realities stand out. Electricity demand from residential, commercial, and light industrial customers remains flat while power delivered to heavy industry has increased. These customers are paying well below BC Hydro’s marginal cost of electricity.
Residents of a condominium for people aged 55 and older have been locked out of their homes for more than two and a half years following a fire in February 2024. Disputes and delays involving nine insurance companies have prevented them from returning. Five residents have died while waiting. Meanwhile, the surviving owners continue paying $350 a month in strata fees for homes they cannot occupy.
In just three months, the value of Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global has increased by C$1.42 billion—the equivalent of C$25,000 for every man, woman, and child living in Norway.
Denmark and Sweden are the only two industrialized countries likely to attain net-zero. Canada will not. The Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act was passed in 2021, but it has no enforceable requirement that the country actually achieve net zero by 2050.
…the largest intellectual property theft in American history. AI companies are training their models on stolen material, period. And we’re not talking about these companies simply scouring the internet for what’s publicly available. We’re talking about piracy…
Driving through the Fraser Valley on the Trans-Canada Highway, I encountered several separate improvement projects. Vehicles would stop at one roadblock, resume travel, reach another, stop again, and then repeat the process. I wondered why highway engineers didn’t put larger crews to work in a single section, finish that part of the road, and then move on to the next…
PPoliticians tell us that more pipelines are needed to carry bitumen and natural gas and strengthen the Canadian economy. But these long tubes carry something else as well: tens of billions of dollars of public money. A new Alberta-to-BC pipeline will cost more than $100 billion, according to the CEO of Imperial Oil Ltd.
Friends and family can drift apart for all sorts of reasons—pride, misunderstandings, embarrassment, or simply the passage of time. But when a relationship once mattered, it may still be worth recovering. Smile when you do it. You’ll likely smile afterwards.
Gas production in BC increased by 264% between 2025 and 2000. We might expect that government revenues would rise by roughly the same amount. However, that has not happened. Under Clark, Horgan, and Eby, the government of British Columbia has been determined to subsidize the production of fossil fuels. Some of those subsidies are obvious; some are hidden.
Tom Nichols is a staff writer at The Atlantic and a contributor to the Atlantic Daily newsletter. He is a professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, where he taught for 25 years, and an instructor at the Harvard Extension School. ‘Trump’s Irrationality Is Dangerous’ by Nichols deserves widespread notice.
The feedback dynamics involved are precisely what climate scientists have long warned about: hotter and drier conditions created by a warming climate make forests more combustible, while burning forests release carbon that further accelerates warming. Current trends suggest this dangerous “feedback loop” is gaining momentum.
After college, Ronald Garan joined the United States Air Force and became an F-16 pilot and later an astronaut. In 2008, he flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on its 35th mission. Three […]
Advanced artificial intelligence is being rapidly deployed, making knowledgeable people nervous about how it may change almost everything in our world. These are things that should concern us about AI. Some are already happening; some are potential risks.
Additional facts regarding Mr. Farrell’s and Mr. McCutcheon’s posts on EVs. Where is the EV market booming? SE Asia expects to distribute 23 million units. The UK loves EVs. Europe too.
MIT Technology Review’s annual list of ten breakthrough technologies includes innovations that appear entirely beneficial, but others carry the potential for serious harm.
Knute “Mossback” Berger is a Seattle-based writer and commentator whose videos appear on Western Washington’s PBS station, KCTS-TV. His focus is the Pacific Northwest, and although some stories are rooted in particular American locations, viewers in British Columbia can also learn much from his explorations of regional history. I particularly enjoyed The People of the Columbia River.
Because Carney’s Liberal government is working to promote fossil-fuel production, Canadians should not expect it to encourage sales of affordable electric vehicles—or the transition away from gasoline. That is unfortunate.
Foot dragging? Know of anywhere with a huge coastline, lakes and rivers, lots of tourists wanting to sightsee, lots of…
Yes, I fully agree with this summary. I am also reminded of, what seemed to be, the suspect (and possibly…
Thanks, good summary of the fiasco. Mr Eby will likely resign his seat when the new leader is in place,…
Yes, a predictable loss... though it was interesting to see the Conservatives also attracting fewer votes than last time. I…
I hope Canada hurries up no tolerance based rules. I also hope this country has at least a clue of…