Gwen and I raised three adult children in North Vancouver. Each lives in this community, as do our seven grandchildren. Before retirement, I worked in accounting and small business management. Since 2009, I have published commentary about public issues at IN-SIGHTS.CA.
Economist Erik Andersen emails an informal newsletter offering opinions, sometimes about how organizations and individuals use political influence to extract wealth from the public. He gave an example that was bad by itself but set the stage for secret private power contracts worth more than $60 billion despite expansion of the BC Hydro’s own generating capacity and a decade and a half of flat demand by consumers…
In September, California issued a lawsuit charging numerous oil companies and the American Petroleum Institute for intentionally spreading misinformation and delaying action on climate. The lawsuit details behavior by companies to protect their business interests regardless of the damage caused. This is not the first such lawsuit, but may be the most important…
For years, BC Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon demanded “red tape” reductions. Under Premier Gordon Campbell, Falcon spent more than two and one-half years as Minister of State for Deregulation. His effort were joined by right-wing business interests such as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business…
The following item was found on the internet. Unlikely any of it is true, but it is amusing…
More than $130 billion dollars has been or will be spent in British Columbia to increase consumption of oil and gas. NDP and BCUP politicians make empty promises about dealing with climate change, but at the same time welcome photo ops at large scale fossil fuel projects. Conservatives cling to unscientific ideas that climate change is either not real or not caused by human activities…
I began to distrust the province’s wildfire statistics after noticing the reported size of the Donnie Creek fire — the province’s largest ever — was not altered from mid-July to mid-September. Yet throughout this time, BC Wildfire Service stated that Donnie Creek was out of control. Now at the end of September, the fire is still uncontrolled and the government agency said it may burn until winter. Today, my distrust seems proven. On September 29, BC Wildfire Service added 533,409 hectares (5,334 square kilometres) to the total area burned in the province. That is 93 percent of the amount reported in the preceding four weeks and almost one-fifth of the total for 2023…
BC Hydro recently released its first quarter results for the fiscal year ending March 2024. The report covered three months in 2023: April, May and June. It is worth looking at the changes at British Columbia’s public utility since June 2007.
Gonzaga University is often recognized for basketball, but the 135-year-old Spokane institution is also known for academic initiatives. One is the Journal of Hate Studies, an annual peer-reviewed publication by Gonzaga’s Center for the Study of Hate. Fomenting prejudice or hostility against others is worth attention today after organized hate groups took to the streets of Canada to demand that human rights should not be universal…
Earlier this year the TMX budget stood at $31 billion, but public officials recently admitted to further delays that will inevitably result in expenditure of additional billions. But wasting money may be the least of the problems affecting Trans Mountain pipeline. It has now been 323 years since the last really big earthquake hit the coast of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon,and northern California…
Stanford research reveals the rapidly growing influence of wildfire smoke on air quality trends across much of North America. Wildfire smoke in recent years has slowed or reversed progress toward cleaner air. Tens of millions of people suffer degraded health, thousands die…
2023 is the worst ever year for areas burned by wildfires in British Columbia, Alberta and the entire nation of Canada. For years before 2023, despite huge sums invested by the public to improve firefighting responses, areas burned were trending upward. So what is the response by Canada’s federal and western provincial governments to the warnings of climate scientists? They are spending tens of billions of dollars to increase production of fossil fuels.
Bent Flyvbjerg of Oxford University is the world’s most cited scholar of megaproject management and mismangement. One of his studies included this: “Underestimation cannot be explained by error and is best explained by strategic misrepresentation, that is, lying. The policy implications are clear: legislators, administrators, investors, media representatives, and members of the public who value honest numbers should not trust cost estimates and cost-benefit analyses produced by project promoters and their analysts.
A 2022 study1 by investigators from Yale and George Mason universities reported survey results after Americans were questioned about climate change. I suspect ignorance would be lower and expressions of concern would be higher in Canada since this country is not bombarded with reckless disinformation to the extent experienced by our neighbours…
If we paid more attention to impacts of climate change, we would demand our governments take immediate and effective action, not offer promises that solutions will somehow be in place by 2050. Warning signs are plentiful in 2023. NASA reports that current warming is happening at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years. The scientific agency says evidence of rapid climate change is compelling…
Data collected by Tracking (In)Justice shows disturbingly high police-involved deaths in Canada’s northern region and reports police-involved fatalities in four western provinces (2.69 per 100,000) are much higher than in the six provinces to the east (1.44 per 100,000).
Stephen Harper is today’s éminence grise behind the Conservative Party of Canada. Since leaving the University of Calgary in 1985, Harper has been a resolute right-wing activist. After Justin Trudeau defeated Harper in 2015, the former Prime Minister has worked internationally to further right-wing objectives and promote authoritarianism…
The emphasis of individual liberty has always been entangled with white supremacy, settler colonialism, climate destruction, economic exploitation, and patriarchy. These “ugly freedoms” legitimate the right to exploit and subjugate others.
Some who favour right wing politics believe in protecting the unborn, but vehemently oppose protection of children already born. This is largely an American problem, where guns overtook car crashes to become the leading cause of death for US children and teenagers in 2020. But this is something that Poilievre’s Conservatives would bring to Canada if given the opportunity.
Wildfires are clearly a major problem for Canadians in 2023. Primary causes are known but solutions conflict with policies of governments. Canadian politicians prefer to promote fossil fuel production and eliminate forest diversity without regard for long-term costs to the planet. Failure to change forest management practices and moderate greenhouse gas emissions will result in greater fire disasters in the future.
Mike Hanafin, “Brilliant doesn’t do this justice. @thejuicemedia usually skewers Australian (Australien!) govts/politicians for kissing up to Big Oil, Fossil Fuel extractors, & monopolist billionaires. But they noticed it was happening here too. Great cameos from Galen Weston, Jimmy Pattison, and John Horgan.
As illustrated above, America’s brightest, most enthusiastic, most experienced professional brains are protecting the country. Absolutely. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15601985/Terror-fears-skyrocket-Iran-strikes-FBI-issues-chilling-alert.html https://crooksandliars.com/2026/03/thomas-fugate-22-year-old-head-terrorism Iran terrorism…
More bad news for the Trump Clan. Et tu, FedEx? https://apnews.com/article/fedex-tariff-trump-supreme-court-costco-9c9cf3062b780dd8ce9f23f5c30891a0 FedEx joins other US companies in seeking a refund…
Despite his loud insistence Trump tariffs still aren’t legal even after an Appeal? So how will the Prince Of Peace…
Further Down the rabbit hole we go. For reasons beyond comprehension Melania Trump lectured the UN Security Council https://apnews.com/article/un-melania-trump-security-council-children-conflict-iran-da7c8e4537b2d6b2697a2795c2aab041 UNITED…
in-sights.ca 
That was quick. The war to bring Jesus home rejected by majority of Americans? https://time.com/7382231/iran-us-israel-war-support-polling-trump-republicans-democrats/ The majority of Americans disapprove…