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Norm Farrell

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.

Truth matters

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Fiction and invention are handy tools for politicians. Legacy media often repeats lies with minimal or no fact checking, although perhaps with opposing comments added to suggest balance. That process gives the same standing to false or unsupported claims as it does to well-accepted facts. After Pierre Poilievre released a video taken in a Toronto subway station, Globe and Mail columnist Gary Mason wrote an incisive opinion piece that skewers the Convoy Party of Canada leader, a man who wants to be Prime Minister. Mason’s commentary is worth sharing widely. . .

Dangerous actors — corporate and political

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Progressive punishment is not enough to regulate behaviour when an offender has extraordinary wealth. To a corporation like Teck Resources Ltd. — market capitalization $29 billion — inconsequential fines are minor costs of doing business. A $1 million penalty imposed on Teck corresponds to a fine of $11 levied on a household holding Canada’s median net worth, reported at $329,900 by Statistics Canada in 2019.

Should we care?

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Robert Reich is an American economist, professor, author, and political commentator who has been quoted here before. His May 5 newsletter discusses why corporations have so much power and workers have so little. While specifically about the USA, Reich’s words apply similarly to Canada. Reich notes indisputable trends and, if these continue, they ensure growing inequality, which, taken to extremes, has led to civil unrest throughout history. . . .

Immense tax gap losses

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The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), an organization that represents about 12,000 tax professionals at Canada Revenue Agency says it clearly: “Wealthy corporations and the ultra-rich don’t pay their fair share.”

Despicable bedfellows

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Professor Robert Reich is a public affairs commentator published in a broad range of forums. His Substack platform is always worth reading. A recent entry argues that that under Elon Musk, Twitter has fully embraced the political right. As evidence, Reich offers the robber baron’s lovefest with book-banning culture warrior Ron DeSantis.

Marginalized citizens gain protection

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On May 19, Canada’s Supreme Court resolved an important defamation case with six of seven judges finding against former Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld. Doing so, the court further defined boundaries of fair public comment and strengthened provincial laws discouraging Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation or “SLAPP” suits.

Climate disasters may be unstoppable

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A disaster strikes. The news reaches every home for a few days, perhaps a week. A debate erupts over whether climate change is to blame. Victims are profiled. There’s a tally of lives lost and property destroyed, and then the disaster is forgotten… But the story is quite different for those of us who are directly affected. We won’t just move on. Instead, we’ll likely be caught in what we might call a disaster’s long tail, a slow-moving series of effects both immaterial and material.

Please support In-Sights

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Reader support enables analyses of public issues at IN-SIGHTS and keeps online almost 3,000 articles published since 2009. This is not a profit-making enterprise but is intended to encourage thoughtful examination of subjects that matter. Contributions help defray site hosting fees, computer expenses, internet costs, a myriad of worthwhile subscriptions, and various research costs.

Under fascism, universal freedom is doomed

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The targeting of enemies—minorities, liberals, secularists, leftists, urban naxals, intellectuals, assorted protestors—is not driven by a calculus of ordinary politics….When you legitimize yourself entirely by inventing enemies, the truth ceases to matter, normal restraints of civilization and decency cease to matter, the checks and balances of normal politics cease to matter.

Thin blue line bleeds red

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Eight years after Myles Gray was beaten to death by a police gang, almost nothing has changed in the process of holding officers accountable for violent misdeeds. Those Vancouver police should count themselves lucky the Memphis chief and prosecutors weren’t in charge here.

Defending democracy through public engagement

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In my years of political observation, I have come to realize that elected officials individually have little opportunity to influence public policy. At senior levels of government, power has concentrated in the offices of the first minister. In local governments and school boards, In local governments and school boards, power is held largely by professional administrators. Public input is tolerated by the power holders, but not welcomed…

Economics of biodiversity

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The UK commissioned a study published in 2021 that was to help the government establish environmental policies for 25-years. Project leader Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta of Cambridge University was assisted by a long list of expert contributors, advisors, and reviewers…