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.
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.
When BC Hydro said that growing demand required asset additions worth billions of dollars and contractual commitments of $50+ billion owed to independent power producers, should we have believed what they said? The record clearly states the answer was NO.
Lew Edwardson wrote the following as a comment on the post Lack of transparency at BC Hydro may conceal massive fraud. It deserves to be repeated in this separate post. WARNING: this will not build confidence in elected officials and senior public servants.
BC’s government seems determined to continue the present model for private power in the intended 2024 call for additional electricity. The difference in 2024 will be that large contracts for wind power will be issued. Government knows that citizens would not, and should not, tolerate privatization of the public utility. The arrangements with Independent Power Producers, which are largely owned outside of British Columbia, amount to privatization by stealth.
Site C was conceived when output per MW of capacity was higher than it has been in recent years. BC Hydro has regularly claimed that 1,100 MW capacity at Site C will annually produce 5,100 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity. That would be 4.64 GWh per MW of capacity, almost a quarter more output than BC Hydro’s dams have collectively produced in the five fiscal years.
Boston University economist Dr. Jetson Leder-Luis studies fraud in public spending. He estimates that fraud in large projects may divert five percent of spending. On the Site C power project, that suggests fraud could amount to hundred of millions of dollars. BC Hydro’s lack of transparency encourages corruption.
An examination of revenue the Province of British Columbia has taken in from production of fossil methane gas in the fiscal years 2000 to 2023.
A key element of Canada’s future climate policy is carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). The federal government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to advance the commercial viability of CCUS technologies. Despite what critics say about CCUS, it is working as intended for fossil fuel producers. CCUS is not a solution, it is a distraction. The aim is to justify ‘continued production of carbon rich energy.
BC’s NDP government promised, “On May 19, 2022, the Province introduced a new oil and gas royalty system that puts the interests of British Columbians first and eliminates outdated and inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies.” More than fifteen months later, we learn from the province’s just released audited financial statements that subsidies by way of royalty credits taken in one year by producers increased by $154 million to $1.7 billion. In addition, another $2.3 is available for producers to reduce or eliminate future royalty payments.
Eliminating methane emissions offers huge potential for quick, affordable climate action. Modern technology makes identification of leakage relatively simple, but industry and governments are dedicated to increased fossil fuel production. As a result, methane leakage is consciously underreported and methane abatement actions are not taken.
Restoring old relationships? Are human physicians still needed? https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2852952 Will Autonomous AI Exceed AI-Aided Physicians as the Best Medical Care?…
That 78% perception-vs-reality gap is wild but not shocking given how local news skews toward the rare violent incident over…
For reasons unclear Donald Trump has decided to threaten voters. In North Carolina he said the following... https://www.rawstory.com/trump-midterms-2677870795/ President Donald Trump told…
Mr. McCutcheon’s essay? Brilliant and thorough analysis. Unlike our politicians juggling contradictory what-ifs, his example doesn’t stop with what might…
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Believe me, taxpayers in Greater Victoria grouse about having to pay for our treatment plant, but I suppose we were…