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.
Unrestrained capital spending and needed write-offs of valueless items will result in major rate increases. But that presents a critical problem. Alternatives for consumers are steadily getting easier and less costly. BC Hydro is entering the utility death spiral.
In the early 2000s, Liberals changed BC Hydro’s primary purpose from utility service for the public to financial service for party friends and other special interests. BC NDP carries on much as before, except they slightly altered beneficiaries of the utility’s massive spending…
Years ago, the head of BC Hydro said the least-cost solutions to energy needs were conservation and efficiency. While that remains true, recovery of energy now wasted would be advantageous. Alpha 311 now offers a vertical axis wind turbine that can produce electricity by harvesting energy produced by moving vehicles.
Shortly after June 30, 2017, John Horgan revealed his true self and buried BC NDP political perspectives alongside its principles. He is duplicating BC Liberal policies in important matters.
If we expect wealthy companies to alter their business practices on safety, the environment, and other matters of corporate responsibility and integrity, punishment should fit the crime, but more importantly, it should fit the criminal…
Climate change is no longer deniable: it’s happening, is human caused, and is potentially catastrophic. But denial is still a huge factor that keeps us from doing what we must, for future generations, for the natural world and all the species with which we share creation…
Home buyers make property choices based on municipal zoning and Official Community Plans. Provincially mandated OCPs are “a statement of objectives and policies that guide decisions on municipal and regional district planning and land use management.” However, large-scale land developers see OCPs as minor impediments easily overcome by effective lobbying…
Forests provide Canadians a wealth of benefits that go beyond providing jobs and income. Forests provide habitat for living things, fight flooding, keep us cool, feed us, heal us and provide sanctuaries of spiritual meaning for many Canadians and Indigenous people. Old growth forest should be icons of the province. Having survived hundreds of years, they must not be destroyed for the convenience and profit of a few, or for political debts owed to unions that funded John Horgan’s rise to power…
In days of Gigabyte Internet, people in charge of energy in British Columbia are promoting the equivalent of 20th century dial-up internet access…
The BC Liberal Government refused to address affordability issues because the real estate industry was a large benefactor of that party. In addition, property transfer taxes were putting billions of dollars into the public treasury. I’m not sure the BC NDP dares to alter the status quo…
Hostility to commonly accepted health practices does not come only from the foolish and the uniformed. The New Yorker published Sweden’s Pandemic Experiment, which shows highly educated policy makers can put more faith in hope and wishes than in science…
A reader asked what I might say to an NDP MLA about Site C. What follows is the gist of my response…
The BC Government could have learned from hydropower disasters in Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba as those were unfolding. Spending went out of control on Muskrat Falls and Keeyask. Because NL has only about 10% of BC’s population, the federal government had to step in to avoid ruinous electricity rate increases. BC could have learned. It did not, because political and private interests ranked ahead of the public’s.
Lindsay Brown is a reliable information provider, particularly about energy in British Columbia. Her Twitter thread today should be required reading for every politician and BC Hydro ratepayer. It’s repeated here with permission…
What follows was posted by a victim of the March 27 stabbing incident at North Vancouver’s Lynn Valley Library. Her generosity of spirit astounds me…
Sadly, the people of BC have been badly served by financial watchdogs who are paid to protect us. Perhaps the removal of Auditor General John Doyle some years ago was a blunt lesson. Of course, being dependent on government for year to year funding is also an effective leash. Make the politicians unhappy? They will remember when its time to establish the office budget.
Instead of $60 million, Teck Resources should be paying a fine closer to $1 billion. What Teck has been penalized won’t make a dent in their cash resources. Nor does it resolve the fresh water issues.
Proponents of megaprojects routinely underestimate financial costs. After conducting an extensive study, top experts concluded this is caused by “strategic misrepresentation, that is, lying.” In addition, proponents invariably ignore environmental and social costs of megaprojects…
In-Sights reader Bruce has been thinking about BC Hydro and asked important questions, I offer my answers but with a broader picture of what BC Hydro is today and why…
God $ Green: An Unholy Alliance reveals how super-rich oil families spent heavily to encourage evangelical Christians to oppose environmentalism, deny climate change and support the fossil fuel industry without question.
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…