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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.

A governance failure at BC Hydro

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The 12 directors are drawn exclusively from the business sector. Resource extraction companies, including coal miners, are particularly well-represented. So too are large construction and engineering companies. This may explain BC Hydro’s resistance to the idea that conserving energy is better than making energy. Residential consumers provide more revenue to BC Hydro than any other group, but that is not reflected by board appointments. Perhaps the government thinks a person primarily concerned with ratepayers would have a conflict of interest. However, there appears to be no concern that directors involved with extractive industries in remote regions might have conflicting interests.

The rule of law matters

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Chris Murphy is the junior United States Senator for Connecticut. In 2024, The Guardian newspaper named him one of the Democratic Party’s rising stars, active in several policy areas, particularly healthcare, foreign policy and gun safety legislation. He delivered a scathing speech in the U.S. Senate about unprecedented corruption in the current administration. Canadians should pay attention to Senator Murphy. Trump has no desire for the continued independence of Canada. He views this country as a home for hewers of wood and drawers of water. It doesn’t matter that the phrase became outdated about 70 years ago. Canada has its own plutocrats waiting to steal from the common people. They may be inspired by the easy success of the Trump/Musk crime family.

Patrimonialism

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Jonathan Rauch, senior fellow at Brooking’s Center for Effective Public Managment wrote in the Atlantic about the USA’s regime change. Rauch says that even those who expected the worst from Trump’s reelection expected more rationality. Instead, they got an administration that operates like a crime family, “divvying up the spoils, sometimes quarreling, but helping each other when needed.”

Two of a kind

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I have not been a fan of Trudeau’s Liberal Government. Nevertheless, all that I think is wrong with the Liberal government would be even worse if Donald Trump’s friend Pierre Poilievre moves into 24 Sussex Drive. I think Canadians need to organize today for the next federal election. The continued existence of our country may be at stake.

All politics is about real estate

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All politics is about real estate. Postmodern politics is essentially a matter of land grabs, on a local as well as a global scale. Whether you think of the question of Palestine, the settlements and the camps, or of the politics of raw materials and extraction; whether you think of ecology (and the rainforests) or the problems of federalism, citizenship, and immigration, or whether it is a question of gentrification in the great cities as well as in the shanty towns and the townships and of course the movement of the landless today everything is about land…

Not everything is broken in our world

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World Central Kitchen, founded by Spanish-American chef Jose Andres, is an example of humanitarianism at work. WCK has become one of the world’s leading relief organizations since its 2010 launch following a devastating earthquake in Haiti. Food is essential to life and is vitally important in a crisis. Access to healthy meals during a disaster is a reminder that someone cares. But, of course, not everyone cares. Pierre Poilievre said a Conservative government would cut foreign aid funding. That mimics Trump’s policy of eliminating almost all development and humanitarian help abroad.

Media bias

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Ad Fontes Media is a non-profit watchdog that rates media for bias and reliability. The name comes from Latin words meaning “to the sources.” The organization concluded its own output is biased, because all reports by humans are affected by personal judgments and preferences…

Legislature loonies

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On February 24, Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Jennifer Blatherwick made a motion in the BC Legislature asking the House to condemn U.S. President Trump’s proposed tariffs and endorse retaliatory action. Eighty-six MLAs voted YEA, five MLAs voted NAY. The five who oppose Canadians reacting to American provocations were BC Conservatives…