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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.

Throw him some work

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…easily-influenced voters in BC opted for Christy’s Clark more economically pleasing vision of the future. But it was phoney baloney, conjured up in a three-week period in a “rush assignment” given to Assistant Deputy Minister of Finance Doug Foster by Clark’s newly-hired communications director Ben Chin, formerly a CBC TV news anchor in Ontario and after running for the provincial Liberals there—and losing—he became VP of Communications with the Ontario Power Authority. In that job he infamously advised an OPA official—who was troubled by critical media reports—to “throw him some work” to get a particular journalist onside. “It would be a good score,” Chin said.

Canada’s indigenous suicide crisis

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Inuit who lay claim to a third of Canada’s vast landmass, face shortened life expectancies, a high infant mortality rate, high rates of tuberculosis, widespread food insecurity, dangerously inadequate housing, and shockingly deficient local health care. But it was when Obed turned to the topic of suicide that the 750 people in the audience felt the full wintry force of his Arctic reproach…

Crime (still) in progress (a 2010 article repeated)

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The applicants do not need money or experience, they simply need political influence with BC Liberals. The energy purchase agreement provided by BC Hydro removes substantially all business risk and the favoured recipients take the project to money brokers who readily fund it because the creditworthiness of British Columbia stands behind each EPA. This would be like you and I buying a house we intend to rent to government through a 40 year lease at double or triple market rates, with payments escalating to protect against inflation, guaranteed by taxpayers of British Columbia….

Georgia Straight, no longer underground

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Usually devoid of meaningful arguments and information, most articles on British Columbia politics take but a moment to read. This Martyn Brown piece is entirely different. It is superior to a month’s worth of commissioned articles and press release rewrites from members of the Legislative Press Gallery. It is written by a man who spent years at the heart of Gordon Campbell’s Liberal Governments and he knows the current players well…

Rafe Mair’s eloquence

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British Columbia’s most informed political commentary comes not from people at rewrite desks in the Legislative Press Gallery but from a retired — but not retiring — newsman. I refer, of course, to Rafe Mair, whose recent work should not be missed. It includes an assertion that, while true, is seldom discussed in corporate media: Canadians are governed by a fraudulent charade called a “parliamentary democracy”…

Premier Photo Op is a compulsive liar

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Alex Tsakumis reported that Christy Clark and her backers orchestrated a virtual coup d’état, seizing control of the BC Liberal Party, sabotaging the leadership contest with phantom voters. Tsakumis also questioned her truthfulness about the relationship with would-be political assassin Jaspal Singh Atwal¹ and Tsakumis reported that she was “a person of interest” — thought to be leaking confidential information to friends — in the RCMP’s investigation of the BC Rail sale, until police management shut down examination of senior BC Liberals. Premier Photo-Op long ago went beyond stretching the truth and exaggerating. She grew accustomed to wilful and conscious lying and now relies on a continuous stream of falsehoods to promote herself and the government she leads. The corporate media assists by ignoring fabrications, even when they are readily apparent.

Piled higher and deeper

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Mr. Baldrey wants people unfamiliar with online journalism to imagine the Internet largely provides “outrageous, libelous, threatening and inaccurate” commentary. One reason he might want to sell that false image is that he worries about mainstream media losing readers to the online world. Baldrey also may not like to be criticized and held accountable for his expositions. Keith, if you aim to be respected, don’t be an extension of vested interests, treat all sides with doubt and wariness and don’t only advance interests of the powerful. Be prepared to make them uncomfortable, if deserved. Be transparent about potential conflicts involving you or colleagues, be knowledgeable and impartial…

Why has this story been ignored?

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$90,000 paid to Senator Mike Duffy by a minion of Canada’s Prime Minister resulted in a diligent RCMP investigation and commanded national media attention for months. In British Columbia, a larger taxpayer funded amount — $150,000 plus thousands more for the Premier’s jet assisted photo op — was paid without following standard guidelines for public expenditures. In this case, there has been zero transparency and accountability and shamefully little attention paid by the marketing platforms that have replaced British Columbia once proud news media.¹ Citizens had to turn to social media commentators like Merv Adey, Laila Yuile and RossK, The Gazetteer to be informed. Premier Clark is accused of acting in this matter to provide advantage to her brother’s private business. Yet, the interest shown by BC’s leading political reporters has been zero.

Talking about BC issues

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Ian Jessop asked me about Premier Clark giving $150,000 in public funds to assist her brother’s associate in Haida Gwaii. It’s a subject that has been well covered by fellow bloggers Laila Yuile and Merv Adey. However, with the exception of Mark Hume at the Globe and Mail, it’s been of little interest to mainstream media, particularly the “Incurious Bastards”¹ of the BC press gallery. It may be a rewarding career move for a political pundit to serve plutocrats instead of readership but that’s a conscious choice that doesn’t offend some who once thought of themselves as journalists. Shannon Rupp, writing at The Tyee recently, delivered a pointed analysis of the 21st century press in our country: I think it’s fair to say that many if not most so-called newspapers are misnamed: they deliver less and less news (as defined by journalists) while filling their pages with ”content” — a word that could mean anything from listicles to infotainment to advertising written to masquerade as a news story. In short, most newspapers have morphed into marketing platforms.

große Lüge (Big Lie)

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Broad masses …more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie… they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. ….For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.

Kootenay Bill’s Casablanca moment

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Found in the casino where he regularly pockets winnings, Captain Renault says, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” Kootenay Bill may not have been aware of more than a billion dollars of unfunded liabilities for mine clean-up but you can bet the BC Liberal bagmen were very much aware.

Province at risk

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The hazards of transporting LNG through narrow waterways are generally ignored yet the danger is real, particularly in populated areas, such as the lower Fraser River and Howe Sound. One reason that foreign companies may be attracted to British Columbia is its lax regulatory environment.

Ruining the just man’s cause

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New York State officials aimed to limit the extraordinary electoral influence of extraordinary wealth. People who wanted their financial powers unrestricted began legal action and, applying higher court rulings, United States District Judge Paul A. Crotty tossed the limits. He did so with obvious regret, complaining he was forced to apply a definition for corruption “no matter how misguided . . . [the Court] may think it to be.”

The Judge’s five-page opinion is worth considering, particularly now as the British Columbia government repudiates citizens calling for rules against corporate and union political donations. Insights West calculate that 86% support a ban. In today’s neverending cycle of campaigning and lobbying; lobbying and campaigning, elected officials know where their money is coming from and that it must keep coming if they are to stay in office.

…influence bought by money is no different than a bribe, and as the Book of Exodus 23:8 counsels, “a bribe blinds the clearsighted and is the ruin of the just man’s cause.”

Half-prepared for battles of wits

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Another publication, Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI), provides detail of the marketplace for LNG. It is now an international exchange much different than the one that first excited the ex-policeman and small town lawyer who thought, with equally ill-equipped assistants, they could negotiate for British Columbia at boardroom tables of giant multinational energy corporations.