This item was first published March 17 but is worth reviewing because it fits with Thursday’s post, Patronage and private privilege – BC Liberal P3. It is apparent that Christy Clark and […]
BC’s crony capitalism in action
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.
Patronage and private privilege – BC Liberal P3
By numerous measures—affordability, inequality, protection of provincial assets, harm to public services and rapid expansion of debt and obligations—BC Liberals are colossal failures. Most BC residents are unaware because the major accomplishment […]
Unparalleled, indeed
How fortunate (sarcasm alert) that British Columbia had a government determined to spend big dollars to increase exports to American markets for electricity. Lucky too that Liberals had the full support of business leaders and a courageous corporate press willing to stand with the government and call out naysayers who thought it was a mistake to commit tens of billions more to insure private power producers against business risks.
Megan Metcalfe speaks
From a Facebook post. You can read the entire item HERE. “I sent a letter to Christie Clark’s office, Peter Fassbender’s office, and my MLA about two weeks ago. I got a […]
Volatile gas revenues tend to evaporate
BC Liberals are reluctant spenders when it comes to improving public schools. However, they’re not reluctant to put money into the pockets of natural gas producers. The amounts are in the billions […]
Ability-to-pay does not apply
A few years ago, Glaxo SmithKline, a multinational drug company, agreed to settle an American tax dispute by paying $3.4 billion and abandoning claims for refunds worth a further $1.8 billion. GSK […]
Unfairness, unfairly applied
Christy Clark claimed teachers are greedy and that BC cannot afford to pay more for public education. Liberal social media retainers continue echoing the claims. We know that labour relations in BC […]
Clark Government earns failing grades
“Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.” ― Jacques Barzun Successful nations that intend to maintain economic and social powers have high regard for […]
The states of state affairs
Comparing remuneration of senior public officials in Washington State to BC counterparts can leave one astounded. The most obvious examples are at the publicly owned investment management agencies and the ferry operations. […]
At least Liberal inconsistency is consistent
BC’s recent Budget and Fiscal Plan states total provincial debt is $63 billion. This amount, 62% higher than in 2009, is 27.3% of gross domestic product. Five years ago, the ratio was […]
Dealmakers have been busy
People reacted to a tweet of information first published at Northern Insight. Many read it but do not want to believe it, because, as much as anything, this demonstrates whom the BC […]
$80M annual power subsidy, one LNG proposal
Regular readers know that I focus attention on natural resource revenues earned – more often, not earned – by the citizens of British Columbia. Click here to read many articles on the […]
Conflict of interest. Wazzat?
When football coach Jerry Sandusky recruited, groomed and molested boys, he continued for years because people around him stayed quiet. In 2009, Sara Ganim, then a 22-year-old writer for a small newspaper, […]
Numbed by numbers
I’ll be talking with Ian Jessop, Monday June 9, on CFAX1070. While the BC Government lays seige to public education, it seems a good time to see if all the cupboards are […]
A system guaranteed to fail
I grumble about the quality of political journalism hereabouts and these complaints seem justified, even urgent, when an Ontario pundit demonstrates an example of powerful advocacy for the public interest. Andrew Coyne […]
Losing the news
Pulitzer Prize winner Alex Jones wrote the 2009 book Losing the News: The Future of the News That Feeds Democracy. In it, he examines “authentic journalistic objectivity” and finds “a crisis of […]
Why have our trees lost half their value?
BC Stats released an updated report ‘British Columbia Origin Log Exports’ and I extracted data to produce these graphs. The statistics show the volume of raw logs leaving the province continues at […]
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
A reader reminded me of this piece from March, 2012. Unfortunately, it seem to be relevant today. I grew up informed and amused by Vancouver’s great editorial cartoonists Len Norris and Roy […]
We Won
The title refers to BC’s 2013 election. It was stated by a “Proud American.” When he said that, Krishnan Suthanthiran did not mean that citizens of the province were victors. More about […]
Austerity is limited
School districts are forced to economize and they’ve done it in many ways. However, despite squeezing operating budgets so hard that supplies of classroom paper run out, certain costs are sticky downward. […]
in-sights.ca 
The Gordon Campbell/ChristyClarke years did not bode well for BC. The same Developer real estate views are still widely adhered…