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 […]
Unfairness, unfairly applied
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.
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. […]
Good questions
Not-a-nincompoop blogger RossK at The Gazetteer mentioned difficulties faced by Bob Mackin, the province’s preeminent investigative journalist, when Bob digs, and pays, for information the government does not want us to know. […]
Let them die and decrease the surplus…
Paul Willcocks writes a blog with the perceptive eye of a skilled and experienced journalist and editor. I suspect Vaughn Palmer might even exclude Paul from his description. Nincompoops ranting in their […]
Shill, sham and flimflam
The Vancouver Sun added an experienced political reporter when it hired Rob Shaw from the Times Colonist. Now it is time for the Sun to assign Bob Mackin to the pundit’s role, enabling Vaughn Palmer to work for PR firm Hill+Knowlton, where he need make no pretense of objectivity.
Taxpayers, assume the position
Reader who goes by the name of Hawgwash left this comment at the earlier article, Subsidies for some, higher fees for others: I see Vaughn Palmer is actually touching this topic and even […]
Subsidies for some, higher fees for others
Replay of article first published in November 2013. Despite claims that natural gas will last almost forever and drop massive wealth into BC’s treasury, I’ve demonstrated here, with numbers taken from finance […]
Special treatment for special people
First Call Advocacy Coalition I write here about natural resource giveaways that amount to billions of dollars. Meanwhile, the Premier stands in the Legislature to justify monthly clawbacks of $187 from a […]
in-sights.ca 
If you require high standards a good place to look for clarity is Liz Oyer. Liz - Blanche takes down…