What happened to ministerial accountability?
Ministerial responsibility is the notional idea that a minister takes the blame if something goes wrong in his department, even if it is not his fault. Even BC Liberals can no longer […]
Disgrace rooted in greed
No person acquainted with the young Gordon Campbell is surprised that his political career is ending in disgrace rooted in greed. Without a patriarch, the Campbell family struggled, not in abject poverty, […]
Still smokin’
I did write earlier that my hiatus might be interrupted if the good ship BC Liberal, foundering in the sea of inveracity, appeared finally ready to go under with all hands aboard. […]
The Campbell Creed: promise more, deliver less
Auditor General John Doyle, MBA, CA, submitted his third report of the fiscal year to the Legislature, Conservation of Ecological Integrity in B.C. Parks and Protected Areas. Mr. Doyle is precise and […]
When big business rules, we get rules for big business
The title is reworked from economist Dean Baker‘s offering today at Huffington Post. His title: When Wall Street Rules, We Get Rules for Wall Street. Fairly clear what that article explains, eh? For […]
Retributive justice still unserved, families owed more – UPDATED
Following denial of serial murderer Robert Pickton’s final appeal, the BC Supreme Court released a mass of evidence previously banned from public view. Contained are shocking disclosures that emphasize how authorities botched […]
The Plain Truth
Rafe Mair says: The plain truth is that the Campbell government has wallowed in deceit and sharp practice from the outset . . . [The] government and especially the premier, have told […]
No retreat = certain defeat
Paul Willcocks at Paying Attention writes No room for retreat on HST. He applies his usual unemotional, logical mind to HST. He cuts through the misinformation, posturing and partisan rhetoric and says the […]
Well, maybe not ALL of us . . .
Premier Gordon Campbell, speaking in 2009: …in these unprecedented times we must ALL take action that reaches beyond ideology . . . we are facing a situation we couldn’t plan for. We […]
New era of prosperity began for some in 2001
An unpopular premier. A government on the slide. A resurgent New Democratic Party Opposition. According to Vaughn Palmer, those circumstances resulted in a private meeting when “some self-styled free-enterprisers began casting about […]
Misinformation in Liberal amounts
Gordon Campbell and his sacrificial minister Colin Hansen defend the HST but voices of others in the Liberal government are muted. In fact, the voices of backbenchers are largely silent on this […]
Stop, hey, what’s that sound. Everybody look what’s going down
After an artful letter to the editor by James Dartnell of Surrey, my attention was drawn to a column by BC Liberal reporter Keith Baldrey. Baldrey offered the usual Liberal positioning, making these points about […]
Here is a description, you match with a name
A perfectionist who is very concerned about self-image, often driven to succeed and seen as successful. Must prove their own attractiveness by the number of people they can conquer sexually. People […]
Finally, Campbell comes clean about HST
Global TV Wednesday reported on “a long string of PR nightmares Gordon Campbell’s Liberals faced over the first year of this current term.” Certainly it is a struggle for a politician to […]
Building public consensus behind closed doors
May I suggest reading Paul Willcocks’ April 29 Times Colonist column: Moving past the politics of blind division. Paul says too many British Columbians choose not to talk about public policy; they […]
Cry for British Columbia
First published October 18 2009, this issue rises back to the top because the proposed Victoria marina has cleared another roadblock. Abraham Lincoln said: Democracy is the government of the people, by […]
Leadership race warming?
Victoria pundit Les Layne says, “Before she became a very adroit politician, [Carole] Taylor was a veteran broadcaster. She never says anything by accident.” B.C.’s Carole Taylor joins outcry against HSTBy Justine […]
When regulators do not believe in regulation
I began writing an article about tobacco companies convicted of multi-billion dollar fraud through smuggling schemes to escape punitive taxation of poisonous products sold to slow-witted youth and the addicted. I thought […]
Keeping crème de la crème fraîche
Northern Insight’s most-read article is brought back to the top at the request of readers. It was first published July 27/09. Moving to HST by broadly applying a 12% combined federal and […]
in-sights.ca 
Blair Fix at _Economics from the Top Down_ also wrote two very good papers on the converion of housing into…