Opinion researchers Insights West concluded in 2013 that an increase in sales tax was the least favoured funding option for TransLink. Nevertheless, that’s the option preferred by most municipal politicians and the […]
Yes Bill, you are ill equipped
Answering for Liberal policy is for Liberal politicians. It is not the role of a news reporter or commentator.
Bill Good, you are supposed to give politicians a forum to discuss and explain public policy while you hold their feet to the fire, asking questions about issues they want to skate around. You should be an informed and non-partisan interrogator, a seeker of information about all sides of a story. You should not be an advocate trying to advance the causes or policies that fit your worldview or the people for whom you hold sympathy…
Still Looking after needy minorities – RERUN
First published May 2010. From the reliable Justine Hunter and Ian Bailey at the Globe and Mail, read HST backlash could prove to be B.C. Liberal’s Waterloo. This excerpt: Mr. Canseco, a […]
BC Liberals reward friends
When Kevin Falcon presented his budget, corporate media cheerleaders turned immediately to the reliables for comment — people like John Winter (BC Chamber of Commerce), Jock Finlayson (BC Business Council) and Phil […]
Liberals dig giant hole in future NDP budget
According to Finance Minister Kevin Falcon, BC will scrap the HST, return to the PST on April 1 2013 and repay $320 million per year to the federal government in each of […]
I-RO-NY [ ahy-ruh-nee ]
The REPLAY below from September 2010 seems particularly relevant after Jonathan Fowlie exposed the story of HST pamphlets going from printer to shredder by the truckload. The original waste is bad. Worse […]
Dumb-ass schnooks we are
Replay from May 27, 2011 because the issues have not changed: Too-polite Canadians accept almost any declaration from people in authority. We are naive, complacent schnooks. Dumb, as well; the proof is […]
HST savings elusive for consumers
In 2010, The Business Council of British Columbia, an association representing approximately 250 major business enterprises, circulated a report on consumer impacts of HST written by SFU Professor Jon Kesselman. It purports […]
Good tax, bad tax
News item, The Guardian, November 3, 2011: Bill Gates will tell the G20 group of developed and developing countries on Thursday that they could raise an extra $48bn (£30bn) a year to […]
Falcon: Revenue neutral HST an "urban legend"
When the referendum delivered an unwanted result, BC’s provincial government reshaped, polished and coordinated messages to the public. One particularly troublesome claim, made by Finance Minister Colin Hansen during the July 2009 HST announcement, […]
Elections BC and the charade of secrecy
Shortly after 11 am Friday, August 26, Acting Chief Electoral Officer Craig James delivered HST vote results to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the Clerk of the Assembly and the Attorney […]
Lifetime appointment starting at $250,000: a fine reward
Charlie Smith at the Georgia Straight wrote Craig James helps minimize sting of B.C. Liberal government’s HST loss: By releasing the numbers on a Friday in late August, James chose one of the […]
Liberal truthiness after HST decision
Canucks & Clark fall short in big tasks Premier Clark and Finance Minister Falcon say the return to PST will cost BC $3 billion and warn of required spending cuts and austerity […]
Real messages of the HST vote
In response to the vote rejecting the massive shift in consumption taxes from business to consumers, Christy Clark seems to have learned nothing, Finance Minister Kevin Falcon only a little. Falcon today […]
Reading the HST leaves and fishy thoughts
Elections BC changed the HST result announcement from Thursday to Friday, the take out the trash day when it comes to announcements from the BC Liberal government. The result will come “after […]
Enormous resources devoted to moving income to tax havens
HST, BC Liberal’s generous gift to the corporatocracy, is having much less benefit for British Columbia’s economy than pretended by governing politicians. Why? Because, like all mega-corps, the largest companies in BC, […]
BC Liberals guided by hidden interests
Be afraid, British Columbians. Be very afraid. The big business lobby was the guiding hand behind Gordon Campbell’s introduction of HST. The aim: to relieve giant multinationals from paying tax in this […]
Misinformation in Liberal amounts
A reprint worth re-reading, brought forward from May 30, 2010: Gordon Campbell and his sacrificial minister Colin Hansen defend the HST but voices of others in the Liberal government are muted. In […]
Not influenced or controlled by others
This week, a mainstream media pundit, while defending imposition of HST, referred to a report by “The Independent Panel.” That, would be the BC government creation noted in a January News Release from the Finance […]
Amateur hour at Global TV News
Continuing Global’s ‘expert examination’ of HST, Doug Herbert provided this from Sun Peaks on the July 31 6pm Vancouver News Hour: “The difference in price for a secondary residence pre-HST and post-HST […]
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