Shilling for dollars

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I made reference to BC Legislative Press Gallery members producing commissioned articles. These are public relations pieces intended to serve particular needs of government or entities doing business with government. It is the kind of output that will ultimately be replaced by automated journalism. Mike Smyth’s recent Province column provides an example… Were Smyth not shilling for private producers, he could be a champion of reducing power consumption through increased energy efficiency. However, there are no industry or environmental groups in BC with sufficient funds to push conservation as a serious alternative to generating more power, whether by hydro, wind, solar, tidal, geothermal or any other technology.

Republican’s genius strategy

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History Professor Alfred McCoy produced The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia in 1972. The CIA interfered with the book’s publication but its condemnation of American complicity in the drug trade is accepted as accurate and reliable. Dr. McCoy appeared with Jeremy Scahill on the March 7 edition of Intercepted Podcast. I found their wide ranging discussion informative, shocking and alarming…

CBC offered “pure propaganda”

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If one looks at economic disasters of the past, one thing is certain. Warning signs were obvious to people who paid close attention but were ignored by the rest. You can be sure that Erik Andersen’s concern arises from paying attention to rising debt levels and how the ordinary public will ultimately be left with an unaffordable burden.

Governmental pandering and corporate fiction peddling

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Most people are unlikely to remember the following.. from  J. Wellington Wimpy. “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” I’m old, so I remember. Again, sensing the usefulness of predicting disaster (cue organist) … unless … Royal Dutch Shell’s “I-See-The-Future!” tea leaves gambit continues… with help from (cue organist) a Globe and Mail puff piece…

Taxing and subsidizing carbon

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While BC consumers of carbon pay an ever increasing tax — $10 billion since 2009 — carbon producers are enjoying billions of dollars in subsidies. In the fiscal years 2007 through 2017, natural gas companies quietly received benefit of tax expenditures worth almost $8 billion dollars…

BC Log export numbers raise questions

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BC Stats, an agency of the provincial government, reports regularly on raw log export. The most recent shows the quantity of logs shipped has grown steadily but the unit value reported has declined steadily. By eliminating civil servants in the forest ministry, BC Liberals reduced government’s ability to monitor quantities and conditions of logs exported but the dramatic drop in revenue declared for each cubic metre suggests the public might have been shortchanged.

Someone is telling us lies

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When BC Liberals said the Site C completion budget was $7.9 billion, the cost of power from the project was stated to be $87 – $95 per megawatt-hour (MWh). Now, with the Site C budget up 26% to $10.7 billion, John Horgan’s NDP government claims the cost per MWh has fallen 32% to $60.

Sunk costs

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Having made the wrong decision, no doubt influenced by Liberal holdovers in the civil service and BC Hydro management, it is not too late for NDP minister to choose the right course. There are many reasons to cancel Site C…

More Energy Ministry duplicity

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That the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources took four months to offer a disingenuous response to my communication illustrates that little has changed since a new government was installed in July. It may also explain why policies contrary to the public interest are still being followed. 

Deceit is still a BC Government tool

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A BC Government “technical presentation” regarding its decision to continue construction of Site C is filled with misinformation, deceit and false justifications. If this is the quality of the advice taken by John Horgan’s cabinet on one rather important issue, we should be concerned about every other policy being considered. Apparently, if truths are inconvenient, Victoria still prefers deception.