North Van’s Grumps is the proprietor of Blog Borg Collective. While I search for material in the main aisles of information warehouses, NVG prowls the dark recesses. Happily, he shares many discovered […]
Nobody’s servant…
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Thank You to All
Thanks people for kind wishes in comments and private messages. We can hope that matters raised in alternative media and the blogosphere gain wider exposure and more complete discussion in 2015. Traditional […]
With Ian Jessop on CFAX1070, Dec. 23, 2014
What’s this "fat" and "gravy" they speak of anyway?
Are schools and hospitals fat? Are veterans’ pensions gravy? So what have we cut already? 32% of Veterans Affairs staff supporting disability, death and financial benefits for veterans. One-fifth of Canadian food […]
Wrong path, wrong time
Christy Clark, Rich Coleman and Liberal friends are like 1980 promoters excited to spend someone else’s money to open a giant disco club, despite unmistakable signs the dance craze was soon to […]
Before we follow the LNG path
The Liberal Premier of New Brunswick announced a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing and he offered advice that Christy Clark should note, “We’re not interested in putting all of our eggs in a […]
Give even more money to Translink
Your browser does not support this audio Yes, if you are bothered by waste and lack of accountability, Bill Tieleman explained on CKNW that there is an easy solution: ignore it.
Hidden subsidies to big business
In June 2011, Postmedia reported comments about Site C by David Conway, Community Relations Manager with BC Hydro. When you get down to the cost per megawatt, this option even at 7.9 […]
PDF version of preceding article
I’ve had a number of requests for copies of this article by people wishing to share the information. Readers can download a copy from SCRIBD. Sorry poor people https://www.scribd.com/embeds/250344716/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true
Sorry poor people, we have other priorities
Clearly, government revenues from natural resources have declined substantially in recent years. This is in spite of rising metals and minerals prices and growth in production volumes. Here is an example. […]
Truthiness – UPDATED
The bright minds at Kinder Morgan have re-refined advertising in their effort to build support for the inner harbour of Vancouver becoming a site for major bitumen exports. Now the tag line used is: “Committed to safety since 1953.” Of course, this remains fundamentally false since the Trans Mountain pipeline, built in the mid 20th century, was not acquired by Kinder Morgan until 2005. Previous pipeline operators may have been committed to safety but those people are long gone. Today, Kinder Morgan chooses not to stand on its own record across North America; they prefer to appropriate the reputation of Trans Mountain’s departed owners…
A crime family depends on its enablers – rerun
The bulk of this item was written in 2010 and it was moved to the top a year later. I’ve done a little editing to recognize the political environment of 2014 but […]
Lies my energy minister told me
October 15, I listened to Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett provide detailed assurance that, unlike budgets of numerous BC megaprojects that suffered runaway costs, the $7.9 billion Site C dam budget […]
Ian Jessop on Kinder Morgan
On his CFAX1070 afternoon show this week, Ian Jessop interviewed Eric de Place, Policy Director of Sightline.org, which Tuesday published a new report, “The Facts about Kinder Morgan” that examines the company’s […]
Talk about Kinder Morgan, updated
If you want to know about Kinder Morgan’s methods of communication, read As Pipelines Expand, So Do Fears of Clearcuts, Spills, by Bryan Zandberg, The Tyee, November 2006: When pipeline heavyweight Kinder […]
David Mitchell on investor immigrants
Through the magic of search engines, this item, first published August 2012, draws regular attention from readers. Mitchell is talking about Britain but similar rules for moneyed immigrants apply in many nations, […]
Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice…
“Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.” – Edmund Burke Promises vs. ‘political speeches:’ Tories’ honesty questioned on support for […]
Understaffed and incapable, by design
In The Tyee, Scott McCannell, executive director of the Professional Employees Association, asserts, The B.C. government has slashed professionals in the public service to the point where it doesn’t have a full […]
Smile
//storify.com/Norm_Farrell/walken-the-plank/embed?border=false//storify.com/Norm_Farrell/walken-the-plank.js?border=false[View the story “Sleepwalken the plank” on Storify]
Another fleet sunk
When financial people mention “sunk costs,” they refer to expenditures that cannot be recovered. Almost 15 years ago, BC politicians learned the investment of hundreds of millions for fast-ferries had to be […]
in-sights.ca 
The Wall Street takeover of Canada shouldn't come as a surprise. Ex Goldman Sachs executive, Mark Carney, is demonstrating once…