For years, BC Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon demanded “red tape” reductions. Under Premier Gordon Campbell, Falcon spent more than two and one-half years as Minister of State for Deregulation. His effort were joined by right-wing business interests such as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business…
Led by the accomplished but politically naïve Andrew Wilkinson, BC Liberals were crushed in 2020 by John Horgan, a man who was an opposite of the Opposition leader. That led to BC Liberal influencers deciding an old reliable was needed to regain days when the region’s government was of business, by business, and for business. Democracy is targeted by rich and powerful groups determined to win at all costs. They are served by loyal agents moving in the halls of power. Guest writer Lew Edwardson remembers an issue that involved Kevin Falcon…
Since actual annual payments are almost 3x the contractual obligation, it looks like the $400 million Sea to Sky Highway improvement project will involve payments to the private partner of $1.5 billion. And remember, the province financed one third of the project’s construction cost while the P3 financed two thirds…
Richard McCandless, a retired high-level civil servant, is not a partisan for any political group but, for some years, he has been lobbying for more effective governance of British Columbia. In one […]
It wasn’t on budget for the public but probably was for the private companies hidden behind the Sea-to-Sky Highway Investment Limited Partnership. Liberals are masters of public finance in one particular way. They deliver opportunities to deal makers and deal flippers, with details of all transactions hidden from view. It wasn’t long before the first flip happened on the Sea-to-Sky project.
A skilled and practised word hunter, Ian Reid can flush out sources from behind stone walls. Thursday, he scooped the Legislature’s press gang and published Mea culpa, mea culpa, the release that Christy […]
Government Press Release, January 2012: Finance Minister Kevin Falcon has won the Canadian Federation of Independent Business Golden Scissors award for cutting red tape for business by more than 40% … I […]
REPLAY, first published Nov. 28, 2011 According to Finance Minister Kevin Falcon’s first quarterly report for the current year, As well, the fiscal plan assumes the current public sector compensation negotiating mandate […]
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 […]
For me, whatever might be worthwhile in Stephen Harper’s speech is degraded by his choice of location for delivering it. The Prime Minister of Canada flew to Switzerland to join the world’s […]
Paraphrasing Benjamin Disraeli’s words to the British Parliament in 1845: The BC Liberal government is an organized hypocrisy. I visited the BC Liberal website today and found this homepage. The frame from […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Talking about the HST referendum, BC Liberal highbinder Kevin Falcon assures us that: “. . . he has confidence in Elections BC to oversee the vote. “This is getting increasingly ridiculous,” said […]
Cuts announced in Tuesday’s federal budget are “the result of identifying efficiencies in operation“, says DFO Minister Gail Shea. By 2014, almost $57 million will be trimmed from Fisheries and Oceans. Read […]
A comment by a person known only as MONTY, titled “Mr. Campbell is not a well man”, showed up on a Rafe Mair article published in The Tyee: As a psychologist I […]
Highly regarded writer Will McMartin uses a fine brush to paint a picture of Kevin Falcon’s duplicity. The result is another part in The Tyee series on leadership candidates Do not miss […]
The BC Liberal Party claims almost 50,000 new members since its leadership race began with a total membership now approaching 90,000. Kevin Falcon’s camp accuses Christy Clark’s camp of bypassing membership sign-ups. […]
News item: Kevin Falcon, former BC Liberal Minister of deregulation, applauds Prime Minister Harper on plan to reduce business regulations. Falcon says, “. . . regulations are job killers, plain and simple, […]
Thanks, Norm, for continuing to pound the drum about the giveaways in the oil and gas extraction industry. Aside from…
I would like to see a calculation that subtracts all the government subsidies, tax breaks, environmental destruction, etc from the…
When a parcel is offered for auction, companies must pay a minimum amount to acquire the rights to explore for…
That looks bad, and I suspect that it is; I think I understand the meaning of "competitive auctions" and "administrative…
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Jan 01 2027 new royalties schedule begins?