450,000 salmon to be destroyed after outbreak of anemia in Newfoundland and Labrador, Globe and Mail, July 7, 2012 “Newfoundland and Labrador is dealing with its first outbreak of infectious salmon anemia at an aquaculture site… “Guy Gravelle, senior media relations officer for the [Canadian Food Inspection] agency, said the
Continue readingAuthor: Norman Farrell
Blogging regularly since April 2009 on public affairs with focus on BC politics, journalism, the environment and ethical matters in the public arena.
Northern Insight: Vancouver voters dodged their own disaster
The November vote was not close but Vancouver and British Columbia dodged a disaster when Susan Anton’s mayoral campaign disappeared underwater. If you want to confirm that view, read David Beers July 4 article at The Tyee: NPA’s Anton pens love letter to the oil sands “…’Thomas Mulcair’s strong dislike,
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Cameron Ward on RCMP, Picton and Oppal Inquiry
RCMP officer Jim Brown is a sexual sadist-so what’s the big deal? Cameron Ward, July 6, 2012 “…Willy Pickton didn’t kill up to 49 women by himself, not according to the jury who convicted him of six counts of second degree murder. The women whose remains were found at the
Continue readingNorthern Insight: What’s the next dump of grungy news?
There’s more bad news coming about the RCMP, including information on unprofessional conduct in the Surrey Six gangland murder investigation. In a May internal memo, Commissioner Bob Paulson warned that several salacious incidents were about to surface. He said, “Sadly there is a lot to choose from if you want to
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
The Calgary Herald, usually a loyal Conservative Party supporter, recently editorialized about the RCMP: “When the RCMP dispatched disgraced Alberta Staff-Sgt. Don Ray to B.C., it was reminiscent of how the Catholic Church dealt with some of its priests. After a “disturbing pattern” of sexual misconduct, in which Ray exposed
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Nobody hides evidence of innocence
BC Liberals spent millions to halt the Basi/Virk trial. They are spending more on court actions fighting the Auditor General’s access to documents. They’ve rejected calls for public inquiry and they offer no orderly defence to the many accusation of wrongdoing in the sale of BC Rail. DID CHRISTY CLARK’S
Continue readingNorthern Insight: More Ingrid Rice
Hard Working Conservative MP Canada Day Ingrid Rice archives here.
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Inevitable outcome of overreaching
Christy Clark shuffled staff in the premier’s office again today. However, when the critical fault is at the top, shuffling of underlings will do no good. Any Liberals who want to continue careers in provincial politics had better reach that conclusion or plan on taking the severance and pension package
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Thumb in the eye of BC taxpayers
The BC Liberal policy is firmly established. Reward your important friends and give the rest – teachers, paramedics, etc. – a firm kick in the ass. Of course, agency directors and senior bureaucrats, especially ones who know where skeletons are buried, are prime beneficiaries. Remember when David Hahn “resigned” in
Continue readingNorthern Insight: History’s mistakes repeated
A Manifesto for Economic Sense, Paul Krugman, Princeton University, and Richard Layard, LSE Centre for Economic Performance “More than four years after the financial crisis began, the world’s major advanced economies remain deeply depressed, in a scene all too reminiscent of the 1930s. And the reason is simple: we are
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Little research on effects of diluted bitumen
A Dilbit Primer: How It’s Different from Conventional Oil, Lisa Song, Inside Climate News, June 26, 2012 “Bitumen extracted from tar sands has the consistency of peanut butter and must be diluted to flow through pipelines. And that’s just the beginning. “When emergency responders rushed to Marshall, Mich. on July
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Move on folks, nothing to see (or smell) here
Adrian Raeside, author of 14 books, resident of Whistler, is one of British Columbia’s most perceptive cartoonists. Visit his site regularly and be entertained and informed. Here is one of his latest works along with another of my favourites from November 2011:
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Friends caring for friends
Bill Good mounted a defence of Christy Clark today following release of David Basi’s accusations that Premier Christy Clark was very much involved in the corrupt sale of BC Rail and was leaking confidential information to fixers involved in the deal. Good was joined by Keith Baldrey who wondered even
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Video Enbridge (and Postmedia) wants hidden
Enbridge is presently engaged in an expensive advertising campaign. It serves two purposes. One aims at convincing Canadians that what they do is benign and beneficial. The other is to provide tangible rewards to the corporate media that repeatedly echoes the same message through content, either by supportive coverage or
Continue readingNorthern Insight: The Schultz Theory, Applied
Alex Tsakumis’ release of Dave Basi’s 2003 memo to file was an interesting test for British Columbia’s corporate media. The results were mixed. NW’s Bill Good managed to do 3½ hours without noting the stench surrounding his pal Premier Photo Op. No surprise there since he’s been consistent in saying
Continue readingNorthern Insight: A shill game
Ian Reid at The Real Story has proposed a new name for ‘Concerned Citizens for B.C.’, a group organized by Liberal toady Jim Shepard. From BC Rail shill to straight out BC Liberal shill. Maybe his group should be called “Concerned Liberals for Saving Our Scandal Ridden Ass.”
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Who is this guy, really?
In the book Criminal Profiling, Richard N. Kocsis described malignant narcissism as: “an extreme form of antisocial personality disorder that is manifest in a person who is pathologically grandiose, lacking in conscience and behavioral regulation, and with characteristic demonstrations of joyful cruelty and sadism”. What he missed doing was including
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Fraud prevention and recovery
Simi Sara made a worthwhile demand on her CKNW show today. The British Columbia should lift the gag orders imposed on Dave Basis and Bob Virk that formed a part of the inducements paid the defendants to end the BC Rail trial. The public is not served by those gag
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Rafe Mair raises his wise voice
No Souls but Lots of Cash, Rafe Mair, The Tyee, June 25, 2012 – BC’s crucial environmental battles pit citizens against politicians’ love of corporate money. “Corporations have a legal body but no conscience or soul. They look out for themselves alone and don’t give a rat’s posterior for anything
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