I repeat the comment by scotty on Denman left this afternoon at BC Liberal closing out sale. It deserves to be featured and we must demand that Adrian Dix, John Horgan and every NDP opposition member, as well as independents Bob Simpson, John Van Dongen and Vicki Huntingdon, stand in
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: Spread this story and these links
Ian Reid adroitly captures the question to be answered about BC Rail: “Why did the BC Liberals want to shut the trial down? What were they so afraid of that they would compromise the civil service, the administration of justice and maybe even the law to keep it out of
Continue readingNorthern Insight: BC Liberal closing out sale
Monday, I linked to Guardian columnist George Monbiot, a writer whose work I often find compelling. He said: “Since the 1980s, in Britain, the US and other nations, the primary mission of governments has been to grant their sponsors in the private sector ever greater access to public money and
Continue readingNorthern Insight: A false notion of the purpose and end of law
A replay from June 2010 that seemed to me worth repeating because, after almost two years, Vaughn Palmer, the Vancouver Sun’s main pundit, finally noticed the BCR scandal keeps BC Liberals mired in rough and unpredictable terrain. Weekend is a time to reflect on broad issues and to search for
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Keeping corporate tyrants at bay
Freedom of information…, George Monbiot, The Guardian “Modern government could be interpreted as a device for projecting corporate power. Since the 1980s, in Britain, the US and other nations, the primary mission of governments has been to grant their sponsors in the private sector ever greater access to public money
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Not a story to be ignored, after all
The following conversation between the three voices of NW’s Trailing Edge from the Ledge was first reported at Northern Insight in October 2009. Today, the boys got to say what they really think about the blog world: Keith: “Vaughn called them nut cases in the past . . .” Vaughn:
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Verbal gymnastics? Maybe not
Fascism Anyone?, Dr. Laurence W. Britt, Free Inquiry Magazine, Council for Secular Humanism, Spring 2003 “…fascism’s principles are wafting in the air today, surreptitiously masquerading as something else, challenging everything we stand for. The cliché that people and nations learn from history is not only overused, but also overestimated; often
Continue readingNorthern Insight: 5 years in jail for masked instigators of unrest
Stephen Harper’s government supports Bill C-309, a private members bill before the House of Commons. It will enable individuals to be jailed five years for wearing a mask or other disguise to conceal identity during a riot — which can be defined as an unlawful assembly that results in a
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Coverup defines Conservative Party character
If you surmise the sum of two plus two is four, you’ll be quite certain of the result, even if no independent authority confirms it. So too with Canada’s election robocall and voter suppression scandal. Listen to a fake robocall. First, Canada’s Conservatives claimed ignorance and innocence. “I have absolutely
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Justice is blind … to abuse, again
I republish this article from January 2011. The trial of RCMP Constable Mantler is scheduled for November 2012 and this seemingly straight forward case is scheduled to last three weeks. It is worth re-examination because, in numerous ways, it illustrates the defective operation of British Columbia’s police and court services.
Continue readingNorthern Insight: The "path to sustainability"
The words are code, of course, for celebration of globalism where business and capital dominate unions and labour and holdings of wealth become concentrated, where law and order supersedes civil rights, where corporations rank above people, where environmentalism, with concern for the land and its people, is subservient to greed
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Hypocrisy reigns
B.C. accused of salary increase ‘double standard’, CBC News, May 3, 2012 “Cabinet staffers got average 10-per-cent hike while ‘net-zero’ offered elsewhere “B.C.’s teachers and many provincial government workers might have been forced to accept “net-zero” contracts, but several staffers working for premier Christy Clark and other cabinet ministers have
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Today in the Legislature
I urge you to read through this material provided by Gary Coons, NDP Critic for B.C. Ferries and Coastal Communities: In the bc legislature we asked questions about the spill in Gitga’at territory…I am away in 100 Mile House…so Rob Fleming our envir critic led… R. Fleming: Two days ago
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Rebranding – easier than revision
Province columnist Michael Smyth writes the BC Liberal Party — “searching for any way out of its predicament” — believes a new name might be part of the answer to unpopularity and disrespect. Christy Clark is not the first troubled leader who thought rebranding would be simpler than providing principle
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Using taxis would save millions
Thirty-seven minister and junior ministers, each with a driver and a car in Ottawa. A quick calculation allowing for salaries, benefits, overtime and vehicle costs indicates at least $3.2 million a year to transport Harper’s politicians around Ottawa. I suppose that is cheap because Bev Oda ran up $3,000 in
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Soft landings
Another change in BC Premier Christy Clark’s office, Andrew MacLeod, The Tyee, May 2, 2012 The Premier’s office is now Scott free, which conveniently fixes a CBC problem. They had refused to resolve the conflict issue after their own Ombudsman Kirk Lapointe sided with the online community and found that
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Canada’s message: "We’re all right Jack!"
Expectation of economic recovery in Europe is replaced now by talk of double dip recession — even depression. Nevertheless, Canada is lecturing nations there to institute the policies of economic neoliberalism favoured by Stephen Harper. Chris Williamson of financial information services company Markit commented: “Austerity in deficit-fighting countries is having an
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Be cautious of demon inspired thinkers
For those who would be devout except it’s so difficult, Stephen Colbert updates advice from the leader of an ancient group that threatened to hijack their nation’s regulatory system to achieve a radical ideological agenda: “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. And hide in the Caymans what is the Caymans’.”
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Regressive taxation: help for the prosperous
Let’s Stop The Apple Tax Dodge, Isaiah J. Poole, Campaign for America’s Future, April 30, 2012 “In one sense, Sunday’s New York Times story on how Apple avoids paying U.S. taxes is not a surprise. In 2010 Bloomberg News exposed how another technology titan, Google, managed to lower its tax
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Unjust deserts
Without reporting anything on the BC Liberal HQ purge beyond the party line, Vancouver Sun reporter Jonathan Fowlie provides the pols an uncritical platform to assure us that all goes well in la-la land, Clark’s senior staffer to run B.C. Liberals 2013 campaign cleanup “[Newly appointed campaign director Mike] McDonald
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