A twit from Victoria reports: I thought they’d already changed. It is the BC Christy party now, according to the LINO website.
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: Secret shared
Jim Newell, Salon.com “The dirty little secret about political punditry, that is not actually a secret to anyone who watches and reads it, is that it’s all lies. It requires very little knowledge or skill, and there are no consequences for being wrong. “For a major newspaper to fire one
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Disappearing punditry
“Unless something astonishing happens, the Wildrose Party will form the next government of Alberta: all that remained at time of writing was to discover whether it would be a minority or majority. “…Never mind that it has never governed, or has only ever elected one member of the legislature. The
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Pardon?
Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, speaking in the House of Commons: “(Aglukkaq) has cut programs for diabetes, youth suicide, Aboriginal health human resources. Can the minister explain to this house why her cuts target the population with the worse health outcomes in Canada, the Aboriginal people of Canada.” Health Minister Leona
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Raeside scores
Adrian Raeside has been drawing cartoons portraying the ferry fleet for over thirty years. From breakdowns, groundings, the Fast Ferry Fiasco, the Sunshine Breakfast, German-built ferries, the Million Dollar Man (David Hahn) and fuel surcharges, Raeside has covered it all in his unique style. The best of these hilarious and
Continue readingNorthern Insight: A challenge to corporate media
British Columbia’s inept Liberals slide toward oblivion and Alberta’s long reigning Conservatives are already at the brink. No doubt, social media and online commentary contributes by impacting political dialog but the output of corporate media, with few notable exceptions, is limited by commercial interests, a situation made worse by today’s
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Dare we trust Enbridge with BC coast?
Sex, Oil, and Videotape, Ted Genoways, Mother Jones “…Almost every day for more than a year, this had been [John] Bolenbaugh’s daily activity—shooting video of the slow-going cleanup of one of the worst inland oil spills in American history. And on that day he wanted me to see “ground zero,”
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Morton’s Fork, Alberta
In the politics of Alberta, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg vision has been bastardized to become “government of business, by business, for business.” In the April 23 election, voters can re-elect a tired, incompetent Conservative government which, according to Alberta journalist Andrew Nikiforuk, does: “a much better job representing the interests of
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Signs of protest
Our Coast Our Decision, a slideshow by Robin Rowland
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Tax hint
If you haven’t filed your return with a week to go in Canada’s 2012 tax season, I suggest you try approved tax preparation software at STUDIO TAX. It works perfectly well for almost everyone, enables online filing and comes at a remarkable price: nothing. Of course, they do ask that,
Continue readingNorthern Insight: I’ll tell you what I really, really want
Is Times Colonist becoming BC’s newspaper of record? It might be the go-to place to follow BC current events, except for political commentary provided by that guy whose son toils professionally for the BC Liberal Party. RossK offers applause to TC writer Lindsay Kines in This Is What Public Service
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Toward a certain end
Lights are out on election night My point to radio reporter Shane Woodford in the twitter exchange discussed in an earlier post was that too little attention has been paid to the reasons why public approval of BC Liberals has dropped from a high of 58% in 2001 to 31%
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Twitter time
After last night’s by-election results were in, I had a twitterverse exchange with CKNW’s Shane Woodford: Woodford: The big question in Chilliwack Hope is, can the bcndp keep the seat when we go to a Prov. elxn next year? Farrell: Maybe the question is “Why did/does MSM underestimate/ignore public anger
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Your day without shoes is coming
A.A.A.D.D. KNOW THE SYMPTOMS! Thank goodness there’s a name for this disorder. Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests: I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing. As I
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Grown too rich, too powerful to punish
According to the Washington Post, Google has been under scrutiny in the U.S., Canada, France and the Netherlands for charges that it illegally collected WiFi data using its Street View cars. “…the company said the cars, which roam the world taking pictures for its location-based applications, scarfed up e-mail addresses,
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Willing buyers, willing sellers
“There are two things that are important in politics. The first thing is money, and I can’t remember what the second one is.” – Mark Hanna, campaign architect, ca. 1900 David D. Kirkpatrick of The New York Times wrote in 2010: “Private influence-seekers shower big contributions on politicians because they
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Premier Photo-Op and friends
The candidates here holding Christy Clark erect represent two of the primary supports relied on by Patrick Kinsella’s creation and her BC Liberals. Dennis Marsden is a former President of the Chamber of Commerce and Laurie Throness represents the right wing fundamentalist segment of the Harper Government – the paradise
Continue readingNorthern Insight: $30K+ Liberal donations involve Charles Jago
True intermediary needs impartiality, Editorial Peace Arch News, April 11, 2012 “Wherever one stands on the current teachers’ dispute, it must be recognized that it is crucial for all sides that the mediator appointed should be considered by all parties to be independent and impartial at the outset. “Unfortunately for
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Competence and integrity: abject failure
John Cummins talks to Craig Oliver, CTV Question Period: “The issue really is more a matter of competence and a matter of integrity and the Liberals are abject failures on both counts. The public has simply lost confidence in them and people are walking away from the party in droves
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Truthiness in BC
During the past week, this blog’s third birthday slipped by and I barely noticed because life is busier than ever. What began as an aim to gain a little writing proficiency through practice has grown into a fairly consuming hobby. After more than 50 years as a news junkie, I’ve
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