I grew up informed and amused by Vancouver’s great editorial cartoonists Len Norris and Roy Peterson. At home, there is an original Norris on the wall, purchased at a 1981 elementary school fundraiser that benefited from the artist’s generosity during another time of restraint in public education. Browsing through works
Continue readingAuthor: Norman Farrell
Northern Insights / Perceptivity: Canadians: too polite, too passive?
One more example of price gouging that faces Canadians every day. Live in Point Roberts WA, pay Amazon $76.39. Live two kilometres north in Tsawwassen BC, pay Amazon $149.99 for the same product. 96% higher in Canada. You might also read Might makes right, describing illusory efforts of the Harper
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: OHWTO
Phil Hochstein and his Independent Contractors and Businesses Association have had a symbiotic relationship with British Columbia’s governing party for more than a decade. ICBA provides financing and political support; in return, BC Liberals shape procurement policies, taxation, legislation and regulations to advantage these loyal supporters. The same goes for
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Did BC taxpayers finance American TV ?
American cable TV producers moved taping of three of 18 episodes of Bravo’s Top Chef: Texas to British Columbia. That may seem unlikely because of the high costs of transporting and housing contestants, judges and an entire U.S. production crew following a 4,000 km location shift. However, you can be
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Smile
Henning Wehn, German Comedy Ambassador to the United Kingdom, on Britain’s social classes: “Life in Britain is all about knowing your place. The lower class has a lot in common with the upper class in that they’re mostly unemployable, make virtually no tax contribution and don’t need to consider if
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Open, accountable government, BC Liberal style
B.C. Lottery Corp. seeks reversal of document order, CBC News, March 15, 2011 “The Financial Transactions Reports Analysis Centre (Fintrac), the federal money laundering watchdog, hit BCLC in 2010 with a $700,000 fine for failing to adequately report suspected money laundering. The lottery corporation is appealing the fine. The penalty
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Deep down, she is shockingly shallow
Game Change, an HBO movie about the 2008 McCain / Palin campaign is more about éminence grise Steve Schmidt than the Senator or his running mate. A central element is the wretched selection of Sarah Palin as candidate for an office that is a heartbeat away from the presidency. McCain
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Might makes right
Far right commentators tell us that government should remove itself from every possible sector of the country’s economy. For example, the Fraser Institute, an organization that cares for interests of Canada’s most privileged, wants immediate action. Their plan — published in Postmedia newspapers — demands a federal spending cut of
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: How much have Wall Street and banks changed?
Not much, according to Greg Smith, a London based Goldman Sachs’ executive director who is leaving with a loud message to the public. He contributed an Op-Ed to the New York Times, Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs: “TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: BC Jobs Plan working, in China
In the last year, the Pacific Northwest (BC, WA, OR) exported well more than $1 billion worth of raw softwood logs to China. Shipments for 2011 were more than in the preceding five years combined. Increased demand for logs might be great for the logging industry, but it results in
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Northern Insights / Perceptivity 2012-03-13 19:33:00
A work by Vancouver-based writer and political cartoonist Geoff Olson. His work has appeared in The Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail, Adbusters, The National Post, This Magazine, The Vancouver Courier, Common Ground magazine and other publications. Click here to check out Geoff Olson’s web site. H/T: Susan H.
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Public land with full access now privatized
Liberals have been bulldozing barriers and slashing red tape for more than a decade. Who can forget: “Red Tape Reduction Task Force” of 2001 to recommend priorities for the review and elimination of regulations in BC. Rich Coleman’s 2002 announcement that red tape had been slashed by 41 per cent
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Bob Mackin’s tasseography
“Could the fumbling of the renaming of B.C. Place be the undoing for Clark? “The shocking resignation of Peter Brown from the board of the B.C. Pavilion Corporation could be the beginning of the end for Premier Christy Clark’s nearly year-old reign as Premier of British Columbia.” Read the entire
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: VIHA CEO Howard Waldner in the news again
After Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times about the affluent exercising self-interest to make gains over the rest of us, Pamela Fayerman published a local illustration in the Times Colonist. Med school admissions contentious issue at UBC discusses elites requesting special treatment for friends and family seeking admission to
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Believing stuff about equal opportunity
Nobel winning American economist Paul Krugman, Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton, writes frequently for the New York Times. This week, he offers Ignorance Is Strength, a timely piece that may help us understand why BC Liberals are waging political war on public education. “One way in which Americans
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: A No Era for British Columbia
The British Columbia Liberals promised a number of things when they aimed to form government in 2001. This is from page three of their 36-page campaign document A New Era for British Columbia. Indeed, under more than a decade of Liberal rule, expenditures on education increased. However, we need to
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Dishonourable and unscrupulous – but consistent
Currently, the internet is alive with discussion of public education in British Columbia and I’ve gathered a few elements from different sites to create a composite of opinions that reflect my view that an unnecessary dispute serves no good purpose. Ian Reid wrote about Liberal maneuvering as they aim to
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: No more reprehensible MP than this guy
Veterans called NDP hacks, Jeff Davis, Postmedia News “OTTAWA — Calgary MP Rob Anders — who embarrassed himself by falling asleep in the Veterans Affairs committee last week — offered an apology to veterans in the House of Commons Tuesday. “…After nodding off in a committee meeting held in Halifax,
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: A very good year, for a few
The Rich Get Richer: 2010 Was a Very Good Year to Be in the 1%, Derek Thompson, senior editor at The Atlantic “This recovery has been a luxury item. For the bottom 99%, real income growth over the first two years of the recovery was one-fifth of one percent. The
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Feeding time ending
Alex Tsakumis has the slow cooker warmed. The hogs might soon be shredded pork. Pigs at the trough will start to squeal. Don’t miss the story of how British Columbia’s government was hijacked by a handful of powerful insiders. Even the mainstream media – well, maybe the CBC – cannot
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