A typical Western Canadian scene: snapped in Edmonton, Alberta, in 2014. The Scotch, as we used to say when I was growing up in B.C., pretty much built Western Canada, leastways the European superstructure of buildings, roads and railways that lies atop the land of the first inhabitants. You need
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The Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Bennett should resign over Mount Polley
In the old days of BC politics, Minister Bennett would fall on his sword, says Rafe Mair (Youtube / Got News Network) One day, in 1863, Mr. Byrne decided to take a stroll to get a little bit of Liverpool air. As he ambled down the street he went past
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Burnaby fires back at Kinder Morgan with constitutional challenge
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan continues to be a thorn in Kinder Morgan’s side (Image: Youtube) Read this Aug. 11 story by Jennifer Moreau in the Burnaby Now on Burnaby Council’s latest salvo in its battle with pipeline company Kinder Morgan over drilling under Burnaby Mountain. The City of Burnaby is launching a constitutional
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Mount Polley owner donated half a million dollars to Liberals, gets easy ride from Bennett
BC Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett (CP) By Alex Hanson The Bill Bennett dog and pony show has been wheeled out in the media once again, this time to cover for his long time pal and major campaign contributor Murray Edwards – the biggest shareholder at the now infamous
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Mount Polley Mine proves Liberal “de-regulation” doesn’t work
Blame the BC Liberals’ lax regulations for Mount Polley Mine, says Rafe Mair (BC Liberal facebook page) The Mount Polley Mine/Imperial Metals disaster is such that one scarcely knows where to start. Fortunately, the people of British Columbia have a writer like Stephen Hume, who in the Vancouver Sun tells chapter and verse
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Examining the BC Liberal Government’s real fiscal record
The Common Sense Canadian’s Damien Gillis discusses the BC Liberal government’s real fiscal track record with CFAX radio’s Ian Jessop in Victoria. The two contrast a history of serious cost-overruns on major infrastructure projects with the oft-repeated myth of the government’s sound fiscal management. From the Port Mann Bridge and
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Can environmentalism be liberated from partisan politics?
Ex-BC Green Leader Jane Sterk (left) and Premier Christy Clark on the 2013 campaign trail (Facebook) In BC, conflating environmentalism and politics is a mainstay. Is it possible to restore environmentalism in BC, free of partisan politics and more in tune with the actual environment? Here is where environmentalists can learn
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Under Liberals, big projects often double in cost…Why would Site C Dam be any different?
Seeing red: The roof on BC Place Stadium is just one of many cost overruns on the BC Liberals’ watch Oh, for the days of the fast ferries…compared to what we have now. Most British Columbians will recall Premier Glen Clark’s late 1990′s boondoggle, which saw the construction of three new coastal
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC govt, City of Vancouver: Kinder Morgan dodging pipeline questions
Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vancouver Council have some tough questions for Kinder Morgan (facebook) By Dene Moore, The Canadian Press VANCOUVER – Kinder Morgan has failed to answer many of the questions put to the company about its proposed Trans Mountain pipeline through the regulatory review process, charge a chorus
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC NDP leadership race down to John Horgan
Read this April 9 story from the The Province on the decision by former frontrunner Mike Farnworth’s decision to step aside for colleague John Horgan, leaving the MLA for Juan de Fuca as the only candidate for the job in the lead-up to a May 1 decision by the party. VICTORIA
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Christy Clark was a partner in firm that lobbied for Enbridge
BC Premier Christy Clark during talks with her Alberta counterpart on the proposed Enbridge pipeline Read this April 1 Vancouver Observer story on the revelation through leaked documents that BC Premier Christy Clark was a partner in a firm that lobbied the Harper government on behalf of Enbridge. B.C. Premier Christy Clark
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: My life as the son of an Alberta oil man
Alex (right) and father (left) riding dirt bikes. (Photo: Matt Sutton’s Facebook) by Matt Sutton In November, 2013, I drove to Lacombe, Alberta, to visit my Dad and his family, accompanied by my best friend Alex – a chemical engineer technologist at Imperial Oil, responsible for conducting research on how
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Clark’s transit referendum going off the rails
Read this Jan. 22 Vancouver Sun editorial by Don Cayo on the folly that is BC Premier Christy Clark’s proposed provincial referendum on funding public transit going forward. You would think Christy Clark, more than most, would understand that just because it was the premier’s idea doesn’t mean it’s a good one.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: In BC, fracking happens closer to schools, homes
This school playground in Farmington, BC, sits a few hundred meters from a sour gas well (Damien Gillis) Read this December 29 Vancouver Sun story from Stephen Hume on the revolving door between government and the shale gas industry that has left BC’s children and families more vulnerable to the risks
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Pundits, polls and pack journalism: BC’s wild year in politics
by Sid Tafler As 2013 winds down, veteran BC journalist Sid Tafler looks back at the province’s 2013 election and the surprising (to some) victory of the BC Liberal Party. On the night of the BC election, a supporter of Green Party candidate Andrew Weaver told a TV reporter he
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Minister Pat Pimm should resign for meddling in farmland hearing, says group
Public interest group IntegrityBC is calling for the resignation of Liberal Agriculture Minister Pat Pimm, following the revelation that he and Fort St. John Mayor Lori Ackerman meddled in an Agricultural Land Commission hearing into removing a piece of farmland from the ALR. The Globe and Mails’s Mark Hume reported on Saturday
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Clark, Redford reach Alberta-BC oil pipeline deal
BC and Alberta Premiers Christy Clark and Alison Redford (CP photo) Read this Nov. 5 story from The Globe and Mail on the deal reached today by BC Premier Christy Clark and her Alberta counterpart, Alison Redford, on moving Tar Sands bitumen by pipeline to BC’s coast. B.C. Premier Christy Clark
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Gordon Wilson finds religion on LNG…for $12,500 a month
A screen capture from Gordon Wilson’s youtube endorsement of Christy Clark Some years ago I got into hot water for calling a federal cabinet minister of the female persuasion a “political whore”, a phrase that has nothing to do with sexism and everything to do with having principles for sale.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Wildrose leader Smith admits climate change real, human-caused
RED DEER, Alta. – Alberta Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith, under fire by critics as a weak leader and climate change denier, announced Friday she now believes climate change exists and that mankind is at least partially to blame. As her party delegates opened a weekend policy convention, Smith told reporters: I
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe Mair: Enbridge pipeline should face BC referendum
Thousands of citizens spoke out against Enbridge at last year’s “Defend Our Coast” rally” (TJ Watt photo) The cynicism of both our senior governments regarding tankers and pipelines is appalling. The pact between Premier Clark and Alberta Premier Redford – followed two days later by the Harper government’s Speech from the Throne
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