B.C. Needs a More Centrist NDP
“B.C. doesn’t need two Liberal parties.” With those words, B.C. NDP leader Adrian Dix made the announcement last September 23 that he was going to hold the reins of the…
Mark Crawford
How Good Have the Conservatives Actually Been for Canadian Consumers?
While the Harper government’s degradation of Canadian democracy has been scary, I find its economic policies to be by far the most disappointing aspect of its record. This fact was…
History Lessons – The Commonwealth Fund
The Following link provides a pertinent perspective on Obamacare and the ridiculous treatment it has been receiving from right-wing media in the United States (and, I am sorry to say,…
Top 5 MPs of 2013
{Below is a version of column I submitted to several B.C. Interior newspapers in late December 2013.–MC} Allow me to start the New Year on a positive note by presenting…
The Development Centre of Yi Women and Children In Liangshan
I was deeply moved by a CBC news story about families affected by the AIDS epidemic in Liangshan, the home of the Yi (or Norsu) people, in rural villages of…
Why the Conservative government Must Be Defeated in 2015
1. The millions of taxpayers’ money spent on partisan propaganda, the personal attack ads between elections, the “anything you can get away with” attitude to parliamentary democracy, the avoidance of…
For Thanksgiving: Lots of Conservative Turkey
How much do we really have to be thankful for in the federal government’s recent spate of policy announcements? All the good news is getting hard to digest. A last…
Adrian Dix Does It Again
{An edited version of the following post has also been submitted as a guest op-ed in the 100 Mile Free Press, Anahim-Nimpo Messenger, and the Omineca Free Press–MC} Shortly after…
Who Killed Betty Belshaw?
Back in the late 1970s Beryl Young suggested to her friend, Victoria writer Ellen Godfrey, that she write a book about the sensational murder and trial of celebrated UBC Anthropology…
Let’s link future electoral reform and Citizens Assembly proposals to the Initiative Process
I can see another role for the initiative process–as a next stop for decisions made about electoral reform or other subjects bruited in a Citizens’ Assembly. Going directly from an…
(Book Review) Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens
This is an excellent bedtime book, because it consists of short pieces (typically 4-6 pages in length), many of which appeared in Vanity Fair, on a wide range of topics…
Mr. Mulcair to Blame?
Attempts by the Conservative government (and even some Liberals),to deflect blame for the Lac Megantic disaster by attacking the Leader of the Opposition for “exploiting” the tragedy are simply mistaken,…
Lac Megantic was a Disaster Waiting To Happen
About 8 years ago I was between teaching contracts, so I decided to work for a few months as a labourer on a railway track maintenance and repair crew in…
Should We Be Boosting–even Subsidizing– Bitumen Exports to China?
The attached link to the Munk Debate between Michael Byers and Brian Lee Crowley provides a good summary of the opposing views of educated protaganists on the expansion of the…
Stephen Harper’s Impressive Math on CETA
While visiting Britain and France this week, prime minister Stephen Harper pointed out that Canada and the European Union do approximately $8 billion worth of trade annually, and that the…
N.D.P.= No Dix Please
I told you so, sort of. Okay, Okay, I was as gullible as everyone else in assuming the public media opinon polls would translate into an NDP victory on May…
Voter Turnout in British Columbia
The numbers from BC are quite underwhelming: Greens fell by 4,000; Libs lost 28,000 votes, and the NDP fell by 48,000. Clearly, people who actually vote are dying off rapidly:…
Synopsis of BC Election Result: We Should Have Known
{The following has been submitted for publication in the Omineca Express and Anahim-Nimpo Messenger–MC} I accept my share of humble pie for not predicting the re- election of the B.C.…
Nigel Wright, Adrian Dix are this Week’s Unexpected Losers
Nigel Wright and Adrian Dix are both people that I have written about, in a generally critical vein. But neither of them are people who I expected to flame out…
Pipelines and Politics
If the election of the Liberals leads to a doubling of the Kinder Morgan line, and maybe even the building of the Northern gateway, and Andrew Weaver is leading the…