David Brooks, a traditional conservative now a staff writer at The Atlantic
David Brooks’s opinion piece in The Atlantic begins with a question that many people have been asking for a considerable time.
Norman Farrell
Teddy Doze-evelt
TIME magazine published the full transcript of its interview with Donald Trump. It makes a strong case for more effective constitutional and political means of removing a president who is…
Rob the poor, give to the rich
A paper published by the Rand Corporation in 2023 had a fundamental conclusion that U.S. economic growth since the mid-1970s has been distributed far less evenly than in the postwar…
No unconditional loyalty
The B.C. NDP deserves criticism. But the reassembly of the disassembled B.C. Conservative Party offers little confidence that it is ready to govern. Let the Conservatives first demonstrate that they…
Carlin, gone too soon
Much of George Carlin’s work survives despite the passage of time.
Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year
Climate change may not affect baby boomers like me, but it sure as hell will affect my grandchildren. The headline of this article is drawn from the World Health Organization,…
Foot-dragging on electrifying new residential construction may cost new owners $25,000+ in retrofits
Local governments are climate change laggards. This needs to change, and voters should keep this in mind on October 17.
David Eby’s blunder
In what may prove to be one of the greatest misjudgments in the modern history of politics in British Columbia, David Eby chose to call a provincial election. The fact…
Metro Vancouver is costing North Vancouver taxpayers almost $20,000 each
I was recently at a meeting where North Vancouver District Council member Jim Hanson talked about the need for reform of Metro Vancouver governance. He illustrated his comments by comparing…
Taxpayers are invariably hosed
I don’t know why private industry should object to government involvement in megaprojects. Eventually, and inevitably, taxpayers get hosed, while the world's wealthiest citizens grow even wealthier. Governments spend billions…
Affordable housing
A discussion of policies that could result in more affordable housing.
Crime declining — police budgets and political rhetoric rising
Dr. Graham Farrell served as Research Chair in Environmental Criminology at Simon Fraser University before moving to the University of Leeds in 2015, where he is Professor of Crime Science.…
We had a visitor
Yesterday, a black bear was in our yard, but when it noticed humans, it scurried up the Seymour River western escarpment behind our home. Today, another bear visited. This time…
Municipal politics and climate action
A friend of mine is deeply engaged with his local government. He is, by his own admission, a royal pain in the ass to people at city hall. His theory…
Looking at BC Hydro
BC Hydro has released its annual report. Several realities stand out. Electricity demand from residential, commercial, and light industrial customers remains flat while power delivered to heavy industry has increased.…
Outrageous
Residents of a condominium for people aged 55 and older, at 255 Erickson Road, have been locked out of their homes for more than two and a half years following…
Norway’s C$3.21 trillion pension fund
In just three months, the value of Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global has increased by C$1.42 billion—the equivalent of C$25,000 for every man, woman, and child living in Norway.
Just another day in the time of the great derangement
Denmark and Sweden are the only two industrialized countries likely to attain net-zero. Canada will not. The Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act was passed in 2021, but it has no…
The largest intellectual property theft
...the largest intellectual property theft in American history. AI companies are training their models on stolen material, period. And we’re not talking about these companies simply scouring the internet for…
Life on the highway
Driving through the Fraser Valley on the Trans-Canada Highway, I encountered several separate improvement projects. Vehicles would stop at one roadblock, resume travel, reach another, stop again, and then repeat…