To be or not to be
Recent inactivity at In-Sights may be a prelude to discontinuation. When I began eleven years ago, neoliberalism had ascended and mainstream public interest journalism had descended. Access to corporate media…
Norman Farrell
NDP energy promises now forgotten
Most business managers are drawn to new low-price means of production, particularly when costs of innovations are trending steadily downward and costs of conventional methods are rising. Not at BC…
Revenue from natural gas rights hits 23 year low
Were timber companies offered similar levels of cost relief as gas producers, the province would not have thousands of forestry workers hungry for employment. Politicians seem to believe that non-renewable…
Good old days
Politicians, not too long ago, feared the press. Much has changed, not because corporate media owners are suffering financially, since most are not. Good journalism is available, much of it…
BC Hydro, by the numbers
In the preceding article, I suggested BC Hydro was a sinking ship, ineptly managed. Numbers taken from 25 years of annual reports provide the evidence…
Steady as she goes
The 40% demand growth over 20 years is a fantasy spun for so long that it is baked into BC Hydro’s DNA. No surprise. Not spending billions of dollars to…
Returning to action
My consumer testing of BC’s healthcare system is now complete so activity at In-Sights will resume this week. As Arlo Guthrie said 52 years ago, “You walk in, you get…
Oilberta
Alberta has long been a puppet of the oil and gas business but Kenney’s compulsion to deliver benefits to this private sector is unprecedented. It is as if Alberta’s right…
Democratic delusion
“Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.” Even with contribution limits, generous as they are, government remains biased toward serving interests…
God Bless the Children
Climate protest. A story in pictures of dedication and courage. And urgency.
Not on time, not on budget
Since actual payments are almost 3x the contractual obligation, it looks like the Sea to Sky Highway improvement project will eventually cost $1.5 billion. And remember, the province financed one…
Remembering
An old guy remembers the old days in British Columbia…
He’s come undun
He’s come undun He twisted truth and all we got was lies Came the time to realize And it was too late
Norway sets an example
Norway has done far more than put aside a substantial part of the value of fossil fuel production. It has has taken aggressive action to deal with climate change…
They think we’re stupid
For decades, BC Hydro’s leadership has been predicting demand for electricity in BC will grow about 40% in 20 years. The utility continues to misinform citizens of the province even…
Extractivism – BC as third world economy
In British Columbia’s natural resource sector, public revenues decreased while quantities and values produced increased. First published in 2014. Still relevant in 2019: Not long ago, British Columbia thrived on…
Rising production, declining gas revenue
Sale of crown petroleum and natural gas rights in the first nine month of 2019 totalled $12 million. The average for the first nine months of the preceding 20 years…
Who says no, when no needs to be said?
Are citizens of British Columbia protected from massive financial fraud? Frankly, we have little protection…
Questions asked
Available evidence demonstrates that, despite the province’s financial affairs being in good order, the NDP Government is satisfied to keep school teacher salaries close to the lowest paid of any…
Politics outranks good policy
After banking large contributions from taxi owners, governing BC Liberals had declined to change provincial rules to allow ride hailing. They also failed to ensure adequate expansion of fleet sizes.…