Mythbusting
Statistics Canada reports that 27,200 fewer people were employed in British Columbia in January, compared to the month earlier. A single period is an unreliable indicator but StatsCan provides decades…
Norman Farrell
Vanishing revenues
With land developers, the largest funders of the BC Liberal Party are natural resource companies. They've contributed millions of dollars to encourage government sympathetic to their needs. No administration in…
Expect to resume writing Monday
A short illness compounded by my computer keyboard going dead has left me quiet for a while. I expect to have new working equipment shortly and to resume writing by…
BC Jobs Plan
BC Liberals haven't talked much about the BC Jobs Plan lately, perhaps because they don't want people looking too closely at the statistical reports. They reveal a trend where full-time…
Questions for BC Liberal by-election candidates
One day after Kelowna Liberal MLA Ben Stewart resigned in 2013, unelected Christy Clark called a by-election so that she could seek election and continue as Premier. Weeks later, Stewart…
Medical services poverty program
Readers of an age to receive a monthly Old Age Security cheque will be thrilled to notice a 57¢ increase in January. As I mentioned on Twitter, cautious saving of…
Why the rush to spend billions?
BC Hydro's own sales records demonstrate Site C is not needed. Domestic consumption of electricity has been flat for more than a decade and technological efficiencies indicate we will need…
A reader comments
I've been reporting information taken from annual and quarterly reports of BC Hydro. There are important economic issues and billions of dollars at stake and the people who benefit from…
Buy high, sell low
In the six months ended September 30, BC Hydro purchased 7,640 GWh of electricity from independent power producers. It paid $599 million, which is $78,400 per GWh.In the same period,…
Proceeding without caution
Even slightly aware BC citizens know that Premier Clark and her accomplices are incompetent. Liberal managers include not a single person capable of completing a basic course in strategic decision…
Can we talk about fast ferries instead?
From a presentation by renowned columnist Erik Andersen on CBC...After BC Hydro made all the IPP contracts Premier Campbell found that California did not consider "run of river" generation green.…
Takin’ Care of Business
These charts demonstrate that rewarding influential friends is a prime BC Liberal purpose. Despite a decade of flat...Posted by Norman Farrell on Friday, January 1, 2016So, if demand for electricity…
How "clean" is BC’s natural gas industry?
Methane: The other important greenhouse gas, Environmental Defense Fund:By emitting just a little bit of methane, mankind is greatly accelerating the rate of climatic change. - Steve Hamburg EDF Chief…
Fewer words, more pictures
Province defends Massey Bridge as top pick for federal grants, Jeff Nagel, Black Press, December 21, 2015:Transportation Minister Todd Stone is defending the province's decision to make the replacement of…
Deceit as government policy
Writing in The Tyee, Damien Gillis provides the best analysis I've seen of Christy Clark's LNG fantasies. Read it and share it. Three Fibs Premier Clark Uses to Sell LNG…
Fluid mechanics
A 2-inch pipe between 1/2-inch pipes will not increase flow but will increase costs. #bcpoli #RichmondBC #surreybc pic.twitter.com/3elfTRRLbo— Norm Farrell (@Norm_Farrell) December 19, 2015H/T: RobS
Pammy’s progress
RossK's The Gazetteer, in This Day In Clarkland...Pammy's Progress, featured a Tweet of BC's NotSenator Pam talking with Burke Mountain Liberals in Coquitlam. I couldn't not reply..@pamelamartin_bc kicks off our…
It’s a start
B.C. Liberal party executive director resigns, facing criminal charges in Ontario, CBC News, December 17, 2015:Laura Miller charged with breach of trust, mischief, and misuse of a computer system to…
Flaws of classic cars
In moments of honesty, we older folks will admit the cars of our youth are better in memory than they were in reality.I knew a man who lovingly restored an…
Gas production ↑ 85%, public revenue ↓ 90%
To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity. – Douglas AdamsDays ago, Premier Clark averred that…