Norman Farrell
Laila rules
Almost a year ago, blogger Laila Yuile reported on retaining wall defects along the Sea to Sky Highway. Pictures were included: Troubling photos spark Ministry of Transportation inspections of Sea…
Liberal transparency: secret agreements, no oversight
If politicians become so focused on reaping rewards for themselves, their friends and associates, they begin to act as British Columbia Liberals are acting now. Like furtive night prowlers, government…
Sliding from have to have-not
Statistics Canada provides surveys that allow analysis of employment. In my opinion, one data set that gains too little attention is the employment rate. It refers to the number of…
They’re really good at ineptitude
Digital database incomplete, Justine Hunter, Globe & Mail, April 14, 2016 An $842-million project to transfer patient health-care records to an integrated, digital database has gone off the rails after…
Would you trust a prevaricator with $128 million?
Less than three weeks ago, a 2,100 ft² house on a 3,350 ft² lot in east Vancouver sold for $2.2 million although the asking price was $1.6 million. Two weeks…
Takin’ care of business
For each $1 million of Nestle branded water sold, BC is paid about $2. Mind you, this is a better rate of return than the province gains from resource companies…
When the bells ring, political pets respond
Of course, not all journalists react in Pavlovian ways but the Black Press crew is reliable. @theemilyjackson @pqpolitics Other than 1000s of ft of booms and a special pollution response…
Canadian elites
Politics “is infected with a serious imbalance of power between elites and masses, a power which is the principal threat to our democracy.” – U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone North Van…
Cracks in credibility remain
Two days ago, retired journalist and TV newsman Harvey Oberfeld headlined, “Bell Media President Brings Shame to CTV.” Today, the company reacted to disclosures Bell Media President Kevin Crull interfered…
Shining a light
Glenn Greenwald, “A key purpose of journalism is to provide an adversarial check on those who wield the greatest power by shining a light on what they do in the…
Murphy’s Law applies, universally
The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: The EAST OHIO GAS CO. EXPLOSION AND FIRE took place on Friday, 20 Oct. 1944, when a tank containing liquid natural gas equivalent to 90…
No one said fares should be fair
Tickets for once a week travel on the 57-year-old 49-car ferry North Island Princess, between Powell River and Texada Island, for a car, driver and passenger, cost $1,634.49 a year,…
Getting what you pay for
Moody’s upgraded the province’s financial outlook from negative to stable, saying, “The province has presented a credible plan of consistent balanced budgets with little risk that the debt burden will…
Changes inevitable for Teck Resources
Teck Resources and its associates invested more than $2.25 million in contributions to political friends in British Columbia. That was a good deal for BC Liberals but, whether or not…
Chomsky on media
What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream, Noam Chomsky, Z Magazine, October, 1997 Part of the reason why I write about the media is because I am interested in the whole intellectual…
In response to inhumanity: resilience
Photos of Kobani, Syria, a former city described by The Guardian: …it’s an extraordinary, nightmarish place they find, barely recognisable as a city. Piles of rubble where buildings once stood,…
The moderating effect of moderation
RossK writes about the Pro-Media Club and its implicit rulebook, which includes a requirement that no one reprove a colleague, even if overstatements and misrepresentations morph into purposeful lies. The…
Enough said…
This comic conveys my disgust at people who diss teachers and try to shortchange education. What is wrong with you? pic.twitter.com/P5lQDTuCgP — Doug Coupland (@DougCoupland) June 18, 2014 Please, take…