Hidden subsidies to big business
In June 2011, Postmedia reported comments about Site C by David Conway, Community Relations Manager with BC Hydro. When you get down to the cost per megawatt, this option even…
Norman Farrell
Certainty of Site C cost overrun is 86%
BC’s Minister of Energy said in mid October that the $7.9 billion budget for Site C had been examined by top international experts and was assuredly “reliable.” Two months later,…
PDF version of preceding article
I’ve had a number of requests for copies of this article by people wishing to share the information. Readers can download a copy from SCRIBD. Sorry poor people
Sorry poor people, we have other priorities
Source: British Columbia Public Accounts Source: British Columbia Public Accounts Clearly, government revenues from natural resources have declined substantially in recent years. This is in spite of rising metals and…
Lies my energy minister told me
October 15, I listened to Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett provide detailed assurance that, unlike budgets of numerous BC megaprojects that suffered runaway costs, the $7.9 billion Site C…
Ian Jessop on Kinder Morgan
On his CFAX1070 afternoon show this week, Ian Jessop interviewed Eric de Place, Policy Director of Sightline.org, which Tuesday published a new report, “The Facts about Kinder Morgan” that examines…
Talk about Kinder Morgan
The Facts About Kinder Morgan, Sightline Daily, Last week, a financial research firm, Hedgeye, released a scathing report on Kinder Morgan that supports many of Sightline’s conclusions. Aptly titled Is…
Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice…
“Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.” – Edmund Burke Promises vs. ‘political speeches:’ Tories’ honesty questioned on…
Understaffed and incapable, by design
In The Tyee, Scot McCannel, executive director of the Professional Employees Association, asserts, The B.C. government has slashed professionals in the public service to the point where it doesn’t have…
Another fleet sunk
When financial people mention “sunk costs,” they refer to expenditures that cannot be recovered. Almost 15 years ago, BC politicians learned the investment of hundreds of millions for fast ferries…
LNG export policy will damage BC businesses and consumers
A large employer organization in Australia wants government to subsidize businesses crippled by large price increases for natural gas. Ai Group says governments have to moderate the consequences of decisions…
More than LNG subsidies, consumers to pay higher prices
From the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, October 2014: There are new warnings that gas prices will skyrocket as Queensland’s huge LNG export projects start production next year. The independent think tank,…
Kumpelkapitalismus
Oil’s dive set to transform LNG market, The Financial Times, November 14, 2014 BC taxpayer “The downward spiral in oil prices is poised to shake up liquefied natural gas… “The…
A letter to BC Ferries
Republished from the Facebook page of Sean Smith, with permission. Dear BC Ferries: I know that you are having a hard time trying to figure out ways to save money.…
You can’t handle the truth: BC Liberals
Site C not necessarily a slam dunk: Bennett, Business in Vancouver, October 15, 2014 “Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett says he is still torn on whether his government should…
Fiscal unfairness, a BC Liberal tradition
Between Powell River and Texada Island, ferry service is by the oldest vessel in BC Ferries’ fleet, the 57-year-old MV North Island Princess, a vessel with capacity to carry 49…
Plus ça change…
Suzanne Methot reviewed Farley Mowat’s Walking on the Land, which was published in 2000. From that review: “Farley Mowat detailed government treatment of the Ihalmiut, First Nations people in Canada’s…
Careless or captured?
When you read or listen to resource industry advocates, especially ones masquerading as objective political pundits, compare their concerns in 2009 about burning natural gas to generate peak-demand electricity to…