All the spin that’s fit to print
This week, British Columbia saw evidence that corporate media does not report adverse details about public finance unless the material is dropped on desks in digested form, complete with defensive…
Norman Farrell
Don’t follow the law, change the law
British Columbia’s Auditor General reported to the BC Legislature and there is interesting commentary throughout. Carol Bellringer qualified her opinion as to the fairness of the province’s financial statements and…
Hedonists of power
Chris Hedges wrote many words for the New York Times; some of them wrong. He participated in false reporting that helped orchestrate invasion of Iraq by the coalition of the…
Restraint, BC Government style
Nearly half a million children are missing school days this year because government believes that spending restraint is imperative. Restraint in collecting taxes, at least from ordinary citizens, is not…
Liberal estimates and guesstimates
BC’s Minister of Energy and Mines says the $7.9 billion budget for Site C is “reliable” and the estimate of “direct construction costs” of $3.8 billion has “an 18% contingency.”…
Truthiness
This week, radio Station CKNW played commercials aimed at promoting public confidence in the absolute safety of Trans Mountain pipeline operations and marine shipments of petroleum products on the west…
Leadership with courage to be honest
Andrew Weaver, MLA for Oak Bay Gordon Head, spoke to the Legislature on October 9, 2014. This is an excerpt, with emphasis added: “The undeniable truth is that British Columbians…
At BC’s Public Accounts Committee
An excellent recap of the reasons behind the call for individuals to appear before the Public Accounts Committee to explain extraordinary financial transactions. Sept 15 2014 SSC PAC Corrigan to…
Nature has inviolate principles, Christy Clark does not
A comment left by Lew on an earlier article deserves to be featured. Here is Christy Clark, the premier of our province, speaking as a radio show host just before…
Puffery, misrepresentation or outright lies?
Puffery is an exaggeration or overstatement expressed in broad, vague, and commendatory language. According to Law for Business (Barnes et al., 1991), “The elements of misrepresentation are ordinarily given as:…
Comforted by false reality
A New York Times article, The Surprisingly Large Cost of Telling Small Lies, quotes a successful English business person about the need to confront truths, even uncomfortable ones, “…telling lies…
Tax evasion at the heart of global economy
The Globe and Mail reported September 19, 2014: “Internal Canada Revenue Agency documents confirm the agency is cutting some of its most highly-trained staff and folding international tax evasion units……
Managers justify generous treatment of managers
In 2013, the consulting firm Ernst & Young was hired to review trends in compensation across the BC Public Sector. It is now available through the Legislature’s public documents. Reports…
The real news gets ignored – REPLAY
I wrote the following article 3½ years ago. It demonstrates how little has changed. On the day George Abbott became the first Education Minister to speak at a convention of…
The Explainer explains
Surveying corporate media coverage of the education dispute, I noted a column by Vaughn Palmer that displays his particularly usefulness when BC Liberals want information distributed. More about education later…
UBC Professor of Law Joel Bakan speaks
“I see a lot of sense in the BCTF’s insistence on eliminating E80 from the package for consideration in binding arbitration… “As is true of any negotiation, the respective bargaining…
Lies and Liberals, an inherent match
In November 2001, after NDP MLA Joy McPhail reported a government plan to increase medical service plan premiums, Canadian Press quoted Liberal Health Minister Colin Hansen, “Joy MacPhail needs a…
Dignity not in anti-union Liberal playbook
Recognizing that workers have the right to bargain collectively as part of their freedom to associate reaffirms the values of dignity, personal autonomy, equality and democracy that are inherent in…
CBC dominates the Websters
I bet Jack Webster’s spirit twitches when the $175 a plate bun toss named for him recurs and this town’s higher purpose people gather to honour worthy journalists, not all…
Captives of industry
Regular readers are aware that British Columbia’s natural gas industry provides surprisingly little return to the province by way of royalties for depleting non-renewable public assets. In the last two…