BC Liberal truthiness
We face 26 weeks of taxpayer paid pre-election advertising promoting the BC Liberals. They'll be using "facts" like this one, broadcast on Global TV November 9: "We're ensuring British Columbians…
Norman Farrell
Conservatives use truthiness liberally
For people who care about Canadian veterans, truthiness of the Conservative government is cringe worthy. Harper's crowd claims to be, "...unwavering in our devotion to making sure that Canadian veterans…
SNC-Lavalin & BC Liberal commonality
A reader of the piece about BC Investment Management Corporation's holdings in unethical companies asked if the agency has a relationship with SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, it…
Like Emily Litella, without the never mind
In fact, mid-day November 7, Obama leads Romney in popular vote by almost 3 million votes.
Ethical performance lacking at bcIMC
I've been comparing the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation to the Washington State Investment Board. They're very similar in terms of purpose and goals. Here are a few key stats:…
Vertical integration of Chinese forest industry
The Wall Street Journal reports the China Investment Corp. will acquire a substantial stake in Island Timberlands, which owns about 254,000 hectares of forest land, mainly on Vancouver Island. Soon,…
Money speaks louder than words
According to a March 2012 Canadian Press report, "British Columbia and five other provinces are teaming up to sue Canadian tobacco firms for health-care costs. "B.C., New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,…
Take from the poor, give to the rich
Further to my comments about homeowners subsidizing industrial power, here is an extract from the blog of Vancouver lawyer Jim Quail, Site C and the Kitimat LNG Export Terminal: Christy…
Time to reform government advertising
We’re presently bombarded with slick political advertising from two senior levels of government. Add industry advertising promoting natural gas as so marvellous a fuel that we should export it to…
Restraint is only for the little people
The fiscal year ended March 2012 was a good year in the executive suite of this BC public agency. These are averages of the five highest paid executives. One VP…
Nice work, if you can get it
Mark Blucher was appointed interim president and CEO of ICBC in October 2012. He fits the insurance company’s culture of bloated entitlement quite nicely. Blucher joined the company in August…
Designed to fail – REPLAY
From March 2011, in my humble opinion, this article is worth repeating: Overcrowding at Royal Columbian hospital led to shutting down microwaves in the on-site Tim Hortons doughnut shop. Emergency…
ICBC desperately needs real management
Ten months ago, I published Talking tough, empty words and empty head, a piece mocking Attorney General Shirley Bond in her role as lead ICBC overseer. Shortly after, Finance Minister…
One hand washes another
A principle of management states that senior staff lead by example when it comes to ethics and morality. Behaviours of leaders set the values that their followers use. Another certainty…
Rush to secure rewards
With only 27 weeks to oblivion, BC Liberals have limited time to pick forbidden fruit. We know about the failed bid to privatize BCLDB and the flood of high cost…
"Amateurish and sneaky" according to Palmer
According to the Liberals, Lynda Tarras, head of BC’s Public Service Agency, conducted a thorough investigation into Ken Boessenkool’s admitted misconduct with another political appointee. Premier Clark’s Chief of Staff…
RCMP prefers to conceal embarrassing information
Four months ago, the Northern Insights article What’s the next dump of grungy news? included this: “In a May internal memo, Commissioner Bob Paulson warned that several salacious incidents were…
Not a Monty Python sketch
The editor of a Canadian faith magazine to MP John McKay, “I have just received an official “reminder” from Canada Revenue that our charitable status may be in jeopardy because…
Liberal bagman gains healthy ROI
Last week, investigative journalist Bob Mackin wrote Premier Photo Op and the $185,000 charter bills “On CKNW AM 980, during The Investigators segment on the Oct. 22 edition of the…
No spectacle of division, not a whit
Vaughn Palmer is pleased with the BC Liberals. His weekend column in the Sun offered this: “…the Whistler convention struck me as a relatively happy affair. “The public sessions —…