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…
Norman Farrell
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 —…
Harper’s deputy attacks free speech
The following is the official opinion of the Conservative government, as stated by Stephen Harper’s Parliamentary Secretary Dean Del Mastro, who by all indications is a man with a deep…
New adventures in not-net-zero land
It is a tough time for British Columbia. Natural gas producers are producing more but paying less to government. With bark beetle destruction and boundless raw log exports, the province’s…
Guest post regarding Narrows Inlet
Submission to the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office regarding the proposed Narrows Inlet private power project Submitted by: Joan and Soren Bech Roberts Creek, B.C. Public consultation process On Oct. 12,…
No doubt about the winner in a contest of one
Ian Reid and Bob Mackin have been the leading journalists examining Paragon Gaming’s past relationship with Pavco. We knew Paragon had an inside track for the proposed casino at BC…
Platform for hatred
In my childhood long ago, Canadians used ethnic slurs without much thought. My east Vancouver family, not hateful people, disdainfully labelled central and eastern Europe war-victim refugees as DP’s or…
Austerity only for the "plebs"
The most read article at Northern Insights is Adventures in not net zero land. It begins with this: “Helping manage the BC government’s war on school teachers and public education…
More lipstick please
Is Shirley Bond the Attorney General or a new arrival to this province? She sounds like the latter in presenting another BC Liberal plan to address backlogs and improve management…