Changes for a new year In the past, this time of year would move me usually to make some kind of summary and prognostication about the year just passed and the one ahead, or even of a more long-term future. Typically I would be pessimistic about global politics, the world economy, war, climate, social unravelling, cultural ...

So apparently the latest trend is to declare ‘stupid’ a modern swear word. I actually heard a mom say to her toddler not to use the ‘s’ word, and had a reader call me out for cursing whenI used it. (I’m not sure where that leaves us in dealing with the other ‘s’ word, but […]

Right up to the last federal election the Canadian government held firm to the position that an inquiry on the subject of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada was not needed.  The government believed that the problem could be dealt with by way of criminal justice reforms.  Criminal justice incorporates law enforcement,...

Prime Minster Justin Trudeau's election pledge (and subsequent confirmation) that Canada will not have another election under first-past-the-post has morphed into a growing controversy.  Trudeau's evident attraction to one option for electoral reform -- the so-called preferential ballot, or instant runoff vote (IRV) -- and ...

To The Editor: January 8, 2016   Premier Christy Clark PO Box 9041 Stn Prov Govt Victoria, BC V8W 9E1   Dear Premier Clark: The Province’s upcoming submission to the National Energy Board regarding Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain proposal provides an opportunity for your government to show leadership on B.C.’s economic and...

I’ve wracked my brain on this issue, but I can’t see any other way to get the government’s attention on this issue, the issue being what I perceive to be outrageous delays in IIO investigations of officer-involved fatal shootings in our area (for the background story, click here): I think the RCMP members in question […]

Interest payments on government debt in Canada consume substantial shares of taxpayer dollars and come at the expense of other budget priorities, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. The study, The Cost of Government Debt in Canada, finds...

My wife and I saluted the recent passing of former Premier Bill Bennett and reflected on our good fortune to have connected with Socred Governments who were great believers in small “d” democracy. If you flew their colors and supported the party and had an issue it was always the same game plan; people, project, politics....

Newsletter December 2015 I am sending you sound bytes from hunters and outfitters that once again remind British Columbians that scientific driven wildlife management in our province has lost virtually every fight to the political game of maximizing hunting opportunity. To put the stories into scientific wildlife management...

Justin Trudeau is fond of saying "Canada is back," and in some genuinely gratifying ways it seems to be the case.  But by far the most important and substantive evidence for this claim is still missing: an indication that the new government is willing to seriously address the issue that a genuine return to normal rests upon. ...