They're off. The start to B.C.'s official pre-campaign period for the 2013 election campaign is well underway.    Day one of the pre-campaign would have been an easy miss, coming as it did on the same day a meteor crashed to earth and the Canucks fell to the Dallas Stars.    Heck, Elections BC didn't even post a news release...

Canada now has an Ambassador of Religious Freedom. By definition the basis of religion is in the realm of metaphysics, but metaphysics surely cannot be the focus for our newest Ambassador. How does our federal government define religion? Are Taoism and Confucianism religions, or are they an amalgam of spirituality, ethics and...

Caution: This columm not for the overly lady-like or prudish individual.             After a holiday season filled with copious amounts of chocolate, wine, carbs, multiple turkey dinners, and more chocolate and wine, I decided to take on a new years’ resolution in hopes of starting my year out right. And because I was feeling particularly masochistic, […]

IntegrityBC has released a letter that it has sent all 24 registered political parties in the province detailing a series of recommendations on electoral reform and government accountability for each party to consider putting forward in their respective platforms for the May 14th general election. The letter has also been...

In my Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) column (Part I) I gave a general description of this Inter-Parliamentary Forum held in Vladivostok, Russian.  During the meeting, resolutions were adopted that will be presented to each of the countries represented at the APPF and it is possible that these statements will wind up...

Pope Benedict is retiring. Nelson is national news for its dog-ban bylaw. Tornadoes and blizzards have hit eastern regions of the continent. A fired L. A. cop commits suicide after a murder spree. BC’s Legislature is back in session. The Grammies have been awarded. The Canucks had a streak of wins but just lost it. This, if...

This might be hard to believe, but sometimes I get a bit full of myself. Get off on some track or other and before I know it, I'm preaching, proclaiming and other wise carrying on as if I had an inside scoop on the path to salvation. Frankly it can be a tad hard to take. So I've decided to give it up. At least for Lent....

The last section in the Municipal Act calls on the Minister to “establish a process for the review of this Act” within 10 years after its adoption. The Act was adopted in 1998, and by the time the Minister complied with section 371, that deadline had long ago expired. However, the review process is now underway and although...

The Brazeau affair — sad, repugnant and bizarre all at the same time — shines a light on two aspects of Canadian politics that desperately need some exposure. One is what it reveals about the state of “official” aboriginal politics and its relationship to the Canadian state. The other, the almost exclusive focus of the media,...

In light of the current fiscal crisis and resultant school closures and reconfigurations being contemplated by our Board of Education to balance its budget we believe it is appropriate to revisit some of Murray Dobbin’s thoughts in his article about School Closures and the “Cult of Efficiency” written in 2008 when he was the...