Reforms to the MLA pension plan, living allowances and meal per diems should be among the top New Year's resolutions B.C. MLAs make this season, according to IntegrityBC. IntegrityBC is calling for an independent panel to review and make recommendations on existing MLA benefits which need to be seen in the context of a salary...

The International Co-operation Minister caused a ruckus last week when he said that the Canadian International Development Agency should actively promote the country's interests abroad rather than primarily focus on poverty reduction. Fantino defended "aid" that was given to groups partnering with Canadian companies building...

“What does not kill us makes us ___”   Nietzsche      Happiness is a warm gun.  Lennon Everybody knows how to complete the epigraph quoted at the top: “Stronger”. Poor Nietzsche, so many profound things to say, and remembered by masses of slightly-educated people for this one slogan alone. What makes us more contented, or...

As part of its annual general meeting, the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative held the last of its public consultations on the creation of a Department of Peace. The meeting which took place at St. Paul University in Ottawa featured a panel of five commissioners and interventions from the public.  (It was especially...

I’ve never been a member of a political party, although I did consider joining the NDP earlier this year, just so I could vote for Nathan Cullen in the leadership contest. Now I’m considering joining the Liberals, just so I can vote for Joyce Murray. In the rarified air of Parliament Hill, where so many Opposition MPs seem ...

In the business we call it “going to the dark side”: when reporters leave the news profession to take jobs as corporate spokespersons or, even worse, become political appointees to the staffs of particular parties or governments. But let’s keep it real. Deserting from journalism to become a corporate fart-catcher or hired...

If you want to draw attention in the Boundary region, one way to do it is to call out the under-40 brainwashed environmentalists. An odd way to get attention, but it sure worked last week. When the local chamber of commerce invited the B.C. Chamber chief executive officer, John Winter, to present at their annual general meeting...

I’d like to share with you my past few weeks – it is a time in my life that I would like to leave behind and never re-visit again. EVER.  It all started when my two sons came down with the chicken pox. Both were pretty nasty cases; they were itchy, sore, feverish, spotty, oozy, […]

The suggestion that we need to raise taxes in this country has become so taboo in the nation’s politics that even talking about it is seen as tantamount to political suicide. The right and its benefactors, the wealthy and large corporations, have had the field to themselves for a long time. Their framing of taxes as a “burden”...

The story of the 2012 US presidential election we should pay attention to in Canada is not the performance of the candidates; it is a story of mathematics. The star in this regard is Nate Silver who predicted the outcome of the election with uncanny accuracy. Most pollsters held that the election was too close to call. Silver,...