The mistake most people make in rating election debates is they assume all the candidates start as equals.  But unless they’re all neophites, that is simply not true: one is already the Prime Minister or Premier or Mayor–and it’s up to the others to knock him/her of the top perch. It was a good debate, […]

A huge dilemma came up in my life last night: the English language leaders debate for the election was on the same night as the season finale of What Not to Wear. I love What Not to Wear. For me, each episode is a veritable treasure trove of information I store away in my little […]

Democracy: government for and by the people. It's a novel concept, that the people directly affected by the actions of a government can or should have a say in the decision making process. In parts of the world right now people are willing to sacrifice their lives to gain democracy. Indeed, the notion of people having even ...

Ask anyone who has lived under a dictatorship and they will tell you of its ugly features: A Supreme Leader who rules with an iron fist; legislation pushed through by a rubber stamp legislative assembly with little or closured debate; government officials ordered into silence or fearful of speaking up; and a press denied the right to even […]

spack·le    [spak-uhl]  Sh (initial capital letter) Trademark . a brand of quick-drying, plasterlike material used to fill holes, small cracks and other minor surface defects Some of the digital tools available today seem to help us overlook dire problems in order to expedite trivial tasks. The series of Windows Cloud commercials are prime time offenders. The ad with the exasperated mother desperately trying to air brush […]

There are lots of questions remaining about the BC Rail scandal…. the biggest being ‘why did the Liberal government pick up the $6M defence lawyers’ tab for two convicted criminals?’.   This week I had a chance to keep that question–and story-alive, by appearing on broadcaster Stirling Faux on-line business show This Week in Money.  Here’s […]

 The election campaign is less than week old and Stephen Harper seems to be demonstrating that he is even more of a mad hatter than people thought. Despite his superman view of himself – the smartest man in the universe not just in the room – he has looked very shaky and is proving that […]

Apppointed (not elected) Premier Christy Clark promised “change”. And as part of her honeymoon period in the public eye, the media has treaded rather softly in scrutinizing her early days in office. She announced a raise in the minimum wage to be staged over time, but nevertheless welcomed by most British Columbians. Many were embarrassed by this […]

Would Stephen Harper attack Libya simply to justify spending tens of billions of dollars on F-35 fighter jets? Perhaps. But, add on doing it for major Canadian investors, reinforcing his “principled” foreign policy rhetoric and reasserting western control over a region in flux, and you pretty much have the range of reasons why a half […]

What really is a “man’s man,” and why does it sound so homoerotic when it’s supposed to mean the inverse?   I have thought about this over the years as I postulate what might have been if I’d picked up a hammer and not a camera or learned a trade and not an art. The […]