Editorial: About those proposed changes in federal income tax: Will they hurt small businesses? Will they hurt farmers?
The short answer, according to a number of reviews done by experts in economics, is ― no. The vast majority of small businesses do not make enough money to be affected at all by the proposed changes in federal taxation. Farmers should not suffer either. In fact, according to the conclusions of those ...
From the Hill: Time to invest in post-secondary education
A couple of weeks ago, students returned to colleges and universities across Canada after a long summer break. They have been working hard for months to earn enough to pay for their education, but these days those summer wages don’t go very far. Housing costs have been skyrocketing across the country in recent years,...
Opinion: A SAD dilemma
As autumn sets in and the sunlit hours of each day diminish, some people begin to notice that their moods dim along with the daylight. Northerners generally begin to feel the effects earlier in the fall, as the shrinkage of their daylight is earlier and more pronounced. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is real. It was...
Column: Can we have economic growth and lower emissions?
What does climate change have to do with economic growth? Canada’s prime minister and premiers signed a deal in December to “grow our economy, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and build resilience to the impacts of a changing climate.” The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change...
Column: From the Hill -- Business Tax Controversy
There has been a great deal of talk in the news and on the street about the Liberal government’s proposed changes to federal tax laws that would make it more difficult for small businesses to make passive investments in their companies and share profits with members of their families. The Liberals claim that many small...
COLUMN: Arc of the Cognizant; anthology of excerpts
A retrospective selection Believing as I do that history is of profound importance, I seek to discern the purposes and themes I have explored with constancy over the years of publishing this column. I hope by doing this to present a coherent statement of the issues and interests that have stirred current events in culture, ...
Editorial: Treachery or a higher duty?
On Friday, September 8, Dr. Darryl Plecas, then a Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly, agreed to serve in the Legislature as Speaker. His party promptly disowned him ― first, kicked him out of the Liberal caucus, then on Saturday, September 9, the Liberal Party executive voted to strip him of membership in the Liberal...
Op/Ed: Looking to Finland for Better Educational Outcomes
By David Buckna In a July interview, BC Education Minister Rob Fleming said: "I think our government just has a completely different and fresh attitude towards public education. John Horgan made it clear his priority as premier is to make sustained investments in the school system, because it pays enormous social and economic...
BC Government's Credit Card Charges for 2016-17
There's nothing quite like poring through 87,527 credit card charges to the B.C. government's plastic in 2016/17. Charges that can often be on top of a company's billings to existing government accounts. For instance, last year, Sensus Communications billed the government $79,286, while various ministries put an additional ...
Op/Ed: We Need to Stop Killing Endangered Right Whales
Article by James Wilt, first published in DeSmog Canada. The summer of 2017 was an extraordinarily deadly one for North Atlantic right whales, a species already hovering on the brink of extinction. Investigations are ongoing into the cause of death of 15 right whales off the Atlantic Coast of Canada and the U.S., although...