BC says no to Northern Gateway Pipeline
The following is a press release issued by the Environment Ministry: British Columbia has made its final written submission to the Northern Gateway Pipeline Joint Review Panel. In the submission, the province states that it cannot support the project as presented to the panel because Northern Gateway has been unable to address...
COMMENT: Can political polls be trusted?
[Editor's note: This piece was posted to the Common Sense Canadian just before Tuesday's election, but in the wake of the surprising results, it's more relevant now than then] Good thing most people don’t listen to the polls. If they did, they just might throw in their cards and give up. The clearest indication yet that...
COMMENT: Endbridge
On his return from an inspection trip to examine the results of the clean-up undertaken by Enbridge following an oil spill in Michigan, a Terrace municipal official was impressed with what he saw and experienced. He cautioned citizens to “dig into [the] facts who Enbridge is” when evaluating their proposal for the Northern ...
COMMENT: Child Care Month
No parent would expect a 13 month old child to simply get up and run around. We do not expect children to walk, swim, skate, or ride a bike without nurturing assistance, encouragement and guidance from adults. We support and guide our children in their physical development as they learn to crawl, take their first step, and ...
COMMENT: What ails B.C.'s democracy?
Trivia time: who was the last leader of the BC NDP to lead his party to more than 45 per cent of the popular vote in a provincial election? One would have to go back six leaders and eight elections to 1979 when Dave Barrett won 45.99 per cent of the popular vote and still lost the election to Bill Bennett and the Social Credit...
COMMENT: Spinning out of control?
It can hardly come as a surprise to anyone that governments – like corporations – employ spin to portray their actions in the best possible light (and to cast their opponents in the worst possible light). Nor is it news that many corporations – and the PR companies they employ – operate a revolving door for helpful politicians....
COMMENT: Election
Once every four years citizens are offered a brief reprieve from the responsibility of endless decisions about matters concerning their kids, their homes, and their work; of just getting along and making ends meet. Once every four years we are inundated with propaganda telling us that all the problems associated with the...
COMMENT: B.C. Liberals in no position to give other parties lessons on political fundraising
It's a bit rich for the B.C. Liberal party to be giving lessons to the BC NDP on political fundraising, as they tried to do over the weekend after the NDP sent a fundraising appeal to corporate Liberal party donors. The Liberals might have been well-advised to leave well enough alone, if for no other reason than it might...
NDP release dollar figures; Liberals trumpt LNG as way to out the debt
BC NDP leader Adrian Dix continued to offer up his election platform in Kelowna Sunday, committing to change for the better for BC’s food producers and agricultural communities. Dix said an NDP government would make an annual investment of $8 million in programs to develop local markets and promote stability for BC growers....
Health gap in B.C. widening, says Health Council
People in the least well‐off areas of British Columbia are dying sooner than those in better‐off areas, according to new figures from the Health Officers Council of BC. Overall life expectancy in BC has improved, but in less affluent areas of the province life expectancy has remained much the same or even declined. In an...