COMMENT: Conservative ominous omnibus bills – The art of stealing power from democracy
Alex Atamanenko, MP (BC Southern Interior) is slamming the Conservative government’s second mammoth Omnibus Budget Bill this year which amends over 40 separate Acts, guts a series of commissions that protect the public interest and concentrates even more power in Ministers’ hands. The BC MP denounced the government’s measures...
OPINION: Economist predictions and mortgage terms
By: Rob McLister, Canada Mortgage Trends No one truly knows where interest rates are headed. Yet, despite vast margins of error, all major financial institutions regularly publish rate predictions. If only we could assume that these economists were right - or even half right - it would be far easier to determine the lowest-cost...
Frodo lives: Middle Earth, Evil, and the decline of religion in the West.
At Christmas this year we will be treated once again to a film adaptation of a fantasy by Tolkien, this time The Hobbit. I am gratified because this author and his works form one foundation of the kind of person I have become, insofar as a book of fiction is fundamental to how one understands the world. What is it about Tolkien...
COMMENT: B.C. Election Act--time to start from scratch
When the B.C. Court of Appeal struck down the government's not-so-subtle attempt to stifle citizens with its ill-advised “gag” law this month, it was only a partial victory. Regrettably, the Court never had the chance to consider the multitude of contradictions and loopholes that exist in the B.C. Election Act, most of which...
COMMENT: Huge Chavez confronts (neo) liberal democracy
There has been much written about the erosion of democracy in Canada under the Liberals but even more egregiously under the Harper Conservatives (and PLEASE don’t call these libertarians “Tories”). There is a very long list of grievances from the abuse of prorogation, to deliberate sabotaging of Parliamentary Committees, to election robo-calls, to the gagging […]
OPINION: Rural B.C. Reality vs. Urban Carbon Tax Mythology
By: Jordan Bateman, British Columbia Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation It seems the further you get away from Vancouver, the more hated the carbon tax becomes. The B.C. government has sent its Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services around the province to hear submissions on what should be included...
Comment: NATO Edges Closer to War on Syria
NATO Edges Closer to War on Syria by Stephen Lendman Waging war is easy. Instigate provocative incidents. Blame them on targeted countries. False flags work as planned. So do Big Lies repeated enough times to get most people to believe them. Stoking fear is a common thread. So is claiming good v. evil. Mix well […]
Reflections on freedom, necessity, and fate. Politics also come into it.
“There is more under heaven and earth than is dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.” [Shakespeare, Hamlet] What’s on your mind? I have half a mind to say no. I am of two minds about what to do. Mind your manners. It’s a case of mind over matter. I don’t mind. I am minded to do that. Never mind. Put your mind to work. I...
COMMENT: Our crumbling infrastructure
Stories about crumbling public infrastructure are being reported right across the country. As the federal government continues to download more of its responsibilities onto the provinces, and the provinces onto municipalities, it is inevitable that the next generation will be the ones forced to foot the growing bills. This...
OP/ED: Justin Trudeau and political amnesia
You would think that federal Liberals would by now have immunized themselves against the affliction that almost did them in: the kind of delusional giddiness at the prospect of a political saviour. It is so embarrassing watching Liberals talk about Trudeau 2.0 – as if beating a Conservative Senator in the boxing ring somehow...