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Christy Clark says the darndest things. B.C.’s premier routinely gets away with jaw-dropping spin. A few days ago, for example, addressing the media about the legacy of Bill Bennett, the province’s former Social Credit premier who passed away last week at age 83, Clark praised him as someone who stood up for the “little guy”…
Despite all the excitement about the defeat of the Harper government, in B.C. the political status quo still seems unmovable. Riddled with scandals, and having weathered many dips in popularity over nearly 15 years in office, the B.C. Liberals and Christy Clark nevertheless seem relatively secure in power. With a year and a half until…
Most British Columbia voters breathed a big sigh relief last month, as the corrupt and discredited government of Stephen Harper was finally swept from office. Now it may be time to set our collective sights on another right-wing government: the corporate backed B.C. Liberals’ administration. If an analogy between Ottawa’s Conservatives and Christy Clark’s crew…
By the time this column is printed, Canada may well have elected a new prime minister. As I have noted previously in this space, B.C. Premier Christy Clark has remained scrupulously above the fray of the federal election campaign. Frankly Clark would be fine with the Harper government surviving for another term, but she would…
Thank goodness for small mercies: B.C. Premier Christy Clark is steering clear of the federal election. Unlike Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, who has thrown herself fully behind the aspirations of Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberals, Clark has pretty much stayed out of the marathon federal campaign. The very pragmatic reason for her silence…
As school resumed this month across British Columbia, many commentators made note of the one-year anniversary of the B.C. government’s dispute with teachers. The situation isn’t as hot as last year, but educators at all levels remain in an antagonistic relationship with the B.C. Liberals and Premier Christy Clark. If you take transit in the…
It’s a global story with a very local connection for those of us here in British Columbia. The photograph of a drowned three-year old boy, Alan Kurdi, has now been seen around the world, a haunting image that has drawn the world’s attention to an historic refugee crisis. Kurdi, his brother Ghalib and their mother…
Last week a 4.6 magnitude earthquake struck near Fort St. John in northeastern B.C., just a few kilometres from a fracking site operated by Progress Energy. The company was forced to halt operations temporarily while investigators determined the cause of the quake. Fracking is a shorthand description for hydraulic fracturing, a process where high pressure…
Sometimes it feels like British Columbia doesn’t really have a premier. Whenever there’s big news in this province, Christy Clark can’t seem to be found. Think back to the Mount Polley mining disaster last summer, or to the Vancouver oil spill this spring. On both occasions Premier Clark was AWOL, nowhere to be seen or…
These days, Christy Clark and the B.C. Liberals are acting like a government with a lot to hide. Let’s pick up where we left off last time. Following revelations that the B.C. government misled the public about the supposed RCMP investigation into the health researchers who were fired back in 2012, pressure on the government…
A man is dead and now it turns out the government misled the public for years It’s a scandal so big it could take down a government. That is, if anyone were paying attention. Last week, documents revealed shocking new dimensions to the B.C. government’s scandalous handling of the firing of seven health researchers back…
Christy Clark’s come-from-behind election win in 2013 was based on false economic projections. Just three months before that provincial vote, in February 2013, her government made a promise of windfall revenues from the rapid development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. In a press release at the time, the BC Liberals assured British Columbians, “Our…
Last week, I gathered with some friends in East Vancouver to watch the Alberta election results come in. The surprising surge in the polls by the NDP had raised expectations for progressives. Still, few people really believed that an NDP government could get elected in what is commonly referred to as the most conservative province…
