Category Archives: BC Politics

Wooing Business Leaders Is Futile for New Dems: A Response

With a few corrections, the following is my contribution to the conversation arising from an article in The Tyee by Will McMartin: ……….. Well done, Will! Another strong empirical analysis, in a manner almost non-existent in the “A” section of our corporate newspapers. While giving up on appeals to the business sector might appear reasonable […]

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OECD Measures Debt via GDP

One of the most important but confusing economic benchmarks is the level of debt carried by a nation. Is it in constant or inflated dollars? How do we account for population growth and inflation? Adding to the complexity is the different levels of government in a country like Canada. Probably the best way of measuring […]

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Interesting trade stats from British Columbia

  British Columbia’s long standing push to diversify its trade, and move away from a reliance on exports to America, appears to be gathering steam. Of course, as we found out in the late 1990’s, a growing dependence on emerging industrialized countries – particularly when we’re mostly selling raw resources – may also be perilous: […]

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A Response to The CBC News Series on E-Learing in BC ( produced by Theresa Lalonde)

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Canada/BC/ID=1467283984 Theresa, As a long-time teacher and e-learning veteran, I’d like to thank you for your series on online education (now called distributed learning [DL] by the Ministry of Ed. mucky-mucks). Unfortunately, many of us had a chuckle when we watched the first episode. Sorry, but the biggest problem in DL is not office privacy! […]

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Olympic Fever?

With less than two months before the 2010 Olympics, I find it curious that only one person I know has Olympic tickets. Indeed, in my Fraser Valley community, there seems to be a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the Games. Many people have mentioned the high price of tickets, or the need to divulge sensitive […]

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Firefighting: A Public Good?

In a 2008 speech for TVO, Naomi Klein discussed the shrinking public sphere in the United States. Already small by Western standards, America’s public sphere appears to be shrinking by the week. One of the few realms of American society that is still considered to be a public good is firefighting and disaster relief. But […]

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Leaving out certain details

The trouble with truth and journalism is not that the media regularly publishes falsities. It’s that it usually omits important information or emphasizes certain facts over others. Here’s an example: On August 17, 2009, the Vancouver Sun publishes an article with the headline, “Liberals funded by business, NDP by unions“. On the face of it, […]

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Elections Do Not Equal Governments

My brother made a great point in a recent letter to the Georgia Straight. Though we may vote on the basis of party leader, we don’t actually vote for a premier or a prime minister. On election night, we vote for a local representative who will ostensibly represent our riding’s interests in parliament or the […]

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A battle-hardened James charges on, leaving her minders behind he

By Justine Hunter From Friday’s Globe and Mail April 24, 2009 at 5:40 AM EDT … Ms. James acknowledged she is facing more pressure this time around. And she sounded frustrated that she still is confronted at every turn with the baggage of former NDP governments. “We are a long way from getting past that […]

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Wheat from the Chaff : World Economic Forum

In a world where economic discussion is still overwhelmed by neo-liberal cant, it’s refreshing to see a generally pro-business organization capable of seeing competitiveness and productivity in (somewhat) broader terms than Milton Friedman’s disciples. The World Economic Forum is a Swiss-based think tank that promotes international dialogue on a variety of key global issues. Perhaps […]

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