Israel and the Palestinians: just utter the words and everyone has views, opinions, biases and points of view.  I have no problem with that … we live in a free society, where everyone can form opinions,  take sides … even happily ignore facts that might weaken their own positions. That’s our right! But when it comes to [...] …
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In this the age of overly political correctness, we too often overlook the truth or are afraid to state it for fear of  the “heat” we might bring on ourselves. But NOT on Keeping it Real! Every time I drive north over the Lions’ Gate Bridge, like many other motorists and their passengers, I glance down at Squamish Nation [...] …
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(UPDATE: Monday Sept 29. I was contacted by the manager of the store who once more said it was a terrible mistake.  Again?  She said they’ll now take bottle returns … which would be good, and fair, for other customers. Let me know! Because twice burned, and so rudely too, I’ll never spend my $$$ there again.)  I’m [...] …
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Is it just me … or is Prime Minister Stephen Harper looking more and more like an international “dufus” ? There were all other world leaders at the United Nations in New York this week … personally setting out their countries’ positions,values and beliefs,  rubbing shoulders with each other, holding one-on-one talks, strengthening alliances and relationships and advancing their [...] …
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The worst part of the new proposed law that would force the homeless inside on terribly cold days is …. the government that is proposing it. Almost no one trusts the current Liberal government; few would believe anything it says; and virtually EVERYONE is suspicious of its motivation in anything it does. So when Social Development Minister [...] …
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It would be the provincial government’s worst nightmare: have its precious Olympic Games U.S. Cable NEWS coverage dominated by stories about the BC Ambulance Service and the paramedic strike.  And believe me … FOX News will be right onto that once its “news” teams arrive to look for Olmpic stories on Vancouver and spot an ambulance with the words On [...] …
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It was an event worthy of note and a lot of attention: thousands of British Columbians gathered at rallies around the province to protest the Horrifying Sales Tax. Believe me … getting thousands of people to give up a sunny day off with the family, to traipse downtown, pay parking  and stand for hours at a [...] …
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This Saturday …  B.C. will be alive with rallies opposing the planned introduction of the new Horrifiying Sales Tax.  And if  enough public dissent manifests itself … the next step could be an effort to mount a province-wide referendum over the issue.  Readers of this blog will know my own greatest consternation was directed at the duplicitous way [...] …
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So much for all the crud we’ve been hearing for years about how the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic movement and Vancouver 2010 are all about promoting amateur sport, fitness and healthy lifestyle. Tell that to B.C.’s kids who are suffering a $14 MILLION CUT this year alone  in school sports funding …  just months before the I.O.C. millionaire [...] …
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I’ve never been a big Jack Layton fan: I would never buy a used car from him … even if he gave me his word that it was owned by only by a preacher’s widow in Weyburn .. and it was.   He just doesn’t come across like an Ed Broadbent or Stephen Lewis. And judging by election results, time after time,  millions of other [...] …
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Well, so much for the 200 member staff of the provincial government’s public affairs bureau! And Education Minister Margaret McDiarmid’s own communications skills. For several days since the budget, there have been several news reports, much criticism and critical commentaries about planned cuts to the special program that provides hot lunches for poor kids.  After all [...] …
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Times are tough: the fiscal pantry is bare … but apparently not bare enough to immediately and totally rule out a $400 million (probable actual cost?) new roof  for B.C. Place; a brand new  all-day kindergarten program; more tax breaks for business (PST relief and $100,000  higher annual basic exemptions, just for starters). No!  In today’s B.C. the [...] …
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BC’s political and legislative reporters should be feeling a lot of concern these days.  Not because Premier Gordon Campbell seems to be quite peeved with them: but why, oh why it took them so long to earn that badge of achievement? It’s the JOB and DUTY of reporters to apply the heat to politicians …who are given power over  BILLIONS of taxpayers’ [...] …
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What could be better!  Just imagine someone  giving you money … lots of money: a clear and free gift … to gamble at the casino. And if you WIN the Jackpot … you  don’t even have to pay the money back!! That’s what Michael Ignatieff’s big gamble to gain power is all about. And YOU (and I) will [...] …
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So you thought I was over-exaggerating when I  said the provincial government had opened a war front on the middle class? The proof is now before us all in black and white: the latest budget update. There is absolutely no doubt the big winners are business … and the bigger the business, the bigger the winner!  The latest [...] …
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Regardless of the outcome of the Basi-Virk trial, it may take a public inquiry to find out what role, if any, Premier Gordon Campbell, his cabinet members, their top appointed staff played in the disappearance of hundreds of government e-mails from 2002 and 2003. (Former cabinet aides Bobby Virk and Dave Basi are charged with fraud and [...] …
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So where are CanWest’s creditors! Hard to believe that creditors, holding debt into the billions of dollars or piles of almost worthless CanWest shares are standing by and letting a few million more dollars slip from CanWest’s coffers. The marvelous money mavens at CanWest plan to shut their Victoria’ CHEK TV station down at month end. Seems they [...] …
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(The Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation is an independent tax research and commentary organization, which I would describe as leaning a little more fiscally right than left.  I’m happy to pas on for you to read what they have just had to say about the BC government’s Horrifying Sales Tax (HST) and how it will impact most [...] …
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At first I was skeptical … as I usually am: an article this summer in the journal Canadian Perspectives viewed the current economic crisis in the context of Class Warfare. Robert Chernomas, Professor of Economics at the University of Manitoba and a member of the Council of Canadians board of directors, cited statistics that showed in the [...] …
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There’s a great anticipation simmering in the land: most of the public in B.C., business groups and the media can hardly wait for the big Horrifying Sales Tax debate to hit the floor of the Legislature. The Legislature resumes sitting Tuesday. Of course, the HST should get a great deal of attention: the deceit (or outright lying) [...] …
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In my July blog entitled “Liberals Used, Abused the Media”  …  I pointed out how not only the public, but even the mainstream media had been used/abused by the deceit of Liberals during the May election campaign. Most of the public seemed quite used to that,  but I get the impression even the media have now caught on [...] …
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You have to hand it to Michael Smyth: the Province columnist and CKNW fill-in for vacationing Bill Good, did really try. Several times. At issue are the full details: what did Finance Miniser Colin Hansen (and the Liberal government) know about Ontario’s plan/decision to bring in the Horrifying Sales Tax there and EXACTLY when did they know it??? And when [...] …
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Blog readers will recall that on July 23,  in an piece entitled BC Paramedics: “Essential Service” Victims   I raised the great injustice being inflicted on BC’s paramedics: forcing them to continue working as an “essential service”  … but denying them any firm structured settlement mechanism, such as binding arbitration by an independent outside party or panel. We [...] …
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Conrad Black will stay in prison … at least pending the outcome of his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in May … a Supreme Court Justice ruled Monday. But don’t fret over any discomfort being suffered by the convicted fraudster, who diverted millions of dollars from Hollinger International for his own benefit, and who was also [...] …
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Blog readers may be interested in tuning in:   Talk 1410 AM Radio in Vancouver Monday moring at 8:25 a.m. when H.O. will be on the Simi Sara Show about the latest blog: When Our LEADERS Fail Us. If you do not have access to the local broadcast signal, you can also listen LIVE on the Internet [...] …
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For days now, the repudiation of the BC Liberal government over their deceit and what some would even call outright lies regarding the Horrifying Sales Tax  have filled the airwaves, newspapers, journals and blogs. Eventually it will all die down … maybe it will take longer than the government estimated … but with time, even though a bitter [...] …
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Quick! This week, if you have access to the BBC World News (Channel 36 on Shaw Cable ) , I urge you to tune in the program Hardtalk, which will be aired several times more THIS WEEK  before a new episode  is introduced  next weekend. The current episode, in my view, exposes PERFECTLY an example of [...] …
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If you are at all interested in issues involving BC Hydro, the BC Utilities Commission and run of the river power projects .. I recommend you have a look at Monday’s Tyee column by Rafe Mair. Mair, a former Social Credit cabinet minister, is no NDPer, which makes his take on all the above topics and the [...] …
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There is one angle about the disgraceful, deceitful actions of the BC Liberal government in the Horrifying Sales Tax scandal that the media have either deliberately ignored or just not fully realized: The Liberals USED and ABUSED the media to spread the BIG LIE in the last election: that a new HST wasn’t planned or even being [...] …
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The BC Civil Liberties Association has made startling and, if correct, astounding allegations that Vancouver Police are breaking the law, even after the Police Complaint Commissioner ruled the actions they are taking are improper. The BCCLA  have filed a  complaint against Vancouver Police, alleging they conducted illegal RANDOM searches of people’s bags and other property during Fireworks celebrations. When [...] …
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There are two groups which can benefit substantially from the mounting public anger over the looming Horrifying Sales Tax: manufacturers, whom the government had already calculated on   … and also another one, that probably didn’t occur to them.  The NDP is in a good position to benefit from the backlash that will continue for a full year (the new tax grab doesn’t [...] …
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Wait for it folks.  You WILL get a rebate of PART of the new HST revenues  from the provincial government … but not until the next election is a lot closer. Just follow Harvey’s Election Format formula outlined in my blog of a few days ago Lying and Deceiving the Voters Works.  It’s all quite clear. First of all, [...] …
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The BC Paramedic dispute was in the spotlight on Vancouver’s CFUN Radio 1410 AM Monday morning. And among the angles discussed …   my Blog this past week about the unfairness in the system that forces paramedics to work but denies them adequate mechanisms for requiring fair bargaining or outside binding arbitration. Harv Oberfeld …
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Maybe those who no longer vote in civic, provincial or federal elections are right. Ask them why, and most will tell you our politicians are liars and crooks, more interested in catering to big business or big unions,  lining their own pockets and rewarding their friends. Now I still think we should vote: we owe it to those who [...] …
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The current dispute between B.C.’s Emergency Paramedics and the BC Ambulance Service shows how badly our current “Essential Service” laws do NOT work fairly. Basically 3,500 workers have been turned into “forced labour” ….  unable realistically to quit their jobs; but also unable to take any meaningful job action to force their employer …  or the [...] …
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While almost all of BC has been caught up in the drama of the Okanagan forest fires … and the human drama surrounding them, the RCMP has been busy. And I’m not talking about the work of their officers policing and securing the area or evacuating/assisting local residents.  For weeks, on the subject of free speech during the 2010 [...] …
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