Thoughts on BC Politics and More

  Today is the last day the House of Commons will sit before it recesses for the summer. If you have been following media reports, you will also know that many are speculating this may well be the final sitting of Canada’s 43rd Parliament as rumours abound that the Prime Minister (Justin Trudeau) will call an election before the House is scheduled to return in September. Do I believe the election rumours? Curiously the Liberal omnibus budget Bill C-30, that is scheduled to be passed later today, extends current pandemic related benefits into September. There is no question that Prime Minister Trudeau will not want to head into an election without the pandemic benefits freely flowing as cutting off these benefits would be very unpopular politically. So it is conceivable that the Prime Minister desires to have an election using the ongoing benefits for political purposes. Although the Parliamentary Budget Officer has repeatedly stated that our current spending levels ar...

  The longer the coronavirus saga lingers, the more perplexing it is that efforts to contain the virus have been brought to us by squadrons of allegedly educated and intelligent people. We have official senior health care officers for ten provinces, three territories, various cities, and the federal government. In addition, we have politicians from all of those jurisdictions. Add to that full-time commentators from major media outlets who parade an endless stream of alleged experts to add commentary on what is and is not working. We have so many cooks in the COVID kitchen that whenever one of them moves, he knocks over three nearby people. We have watched this insanity for fifteen months. Collectively, they failed to limit virus spread. We have over 26,000 bodies as proof. The idiots who came up with social distancing based their theory on preliminary studies of how far coronavirus droplets might spread if someone coughed or sneezed. The six-foot or two-meter distance ch...

  To increase Indigenous ownership in the oil industry , First Nations should focus on small and medium - sized projects rather than mega - projects that require massive assistance from government , finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non - partisan Canadian public policy think - tank .   “ The energy industry , and particularly the oil sector remains Canada’s leading private - sector source of high - paying jobs and contracts for Indigenous people , so greater cooperation among First Nations and the industry will increase opportunity in communities that need it badly , ” said Tom Flanagan , Fraser Institute senior fellow and author of First Nations and the Petroleum Industry — from Conflict to Cooperation .   For example, the Fort McKay and Mikisew Cree First Nations in 2017 purchase d part of the Suncor East Tank Farm in northern Alberta. And in the same region, several First Nations invested in Kinetico...