Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Okay, now that we appear to have COVID-19 under control, how will governments pay for their actions?   There is still a risk of a second wave, and more issues to come, but the bill for all of the government support is a sure thing.   British Columbia’s deficit?   We will hear a start of the telling of that tale later this month from the finance minister. My guess is that BC will be looking at a deficit somewhere between $7 and $15 billion.   To put that in perspective, that is possibly more than the c ombined total amount of income taxes and sales taxes collected in BC. There are three options (for paying that back):   First ... grow the economy at a faster rate than spending to shrink the deficit over a number of years. This is the best option but with all of the negative NDP policies, unfortunately it is not likely.   Second ... increase taxes. This would be very negative for quality of life and economic activity but it appear...

Talking with a few leaders of First Nations communities in Saanich North and the Islands and on the north coast recently, a common theme emerged ... frustration with the federal and provincial government. The theme, and the frustration, is not new. Indigenous leaders have been expressing this same sentiment for decades. The story-line goes something like this... “ Our fish boats are tied to the docks and our people cannot fish. We are not allowed to harvest other seafood from the ocean like we have done for generations .” “ The forests in our territory are being cut down and the logs are shipped to either a local mill owned by a foreign entity or they go to a mill offshore nearly raw. We see no benefit .” “ Our communities are impoverished. We don’t have clean drinking water, the houses are falling apart, our families are overcrowded and the other poorly built infrastructure is decaying. Unemployment is high and the mental health and well-...