New Democrats said tonight's defeat of bill C-391 must be followed by a genuine attempt to fix the registry and unite rural, northern and urban Canadians. “I have spoken with many of my constituents in communities across my riding and heard the opinions of those on both sides of the issue," said Alex Atamanenko, M.P. for B.C....

Trust. It’s a small word, but it represents a very big concept: perhaps one of the most powerful positive characteristics we allow in our personal or business relationships.And, apart from perhaps the medical profession, there may be no business that DEPENDS more on the trust of its customers than the news business, especially...

Last spring I wrote a column called “Is this what a police state looks like” in response to the dangerous police actions surrounding the G20 Summit in Toronto.  I argued–as many have–that police states don’t pop up full blown over night. They develop slowly in direct proportion to people’s willingness to accept new definitions...

NDP leader Carole James was so quiet for so long, many of her own supporters wondered where she was all summer.  With the HST and the Liberals imploding, it would have been a great time for the wanna-be Premier to show her stuff, to take the lead, to convince British Columbians she’s no wasteful socialist extremist. Then she...

I confess that I did not, as promised, spend the summer thinking about the new paradigm of local, national and global politics. It was the perfect summer at my log cabin in Saskatchewan and I spent most of it swimming to the end of the lake and back, picking blueberries and swinging in my Mexican hammock.  But I did spend...

I love BC politics.  It’s often more dramatic than some of the prime time offerings offered up for our entertainment on the big screen or the tube. And, whether you see him as the hero or the villain, Premier Gordon Campbell deserves an Oscar and an Emmy.He was on the canvas, bruised and beaten down; his enemies could smell his...

[Editor's note: Part one of Mr. Oberfeld's column should be right below this one. I decided to print the two simultaneously as this is an important issue and one that will only become more and more urgent as corporate newspapers struggle to survive in an age of declining revenues]It’s no secret that, to any branch of the news...

How do you tell the difference between journalism today and prostitution?  Hmmm...  Sorry: it’s not a joke; there is no punchline; it’s only a question I’ve been asking myself since reading the ”major”  Vancouver  newspapers last weekend.Saturday Aug. 28 on page A-16 in The Vancouver Sun there were two captivating stories: ...

It’s actually hard not to laugh! But really, we should be crying. Finance Minister Colin Hansen stood before the cameras this week and told British Columbians he had no idea his own Finance Ministry officials were holding extensive discussions with federal counterparts in Ottawa on the HST in March, 2009 … a few months before...

I must admit: I have certain rules in handling responses from readers to postings on this blog.  No libel, no swearing, no racist remarks, no name-calling. But I do NOT try to kill off comments from people who disagree with me (although I wonder how could they!).  I don’t disqualify them because their submissions  have spelling ...