Paying attention

You can see why the Liberals didn't want a fall session of the legislature. Barely minutes into what they hoped would be a one-day sitti...

VICTORIA - It's reassuring to know that local First Nations won't be hammering a big 'For Sale' sign into the lawn in front ...

VICTORIA - Commentators seem to think it shows some problem that British Columbians have ideas for where government could do more, but can’t...

VICTORIA - What kind of government can boot disabled 19-year-olds into the world knowing they face almost certain failure? Not just the usua...

VICTORIA - This feels like a different kind of Remembrance Day. It has always been an important day, a time to honour ordinary men and women...

VICTORIA - I can't think of a more curious recent policy idea than Gordon Campbell's plan to give every baby born after this year $1...

VICTORIA - You can be angry at the Conservatives for breaking their promise not to plug the income trust tax loophole - especially if you lo...

VICTORIA - The Leheidli T'enneh is only a small First Nation, with barely 300 members in the Prince George area. But the treaty deal jus...

VICTORIA - It's a lot more fun being premier once there's money to hand out. Premier Gordon Campbell hit the stage to deliver the cl...

VICTORIA - It’s all unfolding just as Liberal MLA Kevin Krueger predicted when he warned government about the risks of gambling expansion. A...

VICTORIA - Cleaning up the backlog of "almost" column topics. First, to Afghanistan. Six Canadians have now been killed patrolling...

The blog is pretty much exclusively my columns, but I want to give a plug to the new CBC series Intelligence, on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. It...

VICTORIA - There's some new appalling detail on almost every page of the report into why a little boy was left for months in the care of...

VICTORIA - Imagine two poor families living side-by-side, both with incomes of $18,000 a year and two young children. That's not enough ...

The B.C. government is being remarkably laid back about problems in its big experiment to change the way services are delivered to some 20,...

VICTORIA - It’s happening again. Another health authority is trying to gag doctors and nurses and front-line workers. If a reporter - or MLA...

VICTORIA - It's alarming to think that we're spending $1.8 billion a year in B.C. on avoidable health-care costs. But that's one...

VICTORIA - It wasn’t exactly a newsflash that British Columbians are fond of marijuana. All those jokes about BC Bud have to be based on som...

VICTORIA - You can come up with a long list of reasons to shun Premier Gordon Campbell’s “conversation” on health care. Maybe you’re irked a...

It's a fine idea to bring in a rent-subsidy program for about 15,000 poor families in B.C., but it doesn't qualify as the cornerston...