I really have to wonder if being Minister of Finance in this province is a curse. Kevin Falcon, for all his smarts, is someone who should know better. Yesterday, the government announced a five-year deal to repay the $1.6B federal facilitation of the HST. When I received the release from the provincial government, I immediately [...]

Over the Christmas break, I had ample time to reflect on just how God-awful the provincial government has been since its regretful adoption of Christy Clark as Premier. How else can I possibly refer to the ascension of the most unqualified premier in the history of British Columbia? It was Ms. Clark herself, that objected [...]

Late tonight, senior BC Liberal Party sources in Victoria confirm that on the chopping block are the two top staffers to Premier Clark. Both Chief of Staff Mike McDonald and Principal Secretary Dimitri Pantazopoulos are said to be likely departures from their current posts, but the timeline is uncertain and no sure word yet on [...]

The world became an even more fragile place in 2011. Good didn’t often trump evil. We endured war, pestilence, disease, murder, uprisings, Charlie Sheen and Kim Kardashian–since we’re to include all major disasters, even the insignificant ones. Well, you know what I mean… Picking the top news stories of the year wasn’t easy. There were [...]

Forum Research and Angus Reid, both of whom are often off (AR in particular has biased pollsters working for them) have recently released polls that have left the mainstream press with tongues wagging, as they scramble to explain that the ‘Christy Clark Experience’ is about as authentic as a Kardashian wedding. And about as acceptable [...]

Some time ago, in remarks that spawned outrage in the chattering classes, I stated, with considerable validity, that the CBC was (and remains) a culturally corrupt organization that often commits to viral conflicts of interest–and federally, spiteful hitjobs on anyone, at will, and with no regard for collateral consequences. I concluded, therefore, that they should [...]

I awoke to a splitting headache Saturday morning. I couldn’t sleep most of the previous night. This happens when there is too much going on; when you have an elderly father whose health is failing and doesn’t understand he’s not young anymore, plus a sister in hospital wailing in pain. On my way to breakfast, [...]

There are moments when you want to take something back. When you know you’ve failed yourself miserably; and haven’t we all done that?! When your ethical lapse was so great, you really wonder what the hell you were thinking. Well, apparently Brian Kieran had one of those lapses–and one of those moments. It’s recurring for [...]

On September 15, 2004, former Pilothouse Public Affairs chieftain Brian Kieran, walked into the Victoria law offices of Brooks, Marshall and Reynolds. It was there, at 10:30am, that Kieran began his second of two statements to the RCMP, in return for immunity on the bribes he admitted to providing Dave Basi and Bob Virk (which [...]

As a preclude to this week’s ‘Basi-Virk’ posts, I wanted you to have a look at a few items from the agreed upon ‘Statement of Facts’, which aided to end the trial. Before we begin, remember in all of this that the former Deputy Premier and now Premier swore an oath to Cabinet confidentiality. Christy [...]