So much has happened in the week since I blogged about the novel coronavirus. While there’s been so much breaking news none of us can keep up, I want to give credit where credit is due regarding the leadership we’ve seen. Provincially, I have to say how impressed I’ve been by our provincial health officer,…
Coronavirus: Being careful? You’re caring!
It seems like nothing but COVID-19 is in the news today. At the top of every newscast we get another update and, more often than not, at least half of the news segment features more coronavirus developments. Finally, the World Health Organization has declared it’s a pandemic. The WHO also says it’s seeing “alarming levels…
When courage really counts
Tuesday night, I watched the Democratic presidential candidates’ debate — the last debate before the South Carolina primary on Feb. 29 and the Super Tuesday vote March 3, when about 1/3 of Democrats cast their ballots in 15 American states and territories for who they want their presidential candidate to be. For a large part…
Let’s build a city that’s ours
Did you know that the City of Vancouver has no comprehensive city plan? Virtually every other major city in Canada has one — a city-wide plan that stipulates what can be built where throughout the city. To their credit, our city councillors elected in 2018 have initiated steps to create Vancouver’s comprehensive new city plan,…
The challenge: A progressive in ultra-nationalist times
I watched President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night and, like me, if you did, too, you probably were turned off big time. It was a typical Trump event — a speech filled full of false facts with a lot of reality TV gimmicks thrown in for good measure. It was anything…
The irony at Davos
The World Economic Forum annual meeting of business executives and political leaders held in Davos, Switzerland, is now underway. This year, nearly 3,000 participants from 117 countries are attending. The theme: Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World. One of the keynote speakers was Greta Thunberg who spoke on Tuesday, January 21. This is Greta’s…
Cleaning up campaign donations
Those of you familiar with my blog will recall how pleased I was when the provincial government introduced regulations governing the funding of municipal election campaigns in 2018. These new restrictions prohibited donations from unions and corporations — including developers. They also limited donations from individuals to a maximum of $1,200. However, even during the 2018…