Commentary

In the summer of 2019, a group of business leaders got together to discuss the future of the technology industry in Vancouver on an international stage.

As the United States awaits the final certification of the results of the latest federal election, a few things are patently clear.

When we need to fight for information, the cliché we clutch as journalists is that “sunlight is the best disinfectant” – that the public interest is more likely to be served when we know the most.

Rebuilding better could be the rallying cry for a lot of B.C. industry sectors but perhaps none more so than the building industry itself. Buildings built better deliver bottom-line benefits on numerous fronts.

When British Columbians pondered which party to support in last month’s provincial election, “crime and public safety” was mentioned by only 4% of likely voters as the most important issue facing the province.

For about 150 years in the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a “window tax,” the precursor of the cursed income tax. Depending on how many views to the outdoors your house had – an indication of how rich you were – you paid a higher tax.

The last nine months and the last decade has been a bewildering time. After the Great Recession’s financial system bailout in 2008-09, central banks and governments around the world turned on the easy money spigots and haven’t turned them off since.

More than two years have passed since the last time voters in British Columbia participated in a municipal election.

About everything that could go wrong for a business has gone wrong lately for the BC Lions. Start with its heavy investment in 2019 in quarterback Mike Reilly, made the highest-paid player in the Canadian Football League.