In the newspaper business, there is always hell to pay. I often joked that if, in order to get that 2,000-word expose on the local […]
Writer’s Block
117 posts
Darn … I was really looking forward to a John Horgan/Kevin Falcon dust-up during the next provincial election campaign. It would have been great. Horgan, […]
War, in and of itself, is a crime. Or at least it should be. Images last week of the horrors in Bucha, Ukraine have shocked […]
So the Liberals and the NDP have teamed up to possibly ensure their political future … er, possibly ensure Canadians won’t go to the polls […]
Some random observations on the protest/occupation of Ottawa over the past three weeks: BUREAUCRACY BAFFLES In a wonderful testament to the glacial pace of bureaucracies, […]
Aisle. That’s a good word to start with. Why aisle? I’ll tell you. It has three different vowels and two well-used consonants. When you are […]
Some random thoughts on the protest convoy that descended on Ottawa last week: • NEW RULE (with apologies to Bill Maher): If anyone in your […]
“I’m on a road to nowhere” The so-called Freedom Convoy is making its way across the country this week. If you haven’t heard it’s a […]
An anti-vaxxer I’m not. Got both my shots and my booster. I’m part of the 90 per cent (3,893,147) of British Columbians who have received […]
Things that make me go hmmm: The first line of the news release sounded pretty ominous. “While inflation and housing prices continue to skyrocket, the […]
When the Prince George Free Press closed its doors a few years back, Roy Spooner and I set about creating something to fill the void. […]
Wasn’t that fun? The election about nothing accomplished nothing. Or did it? Lots of pundits this morning are complaining the ‘$600 million’ election, that gave […]
Welcome to the election campaign no one wants. There is no doubt this election is nothing about what it should be … climate crisis, COVID-19 […]
Should we cancel Canada Day celebrations in light of the discovery of unmarked graves at several former residential schools? My typically Canadian answer is: It […]
I knew I shouldn’t make eye contact. But I did. I spotted the red hat across the grass boulevard in front of CN Centre at […]
Holy moly, I was right. Yup, I’m just as surprised as you are. A few months back, when a few churches argued their right to […]
Spent an hour on the phone with the Canada Revenue Agency the other day and I’m neither homicidal, suicidal nor am I going to jail […]
It should be a no-brainer. But it’s not. City council has the ability Monday to give Prince George taxpayers something they haven’t had in a […]
It’s the Christmas season and churches are in the news this week … not for uplifting messages of hope and good cheer, but for flaunting […]
We won’t know until next summer how much extra it cost to clean house at City Hall. From former city manager Kathleen Soltis down to […]
Did Wexit win and we’ve seceded? Apparently British Columbia is in the midst of an election campaign but judging by the numbers of appearances by […]
Forgive me if I don’t join the Lower Mainland media in fawning over Green leader Sonia Furstenau’s performance in Tuesday’s leaders’ debate. She did OK, […]
For those looking for hints that Premier John Horgan might call a snap fall election, there have been 67 of them since Thursday. That’s the […]
A SHOE IN – The Ministry of Education released a back to school video this week featuring Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry in a […]
It’s the $10 million question. What to do with the $10 million? Subtract or add? The city, which delayed starting work on the $42 million […]
BY GERRY CHIDIAC Lessons in Learning One of the most important qualities of a good leader is the ability to listen. It’s very easy to […]
City council should be spittin’ mad. The people who elected them certainly are. The public is understandably upset with news this week that the new […]
I haven’t liked our relationship with China for a long time. My disillusionment started long before the coronavirus picked Wuhan as a launching point for […]
Imagine driving down a steep hill and, as you approach a corner, you pump the brakes and the pedal goes right to the floor. You […]
I’ve lost track of the number of events that have been cancelled due to social distancing guidelines. The biggest gut-punch, however, came early when the […]
One of the ironies about all this pandemic stuff is that we are now, finally, getting serious about staying home if we catch a cold […]
In politics, timing is everything. School District 57 trustees couldn’t have picked a worse time to announce they are beginning to “engage in the process” […]
There are so many moving parts to the ongoing Wet’suwet’en issue that it’s hard to get a handle on it all. So here are a […]
What the heck happened to the Conservative Party leadership race? A week ago it was shaping up to be Clash of the Titans. Now it […]
Other than the name – The Select Committee on A Safe, Clean, and Inclusive Downtown – the city has done a reasonable job of striking […]
Looks like the federal carbon tax is going to stay around, at least for a little while. It was interesting to watch the carbon tax […]
Election Day is tomorrow. Do you know who you’re going to vote for? The polls close at 7 p.m. Monday so, no worries, lots of […]
So who won the big federal leaders debate last night? It certainly wasn’t the viewer. What a schmozzle. I thought that appointing a commission to […]
The Cariboo-Prince George campaign seems to be all about the local candidates. Or at least that’s what they want you to focus on. I’ve been […]
I remember the exact moment we knew that the Prince George Free Press was doomed. It was when the decision was made to go from […]
Todd Doherty wins the award for first out of the gate with his campaign signs. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was still in the shadow of […]
The award for the most crass political comment of the campaign (so far) goes to People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier who, in true […]
BY BILL PHILLIPS Writer’s Block Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad has been an outspoken critic of Forests Minister Doug Donaldson … to put it mildly. […]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has his priorities all mixed up. In responding to the ethics commissioner’s report this week, which pretty much confirmed what most […]
In government, you have to do something. In politics, you have to look like you’re doing something. Right now the NDP aren’t accomplishing much of […]
It happened literally at the 11th hour. It was just after 11 p.m. Monday night when the Statement of Financial Information came up on city […]
The BC Liberals’ FIVE THINGS THE NDP SHOULD DO TO HELP THE FOREST INDUSTRY (you won’t believe No. 6) has the benefit of coming from […]
Had lunch with Kelly McTaggart of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers on Tuesday. OK, there were about 50 Rotarians in the room too, so […]
No one asked the question. When city council dealt with the issue of why the cost of upgrading the Second Avenue parkade went from $2,725,000 […]
Cariboo North MLA Coralee Oakes had a chance to take the high road. But, alas, she chose to wallow in the muck. When Tolko Forest […]
Is Cariboo-Prince George in play? Right now it’s hard to imagine Justin Trudeau’s Liberals winning anything come October, but they seem to think Cariboo-Prince George […]
Does anyone in Alberta seriously think they can cut off oil and gas to British Columbia without repercussions? Does Jason Kenney (or Rachel Notley before […]
The only real surprise over Jody Wilson-Raybould’s ouster from the Liberal caucus this week was that it took this long. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned […]
I came across a genuine ‘fake news’ site the other day, which isn’t all that surprising or uncommon. However, it had nothing to do with […]
It could be a little crowded at tonight’s city council meeting. The group Enough Already! City of PG AAP, which is raising concerns about the […]
A couple of things should be mentioned when talking about the city’s 2019 budget that will dip into the taxpayers’ pocketbooks by another 4.3 per […]
BY BILL PHILLIPS Writer’s Block Jody Wilson-Raybould had to resign from cabinet. When this whole scandal about whether the Prime Minister’s Office put pressure on […]
It was an innocuous enough question. At the end of Premier John Horgan’s news conference at the BC Natural Resources Forum in Prince George last […]
Proportional representation is so 2018. Yes, I know there are other burning issues such as pipelines, blockades, and the spend-‘em-if-you-got-‘em ways of the provincial legislature, […]
It’s a New Year and that means it’s time for predictions. What will the future hold for us? Well, fear not, all will be told […]