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 […]
Writer’s Block
71 posts
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 […]
If you do you do only one thing tomorrow … make sure it’s getting out to vote. That is, of course, unless you voted in […]
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 […]
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 […]
Drove by a local church this morning and I don’t think they could have gotten another car in the parking lot. Not sure what was […]
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” […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
What will Andrew Wilkinson do? There is a chance that the fate of the possibly ill-fated proportional representation referendum will rest with Wilkinson and the […]
In a week where international scientists are warning of an impending global catastrophe if we don’t address climate change, we, of course, went batshit crazy […]
Closing the Westwood Drive access to 22nd Avenue has nothing to do with pedestrian safety. It has everything to do with traffic flow. The Ministry […]
Long ago in the before times (before Internet, or more aptly the early days of the Internet), I was one of a small group of […]
Long ago in the before times (before Internet, or more aptly the early days of the Internet), I was one of a small group of […]
Premier John Horgan and the NDP caucus may have a tough decision coming up. As of Wednesday morning, only 215,187 of the 3,293,435 registered voters […]
John Horgan was right. People were probably switching over the Wheel of Fortune in droves last night as the premier and Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson […]
With apologies to Meghan Trainor: It’s all about that base, ‘bout that base, no one else; It’s all about that base, ‘bout that base, no […]
The provincial election campaign, in case you hadn’t noticed, is in full swing. I caught a clip of Liberal leader Christy Clark unveiling the party’s […]
Shirley Bond was in fine form when she addressed the Chamber of Commerce last week. The speech was billed as being about the ‘balanced’ budget, […]
So what can you get for 800-grand in Prince George?If you’re in the private sector, you can get one of the nicest houses in town […]
A long, long, time ago, in another era, we had a little Crown corporation in this province called Forest Renewal B.C. (FRBC). It was created […]
I have to admit I was a little envious of those who got picked to serve on British Columbia’s Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Reform. Even […]
Kinder Morgan has met, or is meeting, all five of British Columbia’s conditions for resource development. The feds have announced a $1.5-billion Oceans Protection Plan, […]
There seemed to be a lot of talk over the holidays about how the city helped the Marriott Courtyard hotel get the cranes moving at […]
It’s the end of the year and that means it’s time for Bill’s Eerily Inaccurate Predictions for 2017. As I gaze into my crystal ball […]