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Harper Brings CBC to Heel By  Antonia Zerbisias , Today, TheTyee.ca        The CBC last week cut 241 jobs in the last round of layoffs. Photo: Mars Observer in  Your BC: The Tyee's Photo Pool . Technically, of course, there is no difference. Both are funded with tax dollars.

 The thing about public broadcasters is that governments too often get confused between "publicly-owned" and "state-owned." But the former suggests that citizens get a public good like, say, when they fund public transit or public roads. Public broadcasting should, as a result, serve the public interest. That translates to journalism and programming of social and cultural benefit, with as much good as possible for as many people as possible. Unlike private broadcasting, which essentially sells eyeballs to advertisers -- and the more eyeballs the better -- public broadcasting should venture where private broadcasters are reluctant to tread, out of fear of ...

DRIP, DRIP… 04.19.15 12:01 AM ET California’s drought and how it’s handled show just what kind of place the Golden State is becoming: feudal, super-affluent and with an impoverished interior. California has met the future, and it really doesn’t work. As the mounting panic surrounding the drought suggests, the Golden State, once renowned for meeting human and geographic challenges, is losing its ability to cope with crises. As a result, the great American land of opportunity is devolving into something that resembles feudalism, a society dominated by rich and poor, with little opportunity for upward mobility for the state’s middle- and working classes.  The water situation reflects this breakdown in the starkest way. Everyone who follows California knew it was inevitable we would suffer a long-term drought. Most of the state—including the Bay Area as well as greater Los Angeles—is semi-arid, and could barely support more than a tiny fraction of its current population. Calif...

'Strong Proud Free': Cabinet Secrecy Blocks Rationale Behind Harper Government's Ad Slogan CP  |  By Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press Posted:  04/16/2015 12:26 pm EDT  Updated:  0 OTTAWA - Strong. Proud. Free. And a state secret. The genesis of the Harper government's "Strong Proud Free" slogan that is currently bombarding Canadian television viewers is considered a cabinet confidence and will be sealed from public scrutiny for 20 years. A request by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act seeking any background rationale for the tagline, which is being used to punctuate all the latest taxpayer-funded advertising has come up empty. That's because a 149-page Treasury Board submission on advertising has been deemed advice to cabinet, placing it behind a lead sheet of secrecy that even the federal information commissioner can't penetrate. No title for the submission, nor a date, author or even the department that orig...

Photo by Mark Klotz Canadians believe climate disruption is a moral issue and that climate protection trumps development of the tarsands and pipelines. They want politicians to control carbon pollution and give citizens a say in energy decision-making. Canadians believe: Protecting the climate is more important than building the Energy East pipeline and further developing the tarsands (61% agree/strongly agree). Building the Energy East pipeline to export tarsands oil is unethical because it is harmful to the environment (by a 3 to 1 margin that 56% agree/strongly agree; 18% disagree/strongly disagree). For provinces along the Energy East Pipeline route, results were: 71% of Québecers, 67% of Ontarians and 60% of New Brunswickers believe protecting the climate is more important than building the Energy East pipeline and further developing the tarsands (agree/strongly agree). 68% of Québecers, 55% of Ontarians and 57% of New Brunswickers believe that building the...

'It's very disheartening,' says nursery owner. By Jonathon Hernandez, Today, TheTyee.ca         Nurseries like this one grow seedlings to be planted in B.C. forests. Photo by Jeremy Hiebert in Your BC: The Tyee's Photo Pool .   Provincial reforestation efforts will be delayed in southern B.C. this spring after more than 2 million seedlings were severely damaged by unpredictable weather. According to government officials, approximately 2.5 million trees that were to be planted in the area were severely damaged by polar winds. That number represents about five per cent of the 50 million seedlings scheduled to be planted this spring by the B.C. government. The affected trees are too damaged to be planted, putting some reforestation efforts on hold. The tree planting was scheduled to begin across B.C. this month. Each spring, the provincial government along with private logging companies plant millions of trees in B.C. in areas ...