Paying attention

This seems like a good day to share my Sept. 11, 2002, column from the Vancouver Sun.
There's something at once wrong and frightening about the fervent celebration of the attacks on the United States one year ago.
Wrong, because it rests on the false pretence that Sept. 11 was a defining moment that changed everything, for everyone....

[The Run is The Tyee's election newsletter - you can subscribe here. I wrote this for a recent edition.]
Andrew Scheer’s harmless schtick has worked for 15 years as he’s avoided doing doing anything notable as he climbed the political ladder. Now he wants to be prime minister. And his policies would be dangerous....

Governments don’t talk about inequality much these days. The B.C. government’s Throne Speech didn’t even include the word.
And while the provincial budget took useful steps to address growing inequality, it also showed how decades of anti-tax rhetoric have limited governments’ options — at least if they hope to get re-elected....

Congratulations if you’ve mostly skipped the flood of news reports on the legislature scandal.
It’s been entertaining, if you’re the kind of person who stops to look at car crashes. But despite all the noise, we know very little.
Here’s the Quick Notes version, and six things you need to know in order to understand what’s happening....