After 11 years of bringing you local reporting, the team behind the Vancouver Observer has moved on to Canada's National Observer. You can follow Vancouver culture reporting over there from now on. Thank you for all your support over the years!
In 2005, the B.C. child welfare system was in crisis, and the public was demanding change. The violent death of a child in foster care had exposed failings in the investigative process and left the...
Economists view the side effects of business activities that are not reflected in the cost of the end product as externalities. Pollution, in other words, is “external” to manufacturing, and the...
The United States government has just announced that cigarette packages will soon have to display graphic warning labels that cover 50% of the box. The media are abuzz about the “scary” and “gory”...
Two popular Canadian institutions, Tim Hortons and universal health care, recently had an awkward partnership. On February 28, doctors at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster were forced to...
If two words can summarize the health care rhetoric among leadership candidates for the BC Liberals, they are “sustainability” and “innovation.” These are their fervent hope for BC health care....
On April 12, Kevin Falcon, Minister of Health Services, announced that the province is funding some hospital care in B.C. in a new way. According to ministry, several pilot projects using “patient-...
The health-care reform law enacted in the United States is a taxpayer-funded gift to the insurance industry, the most important social legislation in decades, or the end of freedom and liberty for...
A long time ago, Sarah Palin’s family sought medical care in Whitehorse. Last month, Danny Williams, the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, had heart surgery in Miami. Maybe you don’t care about...
The crowds were in high spirits on Robson Street at 10:00 PM on February 18. Canada had just won its third gold medal of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. A line of RCMP officers stood at relaxed...