Premier using ‘shock doctrine’

A successful democracy requires vigilance. I wrote an opinion piece that appears online in today’s Vancouver Sun. I encourage you to read it. What follows is a quick overview. Naomi Klein observed that people will take advantage of a crisis to gain an advantage, in her book The Shock Doctrine,. The impending trade war threatened […]

Continue reading


Evading Accountability: AGM reporting

Credit union financial reporting standards in BC are too low and out of date. The standard should be higher in light of consolidation and technological change.

Continue reading


Central1 Power Struggle

Continue reading


Feedback on the amended FIA

The BC Financial Services Authority (‘BCFSA’) has completed its first full year of operation and reported out. It is time for credit unions to assess how well the new regulatory regime works.

Continue reading


Regulatory Over-reach

BC credit unions now have ‘two’ regulatory systems; the second one has been implemented using ‘opportunities’ within the Financial Institutions Act (‘FIA’), not envisioned under the FIA.

Continue reading


A Digital Co-op Bank?

A month ago Central 1 published a short ‘white paper’ outlining their rationale for a ‘Digital Co-op Bank‘. The publication follows quickly on the Central 1 conference and AGM in May where virtually all the presentations related to a pending digital revolution in the financial services industry.  New management at Central 1 is making a […]

Continue reading


Trust and conflicts of interest at Banks

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada said consumers are being ripped off, when it issued its report on bank sales practices in March.  The  report got far too little attention.  In technocratic language it confirmed that virtually all of Canada’s banks pursue their own interests – not the interests of ordinary people. The primary finding […]

Continue reading


Director Training Trap

Central 1 is now canvasing credit unions on what the ‘mandatory’ director training program should look like.  The survey is well thought out and to be welcomed, but the implications and the potential conflicts of interests need to be considered.  The current one year Credit Union Director Achievement (CUDA) program will be expanded into a […]

Continue reading


Ownership Lost

Continue reading