As with most of Donald Trump's policy ideas, details are still sparse on his plan for rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure. But two main pillars of the plan, outlined during the election campaign, stand out. First, he's talking a big game -- a proposed $1 trillion in infrastructure investment to be "spurred" over 10 years. Second -- and here's the rub -- the Trump plan would move to privatize infrastructure on an unprecedented scale, lining the pockets of investors with huge tax breaks in the process.

We hear a lot about B.C.'s strong jobs performance -- it's mentioned in every speech and media appearance by our Premier and members of her government. On the surface, it sounds like a good news story with over 73,000 new jobs created in 2016 while many provinces actually lost jobs. But what the Premier doesn't say is that most of these jobs were created in Metro Vancouver and Victoria, and our longer-term track record on job creation is much less rosy.

After the federal approval of Kinder Morgan's controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX), Alberta Premier Rachel Notley came to B.C. to sell the pipeline's economic benefits. She claims B.C. will get a $1 billion per year boost in GDP as a result of the pipeline, as well as thousands of jobs in both construction and operations once the pipeline is built.

There is good reason to believe, however, that the incremental income and employment gains for ordinary working British Columbians are likely to be substantially less. The project would lead to a small increase in total GDP in the province, but the main benefits are in the construction phase, and even there the benefits have been grossly inflated. In the long run, we can only bank on about 50 new permanent jobs.

I know I am not alone shedding tears for the story of the 2016 American election. These aren't the tears of a campaign or game lost, or an ego wounded, nor are they tears of aloneness, because I know I am not the only one who is afraid.

These tears connect me to all of those who are afraid. We are connected because the politics of hatred and fear are less visible but alive in Canada too, because the fear of discrimination and violence is shared by women and so many minority groups in America, because those who voted for Trump are afraid too. There is fear all around us.

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As we welcome refugees in larger numbers this year, the spotlight is turned on our disintegrating social infrastructure.

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New federal finance minister Bill Morneau has invited Canadians to submit their ideas and priorities for the next Federal Budget. People are welcome to share their suggestions via email, a survey and social media on a site the government has created here.

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The political appeal of a revenue neutral carbon tax is clear. The tax provides an incentive to reduce fossil fuel use, and the revenue neutrality -- reducing income or other taxes in amounts more or less equal to the amount of carbon tax revenues that the government receives -- makes the whole exercise rather painless.

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Since the signing of the new climate treaty in Paris last month, there's been plenty of debate as to whether the new global agreement is a turning point or merely more hollow promises.

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So did we save the planet?

From the outset, this was never about "saving the planet." Our spinning hunk of rock has been around billions of years and will continue to support diverse life forms long past the time humans roam it. The question is whether we have a planet that can support human life over the long term, in something close to the style with which we have become accustomed.