The failure of the mainstream media to engage in even the most basic fact checking exercise is one of the biggest barriers for change across a host of issues.

It's an issue well known to any advocate of action on the climate crisis. A three second Google search is more than enough to prove false the most sophisticated misinformation, so it takes a perverse level of intellectual blindness to continue to print so called balanced stories that feature facts on one side and outright lies on the other.

That brings me to the events in Vancouver this week. Gregor Robertson and Peter Ladner squared off in the biggest debate of the election schedule on Wednesday night to take on the front line issues of homelessness and affordable housing.

It fell to the campaign team to lay out the truth behind a blatant misrepresentation of facts by Mr. Ladner when he said that he had never voted against the city's Homeless Action Plan - a clarification that took no more work than checking the Council Meeting Minutes posted online at the city website.

Good research and a talent with video goes a long way. Here's the clip put together by our campaign team. Ultimately, we need an independent watch dog group that specifically focuses on doing the job most media will not do - exposing political lies. Until then, enjoy the truth from Vancouver...