I don’t care what religion anyone has …or even if they don’t have one.  That’s a personal decision: each to his own; or to some new direction he or she has found on their own; or been converted to by others … PRIVATELY. I don’t even object to private religious schools … that’s a parental or family decision: although my own experience in Quebec was that separating people by faith in segregated schools …. by legislation… right up to college for up to 20 years contributed to the divisions, suspicions and discrimination that pervaded …
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Well, so much for their trustworthy “new” perspective on Canadian news:  Sun News Network have been caught AGAIN running faked content. The latest embarrassment surrounds a faked Citizenship Ceremony created in Sun TV’s Toronto studios last October, because for some mysterious reason, covering the 13 already-scheduled swearing in ceremonies around the city for new Canadians was not good enough. It didn’t start out as a faked event ….but became one when not enough “real” new Canadians could be found to take part.  So six federal bureaucrats stood in, …
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You heard it here FIRST ..and hopefully LAST! I’ve been thinking… always a dangerous and sometimes a quite cheeky intellectual exercise … and I’ve come up with a few new program suggestions for CBC’s next television season … featuring a “Revised”  Program Standards Policy to fit with its new reality. First, Hockey Night in Canada can now have a new Sports Reporter, Jennifer Mather, ”imbedded” to  cover the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mather, as former BCTV fans can testify, is a fine reporter.  But more than that …
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CBC reporter Stephen Smart MUST stop covering the BC Legislature.  Or Rebecca Scott MUST stop working as Christy Clark’s deputy press secretary. The integrity of CBC Television requires that ONE of those alternatives take place.. PRONTO! What’s the problem? Smart, who has covered the legislature for CBC since 2010, and Scott, appointed in 2011 as Clark’s deputy press secretary, are married …TO EACH OTHER. There is NO WAY, in my opinion, that Smart can continue to cover the Liberal government and Clark while his wife works for it and her. Period. Simple. END OF …
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There are few decisions by U.S. President Barack Obama that will evoke more disparate reactions in Canada than his rejection the Keystone Pipeline proposal. Opponents of ANY tar sands oil extraction activity will celebrate along with environmental activists who oppose ANY pipelines, whether through the U.S. to Texas for refining or through the Coastal range to Canada’s Pacific for export by tanker. Keystone supporters will mourn, briefly, before looking at some other way to get around the Obama administration’s negative ruling. And then, there’s the “To hell with the …
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So the federal Liberal Party wants (again) to make inroads in BC and the West!  But they clearly still don’t get it, so they won’t get it.  Get it? At their weekend convention, according to The Vancouver Sun, the “new” Liberals actually reasoned that “a new spirit of openness and a policy in favour of legalizing and pot will help breathe life into the Liberal Party in Western Canada”. What an insult! I’m surprised they didn’t also pass motions saying the Libs LOVE wheat, oil,  salmon, samosas and dim sum … to really reach out to the West …
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As a retired journalist worried about all the cuts in staffing, quality and relevance in the news business over the past decade (or more) any announcement of a NEW all-news network is great news.  And the fact that the move will substantially revvolve around the station where I spent 26 great, mostly happy years makes it all even greater: it will mean more news jobs, and greater opportunities and security for my co-workers. Or will it? For those who missed it, Shaw Media has applied to the CRTC for “a regional, Global BC-driven all-news speciality channel” to begin broadcasting …
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Let’s face it: Canada’s record on dealing with racism is not spotless. Just going back as far as World War II is bad enough to get the point.  Our treatment of Japanese CANADIANS in interning them without cause and stealing most of their possessions was shameful to put it mildly; our turning away of Jewish refugees (and even sending many back to their deaths in Europe) was an anti-Semitic blot on our history; and our subsequent failure to expeditiously pursue war criminals who made it here was not our shining moment. Not to mention those aboriginal residential schools,  our …
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It didn’t get much attention when it was said just after Christmas: partially because many of us were still busy with the holiday season; but I noticed it. And also because it’s not something the pro-HST media pundits and propagandists would want to tell you about: so I will. In an article in The Vancouver Province about weak Christmas retail sales Dec. 28, experienced Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter was commenting on the 40 per cent drop in Searts Canada’s share value in 2011. Sears is in a lot of trouble in the US, because of the wretched economy …but …
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It came to me while I was watching … of all things …the latest Republican Primary Debate: British Columbians deserve a Spring election. There isn’t a single Republican leadership candidate I would vote for, and I don’t like the American political system that can see a Democrat in the White House blockaded by a Republican-controlled House and/or Senate.  But at least the “people”, if they register as nominal party supporters get a hand in choosing their leader and everyone, even unregistered voters,  get a say right across the land to voice their …
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Revolutions…. even peaceful ones …  are inconvenient: innocent people get hurt and impacts often extend well beyond intended targets. And for it to succeed, the Occupy Movement will necessarily adversely impact a lot of us who actually support its aims and would benefit from any accomplishments it make in taking on the current economic/political system. But “the people” should NOT be the targets.  There’s no point in that and all it will do is turn the 99% per cent AGAINST  those the protesters purport to represent. The Port of Vancouver, its wrokers, the …
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We now have proof that politicians on the left can be just as sleazy, dishonest and disrespectful of voters as those on the right … just like Gordon Campbell.  At least when it comes to pre and post election handling of tax increases. Barely a month after the votes were counted and Vision won its new term at the helm of City Hall is now looking at all kinds of tax and service costs increases not revealed during the campaign. The word just in from city officials (who conveniently weren’t ready with their figures BEFORE the election …and as far as I can tell, didn’t …
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If only BC courts showed the same respect for the courts and the legal system that they demand … or least hope … of us! But they don’t. BC judges and BC courts have often made a complete mockery of our laws, the justice system and the citizenry’s expectations to see justice done and be protected from the evil that dwell among us. And no case in my view exemplifies that more than that of killer Xiao Zhang. Zhang, you should recall, mowed down and killed visiting New Zealand tourist Dr. David Higgins, who was crossing Granville Street in a marked crossing at the foot …
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Okay, so here we go again.  Whether it’s Christmas, Chanukah, New Year or just friendship, it’s time to buy gifts for those who mean so much to us. But what? We thumb through the catalogues, search the flyers, actually read the newspaper ads and find ourselves inundated with TV ads for the latest toys…for kids and adults. Canadians will spend $40 Billion or more this holiday season…. estimates say well over $600 each. But almost all of it on goods made overseas. Of course, most of us would prefer to buy goods Made in Canada.  Imagine the benefits and impact on …
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I hope the REAL Occupy Vancouver movement does not fade away. For MOST of our sakes, it MUST not. Their message … that the rich must STOP getting richer at the expense of the rest of us … must not die, or be forgotten, or cease to be advocated. promoted and brought to success in our society. Readers of this blog will know how I  condemned what I saw as the illegitimate seizure of the Occupy site by anarchists, homeless activists and partiers, who ruined the original message and destroyed much of the public support for the movement. That was unfortunate, but now that the tenters …
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It has been 140 years since British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation  …. ready, able and supposedly willing to govern itself properly, fairly and according to rule. Or maybe not. Far too often, BC still acts like the Wild West, where election laws are seriously violated, but offenders keep their seats; where politicians lie, deceive and after being forced to resign in disgrace, are rewarded with awards an lucrative appointments; and,  where major rules are violated in handing out contracts … and when exposed by the media… the contract is rescinded, but no one …
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This blog comes to you from the United States … where the Occupy movement is real and still relevant. Make no mistake about it there is a BIG difference between the majority of those keeping the Occupy movement alive down south and those Occupy pretenders in Vancouver/Victoria who have co-opted and stolen the original cause. In the US, the Occupy masses are the real thing:  thousands of individuals, single parents and families who, for years and years, were hard-working people, but who have fallen on hard times and unemployment due to the sagging economy; home-owners who were …
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Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts not only won her third term of office, her whopping majority sends a message to the faltering Liberal leader Christy Clark:  Watts can take Clark’s job from her whenever she wants it. Watts scored 59,943 votes, burying her closest challenger, whoonly managed a measly 6,267.  That kind of mind-blowing margin and popularity is something provincial Liberals can only dream of, look on in envy, and, yes, try to figure out how to take advantage of for the next BC election in 2013. Watts has said she is not interested …right now … in a  provincial, …
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It’s no wonder our election turnouts …whether municipal, provincial or federal … are so low, especially among young people.  We have long seen individual politicians, from every party, end up in the dog house or court for individual campaign violations or corruption or scandal.  But NOW, the entire federal Conservative Party has pleaded GUILTY to illegal campaign spending … and here’s the worst part, the guily plea came after four YEARS of denying any wrongdoing, saying they did nothing wrong and now admitting the party filed FALSE election spending …
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It’s one of things that I dislike most in dealing with politicians: their double standard in dealing with various groups … reflecting their biases, their  ideological selectivity and, frankly,  their hypocrisy. I couldn’t help think about that …  and Vision’s latest foibles …  after driving  along Granville Street Tuesday, south of 16th Ave, where I spotted three chilly looking protestors sitting totally exposed to the elements on pads outside the Chinese consulate. They, of course, were supporters of the Falun Gong, who have been outside that consulate …
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First, I have to confess: I rarely watch morning tv shows… I’m a morning radio listener … leaving my tv viewing to afternoon and evening hours. But I couldn’t resist … CTV Vancouver began a new morning show today, to compete with Global’s longstanding Morning News … so I felt I had to give CTV’s new venture a look. Pretty good! I flipped back and forth between both shows from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and of course, I felt most familiar with the Global team, that includes three really nice people I always enjoyed working beside before I retired: …
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Now calm down.  I deliberately waited for the emotions to hopefully subside before commenting on the light sentence handed down in the sentencing of the first person criminally charged in the Stanley Cup riot. The judge got it right.   Calm down, calm down. I, like you, was suitably outraged when I first heard about the absolute discharge handed Karanvir Singh Saran after he pleaded GUILTY to possession of stolen property (reportedly two stolen swimsuits) ripped off from a store during the post-hockey-game  downtown rampage. But I was not surprised. After all, I wrote on this blog on  …
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Sounds like mischief, doesn’t it?   But hear me out … and then decide. Wherever you live, chances are your local government has more impact on your daily life and needed services than either the provincial or federal governments. They can totally change the nature of your neighbourhood, the quality of your your home services and environment, your ability to get around and your every day satisfaction with your living experience. That’s pretty big, so it’s very sad that voter turnouts are often terrible in urban or rural local elections. Your community, those who put …
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The Liberals just don’t seem to learn.   They still think the public has no right to know why they keep making secret deals handing out millions of dollars in legal settlements and fees. Christy Clark said she was not Gordon Campbell and her way of governing would be different from that of the disgraced ex-premier.  Clearly she was joking…or just taking the voters, as Campbell seemed to, for fools! In fact, things are not getting better: they’re getting worse. Clark’s Liberal government handed out $30 million in public money, PLUS legal fees, to Boss Power in a …
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Yes, Halloween will soon be upon us: a perfect opportunity for some of those reporters stationed at the BC legislature to have the old, go-get-them, find out the real story zeal. Or at least pretend to do so. I’m referring … yes, nastily, to the dismal job the TV legislative reporters, in particular, have done going after the government and the facts surrounding that $30 MILLION (plus legal fees) payout in the Boss Power fiasco … and possible political corruption scandal. That’s $30 million! Enough, in my books, to have a sustained challenge by the media to the …
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It’s as much a tradition as Hockey Night in Canada: awarding federal contracts on the basis of political seats, powerful clout and, in essence, attempts to bribe voters. I saw that personally while covering Parliament Hill, when Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney overruled all technical assessments and recommendations and evaluations that favored Winnipeg, to instead award the multi-billion maintence contracts for Canada’s new CF-18 fighter planes to Quebec. And neither the Official Opposition Liberals nor totally Western-propped up NDP raised much of as peep. I could …
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BC taxpayers …not just Vancouver taxpayers … spent $563 million to totally rebuild BC Place stadium, complete with new seating, a retractable roof and private boxes (for those with generous corporate writeoffs, courtesy of the rest of us).  $563 MILLION!  taxpayers’ dollars!  When there isn’t enough money to adequately take care of our disabled! And, as the latest jewel in BC’s penchant for publicly paid for but privately-profiting  mega-projects  is set to host its first event …a BC Lions game … Friday, how have the real benefactors of all this …
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He should be fired … but, thanks to the Tory government’s majority status …. Treasury Board President Tony Clement will hold on to his job, despite his shameful waste of taxpayers’ money. Celement was not only “on deck”  at the head of Treasury Board when $48 Million was diverted from border security funds to some VERY questionnable infrastructure projects in his own Muskoka riding (more than 100 miles from the border)  during the G-8 summit. That’s not $50,000 or $500,000 or even $5 million of YOUR money … but $50 Million in pork-barrelling …
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I like the provincial government’s new job plan … not because they promised thousands of new jobs almost immediately, but because they didn’t.  We all experiecned the hype before, provincially and federally, from every political party that has held office or wanted to: with the hype and promises skyrocketing in job numbers in direct proportion to the proximity of the next election.  This one had the hype, but in the end … perhaps because Christy Clark has disdained seeking a public mandate for her premiership or “new” government’s agenda … …
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The most interesting thing about those latest radio ads by the BC Liberals is the fact they were done at all … now … more than 18 months (supposedly) before the next provincial election.  And there’s an entire website set up just to attack Cummins!  Congratulations, John! You’ve now officially made it as a real force in BC politics!!! The Liberals are clearly running scared … very scared! Christy Clark decided not to hold an election so she could concentrate instead on jobs, families and the economy.  I suspect almost no one believes that (do the Liberals …
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Vancouver’s Vision civic party has sure ruffled many feathers …well beyond those backyard chicken coops they’ve allowed in the city. But those who believe Vision  could,  or should see defeat,  on the horizon may also not like what they see at the only competition: Vancouver’s Non-Partisan Association. The NPA’s campaign chairman and manager, Peter Armstrong,  is also  CEO of Rocky Mountaneer railtours, that has been using scabs to replace 108 workers the company locked out since June .  And no negotiations or arbitration are on this …
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BC’s Lieutenant Governor Steven Point should refuse to accept the legitimacy of  Christy Clark’s seizure of  the government without an election and without ANY public mandate  for either herself as premier or the platform she plans to undemocratically put forward for the province in the Oct. 3 Throne Speech. But of course, Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point wil not do that. No big surprise: he will show up and try to make it look like democracy is alive and well in British Columbia. But it is not. All the pomp and ceremony will not hide the truth: Christy Clark was never …
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So where is the new Liberalism …that  frank, open, honesty …Christy Clark promised she’d be delivering to make up for the decade of deceit and lies and two-faced politics under her predecessor Gordon Campbell? Seems to me what we’re getting is just the same old spin … proferred by the un-elected government leader and her minions … and delivered to British Columbians with very little questionning by the government’s media messenger  service. Take the HST, for example. By the time that tax is eliminated, Ottawa will have collected hundreds of …
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For once, I didn’t know what to say.  Maybe you can help. I had a conversation a couple of days ago with a young British Columbian, in his mid 20s, college educated and with a keen mind  … who told me he never votes.  “What’s the point?”, he asked. “Campbell given an award?” Well, actually he’s been given two … not only the Order of BC… but, in an even greater insult to British Columbia and all Canadian taxpayers, appointment to be Canada’s High Commissioner in London, with a huge salary, a historic office building on …
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What did people expect?  After the “independent” review was appointed … an establishment cheer leader and a former politician …  I told you then it would FAIL to get to the real causes of the riot/uprising or name those who should be held really responsible.  In my blog piece “The Riot: Establisghment Cheerleaders Won’t Identify Real Causes” here’s what I wrote months ago, in July: “The problem is they  have a lot in common: they are or have been members of the public establishment, now investigating the establishment’s handling …
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BC is in deep trouble: we now have a government that has no moral, no public and no legal legitimacy to govern. Christy Clark’s government was NEVER elected by the people of this province, on the basis of any endorsed platform, program, promises or outlined plans for governing.  And she herself … before taking the premier’s oath of office, even said so … several times.   During the last provincial election held in this province, the people of  British Columbia, for better or worse, elected and endorsed a government under Gordon Campbell, complete with a party …
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