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Oh Cotton Canada

MADE IN ???

Kvetching that the Canadian Olympic shmatas will be made in China is a marvelous example of crying after the horse has left the barn.

I grew up in the textile trades. Just about everyone in my family was in one way or another working in the manufacturing or selling of clothes. My grandfather sewed furs, my uncle Max owned most of the buttons, thread and zippers in Winnipeg, my Uncle Tom was the Head Tailor at The bay for 25 years - an authentic Gold Watch man. My mother was the bookkeeper for any number of clothing factories, my aunt, a secretary. Heck, I sold men's clothing at The Bay when I was in my teens.

And it is interesting to note that it is HBC - The Bay - the oldest company in Canada, is it not? - that has the Olympic contract.

But the glory days of Canadian textiles are as much history as Eatons and Woodwards. And no doubt for many of the same reasons - labor costs and world competition.

Having said all that it is still annoying and disappointing to see HBC not try a little harder, be a little more creative in trying to find ways to have these products Made in Canada.

I suspect nothing will resuscitate what has been for some time now a moribund industry, but wearing Canadian products and being able to boast of it would have added a note or two of much needed Canadian pride.

Oh, well, perhaps we can make up for that on the playing fields.

Perhaps the performance enhancing drugs that will carry our athletes to the podiums will be hatched in secret Canadian home labs.

The Unmistakable, Unique, Eccentric Anthony Newley

Falsehoods on a Moibus Strip

The Nutty Mayor has called Courier editorial writer Allen Garr a liar, and has accused Garr of writing falsehoods.

But, as Garr reveals so clearly in yesterday's Courier, it is the Nutty One who is messing with the truth.

The matter at hand is how Nutty tried to trademark the word Ecodensity and then has tried ever since to deny that he did.

No great number of denials will change the facts.

Nutty continues to be self-serving entirely and as dissembling as a certain English King.

"Now is the winter of our discontent..."

The Righteous are Wrong - Over and Over and Over Again

So many righteous people are lining up.

Neil Boyd, Debra Macpherson, a hundred imminent scientists, and yesterday, the Sun Editorial.

They are all casting Prime Minister Harper as the devil.

And the Insite safe injection place as a saviour of humankind.

And they are all honorable men and women.

And they are all wrong.

The studies on which they base their claims are bogus and political and wrong, exactly the charge they lay at Harper.

The real studies have clearly revealed that Insite is eating up $3 Million a year and accomplishing next to nothing.

Anyone in the know will assure you that the addicts who shoot up at Insite are shooting up in the alley a few hours later.

That almost no one is referred to real treatment because so few real treatment beds exist and because it is a fact of life that you cannot talk to a stoned junkie about cleaning up.

All of these people are so sincere and so caring and so knowledgeable.

Let one of them extend his hand to an addict and offer real help - quitting.

Anything less is enabling, cruel and detestable.

Almost Good News

One piece of good news...sort of...

Premier Campbell announced $9Million for the National Maritime Centre in North Van.

I say, "sort of," because, while any money is welcome for this worthy and important cause, $9 Million should cover a few windows but not many walls, floors, roof or chairs.

No doubt further funds will flow from on high as we sail along.

Keeping the Pressure on the Gov't

So now it's official, Canadian incomes, save for the very few at the top of the economic food chain, have been stagnant or in decline for the past 25 years. Worse yet, incredibly, in BC median incomes have fallen a staggering 11.3% over the past quarter century. Meanwhile, an inexorably rising CPI has eroded the purchasing power of our significantly diminished incomes. And, yes, property taxes, collected from after tax income, have climbed dramatically, especially in certain areas of Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria.

What's happening recently in West Vancouver? Well, between 2000 and 2005, the median income of "economic families" [formerly known as "household income" I believe] fell from $99,207. to $84,672, or by 14.7%. The median income of individual West Vancouverites fell from $66,278. to $59,914, or by 9.6%. Given that our District is home to many of the economic elite of Metro Vancouver, it is clear that the vast majority of local residents have seen an even greater decline in their individual and family incomes than the aggregate census numbers reveal.

Meanwhile, the taxes on our modest, by West Vancouver standards, property rose by 57.8% over the same time period. How about the taxes on your property? And let's not forget the ever-increasing cost of utility bills and of various adminstrative licences, fees, permits, etc. Can you say "financial squeeze-play"? I thought you could.

Well, where are all these West Vancouver tax dollars going? You don't have to look far. According to DWV "schedules of remuneration", between 2000 and 2005, the number of District employees earning in excess of $75,000 [ie. the reporting threshold under the provincial FIA] rose from 41 to 139, or by an incomprehensible 339%. Over that five year period, the cost of remunerating these employees, exclusive of their apparently "to die for" benefit plan [not to mention various perks such as car allowances and the like], rose from roughly $3.8 million to approximately $12.8 million, or by an equally appalling 337% [For each of 2006 and 2007, for reasons that ITAC intends to challenge in due course, the numbers relating to WVPD members have been removed from the District's schedule. ITAC has requested aggregate figures and expects to have them shortly so that we can do an "apples to apples" update]. Oh yes, then there are the growing legions of retired municipal employees whose pensions we are obliged to pay. Are you getting the picture, boys and girls? Ugly, isn't it?

The ranks of senior bureaucrats, at all levels of government across Canada, are swelling. By virtue of their relatively generous incomes, benefit and retirement plans, these individuals are becoming increasingly insulated and isolated from the realities that afflict the people for whom they allegedly work. For example, in the five years between 2002 and 2007, eleven senior DWV managers received, on average, a 39% increase in remuneration, or some 7.8% per year. Given the realities faced by many if not most of those who pay for such excess, this is a trend that needs to be reversed and soon.

Only purposeful political action will bring about the necessary change. West Vancouverites will most likely have their next opportunity to do something to protect their wallets on November 15th, the date set for local elections. ITAC will be working hard to ensure that the financial administration of our District is a central public policy issue during the upcoming municipal election campaign. We will be encouraging fiscally responsible candidates to seek election to DWV council. There is a beyond urgent need to pare the District bureaucracy and put an end to the fiscal incontinence that afflicts our local government. Your support for our efforts and your vote for economically enlightened candidates next November 15th will do much to turn things around and allow West Vancouver residents to rest easier when the taxman comes calling each year.

Please forward this e-mail to all those you know resident in West Vancouver who you think would benefit from receiving this information, with the request that they do the same.

Keep visiting ITAC's blog-site, www.thepluckedgoose.wordpress.com, for regular updates concerning the use and abuse of your hard-earned tax-dollars. We've had over 6,500 visits to date.

Persistence is one of the Greatest Virtues

Re: SNC Lavalin reports huge profits - Lori McLeod Globe May 2/08

Isn't it interesting that on the very day that our Vancouver SUN reports a dramatic decline in wages and earning power, coupled with a massive development boom - the Globe features the climbing profits of SNC Lavalin.

As the bulilder of the several billion dollar Canada Line here in Vancouver, SNC has syphoned away our equity in our independant businesses, and fattened its bottom line at our expense. Any and all profits to SNC have come directly out of the pockets of the blindsided families that run all the small businesses along it's route.

The secret decision by the RAV/Canada Line and SNC to dig a massive canyon for the past two years from one end of Cambie street to the other, instead of boring underground as was proposed and approved; has created a kind of hardship that is unimaginable for most people, both financial and personal.

People's life's work - their livelihoods - have been ruined, and the project and all it's corporate and government partners have turned a blind eye.

We've been offered not a penny in financial relief or compensation for this shocking abuse of power, and the project itself is making millions at our expense.

I have spent 25 years building my successful Maternity and Women's clothing business. I design and manufacture with local labour just for my own shop. I'm a single parent. I signed a long-term Lease based on what turned out to be a lie.

I have re-mortgaged my house twice now, and have lost $500,000 in revenue.

For the past three years I have done everything I can think of to bring justice and compensation to our devastated community - many of whom do not speak english.

So. What's a girl to do? Why - take all levels of government and all project partners to court, that's what.

My case is proceeding against all odds. Examinations for Discovery are being set. Full compensation is required. It's only money, and all partners have truck fulls of it. What is sadly lacking, is any integrity from the project or from our government.

Premier Campbell could turn this around in a heartbeat. Does he have one?

Three years of this human rights violation caused by the Canada Line is justice denied, and an open contempt for democracy. Our livelihoods have been expropriated.

As a society, it is more than outrageous that small independant businesses have been forced to take our own government to court to seek a remedy for the devastating consequences of this government funded and driven project.

Our hope is to have this abuse of power made right with full compensation before we are forced to take further legal action. Any project profits derived under these circumstances are nothing to celebrate. It is unconscionable.

Susan Heyes

Hazel&Co

3190 Cambie Street

Van BC V5Z 2W2

604 687-0721

Marilyn & Tony

Read it and Weep...and then Go for a Drive in your SUV

Canada

Not on our roads

May 1st 2008 | MONTREAL
From The Economist print edition

Bureaucrats against electric cars, and progress

IN THESE times of high petrol prices and worries about climate change, you might think that any country would be proud to enjoy a lead in manufacturing electric cars. Not Canada, it seems. Two Canadian companies, ZENN Motor Company and Dynasty Electric Car, make small electric cars designed for city use; a third, which will use new battery technology developed by Exxon Mobil, plans to launch a model later this year.

But almost all these “low-speed vehicles” (or LSVs) are exported to the United States because Canada refuses to allow their use on public roads. Transport Canada, the regulatory agency, questions their safety. It doubts they would stand up in a collision with a delivery truck or a sport utility vehicle. Officials say they crash-tested one which didn't fare well, though they refuse to release the data. The agency wants LSVs confined to “controlled areas”, such as university campuses, military bases, parks and Canada's few gated communities. Its advice has carried weight with the provinces, which make the rules of the road.

It is true that the cars are made from lightweight metals and plastics. But the manufacturers allege political bias: Stephen Harper's conservative government has much support in oil-rich Alberta. Backed by thousands of would-be buyers, they are campaigning to reverse the agency's decision. “It's a ludicrous regulatory situation. All you can point to is oil and the big guys and think there's a conspiracy somewhere,” says Danny Epp of Dynasty.

Mr Epp reckons that his car should be allowed on urban streets with speed limits of around 50kph (30mph) or less. But Dynasty recently gave up the battle. In March it announced that it is being bought by a Pakistani firm, which will move production to Karachi and export to the United States from there.

ZENN—that stands for zero emission, no noise—promises to fight on. Ian Clifford, its boss, points out that there has not been a single death related to LSVs in the United States, where 44 states allow them and some 45,000 such cars are in use. And gas-guzzlers imperil public safety by polluting the air, he notes. But Mr Clifford is not expecting change soon. He claims that his campaign against Transport Canada has made him enemies. “Two senior, entrenched bureaucrats have told me personally that if it is the last thing they do, they'll keep LSVs off the road in Canada,” he says.

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He will Continue to be a Great Asset to His Community

Do you remember the lovely dad who went awalkin' in sub-zero weather with his two infant daughters?

Of course, he was drunk. Of course, the girls died.

You remember all that, I'm sure.

The dad's wife, and mother of two dead daughters, says he's suffered enough and shouldn't be charged with any criminal offense.

Forgiveness has found a home.

Lovely.

Headline of the Week

"Flaherty May Have Conflict"

Italics are mine, all mine.

Let's see now.

The Finance Monster creates a federal tax break for private school students.

But, oops there, he and his wife have financial interests in a private school.

And the headline - and very small, back page story - says he may have a conflict?

Canada Immigration is a disaster

Vancouver lawyer, Richard Kurland, is absolutely right to raise holy hell about the backlog of cases and the government failure to fill vacancies on the Immigration & Refugee Board.

But he has barely scratched the surface.

Last week, a government official told me that Canadian Immigration currently has a backlog of EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND cases!

I learned this because one of my dearest friends has been waiting almost two years for any action whatsoever on his file. He is trying to bring his partner here.
NO ONE HAS YET BEEN ASSIGNED TO THE CASE.

Imagine.

You are separated from your spouse for over 2 years, while trying to establish yourself in a new country and new culture, and there is no resolution because the issue sits dormant in a desk drawer somewhere.

Isn't it time to admit that so many of our government agencies and offices are pathetic in their stupidities and inefficiencies? Canada Immigration, National Parole, Corrections Canada...and those are just the beginning.

Way Too Taxing

Thanks to Harvey Enchin writing in the Sun today about the cash cow called the carbon tax.

The key message comes at the very end:

"As presently designed, B.C.'s carbon tax will further impoverish the poor, destroy productive industries, imperil public finances, erode the province's competitive position and ignite inflation -- and it won't make an iota of difference to greenhouse gas emissions.

Doesn't anyone have the common sense to pull the plug on this catastrophe in the making before it's too late?"

And I have highlighted the core - it won't effect the climate whatsoever. From the beginning, I have seen these carbon tax measures as cruel jokes and money making schemes for governments and entrepreneurs.

Don't buy into this circus act for a moment.

Chad Kroeger, the Nickelback lead singer, has taken hypocrisy to new levels.

On the one hand, he acknowledges that he is a convicted drunk driver and that kids shouldn't follow his example.

Then, his lawyer adds quickly that they will appeal the miscreant's conviction.

Here's the thing, Chad Darling.

Be quiet, accept that you did the crime and live out your meager sentence. be grateful you didn't kill anyone or your own perfect self.

Anyone who can afford a Lamborghini can certainly afford a driver for one year. heck, you might even learn to read.

Paul Thorn on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Richmond Sky High - Property Taxes, that is...

How would you like your property assessment to jump from $9 million last year to $25.5 million. That's exactly what has happened to Paul McRae of Richmond. He will have to relocate.

Read the entire Province story, and then reflect on the "unintended consequences" of the Skating Oval project.

Or are they unintended?

This is the most suspect administration in British Columbia.

Let the investigations begin.

They don't think about the Community that pays their Salaries

One is not surprised by the behaviour of a dangerous lunatic. He is after all a dangerous lunatic.

So the fact that Ralph Morris, who walked away from a minimum security prison has a life-long record of escape, violence, murder and so on should not be noteworthy.

What is alarming is how many times the irresponsible fools in National Parole and Corrections have released this dangerous lunatic or put him in minimum security prisons so that he could escape.

You can read the whole grewsome tale in this morning's Sun coverage. Read about how many times Morris was granted full parole only to be returned to prison for more antu-social behaviour?

Don't they get it? When will they get it?

He's a violent man. He is not going to change. He is dangerous. Keep him locked up. What is so difficult about this?

Please protect us from the National Parole Board and Corrections Canada.

Fire Ms. Dyck, Please, before we get hurt. She is a clear and present danger

The Federal Court has had to intervene to keep the Salvadoran self-confessed killer in jail.

How much did this cost the Canadian public in lawyers' billing fees?

How much of this cost will be charged to Daphne Shaw Dyck, the Immigration & Refugee Board member, who decided to let this man out on the street?

Why does this woman still have her job?

Is anyone ever responsible in Canadian society for anything they do?

Says it all

"It’s one of the bigger Cadillacs. I’ve got a desk in it. It’s like an airplane."

REPRESENTATIVE CHARLES B. RANGEL, Democrat of New York, on the taxpayer-financed 2004 Cadillac Deville he leases for $777.54 a month.