MY FRIDAY PROVINCE COLUMN

Ladner's self-assurance convinces me he's best choice as Vancouver's mayor

David Berner,

The Province
Published: Friday, October 31, 2008

My vote for mayor of Vancouver goes to Peter Ladner.

I have nothing against Gregor Robertson. He is a fine fellow.

Both Ladner and Robertson have been described repeatedly as near-twins. Decent men, with silver-spoon backgrounds, young families, brushes with bohemia and small business, they are equally bright, pleasant and somewhat bland.

Either might make a perfectly good mayor, as I said in this space months ago, in the stamp of Philip Owen. They are well spoken and sufficiently versed in the vagaries of public office to do just enough to let people warm to you without making too many enemies.

No question that Gregor Robertson is right out of central casting. Jack Kennedy, Clinton, Barack Obama. He has "the look," but he doesn't have "the gift."

Of course, it is terribly unfair to compare mere mortals to great, natural orators like Kennedy, Clinton and Obama. Nor is it fair to compare what is at stake in these contests. The American leaders play cards at the Big Table -- world economics, war, the struggle for hearts and minds.

The mayor of Vancouver deals with homelessness, addictions, crime, transit, and small business. These matters are not nothing, for sure. But they don't have the same heft.

As the campaign began here, Robertson was accused, with some justification, of lacking substance and specifics. He spoke often of change and hope (like a mini-Obama), but was decidedly short on the rich details that make a story compelling. Now, as we inch closer to Nov. 15th, the Vision team has given Robertson some real grist for his mill -- affordable housing, the arts, and 56 other promises.

Ladner, as well, began with a few microwaved platitudes and declarations of his record. Thankfully, he and the NPA team have also moved on and given us some talking points -- a cap on property taxes, more police and only 54 other undertakings.

Both men are highlighting their commitments to cleaning the streets of crime and homelessness, although in slightly different ways. Ladner, for example, recognizes the contribution of Insite, but wants to find new treatment beds for addicts. Robertson thinks the safe injection sites are marvellous and wants to see more of them throughout the city.

I'm aghast at that kind of thinking, but that's not my reason for endorsing Ladner. My reason isn't a reason at all; it's a gut feeling, a pure instinct, and I've been running on instinct my whole life.

There's a certain hesitancy about Robertson that worries me. He seems to not be quite sure that he wants to be mayor or will know what to do with the role if he wins it. I may be wrong. He may grow into it. That happens to some leaders.

Ladner, on the other hand, has never seemed more relaxed or self-assured in all the years I've known him. He looks ready to be mayor. In fact, he is acting as if he is already mayor. That's how you win pennants and Super Bowls.

david@davidberner.com

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Pay up

A year after the B.C. government promised a crackdown on transit cheats, about 11,500 passengers are still taking a free ride on transit every day, costing taxpayers as much as $10 million or more each year.

Yet, when I pointed this out at a debate on Wednesday evening to Gregor Robertson and Peter Ladner, Robertson actually claimed that it has not been proven that turnstiles pay for themselves. He wanted another study.

This is one of several reasons why he does not qualify for the job of Mayor at this time.

My son told me yesterday over breakfast that his step-son, David ( a father and step-son both named David Michael - nice serendipity!), doesn't want to take money for the SkyTrain because none of "my friends pay. Why should I?"

Transclunk wants to raise more tax revenue to pay for its relentlessly bad management, but they don't want to collect fares like every other system in the world.

We are the only public conveyance known to humankind that operates on the so-called honor system, and it's only costing us millions a year.

Add to that how Tranlink has aided and abetted the spread of addictions and crime.

"How is that?" you ask.

Because all the scofflaws and low lifes love the FOR FREE SkyTrain. They have now spread their contagion to Broadway and Commercial, Metrotown, Surrey and points in between.

When will Translink pay its fair share of cleaning up crime and addictions?

The Slow Goodbye to Newspapers

OK. I admit it. I'm not very bright.

Sometimes I have to be smacked upside the head a few dozen or eighteen times before I get it.

But now I got it.

The Vancouver Sun doesn't want to print newspapers any more.

The other day the venerable Pulitzer-Prize-winning Christian Science Monitor announced that it would cease paper versions at once, head to the Internet and print only once a week.

Clearly that is where the local paper is going.

Every day, as they print less and less news and more and more columns about nothing, they direct my flagging attention to their blogs and website.

Read this, that and the other thing today on our website.

Interact live at noon with Marty, the Catfish about smelt and all its relatives.

The Real Housing Solution

BC Fed President Jim Sinclair has hit a few nails on the head in his op-ed column in the Sun today.

In particular, he says, "Institute a massive public works program to build supportive housing for the homeless and affordable housing for thousands of others."

This is finally the only way that we will address homelessness and affordable housing.

All the posturing in the world by civic and municipal leaders will come to naught.

It will take the senior governments to step up and actually start the real work and building housing.

Plain and simple.

But do Campbell and Harper look like the men possessed of that kind of vision and courage?

Be Scared, Be Truly Scared

Talk about unholy October Deal with The Devil...

Gary Lunn, MP for Saanich-The Gulf Islands, is now Minister of State for Sport.

Lunn falls quickly behind Hedy Fry as the Second Worst Parliamentarian in living memory.

Almost as adept as the Great Dr. F herself at talking a lot and doing nothing.

All the people I know in his riding detest the poor fellow. See him for the hollow man he is.

Who the hell voted for him? Who voted for Hedy?

Forget cancer and outer galaxies -these are the true mysteries of life.

Now, as the empty vessel "responsible" for Sport, Lunn's entire gig will consist of getting fat at the many banquets leading to, during and from a certain 2 week party in these parts about 14 months from now.

What was Harper thinking?

Gary Lunn!?!

Victor Hits the Mother Lode on America, the Left

I finally got it. I've been trying to nail Joe Biden. He's the
reincarnation of Max Headroom. If you missed the 80's, you can always
Google.

Max was a square headed white guy trying to be cool.

Joe and his hair plugs reprise this by trying to shine within the
Obama halo. (as in media saint)

As long as we're having fun (we still are, aren't we) Michelle Obama
and a young Mike Tyson in drag could be doubles. Here are the steps.
First, Google photos of each. Second, photoshop a Supremes wig on
Tyson ( assuming you can do that which any 10 year old does daily)
Presto, Michelle- Diana Ross- Tyson.

Politics like sex should be fun. The religious right didn't understand
that when they tried to teach abstinence-or-else in AIDS infected
countries. The Obamites don't understand that ridicule and a brutal
media challenge are part of the democracy tableau.

Ohhhhh. Sorry. We're not supposed to have fun anymore now that the
Messiah has returned. Or challenge. Alex Baldwin wouldn't approve.
Nor Streisand. Nor any of the Hollywood glitterati who co-produced his
mega-show last night.

We are now living in Iran, circa 1978. The loving Ayatollah has
arrived. World peace, benign tolerance, an economic boom, universal
reverence for the USA are mere weeks away.

The American Christian right has been consigned to the trashbag of
American political derision. The custodians of that religious
trashbag are, ironically, the "liberal"media.

In my memory, the last time a Christian minority was laughed out of
consequence was in the 1970's , in Northern Ireland. Catholics in
Bogside (that's the poor Catholic part of Belfast to the truly
stupid) became a joke to the Protestant establishment. They were
scorned and marginalized in the places of power. No laughter or scorn
was allowed to be directed to the ruling Protestant elites.

A terrible thing happened during the course of suppressing this
Christian minority. School buses were bombed in England. Harrods
Department Store was bombed with the loss of 80 Christmas shoppers.
Hundreds of young British soldiers got bullets in the back.

Finally, thankfully, the British government tried a better way. As
did the British media. They realized that religious ridicule only
results in bringing your dead sons to your door. Some of those doors
belonged to journalists.

So. Where are we.

There are 60 million American "so-called" right wing Christians. You
can fool yourself thinking they are all cross-eyed banjo players, ripe
for ridicule. You would be really fucking stupid to believe that.

My hope is that humour will come back. And informed criticism. And a
truly feral media ripping pretension to bloody shreds. That is my only
reason to invest and believe in democracy.

In the meantime, the greatest, industrial-strength media blowjob in
history will continue. Media, actually spend most of their time on
their knees.

Ever notice the hand-held bobbing mike between interviewer and
interviewee. It says " You blow me and I'll blow you". Translation:
"Give me a good clip and you will be prominent on the news. "

Wake me when it's over.


Victor Godin

Moments to Savour

You gotta love Steven Hill, the great actor who played D.A. Adam Schiff in the original 200+ episodes pf NBC's "Law and Order."

And his writers.

It is a terrific example of writers writing in an actor's "voice."

In a repeat episode on Bravo this evening, the focus is on a neo-Nazi group.

When the news is given to Schiff that they killed "one of their own," he mutters dryly as only Hill could - "What's the matter? They run out of people to hate?"

Hill was a founding member of the Actor's Studio and, as such, knew and worked with Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Gene Hackman before they became famous.

Only a wonderful actor with his wealth of personal and professional experience could turn that dire situation into an almost comedic moment.

Money Can't Buy me Love...or a seat in the House

Arthur Griffiths lost in the by-election yesterday.



What was Campbell thinking when he signed the original little-rich-kid-who-blows-the-family-fortune to the team?

ZAP! The Pawn Shop Windows are More Important than your Life, Buddy!

Another man has died after being tasered by the police.

This "incident" (murder?) took place in Edmonton yesterday.

I have an idea.

Why not have police carry swords.

Then they could just behead people who are causing a disturbance.

How have we slipped into this new mode of accepted savagery on the part of our police forces?

Aren't these people supposed to be experts at subduing the out-of-control folk?

A Name

RCMP officer Monty Robinson has been identified as the man facing impaired driving charges that resulted in the death of a motorcyclist on Saturday night in Delta.

Liz James on the RCMP

David: I think you know I am no bleeding-heart excuser of either this kind of behaviour, or of our pitiful excuse for a justice system. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, I do believe in the concept of innocence until guilt is proven. With respect to the Delta tragedy, there are a couple of items I'd like to know about possible contributing factors to the crash itself, before I render my citizen's sentence of "life" imprisonment on the officer for vehicular homicide: 1. What speed was each vehicle traveling at? 2. Did the jeep drift over into the oncoming lane because the officer was drunk, or was he trying to make a legitimate left-hand turn, misjudging the speed at which the motorcycle was traveling? 3. Where were the traffic lights in their sequence? or was it an uncontrolled intersection? 4. Were there, as the media has - inappropriately - leaked, children in the officer's jeep? 5. Despite the fact that the officer was returned to active duty, what has been his REAL state of mind since the airport tasering one year ago? Which leads me to the second subject... Thanks to a quick-thinking bystander, we all know what we saw on that airport video - pretty cut and dried. In my opinion, the officers moved in too quickly; no-one held back while insisting that an interpreter be found; and a man who was unarmed but for a piece of furniture was tasered to death. The single most disturbing sight for me, was that one officer stood looking down on a dying Robert Dziekanski, and matter-of-factly coiled up his equipment - not one of those officers attempted CPR. That seen and said, one of the most important questions I have wanted answered by the much-delayed hearings is this: Did ALL the officers make that ill-considered, split-second decision together to taser Mr. Dziekanski? Or did one or more demur but have their cautions over-ridden by a trigger-happy superior? It's happened before with both guns and tasers and, no doubt, it will happen again. If we just suppose for a moment that one RCMP member cautioned his fellow-officers to hold back from the tasering, but was over-ridden, and suppose, also, that he turned to drink to shut out the memories of that failure...while in no way would that excuse his impaired driving, it might just cause us to lay most of the blame on a system that we, ourselves, have tolerated for far too long...a system that, itself, has tolerated not only impaired driving by police officers, but which has also re-elected a premier who did likewise. No more than any other right-thinking person do I want to see EITHER investigation white-washed - but nor do I want to see a rush to judgment - on these or any other cases. As citizens, we have an important responsibility to carry out here. Every single one of us who is angry with the intolerable delays in our so-called justice system, needs to write or email Premier Campbell, copied to the Prime Minister and to Attorney-General Wally Oppal. We need to draw our line in the sand, with something like this: "Enough is enough! Mr. Premier. We don't care what you have to do to kick-into high gear on three investigations: 1. Basi-Virk 2. Robert Dziekanski 3. The Delta drunk-driving crash. Too bad if it spoils the lead up to Christmas for some politicians, judges and investigators. Too bad if it ruins your re-election plans. Just get on with it - NOW! Because we aren't going to stand for it any more." And we also need to pay attention to the fact that a renewal of the 2012 contract between the province and the RCMP, looks set to slide through Victoria's own non-stick system, with nary a peep from British Columbians. WE NEED TO WAKE UP, FOLKS. Last but not least - I could not end this piece without offering my condolences to Orion's family and friends...and also to RCMP officer Tim Shields whose genuine distress as he answered questions from the media must have been evident to all. Liz. J.

2010...or is it 20,100...or is it 2,100,000?

Day in and day out, Vaughn Palmer continues to be one of the very best newspaper columnists in the business. We're lucky to have him here.

In today's piece, Palmer skewers the administration for what apparently are blind costs when it comes to security for the Olympics.

It may be $200Million, it may be a Billion. Who can say?

Not the Finance Minister, apparently.

The cash may come from the province or the feds or Vancouver or Whistler or Richmond.

No matter how you cut it, it comes from your pocket, boys and girls.

It's called tax money.

So enjoy your 32 seconds of someone from Norway schushing down your hill.

Crimes Within Crimes

The following was sent to me by a friend who happens to be a police officer. At the bottom you will see his outraged comments. Below that, my own...

METRO VANCOUVER - One of the four RCMP officers involved in the Tasering of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski is facing charges of impaired driving causing death after a collision in Delta Saturday night.

However, Delta police - who are investigating the crash - have refused to identify the officer until he makes his first court appearance on Jan. 15 and is formally charged.

Orion Hutchinson, 21, was riding westbound on his motorcycle along Sixth Avenue around 10:20 p.m. Saturday when his bike collided with an east-bound Jeep at the intersection of Gilchrist.

Hutchinson, who was thrown from his bike, suffered traumatic injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Jeep, an RCMP member, was transported to Delta police headquarters where, according to Delta police, he failed a breathalyser test.

The officer was released on a promise to appear in Surrey Provincial Court on Jan. 15, 2009.

Why do British Columbians have to suffer a police force that tolerates if not advocates this kind of behaviour?

This drunken shithead is sent home to chill after killing a second innocent victim while the horsemen are blockading the inquiry into why he killed Robert Dziekanski.

It's despicable. Fire the RCMP now.

Let me add...

It is always dreadful when some fool drives drunk. It is always worse when that selfish fool kills or injures another person.

How hideous that in this case the drunk driver is a police officer.

We appreciate that cops have a difficult stressful life, and we've seen enough bad movies to know that the line between cop and crook can be awfully thin at times...BUT...

Can we not expect some basics to hold?

You're a police officer. If anyone should know better, sir, it is you.

And, as for the squad around this sorry fellow who will release no information ....

and you wonder why the public has increasingly lost faith in you.

In the Wilderness

The video below is a sad commentary on the blindness of mankind.

A gay couple, no doubt offended by the opinions and declarations and politics of Sarah Palin, hang an effigy by the throat from their house.

They excuse their inexcusable behaviour by calling this atrocity "a joke."

Do they not know the history of their own country?

I don't like Sarah Palin either and I shudder when I see people enthralled by her.

But it would never occur to me for a second to do something this reckless.

What these two deluded fools are calling "a joke" is in fact a deeply angry act of hatred and hostility. And it is an incitement to violence.

Can they imagine if someone had done the same thing and called the hanging dummy "Mr. Fag?"

Not Bad Taste, Not Funny...Truly Sick

The Idea Machine

Nick Caumanns is an Independent candidate for school trustee in Surrey.

He says he's trying to spark new ideas.

Too bad his are all wet.

Nick wants to pass a law limiting homework for all those overburdened kids and their terribly stressed parents.

Nick also wants to pay teachers $500 to coach football teams.

Back to the lab, Nick.

But keep sending in all those cards and letters, Babe.

We hear ya...

My Vote

Carole James says she'll axe the (carbon) tax and raise the minimum wage to $10.

Works for me.

Oh Say Can You See?

The day after an eight-year old kills himself by firing an Uzi into his head at a gun show, we learn that in the land of the free and the home of the brave there is a principle -"Hard economic times always result in firearm sales. People buy firearms during periods of uncertainty."

And also, I suppose, take their children to gun shows and let them play with automatic rifles.

Americans are so enamored with their guns that many are still angry at the lefty, John McCain, because he actually had the temerity to support onerous gun-control measures such as requiring purchasers to undergo background checks. The commie bastard!

Did you see the report on The Daily Show last night with real Americans worrying themselves sick about the Muslim terrorist, Barack Obama?

This was just after the story broke last night about the wing-nuts who were organizing - if you can call their frat boy ineptitude "organizing" - an Obama assassination.

The greatest country in the world...excuse me...

Wherever you may travel today, stop, get down on your knees and thank whomever or whatever you may believe in that you are on Canadian soil at this time in history.

President McCain

President McCain

"We are winning the war in Iraq. We are winning the war in Aghanistan."

Proof positive that there are parallel universes at play.