Whose Funeral?

Court bans Prime Minister from politics for five years

Oooops...

That's from Thailand, not Ottawa.

Too bad.

Have you ever seen such an unholy mess?

Stephen Harper has committed one of the greatest public toe-stubbings in Canadian history. What a klotz.

And the idea that Stephane Dion could be interim Prime Minister for even a nano-second threatens the nation with mass cardio problems.

The Liberal Party has no money. It just a few weeks ago won the lowest share of popular votes in history and Dion has been the least popular leader of all time.

Yet thanks to Harper's Hubris and colossal misreading of every pulse in the land, that troika of red-nosed clowns may be (mis)leading the country for some time to come.

And none of this addresses the airline industry (Air Canada is bleeding.), health, education, crumbling roads, highways sewers and other infrastructures, forests and tourism just for starters.

None of this addresses anything other than the Shakespearean ambitions of tiny little men with tiny little weenies.

So much of their energies are taken up now and will be taken up well into the future with these selfish intrigues that they cannot possibly focus serious attention of the problems ahead.

And the problems are huge and complex.

The TSX dropped more than 800 points yesterday. What visits America follows swiftly north, the incubation period usually being about three months.

The house is burning and these irresponsible children are arm-wrestling to see who gets the last chocolate bar.

Holding on to History

Justine Hunter is the daughter of Greenpeace Founder, novelist, essayist and TV reporter, the late Bob Hunter.

She has been writing from Victoria and Vancouver Island for years, including her current assignments with the Globe & Mail.

Her lead story this morning on the problems of a Port Hardy native reserve is very powerful in its simplicity and its horror.

One woman has 19 grandchildren in government care. Most of this woman's children are addicts. 27 people living in a single family house. Most houses carrying deadly moulds.

Last week, Mark Milke wrote a piece describing the simple fact that First Nations people who live off the reserve make on average 40% more income.

I look forward to the day when reservations are a thing of the past, when First Nations people join in the rest of the circus with Germans, Jews, Irish, Latvians et al and continue to honor their past. I am sure it is the height of political incorrectness to say that the very idea of reserves is offensive and that the living proof of their ineffectiveness should be enough for more and more natives to consider abandoning them.

Granville Street Redux

Hi David,

Here we go again. They are doing yet another beautification project for
Granville Street. I was the project coordinator for the one done in
1974. Council was anxious to complete the project quickly so as to
minimize disruption to merchants. I wrote the report to City Council
which concluded with the following ditty:

The problem concerning the Mall
Is whether to start it this fall,
Or study and wonder
And worry and ponder
And maybe not do it at all.
There are problems of course if we hurry,
That may give you some reason for worry,
The pavement may turn out mauve, purple and blue,
The trees may not transplant,
The merchants may sue,
But somehow I think we can all pull it through
And if not we'll find work in Surrey.

A few years before Granville Mall there was the Theatre Row
beautification project done by the firm of Hoppings Kovacs and Grinnel
in 1967. It added cute street lamps and red sidewalks.

There is nothing wrong with fixing up streets, paving them and planting
trees. That is what City Hall is supposed to do. The City Hall staff
report however is something else. There are no poems. It purports to
give a history of street renovations and gets the facts and dates all
wrong. It speaks of returning the street to a "Great White Way" even
though it no longer is a theatre row. (This will be accomplished with
white light columns redolent of Albert Speers at his best.) It suggests
that it is going to return it to the good old days. However, I recall
very clearly (and have a copy of the Sun somewhere) that in 1972 the
Headline was, " Street People Sink Granville ins Shame!"

The ultimate conceit is this: Planners still imagine that by beautifying
the street they are going to solve the same problem that existed in the
late sixties and early seventies and in spite of successive waves of
beautification, never went away.

What really got to me however was that they cut down trees that were 35
years old. These beech trees were saplings when they were planted. Now
for a couple of blocks the street had at least that going for it. A week
before the new council took office they chopped 'em down. I will be 105
years old when the new ones are the same size as the ones they replaced.


Below is a copy of a letter to the editor I just sent to the Sun.

"There is good news and bad news.

The bad news is that most of the trees on Granville Street have been cut
down.

The good news is that the Engineer and the Planner have wonderful things
in store. According to a Report of May 22, 2008 buried in the City’s web
page, the trees had to be removed to make Granville a “Great Street.”
They are doing this to “elevate community pride” and create a “sense of
place.” Better yet, they tell us that they are going to make it a super
duper “Great White Way”.

Yes, and they are going to plant even better trees. While the seedlings
grow we will all have an uninterrupted view of the glorious facades of
Granville Street.

If tree removal works as well as they expect maybe they’ll try it on
Clayoquot sound."



JONATHAN BAKER

House Cleaning - We are Bonded

Yesterday's posting (We are Sinking) might also have been been called Political Leadership is an Endangered Species.

This morning I am not sure I have ever seen such gutter level behaviour from the elected shamans in Ottawa.

They are all, each and every one of them, sorry excuses for citizens, let alone national leaders.

Harper, in actions revealing all the worst that people have feared and predicted of him, made sweeping announcements only a few days ago that showed absolutely no interest in the nation. End the government dole for election financing and close down the right of civil servants to strike. In a time calling for prudence and some wisdom and some sense of what Barbara Brandon and Carl Crofton might be experiencing, Harper pulled a Nixon - strangle your enemies and do it large and in public. Nice.

The Disarrayed who call themselves The Other Guys, not wishing to be outdone in the Department of Cheezy and Self-Serving have rushed into washrooms and other secret gathering places to plot The Great Take Over. Just what Canadians asked for, right? Stephane Dion and Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe in permanent party mode. That'll be an effective and fine kettle of fish, won't it now?

Could the Four Fools disgrace themselves any more? Could they abandon the Canadian public any further?

Let's put it on the table here.

Duceppe has never been on my radar, not for a second. I cannot take seriously a party or a man who believe that they are in a separate country, except for when the purse need be opened. To me, the Bloc is like a petulant teen-age daughter who hates everything you do, except I need another Lexus and iPod, Dad.

Layton is a pleasant enough fellow, but he has overstayed his welcome. No Ed Broadbent. No chance of revitalizing the NDP.

Dion could never be taken seriously. Who is this guy?

Which leaves Harper. I have steered largely out of the Demonizing Harper camp because until now I have seen him as a not very interesting human being, who nevertheless was doing a reasonable enough job of managing the files. I have been listening to the He's Really Evil, You Know bleating for several years now and I have smiled patiently.

Now, suspension of mistrust and judgement has been put side.

Harper is the tiniest of political minds, a tinpot, partisan, taking-everything-personally oligarch of the worst kind.

We need a House Cleaning.

We Are Sinking

We are crawling back into the sludge from whence science tells us we originally escaped.

I am thinking about the recent municipal elections and the current Cirque De Oy Vay in Ottawa.

I understand people's reluctance to vote. I vigorously don't agree with this decision, but I understand it. The price of democracy is ever steady vigilance and that includes casting a vote for the worse of numerous evils and dunderheads. It's the act of voting that counts first.

In the case of the civic elections, try to use the fingers of more than one hand to add up the candidates, let alone the elected, who were worthy of public service. In Vancouver, for example, Suzanne Anton, NPA, David Cadman, Independent, and Raymond Louie, Vision, come to mind as serious, well-informed councillors who have a contribution to make. There may be others; that's up to you to decide.

But what a paucity of leadership. What a vacuum of inspiration or excitement.

Neither of the two leading mayoral candidates could qualify as a political high-jumper. Good fellows, dull as last week's sports page, and without any real muscular argument.

Where are the Walter Hardwicks, Harry Rankins, Jonathan Bakers or even George Puils? Where are the vigorous hearts and minds of men and women who really know the territory and who have a clear point of view and some sense of what the City ought to be?

At the federal level, we are now saddled with the most unseemly mess I can remember in a long, long time.

Do you really believe that Stephen Harper, Stephane Dion, Jack Layton or Gilles Duceppe cares a whit for your welfare at this time? Did they ever?

This is a transparent and ugly case of children fighting in the sandbox about who has the biggest toy truck.

Which might all be mildly amusing were it not for the fact that, given a world economy in disaster mode, we have rarely needed more a non-partisan effort of clear and focused minds on the task in front of us.

There are some among you that believe that Canada is curiously inoculated against the tides of bad news flowing daily from every index in the world. You are wrong.

We need leadership. We need people who can look ahead and make decisions today about the auto industry, about health, about defense, about crumbling infrastructure in our cities.

What we have instead is an abomination of self-aggrandizing cupidity.

Will we ever again have real political candidates and leaders?

The Four Fools do not qualify.

Where We Are

Following is a letter currently in circulation. It speaks for itself. It tells us about a Conservative Party that is as full of blarney as the parties they rightfully oppose. This now is the devolution of government and politics in action. Four parties with not a whit of concern for Canadian citizens. Four parties utterly self-involved. A pox on all their shabby houses.

----- Original Message -----
From: Irving R. Gerstein, Chair, Conservative Fund Canada
To:
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2008 3:47 AM
Subject: The privilege to govern must be earned, not taken.



The privilege to govern must be earned, not taken.

En Français | In English

November 29, 2008

Dear Ms. Dickinson,

The Liberal Party was completely rejected by Canadians in the last election. They received their lowest share of the popular vote since Confederation.

Now the Liberals are trying to take power through the back door.

As you read this letter, the Liberals are holding secret negotiations with the socialist NDP and the separatist Bloc Québécois to overturn the wishes of Canadian voters and take power.

They want to take power and impose on Canadians a Prime Minister without a personal mandate, a Liberal-NDP Coalition not one voter has ever endorsed and have it all backstopped by the separatist Bloc Québécois who simply want to destroy the country.

We need your help to ensure that they do not succeed!

Senior Liberal insiders are trying to fool Canadians into thinking their scheme has something to do with the economy.

But it is clear the Liberals do not care about the economy. They only care about re-gaining power and re-gaining their entitlements. They've learned nothing since being turfed out of office over the sponsorship scandal.

On October 14th, Canadians passed judgment on the Liberals.

The Liberals have no mandate to lead a government.

The Liberals have no mandate to cut a deal with the NDP.

And the Liberals certainly do not have a mandate to cut a deal with the separatists who want to destroy our country.

This backroom deal is so unprecedented and so undemocratic that Canadians must have their say.

This is Canada. The privilege to govern must be earned, not taken. We cannot let this happen.

When an election occurs - and it must - the Conservative Party will have to wage the fight of its life.

We now know we are no longer competing just with the Official Opposition. We are competing against a coordinated campaign between Liberals, socialists and separatists to impose their agenda on Canadians.

I am asking you to make an emergency donation of $200 or $100 - whatever you can afford to protect Canada's future and protect Canada's democracy from being hijacked by politicians who care about nothing more than power and entitlements.

In the last election, Conservatives stood together and spoke out loud and clear about the kind of Canada they wanted.

Now we must stand together once again to ensure that the wishes of the voters are respected.

Time is of the essence. Please respond immediately.

Sincerely,


Irving Gerstein,C.M., O.Ont
Chair, Conservative Fund Canada

PS: We also need you to write letters to the editor, call Talk Radio and let the Liberals and NDP know what you think of their plan to overturn the Government without seeking the consent of Canadians.

---

Big Brains Think Alike

Hahahaha...

Yesterday I said in this space that the so-called leaders of our federal parties are all irresponsible children (Buffoons Abound).

Today, the Globe & Mail editorial says it would be helpful if there were some adults in Ottawa.

Hahahahaha...

I knew there was a reason I switched papers.

GeZunteit!

Now we started the Korean War.

David Ahenakew, the First Nations leader who explained a while back why Hitler was right to "fry a lot of those guys" and thus lost his Order of Canada citation, among other disgraces visited upon his righteous head, has now offered this tasty tidbit of History According to the Truly Nutty:

Jews started the Korea War.

O.K.

And the Second World War and the Peloponessian War and right back there all the way through time.

This 75-year old man is so sad.

He now babbles incomprehensibly and we record every little nuance.

Could someone please lead him to pure waters and give him a cookie and hold his hand.

Just asking

Why has Jamie Graham gone from being Vancouver's Chief of Police to being Victoria's Chief of Police?

JIngle Bells

Ah, Christmas.

Love.

More love.

Except for the lunatics who stormed a Wal-Mart at 5 am yesterday in Long Island, NY and trampled to death a "temporary" worker.

Which brings and entirely new definition to the phrase "temporary worker."

Apparently everyone was subsequently s intent on their Christmas shopping bargains, no one noticed or attended to Mr. Trampled.

Not to be outdone in the Spirit of Christmas giving, a pair of determined fathers exchanged lead at a Toys R Us in sleepy old Palm Springs yesterday. That's right. They shot each other dead over some terribly significant dispute. No doubt a Game Boy or iPod.

Ah, Christmas...

Paradise Tossed

Salt Spring Island has a lovely hospital and a lovely new operating room.

Unfortunately it has no surgeon, so folks with problems are helijetted to the rescue.

Nice Islands Trust management! Nice Gary Lunn, MP, attention to the people who keep mysteriously electing you. This guy will soon rival Dr. Hedy for the How Does It Happen award.

As for the Trust geniuses, they're so busy selling waterfront homes in the low 2 millions that they forgot to run the medical services. Oooops...

City Saga

Why did Estelle Lo resign her $220,000 a year position as Vancouver City Hall;s Chief Financial Officer?

That takes an awful lot of courage or accumulated bile in a market falling through the black holes of the night.

Why was Lo given a one-year severance package when that is against the rules for someone who resigns?

Why will she say nothing in public? Has she signed a non-disclosure agreement?

Why did neither the City Councillors or even the lame-duck mayor, Mr. Sullivan, know that she had resigned? Did she sneak out through the DELIVERIES ONLY door?

And what has all this to do with the Athlete$ Village deal?

Listen in tomorrow, same time, same station, for the continuing story of how a little town by the sea lost its way only to be rescued by a brash coroner, then a Dr. Strangelove and now, at last, a child of happiness and flowing juices.

Mumbai well examined

Doug Saunders has written two revealing pieces in the Globe this morning about Mumbai. His essay ttiled "This is India's 9/11? Think again" is particularly worth a read.

Keith Olberman on Prop 8

Victor on Ottawa

Looking at events transpiring in Ottawa, one has to take a moment to
appreciate the absurdity of it all.

Three men, from three opposing political parties, one of whom is
committed to the destruction of Canada will visit Canada's Head of
State. They will appeal to her to let them take over government, based
on their united vision for the country. Three months ago they were
savaging each other as political incompetents incapable of either
vision or leadership.

The Head of State was appointed by former Prime Minister shortly
before he was tossed out of office. Her previous experience consisted
of hosting a Quebec TV show that had lower ratings than the Latvian
Accordian Hour. Her husband dallied with separatists.

It is to laugh. The alternative is too sad to contemplate.

Open Letter to Senor Monumento

Jillian Skeet

An Open Letter to Premier Campbell

November 28th, 2008

Premier Gordon Campbell

Box 9041, Station Prov. Govt.
Victoria, BC V8W 9E1

Dear Premier Campbell,

I wrote you a letter last February with heart-wrenching details about the destruction of small family-owned businesses along Cambie Street and the terrible human costs as a result of the disastrous way in which the Canada Line project has been undertaken.

My letter was duly forwarded by you to the Minister of Transportation for response. Over half a year later, I received a response from Minister Falcon simply reiterating the same old arguments the government has been using since the outset of this project.

Your government continues to insist that you are simply a funder of the Canada Line and are not responsible for the project. However, it was you who forced municipal authorities to vote three times on this project until it was finally approved. This was not only undemocratic, but it clearly puts your government in the driver’s seat on the project.

The Canada Line is the biggest P3 project ever undertaken in Canada. It is not simply another public works project. It is unprecedented in its scope, duration and impacts. It is a new construction model that exhibits serious problems in both its implementation and in the chain of command.

My neighbourhood at Cambie and Marine Drive was virtually barricaded for more than a year with no safe or reasonable access for residents or for emergency vehicles. Every access route along Cambie - including 59th Avenue on which both an ambulance and fire station are located - was simultaneously closed. Fire trucks and ambulances faced major detours and delays. (A city transportation report dated January 20th, 1998 states: "59th Avenue is a primary access point for many residents east of Cambie, and is the only through east-west street south of 49th and north of Marine Drive.")

For months before I had a car accident, I dealt with both City and Canada Line officials about our access nightmare. The lack of safe traffic management resulted in many car accidents in addition to my own. The Canada Line blamed the City saying that they decided the traffic patterns, while the City told me that they had insisted on a bridge to maintain access to our neighbourhood at 59^th. So just who was in charge?

The promises of minimal disruption and two to three months of construction at any given location were broken in every instance. Canada Line contractors were given freedom to do what they wanted, where they wanted, how they wanted, for as long as they wanted, with absolutely no oversight or accountability. This is an unacceptable flaw in the P3 structure and as the award-winning champion of these projects, the buck has to stop with you. Your government now insists that all projects over $20 million must use the P3 model, so the implications are far reaching.

Your government has always stressed that those who have been so inconvenienced by Canada Line construction will benefit in the long-term, but many businesses and residents along the Canada Line will be priced out of the area due to rezoning and redevelopment. The 70 families including 90 children in my townhouse complex at Cambie and Marine Drive were recently faced with reno-viction notices from the new owners who purchased the complex a year and a half ago.

In recent weeks we have learned of government bail-outs of large corporations working on Olympics projects. The City of Vancouver provided a $100 million dollar loan to Millennium Development and your government handed over more than $50 million to cover Canada Line losses as result of investments in the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the U.S. In both instances, the first we learned of these corporations’ difficulties was when the money was handed over. In contrast, we’ve watched small family-owned businesses along the Canada Line dying a slow and painful death for the last three years while your government has repeatedly turned its back on them.

Your government insists that helping the small businesses and families destroyed by your project would set a dangerous precedent and yet, you don’t hesitate to set a costly precedent by bailing out large corporations.

The last two bi-elections and the recent Vancouver election are a clear indictment of your government’s attitude towards, and treatment of, the citizens and small businesses in this province. The Canada Line disaster will remain a blot on your government’s record until it is remedied.

There must be full compensation for the small businesses and promises to all of us that this disaster will never be repeated in the Province of British Columbia.

Sincerely,

Jillian Skeet

A23 – 445 SW Marine Drive (at Cambie)

Vancouver, BC V5X 2R9

Email: jillianskeet@telus.net

Tieleman's on the Case - and we say, "Thank you."

I wrote earlier today (Benefits Whom?) about the yet again delaying of the Basi-Virk trial.

But for the real and full story with all the gory details of this ongoing travesty of justice - hell, cover up - you must read Bill Tieleman's great piece posted on his blog yesterday.

Read it here. It's an example of great reporting. Many an observe has rightly aid that this case is perhaps the most important to appear in B.C. in a long, long time.

Keep watching and listening for any soundings as they may emerge from the well-orchestrated fog.

KIndred Spirit, Victor, Signs In

Hi David:

Welcome back from the writer's shed. Hope it went well.

In your absence, there was a moment on the Bill Goo show when I
thought of you. Norm Spector called down Gregor Robertson for having
his campaign financed by American lobbyists, pointing out that
offshore campaign financing is illegal at the provincial and federal
levels. Replied Goo, " I didn't know he got money from Americans."
Spector, by the way, lives in Victoria. and works alone.

Yet here's Goo, his bloated self, smugly ensconced on two networks,
with full staff support, unaware of a smelly political issue under his
porcine nose. You detailed it in full on your blog. Of course you have
a massive research staff.

On another note, my cancellation f the Vancouver Sun has brought
morning bliss into my life. Mildew, Yappy, McMumble, Fatlic, Hume-
orless ,Smeargig and Daffy are morning intruders no more. So long to
the 7 dorks.

v

Craig's ON, as always...

Retired Justice Wallace CRaig has written another excellent column about the criminal injustice system, poublished today in the North Shore News.

Read it here.

BUFFOONS ABOUND

Here's what we're stuck with for the moment at the highest level of political and government leadership in the land.

The Prime Minister has added nothing in the way of economic stimulus to his current plans. America is scrambling and fighting and re-organizing 24 hours a day to deal with the worst economic downturn in half a century. Billions of dollars will be spent to revive the barely breathing patient. But up here in Everything is Beautiful Land, biz as usual.

This is, in my estimation, Harper's biggest foolishness to date. And it's huge.

Add to that his play to end public financing of political parties and you've got The Week from Dumb.

Now, on the other side of the house, just in case you thought things couldn't get worse, you've got the Twin Goof Brothers of Layton and Dion actually threatening another election.

Is there anyone left in the land who knows the first thing about public service or prudent management?