Plant Me, Baby

This is the way we spend your money, spend your money, spend your money...

Somewhere in federal offices, there are two potted plants that cost taxpayers $975 each, a $1,000 doorbell and three rolling blinds worth $1,400.

And that's not even mentioning the $1,000 charge to remove and reconnect a light switch.

QUESTION: How many Tories does it take to change a light switch?

ANSWER: We don't know, but the bill is a cool grand.

And all of this, which the Federal government has actually stood up in Parliament and defended with straight faces, goes to their favorite building managers SNC-Lavalin.

The group oversees some 320 federal properties across the land.

Whose cousin are they?

How did they get all this biz?

Does anybody monitor their performance?

Can you say, "Corruption?" Boys and Girls.

But soft...

It's just that we don't understand the issues.

You see...

Charlie Rate, executive vice-president at SNC-Lavalin, acknowledged that “$1,000 sounds ridiculous for a doorbell.” However, he explained the cost included a voltage transformer and 15 metres of wiring, as well as drywall and a paint job.

“You get up to that number quite quickly,” Mr. Rate said. “These are justifiable when you look at the details behind them.”

Regarding the two exotic plants, he explained the pots included irrigating systems, and that the total cost included delivery and fertilizing, among other things.

Now, aren't we feeling better?

Irrigating systems and fertilizing, right.

With real good manure, no doubt.

Berry Berry Berry Patch

It's instructive to listen to Malcolm Brodie, the Mayor of Richmond kvetching about a recent purchase by his government.

Richmond just paid 5 times the going price for a piece of land.

The government of Canada and the Musqueam band received almost $60 Million for a piece of real estate that was clocked at less than $10 Million.

Brodie voted against this purchase.

And here's what he had to say:

“We bought the land controlled by the agricultural land commission. But what we can do with it? Neither council nor the community has a common vision. To do this without public input has some real drawbacks."

"To do this without public input has some real drawbacks."

That's my favorite part.

Brodie and his City Manager built the skating oval with almost NO input from Richmond citizens.

Now, you can argue that all of that has turned out just fine and you may be right.

But either you work with your community or you don't.

For the good Mayor to complain at this late date is a little disingenuous.

Meanwhile, back at the berry patch...

Richmond City Council has no plans for their new acquisition.

It must be a marvelous luxury to be able to spend $60 Million worth of taxpayers money on something you'll just hang on to for a while until you can think of a fun thing to to with it.

American Heart

The New World

The Globe's front page story today is about the New Face of Canada.

In short, it is and will be "visible minority" face.

That is bringing and will continue to bring new excitement, new possibilities, and new challenges and struggles as cultures rub hard up against one another.

Canada, since the European invasions, has always been a country of immigrants.

Until now, the new Canadians have been largely, mostly, white Europeans.

That caused enough friction and comedy.

Now, every second citizen is from China or India or Africa and a hundred other places round the world.

On the same front page, the niqab/burka melodrama continues in Quebec.

If any story reveals the "challenges," this is it.

What is so interesting is that the Quebec authorities have been absolutely unequivocal.

“There is no ambiguity on this question: If you want to [attend] our classes, if you want to integrate in Quebec society, here our values are that we want to see your face,” Immigration Minister Yolande James said.

On Monday, Christine St-Pierre, the Quebec minister responsible for the status of women, called the niqab and burka “ambulatory prisons” that violate a woman's right to equality.

To complicate matters, the Muslim Canadian Congress, which has called for a ban, applauded Quebec's attitude toward the niqab and burka.

“This is an attire worn in the desert during sandstorms. It's got nothing to do with religion,” said Tarek Fatah, founder of the congress. “It's a very clear sign that women are the possessions of men, and it's being thrust on North America and Europe. Most Muslims are fed up with the niqab and burka.”

It is rare in this politically correct, terribly self-conscious country to see this kind of clear, declamatory positioning.

There is so much that new Canadians bring to the mix -p new and old energies and ideas, wealth, enthusiasm.

And there is so much that we are afraid to ask of new Canadians.

The written driver's test in British Columbia should not be available in 170 languages, including dozens of local Chinese dialects, peculiar to regions and town in the People's republic. It should be available in our two official languages, French and English. Period.

A month ago, I stepped out of a coffee shop to speak to three young men.

I was friendly and polite and non-threatening.

I said Hi and asked where they were from.

When they told me Korea, I greeted them in one of the few Korean phrases I know.

They were pleased.

That allowed me to point out that I had been sitting in the window having my coffee and in the last few minutes I had watched one of them spit on the side walk six times.

I added that 1) I found this personally disgusting and sickening; 2) Spitting on the sidewalk is against the law in BC; & 3) It's a cultural thing. It's just not done here.

The boys were very kind and respectful and offered that they didn't know any of this and that they would be mindful to not continue this habit.

We all shook hands.

But the question remains...

Why didn't they know?

Because we are not spending time with new Canadians and short-term student Canadians and telling them a few simple truths about their new home.

My mother - may she rest in peace - told me years ago that the future of humankind was..."somewhat chocolate."

In another words, the only and best and inevitable way that we will get past all the racial and other differences in the Family of Man/Woman will be intermarriage.

She was right.

But until we get there, we could do a lot better job about honestly getting to know one another and being clear about our mutual expectations.

Art Smart

The Vancouver Art gallery is fighting about its future.

Location, that is.

Stay put and dig down deep for more space.

Or move to that former bus depot spot near the QE?

Many have rightly argued that the VAG doesn't really have the stellar collection that would warrant really really big bucks being spent on a monumental edifice designed by some terribly famous world-beating architect.

But I disagree.

I think a monumental edifice designed by some terribly famous world-beating architect is exactly what Vancouver needs.

That's what cities do.

They declare themselves.

Boldly.

They commission Big Guys & Dolls to build Big Stuff and we all look at the thing every day in passing and every few months we even go in and gawk around and have an expensive coffee and buy a few over-priced note cards and call it a day out.

Why not?

That's what cities have always done all over the world.

Build it and they will come.

School kids and tourists come and pay money. People buy souvenirs. They spend money at hotels.

If we could spend gazillions on Olympics and Trade & Convention Centres, why not spent a bundle on a terrific new crazy-looking beautiful controversial Vancouver Art Gallery?

And while we're at it let's throw in a music and theatre complex.

We laughingly call ourselves a world-class city.

We delude ourselves that the Olympic event - for all that it was great fun and came off beautifully - will now transform us and put us on the map.

Get serious.

Build a new Art Gallery.

Hold a world-wide open competition.

Hire the best.

Spend the money.

Do it.

Wheeeeeee...

Heaven.

Eden.

No Starbucks.

No Tim's.

No Big Mac.

Welcome to the tough, free-thinking pristine community of Tofino.

The local town council is drafting a bill outlawing these and other fast-food chains.

I love it.

Tofino, you rock!

Friends and Neighbours

I made the mistake of stopping by a neighbour's front porch the other day.

Soon we were discussing books.

I talked about the two books I reviewed here on Sunday.

Soon we were talking about the imperial itch and how so many nation states have destroyed and subjugated so many others in the most awful and violent and terminal ways.

All of this was...well, neighbourly, until the following emerged.

"And now, of course, the Hebrews, are doing exactly the same thing to the Palestinians," said my neighbour.

Our friendship, such as it is, was saved by my cell phone ringing.

I was distracted and then taken away by the urgency of the call.

Of course, this unfortunate moment has stayed with me.

The Hebrews.

Not the Israelis.

That would be the 7 Million Israelis who are living on a narrow strip of land surrounded by 100 million others who wish them dead, who have sworn for more than half a century now to kill them all and remove them from the region, who have tried exactly that numerous times.

Make no mistake, Israel has done some god-awful dreadful things.

No excuses.

Meanwhile, Arabs and Jews work and worship side by side in Israel and Arabs are significantly represented in Parliament.

And Israel - not the Hebrews - continues to live under bombardments and the constant threat of annihilation...of promised and sworn and dedicated annihilation.

But my dear old lovely gardening neighbour in the leafy sleepy sanctuary of West Point Grey has the "Hebrews" down as world criminals and murderers.

Safety and spare time are wonderful bounties and much to be enjoyed.

NEXT!

The Canadian Booksellers Association wants Canada to reject Amazon from opening a distribution centre here.

The Canadian Booksellers Association is mostly Heather Reisman, as in Heather's Picks, as in Chapters/Indigo.

This is the leviathan that ate your neighbourhood independent book store with the support and backing of her millionaire husband.

In place of some one you once knew and could talk with about books, you are now faced with a Costco/Home Depot/Safeway book buying experience.

Which is why I buy most of my books from the few remaining little stores that exist - and from Amazon.com.

You know why I buy from Amazon.com?

It's cheaper and faster and more pleasant.

Search, click, buy.

Less than a week later, the book's in my mailbox.

It's interesting to watch Heather kvetch.

The problems of the Canadian book writing, publishing and selling businesses will not be resolved by keeping Amazon out of the dominion.

GordoLand

Playgrounds, the environment, adult sports and adult arts and culture are OUT.

The Evergreen Line - with no money to fund it - is IN.

The suits at the Board of Trade lunch are cheering madly.

Life Under Campbell continues at a healthy pace.

A Certain Smile

Gary Mason has written an interesting piece today about the Mayor of Vancouver.

He calls Gregor Robertson "Mr. Happy."

That's funny.

Was it intended?

Many of us unrelenting adolescents call a certain favorite part of our anatomy by the same name.

Casting that consideration but momentarily aside, Mason advises us that Robertson is aiming higher.

That is, higher personal and professional and civic goals.

There is no question that the G Man is a nice fellow and he has a nice smile.

Hey - it's a start.

Justice Way Delayed

The Air India perjury trial has stopped before it's begun.

It is alleged that a juror had made a remark that another member considered to suggest racial bias.

The judge had no choice but to dismiss group one and fund group two.

Question: Is this a tactic by the bombers and their friends?

Rare Clarity

Insite doesn't do enough to change addicts

By Susan Martinuk

Calgary Herald

March 5, 2010

Corey Ogilvie wanted to document life in Vancouver's notorious downtown eastside (DTES) by spending 30 days living alongside the residents of North America's poorest, most destitute and drug-infested neighbourhood. Film clips of his journey are posted on the Internet and, as one would expect, are highly revealing.

In one clip, he determines he must do drugs to understand addiction. While coming down from a crack high, he decides to try heroin. So his street buddies send him to Insite, Vancouver's safe injection site.

Ogilvie's smuggled camera reveals Insite staff doing everything but stick the needle in his arm as they aid him in his quest. A staff member shows him how to prepare the heroin, fill the syringe and find a vein. He's clearly a novice and the worker asks the obvious question, "So, can I ask? Why the drug use?"

When Ogilvie fails to offer much of a response, the worker offers an upbeat, "It's OK. You don't have to say anything. It's not a big deal."

I don't believe that Ogilvie had any intention of showing how ludicrous life can be at Insite but, intended or not, that's the lasting effect of the above.

The problem is, shooting up drugs is a big deal. Those who work in the DTES and see the harmful impact of drug addiction should understand that better than most. But no one at Insite wants to be the bad guy and make the judgment that injection drug use is bad. Hence, even those trying drugs for the first time are not questioned. (I hope the word doesn't get out to young teens who would be thrilled with a safe place to experiment with new drugs.)

Consequently, up to 800 people float through the facility each day, getting clean needles or shooting up in a clean facility under the watchful, non-judgmental eye of nurses and Insite employees.

No doubt troubled by my columns that question the twisted philosophy that underlies safe injection sites (that nothing can change the behaviour of a drug addict, so we might as well try to limit the damage by offering addicts clean facilities and basic medical/ social support), Insite leaders recently invited me for a guided tour of the facility.

I was very impressed with the sincerity and concern that Insite staff have for those who come through their doors. They are truly kind and compassionate, and provide addicts with a very human (and humanizing) element to their day. For that, I offer kudos.

Yet I came away thinking that Insite's main gauge of success is engagement, not treating addiction, reducing numbers of addicts or providing addicts with a way out. Maybe social interaction is enough for some, but I remain unconvinced that facilitating drug injections and perpetuating a destructive lifestyle is the best way to afford someone their human dignity. These non-judgmental interactions may make addicts feel better about their behaviour, but I didn't sense that the Insite philosophy had any room for the notion that addicts could actually change their behaviour -- at least not the addicts in the DTES.

Insite does have 12 detox beds and 18 'transitional' beds for those who are hoping to get into treatment. They have daily programs such as yoga, health care or counselling for these residents. But, again, I never got the sense that they had much hope for addicts beyond the Insite facilities.

Insite leaders seemed uncertain about what treatment facilities existed and where they were located, but still insisted that they weren't the kind of facilities that would be a good fit for DTES addicts. I'm under no illusion that there are sufficient treatment facilities available, but isn't any addict going to be out-of-his-comfort zone in an addiction treatment facility? Since the intent is to change lifestyle patterns, I would certainly hope so.

If DTES addicts really require a different kind of treatment facility, then why aren't we providing them with one instead of spending millions on a facility that fuels the addiction?

I can already see the letters saying, "Martinuk lacks compassion" or "she's a mean, hard-line, right wing ideologue." But, in truth, I am writing out of compassion for addicts entrenched in the DTES culture. The difference is, contrary to the safe injection site, my compassion moves me to do what I can to set them free.

Pahik Abhou

Should Canadian colleges be more tolerant of Islamic fundamentalism than Cairo's universities?

That's the question being asked by Lysiane Gagnon in her Globe column today about the niqab and the burka.

The top Islamic cleric in Egypt said students and teachers at Cairo's Al-Azhar University would not be allowed to wear face veils in classrooms and dorms on the grounds they had “nothing to do with Islam.”

So why is it OK in Canadian Universities?

A woman in a French-language class for immigrants is fighting her expulsion from class.

Read the details of what really went on in that classroom...

Then, tell me about the limts, if any, of cultural and religious accomodation.

And now, the Other News

Justine Hunter, writing from Victoria in the Globe this morning, points out the gritty specifics of how the provincial government will slowly release the various bits of bad news about its current budget.

You have diabetes and you are on income assistance.

Tough.

No more blood-glucose meters for you.

"We felt these were frankly add-ons that weren't necessary to healthy living of folks on social assistance."

That's a quote from Rich Coleman, our hosing...uh, Housing and Social Development Minister.

Food banks and arts groups will get less money.

Your hydro bill will go up almost 10% in the coming days, and the huge surplus at ICBC that could have and should have been returned to drivers with good records, has instead been swiped by the government for general revenues.

Yes, the Olympics has changed us all.

Profoundly.

SUNDAY BOOK REVIEWS

Health Care Shock!

B.C. doctors prepared to fund nurses' pay

Hahahahaha...

Doctors at a cash-strapped hospital in the Kootenays are proposing to pay nurses out of their own pockets to keep operating rooms running.

And why not?

If the nurses don't work, neither do the doctors, so their intentions are both self-serving and helpful to others, including the forgotten person in the equation - the famous patient.

Of course, this kind of magnanimityfariousnosity is so unprecedented that a health care administrator was heard mumbling, “I haven't heard of any precedent like this. In terms of the implications, the Interior Health Authority has to do some research."

Hahahaha...

Will they be doing that research on the weekend?

Victor Seizes the Day (Glo)

Hi david:

Hope it was a great holiday.

This summer in BC, the HST will come in, the MSP will increase, and
that lunatic carbon tax on gas will increase. Additionally, we will
see the beginning of a 30 per cent increase in hydro rates over the
next three years. You and I are in the backstretch of life so most of
our race has been run. But I really feel for the young generation
entering adulthood. They will be stuck under a government , regardless
of party, that believes there's an unlimited amount of juice in the
lemon.

The Vanier Institute issued its report on families while you were
away. It is a supremely credible annual report on quality of life in
Canadian families. It found that 70 per cent of working people ages 18
to 34 would be "severely stretched" if their paycheque were delayed by
one week. This cohort is not going to magically become upper middle
class. Our governments continue to spend as though that will happen.

O CAN - IT

Stealing Your Health

Yesterday, we spoke in this space about the high costs of health care in this province.

Today, we focus on one of the hidden costs, one of the little over-runs that politicians will not be rushing to discuss in public.

"e-health" is all the rage.

Every jurisdiction in the land is pouring millions of tax dollars into the belief that all of your health care info should be in cyberspace and available at a mouse click to anyone who needs it asap.

Fair enough.

Trouble is, kids, corruption abounds.

"e-health" and e-anything is the new cement.

Used to be that when a new highway was being built somewhere, all you had to do is ask, "Whose cousin got the cement contract?"

Now, the game is the same, only the players and the sticky stuff have changed.

Charges laid against three linked to e-health project

Former top bureaucrat, MD consultant among those accused of corruption

In BC, the e-health caper is worth $259 million.

We Three Little Pigs have been hit with 16 charges of influence peddling, fraud and such.

In Ontario, the Auditor-General concluded $1-billion of taxpayer money had been mismanaged on that province’s e-health system. David Caplan resigned as health minister on the day the review was released last October.

Will The Falcon resign?

Not on your stethoscope.

Mr. Falcon stressed that the allegations stem from events that took place long before he took over the Health portfolio.

But they did take place on somebody's watch? Could we have that sucker up front and centre for an axplanation, please?

Not likely.

So...

In addition to all of the inefficiencies in the sytem, we now know that one of the reasons that our health care eats up so much of the budget is plain old-fashioned theft.

Yes, that's very healthy, thanks.

And has the Premier demanded answers on this misuse and abuse of public funds?

Seacrh me. I've been out of town for a few weeks.

Was that right between the Crosby goal and the closing ceremonies?

Old Movie

The fact that abortion is the hot-button issue that may scuttle President Barack Obama's attempt to bring home health care reform in America is appalling - and frightening.

God, guns and glory...our good neighbours are tetched.

The fact that 50 million of their fellow citizens are a cough away from a catastrophic health issue because they have no money or insurance just doesn't seem to be important to most Americans, who would rather scream hysterically about SOCIALISM or COMMUNISM or the evils of abortion.

The USA is the most backwoods, backward regime among all the so-called Western Democracies, an imperialist nation hunkered around false, comforting pieties.

It is beautiful and it is exciting and it is flat nuts.