One Man's Opinion

One Man's on the Move

2010-10-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

Loyal Viewers and Readers,

You may have noticed that our brand spankin' new website at www.cfjctv.com is back up and running. Hooray! The website has many new features, including an integration for One Man's Opinion.

Thus, this blog will be discontinued and we invite you to browse our work at www.cfjctv.com.

Catch and Release Doesn't Work for Drunks

2010-10-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

(Aired on October 13, 2010)

If you get picked up for being drunk or passed out in public, you can go to one of two places. You can go to the emergency room if your medical condition is serious enough. Or you can go to the drunk tank.

If you are sent to the drunk tank in RCMP cells, you will essentially be left there to sober up. Every now and then a guard will check up on you, make sure you're doing okay, and give you a meal. When it's deemed you are back in your right mind, you are released. It sounds like I know this from personal experience, but in fact, there has been so much made public concerning drunk tank policy lately that we all probably know, whether we've stayed a night in the clink or not.

A deficiency in the drunk tank system is being played out in a coroner's inquest this week, as a jury hears about the tragic demise of Stanley Cardinal after being lodged in cells last year. The recent sex in cells in controversy also reveals problems with the system.

What the E.R. and the drunk tank have in common is that they are both "catch and release." Once you're done, you're done, and off you go. But a lot of the time, if you get picked up for being drunk or passed out in public, it's not an isolated incident. You'll be back. That's why catch and release isn't necessarily appropriate.

Elsewhere in the province, communities have been setting up sobering centres. At a sobering centre, a person picked up passed out is set up with the programs that will get them on the road to recovery. I'd like to see this become the norm, rather than a rarity. Even during fishing season, it sounds a lot better than catch and release.

NCR Does Not Mean Innocent

2010-10-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

(Aired on October 12, 2010)

The rules regarding those found not criminally responsible for their crimes have to be changed. A man involved in a car crash in Vancouver last December has been released from detention, free to do whatever he wishes, after being found not criminally responsible for the crash. In that crash, the man carjacked a vehicle, then ran it into a building, causing injury to a girl inside the vehicle at the time. The Review Board says the man stopped taking his meds before the crash and was experiencing emotional distress. Somehow that's supposed to excuse his behavior?

The rules are simply wrong. While a man may not be criminally responsible, surely that doesn't mean he can get away with a serious offense. We have others in the same boat who committed murder and are also open to release when their next hearings come up. While we rely on these review boards to make judgments in these cases, one must question whether or not the rules are tough enough to ensure that people are detained for their behavior, no matter what causes it.

I understand it's one thing when you understand your actions and commit a crime, and another when you don't understand. But what's to stop this man from going off his medication again and committing another act? The review says this man is still a threat, and is under several conditions as part of his release. Do you honestly think he would understand those conditions if he again went off medication? That's absolutely stupid.

I don't want to preclude people from being freed when they're ready, but how can you say anyone can be ready under these circumstances? The laws are wrong, and it's time someone took the lead in doing something to make them stronger. Maybe these people aren't criminally responsible, but they're certainly responsible. And certainly they should get more than just a slap on the wrist and let back out into society.

James Will Regret Booting Simpson

2010-10-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

(Aired on October 8, 2010)

Back in December, an interview I did with Bob Simpson made me sit up and take notice. He spoke about an upcoming party convention in which the New Democrats would discuss their Harmonized Sales Tax strategy. While his colleagues were simply launching attacks against the Liberal government, Simpson was much more reluctant. He said after the party already opposed the Carbon Tax, it needed to be careful. Opposing the HST, he thought, would position the NDP as an anti-tax party. BC politics are crazy, but not that crazy.

The interview confirmed to me that Bob Simpson isn't always in step with the rest of the party. Sure enough, Simpson was booted out of the NDP camp this week for criticizing leader Carole James.

Most people will recognize that Bob Simpson was ejected from the caucus for speaking the truth. Simpson sees that the NDP have failed to capitalize on the giant political football fumbled by the governing Liberals directly into their hands. The HST boondoggle should be what the party is jumping all over - not the substance of the tax, but the way the government screwed up its imposition. Instead, the upstart Fight HST group has been the dominant voice keeping the government accountable, and as such has become the de facto opposition party. The NDP are riding high in the polls, but that's because they are the default second option. The party has failed to find its voice. It's exactly the reason why I am still reluctant to write off the Liberals for the next election.

Bob Simpson is right to criticize his party, and he is justified in doing so because he wants to see his party do well. If he stays on the outside looking in, and if his critiques are not heeded, it's Carole James who regret not having him on board.

Who's in Bigger Trouble: Campbell or James?

2010-10-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

(Aired on October 7, 2010)

One of the things I love about politics is that just when you thought you've seen it all, something else pops up. Just when she thinks things are rolling along for her, and the NDP looks like it's on its way to beating up on Gordon Campbell, the party starts to self-destruct just like the Liberals did a few months ago.

Carole James has booted Cariboo-North MLA Bob Simpson out of the caucus and taken away his post as critic for aboriginal relations and reconciliation. Apparently Simpson attacked James' recent speech to the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention is some online comments. And now his constituency association is openly calling for a leadership race.

Just days ago, it looked more and more like we were going to have a new Liberal leader for James to fight in the next election. Speculation was that Gordon Campbell was going to step down and make way for a new leader who could resurrect the party after all the HST and health care controversy of the past year. But wait-maybe it will be Campbell who will stay and James will go.

James has not been as stellar a leader as many thought she might be when she took over the party reins, but it was generally assumed there was no real challenge to her leadership, and she might well have a chance to become the Premier in 2013. Who knows what might happen now? Is Simpson's revolt the tip of the iceberg? Politics is a crazy game. You just never know where the next bit of juicy news will come from. I'm sure James and Premier Campbell are both going to be watching their back as much as they watch the road ahead over the next few months. Perhaps Campbell is about to rise from the ashes like the Phoenix and maybe it will be James who crashes and burns. keep your eyes tuned for the next installment.

More Money Needed for Emerald Centre

2010-10-07T10:36:00.001-07:00

(Aired on October 6, 2010)

Doug Sage seems confident. Me, not so much.

I was speaking with Sage today about the former Rendezvous Hotel, soon to be called Emerald Centre. You may recall the property was purchased by the province earlier this year, with the promise that it would be turned into a homeless shelter, jointly run by ASK Wellness and Canadian Mental Health. Sage, who runs CMHA locally, says the estimate on how much it will cost to renovate the property has risen by about $1.5-million. The local organizations have to go back to BC Housing with open hands hoping that the government will pony up the dough.

As I said before, Sage is confident. He says he knows that times are tight, and the government is not handing out money very easily these days. If you listen to him, though, the province is committed to this project. Any hesitation to hand over the money will only result in a delay in project completion, not a complete cancellation.

I'm much more reluctant. I know the Campbell Liberals need to win some popularity points right now, and funding social projects is always a good way to do that. But it's my thinking they'd rather do that on the right, by yanking the reins on spending and getting BC out of deficit as soon as possible, than on the left by spending more. For the sake of the homeless in Kamloops, I hope I'm wrong.

Sage is certainly right about one thing, he says as long as people are forced to stay in shelters rather than their own housing, the fight must continue. In that fight, he will soon find out whether the province is foe or ally.

Nisga'a Fight Clouds Credibility

2010-10-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

(Aired on October 5, 2010)

Ten years after it was hailed as an historic deal that could pave the way for the settlement of native land claims, B.C. Supreme Court heard today from a Nisga'a hereditary chief that the landmark Nisga'a deal should be thrown out. James Robinson says the deal is unconstitutional. He says the treaty makes the Nisga'a a third order of government, something Canada's constitution doesn't allow.

Back when this agreement was negotiated, initiated and signed, it was called, ironically, the Nisga'a Final Agreement. It was supposed to end a conflict that had lasted over a hundred years. It was not liked by a number of other First Nations, but it was seen as a groundbreaking treaty that could form a pattern for the future. Now, it is in danger of collapse.

The sad part of the fight is that it casts a cloud on the credibility of treaty negotiations. If agreements are made, considered legally binding by the parties that made them, should they not then be relied upon for the future? First Nations with legitimate land claims, and there are many in our province, in my opinion will be hurt if this agreement is thrown out. And that would be a tragedy. I can see the critics now - how can we trust you to stay true to your word? Ten years down the road, how do we now some more militant band council won't try to have the deal quashed? What kind of guarantee do we have that if we make an agreement with you, that it won't be reversed down the road?

Of course, no one thinks of the other side of the coin, how First Nations have been deceived, coerced and manipulated over the decades. They only see it as black and white, with no grey. But reality is, if historic agreements like the Nisga'a deal can be overturned ten years after it was put to bed, where does that put land claims negotiations that are still ongoing. In my view, this case is a setback for both sides, and will only continue to delay negotiations to end the long fight for First Nations to get what is legitimately theirs.

Pickton Inquiry in Danger of Becoming Useless

2010-10-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

(Aired on October 4, 2010)

I believe that the inquiry into the murders committed by and alleged against Robert Pickton is in danger of becoming totally useless. There is a suggestion that the inquiry, headed by former Attorney-General Wally Oppal, is going to focus on more than just the police investigation of the murders. Several people representing the victims' families, and various social agencies, suggest that focusing only on the police investigation will ignore the critical issue of why many of the victims are on the street, selling themselves in the sex trade, and getting wrapped up in the drug scene.

I'm against expanding the inquiry. And I'll tell you why. It has nothing to do with being unconcerned about the marginalization of people's lives and how to deal with some serious social issues. It's about taking a concern that has been expressed, the way the police investigation was handled, and turning it into some sort of gong show that will be so all-encompassing that it will provide very few real results. There were serious problems in the way enforcement agencies dealt with the investigation, lack of coordination between municipal forces and the RCMP, and even poor communication within various departments of the same force. That in itself is a major inquiry topic. Surely that will keep Mr. Oppal busy for a long time.

Certainly some believe that because these were largely sex trade workers who went missing, that they were blown off by police. That certainly is a topic for Oppal's inquiry. But to expand the inquiry into a full-fledged investigation of why these women are on the streets will be far too big an issue. We'll wind up with a million general recommendations, and few will really get the attention they deserve.

I'm not saying these issues shouldn't be investigated. But maybe by a separate inquiry, with a proper mandate to look at the reasons why these people get forced out on the streets and how we can deal with them. To wrap them up with an inquiry of how the police investigation went in the Pickton case is the wrong choice, and won't result in the justice these women so deserve.

HST Debate Turning Nasty

2010-10-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

(Aired on October 1, 2010)

Two weeks ago, I theorized that advertising would be key in determining who gets the upper hand in the Harmonized Sales Tax campaign prior to next year's referendum. Turns out I was wrong. Or at least that's the way this week turned out.

First, there was the comments unearthed by the Liberals, attributed to Okanagan Fight HST organizer Al Romanchuk, who was sympathetic to holocaust-denier Ernst Zundel. Then, Liberal MLAs pointed to Cariboo-Chilcotin organizer Gary Edwards, who peppers his angry blog entries with profanities and vulgarisms. The Fight HST campaign countered by uncovering comments made by a former Young Liberal official, who tweeted that Bill Vander Zalm is to politics what Michael Jackson was to children.

So no, I suppose it won't be advertising or rational debate that will turn the tide. It will be the nastiest, most cynical form of political dirty tricks. Certainly, the comments made are deplorable, and in some cases, completely reprehensible. But it doesn't have any real impact on the debate. In fact, instead of changing the minds of the voters, it will only further entrench people in their own positions.

I thought sanity would be restored today when I learned that Cariboo-Chilcotin organizers are proceeding with a recall of MLA Donna Barnett. My idea was that maybe we'd get down to something real. But when I spoke to Barnett about it, all she wanted to do was direct me to read up more on the foul-mouthed blogger.

It's my hope that British Columbians keep their eyes on the prize, and consider all relevant points before making a decision on HST. Character assassination, to my mind, is not relevant.

Court Ruling Raises Gamut of Issues

2010-10-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 30, 2010)

Hot on the heels of a controversial ruling this week regarding prostitution laws in this country comes another case that is sure to raise all sorts of issues. The B.C. Supreme Court is being asked to determine whether it is unconstitutional to prevent children conceived with donor sperm from knowing the identities of their biological fathers. 28 year old Olivia Pratter is a journalist. She launched the case after fighting for a decade for records related to her conception. She says the system needs to be changed.

One of the biggest concerns is the issue of denying children access to essential medical records. That, to me, is a very legitimate concern. Many problems are hereditary. Being prone to certain types of diseases and other medical conditions goes from generation to generation. Sometimes they skip a generation. If a parent notices something in their child, for example, they might want to know if it may be something that future generations should be concerned about.

Adopted children face the same concern. For that reason alone, it is probably a good idea to have all the details. But does that somehow open the doors for some children to try to claim money from the donor for health costs, or getting a cut of the family fortune? That would be an entirely different scenario, but one which the Supreme Court needs to take into account. It's one thing to make a case for needing medical records, but if your turns out to be a billionaire, do you think you should have a piece of that pie?

The case is sure to draw a lot of interest. Adopted children, and I'm sure it extends to children of sperm donors, often go through psychological stress wondering about their real parents, even though their adopted parents may be the best parents on earth. I don't envy the Court's decision. There's a good case to be made in arguing it either way.

Government's Response to Sex Trade Ruling Troubling

2010-10-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 29, 2010)

A ruling by the Ontario Superior Court this week is sending shockwaves through the Canadian legal system. The decision strikes down certain provisions in the laws governing Canada's sex trade. Most people who work with prostitutes, like the ASK Wellness Centre here in Kamloops, are applauding the ruling, saying it will make that particular line of work much safer.

Having this discussion in the public realm is long-needed. Strict government regulations have forced the sex trade to a place that is too far underground for its participants to remain safe.

Troubling, though, is the Canadian government's response. Immediately after the ruling was announced, the government said it would probably appeal. Today, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson confirmed that intention. But the first person to voice the government's displeasure with the court decision was Rona Ambrose. Ms. Ambrose is the Minister of State for the Status of Women. For her to be the person that openly opposes a plan to make women safer ostensibly goes against her own job description. Even if she needs to toe the government line on opposition, she should articulate a message that the government is doing everything possible to keep women safe. Of course, the government could do that even better by actually changing prostitution laws accordingly.

10 Years After His Death, Trudeau's Legacy Lives On

2010-09-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 28, 2010)

There can be little argument that Pierre Elliott Trudeau was one of the greatest, most influential Prime Ministers who ever lived. Trudeau died ten years ago, and he's still as much talked about as any PM before or since. We have had great Prime Ministers since our founding, John A. MacDonald, Laurier, Mackenzie King, Pearson, but few have stirred the nation as Pierre Trudeau did. He was arrogant, flamboyant, and some thought of him as simply a jerk for the way he acted with his "fuddle duddle" comments and the way he seemed to look down at Canadians as if they were much lower in station than him. But assessing his career, at a time of political turmoil, separation at the boiling point, and the need to bring our country together, Pierre Trudeau was a master. And few can fault the way he did that.

I will personally never forget one of his most poignant moments, when the FLQ crisis was happening in 1970, and Trudeau introduced the War Measures Act to try and contain this group of terrorists. As a young 22-year old journalist, I watched with interest as CBC reporter Tim Ralfe asked the PM how far he would go to curb civil liberties to bring peace. Trudeau's reply "Well, just watch me." It was a defining moment in our history, and probably solidified Trudeau's support in Western Canada as a French Canadian Prime Minister who was prepared to do anything necessary to bring an end to the crisis.

I never was a big fan of many of the sections of Trudeau's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but his concept of a "just society" was hard to oppose. He didn't handle the economy particularly well, and he was criticized roundly for his efforts to centralize power in the federal government over the interests of the provinces, particularly with respect to the oil wealth of the prairies. You may like him or not, but you can't deny that Pierre Trudeau was a leader like no other. His charisma may never be seen again in our country, and his legacy will be here for decades to come.

Heartbreak, Tragedy for High Schoolers

2010-09-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 27, 2010)

I have mostly fond memories of my time in high school. Didn't get into too many scraps. Wasn't teased too unmercifully, although it certainly wasn't perfect. I have mostly fond memories of my kids' time in high school. Only one of them got into much trouble. I was probably too over-protective of my kids, and have often wondered if I was too protective.

But seeing things such as those that have happened to a couple of high school girls in the past three weeks, maybe not. And the sad reality is that no matter how over-protective you are, you still can't stop everything. It was probably not a smart move for a young girl to go to a rave in Maple Ridge a couple of weeks ago. Doped up from the date rape drug, she was gang raped, and to make it worse, pictures started showing up on the Internet. While the girl's judgment in going to the party might be considered suspect, considering most of those things are problems from the get-go, what happened to her was devastating and tragic, something she will have to live with the rest of her life. Bad judgment or not, there's no reason for that kind of attack.

If there's a good thing, I suppose, it's that at least she will have a life to live. Not so fortunate was a grade 10 student in Delta, killed on the weekend while walking through a park in broad daylight. Details of both these tragedies are still sketchy, but, by all accounts, these were not bad kids. They were happy kids, enjoying life, probably going through the same issues many teens do, emotional upheaval, peer pressure, we've all gone through it. As parents, we hope our kids survive those rough years intact, and move on to their adult life.

It's hard for us to comprehend the tragedy these two families, and many like them, are going through. I guess the only thing we can do is to keep in touch with our kids as best we can, protect them as well as we can, and hope for the best. Sometimes, unfortunately, our best isn't good enough.

Palin: The Next Celebrity President?

2010-09-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 24, 2010)

In november of 2008, I happened to be down in Hawaii when Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. You could tell that change was in the wind, and a member of the old guard like John McCain didn't stand a chance. The campaign was significant in that Obama rose through the Democratic ranks with a groundswell of grassroots support to snag the nomination. Obama had converted a lot of supporters of other candidates because he represented someone young, energetic, and wise. He was an eloquent speaker, yet was down to earth enough to shoot hoops on his down time. Obama was a genuine celebrity.

After that, he had so much momentum, it carried him right through to the White House, and had a lot of people treating him like a messiah. Since then, it has become clear that he is not the messiah, and his presidency has lost a lot of its lustre.

But if you thought he was a celebrity, you ain't seen nothing yet. Sarah Palin has become a much bigger celebrity to most americans. For a lot of people, Palin is more of a breath of fresh air. While she can't touch Obama as an orator or a thinker, she has a tonne of charisma and that can make up for a lot of flaws. That charisma has been front and centre in the media ever since 2008, even though the next presidential vote is a long way away.

Palin's desire for the spotlight tells me two things. First, I don't think anyone doubts she will take a run at the White House herself in 2012. But second, it tells me she is far more interested in being seen than being a leader. Sarah Palin wants to be in books, she wants to be on TV, and she wants to be on the tips of people's tongues, far more than she wants to be in the White House. My worry is that she will get to the White House in 2012, and will have no idea what to do once she's there. We already had that problem with a certain Texas oilman called Dubya.

Harper Gov't Needs to Rethink Gun Registry Stance

2010-09-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 23, 2010)

If you ask any RCMP officer what's his or her most dangerous assignment, many will tell you it's domestic disputes. Emotions run particularly high, and you never know what will happen in those circumstances. They will also tell you that the more information they have going in, the better they feel about being able to resolve a situation. Prior offenses, restraining orders, history of violence, all are important.

You know what else is important? Whether or not the people have any firearms registered in their names. That's why I can't understand the Conservative government's desire to end the long-gun registry. The government MPs continue to suggest that the registry is stupid because criminals don't register their guns, that the registry only hampers legitimate hunters and gun owners.

In part, that's true. But the reality is that a high percentage of gun offenses, excluding organized crime hits, involve registered guns. Guns that are used in anger in a confrontation often spurred by domestic tension. The more information police have, the better they can serve. You can't foretell everything even if you have all the details, but it would certainly help in the way you deal with issues.

I don't think the long gun registry is perfect. It costs a lot more money than I think it should. And that's one of the arguments against it. But surely there must be ways of dealing with that problem and keeping the registry alive. I understand the concerns over the registry from rural Canada, but I don't believe their frustration should be considered above safety. If the registry has value for the police, that in itself should top any backwoods hunter from feeling frustrated that he has to register his gun. It just makes good common sense.

The Stephen Harper government needs to reevaluate its policies on this issue, and instead of concentrating on defeating the registry, concentrate on things like the economy, and justice and education, issues that have far higher priority than the gun registry.

Privacy Breach Nothing Less Than Frightening

2010-09-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 22, 2010)

Imagine you are fighting for something. You have a cause that is completely righteous in your eyes, and in fighting for it, you make your fair share of enemies - including people in the government. Now imagine those enemies have information about you that no one else should have. That includes your banking information and your medical information. It even includes a psychiatric report, spelled out in painstaking detail.

That's exactly what has happened to Sean Bruyea. He has been an outspoken critic of Veterans Affairs for a long time, and certainly made himself a lot of enemies. In 2006, Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson found that personal information relating Bruyea in his briefing notes. That means that someone, likely in the bureaucracy, managed to dredge those documents up.

How that happened is the scary part. It is quite frightening that, given enough impetus, people who don't like you can find your most sensitive information and potentially use it against you. That's a paranoia-inducing reality of Orwellian proportions.

It's imperative that there be a full investigation into how this happened. That investigation, interestingly for us, could unearth former MP Betty Hinton, who has made herself scarce since deciding not to run in the last federal election. Hinton was once Greg Thompson's parliamentary secretary, a position she once famously mistook for a cabinet seat.

The investigation is crucial, not just for Mr. Bruyea himself, but for the principle of the thing. It's an egregious incident, and we need to know that it is an isolated one.

Fight HST Turning Serious Debate into Clown Show

2010-09-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 21, 2010)

There probably isn't one person who sees this editorial who is surprised MLA Terry Lake's name is near the top of the list of targets for the anti-HST recall campaign. As the chair of the legislative committee who made the unpopular decision of going to a referendum on the HST, and an MLA who didn't have a big margin of victory last year, that shouldn't be surprising.

Lake's future is hardly in doubt, even though his committee copped out and took the easy way out of the HST controversy by going to a referendum a year away. It was a cop-out because by next September, the fuss over the HST will be gone, and we will have spent millions of dollars on nothing. All because the Liberal members of Lake's committee used the excuse that the referendum was a way to listen to the people instead of having the guts to debate the issue in the legislature and take a vote. This way, they blame the anti-HST forces for causing us to spend all that taxpayers money instead of simply saving it by voting on it instead. And if you're going to have a referendum, have it sooner rather than later so we can have a vote while the issue is still a hot topic.

What I can't figure out, though, is why Bill Vander Zalm and the anti-HST forces are turning the whole recall process into a clown show by making it into some kind of Survivor game. That's about as tactless as Lake's committee's decision on the referendum. If Chris Delaney and VanderZalm are serious about this issue, and they've put a lot of work into it so far, why would they cheapen the whole thing by this charade? Maybe they're simply giving up. They don't even have a proponent to run a recall campaign in Kevin Krueger's riding. Maybe it's all over and the anti-HST folks are just going through the motions. I can't think of anything else given the stupidity of their latest move. This is a serious thing. Treat it that way, or walk away.

Tougher Drunk Driving Laws Long Overdue

2010-09-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 20, 2010)

British Columbia now has the toughest drunk driving laws in Canada. Starting today, it's going to be easier for law enforcement officials to take away your car, slap you with a fine and take away your driving privileges. Not only for the drivers who are over .08, but there's a new "warning" category, where you can lose your licence for three days and pay a fine to boot. Over .08, penalties are even stiffer. You could get a 90 day driving ban. And speeders caught doing more than 40 clicks over the speed limit will be affected too, getting their vehicles impounded for a week with escalating penalties for subsequent offences.

It's about time. It's also good that refusing to take a breathalyzer test at the scene is no longer a way out. The penalty is immediate. It will make all of us think twice, not only those who drink more heavily, but even those of us who are more social drinkers. Speed and alcohol are contributors to so many accidents that it's about time we tried to take steps to curb the problem. And the Liberal government, who have been criticized on so many fronts recently, deserve to take some credit for this latest initiative. It's long overdue and hopefully will serve as a model for other provinces to follow.

The only problem I see is having the police resources to enforce these laws. We actually catch very few problem drivers. Our resources don't provide for the traffic checks we need to enforce these laws. We'll certainly do a better job than before even with the resources we have now, but we will almost certainly only catch a small percentage of offenders unless we put enough officers in place to really do an effective job. That might be a little longer in coming. But at least we've made a start, and hopefully we'll get people thinking before they become idiots on the road.

Kamloops Will Cry, But PG Will be a Good Host

2010-09-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 17, 2010)

Well, good for Prince George. P.G. won the right to host the 2015 Canada Winter Games today. It's believed the games will bring 3600 athletes and $60-million in economic activity to the winning city.

That, of course, would have been more than welcome in Kamloops, but is even more necessary in Northern BC. Though it wasn't that long ago that Kamloops had a local economy dominated by the forest industry. Insightful and innovative leadership in both the public and private sector led to better diversity in the business community here. That hasn't been the case in Prince George, where the economy is still largely based on forestry. And with the downturn, the entire region is hurting. So in that way, it's good for P.G.

Here's another reason it will work out well for Prince George - 2015 will be the 100th anniversary of the city's incorporation. There may be some negative aspects to the city. I've never visited, but people who have tell me it's poorly laid out, the downtown has virtually been abandoned, and of course, it stinks. But apparently, contrary to popular belief, Prince George does have adequate facilities to host the event. And they have five years to get up to speed.

Good on Kamloops for a strong bid, I'm sure we'll get many more high profile events in the future. For now, we'll cry in our beer, and tomorrow's another day.

Random Acts of Kindness Should Not be Random

2010-09-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 16, 2010)

I believe it is a sad state of the human condition that we have to celebrate random acts of kindness. Or find inspirational stories so newsworthy. We're starting a series this fall on inspirational stories. We'll get to see how special people do some very special things. But it's sad in a way, because we do this in part because as a society we seem to have lost the ability to care about each other.

Frankly, random acts of kindness should not be random. When you see something that needs to be done, a friend or a stranger who needs help, these should be the norm. Helping someone put their groceries in their car, saying hello, letting someone merge instead of trying to cut them off. I could go on. Those are simple acts of kindness that should be part of our daily lives.

People who inspire me are not the glory seekers, the ones who do things with personal gain and recognition as a motive. No, the people who inspire me are those who go out of their way to help, who help look after their elderly parents, who do these things not for themselves but for the cause of good. These are truly the people who are exceptional, who give us our own motivation to do the same. The did it because it needed doing. One can only wish there could be more like them.

Can Advertising Change Our Minds on HST?

2010-09-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 15, 2010)

Advertising works. It's a slogan that has kept my industry afloat through some pretty tough times. But we'll see just how well advertising works in the next year.

A year from now, British Columbians will go to the polls to show their feelings on the Harmonized Sales Tax. If the referendum was to be held today, the results would likely be very ominous for the Liberal government. And as TRU Political Studies professor Ray Pillar said yesterday, the referendum will foreshadow the next provincial election.

But who knows how we'll all feel about the HST in a year's time. During that interval, the Campbell government and their big business friends will likely want to max out on advertising the benefits of the HST. There will surely be spending limits placed on direct advertising, but there are always ways in which special interest groups can skirt those rules. You can count on being blitzed with propaganda.

But the anti-HST crowd has a bit of an advantage. While money must be spent to explain the benefits of certain tax policy, no money will need to be spent to convince the public that politicians are shady and coniving. It's an instinct probably all of us have. The government will be successful if it can shift attention away from how it sprung the HST on an unsuspecting public, and onto the benefits of a particular tax policy. If the debate focuses on cynical politics, however, I'm afraid the HST - and the Liberal government in turn - will be sunk.

Driving Never Ceases to Enrage

2010-09-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 14, 2010)

Some things that really tick me off about drivers. Number one, inattention. Whether it's driving while talking on the cell, texting, eating, drinking your flavored coffee, the stupidity of some drivers who try to drive while distracted is absolutely amazing. It's more amazing that more accidents aren't caused by these goofballs who are more worried about what someone said in a text, or having a puff of that cigarette than they are about peoples' lives.

Second, drivers who don't know the rules of the road. How many times do you see people trying to merge who don't understand the concept of merging. They will stop or slow right down just when they should be speeding up, and on the other side of the coin, there are those who just won't let people merge into their lane no matter what. And the people who make left turns into the wrong lane of traffic. They don't understand that they have to turn into the lane that's closest to them. Idiots.

And the thing that ticks me off the most - drivers who drive with their dogs in the back of their pickups. Makes we wish I had a shotgun to put the animal down - the driver that is, not the dog. I've had the unfortunate occurrence of seeing dogs fall out of the back of pickup beds, with tragic endings in several cases.

We need to have officers on street corners who have the magical power to shut the power off to offenders' engines, scoop up the vehicle with a tow truck, and give the drivers a couple of months suspension. Where is Harry Potter when you need him?

Must Be an Effort to Protect Our Agricultural Land

2010-09-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 13, 2010)

Perhaps a new report out this week will finally address one of the critical problems facing us these days - trying to keep prime agricultural land from being developed in the face of increasing pressure from developers. There is a huge glut of land that is totally useful for housing, except that it may require a bit more challenge to develop. So developers want to use the best ranch land and the best arable land to develop because, for the most part, it's flat, and takes less money to put houses and condos on it than land which may be on a hillside or may not be the best to grow crops.

This new report from Auditor General John Doyle says the Agricultural Land Commission doesn't have enough staff or enforcement tools to protect land that is in the reserve. And he adds the agency doesn't have enough information to properly evaluate the results of its decision. The ALR has been under pressure for years from developers who want to continue to spread out development as opposed to trying to going to the European style, keeping green spaces while making smaller houses, and more flats and apartments. If you examine how much prime land has been destroyed around this country's largest cities, you can see how this problem is going to grow.

The ALR was a great idea, and has since been the subject of many attempts to destroy it. There have been times when I have disagreed with the ALR, but the idea of having some control over the rampant destruction of farmland is important to the lifestyle of generations to come. I don't know how many times I have heard how we'll be able to grown more on less space as technology improves, that hasn't happened. Sooner or later, it will come back to bite us, and any preventive action we take now will only benefit us down the road.

Why Should Campbell Resign Now?

2010-09-13T13:58:00.001-07:00

(Aired on September 10, 2010)

The timing for this cry for Gordon Campbell's head is a little odd right now. We've known about the Harmonized Sales Tax for a while now. And ever since the surprise announcement last summer that the tax was happening, the call for Campbell to step down or retire has been a general dull roar. Cabinet minister Blair Lekstrom resigned, but other than that, the level of discontent inside the Liberal circle has been minimal. Now, however, it's starting to snowball. Donna Barnett's former riding association executive secretary is the latest to add his voice the choir.

But once again, it's the timing that is a bit confusing. The height of the HST deception happened when the tax was announced, just a few months after Finance Minister Colin Hansen swore up and down that it wasn't being considered. The feeling of betrayal by the party rank and file should have been at its zenith in the weeks following that epic flip-flop.

Today, the HST has taken effect. There is still anger over the tax, but at the very least, a legislative committee is looking into the initiative petition opposing the HST is meeting now. It will force action on the tax, whether that's by asking MLAs, or by asking all British Columbians. The end result - somewhere a long way down the line - could result in the HST being lifted. Campbell is at the point now where his party will live or die in spite of him, not because of him. For so-called Liberal insiders to be coming out of the woodwork now, calling for Campbell's head, smacks of pure opportunism.

If it was up to me, the exact moment Gordon Campbell should have resigned was in January of 2003, when he was arrested for drunk driving in Maui. If you ask me, that's a more heinous offense than changing tax policy.

Koran-Burning Pastor Taking Religious Freedom Too Far

2010-09-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 9, 2010)

In two days, we will mark the tragedy that took place September 11, 2001. Few of us will forget where we were when the World Trade Centre collapsed after being sabotaged by two jets which crashed into the buildings. 3000 people lost their lives. The incidents provoked much anti-Arab and particularly anti-Muslim sentiment. Sentiment that still prevails in many peoples minds today.

A Muslim mosque being planned for a site near ground zero in New York is being vilified by those who see it as in some way mocking the Americans killed in the 9/11 attacks. Some minister at some church in Gainesville, Florida is planning a Koran-burning ceremony Saturday to somehow send a message to radical Muslims. It is something, he says, he believes God has called upon him to do. Must be a different God than the one I have learned to believe in. Many Christians have protested the burning of the 200 Korans as being bigoted and senseless. And indeed it is. This is a minister using the same type of religious fanaticism he is accusing the radical Muslims of using in 9/11.

Ironic, isn't it? You really have to wonder about some of these religious groups who use their own interpretation of things and create chaos with beliefs that can't be substantiated in any way, shape or form. We get angry at Muslims who misinterpret the Koran and somehow believe it gives them the right to create terror. And yet these weird Christian groups do exactly the same thing when they misinterpret the Bible and create their own version of Christianity. That's when you get a group like this one in Florida who says that burning the Koran is a message from God to radical Muslims. They don't represent a lot of people in their own individual church, but it only takes one person to start the ball rolling.

It appears there is little anyone can do to stop the Koran-burning Saturday. It's sad to say that freedom of religion can be carried to that extent.

Increased Support for Gun Registry Vexing

2010-09-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 8, 2010)

It's a head-scratcher that support for keeping the long gun registry has jumped over the past few months. Back in April, 42% of respondents to a Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll thought it would be a bad idea to get rid of the registry. Now, the number is up to 48%.

That's a significant jump considering nothing has really happened to precipitate it. As far as I know, there haven't been any dramatic jumps in gun violence during that time. The Conservatives still want to scrap the registry, and the opposition parties are still largely looking for ways to keep it in place. Police organizations have reiterated their support for keeping the registry, but that support has always been there. They say it's incredibly helpful to know which homes have firearms registered to them before they knock on the front door. That may be true, but the stated purpose of the long gun registry was to make guns involved in crime more traceable, thus leading police to the criminals more quickly and easily. I have yet to see evidence that actually happens.

It's only common sense that people who would use firearms in the commission of a crime will avoid registering their guns. And while the residual effects may be positive, the billion-dollar boondoggle doesn't seem to be effective at fighting crime.

On a philosophical, world view level, I'm not a fan of firearms. In a perfect world, they would not exist. But it's not a perfect world, guns are a part of society and we would be better served managing their possession and use than trying to rid the world of them. Politicians need to come up with a better option than the ones we have today.

Many More Good Teachers Than Bad

2010-09-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 7, 2010)

Teachers have not always been my favorite group of people. I sometimes have argued vociferously against some of the contract provisions they have. I have taken issue with the fact you can't seem to get rid of a bad teacher. I don't like the arrogant attitude of some teachers.

But now that I've said all that, I would like to add that I have many close friends who are teachers or retired teachers, and I spend hours talking education with them. There is no better person than a good teacher. As kids start back to school today, I have to say I admire someone who will try to impart knowledge to a group of kids who are paying attention with only half a mind, spend half their time texting, doodling, whatever and generally not focused on learning at all. Thank goodness that's only a small portion of the class, but it's enough to be a huge challenge.

I wouldn't be a teacher for anything. I don't have the attitude to bear through the idiots to reach out to those who really are there to learn. I admire their tenacity, their compassion and their diligence. For the few teachers I would just as soon not know, there are ten times as many who spend countless hours trying to make a difference. It's a terribly difficult job, particularly in these times when parental control of kids is probably the worst its ever been, and as soon as teachers try to discipline a student in any way, suddenly those righteous parents become totally obnoxious and indignant.

I don't want to say teachers are perfect. I do have some concerns about the militant attitude of some of them. But when push comes to shove, they have a job that is hugely rewarding, but at the same time hugely challenging. It's not a job I'd take on. I'll just stay behind the camera, and make my comments without having to try and deal with a group of kids who really don't care.

Hard to Trust Politicians After HST Revelation

2010-09-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 2, 2010)

It's hard to believe now that the B.C. government, or at least the Minister of Finance, didn't have some advance knowledge of the HST before last year's provincial election. It's no wonder politicians are so low on the list of people most trusted by the public. So much damage control, so much double talk it's so hard to know who, if anyone, you can believe.

New information out shows that bureaucrats in the finance ministry were preparing briefing notes for Finance Minister Colin Hansen well before last year's election campaign. This contrasts directly with government statements that the government didn't start discussing the issue until much later.

While the information shows Hansen may not have pushed the tax heavily until after the election, it's hard to imagine that he had absolutely no knowledge of what people under his control were doing. Hansen says he didn't ask for the research to be done, and staff were doing it on their own. Hansen says they were just doing their job researching tax policy and weren't taking any direction from the Liberals. If that's true, then Hansen wasn't doing his job. If the Minister doesn't know what his bureaucrats are doing, he isn't doing his job keeping track of what's happening in his department. And I find that really hard to stomach. If that's the case, Hansen should be turfed for incompetence.

Either way, the government comes out the loser, and we lose even more faith in our politicians. I've been around this game a long time, and I often try to think back to when we really started to lose faith in our elected officials. Was it Watergate that started it all? Or were there times before that when government scandals rocked our senses? Whenever it started, it seems to have ballooned to alarming proportions. And now it doesn't matter what government says, we have our doubts about their sincerity, their honesty and integrity. And that's a very sad state of affairs.

RCMP Voyeurism Inexcusable

2010-09-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

(Aired on September 1, 2010)

Four RCMP officers. Three city employees. Two women having sex in the drunk tank. One of them apparently HIV positive.

As many times as I go over it, the math doesn't add up. Why would seven professionals, all tasked with a role in maintaining public safety, simply watch on video as two cell block occupants put themselves at risk? As much as these seven men may have been turned on by what they saw, or giggling like school children at what was unfolding before their eyes on closed circuit video cameras, it doesn't make sense.

If all of the multitude of investigations find the basic facts as reported are accurate, then all of the culpability should be placed on one man - the 20-year-veteran watch commander who was in charge when this was happening. As of this recording, the corporal's identity has not been made public. But whoever he is should have known better. He should have known to break up the party as soon as he realized what was going on. The RCMP have a pseudo-military structure, meaning junior members look to those who outrank them for leadership and decision-making. The three constables involved combined don't have as much service time as the corporal. He needed to make the call immediately, not seven minutes into the show.

RCMP E-Division says a question exists as to whether the sex was consensual. But even if it appeared consensual, the sobriety of the participants muddies the issue. If the sex had been halted before it started, the criminal investigation into whether one of the participants disclosed her HIV status would not be necessary.

Being a Mountie is a tough job. Controversies surrounding excessive force in arrests, taser use, or undercover officers shooting a man all deserve careful consideration. This case does too, but it's in another realm. Taking a break and gathering your buddies around for a little voyeurism is completely inexcusable.

Tamil Refugees Abusing the System

2010-09-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 31, 2010)

The case of the MV Sun Sea has proven once again that our immigration policies are in bad need of reform. We have a group of almost 500 people seeking refuge in Canada, making what may or may not be a claim of persecution in their homeland and wishing to be taken into Canada. But there's far too much of this going on and we need to tighten the regulations.

In this case, Border Services themselves seem to have screwed up the process as much as anyone. When the people arrived, they took all their ID and put them into containers. Now they have a problem trying to sort out who's who. That was a huge mistake. Right now, they can't even identify the captain and crew. We will spend millions trying to determine if these people are legitimate refugees. How many of them are terrorists in disguise?

Accepting people in this way is wrong. And while it may seem unsympathetic, how many legitimate refugees will be turned away while we are processing this group we should never have accepted. If getting into Canada is as simple as saying you'll be persecuted in your own country, we'll open the doors to so many poor choices it will cost us terribly down the road.

Immigration into a country should be an opportunity to start fresh, to bring something new to a country that needs immigrants. But the process should not be as messy as it is with the MV Sun Sea. We will probably never know how many of these people are legitimate and how many aren't. It's not the right way to deal with immigrants to our country.

To have 500 people show up on your doorstep all claiming refugee status is an abuse of the system, and just shouldn't be tolerated. Immigration is a good thing for our country. We need immigrants. But we need legitimate immigrants, who follow the procedure and don't try to play on Canadians' good moral sense to get in.

Krueger's Arts Tenure a Disaster

2010-09-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 30, 2010)

Kevin Krueger's run as Minister of Arts and Culture hasn't had much of a positive run so far. In fact, you could safely say it's been an unmitigated disaster. When Krueger took over the portfolio, I thought that, based on his previous commitment to arts and cultural activities that we would have an advocate to promote the arts and improve their lot in life.

Arts, as you know, often is the first cut when governments decide to slash. They mistakenly think cutting the arts won't be noticed and doesn't do a whole lot of harm. As we know, they've been proved wrong. Government has cut gaming money to arts groups, cut regular grant programs and generally left the arts community in shambles. So much so that the head of the B.C. Arts Council has resigned in protest. And Krueger has been strangely silent. He seldom returns our phone calls, he seldom has anything concrete to say, except to spout the Liberal line that the Liberals have put more money into the arts than the NDP did. Kevin has to stop spouting that line. It's old. And what the NDP did years ago has no real bearing on what the government is doing now.

A vibrant arts community is important to the health of any city, town or village. And funding has to be maintained in order for those communities to survive. When communities don't have a consistent source of funding, and know what they're getting year to year, they can't move forward. They can't put on productions, hire staff, because they don't know if they will have the funds to do so. While education and health are absolutely critical, and health particularly is in dire straits, government can't ignore other things that help us maintain a healthy lifestyle, and arts and culture play a major role in a healthy community.

Kevin and the Liberals are strangely silent on what will become an issue, for sure, in the next election. And while the Liberals generally feel that Kamloops-South Thompson is a safe Liberal riding, many of those in Krueger's riding are people who appreciate what arts and culture do in a city like Kamloops, and they may not forget that in May of 2013.

Traveling, Broke, and Hungry? No Kidding

2010-08-30T05:36:00.000-07:00

(Bonus Editorial! Was Meant to Air August 27, 2010 - but did not.)

I think I'm starting to turn into a crotchety old man. I promised myself just a few short years ago it seems never to lose sympathy, but it's starting to happen anyway.

Driving through Sahali, you're quite likely to come across the two young people I saw at the corner of Summit and Columbia today. The man and woman were on either side of the intersection, each with a dog at their side, each holding a sign bearing the words "traveling, broke, and hungry."

"Broke and hungry" I have plenty of sympathy for. Sometimes the world conspires against a person, you find yourself caught up in addiction or bad financial investments, maybe you have a mental health issue, all of the sudden you're out on the street. Sometimes it truly is "down on your luck."

But "traveling" is the part that chaps my hide. That's where I lose my empathetic side. I'd love to be traveling. The best times of my life happened while I was traveling. I work for the vast majority of my life so that I can see a bit of the world during the little time off I get. When you tell me that you are traveling, you tell me exactly why you are broke and hungry.

I suppose it's very straight-laced of me to tell these people to settle down and get a job. The 20-year-old version of myself would be steamed at this. But really. Get a job.

No Choice But to Euthanize Bears

2010-08-30T05:31:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 26, 2010)

I'm as big an animal lover as there is. I love animals. Am sad to the point of tears sometimes when I see a dead deer at the side of the highway, love having wildlife in my yard even when they take a good round out of the shrubs.

But I honestly believe an online petition trying to save about 15 bears in the Kootenays is just a little over the top. The bears were being fed by some people charged in a grow op. We don't know if they were being fed to keep them around to scare people away from the property, or whether they were kind of pets. But the fact is, most of them have become domesticated. As such, they cannot be saved from being put down. Maybe they could be transported to some zoos, maybe some of them could be returned to the wild, but any information I've received indicates that once these animals become used to human contact, and used to raiding the garbage in cities, it's hard to get them back into the wild. Sad as it is, these animals may have to be put down before they become a menace.

Some suggest they could be weaned back into the wild, and we should have the province put up some kind of transitional feeding station that would get them back into the wild. But it's not going to work. The people who fed these bears have made it such that the bears' lives have become too easy, no work involved when you get your daily fix from the neighbours. You don't even have to lift a garbage can lid for goodness sakes.

While protecting wildlife is a good thing, sometimes circumstances are such that protection is unrealistic. These seem to be some of those circumstances. As tragic as it would be to have to put some of these bears down, the reality is that they can't be left as they are, and if there aren't zoos or refuges to take them, and they can't be reacclimatized to the wild, there is little choice left but to put them down so they don't endanger anyone.

BC Regs on School Properties Vexing

2010-08-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 25, 2010)

A report released today says BC's public school districts could have more money at their disposal, but accounting practices and government rules are preventing it. According to the Auditor General, school districts collectively have about $1-billion they can't reasonably access - much of it tied up in low-interest bank accounts. If they did use the money, they would have to show it on the books as an expense. That wouldn't be a problem, but the provincial government has mandated that all school districts must run a balanced budget. Thus, if you have a new expense, you have to show the revenue to offset it. With government funding cuts and a flawed funding formula, that revenue is not forthcoming.

Even more vexing to me are government rules restricting what school districts can do with surplus property. For example, District 73 has four new surplus school properties within Kamloops this year; those being John Tod, Ralph Bell, George Hilliard, and the former Beattie Pineridge campus. The district is obligated to maintain those properties and keep them from falling into disrepair.

It would make far more sense to sell those schools and schoolyards, with the government investing the revenue right back into education. But the province has extremely tight rules that make it almost impossible for a district to do that. If you ask the education minister about those rules, she says that it's prudent policy. A selloff of property now - when student numbers are in decline - would hamstring districts in the future, when student numbers are bound to rise again.

It seems to make sense, but the question is, what is happening to students in the meantime? With the way school districts are being eviscerated of funds now, what will the public school system look like in 10 or 20 years' time? It would be better policy to fix what is badly broken now, and let tomorrow think about tomorrow.

Public Starting to Worry About Health Care

2010-08-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 24, 2010)

It is the perfect storm. It's been coming for some time. I wasn't the first to talk about it years ago, but I have said many times over the years the health care system is in jeopardy and needs to be overhauled. And a new Ipsos-Reid survey out this week shows most Canadians are starting to get the picture. It's taken them a long time to understand just how bad it is, but the new survey shows they're getting the message.

The new poll shows that most people perceived no improvement in health care. Younger adults anticipate going into debt to pay for their health care. Boomers, otherwise known as the Silver Tsunami, are becoming more and more reliant, pointing out just how tough it's going to be. The poll showed 80% fear the system will buckle and maybe even fail under the growing pressure. It says 80% nationally give the health system a grade of A, but few think that will continue.

Doctors have said for some time they are not crying wolf-that the health system is in disarray. Maybe more of the people nationwide who feel the same will start to put the pressure on the government to do something. Some suggest user fees rather than higher taxes. I've advocated user fees for 20 years. Interestingly enough, the survey showed British Columbians last or second last in their confidence level in health care. The only other province was Quebec, where 2.5 million people in that province are without a regular family doctor, out of a population of 7.5 million. Over a quarter of the population.

B.C. rates virtually last in rating the health care experience, only 25% of us gave a good grade for services available, and only 17% gave health care providers a good grade. That should be something for Gordon Campbell and the Liberals to take under serious advisement. If the economic downturn didn't hit B.C. as bad as other provinces, why can't we do better?

It's been obvious for a long time that something needs to be done. The general population finally seems to be getting the message. Now let's see if we can convince the politicians.

Justice Miscarried

2010-08-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 23, 2010)

So you want to know why we have no faith in our justice system? Here’s a perfect example. Last week, the legal system failed 15-year-old Ashley Aebig of Nanaimo. She was a passenger in a vehicle driven by 25-year-old Cory Barker in July of 2007. Barker was driving with more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. The court gave him a conditional sentence.

A conditional sentence. You know what that means? Not even a real slap on the wrist. Both crown and defence lawyers said there were “mitigating” circumstances in the case. These mitigating circumstances apparently related to Barker’s history of psychiatric problems, and his self-medication, which included the use of marijuana to make it easier to cope with his schizophrenia and depression.

Somehow that should make it OK to have twice the legal amount of alcohol and cause someone to be killed? That’s our justice system? Who could possibly think that’s right? So the judge imposed a five-year driving ban on Barker. That’s supposed to be a penalty? And he stays at his residence at all times. That’s a penalty? A young girl loses her life because someone drank too much and then the man who caused it walks away without serving a day of jail time?

The perception of the law must be seen to be followed as well as the reality of the law. In this case, neither was followed. If Barker were given time in a psychiatric facility to deal with his problems and learn to cope, I guess I might think that there is some justice. But when a person who has severe problems doesn’t get anything? That’s just plain wrong.

I’m not as hard-nosed as many I know about justice. I tend to be pretty compassionate. But in this case, there was an absolute miscarriage of justice in my opinion. I can’t see how justice was served in any way in this case, and I have the deepest sympathy for the parents of a girl who was killed without any serious punishment for the perpetrator.

Pickton Revelation Must Lead to Reforms

2010-08-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 20, 2010)

Some columnists in Kamloops like to tee off on the police, whether it's individual officers or entire forces. They pile on to any error or abuse of power - whether real or perceived - with hysterical, mouth-frothing fervor. And while that response is hardly as rational and measured as it should be, a report on the Robert Pickton investigation released today makes it hard to remain calm.

The report stated between the time Vancouver Police forwarded a report on Pickton to Coquitlam RCMP and the time he was arrested, 13 women went missing from the Downtown Eastside. 11 of those were later linked to Pickton's farm.

You may think this is yet another reason to tar the RCMP. That's partially true, but the review says both police forces are to blame. It says both forces committed errors that prevented an arrest of Pickton until 2002. There have long been loud questions as to why police didn't take the Pickton situation seriously much sooner. Now we have a few more answers to those questions.

RCMP have been taking it on the chin for quite some time now. And nothing seems to be able to stem the litany of embarrassments for the national force. Today's announcement shouldn't phase the Mounties; it should be like water off a duck's back. Vancouver Police looking bad, however, is another story.

If this should teach us anything, it's that there are problems with law enforcement in general - not just the RCMP. A public inquiry is necessary, followed by sweeping reforms. It's one thing for four cowboys to zap an exhausted Polish man at an airport with a taser. It's quite another for almost a dozen women to die thanks to an inter-office foul-up. Something has to change.

Must be a Better Way to Report Highway Conditions

2010-08-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 19, 2010)

It's time in this world of electronic communication that we did a better job reporting highway conditions in our area. We have a web site in the province that should be the perfect vehicle for giving motorists updated information. But it's reliability in emergencies is very poor, and motorists often wind up getting into bad driving conditions or into long lineups after accidents even though the information is available to avoid the problem.

A perfect case this morning. A bad accident on the Coke north of the Logan Lake turnoff around 5:30 this morning. Logs spilled all over the highway. No southbound traffic getting through. It was almost two hours before Drive B.C. could get updated information onto its website. Information that was available well over an hour earlier.

What is wrong with emergency crews, whether they be ambulance drivers, police officers, road maintenance crews, radioing in a report right away to whoever controls the website and the electronic road signs, saying traffic is halted, alerting motorists and the media immediately so that the message can get out. Instead, we get backed up traffic like we did this morning, a backup that could have easily been avoided.

It's the same in winter. I don't know how many times we report information from the Drive B.C. site, when a motorist will phone in and ask us where we get our information because we've just said the Coke is good, and they're driving through a blizzard. It's unacceptable in this time of modern technology.

We need to do a better job of notifying motorists. Traffic backups may not seem too terribly bad, but try telling that to a family with two or three kids under three years old, waiting for hours to get through. In the winter, try telling a family who has gone off the road that you should have been able to update the conditions an hour earlier, but didn't. It's a situation that's easily resolved, and for the life of me, I can't understand why we have to put up with this crap year after year. Time to make some changes.

Credit Cards No Place for Tuition Fees

2010-08-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 18, 2010)

I got a nice e-mail this week from a fellow who wondered why more wasn't made of TRU's policy on students using credit cards to pay for tuition. The viewer had a point, and his e-mail got me thinking.

The story followed a decision by Kwantlen to join a long list of institutions to stop offering credit card services. In doing so, Kwantlen was going to save about $250,000 in fees. TRU says it could save $750,000 in fees, but it won't reconsider because of how convenient it makes things for TRU students.

Credit cards certainly are convenient. They allow you to buy things without actually paying for them. It's something that a new university student would love to take advantage of, I'm sure. But it's not a good habit to get into, especially for major, major expenses like university tuition. Interest rates on most credit cards are through the roof, and most students don't have much sense of fiscal responsibility.

A better idea is to take advantage of Canada Student Loans. Canada Student Loans are relatively easy to qualify for, and they are low interest. I'm all in favour of encouraging more kids to sign up for post-secondary education and have the university experience. But student loans represent far more responsible debt management than Visa or Mastercard.

For international students, some more latitude on credit cards is probably helpful. For most Canadians though, credit cards are simply financial procrastination. And Lord knows university students procrastinate enough.

No Planning on Port Mann Reconstruction

2010-08-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 17, 2010)

If you're looking for a nice place to visit, make sure it's not Vancouver.

Traffic congestion in Vancouver right now is about as bad as it's ever been, and rush hour traffic doesn't end. I went down a couple of times in the early summer, and found the usual hassles where they're building the new approaches to the Port Mann bridge. But when I went down last week, where before traffic started flowing again as you headed down the hill to go over the bridge, this time the construction and wall to wall traffic extended right down to 1st Avenue. Originally I thought that there might have been an accident, but no, it's the way it's apparently going to be for a while.

And if you were a tourist heading to see the sights of what is arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the world, you probably wouldn't have had a very good impression. We don't do a very good job of providing alternate traffic routes when we do construction. It seems to be one of the low priorities when construction projects are assigned. We just sort of say OK we're doing this and the devil be damned. I understand the new Port Mann bridge will alleviate many traffic concerns when it's completed, but that's not until 2013, and to go through that hassle for the next 3 years at least is absolutely deplorable.

I don't understand why we don't get a handle on these problems and do them in such a way that projects are phased in, and one project is done before another is started. We knew there were traffic problems getting into Vancouver 20 years ago, but we've only just now started to deal with them. For those who don't know Vancouver well, I won't bore you with the details, but it's like the government just decided to do everything at once and damn the torpedoes. Planning seems to be a non-existent word in the government's vocabulary, and herein lies a perfect example. I'm just
thankful I don't have to make that trip very often.

RCMP Not the Root of Policing Problems

2010-08-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 16, 2010)

I think we need to have a long look before we make any hasty decisions about doing away with the RCMP in our province. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has been touring the province getting input on what to do about the police situation in B.C. The RCMP contract is coming up for renewal and there are many who seem to feel that a 20-year renewal of the contract is not in our best interests. But I say let's have a good look before we move into something that may seem better, but has a lot of potential for failure.

Some who are against renewal say there is no hope of getting confidence back in the RCMP, that the force's brass needs a major overhaul, and that it's time for a provincial force. They would point to a number of complaints against the police handling of cases, excessive force by members and so on. But those complaints would probably not diminish with a provincial force. There are lots of complaints against officers in the Vancouver police force, just as many issues surrounding the handling of crimes and criminals. Is the real problem not the force, but the overall way we handle policing in general in this country?

For every person upset with excessive force, there is at least one more who is upset that the police aren't tough enough on criminals. For every complaint against an RCMP officer, there is a story about what a great job they do.

My impression is that it's a case of the selection committee choosing appropriate officers as opposed to the force itself. And that's the problem with any police force. I don't agree with Stewart Philip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs very often, but I think he hit the nail on the head when he talked about the fact that some of these older veterans, who have an interest in establishing relationships, are retiring and some of the newer members don't have the same inclination. Relationships are big, and that's what needs to be fostered. If we don't do that, it doesn't matter what kind of police force we have. It won't work.

Sri Lankan Refugees Should be Processed, Welcomed

2010-08-16T09:12:00.001-07:00

(Aired on August 13, 2010)

"Turn them around." That's what some people are saying about the 490-or-so Tamils who arrived on our shores this week. "You can't just show up in a ship and expect to be welcomed in Canada."

Well, it's a little more complicated than that. In fact, you can just show up and expect to be welcomed - that's what being a refugee is all about. A lot of Tamils are interested in getting out of Sri Lanka, especially since the end of the country's civil war last year. The Tamil people are the minority, many of them are displaced within the country, and more claim they are oppressed by the majority ethnic group.

Whether or not they have legitimate refugee claims will have to be decided on a case-by-case basis. As in most refugee cases, this won't be easy, and it is complicated by the fact that the Tamil Tigers are recognized as a terrorist organization by our government. Each of the refugee claimants will have to be individually checked.

It's a sign of the times that the government is being so careful with the Tamil ship docked at CFB Esquimalt. Not that it shouldn't be careful - it absolutely should. But there was a time when security wasn't the number one concern. There was a time when we would simply be proud that we have created a country that is the first one to come to mind for people throughout the world when they are in trouble. It's like being the most reliable one in your group of friends. It may be a lot of work, but it's pretty gratifying.

Reputable sources say Canada is home to the most Tamils in the world, outside of Sri Lanka itself. Our multi-culturalism should still be a point of pride, and something we encourage and strongly protect - almost as strongly as we protect our borders.

Unlikely Liberals Influenced Elections BC

2010-08-13T17:05:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 12, 2010)

It was only a year and a half ago that Terry Lake was being touted as a poster boy for the Liberal Party. A bright man, with experience as Mayor of Kamloops, well-spoken, looked good, the kind of guy you might want to have eventually as a Premier of the Province. Now Terry might become a poster boy of another kind.

Now that the Anti-HST petition has been declared valid, and yet delayed at the hands of the Chief Elections Officer, Lake could well become the first recall target in the province. Anti-HST forces are upset that Elections B.C. is refusing to send the petition on to the government until legal action over the petition clears the court. That could be some time down the road. I'm not expert enough on constitutional law to know whether that's outside Elections B.C.'s mandate or not.

But while pro-HST forces are pleased with the decision, what it means is that there is now a bigger perception than ever that the government is influencing the decision. Whether they are or not is immaterial. Do you think anyone out there believes the government that they didn't have anything to do with the delay? What Elections B.C.'s move has done is to inflame the situation even more, and provide Anti-HST forces with even more ammo going forward.

And even if they aren't successful in forcing the recall of a single MLA, what they have accomplished is to stretch out the Anti-HST and anti-government sentiment in the province for a longer period of time. While the Liberals would dearly love to deal with the HST petition and get it out of the way, in order to have things quiet down before the next election, they've been stymied by yesterday's decision. And that's why, if you think about it, the Liberals likely had nothing to do with any decision by Elections B.C. yesterday. They would have much preferred, I believe, to get it to government, deal with it, and get it over with. Now, they're forced to wait even longer, taking us that much closer to May of 2013. Not an enviable position to be in.

MLA Lake in the Crosshairs

2010-08-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 11, 2010)

This is a pre-taped segment, so as much as I'd love to comment on the decision of elections BC with regards to the anti-HST petition, it's impossible. The petition organizers seemed to make every effort to ensure that the petition would be valid. And say what you want about the leaders of the campaign, but they aren't quacks or political neophytes. They should know the process and what is required.

Having said that, it is entirely bizarre to me how this entire process has put one man in the crosshairs. If the petition moves to the next stage, that will involve the parliamentary committee chaired by Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Terry Lake. The government will need to take the initiative seriously, and that committee will be tasked with determining how that's done.

But then there is the prospect of province-wide recall campaigns for MLAs. If that is what the anti-HST organizers are up to next, the first MLA they target will no doubt be - drumroll please - Terry Lake. Why? Because not only did Lake win a close election in a riding that has plenty of NDP support, but he is a rookie at the provincial level. Whatever happens, the man is going to be under pressure.

Lake has a sharp mind, and occasionally an even sharper tongue that can get him into trouble. But he will be prepared for whatever happens, as he is someone with good political instincts and a lot of fight in him. The only thing he shouldn't do is underestimate the fight in the anti-HST crowd.

Wait and See on Campbell's Future

2010-08-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 10, 2010)

I never get tired of reading and hearing political pundits, and seeing newspaper headlines about things you absolutely know will change. The latest series of headlines and stories concerns the political future of Gordon Campbell. "Campbell Down But Not Out," screams one headline, "Even a New Leader Won't Help Liberals Win Next Election" says another.

Now when you've seen as much news as I have over 40 years of headline watching, you know that this group of headlines is going to change. When it's going to change, I'm not sure, but it will change. Those speculating about the future of Gordon Campbell will soon find out that Gordon Campbell is going to come back. Will he come back strong enough to win the next election? Who knows. Will he give way to a new leader? Again, uncertain. But we know for sure that the election is far enough away that anything can happen between now and then.

There have been lots of elections where political leaders have been dead right up to election day, and they wind up winning. I can recall doing polls just before an election and find out election day that the polls are totally wrong. Politicians are fond of telling you that the only poll that matters is the one on election day. And in this case, they are right.

The news headlines you are seeing right now may well sell newspapers and have you watch more TV, but that's all they do. They are hardly the essence of reality, and a lot of water will cross under the bridge between now and May of 2013. To paraphrase a famous quotation from Mark Twain, the reports of Gordon Campbell's political death are greatly exaggerated.

Kamloops Up to Hosting 2015 Canada Winter Games

2010-08-10T10:04:00.001-07:00

(Aired on August 9, 2010)

More than 20 years ago, and I hate to date myself that way, I watched as our city transformed itself from a sleepy little city to one that showed the world what our community spirit was all about. When the Canada Games Bid Selection Committee came to Kamloops in April of 1989, the city turned out in droves to welcome the bid committee. That accomplished two things - first of all it helped enormously in getting the bid for the '93 Games, and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it was one of the major steps in showing the country, and indeed ourselves, that we had the volunteer spirit. Ever since then, we've been able to get tournaments and host events based on our volunteer spirit. People have said we have this tremendous volunteer base and it all started back in 1989, when we convinced ourselves we had the spirit to get this job done.

Tomorrow, we have an opportunity to do it all over again. I am convinced we are up to the task. But it's going to take a big effort. In 1989, school was in, schools were organized and came on board big time. School is out in August, people are away, so those who are here are going to have to attend the rallies downtown, on the North Shore and at Hillside Stadium. Rallies are at 10:30 at the Spirit Square in North Kamloops, St. Andrews on the Square downtown and at Interior Savings Centre. It wraps up with a barbecue at 11 AM at Hillside Stadium.

The economic benefits of getting the games are huge, some speculate as much as $90-million. But more importantly, it's a chance for our city to show that we still have that volunteer community spirit that has stood us in such great stead over the past 20 years. I hope that spirit is still alive and shows up tomorrow when our visitors stop in to see what we've got.

Decision on Further Pickton Prosecution the Right One

2010-08-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 6, 2010)

I hope to never know the agony and heartbreak that the victims of Robert Pickton have gone through. But I can empathize with the families of victims attributed to Pickton who will never get the results of a day in court. The Crown this week stayed charges against Pickton involving 20 murders.

This after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Pickton would not get a new trial on his second-degree murder charges in the trial of the six charges originally laid. The families of many of the victims are upset that the trials aren't going to go ahead. But the reality of it is that, as far as justice being served, it would be largely a waste of time and money.

I don't make that comment lightly. Closure in cases like this is important. But Pickton is already serving the maximum sentence imposed. It's highly unlikely he will ever see outside prison walls again. New convictions won't change anything. Most of these families know the evidence the Crown had against Pickton. They know everything. They only thing they don't have is a conviction in court. But surely justice as a whole is better served by having Crown prosecutors, police investigators and the justice system as a whole spend their time bringing other criminals to justice than by spending time on cases that will result in no change against the criminal charged. I think it makes only common sense.

We know how long it takes to get cases through the court. Would we really want to spend several months tying up the courts again, simply to have someone say Pickton is guilty of 20 more crimes than the six he's already been convicted of? I know this isn't what most of the families want. They want to see justice done in the case of their relative, not just the cases of others charged. But the Crown made the right call this week, sad to say.

Air Ambulance Idea Overdue

2010-08-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 5, 2010)

A new air ambulance service will soon be in place, dedicated to helping move seriously ill patients from rural areas to hospitals in larger centres. It's an idea whose time is long overdue.

The air ambulance service has been in place before, but not, perhaps, in such a dedicated way. The service announced late last month involves transporting patients by helicopter to larger hospitals like Royal Inland. While there will be no dedicated helicopters devoted specifically to this initiative, several companies contracted by the province will be able to provide the service. They'll transport paramedics to the accident site, allow the paramedics to provide treatment, then transport the patients if necessary to trauma centres for followup.

The only real criticism I have is the fact that the government is only going to try this out for 8 weeks. If it's effective, it will become a full time deal. But I wonder how you can honestly say two months is long enough. If the summer causes more cases because more accidents happen in the summer, will that give a false reading? Would we keep the service based on false numbers? Conversely, would we deny keeping the service because the next 8 weeks are relatively slow, with many gone outside the area for holidays. A minimum of six months for any type of study is about the least we should be putting in place for a fair assessment.

I can't see the cost being overly excessive. Let's face it, if we're contracting out these companies on a per-trip basis, it can't be that huge unless there are actual cases to deal with. Let's do the survey right, and make sure it's working or not working before we make a final decision. I think that's the least we can do. Otherwise we're just paying lip service to a very valuable aid in keeping people alive.

Lay Off Local RCMP on Police Shooting

2010-08-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 4, 2010)

I think people are perhaps being a little too hasty in condemning our local police for not releasing information yet regarding the shooting of a man in North Kamloops last Friday night. I've seen all sorts of comments from people asking me if we had a couple of cowboys shooting up the city, if the police were holding back because they were trying to hide things. We've had them all in the past few days.

But let's put things in perspective. This is a homicide investigation. Someone died. In any homicide, there's an investigation, and in many cases, information doesn't come out in any great detail for the first few days. Police are still looking for witnesses to interview. The pieces of the puzzle certainly aren't in place yet. And because police are involved, the situation becomes even more complicated. They want to make sure every base is covered before things are released.

And the fact is, an outside police team, including forensic investigators, have been called in to make sure the investigation is transparent. But let's get one thing clear - it's Calgary's investigation. They're the ones who are putting everything together, not the Kamloops detachment. Other than securing the scene the night of the shooting, local mounties have not been involved in this investigation. People who suggest the Calgary police shouldn't be doing the talking on this are wrong. The fact is, they are the ones who should be talking, if anyone is.

I think we have to be a bit patient here. Local police have done a lot to make themselves more transparent. It wasn't very long ago that they held a news conference to come right out and say that two officers had been charged with assault in separate incidents. They're trying to be open and honest. And I, for one, am prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt. When all the facts are known and released, then let's make our judgments. It's a little early to be condemning them right now.

Graffiti on the Rise in Kamloops

2010-08-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

(Aired on August 3, 2010)

The city’s graffiti problem is suddenly getting worse, and there doesn’t seem to be much going on to slow it down. Driving around the city recently, it was amazing to see how much the problem has increased in the past few months. We hear nothing from the city’s graffiti task force, whose leader, Gord Giles, passed away earlier this year. I don’t know if anyone has succeeded him yet, but the city has to get on this problem quickly. I assume from some of the places where graffiti is suddenly showing up that there must be some new taggers out there who have come to the fore.

Some of the graffiti isn’t the result of traditional taggers. It’s amateur writing that is just sprayed on by people bent on vandalism. I don’t know how you track these people down, but we have to find a way to do that. Graffiti is something that not only looks bad, it is perceived by many as a threat because, while it doesn’t amount to physical violence, it makes people uneasy about their safety, and they’re concerned when it happens in their neighbourhood.

One of the best defences against graffiti, of course, is to wipe it out and paint over it as soon as it happens. But if that isn’t done - and I don’t see much evidence that it is - then it’s like a snowball, and just grows and grows.

The city is the leader here. They have to be, because much of the problem appears on their property. They have to commit to getting rid of it, and they have to put resources in place to track down and prosecute the offenders.

People who perceive graffiti as a minor problem just don’t get it. Psychologically, both for the residents and for the attackers, it’s not good. For the residents, a sense of uneasiness, for the taggers, a sense of power that can often lead to more brazen and much more serious acts. If you get away with tagging, how long before you start stealing? There is a definite correlation. Mayor and Council need to take some initiative here. I understand tagging is more common in the summer, with the warm weather, but that doesn’t lessen the necessity for dealing with what is a very serious and expensive problem.

Air Quality "Good?" Are You Kidding?

2010-08-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 30, 2010)

It seems that there's nothing wrong with the equipment, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the people who work there either. So something must be wrong with the Ministry of Environment's Air Quality Health Index.

The index was at a 3 in Kamloops for most of the day today, on a scale of 1 to 10. That means the index has determined the air quality in Kamloops is "good." Yet in the time it took me to walk from my car in the parking lot to my desk inside the building, my eyes began burning. Thankfully, I have a fairly robust respiratory system. Others who don't are suffering today.

If you judged the air quality based on the index, though, you'd think it was all good. People like me are in a good state of general health are told that this is "ideal air quality for outdoor activities." And the at-risk population is encouraged to enjoy life in the great outdoors as usual. Yet when you step outside, it looks like a cloudy day when there are no clouds, and it smells like an ashtray.

So there is likely no one who is taking the Air Quality Health Index seriously. If that's the case, the system needs to be revamped. If it's not, the Air Quality Health Index will soon lose all credibility and rendered completely obsolete.

Education not Changing Driving Habits

2010-07-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 29, 2010)

They say education is the key to solving a lot of problems these days. But sometimes the best education is a good swift kick in the pants.

Despite all the education, people aren't getting the message when it comes to driving offences. A major intersection safety check yesterday at Summit and Columbia is a perfect example. The results were absolutely terrible. 19 people still haven't heard the educational message regarding seat belt use. 10 charged with texting while driving, 7 more talking on their cell. How much more education do we need to do on these things? 8 people were charged with blowing a yellow light, 13 charged, if you can believe it, for failing to stop at a red light. No wonder ICBC's bills are so high.

Do these people think they're driving in Vancouver? People seem to zone out when they're driving, and many are obviously totally oblivious to what's going on around them. My wife and son were almost wiped out the other night by some woman who turned left right in front of them because she obviously didn't see them coming. Fortunately, my son has quick reactions and avoided what would have been an extremely serious collision, because the woman was obviously trying to speed through the intersection and make the turn before my son got there. If he had been travelling even at the speed limit he wouldn't have been able to stop.

These kinds of intersection checks should be the order of the day until people start to get the message. I know they take resources, but surely having 20 people blow yellow or red lights is in itself justification for having these patrols. And let's raise the fines. I'm not sure how a figure of precisely $167 was arrived at for a fine, but how about upping it to $500? Maybe that will change a few people's thinking.

People are not invincible, and putting other peoples' lives at risk needs to be punished with something substantial. And let's take their licenses away for a year. I don't think running a red light is any less dangerous than drinking and driving. Keep the education. I think that's important. But we obviously need to do more. So let's ramp up the punishment too.

Cigarettes Still Causing Wildfires? Ridiculous!

2010-07-29T17:14:00.001-07:00

(Aired on July 28, 2010)

There is some suggestion last night's Barnhartvale fire was started by a discarded cigarette. If that's the case, it's utterly, mind-numbingly stupid.

I'll be quite clear - as of the time I am recording this segment, the cause of the fire has not yet been determined. However, this much we know. It started near a church on Todd Road. There was no lightning in the area. It started under cover of darkness. And to top it off, RCMP this morning issued a stern warning for people not to discard cigarette butts. Police encouraged witnesses to turn in violaters, and threatened to levy fines against people found to be responsible. So it's not far from the realm of possibility that last night's chaos was caused by a simple act of carelessness and/or laziness.

Anyone who has lived in the BC Interior for any length of time should know by now that this is a no-no. And if they haven't had it drilled into their by firefighting public relations types, it should be a matter of common sense.

A spark from a train causing a fire is one thing. It's not inexcusable, but at least in most cases - like last week on the Kamloops Indian Reserve - the railway takes responsibility and tries to make things right. But a cigarette thrown out of a vehicle is pure negligence. It's awful close to being malicious. And the penalties for doing it are not nearly steep enough.

BCLC Self-Exclusion Program Toothless

2010-07-28T14:16:00.001-07:00

(Aired on July 27, 2010)

B.C. Lottery Corporation has a self-exclusion program which is designed to keep problem gamblers out of casinos. Critics of the program say it doesn't work, and two lawsuits currently being initiated point out the problem.

One man is suing because he claims he was denied a lottery jackpot after signing up for the program. Yet he claims he was able to enter a casino over and over without being asked to leave. Another is suing because she says she was able to lose $330,000 over three years despite enrolling herself in the program.

The program doesn't seem to have much power to stop people from going into casinos. There is no way casino operators can identify those enrolled in the program. I suppose if a person is known to staff and known to be in the program, they should have some onus to keep that person out. But the details of the program are somewhat unclear. Interesting to note that when I went online this morning to get some background on the program, the BCLC site told me the page on the self-exclusion program was no longer available.

Perhaps we should look to other areas of the world where everyone who enters a casino has to show ID. If such ID were scanned, then those registered in the self-exclusion program could be flagged and asked to leave. Some would claim that's an invasion of privacy, and gives the government access to information on everyone who goes to a casino. There are some definite privacy issues involved in that scenario. But outside of that, I don't know what can be done to prevent people from gambling.

It's a serious problem, and needs to be addressed, but simply registering for a self-exclusion program that seems to have no teeth may provide false hope for people trying to deal with their addiction. But in reality, how much should BCLC be required to do? Let's face it, they can't be the police, and people have to take responsibility for their addictions and get help.

I guess the unfortunate part of these scenarios is that they thought they were getting it by signing up for this program, a program that really doesn't seem to offer much in the way of a solution at all.

Common Sense Bikers are Welcome

2010-07-27T09:33:00.001-07:00

(Aired on July 26, 2010)

There has been much discussion in the past week centering on motorcycles. In particular, the noise the bikes make and whether or not there should be restrictions placed on that noise. Some suggest the decibel rating is beyond acceptable limits.

For me, the issue is not the noise level per se, it's where the noise is made. If there are mufflers and noise kits put on bikes that put the level above the danger rating for a person's hearing, that's obviously something that needs to be examined. But the bigger issue is whether or not bikers should be exercising some common sense and decency in dealing with motorcycle noise.

Out on the highway, noise shouldn't be an issue. Let it fly. In the City, that's another story. In my opinion, bikers need to be educated to rein in the noise when traveling down quiet residential streets. If they don't, fine them.

I know full well that bikes can be kept quiet. Even the big bikes that we traditionally blame for the problem. I live on a street right now that has bike owners, and in the past, one particular home used to have lots of the big Harleys come to visit. We never, ever had a problem. The bikes came into the cul-de-sac behind us, noise down, and you didn't hear them any more than you would a car or truck. Other people have totally different issues. People come riding down their streets early in the morning, full bore, and there's no excuse for that.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the city's noise bylaw. It has simply to be enforced strenuously when there are complaints.

One final note - I don't know why owners of the big Harleys seem to be the focus of much of the discussion. They aren't the only bike that makes noise. In fact, much of the noise I hear from the arterials and the highway nearby my home come from those crotch-rockets as they're called, the smaller street bikes that whine like a banshee when they're going at full tilt. They're much worse than any Harley I hear.

Noise is always an issue. And for some, it's much more concern than for others. Common sense is the order of the day here. If the bikes make unreasonable noise, fine the owners. Make them pay for their stupidity. But a certain amount of noise is going to happen. That's the nature of an urban neighbourhood.

What to do with $50-million

2010-07-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 23, 2010)

What would you do with $50-million?

The Lotto Max draw will take place in about a half an hour. The jackpot is back up to $50-million, and with multiple spinoff million dollar prizes thrown in for good measure. And even though it may not be smart to come within shouting distance of anything connected to BCLC right now, I must admit, I've bought a ticket. I only tend to buy tickets when the prize is obscenely large - which doesn't make sense, I know, but leave me be.

Buying a ticket gives you license to dream. It's like voting gives you license to dream about good government. Just the other day, the people in the office were fantasizing about what they would do if they won the big prize. Would you keep working? Most people wouldn't. Of course everyone would help out friends and family, and make sure the people they care about are taken care of. How much would you donate to charity, and to which causes would you donate? How would you protect yourself from people trying to take advantage of you?

And finally, how much would instant wealth change the actual substance of your life? I look at friends and acquaintances in upper income brackets, and it quickly becomes evident that money doesn't solve all of a person's problems. There is as much misery and unrest among the rich as there is anywhere.

So to the person who wins the big prize tonight - or whenever its awarded - try to keep some perspective. And if you'd like, I'd be willing to discuss this further, for a small fee.

Moving Companies Need Better Standards

2010-07-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 22, 2010)

Canada's moving companies are trying to decide if they want to adopt a bill of rights to protect customers. The proposal would ensure customers receive a written quote and get plenty of notice about delays. The bill would also ensure movers are trained, bonded and have adequate insurance. The new plan would weed out operators who have victimized families moving from one place to another.

But there has to be more than that. Moving is a much more difficult situation than it used to be. Consumer advocates say customers have the responsibility to hire ethical and above-board firms. But how do you know that anymore? It used to be that you could look in the phone book and pick one of the big names you recognized and you could pretty much rest assured you were going to be okay. Not so anymore. Even many of the big moving companies subcontract out the work and there are often all sorts of delays that create nothing but problems.

One of my kids has moved several times because of her husband's job, and each time there have been problems. Frantic phone calls to find out why no one showed up as promised. It added a lot of stress. No matter what firm they picked, they had issues. Most of it had to do with the company keeping their promises to do things by a certain time. There were always delays. And that just isn't good enough. I realize these cross-country haulers can run into problems.

But it seems there are more and more issues trying to get companies to commit to a time line that customers can rely on. I don't know if some kind of bill of rights will help. But it sure can't do any harm.

F35 Purchase Process Flawed

2010-07-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 21, 2010)

Doug Collins told us earlier this week that it's about time Canada spends billions of dollars on new fighter jets to replace our aging fleet of CF18s. Unlike Doug, I'm not going to jump in with both feet.

First, I'm not the happiest about a multi-billion dollar contract going to Lockheed Martin without a bid process. Even at the local level, it's important that significant contracts be put out to tender. I'm aware that their aren't too many companies in the world that make fighter planes, but some sort of competitive process would have been helpful. Lockheed Martin has been criticized, and in fact penalized by the US government, because this F35 program has been racked with cost overruns and delays. Unhappily, it appears Prime Minister Stephen Harper's tendency to simply follow Washington's lead is coming through here. The United States has ordered 2400 F35s for the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy.

But more than that, I'll agree with the columnist in the National Post who said the Harper government needs to give Canadians a full and complete vision of what the role of our armed forces will be going forward before making these purchases. If the war in Afghanistan is the new model for what we can expect in world conflict in the future, we have to realize that our country didn't use the CF18s in Afghanistan.

However, if the primary mission for the new F35s will be to defend the homeland, is that really the best use of taxpayers' money? I think the smarter money would go into beefed up security at ground crossings and airports. Even smarter money would go into promoting diplomacy as a means of diffusing conflict. If we really want to eliminate our enemies, the best way to do it isn't killing them, but by turning them into friends. Call it naivete, but too many of us are outgrowing our idealism.

Changes to Family Law Act Bring it Into the 21st Century

2010-07-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 20, 2010)

It's certainly about time that B.C. Family Law Act was revamped to take it out of the Stone Age. Many of the measures introduced yesterday will go a long way to solving family difficulties. One of the biggest changes will change the way property is divided in common law relationships. Living together outside of marriage will have much more definable boundaries. Another area will bring same-sex marriages under the Act with respect to determining who the legal parent is. The thrust is to make the law more realistic given the changing nature of marriage and family relationships.

The Act hasn't been changed in 30 years, but relationships sure have. The courts will now not be the only primary source of resolving disputes. There will be much more emphasis placed on mediation and a broader range of non-court dispute resolution options. Less adversarial terminology is being advocated.

But in making all these changes, let's continue to remember that family disputes are just that - dispute, and in most cases they are adversarial in nature. When couples split up, the issue of property, of access rights to children, all take on a highly explosive role, and just changing things on paper doesn't mean the changes will make their way down the line when people are arguing over which days a parent gets access to children.

I have watched with increasing sadness the number of children torn apart by their parents splitting up. By having one parent in Trail, another in Kitimat, and the child having to split time with both parents, going to school in two cities, and so on. The split is bad enough, but the way courts rule in many of these cases is just plain stupid. So with the rewriting of the act has to come a new approach, new points of reference. If the child's interests are going to be paramount, as the new act states, a whole lot of people behind the bench, a whole lot of people in Family Services and a whole lot of support services personnel have to change the way they think too. Otherwise, all the work put into the changes will be just a waste of time.

Billions for War Planes Well Spent

2010-07-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 19, 2010)

I know there are lots of people wondering why we're going to spend $16-billion buying 65 new fighter jets. I'll tell you why. Because we have to.

This country spends precious little on defence. Even countries that are considered "neutral" countries spend more on their defence budgets and have better armies and air forces than we do. Our aging CF-18's are about done. We recently spent over $2-billion on a refit, which was probably money poorly spent. But we have to improve.

And it won't be the last time a huge sum is spent on our Armed Forces. We desperately need to improve our naval strength. At this point, a group of Somalian pirates could probably overrun our navy, and take hostages. As our Arctic sovereignty becomes more and more an issue, as our government more and more needs to take a stand against countries which are trying to claim mineral rights and water passage rights over the Arctic circle, we need to be prepared to deal with these kinds of issues. How do we do it? We have to spend money. We have to have destroyers, we have to have aircraft, we have to have an army.

We have relied so much on our neighbours to be there for us in time of trouble, but they're kind of getting tired of it. Will the U.S. and Britain be there in time of war? Of course they will. They're protecting themselves as much as us. That's why the U.S. invested so heavily in the Pine Tree and Dew Lines during the cold war. They knew we couldn't do it, they had to do it to protect their interests. But at the end of the day, we need to put some of our money where our mouth is, and having an Armed Forces that at least gives us a minimal strength is critical to our future. I'm not a war monger in any way, shape or form, but we have to protect ourselves, and despite the cost, I believe this is money well spent.

Dam Collapse a Massive Boondoggle

2010-07-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 16, 2010)

We all forget things. It's not hard with the busy life we lead for things to slip through the cracks. I've done it many times, despite my best efforts, and fortunately, it's never come back to bite me seriously. We regroup and try to do a better job next time.

But it's hard to believe that something like that which happened in Oliver could have slipped through the cracks for 40 years, with, I'm sure, many different people responsible, and several different governments in place. A report released yesterday outlines a continuing series of gaffes that ultimately led to a mudslide June 13 that wiped out several homes and a large tract of farm and orchard land. The dam is privately owned, and as far back as the 1960s, the government ordered the owner to make repairs and improve the dam. Those repairs, apparently, we never done. And worse, there was never any followup to ensure the repairs were completely.

That's hard to believe. No one, in all those years, ever checked to see if the guy completed the work. And then there's the case of a phone call from a hiker, who reported the lake behind the dam was overflowing after recent rains. Police called the Ministry, but left a message on an answering machine that wasn't heard until the day after the slide.

I don't want to be overly critical here, but that just seems like a whole series of incomprehensible screw-ups that led to people possibly losing their homes and the life they have built for themselves. They will never get the compensation they deserve, and they could have lost their lives.

This is a massive boondoggle of the highest proportions. Not only should the dam's owner pay if he's found negligent, but the government needs to have a major ministry reorganization so there's proper followup when repairs are ordered. I guess we should be happy no lives were lost, but try to tell that to the families who now have to start over.

The Louder, the Better When It Comes To Motorcycles?

2010-07-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 15, 2010)

The debate surrounding obnoxiously loud motorcycles is an interesting one. As someone with young children who go to bed fairly early in the evening, my blood pressure increases every time I hear a loud bike pass by. Some days getting your child to sleep feels like the proudest accomplishment of your day, and there's nothing worse than an outside stimulus ruining that accomplishment.

That's the polarizing factor with motorcycles. People who don't ride hate the noise, but riders love it.

Our newsroom received an angry e-mail in the wake of a city council debate this week over whether the city can regulate the decibel levels produced. The e-mailer said the noise actually saves lives because other drivers know the bikes are coming when they otherwise would not. There is some truth to that, but the real reason people ride Harleys and other loud motorcycles is because they want to be noticed in non-life threatening situations. They want to be noticed for the sake of being noticed. Riders are attracted by the mystique and the rebellious image. As a company, Harley Davidson has done a wonderful job playing up and cashing in on that image. And while the bikes that come off the line are loud enough, you can buy after-market pipes to make them even louder.

The city is pretty much stuck on this one. If council tried to enact a by-law, it would have to be enforced by RCMP, and that's a tricky prospect. Any type of ban on motorcycle use would lead to complaints of a double-standard and be met with massive opposition. Loud motorcycles are a fact of life and are particularly in vogue right now. City council may have to simply hope this is a trend that will go away quickly - if not quietly.

Municipal Government More Human

2010-07-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 14, 2010)

I knew there was a reason I enjoyed municipal government. Because it's not sitting in city council meetings, believe you me. Where else but at the municipal level would you be able to find the new, so-called progressive members of council like Nancy Bepple and Denis Walsh voting against affordable housing? Both Bepple and Walsh registered votes against mobile home proposals planned for Ord Road and Dallas Drive. And where else would you find a self-described "free-enterpriser" like Pat Wallace voting for increased regulation of private businesses? The private businesses in question are the two local taxi cab companies.

I don't point this out to rail against so-called hypocrisy and condemn politicians for flip-flopping. On the contrary, municipal government may be the only place where politicians can truly vote their conscience and exercise their own degree of common sense. It's much more human, quite frankly.

At higher levels of government, with partisan politics and mindless block voting, there is no opportunity for rational individuals to consider all facets of an issue and vote accordingly. Of course, you have broader jurisdiction and more money to work with, so it attracts a lot of interest.

But more and more, I'm gaining greater respect for those who try to make a difference on a local level - be it school trustees, city councillors, or even those who volunteer for city committees. As much as a politician might tout one way of thinking, that person should be able to vote in any direction they find most compelling. Progressives won't always be right, and free-enterprisers won't always be right, but those who vote for the greater good can never be wrong.

Robertson Gaffe Hearkens Back to Reagan

2010-07-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 13, 2010)

You know the old cliche "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?" Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is wishing that statement applied to sessions of Vancouver City Council. Robertson is backtracking like crazy after a live microphone used for city council meetings was left "on" after a recent meeting. It was a long, controversial meeting, and Robertson was a bit ticked. So he proceeded to call down one particular group who had spoken against a controversial rental proposal. He called the group hacks, and other inappropriate names.

Robertson has since apologized, but his squeaky clean image has suffered. Not so much by the swearing - hey, it happens - but more for his attitude towards the people who came to have their opinions heard. They had legitimate concerns about the housing proposal, and were worried that the council was going to just rubber stamp the deal before giving it serious thought. How often have we seen that happen?

No one is, or should be, naive enough not to know that these kinds of rants go on. It happens. In this case, however, the Mayor of Vancouver made some comments that were needless, not to mentioned biased and totally uncalled for, lengthy council meeting or not.

Robertson's comments are reminiscent of those made back in 1984 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. He said: "My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes."
He was joking around in a voice-level test before broadcast, but it turned out the microphone was switched on.

Reagan never really lived that down, and while I think Robertson will eventually recover, he certainly didn't do himself any favours. We learn early in our business - when there's a microphone around, never assume it's off. Many careers have been saved that way.

U of R Health Care Study Damning, Not Surprising

2010-07-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 12, 2010)

Should it come as any surprise that Kamloops is rated as the health area with the lowest rating in the country? I don't know if I totally agree with the results of a study out today by the University of Regina, but it clearly indicates that health care in B.C. isn't rated very highly.

This study looked at availability of services, level of care and patient satisfaction. I've said for years that we have to totally revamp health care. I think the province has done some things, but most of them seem to have been done to cut costs and not to better health care. If we can change where we put the money to provide better care, all well and good. But that's not the sense I get of what's happening.

I know from personal experience that wait times are very frustrating. I've experienced that, and I can only guess that this kind of thing certainly leads to the patient dissatisfaction mentioned in the survey. But wait times aren't confined to B.C. So there must be other things that were surveyed that didn't pan out well.

Whether you believe the results of the survey or not, there's no question that the health care system is broken, and needs fixing. When surgeries are postponed because you don't have good enough equipment to properly sterilize surgical tools, when you can't get a procedure done because we don't have enough operating rooms functioning, when you can't get to see a specialist and even when you do they can't do anything for you because they don't have operating times, when you hear reports of the hospital being dirty because they don't have enough support staff, when you can't get into the ER because they don't have enough staff to process you, when you can't get care in rural areas because they don't have enough doctors, is it any wonder that we rate so low?

We aren't alone in the province. New West and Burnaby rate just as poorly for larger centers and even places where doctors want to settle, like Abbotsford and Chilliwack, fared poorly. It's a state reflection of our level of care when we're so badly thought of. I'm not confident the government will take notice or even care about the report, but perhaps with some pressure, they can do what needs to be done. And that's conduct a major overhaul.

Changes to Election Rules Worthwhile

2010-07-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 9, 2010)

New election rules that could be in effect for next year's civic election will provide a bit of a conundrum for people wanting to run for City Council.
There are two issues that are involved here. One is a spending limit for potential candidates. I'm kind of ambivalent but it seems to me there should be some sort of limit on spending to prevent a person from getting elected just because he or she is richer than someone who may be far more qualified but not as well off financially.

The more controversial issue might be the length of terms for a councillor. There seems to be an indication that terms could go to four years from the current three. Councillors we talked to have mixed feelings about it. Those in favour feel it gives councillors more time to get accustomed to their duties and put their ideas into effect.

Councillor Pat Wallace, who's been doing this about as long as anyone in the province, says she always sees a different attitude as we get close to an election, because councillors want to put their best face forward getting close to a vote. Those opposed to longer terms wonder who can make a commitment to four years if they're still working at another job. Would it then limit potential councillors to retirees, those not working or those who have understanding and civic-minded bosses?

The other thought of course is-if we get a turkey in there, and we've been known to have one or two, do we have to put up with their incompetence for four years? Although I guess we already face that in provincial or federal politics too.

The issues aren't as black and white as they might seem. But there are some obviously good changes in the wind. One will make political spending transparent. Anonymous donations would be eliminated. And that's definitely a good thing. While some of the issues are debatable, there's no question that campaign funding is one of the biggest things to be cleared up. And that alone makes the changes worthwhile.

It's Not That Bad

2010-07-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 8, 2010)

There was a letter to the editor in the Kamloops Daily News today complaining about the number of mosquitoes in Kamloops right now. I agree there are more than usual, but the total is still almost negligible.

It got me thinking about how good we have it here in Kamloops. Talk to anyone from the prairies - like me - about mosquitoes, and you realize it's all relative. Same story goes for complaining about the cold weather in winter time. Things aren't perfect in our city and in our province, but they're getting pretty close. The weather is nice, and the bugs aren't that bad.

Even the economy is doing relatively well. In spite of the downturn, Kamloops just saw record numbers for building in a six-month period and in a twelve-month period. And according to Finance Minister Colin Hansen, BC appears to be recovering better than expected as well. It's not smoking hot, mind you, but it's turning around.

From my perspective, just like the weather, you don't want it to be too hot. I lived in Alberta five years ago when the province was making money so fast it literally did not know what to do with it. At one point, Ralph Klein actually started giving it back in lump sum cheques. While that's all fine and good, the growth of the economy had plenty of negative side effects. No one wanted to work in the service industry because of all of the high-paying jobs in the oilsands. So try getting a table and a lunch in a reasonable time frame. Urban planning in cities like Calgary was completely thrown to the wayside because growth was too quick. And the wealth did not solve the social issues like homelessness and child poverty. In fact, all that wealth in the hands of so many young oilsands workers led to rampant drug use and addiction.

We're doing quite well here in Kamloops, not so well that I won't be able to find something to, shall we say "point out" - but quite well nonetheless.

Trustees Unfairly Lampooned for Modest Pay Hike

2010-07-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 7, 2010)

There must be a better way to determine the salary levels of elected officials like school trustees and city councillors. It is never an easy task, and I have never seen a situation yet where the public is happy. In tough times, the officials are getting raises on the backs of the taxpayers and the downtrodden. In good times, they're taking advantage of the situation. How can they win?

For years, the officials had to make their decisions without much of a guideline, so they tried to get around that by having their administration, or in some cases even totally independent bodies, determine appropriate salaries. Methods vary, but the most common method is to examine salaries in similar sized municipalities, faced with many of the same concerns and needs of their own city. It's about the best so far. But it's not accepted by the public.

Take the case of school trustees here. They voted themselves a measly 2% wage hike this week, and they're taking flak for it. They could have taken 7%, which was the recommendation of administration after looking at other districts. I don't think 2% was out of line. School trustees have a tough job. I understand that the raise comes amidst all the budget hassles and school closures this year. But it doesn't negate the fact they were due for an increase.

I didn't see the teachers turning down a raise. Why? Because they thought they deserved it, with all the increased workload with closures and budget restrictions. They've indicated that in a contract year, they're looking for more. And yet our local Teachers' Association President had the gall to suggest that trustees blew an opportunity to do the right thing by accepting a raise. I wonder how he'll react when teachers go after their next increase? Will he have the same view? I highly doubt it.

And to suggest that the method of determining an increase is wrong is simply ludicrous. Unions do it all the time. They look around and see how other locals are doing, many industries have pattern agreements based on a contract with a single company in a particular location. Yet they criticize school trustees for doing the same thing? Talk about a double standard.

On an Ominous Anniversary, Gulf Disaster Continues to Grow

2010-07-08T09:16:00.001-07:00

(Aired on July 6, 2010)

Do the words Piper Alpha ring a bell? They didn't to me, until I started doing a little research. The Piper Alpha was an oil platform in the North Sea that blew up, killing 167 people. It was 22 years ago today. In terms of loss of life, it was the worst offshore oil well disaster in history.

In the Gulf of Mexico, just over 60 kilometres off the coast of Louisiana, another disaster is evolving. So far, the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill has taken only 11 lives. But the explosion happened on April 20 - more than 75 days ago - and the gusher continues to flow. It is already the worst environmental disaster in American history, and is rapidly becoming one of the worst in the history of the world. In addition to the 6500 square kilometre slick on the surface of the water, there are reports of huge plumes of oil beneath the surface.

The reason I bring up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill once again today is not because there have been any significant new developments. Indeed, the plan is still to get the relief wells in place by August, and then perhaps we can see the flow of oil stemmed. But instead, I bring this up because I know it will take a concerted effort to keep this disaster as a part of our consciousness.

When it's watching news coverage, the public likes to see sexy pictures - oil gushing, rigs exploding, that kind of thing. That's just the way it is. But the pictures in this story are no longer sexy. It doesn't take too long to get tired of watching sludge lapping at the Louisiana shoreline, and that's how the story gets knocked out of the headlines.

So this is me reminding you, cajoling you, drilling it into your head. Please, don't forget.

Shuswap Crash Highlights Lack of Enforcement

2010-07-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 5, 2010)

The weekend tragedy on the Shuswap has once again focused peoples' concerns about policing on the lake. I guess not just this lake, but every large lake.

It might be a while before all the details come to light about the weekend accident that saw a speedboat collide with a houseboat, killing one person and sending several more to hospital. So it's hard to say that this is something relating to lack of policing, or whether other issues involved. But when you talk to residents of the Shuswap, or Okanagan Lake, or Kalamalka Lake, or Skaha Lake, one of their big issues is a lack of a police presence. Police presence is negligible.

There are rules against drinking. How many times have you seen boats checked? You have to have an Operator's Card, which is a joke in itself, but nevertheless, how many times are people checked? How many times do you see people speeding dangerously close to other boats, to houseboats, or swimmers in the lake? Where are the enforcement officials?

I'll tell you where they are. Doing the myriad of other tasks that are assigned to them because there just aren't enough officers to go around. Funding is such that we just don't have enough officers to get out to these locations, just like we don't have conservation officers to do their jobs, or staffing in provincial campsites. And I could go on and on.

Many of these tragedies are caused by carelessness, or consumption of alcohol. How many people do you know who go out on the lake with a case of beer or something stronger and laugh about how they're only going to have a couple of drinks. Pretty soon their judgment suffers to the point where they shouldn't be operating a boat at all. The cost of putting enforcement in place is high. I guess it's a question of what value we put on a life to determine whether or not we need to put pressure on our governments to make changes.

HST Backlash Continues Because of Deception, not Tax Itself

2010-07-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

(Aired on July 2, 2010)

I paid the Harmonized Sales Tax for the first time this morning. My extra-large mocha at Tim Horton's now sets me back to the tune of $2.60 - up about 15 cents from what it cost earlier this week. It was mildly annoying, but on the other hand the world did not end, I paid the extra 15 cents and went on my way.

For most of us in the middle class, that's what the HST will always be - mildly annoying. If you are in the upper income bracketm you may be more irritated than that - at least, that's dealing in stereotypes. Low income people will be impacted the most, of course, but Premier Campbell and the provincial government would argue that those people get a juicy rebate. And, in fact, that's the matrix the government is banking on for survival - that those less impacted will be less annoyed, and that the low income British Columbians can be bought with a rebate.

That's not playing out. Backlash over the HST is stronger than many - including myself - ever thought it would be. That's because, as I've said before, the tax itself is one thing. Most of us know paying an extra 7% on 20% of goods and services will not break the bank. On the other hand, there is little doubt that British Columbians are chafing over how the HST policy was announced and implemented.

They don't care that the HST is a consumption tax and thus supposedly more fair. They don't care that business groups love it. They don't care that it's a federally administered tax, and they don't care that the PST was abolished to bring it in.

They do care that the Liberal government signed on the dotted line just days after winning an election with a platform that did not include a major shift in tax policy. And that may be enough to end Campbell's government.

Why Hold a Summit in Downtown Toronto?

2010-07-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 30, 2010)

The so-called anarchists that attacked Toronto this past weekend during the G-20 summit cannot rightly be called protesters. They were just idiots who caused a lot of damage and spread a lot of fear. The anarchists did not prove any point, nor will they deter world leaders from working together in the future.

What this past weekend did prove is that there was no good reason to hold this summit in a major metropolitan centre. Instead of downtown Toronto, it should have been held at a more remote retreat, for a couple of reasons. First, a venue more out of the way would surely have been easier for police to secure. Think of Sun Peaks, for example, where there's only one road in. Police would have had a far easier time of things.

Second, there would have been far fewer slack-jawed yokels getting in the way. If you watched any of the live coverage last weekend, you saw that most of the people described as protesters weren't protesters at all. They were curious locals holding cameras, looking around, not holding signs, not chanting. Really, they were people who just wanted to be a part of the spectacle. I'm sure security forces would have just as soon these people stay at home than be a part of the problem. A summit at a more remote location would not get the same amount of people clogging up the streets.

In retrospect, Toronto Mayor David Miller is justified in being as livid as he is with what happened. While police and security did a very effective job of protecting the world leaders and the actual summit venue, little was done - especially Saturday - to protect Toronto. It's understandable that Miller wants Ottawa to pick up the bill for repairs. But that, of course, is thousands of tax dollars more to be paid out by you and me. Maybe they should have just held the whole thing on Skype after all.

No Sex Sentence Unorthodox, Necessary

2010-06-29T09:20:00.001-07:00

(Aired on June 28, 2010)

A woman who is accused of murdering her two newborn sons has been ordered not to have sex. This woman was released on $200,000 bail and court imposed 17 conditions on her. She is accused of two counts of second-degree murder. The body of her first son was found in 2009. The body of her second son has never been found. The court wants to avoid having her get pregnant again, and imposed the rather unheard of condition that she not have sex with anyone.

Safe sex is one thing, but no sex, that's something totally different. I haven't heard of it being imposed before, and I don't know how you would enforce it. The only telltale sign, of course, would be if she became pregnant again. She also can't be in the presence of her boyfriend unless someone else is around.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is concerned about the conditions, and they think it might be the start of a slippery slope. But I say to that, if indeed the charges against the woman are true, and she is convicted of killing her newborns, where do the child's civil liberties get exercised as opposed to the mother's? It might well be a slippery slope, but sometimes you have to travel down these slopes for the greater good. No one wants to see civil liberties denied, but is the Civil Liberties Association suggesting that murder is a better option?

As this case plays out, the facts will become more evident, and we'll get a better picture of what happened. In the meantime, I really don't think it's unreasonable to have the woman's rights curtailed somewhat until due process is done.

When is an Announcement not an Announcement?

2010-06-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 25, 2010)

It must be really challenging to write press releases for the provincial government - especially if you're boss is Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid. This week, for example, we received a release touting over $600,000 was spent to buy our local school district five new state-of-the-art cleaner burning diesel school buses. But talking to district officials gives you a little bit of a different story.

You see, every year the district evaluates its buses to see if they are too old and too used. For example, if a bus meets a certain mileage criteria, it has to go. This year, five buses expired. So in essence, the government did exactly what it had to do. The government was obligated to replace the old buses. Hardly something worth crowing over. Not only that, the buses are in no way cleaner running than any other new buses out there. They are diesel buses that simply comply with current emissions standards.

It's nothing new, of course. The provincial government regularly trumps up mundane obligations as if it is saving the world. It also routinely re-announces funding that has previously been committed, trying to fool those of us in the media who don't pay attention. Sometimes it works.

And the tricks worked for some in the media this time, too. The first dead giveaway that there was something fishy here should have been the mere fact that it's funding for education. We should all be skeptical when that's announced.

Recall the Wrong Course of Action for Anti-HST Forces

2010-06-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 24, 2010)

I have to tell you. Enough is enough. It is one thing to campaign to have the Harmonized Sales Tax reviewed by the B.C. government. Anti-HST organizers have enough signatures in every riding to force the government to have a review, or maybe even a referendum on the tax. I have no issue with their efforts. In fact, I applaud their initiative. That's what democracy is about.

What democracy is not about is trying to target 24 MLAs for a possible recall just because they voted in favour of the HST. That is going way beyond what the recall initiative should be about. And if Bill Vander Zalm carries out this recall initiative, I think he is destroying anything good that the anti-HST initiative was supposed to accomplish.

To recall an MLA, the MLA should stand accused of some gross wrongdoing, maybe facing some criminal charges, or perhaps unethical behaviour of some sort. That's the kind of thing that the recall laws were meant to deal with. To try to recall an MLA simply because you disagree with the government's policy on something is wrong. And way beyond the scope of what the legislation was intended to deal with.

The time to disagree with the government's policies is at a provincial election, and there's one coming three years down the road. If, at that time, you think the government was wrong in putting some sort of policy or tax in place, that's where you deal with it. To target a whole group of potentially vulnerable MLAs because you happen to think the HST is bad is not the right approach. And if organizers in our area try to do that, I hope people will give the anti-HST forces the message that they're carrying things a little too far.

For the Sake of National Security, Shut Up!

2010-06-24T13:43:00.001-07:00

(Aired on June 23, 2010)

I guess you could blame the media. But when you are a top official involved in maintaining your country's national security, you should probably know when to keep your mouth shut. In an article slated to come out later this week, the man in charge of the American presence in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, criticizes and disrespects the Obama administration. Not a good decision when that's your boss, no matter what your opinions are. Is it really the media stirring things up when you knew that the Rolling Stone reporter was getting access to you and your staff for weeks on end?

Then today, the country was abuzz repeating comments made by CSIS head Richard Fadden. He says there are multiple politicians and bureaucrats in Canada controlled by foreign powers. This sounds a lot like something a person like him says when he's drunk, though that apparently wasn't the case. Failing that option, Fadden's comments are totally out of line. If this is really the case, and is not something out of a Robert Ludlum novel, Fadden should have kept it quiet until arrests are made.

Don't get me wrong - we in the media love it. I'm already looking forward to asking Peter Milobar whether that Uji delegation coming to Kamloops next week is bringing him his instructions. But for the sake of national security in both the U.S. and Canada, it's best that these chatty Cathies be removed from their jobs without any hesitation.

Do We Really Oppose Tanker Traffic?

2010-06-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 22, 2010)

Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has certainly gained support among many British Columbians for his announcement yesterday that his party is opposing oil tanker traffic on the B.C. coast. Ignatieff says it only makes sense to protect a very sensitive area of the province.

While environmental groups, and certainly the big percentage of the citizens of the province, 80% of us in a recent poll, oppose the traffic, big business isn't so happy with Ignatieff's remarks. They come as Enbridge is working through the red tape trying establish an oil pipeline that would wind up in Kitimat, and ship oil by tanker down the coast. Enbridge officials are crying foul, claiming that tanker traffic has never been a problem in B.C. Of course, by that same token, no one working on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico had any problems before last month's oil spill that is currently devastating the environment in that area.

In fact, there were 25 million barrels of oil shipped by tanker from B.C. ports last year. It's a sensitive issue. On the one hand, we are so dependent on oil, and unless we want to stop driving, we have to get the oil from somewhere. Most of it is shipped somewhere by tanker. So a spill of the magnitude of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska is always possible. No one wants to see the disaster caused by such a spill. But what are we prepared to sacrifice if oil sits in the ground instead of our gas tank? What price are we prepared to pay to stop oil tanker traffic? It's easy to talk the the talk, but at the end of the day, are you willing to pay the price? And that's the issue the government has to deal with. You're concerned about gas at the pumps in Kamloops today rising to 1.06 a liter? What happens if it doubles or triples because we shut down tanker traffic?

The principle is a good one. I support it. But I honestly don't know how many of us would if push came to shove and we had to put our money where our mouth is.

Sadie Villars' Story All Too Common

2010-06-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 21, 2010)

The sad story of a young woman charged with smuggling drugs across the border is a far too common one, and unfortunately, we're only scratching the tip of the iceberg. Sadie Villars was arrested after border agents found her carrying bags of ecstasy tablets under her clothes as she crossed the border into the U.S. last week. Apparently, she was carrying the drugs for the quick cash, according to her mom.

These so-called drug mules are roped into the job for a variety of reasons. They may be trying to pay off a debt, either a personal debt or a debt to some criminal element who wants payback. Or they may do it because they think they'll get some quick cash for some baubles and toys and live the high life.

Many think they'll do it a couple of times and get out, but the problem is that once they start, getting out is difficult even if you put aside the attraction of the quick cash. Drug lords can put a lot of pressure on you once you're in. And as the drug trade heats up, more and more of these mules are being used to transport drugs, not just across the border between the U.S. and Canada, but around the world. And criminals are finding more and more tricks up their sleeves to avoid detection. But if these mules are ever caught, they're likely too scared to squeal on those who hired them, if they even know who hired them. And those higher up the ladder are so far removed from the chain they will never be associated with some kid who is picked up crossing the line.

Tracking down illicit drugs is almost like a crap shoot these days. The police do their best, but search warrants aren't easy to come by, privacy laws are so bad that the guilty often get more protection than the innocent, and unless police get lucky, many of these criminals continue to walk free. We will see many more stories about people like Sadie Villars. Unfortunately, it's a sign of the times we live in.

Braidwood Report Must Lead to Action

2010-06-21T10:10:00.001-07:00

(Aired on June 18, 2010)

The results of the inquiry into Robert Dziekanski's death released today should not be a surprise to anyone. Retired Justice Thomas Braidwood laid the wood to the four RCMP officers involved in the incident. He said they could not reasonably have perceived the Polish man as a threat when they arrived at YVR, and when Dziekanski picked up a stapler. The report also said they weren't justified in using their taser and called the officer's conduct "shameful".

It's not always true, but in this case, the video told the story. We all saw what happened thanks to the cellphone video taken by the bystander. At the time, I'm sure that bystander had no idea the impact of the video he had taken. By the time we all saw the video, we knew that the officers in question had to be taken to task. Some decided to tar the entire RCMP by extension, but I always thought the majority of the blame should lie on the four cowboys who walked into the airport that day. I'd like to think different officers in the same situation would react differently.

The big question does pertain to the entire force, though - what will really change as a result of this whole process? Will there be any safeguards put in place as a result to ensure an incident like this doesn't happen again? We've heard promises surrounding the creation of a civilian body to investigate the RCMP. But that's not enough. And besides changes to RCMP training and policy, there must be changes to the way Vancouver International and other airports deal with confused people who don't speak english. Good customer service is one thing, but in this case, it could have saved a life.

UFC Spawning Violence? It's Possible

2010-06-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 17, 2010)

Does violence spawn violence? That's often a hotly-debated topic. But sometimes, I do believe some who are prone to violent acts can be triggered by watching violence. I believe when the adrenaline starts to pump, a person can react just about any way humanly possible. That's why I'm against gratuitous violence on television, that's why I believe Ultimate Fighting matches should be banned.

I suppose some might get a high out of watching someone literally kicking and punching someone else's head in. Some may not get affected, but if circumstances were right, I bet someone could easily walk out of a match, walk down the street and crank someone for no reason at all. Don't tell me that people don't react that way to things. They do. Not everyone. But some do. And we have to put those matches under wraps because of the greater good.

Screaming fans yelling for blood does something to unnerve me. It's the same with dog fighting or cock fighting or whatever else someone wants to tell you is really OK and not as violent as you think.

I've never thought of myself as a violent person, in fact, as I grow older, the opposite is more and more true. I boxed a lot as a youngster, and very seldom lost. I took karate too. But as I got older, I began to enjoy it less and less. Now I can very seldom watch a boxing match on TV. And I would never watch an Ultimate Fighting match. It just seems so senseless all of a sudden. When I think of those people fighting those matches, I wonder how many of them will be still alive twenty years from now. I don't want to seem like a prude, but aside from the fighters' health, I worry about the reaction the fights cause in others.

Scientific evidence is somewhat lacking on this issue, but I can't see how one could avoid being swept up in the violence when watching these things. And when the body is pumped, who knows what might happen?

BP's Payout Fund Completely Irrelevant

2010-06-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 16, 2010)

BP announced today that it will set aside $20-billion to pay the victims of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This announcement, of course, is completely irrelevant.

It means nothing. It wouldn't matter if BP said it will set aside a zillion-kajillion dollars, and it wouldn't matter if the total was $10. BP had earlier said that it will pay for the damages caused by the oil spill. That's the statement the company should be held to. Any attempt to put a dollar value on the damages at this stage of the game is completely ridiculous. The company hasn't even stopped the flow of oil into the gulf yet, so it has no idea how much just that action will cost. To say then that they will set aside $20-billion for the victims is completely premature. No one knows ultimately how much damage this will cause and how many victims the spill will claim.

BP's Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, also issued an apology today for what it calls a "tragic accident" - an apology that is likely meant to head off any court proceedings. Once again, Svanberg apologized to the American people, but this may amount to being a disaster that impacts the entire hemisphere, not just one country.

There is no room for middle ground here. This company has to be held to account completely for what has happened.

The number that BP has come up with - $20-billion - has clearly been pulled completely out of thin air, and must be an attempt by the company to put a cap on how much it will pay out. We now how successful BP is at putting caps on things that are out of control. The company won't have any more success with this cap.BP announced today that it will set aside $20-billion to pay the victims of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This announcement, of course, is completely irrelevant.

It means nothing. It wouldn't matter if BP said it will set aside a zillion-kajillion dollars, and it wouldn't matter if the total was $10.
BP had earlier said that it will pay for the damages caused by the oil spill. That's the statement the company should be held to. Any attempt to put a dollar value on the damages at this stage of the game is completely ridiculous. The company hasn't even stopped the flow of oil into the gulf yet, so it has no idea how much just that action will cost. To say then that they will set aside $20-billion for the victims is completely premature. No one knows ultimately how much damage this will cause and how many victims the spill will claim.

BP's Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, also issued an apology today for what it calls a "tragic accident" - an apology that is likely meant to head off any court proceedings. Once again, Svanberg apologized to the American people, but this may amount to being a disaster that impacts the entire hemisphere, not just one country.

There is no room for middle ground here. This company has to be held to account completely for what has happened.

The number that BP has come up with - $20-billion - has clearly been pulled completely out of thin air, and must be an attempt by the company to put a cap on how much it will pay out. We now how successful BP is at putting caps on things that are out of control. The company won't have any more success with this cap.

Master Plan May Not Have Prevented Monday Accident

2010-06-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 15, 2010)

An incident yesterday afternoon near Aberdeen Mall is already being used as a sounding board by groups wanting changes to bicycle routes in Kamloops. And I say "put aside the politics" until at least we know what happened.

A 57 year old Kamloops man was riding down Hillside Drive yesterday, when he collided with a transit bus making a left turn from Aberdeen Mall onto Hillside. Already those with political agendas are suggesting that such accidents require the City to make its bicycle plan a reality. One advocate says it's sad that we have to have a situation like this to draw attention to the lack of bike facilities in the city. I say that's trying to take advantage of a terrible accident to make a case for something that may or may not have resolved the problem.

I'm not going to talk about the Aberdeen accident yesterday in any detail, because no one knows what happened exactly. I will say that bike riders often come down that road way too quickly, as they do Columbia Street, Summit Drive and many other hills in the city. I will say that the interchange where the accident occurred is a bad one. It's one of several places in a block and a half where people have to make turns across two lanes of traffic, sometimes into glaring sunlight, and it's a wonder more accidents don't happen. I'm not suggesting for a moment that bicyclists shouldn't have a safe route to the downtown, something the master bike plan is designed to do. But there have to be other considerations too.

A safe bike route doesn't guarantee that people will always use it. Bike riders aren't always cautious. Their machines aren't equipped to stop on a dime, and if a motorist doesn't see them, they can't slow down quickly enough to avoid a collision. They often don't obey the rules of the road.

Let's push for the master bike plan, but let's not use a sad situation that resulted from an accident that may have been hard to prevent as some kind of leverage, when in fact the bike plan may not have had any impact on the situation anyway. I hate it when people do that.

New Sun Peaks Council Has Big Challenge Ahead

2010-06-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 14, 2010)

Sun Peaks residents voted themselves a new council on the weekend, and starting later this month, they will move forward on the long process of putting a community together. It's a tough process. They have to put bylaws in place, they have to determine how they will deal with policing issues, fire issues and other public safety issues. They have to deal with the issue of noisy renters, an issue that could really threaten the new community if it isn't handled properly. Right now, the community couldn't handle any enforcement even if they wanted to. They have to put proper taxation structures in place, they have to ensure that they have a community plan. They have to hire an administrative officer. They have to have offices. The list is endless.

In many ways, it's a neat challenge and a great opportunity. To be in on the ground floor. But can be daunting too. Residents of the community will find that things won't be just status quo. Because they are now the masters of their own fate, they have some control of what happens, more so than if decisions were made by someone like the Regional District. But it also means they have to be accountable, and if they want services, they will have to pay for them.

While the new mayor is anxious not to increase taxes, that doesn't normally happen in new municipalities. The new council has community history and community involvement. They have examples nearby like Clearwater and Barriere, from whom they can probably get some good advice on what pitfalls to avoid in establishing their new community.

A resort municipality is not the same as a normal community. Many of the issues are unique, and must be dealt with differently than they would if we were talking about Kamloops or Ashcroft. One of the biggest challenges is to ensure that the needs of a resort area also mesh with those of the general population. I believe Al Raine and his council will be up to the challenge. But they will have to communicate frequently with the community to ensure they keep everyone up to date on everything they're doing, to ensure that they get things off to a good, positive start. If they do that, they will be well on their way.

Feel Free to Make Good Use of My Taxes

2010-06-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 10, 2010)

They call it "Tax Freedom Day." Every year, the Fraser Institute determines which day of the year the average Canadian has earned enough money to pay for all the taxes they will be charged that year. This year, tax freedom day was last Saturday. So everything you earn from Saturday on out is pure profit, baby. That's almost seven whole months that the money you work hard for is actually yours.

Taxes really aren't a bad thing - unless of course you would enjoy paying a user fee for every road you drive on, every park you walk through, or every doctor's visit you make. Or maybe the people who ensure our air is clean to breathe and our water is clean to drink should work for free. If that's not what you think, then taxes are okay.

But as much as the Fraser Institute gets my goat from time to time, this particular initiative makes a good point. We spend almost half of our lives working for the government. Hopefully, by extension, the government is working to improve the lives of everyone. Our MP Cathy McLeod boasts that Tax Freedom Day has moved earlier in the year since the Conservatives took power. What she doesn't mention is what her government is doing with the money that is being collected those first five months of the year. I still haven't heard a plausible explanation of why it will take over $1-Billion to host a handful of world leaders at the upcoming G8 and G20 summits. I literally cannot fathom what could cost that much money, short of replacing the bathrooms with gold-plated diapers for all.

If the Conservatives want to crow about how little they're charging us in taxes, they have to be putting the taxes they do collect to good use. Tax Freedom Day could be January 2, and if they were wasting the money they made, they'd still have no reason to brag.

Coalition? Please no.

2010-06-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 9, 2010)

Every time I hear about a the possibility of a coalition government, I cringe a little bit. Thankfully, Michael Ignatieff today shot down suggestions of a coalition between his Liberals and the federal NDP to take down the Harper Conservatives. I'm not thrilled with the job the Conservative government is doing in Ottawa right now - not thrilled, but not absolutely irate to the core of my being either. It's only once I get that upset that I would even consider a coalition a decent option to throw the Conservatives to the other side of the Commons floor.

When Canadians went to the polls, those who voted for the Liberals did not vote for the NDP, and vice versa. They didn't even vote for an option that says "not the Conservatives," even though I suspect that option would be quite popular. Instead, they voted their individual preference, and we are left with the Conservatives leading parliament in a minority government situation.

If there was widespread outrage at the Conservatives, there may be a more realistic mandate to form a coalition. But opinion polls continue to show Harper's party with a healthy lead over any other party in public support. Once again, "not the Conservatives" is not an option.

Finally, the NDP and the Liberals are often on far extremes of the political spectrum - usually even farther apart than the Liberals and the governing Tories. They say politics make strange bedfellows, but a coalition between the NDP and the Liberals would be like sleeping with the enemy.

Capilano Tragedy Should Make Us Think

2010-06-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 8, 2010)

Sometimes things happen that make you wonder... why? The case of a 17-year old California teen who fell from the Capilano suspension bridge on the weekend, has everyone in shock. The sad part is that the tragedy seems totally unrelated to the safety of the structure. What went through the teen's mind, what kind of activity was happening when he fell 30 meters to his death, we will likely never know. His fellow students aren't saying much. Safety was not an issue. That bridge has strong, high fences. It would have taken something out of the ordinary to make that happen. Oftentimes when you have accidents of this nature, someone is claiming that safety is a factor. It doesn't appear that way here.

Teenagers often think they're invincible. That's one of the reasons they pay higher driving insurance premiums and get into more accidents. They take more chances. They do more goofy things. I remember doing a lot of that kind of thing. How I didn't do something more serious, I'll never know.

If nothing else, this tragedy goes to show us that the best-laid plans can go astray. We don't know what happened in Vancouver. We do know that something unexpected must have occurred. A young man's life was lost. An unnecessary risk? Perhaps. Accidents do happen. But if indeed this could have been prevented, we need to use this as an educational tool to show others the dangers that just a slight mistake can happen. If we saved just one other person from taking an unnecessary risk, it will have been worth the effort.

Performing Arts Centre Should be Top Priority for Kamloops

2010-06-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 7, 2010)

What a welcome relief to hear someone say something positive about the Arts. Councillor John O'Fee suggesting this morning that a new Performing Arts Centre should be high on the list of projects for the city to consider. Such a centre would go a long way to attracting more artists here, and it would definitely be an attraction when people are coming to the city to live. When you survey professionals who are considering moving, one of the major factors is the amenities. We have some great amenities in Kamloops, but we can certainly do more in certain areas. Music and theatre are big attractions to professionals.

What form a new Centre might take is up for debate. When I was on the Arts Commission a few years back, one of the big discussion points was the need for a space seating somewhere between 300 and 400 people. A space kind of like the Pavilion Theatre, but properly designed for performance. Pavilion is a great space, but it's not designed for concerts and the like.

Most people know me as a big fan of the arts. Long before my kids became known for their artistic work, I was heavily into the performing arts areas. I grew up backstage listening to many of the big groups of the 50's and 60's because my dad was involved in that field for a time. I could see the value of the arts even then. While some feel the arts play a secondary role to other critical needs, they nevertheless have a big role to play, and they can't be hung out to dry like the provincial Liberals are doing.

I agree with Councillor O'Fee that a new Centre is a big priority for our city. We're working on new recreational amenities like a new bike path, and slo-pitch city and upgrading McArthur Island. I think it's time we moved the arts a little higher up on our priority list.

Don't Write BC Liberals Off Too Quickly

2010-06-07T10:06:00.001-07:00

(Aired on June 4, 2010)

Yesterday, Doug Collins tried to convince you that the BC Liberals are doomed when the next election comes around in 2013. He said their gaffes are piling up to the point of absurdity. While I agree with the latter statement, I cannot agree with the former.

The Liberals are not doing themselves any favours these days. Cuts to funding are going deep and to the wrong services, MLAs are showing remarkable flexibility in being able to put their feet in their mouths while having their heads buried somewhere else. The Kash Heed scandal was a major gong show, and the jewel in the crown of shame for British Columbians is the Harmonized Sales Tax.

But let's remember, the election will not take place tomorrow, this fall, or even next year. By the time we go to the polls, much - not all - but much will be forgotten. And as I have said before, for the Liberals to fall, they have to have some decent competition. The New Democrats have yet to show they can provide that.

All you have to do is look at the federal scene to see this principle in action. The federal Conservatives are in power simply because they're the least of the evils in most Canadians' eyes. Their competition, the federal Liberals specifically, haven't convinced the public that they are any competition whatsoever. I'm not willing to predict victory or defeat for either party when the next provincial election campaign. There's a long time before 2013, and there's a lot more than can go right, or wrong, before then.

BC Liberals Self Destructing

2010-06-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 3, 2010)

The B.C. Liberals continue to wind their way to self-destruction. It's hard to imagine circumstances that will prevent the Liberals from either losing the next election, or at the very best, holding on to a minority.

Let's look at a few of the things just in the last few weeks that have caught the public's attention. We already know about the HST, and whether it's a good thing or not, the end result of the petition initiative will be that the Liberals will do nothing. It may be the right decision to do nothing, that's another story, but the perception among the public is that the government doesn't care. We have the "let them eat cake approach" to school funding and health care. Again, editorials we've done before. This week, arts groups find out they're going to be hit hard again, losing funding that they were promised just weeks ago. Again, the government hitting out at groups that desperately need help. This week, a new group is formed to try to keep sports and arts programs alive in schools. These programs again decimated by the province. The Liberals continue to push Ottawa to again permit offshore drilling, even in the face of what's going on in the Gulf of Mexico. How stupid a move is that? What's next?

If I were interested in politics, it would be a good time to put my hat in the ring to run for the NDP. I don't think even the Premier is safe.

Now of course, we still have three years to go before the next election, and the Liberals are banking heavily on that to change their fortunes. They're going to count on a resurging economy, and hopefully a reduction in the deficit to allow them to spend money leading up to the vote in May of 2013. Whether the NDP can capitalize on the government's miscues remains to be seen. If they can, look for major changes in Victoria three years down the road.

RIH Saboteur No Prophet

2010-06-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 2, 2010)

The fact that police haven't caught the person who deliberately sabotaged surgical tools at Royal Inland Hospital is unfortunate for several different reasons. First, the crime itself is serious. Had the tools made their way into the surgical theatre, they could have caused an infection. That infection could have had serious health consequences for the patient. Of course, the likelihood of that actually happening is extremely remote.

But maybe the more disappointing aspect of the story is that the person who did this is probably thinking that the point was made without any consequences. It's clear that this was done to make a point. Maybe about access to the central sterilization department or maybe about the failure to replace archaic equipment. It doesn't really matter, because there is a way to make a point, and there is a way not to make a point. RCMP and hospital authorities refuse to disclose how the tools were contaminated, presumably because whatever happened would have reinforced the culprit's objective. Credit to the police for doing that because now the point is lost in the method of delivery. All we know is that it was a criminal act that theoretically could have caused serious harm.

It looks like the culprit here has essentially gotten away with sabotaging surgical equipment. If anything can temper the disappointment, it's that the person responsible looks less like a protester or a prophet and more like a pinhead.

Too Soon to Raise Interest Rates?

2010-06-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

(Aired on June 1, 2010)

The move was not unexpected, but the Bank of Canada is treading on very dangerous ground in moving the interest rate up substantially this morning. The rate jumped from 0.25% to 0.5%, likely the first of several moves to get the rates up from the rock bottom levels set last year. The drop in rates in 2009 was designed to help stimulate the economy. There are signs the economy is starting to bounce back, but in raising the rates, the Bank of Canada is counting on the fact that the economy will continue to rise.

The question is - did they make the move too soon? Are we really far enough into a comeback to be able to raise the rates? The world economy is still on very shaky ground. The stock markets have not rebounded to previous levels. Europe's unfolding debt crisis has shaken expectations of a global rebound. And since we are tied so much to world markets, are we assuming too much in raising our rates?

And let's not forget the impact on the local economy. Those interested in going to the banks to raise money to get back on track will have more trouble with higher borrowing rates. Young people trying to get into the housing market will certainly be affected. While the rates are still pretty low, and there may be some truth to the fact that there is still room for lots of stimulus, the move is still risky given all the criteria.

I don't think you'll find many takers on the streets of any city in our viewing area who feel the economy has bounced back to the point where such a risk is worth taking. Let's hope Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney doesn't regret his actions a few months down the road.

Hounding the Dealers that Dog Our City

2010-06-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

(Aired on May 31, 2010)

When RCMP Inspector Yves Lacasse made a comment a few months back that a particular North Shore property was going to become his "personal project" in an attempt to clean up the neighbourhood, there were many people extremely happy that the police were making a crackdown on a property that was the scene of many problems relating to drug and alcohol abuse and trafficking. I don't know where Yves' mission stands right now, but I hope it's ongoing. In fact, I would recommend that other officers take on "personal projects" of their own.

Residents of another North Shore neighbourhood are up in arms about the high number of drug complaints in an area around Hilltop Avenue and Clapperton. Residents say police are always on the scene there, trying to deal with a number of complaints. And maybe this is another area that should be looked at. Maybe we should be hounding these drug dealers until they eventually get the message, if that indeed is possible. But at least hounding them incessantly will curb some of the use of drugs in those neighbourhood.

Unfortunately, it's not only the high crime areas that need attention. Even areas of the city which have low crime rates have pockets where police are constantly surveilling homes to find out who is dealing and who the customers are. It's a sad part of the increasingly prolific volume of trafficking that goes on. Years ago, police knew all the dealers and most of the customers, but the numbers are growing by leaps and bounds, as more and more people get involved in the gangs that control the drug trade, and those who get addicted. Police resources are slim, and unfortunately, taking on areas as "personal projects" are not going to be the norm.

While police can work at ridding certain neighbourhoods of some of the problem, it won't be entirely eliminated. As people are put behind bars, more people start to get involved. It's a vicious circle. Police are doing their best, but it's a never-ending task, and one that, unfortunately, is going to be tough to eliminate.

Will Westjet Expand Kamloops Service Again?

2010-05-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

(Aired on May 28, 2010)

Having cancelled the Edmonton run, it's hard to imagine that Westjet will be increasing service out of Kamloops again any time soon. A spokesman for the company said the passenger numbers just weren't there for the Edmonton route, and the seasonal Vancouver flight wasn't doing well either before it ended.

Airport Society John O'Fee mentioned in passing that it would have been nice if the airline would have given the city a fighting chance instead of cancelling the run just a few weeks after it first took off. O'Fee is not in a position to raise a stink about it, but really, that deserves more attention. The airline said with pre-bookings happening since December, it had plenty of time to gauge customer interest. But the initial decision to start the flight in the spring and summer was probably flawed. Enough people who want to travel to Edmonton will decide to drive in the nice weather. It's the winter when the roads are treacherous that people would more likely make the decision to fly. Now, they won't get a chance.

And while some people may book as far in advance as December for flights in May, that's not nearly the entire market. There are a lot who wait for the smokin' deals that come from those rare seat sales. That's when the bookings start to pile up.

I'm not saying I can read the market better than Westjet, but what I am saying is that it's clear that there is little margin for failure in this industry right now. Westjet needs something as close to certain as it can get. Sometimes you need to spend money to make money, but Westjet likely can't afford the first part of that equation. And that's why I wouldn't expect a whole lot of expanded service in the near future.

Privacy or Protection?

2010-05-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

(Aired on May 27, 2010)

There is a fine line somewhere that says "here’s the line over which you don’t cross, and here’s what’s acceptable." We waver around that line continually when it comes to privacy. What’s private, what’s not, and when is it reasonable to assume that the public good is more important than the rights of the individual.

We’re facing that scenario right now when it comes to the fight against crime, particularly against gangs and drugs. The Court of Appeal recently ruled that a program designed to shut down grow ops was against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. That program would allow Fire Inspectors to trace power spikes and then enter homes without warrants to try and find grow ops.

It seems pretty draconian at first glance. That’s unfair, the civil libertarians cry. But on the other side of the coin, grow ops are causing increasing problems. They’re becoming more sophisticated, they lead to many people getting involved in criminal activity, either to reap the profits of the sales, or getting hooked on these illicit drugs. They allow gangs to flourish, and they cause untold amounts of physical damage to homes, not to mention the theft of hydro, threat of fires from poorly set up systems, and the list goes on. So whose rights are more important? The individual who gets searched, or the rights of the many who suffer at the hands of the drug dealers and the gangs? It’s not an easy question to resolve, and the Courts wrestle with a tough decision.

If I had my way, I’d vote in favour of protecting the many at the expense of the few. I’m all for the greater good. But protecting the greater good can also open the door to things we might not find as favorable. How much power do you put in the hands of Big Brother? The program at issue here has resulted in a dramatic increase in marijuana grow-ops. So it seems like the right thing to do. But what the Courts have to wrestle with, and here’s the crunch, is how many other doors does that open. And those other doors may lead us to such destruction of our rights that we would find repugnant.

BP Turning into the Big Bad Wolf

2010-05-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

(Aired on May 26, 2010)

Between right now and the time I finish this editorial, 7 barrels of oil will have flowed from the Deepwater Horizon spill into the Gulf of Mexico. And that's if you use numbers provided by British Petroleum. If you use numbers being put forward by other experts, the spill is increasing by 20-times that rate. That means during the duration of this editorial, 140 barrels of oil will have spilled.

Today, BP started pouring heavy mud into the wellhead to see if it can stem the flow. That would be followed by concrete, and then supposedly we'd never hear of that well again. It is becoming more and more unbelievable that safeguards weren't in place to prevent the environmental catastrophe that continues to unfold. As I mentioned shortly after the well explosion happened, the installation of a $500,000 acoustic switch likely would have prevented this spill.

But then again, the lack of regard for anything but pure profit seems to be what BP is all about. Five years ago, BP was sued when some of its employees died in a refinery explosion in Texas. It was alleged that the company was housing employees in structures that were vulnerable to explosion during the workday. As a lawyer was researching the suit, he found an internal BP memo that crassly plugged the employees lives into a cost benefit framework. In other words, each lost life was assigned a dollar value and measured against the cost of protecting that life by upgrading the structure. The memo used the Three Little Pigs as a metaphor - in other words, what would it cost to build a straw house, a wood house, or a brick house?

In the end, the memo concluded that fully protecting its employees lives was not worth the lost profits the company would incur. BP fundamentally reneged on its responsibility to protect its employees, and now it has done the same for protecting the environment.

Having said that, there's another 140 barrels of oil down the drain.

Coke Toll Revenue Could Be Helping BC Right Now

2010-05-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

(Aired on May 25, 2010)

Driving home from the coast yesterday, I couldn't help but reflect on the vast increase in traffic on the Coquihalla Highway. I've driven the highway extensively the past three years, at all times of day, in all seasons of the year. The volume of traffic is up substantially. Heavy truck traffic has really climbed. In fact yesterday, it was as busy between Kamloops and Hope as it was between Hope and Vancouver.

While I was driving, I wondered how many lives we could have saved in B.C. hospitals, or how many kids we could have given a proper education to, if we had not removed the tolls on the Coquihalla Highway a couple of years back. In retrospect, it was one of the stupidest moves ever by a government bent on trying to get votes for re-election. The money lost from the tolls on the highway, millions and millions every year, was lost because the government decided votes were more important than using the money for the good of the province. What if we had taken that money and used it to provide services in our hospitals, or kept more teachers on the job. Wouldn't that have been a great thing?

I know it's just another form of taxation, but it's no different than the tax on booze or cigarettes or gas, or any of the other hidden taxes we have to pay. But I would certainly rather pay the toll and have health services than not. The other side of the coin, of course, is that many of these taxes simply go into general revenue, and I'm not in favour of that. I prefer taxes go to specific items, like that transit tax on the Lower Mainland.

The government has put itself into such a hole economically, and much of it they've dug themselves with poor planning, and politically expedient moves like the removal of the toll on the Coke. They really could do a lot better.

A Penny Saved... Ain't Worth It

2010-05-25T10:38:00.001-07:00

(Aired on May 21, 2010)

Above my desk sits a rather large coffee mug. Said mug is about 7/8s filled with change. Not the good kind of change, mind you. The kind of change that might as well not exist. If my mug was in fact filled with a tasty beverage and not change, the pennies would constitute the mocha and the silver change would constitute the delicious whipped cream on top.

The fact is, I haven't made a concerted effort to pay with something using pennies in years. I only collect them, I never divest myself of them. If by some chance I happen to have one in my pocket and I'm paying for something with change, I may have one penny less. But usually I don't have pennies on me - I put them in my mug you see - and it's more pennies I get back.

My penny collection has convinced me that it's finally time the penny be taken out of production. Here are some numbers to consider, care of the CBC. Depending on whom you believe, it costs somewhere between 0.8 and five cents to produce one penny. In 2007, a survey conducted by the Canadian Mint found that 63% of retailers were in favour of ridding the economy of the one-cent coin. It seems crazy to think that there would be no way to pay for the smallest measure of currency, but there's nothing you can buy for less than a nickel anymore. And if there is, it's a case of the exception proving the rule.

There are enough pennies in circulation already, so you wouldn't necessarily need to adjust pricing up front. It could be phased out over time so we can all get used to it.

That's my thought. And I won't charge you a penny for it.

Don't Cut Too Many School District Managers

2010-05-21T11:06:00.001-07:00

(Aired on May 20, 2010)

Kamloops School District is finalizing its staff cuts for the fall, and so far, seem to have a pretty good handle on what needs to be done to make ends meet without hurting the product in the classroom. There will be some teacher cuts, but that's not unexpected in the face of declining enrollment. Some support staff will also be axed. Seven principals' jobs will go, again because some schools won't be operating and others face reduced levels of staffing. And in an effort to ensure that the critics are silenced, there's also a restructuring at the top. Some senior administrative positions will be going, and job functions will change.

Perception is important, I suppose, and it must appear that the District is cutting top management as well as teachers in the classroom. All well and good, but I would caution that senior cuts need to be limited, or the long term result will be even more chaos and disruption than we have now. It's fine to keep teachers in the classroom, and provide the best service to students. That's what education is about. But without the planners and the senior people to look ahead and make decisions for the future, you have to have the senior administrators too. And to cut one or two positions at a senior level, where you only have a handful of people in total is a much more significant cut than cutting 30 teaching positions out of hundreds within the district.

If you have no managers, you have anarchy and chaos. Teachers can't and won't do the planning for the future. Neither will support staff or Parents Advisory Groups. You need the administrators to keep things running. No principals, no direction. No senior administrators, no future.

I'm impressed with how the District has handled a pretty dismal situation. But let's remember that if you take the Superintendent, give him more direct responsibility for individual areas of the administration, as Terry Sullivan is taking on, you take away some of his ability to function. And to curtail the ability of the top administer to administrate is a recipe for disaster.

Circumstances Surrounding Giles' Death Shouldn't Tarnish His Life

2010-05-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

(Aired on May 19, 2010)

It may seem odd to you that we are devoting time to reporting on a man's suicide today. It may seem just as odd that RCMP held a special news conference this morning to address a man's suicide. Gord Giles took his own life last week, a tragedy that has shocked and saddened the entire community. I can completely see why the public would feel that the police news conference this morning was inappropriate, and would find the media's coverage the same. But in fact, the response is the right thing to do.

Police have a general policy against reporting suicides and the same holds true for those of us in the news media. It's an incredibly sensitive subject and one that is extremely difficult for a family to deal with - even without publicity.

However, circumstances like those that surround Giles' death dictate that it can't be kept quiet. RCMP had no choice but to talk about the investigation into Giles' activities and the resulting admission of guilt. The question surrounding the man's death would then become unavoidable. This morning's news conference dealt with the entire sad situation respectfully and with dignity. It also did not shy away from the wrongdoing that preceded. Inspector Yves Lacasse and Mayor Peter Milobar should receive a great deal of credit for that.

It also must be said that Gord's family wanted the press conference to happen, and participated in it. They had heard some of the nasty rumours that had started making the rounds and they wisely determined that putting those rumours to rest was the right thing to do. They will deal with the pain of the public scrutiny today but won't have to endure outrageous rumours ever again.

The rest of us should not let tragic end of Gord's life affect the way we remember him. Though he did make a mistake, he was a proud and good man, and worked harder than most of us to make Kamloops a community to be proud of.

Slo-Pitch City in Just the Right Place

2010-05-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

(Aired on May 18, 2010)

The city is letting contracts today for the start of work on the new Slo-Pitch City in Rayleigh. While there are still those who think the location is too far out of town, I think it probably is in the right place, considering the amount of land available. In some ways, I would have preferred it to be closer to McArthur Island, where you could quickly drive from one venue to another and be more accessible. But for the most part, tournaments will be held at one location or another, and there probably wouldn't be too many occasions where the location would be an issue.

Some have expressed concern that the new venue is too far away from hotels and that people would have to drive longer distances after consuming alcohol at a beer garden after a game. But when you get right down to it, it's not a very long drive to hotels when you come down the highway, and you wouldn't travel any longer than you would if you were in Kelowna, and certainly no farther than you would if you were in Vancouver. If we're going to do the project right, we have to have a large enough land space to put up the proper fields and ancillary facilities. Otherwise, you won't attract the big championship events. And as the city grows, it will grow up around the facility.

Initially, it may seem like it's out in no man's land, but I remember many years ago, when the Milobar family built the Place Inn in Aberdeen. At that time, there was very little development around it. People said it was too far out of town. Didn't take long to dispel that rumour. And the same will hold true with Slo-Pitch City. I think it's a facility that will set the bar at a new level, the same as McArthur Island did when it was first developed. Just another step forward as we ensconce ourselves as the Tournament Capital.