(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.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Heartbreak, Tragedy for High Schoolers
(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.
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.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Palin: The Next Celebrity President?
(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.
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.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Harper Gov't Needs to Rethink Gun Registry Stance
(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.
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.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Privacy Breach Nothing Less Than Frightening
(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.
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.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Fight HST Turning Serious Debate into Clown Show
(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.
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
(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.
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.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Kamloops Will Cry, But PG Will be a Good Host
(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.
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
(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.
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.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Can Advertising Change Our Minds on HST?
(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.
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
(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?
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?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Must Be an Effort to Protect Our Agricultural Land
(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.
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.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Why Should Campbell Resign Now?
(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.
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.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Koran-Burning Pastor Taking Religious Freedom Too Far
(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.
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
(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.
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.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Many More Good Teachers Than Bad
(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.
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.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Hard to Trust Politicians After HST Revelation
(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.
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.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
RCMP Voyeurism Inexcusable
(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.
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.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Tamil Refugees Abusing the System
(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.
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
(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.
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.
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