One Man's on the Move

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

(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

(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

(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?

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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?

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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.