Peter Kent, former “journalist”, or as Frank used to call it “bingo caller,” is on the warpath. In a move that would seem to be right out of the Rob Ford playbook he has stated that Canadian charities are engaged in money-laundering.

Money-laundering, for those gentle souls who have never watched the Sopranos, or live in Hamilton, Ontario, is what the Mafia and Hells Angels do to take the proceeds of crime (usually cash) and convert them into legitimate looking income.

Money-laundering is a serious crime.

Various people in the media are now framing this by saying the Kent “mis-spoke” himself.

Nonsense. Kent knows full well that this claim is pure bullshit, and he’s lying through his teeth.

The Philistines in the Harper government are cutting the CBC budget by a further ten percent.  No big surprise there – they have an inexplicable hatred for Canada’s national broadcaster, even though the CBC has spent years trying to “balance” their reporting in a way that they hoped would avoid the perception that they are being “critical” of anything that Harper does.

The CBC is seen as a motherhood thing by many intelligent people, and indeed, in most parts of the world a strong non-commercial (aka State) broadcaster is considered to be one of the essential parts of the media universe.

Sweet though that is, the fact is that CBC has long ago ceased to offer much of real value to Canadians.  Perhaps the time has come to just drive a stake through its heart and sell off the assets to Bell or Rogers.

I’ll ignore CBC TV entirely, since it’s indistinguishable from commercial TV.  Yes we all love Rick Mercer, but when was the last time that CBC TV did drama on the level of the BBC, or news coverage that differed in any way from CTV or even SUN TV? Truth is, years of budget slashing have left them without the resources to do anything creative, and without the courage to really report – especially on government.

But Radio you say! (With fuzzy memories of Peter Gzowski coursing through your veins) We must save Radio!

Nonsense.

ONE) The vast majority of Canadians not only don’t listen to CBC Radio, they don’t even know it exists.  Yes, there was a time when  it was a thread that most Canadians shared, but those days are long gone.

TWO) Far too much of CBC Radio is filled with Toronto hipster irony and smugness.  I’m really sick of the oh-so-cool attitudes and cynical repartee of Brent Bambury, George Stroumboulopoulos,  Sook-Yin Lee, and endless other made-in-CBC land “stars”.  I don’t want to know how cool you think you are guys. Honestly I usually don’t want your opinions or quips. I either want hard facts, or I want to hear the ideas of your guest.

THREE) CBC’s Literary programs are mediocre.  I actually loved the Canada Reads panel on Q this year, and the passion of the panelists was enough to make me actually go out and read the damn books. The same cannot be said about any of the other book shows on CBC.   The fawning adoration of Shelagh Rogers and Eleanor Wachtel grate horribly, and offer nothing like intelligent insight into the authors or books. If anything an inclusion on Writers and Company or The Next Chapter  makes me assume that I don’t want to read a book.

FOUR) Definitely Not The Opera – it was lame when it was created, and lame it remains. Too, too, too cute by far, which is usually the sign of a show that has long since ceased to have new ideas.  The root problem seems to be that DNTO, like all of the similar “variety” shows at CBC Radio (Q excepted) seems to be hosted and produced by people with minimal life experience, minimal breadth of knowledge, and minimal interest in anything that their hip friends aren’t already talking about.  In other words, its all far too light weight.

FIVE) Ron Sexsmith – Nuff said – To all of those who can’t figure out why commercial success has eluded him, it’s because he’s whiny and annoying.

SIX) Anything that comes under the heading Political Coverage. Look CBC, in a week when Harper has attacked you viciously with an axe, you’re reporting that the Budget is really No Big Deal, Very Restrained, Not As Bad As People Predicted, and Responsible.  What does he have to do to get you riled up? Castrate Peter Mansbridge???   By any number of measures this budget is a slash and burn attack on Canada and the things that matter to most Canadians.   Our national broadcaster should be expressing outrage and alarm, not sucking up to the people who just cut them off at the knees.

SEVEN) Rex Murphy – See Ron Sexsmith above, but with a Newfie accent and a thesaurus up his butt.

EIGHT) The Vinyl Cafe – Once upon a time a faux Lake Wobegone may have been novel or cute, but this CanCon adaptation of A Prairie Home Companion is tired in the extreme.

NINE) The Current. One show that should see some praise, if only for last fall when they did a number of EXCELLENT programs about poverty in Canada and actually allowed POOR PEOPLE to talk on the radio instead of pundits and professors.  That groundbreaking work led to…. well, nothing.  But there have been about a hundred and forty five reports on Egypt, and Syria, and Iran.  I guess poor people in the Middle East are just so much more important than poor people down the street.

TEN) The Fraser Institute, Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation, Canadian Federation of Independent Business et al. Let’s be honest. These are in no way impartial or balanced commentators – they are right-wing ideologues who add nothing to a discussion. TAX BAD! REGULATION BAD! MINIMUM WAGE BAD! SOCIAL PROGRAM BAD!  Surely there are a few thousand intelligent, informed experts who could be called in instead of these Harper cheerleaders.

ELEVEN) Government PR flacks – sorry, Ministers.  If all they have to offer is talking points off cue cards, and if they refuse to deviate one iota from those points, much less answer an actual question (assuming that someone at CBC Radio will actually ASK the obvious question that’s staring them in the face), then they are of no value to anyone – you’re wasting my time.  Give me some intelligent analysis, not Tory blah blah blah.

TWELVE) Endless Repetition – I understand the concept – having multiple programs examine an issue from different angles.  The problem is it has devolved into: Morning Edition: Bullying. We’ll talk to someone who was bullied. The Current: Bullying: we’ll talk to a bully (preferably from Cairo or Iran). The Noon Show: Bullying: We’ll take your calls (Until the gardening show, anyhow). The Afternoon Show: Bullying: We’ll talk to a teacher.  MORE does not always equal DEPTH. Sometimes it’s just, well, repetitive.

THIRTEEN) Radio Two – Used to be all Classical music all the time. Now it’s all pop music alternating with Classical all the time. WHY? WHY?  I love music, I know music, I’ve programmed music. I never listen to Radio Two because their “classical” programming is dull as dishwater, and their pop music is flaccid and repetitive.  There is lots of amazing brilliant “classical” music being performed and recorded, and lots of utterly stunning pop, rock, hip-hop, folk, and soul music too, but you won’t hear it on CBC Two. Buck 65 – what the hell happened????

FOURTEEN) Radio Three – it’s a web site.  Stick on some Google ads to pay for it.

Are there any real reasons to keep CBC Radio?  Go check out the CBC Archives pages. Listen to Peter Gzowski and Joe Ghiz make salad, or An Introduction to Al Purdy, or Gzowski again with Mary Collins on Capital Punishment. Or from 1970 – a discussion of media ownership and freedom of the press. Or Joni Mitchell and Vicki Gabereau about polio and the music business.

I’ll state flatly that there’s nothing on CBC radio today to match the quality of these clips.

I probably come very close to fitting the CBC’s target demographic: middle aged, educated, a book reader, with wide ranging tastes in music, a healthy interest in politics, and a follower of news. The problem is that everything except Jian Ghomeshi and Q either bores me or irritates me.

So instead of the death of a thousand cuts, lets just kill the beast off.  We can always listen to BBC on-line.

Pollution of air, water, and land is demonstrably, measurably bad. No politician could ever argue that putting pollutants, toxins, and exhaust emissions into the environment is a good thing. Everyone from school children to great-grandparents would see him as an idiot. That is why the petro-chemical and oil companies, and their lackey Stephen Harper have been so enthusiastic about challenging global warming.  They can never win if they come out in favour of pollution, but they figure they can dupe enough people to argue against global warming – with the same end result.

Scenario One: Global Warming is a Myth

If we reduce the amount of pollution generated by oil, gas, and coal burning, and reduce pollutants by automobiles, and reduce pollutants that get dumped into rivers and streams, and reduce the amount of garbage that we bury in landfills, we will:

• Create cities and towns that are cleaner and cheaper to maintain
• Reduce the health costs associated with pollutants in the air and water
• Avoid future “Love Canal” surprises
• Develop energy sources that don’t generate lots of pollutants.

That sounds like a winning scenario don’t you think?

Scenario Two: Global Warming is the Real Thing

If we reduce the amount of pollution generated by oil, gas, and coal burning, and reduce pollutants by automobiles, and reduce pollutants that get dumped into rivers and streams, and reduce the amount of garbage that we bury in landfills, we will:

• Create cities and towns that are cleaner and cheaper to maintain
• Reduce the health costs associated with pollutants in the air and water
• Avoid future “Love Canal” surprises
• Develop energy sources that don’t generate lots of pollutants.
• AND reduce or slow global warming and its effects.

Also a winning scenario, with the added bonus of possibly averting a pretty bad catastrophe.

So in summary, regardless of whether global warming is for real, reducing the amount of pollution generated by oil, gas, and coal burning, and reducing pollutants by automobiles, and reducing pollutants that get dumped into rivers and streams, and reducing the amount of garbage that we bury in landfills, are very good things to do.

So ask yourself: who would benefit from not reducing pollution?

Christy Clark was never intended to save, revive, or rebuild the Liberal party in BC.  She is a sacrificial lamb.

Like Kim Campbell, or Iggy, or any number of nearly forgotten Canadian party leaders, Clark is a placeholder, the poor sap that will go down when her predecessor’s shit hits the fan.

Anyone with an ounce of perception knew that whoever followed “Mittens” Campbell was going to inherit a fiscal disaster, battles with unions, at least a couple of large and ugly scandals, and any number of backroom deals that would look a lot less appealing in the light of day.

In other words, baggage. Kim Campbell inherited Brian Mulroney’s baggage. Michael Ignatief inherited Dion and Martin’s baggage.  None of these people was expected to build a new dynasty – they were expected to allow the muck and deceit to settle without damaging the real pretenders to the throne.

And no one knows this better than Diane Watts.

A woman that I know was deported last Friday.  She was not a terrorist, or a criminal, or even vaguely threatening. She was a housekeeper who worked for a friend two days a week.

Like the hundreds of Filipino housekeepers and nannys that keep West Vancouver functioning, she was in the process of applying to stay in Canada, with the eventual dream of bringing her husband and children to this country.  It’s the nature of the Canadian immigration process that this takes years, and often requires appeals though multiple levels of the immigration bureaucracy.

Here is what happened to her last week.

On Thursday she visited the Canadian Border Services Agency for a routine interview.  She had been prepared by her lawyer, and all went well until the officer in charge asked “You were turned down in your first application to stay in Canada. If you lose this appeal will you leave the country?”

Her answer, knowing that there were further levels of appeal available to her, was to say “No.”  Meaning, I’ll remain here while I file another appeal.  She is university educated, and understands the process, and the law, and was trying to say that she would abide by Canadian law, but would also avail herself of the legal avenues that are available to her.

What any of us would in similar circumstances.

Instead, upon hearing “no,” the officer in charge declared “You are a flight risk, and we are deporting you.”

Two large burly border guards grabbed her from behind.  Her immediate reaction was to pull away – she is a small woman, and certainly would have felt threatened – whereupon she was declared dangerous.

Within minutes she had been whisked away to a detention center.  At 10 AM the next day she was placed on a flight to Manila.

She was not allowed to collect her clothes or belongings, or to close her bank account.

She was not allowed to contact the families who employed her, or to say goodbye.

Initially her lawyer was refused permission to speak with her.

In the course one hour she went from a happy, productive life, with a bright future, into a nightmare of detention and expulsion.

Harper and his ilk love to portray all brown-skinned immigrants as terrorists and criminals.  He knows that that sort of fear mongering sells within his target demographic.   He also knows that his border cops can whisk people out the door fast enough that no-one can respond.

The lawyer that was advising this woman says that this sort of thing has become very common since Harper came into power.

The fact is that while the media, and Harper, are focussing on boat loads of people on the west coast, or political refugees from Central America and eastern Europe, the reality of immigration is that honest, hardworking, law-abiding people like this woman – the kind of people who build a life, and a community, and a country – are treated like common criminals and are being tossed out like yesterday’s trash.

I am ashamed to be part of this country.

Since neither the newspapers or the CBC have the balls to say it: Governments at all levels are telling us that we can’t afford money for schools, healthcare, transit, old age pensions, welfare, unemployment insurance, and pretty much anything that ordinary people need to survive.

Surely the obvious cause of this is twenty years of cutting the GST tax rate, Provincial Sales Tax rate, income tax rates, property tax rates, and especially corporate tax rates.

Yes, it’s that simple.

Since neither the newspapers or the CBC have the balls to say it: No-one in Canada believes that a 8 cent per litre hike in gas prices has anything to do with Iran, or even the closing of “less profitable refineries” in the US. We know that when EVERY gas retailer jacks up prices that much at the same time it’s about collusion between greedy oil companies who know they can suck another few dollars out of the consumers that are their captive market.

Since neither the newspapers or the CBC have the balls to say it: the BC Liberals HATE teachers and teacher’s unions, and had NO intention to bargain in good faith. Their goal all along was to back the teachers into a corner so that they could legislate a contract.

Since neither the newspapers or the CBC have the balls to say it: the BC budget screws ordinary working people – and yes that includes people who work for the government – while giving money and special treatment to the developers and real estate hucksters that they’re in bed with.

Way back in the days of vinyl a Vancouver singer named John White (or Whyte?) recorded a song called “Let’s Hear It For The BC Ferries.”

Chorus: Let’s Hear It For The BC Ferries!  PFFFFFBPT

That raspberry is at least as appropriate as it was thirty years ago.

What other service charges $17.50 for a reservation then insist that you show up a half  hour early to claim it?  Except that most ferry terminals are in places where traffic can delay you an extra half hour without warning, so really you need to arrive an hour early. Except your reservation isn’t valid of you’re MORE than an hour early.

Any way you slice it, you’re going to be stuck in a BC Ferries parking lot for an hour.  There is no place more desolate.

What other business refuses to install debit card terminals in their kiosks?  In an age where most people I know never carry more than $20 in cash, BC Ferries still insists that only paper money or credit cards are acceptable forms of payment.  In Canada everyone uses debit cards to pay for everything.  McDonalds accepts debit cards for Egg McMuffins for God sake!

The fact that there are ATM cash machines at the terminals and even on the ships, (At a rip-off bar price of $2 a transaction!!) shows that they could easily have debit service.

What other service – aside from public transit since it was semi-privatized – figures that the best way to solve declines in ridership is by REDUCING service and RAISING rates.   Maybe this makes sense to the guy being paid a million dollars a year to run the company, but no-one who actually rides the ferries can see the sense in that idea.

Until this year it had been a very long time since I rode the BC Ferries.  I’m fairly well disgusted. Nearly $100 each way for two people plus a truck.  Food prices on board that are nearly double what they would be on dry land.  Signage (see above) that defies all logic or intelligence.  Scheduling that offers less spaces than customers want, and no allowance for the seemingly inevitable equipment problems.

I guess that the best summary of why BC Ferries is losing traffic is this: If you’re travelling from Vancouver to Nanaimo it’s actually CHEAPER to fly with Harbour Air!

Boy, try to find an e-mail address on a corporate web site – thank god for Investor Relations, there’s always one there!

To: board@telus.com

CC: andrew.mackay@ledcor.com

I couldn’t find any other e-mail address on the Telus web site, so I’ll address this to the Board. (Likewise the Ledcor site)

Today while driving along the Dollarton Highway in North Vancouver I was passed by one of your drivers in a very unsafe manner.  A photo of the truck is attached below.  I was heading for the Ravenwoods development north of the highway, and was about 300m away from the turn.

This road is primarily a 50 kmh speed zone, except for a residential area which is posted at 40 kmh. These speeds are regularly enforced by both RCMP and Tsleil-Waututh Nation tribal police.

I was at the point where the 40 kmh zone ends, and the 50 kmh resumes when your driver flew past me, while still in a no passing zone.  He was certainly moving well above the limit.

What’s truly annoying though is that he had only 300 m further to travel before turning off of the Dollarton highway.  I know this because I was going to the same place, and turned right behind him.

His aggressive driving allowed him to arrive literally 5 seconds before I did!

Once at Ravenwoods he parked his van on the sidewalk in a fire zone!  Heaven forbid he had to walk a few feet!

I’ve driven professionally for years, and am generally very forgiving of people who do so, but this guy is giving your companies a bad name.

Let’s see what comes back!

I’m choosing to ignore most of the BS and hyperbole, and decided to take a look at the differences between Harper and Ignatieff.  If education is a consideration, much less a background that indicates intelligence and thoughtfulness, there’s not too much to say.

Iggy (via Wikipedia)

• Son of a Canadian diplomat , Ignatieff’s family moved abroad regularly in his early childhood.
• At the age of 11, Ignatieff was sent back to Toronto to attend Upper Canada College.
• Studied history at the University of Toronto‘s Trinity College (B.A., 1969).
• At University of Oxford, studied under the famous liberal philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin,
• Ph.D in History at Harvard University.
• Granted a Cambridge M.A. by incorporation in 1978 on taking up a fellowship at King’s College there.
• Assistant professor of history at the University of British Columbia
• Senior research fellowship at King’s College, Cambridge
• Lectured at universities in Europe and North America, and held teaching posts at Oxford, the University of London, the London School of Economics, the University of California and in France.
• Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
• Chancellor Jackman Professor in Human Rights Policy at the University of Toronto and a senior fellow of the university’s Munk Centre for International Studies.

Steve-o (also via Wikipedia)

• Attended Northlea Public School and, later, John G. Althouse Middle School and Richview Collegiate Institute, both in Central Etobicoke. He graduated in 1978.
• Enrolled at the University of Toronto but dropped out after two months.
• Worked in the mail room at Imperial Oil.
• University of Calgary, a bachelor’s degree in economics.
• University of Calgary,  a master’s degree in economics.
• Vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition (NCC), a conservative think-tank and advocacy group.

Once again the political goons in the Prime-Minister’s Office have overruled the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.

And once again the usual suspects (Internet Geeks and various Big Business interests) are cheering this action as if it’s some kind of democratic conquest.  Hurrah! Hurrah! Unlimited downloads!

I haven’t even bothered to follow this story in detail, but I’ll tell you one thing: this heavy handed move by the Harper regime has nothing to do with democracy, nothing to do with the consumer revolt that preceded it, and nothing whatsoever to do with the idea that the Internet has become a necessity instead of a novelty.

In simple terms Harper has sold a big chunk of the business of Internet to the highest bidder.  Some corporate entity, probably American, offered him a better deal than Bell or Rogers did.  To think otherwise is naïve to the extreme.

Canada remains a country awash in American media.  Television, radio, movies, music, and publishing – including the Internet – are overwhelmed by product from that foreign country to the south.  Perhaps more dangerous is the increasing influence that American media goons like the RIAA and MPAA have in Ottawa.  In simple terms their goal is to force US intellectual property laws onto Canadians, regardless of whether or not they are to our own benefit.

This is a bad thing.  Canada is a sovereign nation, and a country with distinct and identifiable cultural and legislative histories. We are not just a second rate copy of the US.

So why does out government act as if we are?

This decision is not about the CRTC, or about how Internet users are billed. It’s about a government that will overrule traditionally arms-length agencies to suit the demands of their American masters.

Despite efforts by successive Liberal and Conservative governments to undermine them, the CRTC remains one of the very few institutions that tries to support the development of a Canadian voice and Canadian artists.  It may be imperfect, and certainly the politically appointed Commissioners are uneven in their quality, but for better or worse it was one tool that Canadians could use to ensure that our TVs offer more than endless Law and Order re-runs.

And what of Usage Based Billing for Internet? The monopolistic solution proposed by the CRTC was obviously not a good idea, but should Internet users face no cap on their usage? Should high volume users expect to pay an extra amount?

Isn’t there some reasonable balance that can be found, where the price you pay is somehow reflective of how you use the ‘Net?

My prediction: the geeks who are dancing the streets will be crying in their beer once the Harperites are finished.  However bad the Bell/Rogers deal was, there’s probably something much worse in the works.

And without the CRTC it would seem that only Facebook is available to fight back.

We recently lost an old friend named William. William was a big black tomcat who came from the shelter after spending way too long there, and who was fearless in the extreme.  Between walking and boarding a lot of dogs come through our house, not a few of which were alleged to be dangerous for cats.  None of them would go near William – at least not twice.

In any event it turns out that James Keelaghan was right, and eventually William passed away after a long illness.

In the time leading up to that day we dealt with the Animal Medical Clinic in West Vancouver.  It’s no understatement to say that Dr. Cathy Wilkie and her staff Susan, Clare, and Janelle were nothing short of amazing, in their support, their help and suggestions, and in their understanding that like it or not, there is only so much money that you can spend on a pet.

What I liked about them was that although they were grounded in traditional veterinary science, they were still respectful of other ideas, whether it be raw food, alternate treatment possibilities, or even just the more general concerns that you have when having a pet treated.  I always felt respected.

This experience was enough to encourage us to bring our other animals to them, and to recommend them to friends and clients.

Then today a letter arrived from the University of Saskatchewan.

Am I impressed?  Am I very impressed?  You bet.

Did I know that they would make this donation? Not at all.  They didn’t mention it, and their web site doesn’t either.

Which tells me that they do this because it’s just plain a good thing to do, and an acknowledgment that their clients have suffered a loss.

So kudos to the Animal Medical Clinic, and to the University of Saskatchewan, for a wonderful gesture.

Via George and The Onion: