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Recent comments
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ATAMANENKO: Private member's bill would prevent job-killing foreign takeovers
Sigh. Here's an example of poor/manipulative rhetoric. How can Mr. Atamanenko's encouraging people to support a perfectly sensible piece of legislation be considered 'complaining' and 'doing nothing'?
As 'oasis' notes, Mr. HIll's two examples of Canadian success stories have no bearing at all on what Mr. Atamanenko is writing about here. Given candidate Hill's own involvement in the Midway Mill venture, it's not hard to see where this is all coming from: he is attempting to portray the NDP MP as a 'whiner' while building himself, in contrast, up as a 'doer'.
If Mr. Hill wants to tout his own achievements, he should do so--but not by attacking others. It's not very 'statesmanlike'.
As for demands for stopping 'complaining' in this 'great country', I'd hope that a candidate for federal office would A) actually be able to engage his opponent's points and B) not stoop to name-calling and silly patriotic appeals.
This smacks of American Fox News-style politics. And here in the Kootenays! Not a great fit.
All candidates have a responsibility to engage one another rationally and politely: (it's called 'civil discourse'). Neither of those responsiblities are being met by Mr. Hill in his comment.
Our political life is becoming more and more degraded every year. Increasingly, candidates, fail to engage each other and stoop to insults in lieu of honest discussion and debate. The result? Less and less interest in voting bon the part of a jaded and bored population. Is this what we want?
We should be able to do better. I encourage all candidates to stick to solid and rational arguments.
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Blood pool a concern to cops
As an addendum, this behaviour wwas not without consequences - the vehicle was towed, at considerable expense to the owner, who was also ticketed for camping in a public parking lot. Fire department hoses were required to pressure-wash the blood away, for which the owner was also charged.
At the end of the day, the price tag for this ended up being well in excess of $500.
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Fox News North – Not! Savour the victory
And thanks to Gravity for alerting us of the Avaaz campaign!
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ATAMANENKO: Private member's bill would prevent job-killing foreign takeovers
He was not talking about limiting Canadian take overs of foreign companies, so why do you even mention that? He was talking about having normal control over takeovers of Canadian companies, which is happening so rapidly that we will lose control over our own country soon. Having foreign companies come in and take over Canadian companies and drive down wages or shut them down completely does not build a great country, it does the opposite. We used to have a merchant navy once, we used to have an agricultural machinery industry, we should have had our own auto industry, like any other industrial country does. We could have had an decent aerospace industry too, but all we get is a branch plant mentality, and sell out our sovereignty. And you want to continue the selling out of Canada? How about working to build Canadian industry? Isn't that a hundred times more worthwhile?
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ATAMANENKO: Private member's bill would prevent job-killing foreign takeovers
Alex Why do you keep complaining and continue to do nothing? A Canadian company just purchased the Midway Mill from a US company; sounds like a good thing to me. Sun-Rype Juice just purchased a large juice company in Washington state; sounds like a good thing to me. In fact, thousands of Canadian companies purchase thousands of foreign companies every year. In fact, our Canadian companies who expand outside of Canada do quite well. In fact, these Canadian companies do not need your help or that of the NDP. Alex stop complaining and get out there and do something to help build this great country. Stephen Hill Federal Conservative Candidate
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Castlegar hosts food sovereignty event
My feeling is that our MP, Alex Atamanenko is actively enchanged in the broad spectrum of issues that affect everyone in the this Riding ( & beyond). His positions are well researched and his depth of public consultation and discussion are quite extaordinary. In my view, his Parliamentary positions are values-based and politically well-balanced. I welcome Mr. Hill's desire to engage in political discussion of the issues which face us all, and would respectfully inquire what his 'Job Creation' platform has to offer to the region, that has not already been seen before or tried. ...and, for that matter, given that the United Nations announced today that 22 nations are facing a Food Security challenge ... what does Mr. Hill propose to keep Canada and Kootenay's from joining that list. Thank you Mr. Hill, Let's have more new good ideas on the table for discussion and action. Raymond Koehler 619 - 9th Avenue, Castlegar, BC V1N 1M5 250.304.2157
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Midway mill to re-open within six months
I am humbled by all the support shown last night by all those who attended the Mill announcement. It was overwhelming to see such a large crowd and I was completly taken by surprise. You should all be proud of the leadership shown by your community leaders. Randy & Colleen and their respective councils went above and beyond the call of duty. It has been a privilege to assit in this project! Thank you! Stephen Hill Federal Conservative Candidate
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Castlegar hosts food sovereignty event
Alex may be travelling the country to protect your food, however, I am planning to stay right here in our riding to create jobs so you can actually afford to buy food. The choice is clear, you decide? Stephen Hill Federal Conservative Candidate
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Indigo’s “For the Love of Indigo” school library fundraising campaign
As a bitter former Crapters - oops! Chapters - employee, I have to say that this initiative is indicative of their, in my opinion, ridiculous marketing strategies that in the end cost the company nothing but makes their bottom line look good. As is typical of corporations, this "For the Love of Reading" is not being done for altruistic reasons; it's another Heather Reisman scheme to make herself look like a hero, something I have to say she did quite a bit of when I worked for the company. (And DO NOT get me started on the iRewards program!)
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Don't give Canada a Security Council seat
If there is any one myth that is the basis of Canada's collective pride, it is that about our roles a international peace-kepers. It's touted again and again as indicative of Canada's core values.
If only it were so.
The UN is an American invention, and the Security Council is the means by which to bypass what is otherwise supposed to be an international decision-making process. The UN is designed and created to largely serve American interests, through the Security Council which they dominate.
In fact, the entire process of Western-based geo-political control is a coordinated effort headed by the Americans, but of which the Canadians serve a very important part. And fostering the delusion of Canada as peace-keeper has been an essential part of a charade used most often to help cover American activities.
This is all brilliantly revealed in Yves Engler's The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy. Here is an enlightening quote he provides, with former PM Chretien telling Bill Clinton:
"Keeping some distance will be good for both of us. If we look as though we're the fifty-first state of the United States, there's nothing we can do for you internationally. But if we look independent enough, we can do things for you that even the CIA cannot do." -
OP/ED: Bylaws that don't bite don't work
Don't forget that Council was ready to create a bylaw against bow hunting in town just because ONE person complained about seeing a deer shot with an arrow. Thank goodness the RCMP stepped up and informed council that this crime was already covered by other laws and a new one was quite redundant. At least Councilor Davies, who voted no, could see that this was going to pit neighbour against neighbour whereas Councilor Roberts, who also voted no, didn't want to have to stop feeding "his" deer.
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Carole James courts the carpetbaggers
This from Murray Dobbin:
I recently blogged very critically about BC NDP leader Carole James addressing a business audience in Vancouver and in the course of it took liberties which I don’t usually take. Blogging has a way of subtly lowering journalistic standards, something that as a journalist I have to be acutely aware of. I described a conversation between Glen Clark and Jimmy Pattison (his boss) in which I claimed Pattison came away very unimpressed from a meeting with Carole James. Even apparently impeccable sources need to be checked and I didn’t check mine.
Glen Clark, who I have always thought might have been the best premier the province ever had, wrote me about the blog. He said, in part:
“Frankly, I’m disappointed and dismayed at the entire article. Seems to me that the NDP has enough critics without someone from the Left stooping to use unfounded gossip to criticize the leader. For the record, your suggestion that Jim Pattison and I had a conversation regarding a Carole James visit is incorrect. Comments attributed to him and to me are incorrect. Finally, I attended the ‘Leader’s Levee’ last weekend and I thought Carole’s speech was delivered superbly (best I have seen) and the content was perfect for the audience.”
Mea culpa.
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OP/ED: Bylaws that don't bite don't work
Great points. My opinon of the City is they are all bark and no bite. In order to have bylaws they need to be investigated and dealt with. The city doesn't do anything to be perfectly honest. About this so called deer issue my question is why can't home owners deal with the situation themselves? A home owner has the right to protect themselves and their property from criminals, if a deer starts destroying their property I don't see how thats any different. We have built fencing and everything else to keep the deer out it doesn't matter they just destroy the fence to get in anyway now I am leaning towards a more serious response.... if the city can't deal with it then what other choice do I have. As for the water issue you talked about the same thing that happened to me of course they couldn't tell me when I had my sprinkler on. I basically told him until they could tell anything to get lost and quit wasting my time.
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Midway mill fails to sell at auction
Well another opportunity for economic development will soon be history when the Midway Mill is gone. If we had a economic plan within the RDKB that could see long term instead of only being concerned with issues surrounding garbage, the potential of this site would be seen as a catalyst of helping small businesses that cannot afford the start up costs of building a place to do their business from, get going. In the long run if they are successful they could be offered the portion of the mill they were using at market value. Investing in ourselves is not a RDKB nor a Boundary trait, So no doubt this valuable piece of the Boundary economic puzzle will soon end up in the hands of a forgien company that could care less about the Boundary.
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Do we need a Police State Watch?
Here's a post from Murrany Dobbin's blog in response to his most recent column in our newspapers:
I received an interesting call and subsequent email from the Criminal Justice Branch of the BC government yesterday regarding my blog “Police State Watch?” Neil Mackenzie, Communications Counsel for the branch, was objecting to the content of the blog because, he said, the Attorney General had never intended to ask for an increase in the sentence handed down to Betty Krawczyk.
My blog – and other efforts to expose the issue – resulted, according to Mackenzie, “…in abuse being directed at the prosecutor with conduct of the case, and unwarranted attacks on his professionalism.”
He added:
“The Crown has also not equated the facts of Ms. Krawcyk’s case with cases involving sexual offenders. While making submissions to a Court the Crown may refer to cases for the legal principles they set out. That does not mean that the Crown equates the background facts of those cases with the case before the Court. In the context of Ms Krawczyk’s appeal, the Crown is not analogizing acts of civil disobedience with sexual offences.”
The sentence in question has, in fact, already been served, (the case involved the destruction of West Vancouver’s Eagleridge Bluffs in widening the Sea to Sky highway) but Krawczyk wanted to make the point that in sentencing her, the judge erred in law (S. 787 of the Criminal Code) by sentencing her to ten months when the law says six months is the maximum for anyone convicted under the summary process used in her trial.
While it is true that the AG’s department was not actively seeking an increase in the sentence the material cited in the blog and in the action alert was indeed part of the crown’s submission to the court. According to Ms Krawczyk:
“Mr. Brundrett, [the prosecutor] in his reply to the Court while he simply asked for my appeal to be quashed also submitted to the Court that in the event the Court decided to change the sentence that it should be elevated upward. And to guide the Court in their thinking on the matter submitted two cases Mr Brundrett thought were similar and should be applied to me. Both were violent repeated pedophiles who attacked their own children.”
Were there no other cases Mr. Brundrett could have cited to highlight “legal principles”? Mr MacKenzie claims the two cases are often used in sentence appeal situations.
Betty Krawczyk pointed out in an email to me that Mr. Brundrett, in the sentencing part of his submission, “underscored” the life sentence possibility. She summarized the effect of the crown’s submission:
“The Attorney General has accomplished two things; first, equated my repeated infractions of the law in defence of the environment for future generations to the diseased minds of pedophiles who rape their very young children …and invited the Court to consider because I am a repeat offender that I should also be declared a dangerous offender and possibly be put away for life.”
I have no comment on Mr. Brundrett’s professionalism. But the crown’s submission strikes me as highly political. It also seems obvious that the prosecutor and the AG’s department should have known that in reading the crown’s submission to the court before trial, Ms Krawczyk and her supporters reasonably assumed that the government might indeed press for an increase in the sentence. If not, why include the material at all?
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One week left to help stop Fox TV North
Adrian, are you aware of the organization called AVAAZ These guys are great at exposing injustices and influencing decisions around the world through online petitions and fund raising. Governments hate the organization for the reasons above. They did a petition to prevent Quebecor from receiving special treatment in their application for the television license and gathered 80,000 signatures in less than a week. At the same time they they raised over $100,000. to fight this battle. There is a lot of passion in Canada over this issue. I encourage everyone to google Avaaz, find their website and sign their petition, as well as check out the other issues they are supporting.
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One week left to help stop Fox TV North
OMG. How frightening is this? I just signed the letter & sent it off. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Adrian.
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Pesticide-icide? Council hears call for ban
JESS99 IF YOU READ THE ARTICLE REDSTONE STATES THAT YES THEY DO USE PESTICIDES SEVERAL TIMES PER YEAR AND THEY ARE AGAINST AN OUTRIGHT BAN OF PESTICIDES. IF THE TRAIL COURSE DID NOT USE PESTICIDES THEN I BELIEVE THAT THEY WOULD ADVERTISE IT. RED MOUNTAIN WAS TALKING ABOUT A GREEN GOLF COURSE BUT THAT WAS IN THE WATERSHED AND IS NOT BEING BUILT NOW. THERE ARE MANY GREEN COURSES IN THE US AND IN CANADA. PRESSURE FROM THE COMMUNITY HAS CHANGED THINGS IN THE PAST.
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Bruins look like a new team in their opening game
You make some good points "Reality Check" however you have to keep in mind several things. First and foremost, I do not know how involved you are in Minor Hockey, but if you were you would know that not all the local kids are good enough to play at that level of hockey. It is not Midget hockey. There is a big step in between. Also, a good number of the kids in this communtiy that may be good enough do not want to take the next step, and that is quite alright aswell. They rather be the goal-a-game player in Midget, instead of playing limited minutes at the junior level. And without going to much further, Grand Forks Minor Hockey has not always had "Rep" Hockey and that plays a big role in player development. If a local player has the skills to play at the junior level but has never taken a hit, it puts the player and the team at risk. If a child does not know how to administer a check or recieve a check, he should not be in a league with checking. Simple as that. All in all, what I am getting at here is that the Border Bruins and the other 90% of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League who don't carry any hometown talent, would want to in the opportuinty existed. Why wouldn't they? It would make no sense not to. So, to anyone out there who believes that the Border Bruins are intentionally not accepting local talent, run for the board. It is a community owned team that is run by a board of volunteers. Go to their AGM and be nominated. Be the difference you want to see. Anyways, just my two bits.
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Sun/Province: a loss of trust
I know I sound like a broken record (in the age of iPods, no less), but this sort of thing is the inevitable outcome of 'print's death throes'.
As print papers, try to survive, we see ownership concentrated into fewer and fewer corporate hands (Five towns in the WK/B with one print paper each--all five now owned by Black Press) and these corporations more and more willing to abandon real news for whatever sells an ad. (Editorial content? Forget it! It might annoy an advertiser!)
Let's not forget that the newspaper is a two-headed beast. It's a business AND it's a public service that's essential to any functioning democracy. I think of these twin aspects as 'church' and 'state'. They are both important, but they MUST be kept separate.
That this is no longer possible in the print world is yet another argument for the consigning of print newspapers to the landfill of history.
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Pesticide-icide? Council hears call for ban
I was researching the area considering moving there and found this article. Many other areas have banned pesticide use long ago and I was surprised that Rossland still allowed it. http://www.toxicsinfo.org/Lawn/Pesticides%20&%20Cancer.htm "A University of Iowa study found that working as a golf superintendent significantly increased one’s risk of getting non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, brain cancer, lung cancer, large intestine cancer, and prostrate cancer. Other experts are starting to find that golfers, and non-golfers who live near golf courses, are experiencing similar health problems." Does redstone golf course use pestides? Does the Trail golf course use pesticides?
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Midway mill fails to sell at auction
According to the auctioneers, the deal pending for the entire millsite has fallen through and the auction for the individual pieces of equipment and property will take place on Oct. 27 and 28, 2010.
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Bruins look like a new team in their opening game
I love sports, especially watching young Boundary athletes give it their best try, but the Boreing Bruins are not showing a new face this year, they are still losing with out of town talent, talent being a word I use sparingly. I would rather see a team of local lads out there losing than the non-local team we have now. When you are not winning you should at least be learning. so how many more seasons of Bruising Bruin Hockey do we need to endure to learn that we could be supporting local youth and losing and at least getting local youth some life experience that may lead to unexpected good results. I am old enough to recall when the Border Bruins cut Kevin Sawyer, who went on to play in Spokane and the NHL. Get local Bruins if you want my support.
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Bear attack on Red: dog takes brunt, woman escapes
And of course you have no epic wildlife shots, right? :P
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Bear attack on Red: dog takes brunt, woman escapes
I run up Redhead pretty regularly and I have seen this bear, right near where this encounter happened (Poochies). The bear in question is very, shall we say, confident and doesn't leave its turf easily. Other friends have seem him/her as well and have had similar experiences. I suggest not running that part of Redhead for a couple of weeks...I know I'll be taking a break myself!