Me first , Good Morning Everyone have a great day!

Thanks acrider54! I will have a great day. I don’t care what anybody says.

Absolutely no sympathy for teachers here. Get to work like the rest of us have to!

How many are willing to bet we see gasoline hit $2 per litre by summer?

I don’t get it, why is it OK for school principles to get 23% wage increase over 4 years…but it’s not OK for teachers to ask for 15% over 3 years??

Ok, enough already with the robo-call scandal, it’s been reported, it’s been exposed, and it’s being investigaed. NOW it’s time for the MPs to get back onto things that really matter to Canadians.It would be nice to see them screaming as much about the plans to lower Canadian pensions as they do about robo-calls.

Looking forward to some warmer spring weather!

The robocall thing should be front and center in Parliament and in the news media until every facet of this deplorable third world type of manipulation of our electoral system has been thorough exposed, those responsible fined or jailed and in ridings with close election results NEW by-elections held.

To try and win a majority by all legal means is legal, but to win one by illegal means is illegal.

Keeping robocalling front and center only allows them to hide everything else they are doing…..and keep important issues out of the media. Honestly do you think Canadians are more concerned with election scandals or Harper cutting canada pensions??

I honestly can’t believe the Conservatives would be so stupid as to use illegal tactics that could so easily be traced right back to them.
Thank you to all the BC Teachers who do so much for our children. I support your efforts.

Great to see the kids backing the teachers. I hope the kids can now help us to organize a general strike in BC and that everyone goes on strike until A) These facist lieberals are forced to call an election.
B) Strike until the HST is extinquished and we get our exemptions back.
Keep up the strikes and we could force this despicable goverment out of office. They have absolutely ruined this province and need to be forced out NOW.

Why does it have to be an either/or choice regarding robocalls? There are enough MPs to keep that in the public eye and focus on everything else as well. That is what we pay MPs for, after all. That’s their job. Elections Canada must get to the bottom of the scandel and mandate by-elections where there is any possibility that the calls affected the election results, however remotely.

15% increase for teachers…

Sounds a bit rich if you ask me. Sure teachers do a valuable job. But let’s face it, they aren’t making minimum wage either. I think a modest increase of 1 – 2% per year makes a lot more sense. Compensate for things like certain increases in the cost of living, increased class size etc.

I think I read somewhere that the BC teachers are paid about the 4th highest in the country. Nobody says that we have to be first. So the 15% request sounds crazy. That is unless everybody wants to increase their provincial taxes 15% to pay for it. Somehow I doubt the general public are interested in paying another 15%.

Had hydro show up at my door this week to install the smart meter. I said I didn’t want it and they said ok and went away. I do fully expect at some later date I probably won’t have the option as long as I want power, but for now, those of you who don’t want it can say no to it. If you have gotten your letter in the mail saying you are on thier list but usually aren’t home during the day when they come by to change it, I would suggest having a note put on your hydro meter informing hydro you do not want the smart meter installed, until such time you know they have been there and gone. Have them initial the note when they have been there so you know they have come and gone.
Looking forward to spring, it looks more like winter now than it did a month ago when I thought winter was on the way out.

First off , kudos to the police across the province with 2 sizable drug busts . Second , I agree Teachers should get back to work. I have no sympathy for them. They make more than me and get the summer months and holidays off for the most part. I would love to have that much time available during the summer. I know that teaching is a tough job , but they made a choice to be a teacher and to be there for our kids. Simple solution teachers , if you are not happy in your career ,then change it.

RoboCalls arent necessarily illegal. This would be determined at a later date after they have an invegtigation. Furthermore I suspect that it would have to be proven that you stopped someone from voting.

SO. How many people here would take a call changing their polling station, go to the new station, find out it was the wrong station, and then not go to the right station and vote??? I certainly would excercise my right to vote, wouldnt you?? So other that an inconvenience, whats the crime???

I dont beleive the Conservatives are as stupid as the opposition make them out to be.

Ammonra:”Why does it have to be an either/or choice regarding robocalls? There are enough MPs to keep that in the public eye and focus on everything else as well. That is what we pay MPs for, after all. That’s their job. Elections Canada must get to the bottom of the scandel and mandate by-elections where there is any possibility that the calls affected the election results, however remotely.”

Well said! Canada sends observers all over the world to keep an eye on the elections in countries which have a record of rigging elections! Canada must make sure that elections in Canada are 100% above board and reliable! This is (in my opinion) one of the most serious scandals which have surfaced in Canada in a very long time!

If we don’t have 100% fair and honest elections our democracy is a joke!

Hopefully your view on it palopu isn’t in the majority or our democratic system is definately in more trouble than people thought.

A little closer to home. As you drive around town on your atrocious roads, reflect on the following expenditures on River Road.

2010. $3.75 Million from the Feds and $3.50 Million from PG Taxpayers, Plus $280,000.00 per year for 20 years for interest on loan. This money was used to upgrade River Road to the 200 year flood level,install drainage, and minimize flooding.

2012. $5.4 Million from the Feds/Prov. $3.78 Million from taxpayers, $2.5 Million from Land Reserve Fund. Plus $280,000.00 per year for 20 years for interest on loan. To install a diking system and **you guessed it** minimize flooding.

Total expenditures on 3.5 kilometres of road to date. $18.9 Million, plus interest on two loans approx $10 Million dollars.

So, its these types of expenditures that keep us broke, and doesnt allow for us to get any money spent on roads, garbage, snow, etc;

Since when do local taxpayers have to pick up the tab for mitigating flooding on a Federal Railway (CN Rail) or for other industry for locating in a flood zone??

This is more about spending federal grant money, than it is about minimizing flooding.

PS. If you block the water from going into Lakeland, or the CN yards, or the East End of 1st,2nd, 3rd, 4th Avenue, as it has in the past, then where does it go/?? West, and North would be my guess.

mwk instead of I heard that B.C.’s teachers are the 4th highest in Canada why don’t you go look.

http://www.nucleuslearning.com/content/canadian-teacher-salary-rankings-provinces-and-territories

The highest taxed provinces have the lowest teacher salary. What’s up with that?

I don’t think the teachers are asking for 15% up front, I think it’s over 5 years (not 100% sure). They rank 9th in Canada for pay.

It’s not only the money they are asking for but for proper class sizes.

BC Government wants this province to be the best – so why not have the best school system in Canada? Start with the teachers – they are the ones teaching our kids – the future of this province. If the teachers have oversized classrooms/more students that require special attention but don’t have the assistance – then it’s the kids that start to lose out on a quality education.

Canada starts here?

Spend millions/billions on projects that we didn’t have the money for and now we have to make sacrifices on education and health.

Start at the top – take away the ridiculous MLA pay and pension/severance.

Tax the proposed pipelines – that would put money in the bank.

I dont condone the RoboCalls. Im just saying that one would have to prove that they were illegal, and of course find those responsible.

Robocalls are used by all parties during elections. Its just the nature of the calls in this case, might be proven to be illegal. The key word here is **might**

Companies phone me on my home phone and cell phone and tell me that I have won money, or a trip, or some other hairbrained scheme. These calls should be illegal. Especially those on my cell as they cost me money. Most of these calls are **robocalls**

It is 15% over three years broken down as follows Year 1: 3% Cost of living increase, Year 2: 3% Cost of living increase and 3% pay increase (actual raise) and the same in year #3. According to what I have read, they are the 9th lowest in Canada. They are actually looking for a 6% raise in spending power of their wage. With 1-2% due to inflation they loose spending power. I wish they would publish their other demands/requests. I can’t find them anywhere.

Sorry the 1-2% is in reference to mwk’s suggested raise.

If a few by elections are called as a result of the robo calls and Harper loses his majority it is a big plus for the Canadian citizen. A minority gov’t means all parties have to work together and the gov’t in power can not push through their agenda simply because they have a majority of the seats in parliament.
As it stands right now the conservatives will push through the oil pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat no matter what the outcome of the inquiry or the desire of the people of BC. The pipeline would not be such a done deal if Harper had a minority Gov’t.

These are the teacher’s demands that I (and a lot of other strapped taxpayers) object to:

(NB this list is from the fall; I have been unable to determine if any of these demands have been altered or rescinded.)

——
Doubling high school prep time from one spare per rotation to two; and increasing elementary prep time from 90 minutes per week to 357. Plus: two days off to write report cards, plus one hour off per individual student interim report.

Up to 10 days off for the death of any friend or relative—plus two days more if travel is involved.

Sick leave provisions for Teachers On Call.

Up to 26 weeks of fully paid leave per year to provide direct or indirect compaasionate care to any person.

Eight days off a year whenever a teacher wants.

Topping up parental and maternity leave to allow up to 5 years of leave per child.

5 more days off for professional development, at teacher’s discretion.

Up to five days off a year to care for their child or any other person.

Unlimited leave for teachers for union business.

Benefits upgrades—fully pay MSP, extended health and dental, applying to all teachers (no matter how many hours they work).

Employer pays all professional fees.

A number of changes to Teacher On Call pay, including paying them $2,200 per month whether they work or not.

Retirement bonus of 5% a year to any teacher with 10 years or more service at age 55.

The problem is that SOME teachers are already overpaid.

Top teacher making $80k in 10 months. Thats $96k annualized (if you cant figure out that calculation then your teachers got paid too much).

I had bad teachers and good ones. But the union insists they be compensated on seniority not merit. So bad teachers and good teachers get paid the same.

What we really need is an innovative way to evaluate “good” and “bad” teachers, but off course unions dont believe in that. And thats why we all know that unions dont really care about the students, they care about union dues.

Drivers obey the road signs! If it is a Yield, You have to yield to the traffic that is coming off the highway. Even if it means you sit there for 10 min.!
To the school bus driver, people are behind you, you cannot let people in from the yield side when there are cars behind you!
Diversified you need to tell your drivers to look in their mirrors!

Hi Pal. Saw you at the Mall the other day I waved at you but I guess you didnt see me.

Our right wing governments are actually corrupt. What they are trying to do is feed their friends with government contracts in the guise of driving the economy with tax dollars. Why else would the Federal Government and Provincial be giving all these dollars to our friends at City Hall.

The fiberals have all these run of the river projects going be cause they tell us we need the power when it is actually exported . But in reality this creates a demand for power and gives them the excuse to raise the rates for the consumers in our province..

At City Hall we have the same story. Senior levels (right wing) feed the local contractors and then raise our taxes for additional funding for their friends. In our free enterprise system this would not work as it depends on supply and demand.

And if we think our gas prices are to high Waite until this Enbridge project gets going. Our corporations will be laughing all the way to the bank while we are being gouged .
Cheers

Geez go to the source!

BCTF Proposals

http://www.bctf.ca/publications/NewsmagArticle.aspx?id=24151

“Up to 10 days off for the death of any friend or relative—plus two days more if travel is involved.”

No where does it say death of a friend! As far as I’m concerned their demands are reasonable.

Where did you get that info faxman? Post the link.

“The fiberals have all these run of the river projects going be cause they tell us we need the power when it is actually exported”

Sort of like wood ….. we really do not need the lumber and the pulp and the little pellets. Most of them are exported.

So is most of the oil, and so it is and will be more with natural gas as well. Oh, and then there was the grain …. and the potash ……

Come to think of it, we are overproducing all this “stuff” that we really do not need to overproduce.

Weird system someone created …… in fact, I think we used to overproduce Cod, and Beaver pelts ….. We sure did not need all that “stuff” ….. its the story of Canada ….. if there is an easy way to make money to buy all that other stuff that we do not know how to make economically, we put all our best effort into it ….. ;-)

I think California and Mexico overproduce strawberries.

“Up to 10 days off for the death of any friend or relative—plus two days more if travel is involved”

I have a friend in Nepal. Two days is not enough travel time.

“The pipeline would not be such a done deal if Harper had a minority Gov’t”

Actually it would not be a done deal if there was not so much oil in them tar sands. I doubt even the federal NDP would stop the pipeline.

Money talks …..

Here is something to think .

Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put thing in perspective and pay them for what they do – babysit! We can get that for minimum wage. That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:………00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan– that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!

The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!! Make a teacher smile; re-post this to show appreciation for all educators!

—

“Robocalls are used by all parties during elections. Its just the nature of the calls in this case, might be proven to be illegal. The key word here is **might**”

Diod you actually hear one of those calls. It was broadcast on the news the other day.

It starts of with “This is Elections Canada” …..

It was not “Elections Canada” of coure. No further info is needed in my mind to get them on an illegal call generated from someone other than “Elections Canada”.

“In 2002, now-premier Christy Clark, who was then the education minister, brought in legislation to strip teachers’ collective agreement of guarantees for smaller class sizes and services to students with special needs.”

“In April, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the B.C. government’s actions against teachers in 2002 were unconstitutional.”

Read the rest here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/01/17/bc-teachers-scale-back-_n_1211334.html

I am not sure who was hosting Ben Meiser’s show on the radio this a.m. but you were good. I wasn’t able to listen to the whole show (darn work gets in the way of that) but I did listen to the part of the show where you were talking to a man about special needs children and integration into the mainstream classroom. You made some wonderful points about why special needs children should be in mainstream classrooms.

What I wanted to say the most here though is that the man who spoke with you had a listening problem. I couldn’t believe how many times you (the host) said you weren’t talking about ESL students. He just didn’t listen to that and keep on about ESL students. Buddy, learn to listen effectively before you engage in an argument. It will make you sound smarter. Believe me, you didn’t come across very well because you weren’t listening. You had some valid points too but your listening skills sucked.

I sure hope the NDP wins the next election, then maybe people will be reminded why we voted them out last time

Ah yay, Friday is here and thank you to the person who trashed my bumper and drove off.

Karma is a you know what!

You need a link No Way? Here you go:

http://www.google.ca

Try avoiding those site with an obvious bias and you’ll do fine.

“Karma is a you know what!”

No I don’t, because it doesn’t exist. Sucks about your bumper.

http://princegeorge.ca/cityhall/mayorcouncil/councilagendasminutes/agendas/2012/2012_03_05/documents/Deleg_CANFOR_ppt.pdf

Canfor and the BID Group of Companies are making a presentation to Council on Monday to promote their idea of developing a trades school at the closed Rustad Mill location.

I think rather than developing a specialized tradeschool that is very industry specific, they should be looking at private industry models in both Europe and Asia to develop a trades school for one or more related insustries.

As an aside, it is a good location since students can begin to get acclimatized to the poor air quality in that part of town.

Karma is like money. If people believe in it, it exists. As soon as they lose faith in it, it disappears.

Beware smart meters. I came home to a note that mine had been changed. Then I started having partial power outages. Hydro denied any fault after two days of calling them. A friend came and checked the meter and power was arking inside it and the meter was hot. Had Hydro and an electrician come to repair, and they confirmed that the damage was due to the meter replacement. Hydro says they don’t have to pay the repair bill because they contract the work out and the contractor says they don’t have to pay because I didn’t give them the option to come fix it.
My house could have caught fire, I have kids.

Re Teachers: 10 Days for 1 friend 20 Days for 2 ? Take as many Days as you want , not paid is fine with me.

hhhhhhmmmmm, I would be pursuing that with Hydro. If it was put in by their request, they have to deal with the contractor who failed while putting it in. I would keep after Hydro and go the media if you need to. That should make Hydro do something.

That’s very scary that the meter was hot. I will be checking mine when I get home.

LOL Outwest – that reminds me of about 15 years ago when the “family day” came in and you could take a day of without pay, by labour law. I told that to my then boss and he said “who cares? You can take all the days off you want without pay”

The question is, whose meter is it?

The homeowner’s? no!

The contractor’s? no!

Hydro’s? yes!

When hydro, or their agent/contractor installs something on your property, they have to save you harmless. They did not.

You had a legitimate concern. They did not respond by saying they will come to have a look at it in a timely fashion. You have no standing with their contractor.

You do have a written or implied agreement with Hydro that they will supply you with reasonably safe and uninterrupted hydro service in return for paying for that service.

You have no option of installing your won meter or connecting to the Hydro grid yourself. Hydro has that responsibility.

Try Hydro upper management, the ombudsman’s office, BC Utilities Commission.

This might be a glitch that has happened more than once.

Thanks Faxman. I never thought to use google.

hhhhhmmmm I guess you should of phoned the number on the note.

A Dept. at the Univerisity is doing a survey to determin if Prince George Residents want a safe injection site. They are doing the survey in the wrong areas of the City, like the Hart highway. They should be asking along with the question do we want this site? if you do where do you think it should be located?? I don’t want in the area where I live. We have Needles on Wheels driving around delivering Needles and Condoms in our area now ,to who knows who, maybe even drug dealers. This Gas Guzzling Van with two people in it being paid by Nothern Health should not be in any Residential Area.I do not agree with my hard earned money being spent on this Van. With Prince George offering more and more services to drug dealers and drug addicts, who do you think we are bringing into our City??I know Murray K. has big plans for a Big Center for these problem people ,like the Needle Exchange, Needle Injection Site,and a big coffee house like the tax payer funded fire pit to be in one place,that would sure clean up the Downtown. Do not even think about putting this Center in a Residential Area. We have had enough.

NoWay – if Hydro had of told me that that’s what i was to do, any of the 5 or 6 times i called them, then I would of. Unfortunately, I did not keep the note on the door. I don’t keep every receipt or flyer that comes in the mail either. I would be over-run with paper. Hydro, who is responsible for electricity, should have either advised me or done so themselves. They need to take responsibility for a program that they have put into motion without giving the homeowner any other options.
Enough said. I didn’t post on her to complain or be judged, I just wanted people to be aware that Hydro admits that frequently when the meter is replaced with the smart meter, damage is done. So be aware of your meter and any electrical problems that start occurring. Mine started with light bulbs burning out at a rapid rate. Pretty harmless until your house catches fire.

Palopu: “These calls should be illegal. Especially those on my cell as they cost me money. Most of these calls are **robocalls**”

Have you ever heard of the Canadian No Call List? Just note the time of day, the phone number (if there is one on your call ID) and any conversion – then go online and fill in the report.

After that the robocaller will be fined if he/she/it calls you again! The robocaller would be doing something illegal!

Trying to sell you some goofy product by robocall certainly isn’t the same as attempting to defraud you of your opportunity to vote by trying to steer you to a non-existing polling station!

Run of the river plants and windgeneraters are subsidized with taxpayer money. Hydro is also forced to buy the power at a higher rate than what it can be sold for. Lots of fiberal connections in this money making scam. That is why power rates are going up, not so much system upgrades, that is just a cover. Also site C has to be built to increase base load to cover when the rivers and stream have reduced flow, thus reduced generation and when the wind don’t blow.

So the taxpayer gets a double hit, paying for private plants and site C.

Hammy -Drivers obey the road signs! If it is a Yield, You have to yield to the traffic that is coming off the highway. Even if it means you sit there for 10 min.!
To the school bus driver, people are behind you, you cannot let people in from the yield side when there are cars behind you! Diversified you need to tell your drivers to look in their mirrors!

Call the bus company with the time and bus number or liscense plate #.

Signing up for the do not call list is not a good idea. It might keep the Canadian companies from calling but the yankee telemarketers snap up this file as nice list of valid phone numbers. I know people who have signed up and now most of the calls are coming from south of the border.

Just because a phone is ringing it does not mean you have to pick it up. Use call display to screen calls. If you don’t know anyone in Iowa or PEI, chances are it is a spam call.

I support Teachers because a teacher supported me.

I can read because a teacher supported me.

I can write and type because a teacher supported me.

I can think critically because a teacher supported me.

I graduated high school because a teacher supported me.

I got my first job because a teacher supported me and provided me with skills I needed to create a resume.

I am a tax payer because a teacher supported me.

I vote because a teacher supported me and taught me about Canadian government.

I am a productive member of society because a teacher supported me.

Now is time to reciprocate.

I support a teacher.

I think its unfortunate that our Prime Minister allowed a war criminal into the country today to talk war conference, and how best to have Canada eagerly contribute to the belligerence in the Middle East.

I also think the most dangerously evil man in the world today is the Israeli Prime Minister. One just has to look at Lebanon, Gaza, the plight of Palestinians under Israeli control, the push for war with Iran, the hidden nuclear weapons program in Israel, the undeclared boarders, the sheltering of globalized financial criminals, the foreign assassination program, the interference in Western democracies, and the involvement in 9/11 to realize who is truly the most dangerously evil man in the world today.

Lots of people can be evil, but only so many can be dangerously evil. Tonight the most dangerously evil man in the world is being dinned by our government with a state dinner and access to all levels of our government.

I support teachers because I pay their wages, and benefits through my taxes. This allows them to work for a living the same as other people, plus gives them some benefits, and allows them to buy a home, cars, etc;

If teachers do not like the wages and benefits that they are receving then of course they can move on to something more to their liking.

A teachers job is just that **a job**. Same as any other job. They work for the money the same as everyone else. Lets not give them more credit than is their due.

“Signing up for the do not call list is not a good idea.”

It worked very well for me! I used to get a dozen calls a week to my unlisted number. I reported them all. Now it happens maybe once a month. If there is an actual person I tell them that I will report them as soon as I hang up. And I do!

I take the time and make the effort to blacklist them on the Canadian Do Not Call List.

For me it has worked very well!

Rosebud.
That is an excellent post. Thank you for sharing.

**In order for a Judge to declare an election result null and void, a Canadian citizen would have to convince him or her that irregularities, fraud, or corrupt practices affected the result of the election**

The above is my point. Just because you received a call stating **This is Election Canada** doesnt make it Election Canada.

If you went to the wrong poll, but by the end of the day you still voted, then the result of the election was not affected.

Individuals have a responsibility to separate the wheat from the chaff. I myself beleive very little that comes out of the mouth of a politician, or anyone connected with a political party, especially during an election.

Harper states that the RoboCall situation is part of a Liberal smear campaign. It could be, who the hell knows. In any event, elections Canada started an investigation sometime last year, so in effect this is old news, which the Liberals and NDP are trying to get some traction from.

Lots of luck.

“Harper states that the RoboCall situation is part of a Liberal smear campaign. It could be, who the hell knows”

Huh? Why in the world would the Liberals undertake something that would result in them receiving fewer votes? Yeah, that makes allot of sense. That is probably one of the most unbelievable and ridiculous statements I’ve ever heard in my life, LOL.

Okay I am showing my age, but didn’t it use to be illegal to advertise on election day. I got a call from the Conseratives on election day (I guess now a robocall) and I told them that they had no right calling me and hung up. I would not have matter what party called I do not thing it is right.

Good night everybody, it is 11:22 PM in Oilberta. Time for some shut eye! Have a great weekend everybody.

Plus 10 for Sunday in Calgary….(the weather man says)

“Just because you received a call stating **This is Election Canada** doesnt make it Election Canada.”

So, what is your point?

If a call states it is “Elections Canada” and it is not “Elections Canada”. It is a fraudulent call, no matter what the content of the call is. That is a punishable offence. If not nipped in the bud, we are in deep chit in this country.

http://www.canada.com/Elections+Canada+investigating+robocalls+that+misled+voters/6194195/story.html

“Elections Canada has traced FRAUDULENT phone calls made during the federal election” ….

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1139677–does-elections-canada-have-the-clout-to-enforce-laws

Snow… snow … snow