“We are about to find out that economics and finance has a far bigger impact on your life than politics, and if you don’t believe me let me finish with a very clear declaration, and hold me to this, come back at me years in the future.

The sovereign debt problems along with the costs of an aging population are going to revamp society in the most profound way, and the part that worries me, that includes violent social unrest, and those who don’t understand it are just going to be road kill along the way.”

Michael Campbell (the brother of former B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell) made the above statement on his “Money Talks” radio show last Saturday on radio station CKNW in Vancouver, B.C.

If anyone wishes to listen to these words for themselves click on the following link to CKNW’s audio vault, enter March 24 in the date drop down box, 8:00 AM in the time drop down box and then click on “listen”. When the audio starts to play, move the slider ahead to 39 minutes and 30 seconds to hear the quote. (Put your mouse on the bar just above the “listen” tab, click the mouse, hold it down and then slide the pointer ahead on the bar. You have to release the mouse to see where you are, and then repeat the process again once or twice to get to the 39 minutes and 30 seconds mark.) You do not have to register on the website to use the audio vault. It is strictly click and play. CKNW’s audio vault stores program audio for a period of 30 days.

http://www.cknw.com/other/audiovault.html

A few months back we had the director of CSIS telling Canadians that we had a problem with Canadian politicians being bought by foreign governments… one has to wonder if he was talking about the Gateway proponents? The list just seems to grow how far the Harper government and our political system will bend and compromise Canadian interests to suit the Enbridge Gateway pipeline.

What we know is that the Chinese put up $100 million for Enbridge to get the Gateway project through its approval process. We also know that Enbridge CEO as recently as yesterday said the primary reason for Gateway is to bring the price up for Alberta oil sands oil to world market rates as opposed to the discounted North American rates. It has nothing to do with improving affordability and access for Canadians to our natural resources for domestic consumption. The stated goals by Enbridge have nothing to do with creating affordable cost efficiencies or advantages for Canadian energy users, as all the increased revenue is for the multinational oil companies at the greater expense for Canadian consumers.

So we have a Harper government that is willing to label those that will live with the consequences of a major spill as domestic terrorists that are foreign funded if we oppose the project… they have stripped the Fisheries Act so as to make it the onus of opponents as opposed to the project proponents when protecting waterways and remote streams giving Gateway a green light for nearly 1000 stream and river crossings in BC, gave the green light for tanker traffic off of BC’s coast, harmonized the environmental review process to a single process making it retroactive specifically for Gateway, opened up foreign ownership of oil sands development and speculation through world markets of Canadian energy resource needs, and fixed the immigration rules to ensure these projects are staffed with foreign workers working under foreign labor rules of host companies with limited rights in Canada undermining Canadian wage and work safety standards.

We also know that influential conservative politicians like the former mayor of PG ($80,000 per year) have had lucrative contracts to lobby for the Chinese Gateway project… and those that oppose like MP Nathen Cullen who represents the most sensitive region of the proposed project get the forearm shiv from the review panel as his input being iirrelevant to their process. So how far would the Chinese be willing to go to see that politics in Canada is influenced sufficiently to game theory their project through to approval… we know China can infiltrate through espionage even the most secure computers at NASA, the pentagon, and fortune 500 companies… we know China has no qualms about influencing politics in other countries they do business, so why not Canada? Who’s to say they don’t fund robo calls to put conservatives over the top, or denial of service requests to block their main opponent from a leadership position in the official opposition, possibly hacking the vote itself? It would be good business on their part with little on the down side, but for Canadians it brings questions of grave concerns for our democracy, or sovereignty, and our strategic future for our country as a whole.

For me I see far too many coincidences in how nothing is sacred when it comes to pushing through Gateway… not our national energy policy for domestic markets, our right to protest, our environment, our rivers and coast, nor even the allegiance and sanctity of our political class. We could use a judicial inquiry into how Gateway has bought our politicians IMO.

Is this globalism and the new ‘enlightened sovereignty’ Harper keeps talking about… if so what does it mean for Canada’s future?

Charles the problem is that its not the working class and small business class that created the structural flaws that will bring the system down… its the ill gotten gains of the financial world in their greed and lust for power that pervert capitalism, markets, and regulations to turn sound theory into ponzi schemes where only they benefit.

Of course there will be social unrest as people begin to feel the impacts of all this corrupt activity and become aware what has been happening behind the curtains.

IMHO

The real difference between us and the Northern Europeans and the demoncratic Asians is that none of us want to make sacrifices. That includes the middle class.

We all want to vote for the NDP because they promise to give us free stuff. They promise higher wages and better benefits and more social spending.

But none of us asks where this money is supposed to come from.

So next time you think that the NDP and their magic beans is the answer look at your son/daughter/niece/nephew/little sister/brother and ask yourself if its fair for us to burry them in debt before they even have a chance.

We cant be happy that the boomers did it to use, so why do we think its okay to do it to them?

“The real difference between us and the Northern Europeans and the demoncratic Asians is that none of us want to make sacrifices. That includes the middle class”

Can’t disagree with you at all.

“Magic beans”!? Kinda like how the Fiberals have hidden $99.8 BILLION of debt away from scrutiny under the heading “contractual obligations.” Smoke & mirrors will not hide how these bozos royally screwed your sons & daughters.

An interesting article here.
http://www.bluecanada.ca/topic/41914-violent-social-unrest
————————————–
“those who don’t understand it are just going to be road kill along the way.”

So does this fellow actually think that those who do understand it are not going to be roadkill?

Okay, so I do understand it. But there is nothing I can do about it. But it is good to know I am going to be spared because I understand it.

I mean, they are just hollier than thou, arrogant words.

“hold me to this, come back at me years in the future”

Totally meaningless phrase. If there is going to be violent social unrest in the future (as if that is not the steady state of the world) why would anyone be botherd coming back at this fellow? There would be other things more important than that I would think.

A useless figure of speech of sorts.

“none of us want to make sacrifices”

The very premise of advertising the “good life” and promoting the products which will give you that life, isn’t it?

So what is the opposite of Campbell’s copycat doomsayer’s prediction, or even vow?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203646004577213203698503484.html

From the above linked book review:
“Given that we are besieged by Christian end-times soothsayers, Mayan-calendar doomsayers, gloomy environmentalists and the warnings of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which just advanced its Doomsday clock to five minutes to midnight, how can anyone be optimistic? With seven billion people now pressing up against the Earth’s carrying capacity, certain problems can seem intractable. Isn’t pessimism the appropriate response? Who is right, the optimists or the pessimists?”

First of all, the “Earth’s carrying capacity” will end up being what it is. If we overpopulate it beyond that capacity, the surplus population will simply die off until we again reach Earth’s carrying capacity.

In a world which has vast expanses of agricultural land that’s not even utilised, where the one major agricultural exporting country pays their farmers NOT to grow certain food crops, and other major food exporting countries, including this one, purposefully restrict food production by means of quotas and Marketing Boards, while still other ‘Third World’ counties have vastly increased their agricultural production and are now net food exporters, and still others again could do the same with good management of their farmlands, it’s a little difficult to make the argument we’re on the verge of mass starvation.

Nor are we physically unable to meet the other two basic necessities of life, clothing and shelter. For ‘everyone’ on this planet, if we wanted to, and without denting our resources irrepairably, too. And the advancement of science extends those resources further with each passing year. Or we would’ve already seen a mass die-off.

What keeps what COULD be done from being done, everywhere, is a primarily FINANCIAL restriction artificially imposed, not a correct reflection of actual physical reality.

“We need to make sacrifices”, you say? I say that is absolute utter nonsense! It’s as ridiculous an assertion as someone believing the installation of water meters here is somehow going to help slake the thirst of drought ridden sub-Saharan Africa!

Or that the imposition of a Carbon Tax here will have the slightest impact whatsoever on climate change. Especially when we continue to export carbon based fuels to countries which make no attempt at even basic pollution control, and are looking to expand those markets.

In fact, if the entire population of Canada, in a fit of extreme guilt that caused us all to make the ultimate sacrifice, and we all committed suicide en masse, I doubt you’d see the temperature of planet Earth change one iota.

Guys like Michael Campbell and his n’er-do-well brother are part of the PROBLEM, and it’s their type that prevent us from finding out that the ‘sacrifices’ they’re talking about are only designed to keep them and the elite they aspire to belong to in control.

We don’t have a pot hole problem… We have a road problem… I was fortunate to hit a smooth patch on the way to work today. Didn’t last long but it felt great.

Just WHAT ‘sacrifices’ are we supposed to make? How does Michael Campbell and his nitwit brother reconcile their endless call for ‘full-employment’, where not only every man, woman, and, probably soon, child, is supposed to be harnessed to the wheel of greater productivity, (and for two years longer now,too), with a society that’s supposed to make ‘sacrifices’? What are we supposed to DO with all this additional PRODUCTION if WE are no longer able to CONSUME it?

While you need food to survive and shelter to make your life comfortable, the one thing that is essential to life is Water. THAT will be what will be a huge driver when it comes to unrest in the world. There are already countries whose water has been sold off to multinational interests by corrupt govts, to line thier own pockets, at the expense of it’s citizenry. If you live on a piece of property that has a well or a stream through it, make sure to get the water rights because you could end up like those in Peru, who saw thier wells go dry when coca cola slant drilled into thier aquifer and stole thier water. It may not be as obvious as coca cola setting up next door, but it could be a gas company, oil company, water export company, etc. Our gov’t has proven it is not above selling off our resources at the expense of it’s own citizens.

socredible: I agree completely.
Everybody: Happy spring. The snow is off my yard, and if it is dry enough this weekend, I will be raking it! Hooray! Have a great day.

Ye,Ye,Ye,Do the pothole shuffle
I`m gonna drive through town,doin the pothole shuffle

I just got an idea for Prince George`s anthem…

BC Scrap It program…I just replaced a few items on my beater that does`nt cost me an arm and a leg to do myself…and your offering up to 1250 for me to upgrade to something I cant repair myself and will cost me more in a shop at 100 bucks an hour…I can afford that,but when you can DIY what`s wrong with trying to save some bucks???

Eagleone, great comment about how it’s not the working class and small business that will create the unrest! Bang on!

So just what sacrifices has Michael Campbell made, oh right he got off the bottle.

Hello Prince George sidewalk engineering department, just love walking on those frozen back slopped sidewalks in the morning. Any of you guys ever walk on the sidewalks?

Overwhelmed with a lot of trash coming out of city hall now? They’re doing all this stuff now and in just in a little while they will settle down and you will forget and won’t notice them for a few years until about 8 or 9 months before the next election when they will be going gang busters on our roads and thoroughfares fixing them up and all. And you will automatically think to yourself, “Gee, they’re swell!” And then you will re-elect all these ninnies for another few years. That’s how it works.

Ah yes, “violent social unrest”. Didn’t that already take place after the canucks were beaten by the Bruins last spring?

I suspect campbells only concern about this impending “violent social unrest” is that it will be directed at the brothers campbell and their puppetmasters. I only hope I live long enough to witness this upheaval. Off to stock up on popcorn, now.

Some interesting information about the upcoming “earth hour”

http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/

“Any of you guys ever walk on the sidewalks?”

I have and agree very much on the excessive slants in places, often likely caused by heaving and settling.

I noticed just from driving by the paved path along Tyner that sections are developing a crossfall slope that looks quite excessive.

“then you will re-elect all these ninnies for another few years”

We got a new Mayor …. of course she was a previous Councillor.

We got three new Councillors.

In the normal scheme of things, that is not exactly an endorsement of the previous Council.

I do not understand why bringing in a 100% new group would guarantee any inmprovements.

There are some different approaches being taken. As always, some approaches are winners and some are losers.

And guess what, those that are winners in my eyes may not be winners in someone else’s eyes. Chit happens. Go with the flow. Be thankfull we have another bunch that is not perfect and we can bitch about …. this place would be very dull without that…… ;-)

Mr. Mike’s is open! Where is the Important people photo op?

Well, despite all the unrest and greedy politicians in the world, another Friday has arrived! Let’s definitely save the world, but can it wait until Monday?
In the meantime, enjoy the life you have, it is surely better than no life at all.
metalman.

Ah, yes, home sweet home, where we’re loved the best and complain the most!

You know, we’re pretty well off when you look at about 90% of the rest of the world. That’s not to say we shouldn’t try to improve things here but when you look at it from the point of view of others in the world, they can only envy us.
Enjoy the lovely weather everyone and be careful and happy.

These are 2 of BC Hydro’s “Benefits” for smartmeters.

“Increased privacy and convenience – customers will no longer need to provide meter readers with regular access to their property.
Reduced onsite visits – Automated meter reading and connection services, combined with more information available for troubleshooting, will reduce the need for BC Hydro to send crews to customer sites. These direct savings will be passed on to customers.”

They installed a smartmeter last month at my place. Yesterday the BC Hydro meter reader showed up.. I asked her why she was still reading my meter, and she said she has to read the gas meter anyways, so she was collecting my hydro reading as well. It makes sense that hydro and fortis are sharing resources, but it shoots a big hole in hydro’s “benefit” to the smartreader. Unless of course, smart “gas meters” are next.. I will let them test those ones out on someone elses house..

“Any of you guys ever walk on the sidewalks?”

Gus said….

I have and agree very much on the excessive slants in places, often likely caused by heaving and settling.

——————

No gus, We have lived in PG since 1974….the city just likes to build them with this incredible and unsafe, in my opinion, slope… The city says that the slope is necessary for draining the water to the street. I don’t know of any other city that does this slope thing .

Agree about the sidewalks, I’ve never seen them sloped like they are in PG. They certainly aren’t that way out here in Ottawa. Mind you, the city also plows the sidewalks here . . .

Listening to the talk radio shows here it is funny to hear their thoughts on the Northern Gateway Pipeline. Based on their comments, you would think that the only people in opposition are extreme left wing, millionaire environmentalists from the US. I never seem to have a phone with me when the topic comes up, otherwise I’d call in and try to explain some of the legitimate concerns that “regular” BC residents have.

Have a great weekend folks!

Beat you by one year … :-)

I came here to work as a project manager of a major building design/construction project as well the architectural content of several town planning projects.

I am very familar of the engineering standards for subdivision development not only in this city but cities in Ontario, most of which have as much and more snow than PG.

The PG standard was no different than any other that I was familiar with – the crossfall was 2% and likely still is. The national recommended standard for Canada is no less than 1% and no greater than 4%

On a 4 foot wide sidewalk that means that the high side, which is typically the portion whish is remote from the curb would be as little as 1/2″ higher than the low side, and as much as 2″ higher than the low side. The norm should be 1″ higher than the low side.

Since many of the sidewalks in residential subdivisions are asphalt in this community, the sidewalk surfaces can “undulate considerably over time. In addtion, some of them are very narrow and then, if you are not watching out, you could bump into a utility pole.

In fact, there are some sidewalks where the City has provided a pit of an afgter the fact asphalt patch to widen the pathway so that a baby cariage, wheelchair etc. can stay on pavement of some sort to get around the pole.

Safety.convenience is not always uppermost in the minds of this City. We are in the West … and it is Wild ….. WildWest …. ;-)

http://www.fcm.ca/Documents/reports/Infraguide/Sidewalk_Design_Constructionand_Maintenance_EN.pdf

Look on page 13 …. it is an NRC product provided to the Canadian municipal federation organization of which we are members.

NMG:

GO SEN’S GO !

Shaken&Stirred…from what I understand, even tho smart meters have been installed, they are not online yet. So until then I would assume they still have to read them manually. When they showed up at my place, I said no I didnt want one, and they left without installing it.

Does anyone know if the long gun registry is still in effect?

Does anyone know if the long gun registry is still in effect?

LGR in effect, yes, it’s not done yet!!

The LGR should be competely gone in April sometime.

http://www.eontarionow.com/national/2012/03/30/canadas-most-dangerous-city-is-prince-george-bc/

Gratz PG in keeping your title!

Hydro rates going up 6.5% April 1st to help pay the friends of fiberals with their ripoff IPP contracts.

Cops watching how long cars parked in pub parking lots. Will follow you home then do their best southern TV cop swagger up to you.

A friend got a speeding ticket from a CN mall cop which he is contesting. Tried to get his utility trailer licensed but told he has to pay the fine first then try and get the money back from the provincial police force, ICBC. Hey how long before the provincial police force start wearing flax jackets and start packing guns.

About sidewalks, just interesting how a sidewalk on a hill still has a backslope. Anyone on site in a wheelchair, how does that backslope work for ya.