Whattt everyone still asleep????

Alberta MP Brent Rathgeber said he has left the Conservative caucus in part because of the control Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office exercises over backbench MPs, which was preventing him from representing his constituents.

The former Tory MP, who announced he was quitting late Wednesday night to sit as an Independent, said staff in Harper’s office — who are “half my age” — pressure the caucus to obey their talking points and vote “like trained seals.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/06/06/pol-rathgeber-explain-caucus-quit.html

Recent allegations concerning expense scandals and the Government’s response has been extremely troubling. I joined the Reform/conservative movements because I thought we were somehow different, a band of Ottawa outsiders riding into town to clean the place up, promoting open government and accountability. I barely recognize ourselves, and worse I fear that we have morphed into what we once mocked.

http://brentrathgeber.ca/wordpress/i-stand-alone/

The OECD report used two housing measures — the price of the average home compared to what it could be rented for and the home costs compared to the average salary.

The report found that based on rents, Canadian real estate is overvalued by as much as 60 per cent and in terms of prices to incomes, real estate is still as much as 30 per cent overvalued.

Why are home prices so high and when will they fall?

Loose credit fuelled the boom, analysts say, but a correction is coming

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/06/06/housing-market-prices-overvalued.html?cmp=rss

Latest weather forecast….Dark Clouds rolled in at 5:26 AM:P

Am sick of the caterpillars! Wonder if this rain will help them move on? No lawn mowing for me today.

I think this new bi-election is going to be an historic opportunity for the residents of Kelowna West. They get to give a thumbs up or a thumbs down for Christy Clark as premier.

If she loses will the liberal party pick a new premier?

How will this election define our representative democracy and its limits?

Will it spark further debate on electoral reform and the kind of democracy we want to have?

What does it all say about the power of parties over our democracy?

A lot of question forthcoming and it should be interesting for sure. The people of West Kelowna will have a large say in what kind of politics we will have going forward.

I saw some videos of the caterpillars in PG, yikes! I haven’t seen them that bad since I was in high school.

I wish I could say that there is something similar out here, but all I can think of is the tulip invasion that happens every May. Not exactly the same thing ;)

How is it that the government can find evidence of price fixing for a chocolate bar but not for a tank of gasoline?

NMG

There are enough things in that neck of the woods that make your skin crawl…the triple chinned Duffy being one example that is still running wild.

And then there is Pamela Wallin, her spending habits might only be second to former Governor General Adrian Clarkson. What is with these former media types ?

NMG…..hey, has Ottawa picked a name for its CFL team yet ?

“How is it that the government can find evidence of price fixing for a chocolate bar but not for a tank of gasoline?”

The Harper and BC Liberal governments couldn’t find their own arses with a map and flashlight if their corporate handlers didn’t tell them where to look. They want us to engage in magical thinking where the price fixing fairy just waves a wand and poof! every gas station in town just magically raises their price all at the same moment.

LOL @ lonesome sparrow and middle finger. That is very true. Some of those folks on the hill would give the caterpillars a run for their money.

I see the latest story breaking is that Wallin’s residence was shown as Toronto for the time when she was sitting on a board of a Toronto investment firm. Apparently she was in that position since 2006, roughly three years before she was appointed to the Senate by Harper to represent Saskatchewan. Mind you, it is just a 45 minute commute from there to Bay Steet . . . in a CF18!!!!!

middle finger, they are going to announce the name this weekend. Rumour has it that it will be the RedBlacks. I’m not sure what the heck that is, LOL. It sounds like a rugby team name. There isn’t allot of local support for it from what I can tell. I hated it at first, but it’s starting to grow on me a bit. The logos I’ve seen look pretty cool with the big R sitting on top of a circular saw blade.

All I can say is that sitting in the new stadium development right beside the canal on a warm evening watching a football game will be pretty sweet ;)

What’s with the shortened time limit for commenting on the site now? I can understand closing stories to comments after a few days but I think the current ‘closing after one day’ is a bit too soon.

Give it a rest Eagleone, Dix says he is going to run a local candidate who knows the issues to make it a touch race. So why didn’t he do that the first time around?

“he Harper and BC Liberal governments couldn’t find their own arses with a map and flashlight if their corporate handlers didn’t tell them where to look. They want us to engage in magical thinking where the price fixing fairy just waves a wand and poof! every gas station in town just magically raises their price all at the same moment.”

Yes krusty, remember the good old days before Harper and the bc liberals when you could drive from gas station to gas station and never pay the same price twice… Oh wait… *eyeroll*

Driving around town lately, I have seen three new communication towers raised. Or I don’t get out enough and they have been for a long time. I know the one off 5th and 97 has been there. But saw one by the Quinn transfer stn and one off of Tabor blvd by Quentin ave.

The caterpillars eating the leaves reminds me of the liberals eating my dollars

Hey Slinky, if Dix uses the same judgement he used in Nechako Lakes, he’s lost already LOL.

It must be frustrating to live in the lower mainland, where prices of fuel is half, on the otherside of the border.

Why should our fuel cost that much more.

He spoke, the difference is mainly taxes

“Why should our fuel cost that much more.”

We (the people) own the natural resource only on paper, but not in reality. Then there are NAFTA regulations which favour the USA, hamstring Canada and exempt Mexico’s state owned PEMEX. The Mexicans state owns the resource, the extraction, exploration, refining and distribution. We don’t do the same. We import a lot of expensive oil from other countries instead of using only our own. Once upon a time PetroCanada was Canadian owned but no more. The higher the price of gas at the pump the more gas tax the governments collect. We drive too many gas guzzlers which keep the demand for gas and diesel high and the price up. Supply and demand. They all get the ladders out to change their price displays on the same day so there is no actual competition. It’s too far to drive to Kamloops to fill up the tank…

If only Prince George had a refinery… ;-)

It is nice the the city repainted the lines, now how about fixing potholes? The first time I reported one- it was fixed within 2 days. I was impressed. I reported 3 more as they were safety concerns around a school 2 weeks ago and nothing so far.

“Dix says he is going to run a local candidate who knows the issues”

The question is, does he know the issues as well as the people Christy will have briefing her ….

AND will he/she be as capable of thinking on his/her feet ….. now that is what will make the difference ….

Well …. actually I lie. It will be the people in the riding who prefer voting for the BCLiberals who will make the difference ….. ;-)

I want to take some time to mention a local business that does excellent work. I recently had a leather riding jacket made by Leathers by Shannon. Let me tell you that he did a wonderful job. The jacket turned out great.

If anybody needs a leather jacket for any reason, give Shannon a call and he’ll make one for you.

Question.. how do we know that Christys people are briefing her at all, or if they are they are just telling her what to say to win the seat ?

Does anyone know if the new RCMP building has underground parking? I don’t know where they are going to park around there if they don’t.

Mother in-laws 90th birthay. Sent out requests to different levels of govt for congratulatory messages/certificates for her. Received all the cetificates in the mail.

The one from Pat Bell came folded in half. Called his office, they apologized and said a new one with “do not fold” on the envelope would be sent out right away.

That was 3 months ago. Still waiting.

They took out the u/g parking I think to save dollars. Another stupid decision!

Spitz saying “oh … look at me, look at me … look at how much money I am saving ….. “

Did you know that Pat Bell is no longer in a position to send out the certificates?

Besides, hardly his fault that someone at the post office likes to bend stuff. Did it actually have a crease in it, or something that would go away if you framed it?

You know, youcould go to the constituency office and pick it up if that is the way the postal service handles their mail. There is usually a reason why things are sent in large envelopes rather than folding it and sending it in smaller envelopes. But, you know, some people have a hard time figuring out the simplest things.

Ben Stewart is not likely in a position where he will suffer monetarily. Besides, he can focus a bit more on his business to make it take the next step in a continuous improvement process. Great wine …..

Grizzly1, when the last Liberal gov’t was in power, I tried to book a meeting with Mr. Rustad, Bond and Bell to talk about some health care issues in the region. Both Shirley Bond and Pat Bell came but Mr. Rustad didn’t and did not send any notification that he was not going to be there. When I asked the other two why he was not coming, neither would make eye contact. I never did hear from Mr Rustad.
When I contacted the NDP candidate for Nechako Lakes during this last election, she made time for me to talk. I was way more impressed with her than I have ever been with the re elected Liberal.

I guess the city has hired more parks workers this year. Seems they’ve been pretty busy sprucing up the city parks. Too bad the tent caterpillars have been so successful in defoliating so many trees.

Harper, has new paint for his plane, Red, white and blue, same as the US, wonder if he already sold us.

Charles I too voted for Jay Hill and had hopes for the new government until Harper first move was to contact Brian M. to ask for help. If you wanted to clean up the government why would you contact the last convservative PM that thought that he was above the law.

Gus greenies do not differentiate between types of tankers, a little research would tell you that.

If the NDP run the by-election the same as they ran the main election it will just be a big waste of taxpayers money. With Bennet advising Christy hard to see where she would not be a shoo-in.

NDP just concede and save us money.

Will we ever see a time where we don’t have to “save” homes and structures located on a flood plan? Floods are only going to get worse as our climate changes and I’m tired of paying taxes to “save” areas that shouldn’t be saved. It’s costly and you can’t beat Mother Nature.

Watch for “Kimono Man”. PGs latest ‘eccentric’ or just a regular dude who reallllly likes kimonos?

Though I voted Liberal, I’m not too thrilled about this forced by-election. Clark doesn’t have to have a seat to be premier. She just has to work through another MLA when dealing with the legislature. She should wait until a by-election is required – somewhere. Usually it happens due to illness, death. It’s not only the cost of the government for this election, but it’s the thousands of people who have to take time out of their day – again – to go and vote. Is their time worth nothing? And even if Dix didn’t run a candidate, you can be sure some bozo would run just to force an election. As long as one other person registers as a Candidate, there has to be a vote.

Ibear – the RCMP wrote a letter about the Coyotes bar and said they were afraid there would be vandalism in their staff parking lot at the new station when the bar closed for the night. Which kind of tells you they will be parking outside.

Wait… was that a NIMBY thing for them to say…? Nah…

FYI for those planning on travelling east this weekend/today. Hwy is closed this side of Tete Jaune due to mudslide – no estimated time of opening!

axman:

While we would love to keep the window for comments open for a longer period, we are finding we are spending more time monitoring comments than we are producing new material. We apologize for the lack of notice, but, this is the best way we know of to achieve the balance between allowing comments and being able to keep on top of our legal requirements and responsibilities.

Elaine Macdonald

See that the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health Authorities are now charging a $25/month user fee for wheelchairs on long term care residents in their home. So when do we see this in the Northern Health and Interior Health Authorities….most people in care homes are being charged up to 90% of their income to stay there and for ” cost certainty” they are being dinged even more money. If these Authorities were so hard up for money, why dont they get rid of some of the myriad of bureaucrats that suck the money out of the system? This reeks of stealing money from the poor to give to the rich, do we have a Robin Hood economy in reverse in this province? No wonder people in Alberta state that BC stands for “Bring Cash”

Did you know Pat Bell isn’t the one that actually sends out or even actually signs these certificates Gus? Did you know when this certificate was requested Pat Bell was still in office? Not that that makes a difference. Did someone suggest Pat bell was at fault Gus or was it just those voices again?

HAS, glad you had a visit with an NDP candidate. Years ago I tried to get a meeting with my NDP MLA, I waited an hour, no show.
Great to hear Bond and Bell got to meet with you. Hope it made a difference.

does anyone know what happened to bc civil liberties? i emailed them, no reply for a week now. so i just tried to phone them and there is no answer, no message option.

Well, is anyone surprised John Rustad has been appointed Cabinet Minister in charge of Aboriginal Affairs. A sure sign that the BC Liberals want that pipeline to happen.

Now the question is, can Rustad deliver?

a_BC, they’re probably out fighting for some inmates rights somewhere, or cautioning some american that they don’t have to be filmed coming in to Canada, you know, important stuff…………

“Well, is anyone surprised John Rustad has been appointed Cabinet Minister in charge of Aboriginal Affairs. A sure sign that the BC Liberals want that pipeline to happen.”

I know this is hard to believe for many, but it is not all about the Northern Gateway pipeline. As I said, if it goes through, people will move on to the next media-directed crisis.

is anyone else concerned with the lack of news coverage with regard to the sexual assault case involving Hayden Alwood and Mercedes Jewett and 5 others back in january?

So what happened to the big expose of off shore accounts?

Has anyone tried calling the new Target store in PG. Good luck. If their phone service is any indication of what you can expect upon entering…………….

Twenty-Year Anniversary of Market Backstops

http://www.prudentbear.com/2013/06/twenty-year-anniversary-of-market.html

Dragonmaster wrote:

“Did you know when this certificate was requested Pat Bell was still in office?”

Yup, that was made clear in the post. It was also made clear in the post that the certificate was received.

It was folded during the send cycle. That was Canada Post’s fault, not the people who sent it.

So what is your point?

Seems like the Target store may be living up to its name in PG …. ;-)

I like it. Certainly a step up in quality from what Zellers managed in the last several years. Started off good, but faded eventually.

Interesting that some people have the impression it was going to be as inexpensive as they recall from the USA Targets. I fail to understand that since the prices available in the USA from wholesalers are different from those in Canada.

We are hardly going to have refried beans for a buck a can in PG when the going price is voer 2 bucks. Nor is milk going to be $2.95 for 4 litres. Or cheese half the price of what it normally is.

PG is part of Canada, not the USA.

From a Jan 14th article by 250NEWS: “This investigation continues to be a priority for this Detachment” says Cpl. Craig Douglass, Media Liaison Officer for the Prince George RCMP.

Have you given the RCMP a call, a_britishcolumbian? They should be able to tell you were the case is at. I am not sure what being a priority means in terms of effort given to the case.

=====================================

Have a great weekend everyone.