I was at Pine Centre Mall today. A big thumbs up to whoever did all the flower baskets around the mall parking lot. The large containers at every entryway are exceptionally gorgeous. Looks fantastic and thank you very much.

I think we get short changed on the regional parks. There use to be a time when one had any number of well maintained forestry sites around town, and what we have now is but a shadow of what this region had 20-years ago.

I would like to see some new parks in the region.

Close to town a great place for a provincial park would be Tabor Lake on the East side of the lake with a beach that gets the evening sun.

For a national park when one looks at the Rockies we have national park infrastructure around the southern mountain passes, so why not the Pine Pass. The Pine Pass has a fantastic landscape for national park quality tourism… its on the Alaska highway, so it should be a natural rest stop location for travelers. If it was upgraded to national park status it would draw tourism through the Jasper-Pine Pass circle tour potential.

In the city the Hart has but one park that is not much more than a field of grass. Considering the Hart has a quarter of the cities population and the vast bulk of its industrial base… one would think some new parks would be a priority. I think the area behind the garbage dump should be protected and investments made to provide lookout view-stands of the Nechako Valley and a decent place for people to park and picnic with a view.

On the Nechako River it is a disgrace how we still do not have public infrastructure like a parking lot and picnic tables for the Foothills bridge location. Lets get it developed even if it means as a provincial park… I don’t know, but something needs to be done if only for road safety reasons alone.

In the bowel Cranbrook Hill crest has so much potential and it would be great if we had a trail that went from UNBC to Moores Meadows with lookouts, and bridges that cross the canyons. PG would become a mountain bikers meca on par with North Van if the potential was developed.

I just think its a shame we have such great locations for potential parks and yet they get no support from our elected politicians. It should be seen as a quality of life issue when talking parks in the north.

Thats how you get people to want to move to this region and stay here to work. Invest in our strengths and make accessible some of these great areas for the explorer in all of us.

“In the bowel”? Freudian slip or spelling/keyboarding error?

Once again Esso is the highest for fuel. Not sure if they look across the road or check the internet.

Last time I looked, the Pine Pass was on the Hart highway….not the AlCan…..

Northern gateway…..I am on the fence.
No matter how we think the bitumen has to be processed, oil is used in many things we use on a daily basis. I like the fact that it creates jobs and brings more money into businesses in the area and in the provincial coffers, to hopefully be spent on healthcare and education.
What I hate is the high possibility of a spill on land or water.

I believe that no matter what we want this is going to happen, I have heard of people who work in the areas of the proposed pipeline say that some of the land is already cleared.

Keep right except to pass.

After viewing the video, and reading supplemental stories of the Chilliwack Cattle Sales employees viciously beating the dairy cows, I am not sure I can put into words the level of disgust I feel for the workers (or the company), and the sadness I feel for the cows.

Everybody reaches their tipping point on certain subjects. I guess this has become my cow-tipping point. From today and into the future, I will not purchase any dairy products from any kind of factory farm that supplies milk to large dairy corporations such as Dairyland/Saputo. It’s quite obvious they can’t self-regulate and no level of Government has the inclination to deal with this abuse problem.

So what is a consumer supposed to do? For the majority, you will stick your collective heads in the sand and continue on as if nothing has happened. For me, I’ve researched a few local alternatives to factory milk production, and I will be purchasing their products instead. It’s not cheap. Prices are higher, but I think the it’s worth the extra cash. It doesn’t take much of a budget change to make room for the more expensive products.

Years ago I made a similar decision about eggs, after seeing the deplorable condition of egg production facilities. Now I only purchase Free Range eggs where hens can run, scratch, peck, and be chickens.

We have all demanded more and more, at cheaper prices for food. The end result is the mega factory farm where the animals ultimately pay the higher price during their stay on this planet. I’d rather they lived as stress free as possible, since they provide us food items that make our lives better.

As humans, that’s the least we can do.

Those that approve Northern Gateway must think fuel is cheap right now and don’t mind paying more for it once it goes through.

My beef this morning continues to be the ugly berm the City built along the highway by the Casino! I really wish they could have covered it with some other sort of vegetation than the tall weeds that grow there! But hey, I’m hopeful! Maybe one day they’ll do an expensive study on it and figure out something better to plant there! Anybody got any ideas??

Bob Zimmer sent us a mailing (at government expense…NDP take note) asking us to demonstrate our “pride” by posting a paper flag (enclosed) in a window.
No mention as to what we are to be proud of under the Harper regime. Is it our sending soldiers to fight George Bush’s wars? Is it abandoning those same soldiers when they return damaged in body or mind? Is it leaving Canadians unemployed while bringing in “temporary” foreign workers? Is it Harper’s total disregard for science when it stands in the way of corporate profit?
Before we wave that maple leaf we might recall the apt comment of Samuel Johnson, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”. Or is it the FIRST refuge?

Well said Pylot Project. I agree with your comments. It’s a damn shame that animals are treated in such a manner to supply us with cheap products. I think the Chilliwack Cattle Sales expose on how this company got caught treating it’s animals (bad employees or not)is only the tip of the iceburg.
I will continue making life style changes and how I spend my money. I think in the big picture, over a year, the costs to do this will add up to be only a very small percentage increase to the overall grocery bill.

I think at one point or another the silent majority will need to come out of their homes and state, Yes the pipeline is a good thing.

All we see is a smattering of protest signs, and crowds of 50 people protesting.

If the true majority of the people show their support, we may be able to squash the naysayers.

Selling our oil to China don’t have an impact on fuel prices. The cost of the fuel is determined by greedy oil companies and greedy government taxes.

The oil that we will be sending to china will be new production.

Complaining about our fuel prices, check out Europe.

Posted by: sardonic on June 20 2014 7:20 AM
Bob Zimmer sent us a mailing (at government expense…NDP take note) asking us to demonstrate our “pride” by posting a paper flag (enclosed) in a window.

———-

Apples and oranges. Did the mail out ask you to vote Conservative? That’s the issue with the Federal NDP mailings; they were sending out campaign fliers at our expense.

to sardonic: We can post a flag (and I do) to be proud of many things in this country, just not it’s politics. I am proud to be in a country that has medical for all (OK, didn’t say it was great medical, but better than US) and I am proud of our armed forces, wherever they are. I am proud to live in a country where we can post such criticisms of our government. I am proud to live in a country where my neighbours may be of many different cultures and religions. I am proud to be Canadian!! It may not be perfect, but it is better than most and it is mine!! Maybe less time b**ching and more time creating change!

Eagleone: I too have enjoyed Provincial parks and many forestry campsites as well. I have always cleaned up before I camped as well as afterwards, before leaving them. Unfortunately, I guess most people don’t. Other people are outright destructive with them. I’m afraid that that is what killed so many forestry campsites. Some people try to improve beautiful places, others are there to use and then destroy them. Its unfortunate. Don’t know what the answer is.

He spoke, when the pipeline gets underway ALL consumer product prices here are going to RISE, including that of gasoline.

That is the real problem with its construction, or that of any other type mega-project of a similar nature.

The rise in prices will initially seem as if it’s ‘good for business’. They’ll be able to book larger profits, and there’ll be a perception that ‘prosperity’ has finally arrived.

But in reality every dollar they and everyone else is earning will be buying LESS in terms of all the goods and services they and everyone else needs and wants.

What you see as new found ‘prosperity’ is no more than renewed ‘inflation’. Where we get to work and play with bigger figures, but no matter how many more dollars we receive we’ll soon find that it’ll take still more again to buy anything with them.

Haven’t we be down this road enough times already to realise by now it’s a one way path to nowhere anyone would really want to consciously go?

We can’t ever create a genuine ‘prosperity’ when we persist in refusing to recognise the difference between it and pure ‘inflation’ ~ which, without amelioration in some manner will only result in more and more of us working our way into poverty, instead of out of it.

I’ve nothing against building this pipeline, I’m sure it can be built to carry the product safely. I’ve nothing against the export of oil to China, or anywhere else, so long as we have a surplus of it beyond our own perceived needs. Which we clearly do. I don’t believe we’ve even scratched the surface in discovering or recovering all the oil there is in Canada, or elsewhere.

But surely to God we should have learned by now to insist that if we’re going to go to all the effort of developing our resources we get a general increase in the standard of living here out of it, and that that standard of living always increases faster than the COST of living. This is what we HAVEN’T done. And it’s long past time that we did.

I’m not a economist, however. I believe that competition will keep prices to where it should be. Costs such as accommodation and housing may rise in this period. However, it will find its new settling point once it is built and done with.

Fuel prices be impacted,that is hard to monitor, if the pipeline impacted the cost. If our prices increases at a higher rate than say Kelowna, than I can admit it did impact the local fuel costs. The price of fuel is going to go up anyway. its the rate compared to the rest of the province.

How much oil is in the Tarsands. We have enough oil in the known current production area to last us another 200 years. We are not talking Saskatchewan, and the spread further to the west of Ft Mac. Mother Nature screwed up, and created the worlds largest oil spill, were just trying to clean it up.

So where is the factual information that gas prices will rise when the pipeline is built?

The biggest problem for the Canadian economy is that, we do not have a significant manufacturing industry. We have been shutting down plants, because the equipment is out dated and labor cost too much. Thus as Canadians, we have conceded to accept offshore goods, in return we sell them our resource goods.

It will take one heck of a strong leader, and a heck of a investment from private sector to change this. I don’t see this happening for a bit, not until China’s manufacturing plants become dated, and we have the vision to take advantage of it. So where do we want to be in twenty five years. We want to be in the lead on several technologies and be the world leaders in it, spawning off new industries. It just may be alternative energy sources other than petroleum. Hope it is. The need for hydrocarbon is not going to wane for quite a while. We need the government to start building initiatives, no different than Kennedy’s vision of a man on the moon. This is what is going to propel us to the forefront. In this century, we are not developing new industry to serve ourselves alone, the world is our customers. Think bigger than the limiting box that the socialist teachers brainwashed your tender minds for 12 years.

Givemore: “Eagleone: I too have enjoyed Provincial parks and many forestry campsites as well. I have always cleaned up before I camped as well as afterwards, before leaving them. Unfortunately, I guess most people don’t.”

I too camped in Forestry sites for years until they became hillbilly garbage dumps. It seems that leaving the site cleaner than you found it is a foreign concept for most people nowadays.

Who maintains the landscaping at the hospital and the other Northern Health buildings ?? Maybe some teachers are available.

I am proud to be a part of this great nation. When my working days are done. I will likely retire in this town, and enjoy my waning years, and making potshot comments on blog sites.

We as Canadians are very fortunate to have the freedom we have, and this did not happen on its own. It was done by statesmen that put aside political bs, rolled up the sleeves and did the right thing, not necessarily for now, but for twenty- forty years down the line. We need real people, that is there for the right reasons running our country.

Eventhough I voted for the Conservative, Harper is not a strong leader. He just doesn’t have it, he has the position because nobody else showed up to the race.

I took some branches etc. to the compost the other day. While I was waiting I could see the two elderly gentlemen where struggling getting unloaded. The lady working that day was busy helping the one gentleman, while the man working sat on the other side with his coffee in hand and watched the second gentlemen unload his and had no intention of helping. Kudos to the girl working and the guy working, you should be ashamed…..

Would someone please explain to me as to how the teachers have the nerve to request that the taxpayer pays for their fertility drugs.What has this got to do with educating children?

Hope today, is what we are going to get for the next several weeks. All this sunshine, finally get rid of the parka’s and long underwear.

Posted by: Rogue on June 20 2014 9:17 AM
Would someone please explain to me as to how the teachers have the nerve to request that the taxpayer pays for their fertility drugs.What has this got to do with educating children?

————

Because they’re out of touch with reality? Because they’re holding kids hostage they can make ridiculous demands?

I really don’t know. Entitlement issues I suppose.

A hunnert folks at the pipeline protest, eh? The Citizen paper told me that 2/3s of this province was against this venture. Our newspaper wouldn’t lie to me, would they? Statistically speaking that should have meant that about 57,000 people from here should have been in front of Dick’s office. My guess is that only one hundred found parking spaces nearby to park their trucks to protest and the rest went home in resignation unable to partake. 2/3rds eh? It is to laff.

Well said Rogue. A bit of a odd demand in their ” reasonable increase to health benefits”
Plus the skewed numbers and now some ridiculous rhetoric likening the teachers to the victims of apartheid and racial discrimination granted it was a blog from the huffington post written by a teacher but really she chose to minimize the struggle of those grave injustices by comparing the teachers wanting more money and some rather ridiculous benefits to some of the worst atrocities committed. They had some of my support for a little bit, the more I read and see the slamming from the BCTF and their inaccurate numbers, my respect for teachers drops and my contempt for their demands grow.

That book titled “Peak Oil” still selling like hotcakes?

Europe- Where gas is 2.50 a liter, teachers make 35,000 and class sizes average 15 students.

Canada- Where we sell our oil for $70 a barrel because rich American families have paid off a few influential protest movements. Where the pathetic remnants of the profit pay for health care and education.

Saudi Arabia- where oil sales pay to coat 747 jumbos in gold.

Iraq- where oil sales pay for guns to kill members of the same religion.

Russia- where oil sales pay for billionaires and revamping cold war nuclear deterrence and Olympics.

Norway- Where the national savings account is 1 trillion dollars, average class size is 10, teachers make 35,000, fisheries contribute twice as much as all of Canada to GDP and responsible oil and gas development has worked in perfect harmony with the environment, and still has the best wild Atlantic salmon fishing left in the world.

BC- Three times the land base as Norway, same population, no one gets along, class sizes are 24 on average and teachers make 73,000. And one big debt.

Me- I say time to quit fighting each other and realize you can’t have NDP dreams without Liberal business. Lets merge the two parties or find something new that works together.

All- Have a great weekend. Remember we are all people. ( and we all need oil)

Anyone watching World Cup

Rogue,The fertility drugs need to be added in to make sense of the ‘Maternity Leave Top up’…can’t have one without the other.

Siabiz, could not agree more. The rhetoric and drama is almost sickening. The one that stood out to me a dispute or two ago, was the comparison to slaves.

“Hope today, is what we are going to get for the next several weeks. All this sunshine, finally get rid of the parka’s and long underwear.”

First day if summer tomorrow so Costco should be putting out the snow suits soon!

“while the man working sat on the other side with his coffee in hand and watched the second gentlemen unload his and had no intention of helping.”

They aren’t paid to help you unload. They are there to monitor and cleanup after people.

Honk to support the teachers!

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/22/948224/-Are-you-sick-of-highly-paid-teachers

NoWay,

You defending a dump attendant for not helping an elderly person unload because
“that is not his job”.

That pretty much sums up what is wrong with the world.

Sit on your ass, get fat, get diabetes, complain about healthcare, and say “it’s not my job”

Elder care is everybodies job!

Cupricity: How do you know that this individual wasn’t suffering from an injury that prevents heavy labour? Perhaps he was being lazy…but maybe he had a justified reason. You don’t know. No one knows except him.

So judgmental the people are around here.

You know what needs to happen? All the teachers, paramedics, city workers, et al need to resign en masse. Then…once everything is privatized and costs spiral out of control…because it always happens that way with ‘for profit’ companies…you same people will be begging to go back to the old system. The private sector is chock full of greedy companies and CEO’s who would love nothing more than to take your money for less services.

Sometimes I am convinced that some folks on here just aren’t living in the real world. You want privatization? Then get ready to pay MUCH more than you are today.

What are the chances that one of the biggest teacher supporter on here also has a “that’s not my job” attitude? Clearly coincidental I guess…

First day of summer – The days start getting shorter now :)

Greetings everyone, Happy Friday, and a good weekend to you all.

As I read the comments in this Friday Free-For-All I read our newbie (cupricity aka “Enbridge”) usual pro-oil message! Thank you for what will be your usual pro-oil / Enbridge comments for here on in.

Speaking of oil, I was amused at the 250 news cartoon posting this week, the one that had Harper in bed with a pipeline. Seems dow7500, and some of his many other aliases, was a bit upset with 250 news posting this kind of “treasonous” cartoon.

So upset that they hijacked the latest teacher’s strike story CAPLOCKS and all. Careful news 250, don’t P.O. the Conservatard righties on this news blog, they think they control the media, it’s a power and control thing, don’t you know.

Coming from the left, your’s truly; BeingHuman.

BeingHuman,

I am not pro-enbridge! I am pro human. Try coming to the center. Let’s have a conversation in the center.

You are welcome for my pro oil statements. Although really I think oil is something we will laugh at in a hundred years, something like we laugh at the pony express.

I am not coming the right, I am not coming from the left. I am coming from the center.

The center says- economic development is needed so we can alleviate the human suffering that is prevalent across the world.

Your label of me as an enbridge “hack” allows you to dehumanize me and ignore me. How ironic that is given your name.

Labels, name calling, etc, it is all dehumanizing, and you will notice I refrain from it all times.

I will make you a deal (duel). You ask me 10 questions about the pipeline and if I answer you give me your best answers on my questions.

Cheers!

Cupricity, I like the way you think about provincial and federal politics, I agree with most of your comments.

However the current BC Liberals are not properly named. Should be called the BC Party.

Unless Horgan does something really impressive, I suspect Christie will get back in.

As long as Trudeau is sparring with the NDP, I’m sure the conservatives will get back in. The decision on the pipeline is not going to deter them from winning. Once we get the Dick out, Put in a decent rep, I think PG will get better represented.

I have nothing against the NDP, I think they are a great party to run against.

Sorry cupricity, the herring industry is still trying to recover a quarter of a century after the Exon Valdez spill.

We all watched as Exon fought the commercial salmon fishermen, and the seafood industry, who’s livelyhood was devastated by that oil spill. Lawyers after lawyers, case after case, this giant multi-national oil corporation delayed justice in the US courts.

25 years after the Exon Valdez oil spilled and it is still present along the Alaskan coast, and it is still harming the environment. There is no “middle” here cupricity aka Enbridge! We say “NO” to the Enbridge Pipeline, and nothing you can say or do will change that!

Oh, well… at least you are getting paid cupricity, for the pro-Enbridgeb PR job you are doing on here ;-)

This is complete personal rant.
On June 12 which would have been my son’s 21st birthday, I went down to his memorial bench & attached to his bench a big artificial sunflower that had a personal message written in some of the petals & leaf, as well as 4 balloons & a card. The following day I went back to his bench & some POS took the sunflower. Then June 19 one week after my sons birthday I went back to his bench to take down the balloons & card & when I pull into the parking lot closest to his bench what do I see hanging in a tree but the balloons which had been popped & his card which had been driven over. I take flowers & decorate my sons bench on a regular basis & always a week later go remove the old flowers.

I just don’t understand why someone would do such things. I am just a grieving Mom that’s trying to still share & celebrate special times with her only child that left much too soon. I would like the POS that did this to know that their actions added to the pain & suffering I live with everyday.

I know that POS’S go to the cemetery & deface headstones & take momento’s that grieving loved ones leave & I have always been sickened by these actions. I just don’t understand the mentality behind such actions. How sad ones life has to be to do such deplorable things.

By selling Oil to China , the oil companies will be able to get between 6-8 dollars more a barrel ( commission) because we will no longer be reliant on selling to the USA.
Now a little common sense here folks, if you get 6-8 dollars a barrel more from China and the USA has to start paying that extra cost, do you think, The six major extractors of oil in the tar sands , all owned by foreign countries will say, make sure you give Canadians a break on the price, or will they simply say we can get 6-8 dollars more a barrel and you in Canada pay the going world price, which is what we are supposedly doing right now. That translates into 6 cents a litre more for gas that the average motorist pays. How do we get it back.
Norway by the way is one of the major oil companies in Tar sands, do you think they will hand that new found profit over to Canada, or will they deposit the checks in Norway.

everyone had a favourite teacher once apon a time, so why not hug a teacher day, just a thought?

Beinghuman,

You are using battleship diplomacy. Why not move to the middle? It is not too late. I can assure I do not get paid. I do this from a personal interest.

BillM,

Norway can buy our oilsands because they made their own money first. Do we want to be owners? I do. There are a lot of benefits. We will never be owners if we don’t work together.

Cheers,

My favourite teacher is Jeff Mellows. He is 88 now. He got me through 18 credits of AP in grade 11 and 12 in the 90s.
He loved salmon fishing in Sweden and Norway when he was a kid. His ideas form a good part of the framework that make my own philosophies.
A truly exceptional individual and just thinking of him makes me happy.
Thanks Jeff.

Talk about a slap in the face for the Haldi area….The city is putting down broken up asphalt on some of the gravel roads out in that area. Some of this junk has been stockpiled out in the Vanway area for close to 30 years apparently.

No wonder the area wants to leave the city. They just keep getting crap from the city. lol

Beinghuman,

The point of this forum is to share ideas, and come up with solutions, not to belittle, harass, take pot shots, hide behind serendipitous positions where you assume you are 100% right.
There is only 1 truth that I live by. One day I will die and the sun will come up the next day.

So how is this for an idea. Since there is an urgent need for a pipeline in order for us to diversify our energy markets, and there is a huge western canadian crude discount, and there is a great need for oil from sources that do not enrich tyrants, why not have BC build the pipeline? Then we can buy oil from Alberta at a huge discount, mint profits, and make sure it is done right.

Anybody care to comment on that idea? Plus we can sell that cheap oil to the refinery in PG and keep saving our 6 cents a liter.

Cheers!

to cupricity
Europe- Where gas is 2.50 a liter, teachers make 35,000 and class sizes average 15 students.
wrong!!! My daughter is a teacher in Berlin, in her district class size is 26 kids or more.

absolutely agree with socredible – well said.

All you brain dead drivers out there keep this in mind while out and about driving in your stupor!

That would include about 80% of you reading this.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/emma-czornobaj-guilty-in-2-highway-deaths-after-stopping-for-ducks-1.2682200?cmp=rss

@pgguy1234 you are not alone . Best football next to UAFA . Go brazil go . Kick that brazuca . Barsa best football club in Europe .

Posted by: Dragonmaster on June 20 2014 12:20 PM
All you brain dead drivers out there keep this in mind while out and about driving in your stupor!

That would include about 80% of you reading this.

—————

I really hope she loses her license for a very, very long time. Stupid people shouldn’t be allowed behind the wheel.

The ball is rolling and it is a big ball!

https://leadnow.netdonor.net/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1694&ea.campaign.id=29404

Don’t forget to donate!

“You know what needs to happen? All the teachers, paramedics, city workers, et al need to resign en masse.”

General strike first! All Unions walk to support the teachers!

And no bloody vuvuzelas in Brazil . South Africa worst venue ever . Great having the World Cup so near to our time zones

Extolling the greatness of Norway in its oil business. Drilling oil from platforms that are allowed to spill 100 barrels a day into the ocean as part of regular business. Production is at 700,000 barrels a day from a single oil field. If Alberta had access to a coast they would be voting for separation as much as Quebec.

Exxon Valdez was only the 54th largest oil spill at the time it happened. Norway had a spill of one tenth the size of the Valdez and decided it was too small to clean up and just to monitored its dispersal into the ocean, nice….

Eagelone, I totally agree with you….why can’t we make this city pretty, like maybe Calgary.

Beinghuman. Your hypocricy has gone into the absurd. For you, thats saying a lot. Labeling posters as oil shills and posting under multiple usernames? really??? from you? Your’re the posterchild of multiple usernames. Criminlmind,people#1,beinghuman are the more obvious ones. What a piece of work. Can’t imagine what you are like in person.

Keep up the posts cupricity, but don’t expect a rational debate from beinghuman. Long time posters have tried.

Mytwobits:”My beef this morning continues to be the ugly berm the City built along the highway by the Casino! I really wish they could have covered it with some other sort of vegetation than the tall weeds that grow there!”

Correct me if I am wrong but I seem to recall that it was the owner of the casino who had promised the neighbourhood that he would construct a berm once the trees were removed and that he followed through with it. If it is the responsibility of the city after all – no surprise if it was left the way it is with tall weeds.

The MPB really took its toll on PG. I noticed it most the first time I came back for a visit after moving. Ottawa is such a lush, green city and you sort of get used to your surroundings. I noticed a similar thing when I flew into Whitehorse a number of years back (was still living in PG) and saw all of the green trees around Atlin and the southern Yukon. I was actually in awe as I was so used to seeing the red and gray ones in and around PG.

So yeah, I agree with Eagleone that efforts should be put into beautification. If it can’t be trees, then at least plant some grass, do some landscaping, etc. Work with what is left and make the most of it. A little can go a long ways and improving the look and feel of the city can go a long ways to improving community pride, community spirit and the general outlook of people living there.

As I sit here and watch the turmoil in the Middle East, I can’t help but think that it will never be resolved. This leads me to question why on earth we rely on them as a source of oil?

We need energy to fuel our own economy, so why don’t we become self-sufficient? Let’s take it a step further, why doesn’t North America become self-sufficient when it comes to energy needs? Would it not be in the best interest of our continent and our own domestic economies to have energy supplies that are completely within our control?

This isn’t to say that we can’t continue to be involved in export markets for our resources or refined products, but why shouldn’t we consider a North American energy policy that would make us completely self-sufficient? Could we not use that as a means to develop new approaches and new technologies that could give us a competitive advantage on the world scale in regard to other industries?

Does pg not have a Prince George beautification society ? I’ve live there twice for work all for seasons . Breathing was so bad in winter that we had to move because of one of our kids breathing problems . They cleared up within two weeks of moving .

Game on . How about that France Swiss match ?

NMG,

The problem with your idea is the trade aspect. Trade ties us together like NO OTHER HUMAN THING.
This financial interdependence has stamped out wars, brought billions out of abject poverty and created the wonderful world we live in today.
I think NA can go further than being independent, I think we can be net exporters of energy.
The nice thing about diversified markets, and ask the logging industry this, it keeps one buyer (AKA the US) from playing with the price too much.
Honesty and transparency are prerequisites for negotiations in good faith, and with all eggs in one basket getting to that point of good faith is very difficult.

Being Human: I am waiting for your response my BC Energy pipeline proposal.

Suzir 2000- It is funny you should mention Germany and Class size. Germany pays its teachers about 50% more than the rest of Europe. Teacher pay and class size are inversely rate with a very high correlation.

http://www.bloomberg.com/visual-data/best-and-worst/highest-salaries-for-experienced-teachers-countries

Class size 32, four boys always fighting and it takes time to put out that fire then there are three special needs to take care of. Now there is the rest of the class. All you teacher bashers what is your solution? Don’t forget all the restrictions put on teachers. This is a true and present case.

Being human can you live without oil?

Exxon spill and Kalamazoo, get over it, changes have been made.

Price of fuel, have a look at the taxes. How is the carbon tax scam working?

North America has the potential to soon be energy independent.

I still don’t get how selling oil to China at world prices will raise our price. The US burns us with buying low and selling back high.

I have issues with Harper but Canada is the most stable g7 economy.

“I think NA can go further than being independent, I think we can be net exporters of energy”

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I didn’t mean independant in the sense that we put walls up in regard to our energy policy, I meant self-sufficient in the sense that we develop enough North American capacity to meet North American needs AND we also export excesses to markets that want it. So yes, do both. Ensure a stable and affordable domestic supply and take advantage of export markets as well.

I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t try to leverage our resources so that we derive maximum benefit from them. I can’t help but believe that there is more to be gained if we take a more collective approach to things.

When it comes to trading partners and future security (economic, domestic or other), call me cynical, but I tend to trust our relationship with the US more than a potential relationship with China or other nations that are separated from us by oceans. Yes, diversified markets are needed and we can’t limit ourself to one or two primary partners, but there’s also something to be said for sharing a border and having close relations with a nation that has the largest military in the world and for the most part, shares our values.

Does anyone know the full story of what is going on with the new delta hotel?

Rummer I heard was someone screwed up and poured 1000 cubic meters or 25 mpa concrete but it was supposed to be 32 mpa so the original design is out the window. I also heard Delta walked away. Any truth to this or is it just a false rummer?

Cupricity aka Enbridge states: “You are using battleship diplomacy. Why not move to the middle?” Oh I don’t know, maybe it’s because I am a realist and know a lot about the kind of company that is proposing to build, and operate, a pipeline through our province to Kitimat.

I would like to introduce exhibit A: Tom and Connie Watson, here is a picture of them standing outside their home, and below that picture is a very interesting story about the way Enbridge uses “battleship diplomacy” on Michigan residents who own property along its 6B pipeline.

http://michiganradio.org/post/enbridge-takes-michigan-landowners-court

So cupricity aka Enbridge, tell us all how well Enbridge will treat us, during this it’s “courting” (pun intended) period with the residents of BC. Please tell us that once Enbridge has placated all our worries and concerns, and we accept Enbridge’s “proposal”, that this company won’t treat us like it is treating the people who live along its 6B pipeline in Michigan!

If the 6B pipeline has a familiar ring to some, that’s because it was the Enbridge pipeline that ruptured and spilled 1.1 Million Gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River almost 4 years ago. To this day it is still accurately described as; “the largest land based oil spill in US history”!

As for your idea about; “… why not have BC build the pipeline? Then we can buy oil from Alberta at a huge discount, mint profits, and make sure it is done right.” Cupricity, your idea does nothing to mitigate the risks associated with oil tanker traffic through the Hecate Strait, which Environment Canada currently ranks as the 4th most dangerous body of water in the world!

You have been served cupricity aka Enbridge, the ball is in your court!

Pylot Project

What are some of your findings on milk and cheese. I too am looking for alternatives. Have you seen anything on “Avalon” from Ave/Mother Maria’s? They have cheese and milk from Avalon. The milk is in glass bottles with a deposit on the first one you buy. Did you come across this brand in your research?

I would appreciate any help on this.

mytwobits

I too feel that berm is an eyesore. Although I have so solutions as to what to plant on that ugly berm, maybe someone else can come up with something…

I just feel trees would have been more attractive….

Peeps you should check in on how big wind treats Ontario residents who are disrupted by the big noise makers.

Being Human I am not aka Enbridge. Say sorry and I will continue.

abcdefg…

I’ve just started down this road of dairy alternative discovery, and Avalon was my first choice. I think it’s good, but it’s only been two bowls of cereal so far, and a bit of cream in my coffee.

As for cheese, we’ve started purchasing Golden Ears Cheesecrafters. I’m not sure if that’s available in PG or not. One family produces the cheese & butter, and the sibling owns the dairy cows across the road from them. They’re located in Maple Ridge. We’ve been using their butter now for a few months and it puts regular butter to shame.

BeingHuman read your own link, Enbridge wants to replace the line that keeps breaking instead of patch jobs all the time. The line is old, they want to drop in a new line to replace the old one. They want to increase the size of the pipe while they are there so the equipment needs a wider easement. The landowner is paid by the size of the easement. Most of the landowners have signed but there are a dozen holdouts. The holdouts complain about the noise all night long as they fix the old line – guess what BeingHuman, if you actually think about it they will only have to make noise once and the nothing for about 50 years yet the landowners would rather see them patch the old line. Nice….

@ seamut; You want big winds, try the Hecate Strait, highest measured wind gust clocked in at 185 kms per hour. That category 3 hurricane wind speed. My source is reliable on this information.

@ cupricity… what can I say? I have been blogging for years, and everything about your comments screams Enbridge Catfish.

Lookup “catfish” on the Urban Dictionary website if you don’t know what it means.

You have been posting on here no more than one week and we already know you are a male, you like fishing, on the Skeena River for salmon no less, and then come across as very pipeline friendly. It’s as if you are creating this persona and image that being pro-pipeline and enjoying salmon fishing at a specific river, which happens to be the Skeena River, along which the pipeline route is proposed, has no conflict or worries for you. Heck if you could care to mention to us that you happen to be Aboriginal as well, that would complete the picture for us.

Hmmm… how about I drop the Enbridge name and just call you “catfish”, would that be ok?

I like fishing the Kitimat River for salmon no less. Never tried the Skeena but did do Rupert, there were three cargo ships anchored in the bay right outside the hotel. Wonder how many have washed up on the rocks. All with Oriental writing on the back, can you say coal?

After a quick read cupricity does appear to fit the shoe.

“I still don’t get how selling oil to China at world prices will raise our price. The US burns us with buying low and selling back high.”
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Why would China want to pay us ‘world price’ for our oil? They could pay that to anyone that has oil for sale, and get all they want.

The only advantage to China is if they can get our oil cheaper than ‘world price’. Which, when the pipeline is built, they probably will. When they can’t get it cheaper from here, they’ll simply go elsewhere, where they can.

If they are investing in oil sands oil here, you can rest assured they’ll also be investing in increasing oil production everywhere else in the world where there’s any oil, and there are governments salivating over the prospects of oil industry ‘jobs’ for their citizens as the ticket to future prosperity. We are far from being alone in that regard, and more oil will certainly be discovered in places where no one has previously looked.

How it will raise our prices is really quite simple, Seamutt. When the construction starts on the pipeline there will be a large amount of new money distributed into the local and BC economy.

That money will be ‘taken back’ through a rise in the price of all consumer products for sale on the market at that time.

There are always two limits to prices, Seamutt, an upper and a lower. The lower in any free, competitive market, is always governed by cost. Once price falls to the level of cost, or below it, production ceases ~ there’s simply no incentive to ‘work for nothing’, or even more especially, to work at losing money. You can do nothing and do that, why ‘work’ at it?

The upper limit of price, however, is what we’ll be more concerned with in this instance. And it’s always governed by the quantity of money available in the hands of the public that can meet it ~ and building the pipeline will put a lot of money into the hands of the public. For awhile. And prices here, including the price of gasoline at the pumps, will rise as a result.

It may fall back a bit when the pipeline is finished and the construction jobs end, and all the suppliers to it no longer have a market for their goods and services from its construction. But it won’t be as low as where it is now, (not that that is very low compared to where it has been in the past.) Other prices will all be found to have risen, too.

If we were smart, we would find a way to mitigate this very real detriment to what otherwise may be an interesting and worthwhile project.

There are ways to do it permanently, so that WE really do get some benefits that are meaningful to improving the ratio between our ‘standard of living’ and the ‘cost’ of same, but if it’s a quick fix we’d sooner start with, that could be done, too.

So far as BC is concerned in regards to that, we should move to place an tax on every litre of oil that goes through that pipe. NOT to raise money for the BC government to spend making themselves (supposedly) look good, and get re-elected. But applied to fund rebates to all BC citizens on their retail purchases of either all, or selected consumer products.

This would offset the rise in consumer products’ prices that will negatively impact all of us here when this project is built, and also help keep the upward pressure on wages (and increasing un-competitiveness internationally in our other export oriented industries as a result), in check.

If WE are the ones taking the ‘risk’, both environmentally, as well as from the filching of our purchasing power through inflation, shouldn’t it be WE who share in the ‘reward’, by making this project of benefit to ALL of us?

For we will ALL be impacted by it, and to trade off a few relatively short term ‘jobs’, and some bigger figures recorded by a few involved directly as a fleeting increase in profits, when it could also have offsetting benefits for ALL instead, (or at least a negation of the inflationary detriment), simply shows we’ve been suckered again.

Amrik Virk, the Minister of Advanced Education, who was involved in non-disclosed payments of 50,000 each to two Kwantlin College executives over and above these exectives’ salries needs to stnd down as an MLA. I notice none of this was reported in news on this site.

Amrik Virk, Eh? Any relation?

So keystone will also raise our prices?

Slinky ships have been running into kitimate since the fifties and I cannot find any incidents. The tankers will be double hulled, two pilots on board, two tugs, one tethered, enhanced navigation equipment and direct traffic control.

monkeyboots states; “After a quick read cupricity does appear to fit the shoe.”

You know it! Catfishing is form of deception, unethical perhaps but nothing too serious when people do it. Meh, why not a company desperate for social license doing it via this social network?

I worry about News 250, it has some serious traffic (nearly a million hits per month). It also has regional reach, being read and visited by people form Prince Rupert all the way to McBride-Valmount and up north to Fort St John.

Enbridge would love to access this regional area, and reader traffic, to send out it’s message. I worry about News 250 because Enbridge is a multibillion dollar corporation, if it can’t access News 250’s significant audience through the comment section, or through advertising, it could buy out this news blog, or arrange to have it shut down. This is just my opinion of course. On the other hand, it could make the News 250 staff all millionaires :-)

I would be surprised if PR firms didn’t have employees surreptitiously presenting their clients views on sites such as this. Why wouldn’t they?

That is kind of what I am trying to infer seamut -ships have been travelling this route for decades, all of the sudden there are going to be issues according to the media, better tell all these cargo and container ships including the Alaska cruise ship that they have been travelling the most dangerous stretch of water in the world, so they better pick a different route.

I just came from there yesterday and we were fishing halibut half way to the Charlottes on Dog Banks in a 23 footer in the Hecate Strait anchored in the most dangerous waterway in the world, makes me kind of tingle inside

guesswhat the city has dumped old asphalt on roads in the Hart too. I suspect if they dumped it in a big pile somewhere it would be called an environmental hazard but if it is spread thinly on existing roads in the outskirts it can called “amalgamation” pavement. Not quite real pavement but probably better than gravel.

you would know catfishing peeps. You’ve been doing it for different entities for years. You know your trade.