It would be interesting to hear Dr. Sandra Allison the new Chief Medical Health Officer for Northern Health with her take on fluoride in the water. Being its a big issue on the ballot this coming fall one would think she will have to take a position on that.

Also I hope all the candidates in the coming election will take a clear position if they are for or against this important issue. It shouldn’t be left to guess work by the voters when casting a ballot.

Have a great weekend everyone. Be safe and well in your travels.

LOOKS like the Teachers Strike is over.
I only say that because the Teachers Picket Line is not Up anymore.
Not on the Line-no need for an agreement.
They must be taking there 2 month vacation.
Must be Starting up again in September.

Does anyone know anything about this? I heard that IKEA tried for over a year to open a store here. They wanted their location to be in the north end of town. So much for Prince George being “open for business”

Eagle…I think you already know what her take on fluoridation is and it’s the same as any other intelligent health professional worldwide. That is fluoridated water is one of the most important health advances and disease prevention measures of the 20th. century. It is safe and very cost effective. The WHO and every other credible health organization has debunked every negative fluoride rumor promoted by the wackos…

Filtered,

I would almost guarantee that as rumour. IKEA only builds in an area that has a population density of 2 million people inside of 65-100 Kms.

” That is fluoridated water is one of the most important health advances and disease prevention measures of the 20th.”

Exactly why it should be stopped! It’s mass medication contractor and unethical. The City of PG has no business medicating people.
If it is so important why are they using industrial waste instead of medical grade fluoride?

noWay, because its cheaper

I notice that there’s a new Shopper’s Drug nearing completion here on the Hart, next to McDonalds. Anyone know the story with that? It’s within walking distance of two existing pharmacies, Hart Drug in the hardware store and the one in the Saveon. Is there a need for a third pharmacy? Do they expect to drive the others out of business?

Bill Poser… to answer your last question, most likely. Now that Loblaws owns SDM, they are likely going to get more aggressive.

Speaking of new stores. Any rumors about what will be going in next to the Sandman on hwy 16?

Two big thumbs down for the individual(s) who are defacing the Farmers Market building on 6th Ave behind the Keg. The building was spray painted with black paint either early Sunday or Monday morning in what appears to be a targeted act. This was followed with tampering of the sign letters on Wednesday. With any luck the video surveillance in the area may have picked up something.

When Canada’s banks reopen for business on July 2, they will begin formally operating as informants for the United States Internal Revenue Service — the IRS.

Financial institutions in Canada will be required to ask all new and existing clients opening a new account questions such as where they were born, and possibly where their parents were born.

If you refuse your banking information can be sent to the IRS anyway and refused service.

Teachers strike? I can’t remember so much hatred running around since the last time the liquor stores went on strike. But now tih all teh stores selling liquor that is no longer an issue.

I am not a teacher, do not have one as a spouse, nor do I have kids in school…the only reason I can see that people are taking so much exception to this strike, compared to all the other unions who have gone on strike,

THEY HAVE LOST THEIR FREE BABY SITTER….

get over it….

or lets start hearing the same amount of complaints, with the same amount of venum the next time ANYONE goes on strike…

Did you not hear the minister of education saying that the teachers won’t budge on the wage issue, ( even though they are now only %1 apart so I guess they have both moved on it ) but the teachers union says they government won’t budge on class size and makeup.

oneofakind, would you stand on a picket line for the next 2 months knowing that it would be a total waste of time?

The BCTF also wants 225 million in back pay and 225 million per year for the 5 year term for work conditions which divided amongst its 41,000 membership is over 5,000 each per year for work conditions and 5,000 for back pay on top of the 5,000 for signing bonus. That is close to two billion dollars on top of their wage increase

Ah come on folks.Remember they are doing this for the kids.I hold the deed to the Simon Fraser bridge if anyone wans to buy it :-)

This teacher’s strike is getting ridiculous. Is there not one intelligent person on each side that can present the true facts and numbers to someone that can mediate a resolution. The facts and numbers are so twisted by both sides by the time they hit the media that both sides look to be in the wrong. There is no way the teachers can say this is for the kids when they are letting so many that need extra help slip through the cracks this school year. Those that are already struggling are only going to slip further behind and now no option to pick up grades through summer school. The government and teachers need to put more thought into the fact that these kids that are struggling are our future just as much as those that do well are and we shouldn’t just give up on them. The ones that are left behind in the school system are the ones that will need more social services as adults and therefore cost the government more down the road. The way I see it both sides here are equally to blame for the strike and they need to stop acting like squabbling children and sit down and discuss a solution like adults.

I think I have the solution to the education funding shortfall. Clearly there’s no clear majority opinion – some for, some against. I think the only democratic solution is to do one of the following:

Have every retail business in B.C. ask if you would like to round up to the nearest dollar to pay for education – so if you support the teachers – you say yes, and if you don’t, you say no. Whatever they bring in, get’s added into the regular education budget.

Have Tim Hortons make two different donuts – the Teach, or the Taxpayer. Then, have 4 days in July where these donuts are sold, and if they sell more Teach donuts, we give in to the BCTF demands, and if we sell more Taxpayer donuts, we don’t. But if Teach wins and we give in, we put an education tax on fast food so that everyone, rich and poor, get to pay for it.

oldcoot
What do you mean “A total waste of time ?”
They are Picketing for a Contract-that is not a waste of time.

hey I know, how about the 1.89 billion CHRISTY AND HER CRONIES are scamming from different sectors designated to deep pockets er govt. revenue and make the educational system the envy of other countries and bc. classmates the most sought after worldwide. or why not continue trying to turn the educational system into some severely underfunded joke and make bc an illiterate province!

People are upset with the teachers strike because they are very well paid for the job they do, have great benefits, etc; and are not satisfied.

Seems they have a very high opinion of themselves, and think they should be paid accordingly. Problem is their opinion of themselves is much different than the opinions of the people who pay their wages (Taxpayers).

To keep things in perspective I reiterate. Teachers are overpaid, and underworked, and have basically reached the zenith of what they can be paid for what they do.

Time to settle down, go to work, and quit complaining.

Big thank you to Canfor for sponsoring the fireworks display.

“or lets start hearing the same amount of complaints, with the same amount of venum the next time ANYONE goes on strike… “

Not “anyone” bcracer… but ANYONE who is paid by the taxpayer and is already arguably paid more then they are worth, sure :)

NEW HEADLINE !

Hey Pal so you think the teachers are overpaid. Have you checked to see what our health care management is paid or better still some of our banking executives are paid.

You seem to forget that we who keep our society afloat are being ripped off by the elitists in our world.

There is no reason in the world why those of us who provide the GDP in our economy should not have a decent wage.
Cheers

Does anyone know when the Montessori school at Gladstone elementary has its major playground structure relocated from its former Highglen location be on an accessible surface so all our children can play inclusively with their peers. Or a accessible addition?
If not, many children will never get to play or interact in this part of school programing…. This is contrary to the Provincial School Act and a discriminatory practise that has been overlooked far to long.
If two or three years is to long for kids to go without a playground… imagine kids that never get to play along side their friends on a playground at school.Is that to long?
All Children have different abilities, and we need to look at all parts of our school system with this in mind.

From the “Prince George Citizen”
The board members then realized that even if they did rebuild it would take a significant amount of time, added Noullett – two or three years even.
“And that’s too long for the kids to go without a playground,” said Noullett.

I hope Melanie Noullett, and their board encourage SD 57 administration to address accessibility for all their students and ensure things are as seamless as possible for any child to attend our school and play on our playgrounds. It is easier to build it right the first time, then retro fit later.

How many schools do you know that meet accessibility standards in our district.

Answer: 1
Lets make this school number 2

NEWS HEADLINE ! Enbridge has been given the green light on the condition that all teachers and BCTF members be stuffed in a pipeline and exported to Alberta!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yPeLFAiUXM

Presentation before Peel Ontario city council June 26 2014. Eagleone, I am no Nostradamus but I am able to predict with 100% accuracy the position of the new CMH officer on PG tap water fluoridation with fluorosilicic acid.

Retired02 bank executives are not paid by public dollars. So if they make too mush money stop banking with them. You cannot compare them to public paid employees nor should you compare the wages of health management to teachers unless you are able to substantiate the claim.

That being said management should be paid more than the employees in every company. They have more accountability and responsibility than employees have.

To get people to feel sorry for the teachers you need to find a similar job that pays substantially better with the same benefits ( or better) with the same education requirements.

Cabinfevergirl I hope your not complaining about the pea-gravel on the playground. It’s there for a reason.

The playgrounds are usually paid for by monies raised by the Parent Advisory Councils – the school board probably wants them to raise money to move it.

oneofakind. Let’s see how productive bargaining is over the summer. Would you stand out in front of a closed business with a picket sign?

Did anyone notice that the “pride” flag has replaced the Prince George municipal flag at city hall?

Sexual orientation takes precedence over civic pride?

about the teachers. Are their wages not realistic? I don’t think so. Alberta teachers are paid much more. A tradesman at a sawmill or pulp mill can make about $80,000 a year without overtime. And many of the tradesmen over 40 never graduated from grade 12 and it is a rarity to find one with a Bachelors degree. Some of your sawill workers make more then teachers with no post secondary education. Most of your teachers have invested in 4/5 years for a degree from a university. Most do that by taking out student loans that they spend many years repaying after they go to work. MOST TEACHERS DO HAVE A GENUINE CONCERN FOR THEIR STUDENTS. Not to mention the number of hours outside the classroom they spend making and preparing lessons. And lets not forget that most extra curricular activities wouldn’t happen if it was not for a teacher sponsoring it.
To sum it up the Liberal Government has lost 2 court cases because of their high handed or illegal actions and is going for a 3rd. I do believe it is time for our teachers to get a fair deal.

oops this sentence “Not to mention the number of hours outside the classroom they spend making(sic) and preparing lessons.” should read “Not to mention the number of hours outside the classroom they spend marking and preparing lessons.”

The average teacher makes 73,000 plus a very generous benefits package. That is for working 9 months or less of the year. If we Took the average sawmill worker who gets 2 or 3 weeks vacation, and assumed that a 4 year Red Seal Journeyman is close to the same amount of education we have 73,000+ 18,000 in benefits for 9 months work instead of 11 or more months work.

Furthermore teachers in places like Norway and Sweden (that are the envy of the world)pay their teachers about half what we pay our teachers. They fund education similiarly to what BC and Canada do on a GPD percentage basis. The difference is they pay their teachers about half and half class sizes about half.

The most important flaw in your argument between journeymen and teachers is that there is not any extra journeymen. These positions are extremely difficult to fill and there is no surplus supply of them. On the other hand there are 70,000 teachers qualified in BC and only 35,000 or so working.

In other words teachers pay is very high on an international scale, and is not following basic market conditions.

Cupricity; but how do the teacher’s salaries in those other countries compare to tradesmen in heavy industry in their country? And after a few years a tradesman in a pulp mill gets a great deal of vacation time off. As for market conditions we have to compete for teachers with the rest of Canada. I am surprised that with how our teachers are treated and paid that there has not been a mass exodus by them to other provinces. And class size and composition are important. If a class has 30 pupils with one or of them being a behavior problem and a special needs kid is also in the class the teacher spend so much time with those 3 students that the other pupils end up without the mentoring they need.

And if you just use the currency exchange rate to compare wages it is not a true value of what a salary is. It is very important that the standard of living is taking into consideration. That being said, the teachers and others that live outside of the lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island make more because of the lower cost of housing. But then they pay more for other things like groceries etc.

And lets not forget taxes. We in BC pay more in income and sales taxes then the folks in Alberta. And the teachers there make more.

mactac. why not bring up the court case the BCTF lost, the illegal walkout on students last time around…

The BCTF is asking for an extra 225 million PER YEAR for the prep time, it is on the website. That is close to 5,500 per teacher on average per year for this 5 year term. Where exactly would a mass exodus take them, they would lose their cushy seniority and usually start at the bottom elsewhere

Teachers in the past used to deal with 30 or more kids, point to any time in the past that average class sizes have been lower than 30. Smaller schools had one teacher who would teach all grades up to 9 and deal with lessons for all students at different grade levels – you think one kid who is lagging is really an issue

Slinky, in the past the teachers could use a pointer on a unruly student or have them expelled and they never had special needs pupils amongst the 30 they were teaching. And honestly do you think the old one room school house with grades 1 to 10 gave as good an education to the students as our schools today you are dreaming. All the teacher could do was cover the mere basics.

Siabiz, your living in a dream world. Where does the money come from to pay those bank executive. It comes from a family trying to make ends meet with the mortgage they have to keep a roof over their head.

Its not where the money comes from its about who shares the wealth. All the money in our society comes from the middle class and god only knows how long they can keep feeding the rich.
Cheers

As to the illegal walkout. Who says it was. The heavy hand of the LIBERAL government made it so. They passed legislation that would have fined the union 2 million a day and teachers thousands a day(am not sure of the amount, sorry) A judge said they could strike for 3 days I think without being fined. I would say that high of fines should be deemed as damned excessive in any bodies books excep for a person like Christy Clark. But I forget her LNG is going to solve all our financial worries. So sorry Christy we won’t see that for at least the next 10 to 20 yrs if it ever comes about.

“We in BC pay more in income and sales taxes then the folks in Alberta”

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

Partially true. The income taxes bill would actually be lower in BC than Alberta, given the salaries that most teachers make.

The marginal rates are lower in BC until you get up to around $125,000 in taxable income, at which Alberta starts to be more advantageous.

On a $65,000 taxable income, for example, someone living in BC would pay roughly $1,200 less than someone in Alberta. Truth be told, the tax someone would pay on that amount of income in BC would be the lowest in Canada, unless you wanted to move to Nunavut.

Sorry, what I should have said was that the total taxes payable start to equal out at around $125,000. The marginal rates are higher in BC, but it takes until that $125,000 amount before the impact of those rates causes the situation to flip to Alberta’s favour.

Palestine riot in Toronto using Palestine flags as weapons and an a Jewish person sent to hospital. The gutless police just stood by and did nothing.

The gutless media never reported it.

Trudeau says he will impose a carbon tax even if it hurts the economy. A tax where there is no scientific proof that man caused c03 affects the climate. Satellites have shown no warming for eighteen years dispite computer models saying there should be. Garbage in garbage out. Do not trust anyone that calls themself a climate scientist. If you meet one keep your hand on your wallet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrLaBU_LbWI

NMG..how do the personal exemptions compare Alberta vs BC?? Lets say someone making 25 thousand per year…who pays more income tax?

But really that isn’t a fair comparison of who pays more tax…BC residents also pay a Carbon Tax, and a Transit Tax in the lower mainland…and for some reason our fuel is always quite a bit more expensive….and property tax, and land transfer tax, and environmental tax and the lost goes on and on and on.

No wonder they call BC…”Bring Cash” in Alberta.

reading the city bylaw on condos and apartment building regarding the use of, charcoal burners and other open flame cooking devices on balcony. It states that there shall not be any operation on balconies or within 3 meters (117) inches , I laughed something is wrong here I heard that the apartment in Peden Hill that was burned was because of a candle on the deck and another was caused by a cigarette .my friend on the coast has a condo where you cannot smoke or cook anywhere but in your suite or at a common area set up for that purpose . If caught doing so you will have to pay a fine to the Strata .just another PG blunder .

Seamut – I don’t think you should assume that your lack of knowledge is the same as scientists’ lack of evidence. There is plenty of evidence co2 is causing warming if you actually read scientific publications. Start with NASA. They have shown the following…

1) TSI (total solar irradiance) has been declining for the last 50 or so years.
2) temperatures have been increasing
3) there has been an increase in downwelling long wave radiation at the Earth’s surface.
4) there has been an decrease in long wave radiation LEAVING the earth as measured at the top of the atmosphere
5) this change in radiation is specifically at the frequency coinciding with co2 spectra.

The evidence is there. Your not being aware of it doesn’t make it go away.

Also the 18 year pause is wishful thinking. 18 year UAH trend is 0.120 ±0.186 °C/decade. Still upward. Also refer to the paper by Foster and Rahmstorf (2012) if you are at all into science rather than dime store blogs.

Also regarding a carbon tax being only harmful. We live in bc. The economy didn’t crash. Our emissions dropped more than the rest of Canada. The world didn’t end. It works. The IMF is calling for it, saying done right it will be beneficial. Who should we believe, you and oil companies? Or the experts?

Comment Posted by: Filtered on July 4 2014 6:38 AM
Does anyone know anything about this? I heard that IKEA tried for over a year to open a store here. They wanted their location to be in the north end of town. So much for Prince George being “open for business”
————————-
Why would we want an Ikea in PG? This is a union town, they would go broke here.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/sight+Ikea+labour+dispute+Richmond/9819882/story.html

The definition of cupricity…..

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Internet-shill

No Retired2 – the money to pay high salaries for our bankers come from the Big Plastic spenders who seem to have the penchant to pay the 19.9% penalty fees on their credit card bills.

In Canada we have more crude oil reserves than almost anywhere else on the planet. In Egypt the price of gasoline has jumped an unbelievable 78%. How will they ever afford to drive???

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/egypt-declares-huge-increase-in-gasoline-prices-1.2697252?cmp=rss

Where is GUS ??

Retired02 the money to pay bank execs comes from the people choosing to borrow and bank. Not tax dollars. Giant difference. You can choose to bank elsewhere you are not forced to pay the fees. You as an individual can negotiate for lower interest rates and bank charges. Try it. I negotiate and I pay a significantly lower interest rate and bank charges. In addition private sector is market driven so the supply and demand fall where they should based upon market dynamics.
Are you against the rich because you don’t make the same money? Mortgage rate are extremely low right now. not really a huge money maker for the banks. Do you want the banks to give away hundreds of thousands of dollars for nothing? how long would they stay in business not very long. Perhaps if your mortgage is crushing you go refinance for a lower rate you can save a significant amount if money. You compared teachers wages to bank execs I think that is a foolish comparison. I was merely stating that I don’t think those two wages can be compared not attacking you or your views.

Carpenter:
pea gravel is not an acceptable surface for the fall zone for children with mobility limitations. there are many other surface that do the same job or better then pea gravel that would benifit all our kids and community members.
so if I were to use the word complain then yes I am complaining about pea gravel :)
I would like to call it a positive suggestion

In Canada, we have a whole lot of enormous ‘reserves’ of other natural resources besides crude oil.

Plus an already existing overcapacity to convert those resources into forms useful to us to satiate all our own personal consumptive needs and desires, and that of those we ‘trade’ with, plus a huge potential to add further to that overcapacity.

Even though, in many more instances than not, we don’t even run what we’ve already got at anywhere near full capacity. Nor could we. Not profitably. But we’re still building more.

What we don’t have is a sensible financial system that recognises those realities, and is organised in such a way that Canadian consumers actually benefit through continually LOWER prices for our development of those resources.

Not only do we NOT have that, but we have idiots like Trudeau, Jr., proposing we have a Carbon Tax, that’ll drive up the price we pay even further to use our own resources! And he’s supposed to be an improvement over Harper?

Lets look at some FACTS.

The origin of all sane economic activity is consumer demand.

We ‘produce’ to ‘consume’. NOT so some boob can have a ‘job’.

Ever since the advent of the Industrial Revolution the world has been working at putting itself out of work. Look at the size of the modern logging or sawmill crew relative to what they now produce compared to 20 or 30 or any other number of years ago if you doubt me. And there are parallels in EVERY other industry.

Yet we exalt the ‘job’ as if it were the be-all and end-all of everything. It isn’t. ‘Work’ is simply a function of man, like ‘sleep’.

The difference being the more work we can eliminate in producing or procuring all our actual consumptive needs the more ‘productive’ and ‘efficient’ we are said to be.

If we are going to aim to have 100% full employment at the same time we keep increasing efficiency and productivity we are going to have an enormous difficulty disposing of all the ‘production’, and it will be even more impossible to do that than now at a ‘price’ that will liquidate ALL the financial ‘costs’. Look at all the ‘consolidation’ and ‘rationalisation’ that’s gone on in EVERY industry if you doubt me. The seemingly successful ‘giants’ of a few decades ago are often now non-existant.

This is because while it is perfectly true that “unit cost (of anything) is a function of volume”, and a rise in productive volume lowers the cost of each unit made, it is still the TOTAL cost of ALL the units made that has to be liquidated to effect any benefit ~ and we’ve just made ‘more’ units.

For which there still may not be a market for that increased TOTAL ~ certainly not in Canada ~ and if we export, how then do we get paid in a manner that benefits Canadians without bankrupting the countries we’re hoping to continually sell our ever increasing surpluses to?

The TRUE ‘cost’ of ALL production, the actual physical cost, is ALL consumption over one and the SAME time period.

But, currently, the FINANCIAL ‘cost’, on which is based the ‘price’ we will pay to consume whatever we’ve produced, is much HIGHER.

In fact, whether we have a lot of profligate spenders or everyone trying to live within their means financially, on average we are still going to have to ring up debt, somewhere in the economy, under the current set-up, to be able to pay that ‘price’.

And look at the mess we create when we do. The teacher’s strike is but one small manifestation of the mess we’re mired in, seemingly with no satisfactory permanent solution.

Why not change the accounting? To make the ‘figures’ fit the ‘facts’? Instead of persisting in trying to do what should be patently obvious to anyone who’ll think about it is never going to work? Trying to do the opposite and make the ‘facts’ fit ‘figures’ that are not only flawed in the way they’re arrived at, but can never, under the current set-up, properly REFLECT physical reality.

What needs to change to do that?

Simply this. Compute the price of every product ‘financially’ exactly the same way it’s done now. But to that price, at the point of retail purchase, in Canada, apply a factor that is arrived at by taking the statistical value of ALL national Production, over any given previous period, (week, month, quarter), divided by ALL national Consumption over that SAME period.

Normally, and certainly over any extended time, we always ‘produce’ more than we ‘consume’. (We have to, since over time, no one can consume anything that has not first been produced.)

When the financial price is multiplied by the factor, which will normally be a fraction of one, the true price can be determined. And a REBATE on the financial price equal to the difference can be credited to the consumer. This can be done so long as overall ‘production’ exceeds overall ‘consumption’ in any previous same length given time period.

The REBATE is ‘new money’, created by the Bank of Canada, just as it and the chartered banks create our existing money. Only it is counter-inflationary, since it is created to LOWER prices, and enable the benefits of our increasing productivity to be made more accessible to ALL our citizens. The producer, and the retailer lose nothing. No one is taxed any more than they are presently taxed. But we’ve all been credited with an increase in ‘purchasing power’. And one that will INCREASE with each addition to our total national production over and above that of our total national consumption.

Going the way we’ve been trying to go is a one-way road to nowhere. Break the cycle, before it breaks us all. Lets look at the REAL problems, not the one some well-kept politicians want us to believe only they have the answers to, only to find, again, they don’t.

xha44 – welcome back peeps / beinghuman :)