Friday Free for All – April 1, 2016
Friday, April 1, 2016 @ 12:00 AM
Once again, it’s time for the weekly open thread. It is your opportunity to speak up on the issues that tweaked your interest over the past week.
It’s the Friday Free For All.
You pick the topic, but obey the simple rules:
Keep it clean
Keep it legal
No Bullying
Comments
Hello everyone
Enjoy the nice weather we are having
Remember.. drive on the left
are you sure about driving on the left?
That would definitely make ones day interesting.
Remember what day it is today :)
Kind of wondering why the comment section for certain articles are either closed, open for comment for a couple of hours or extended a day or two. A lot of smart posters have worthy comments to contribute and at times I would like to view their perspective whether I might agree or otherwise when given the opportunity to post
Yes, I’ve often come here a day late and found something that deserves a rebuttal. Only to find the comments closed.
We have smart posters? I thought they were just professional googlers. :)
Seriously though, 24 hours is the window for commenting on the majority of stories. Stories that name people who have been charged with a crime are closed to comments and those stories that bring out the bigots and the racists tend to get shut down early.
SO today I express my frustration (not an April fools joke) but BC Hydro raising rates another 4%. This was to pay for infrastructure upgrades. Ne lines, upgrades lines, smart meters. I will I had never done the smart meter. I have a friend that stayed on the old, pays the 30$ a month punishment fee and still lower than how much mine went up with the new smart meter.
The next beef is I think all of these hikes are because help pay for Sites C expansion that is just getting sold off to the US.
Did California ever pay there outstanding bill, or are we still.
You missed the 65 billion in expensive power Hydro is forced to buy, much more expensive than site c.
WHO do you think was the wizard behind that decision??
Wind energy costs a lot, that’s why we’re paying more.
Reading MyPrinceGeorgenow this morning, and it looks as though the Cut banks are now being renamed “Goal Spank Banks” City council is out to lunch..
You may want to check a calendar.
Maybe they’ll change Prince George to City of Scott McWalter
Who is Scott McWalter?
Some dude whose 15 minutes should have run out a long time ago.
Isn’t he the UNBC mascot ?
I have always enjoyed reading Friday free for all Friday evening,lately it is like reading a book starting on page one then reading page ninty nine then page ten and so forth. Not so enjoyable as nearly all posting times are scrambled.
I agree, I much prefer to read the posts in chronological order.
There is an easy fix.
The first post on a new topic stays to the right hand side. Anyone who posts in relation to the topic started by the initial poster is nested further to the right, the same as here.
However, people can open or close the nested comments by clicking on the -ve or +ve next to the comments. Thus they are in chronological order by original post.
Other improvements would be that those posts that you have not seen are highlighted by a different colour or by a “new” shown next to them. Those are specific to each viewer and are rendered according to the “cookies” info provided to the server by your computer.
In my opinion, this is better than before, but it could be improved still more.
Finally, many sites are set up to notify the individual commenter by e-mail that someone has responded to the comment.
To the “Lumisave” company vehicle being driven by a bald man, with black glasses today on Tabour blvd at 7:38 am who was so busy reading his cell phone and not having his glasses on to see the road thanks for cutting me and my family off. Hope you have a great day and that txt message was so darn important. No this is not a April fools statement.
Did you call the office and lodge a complaint?
Yesterday I read that the city prohibits any sweeping activities. A friend of mine got shut down in the afternoon. Driving to work this morning I noticed that Victoria street was being swept. Is there no dust at night?
The city prohibits sweeping activities without an approved dust suppression plan. If you have noticed when the city sweepers are out doing their job, they are preceded by the a water truck that lays down a fairly significant volume of water to keep the dust down.
Dust down until the water dries and vehicles zoom through the dust left behind… does noone think at city hall?
I have a sweeper with a dry pickup vacuum dust control, once I go by there is no water laden with dirt, yet I cannot sweep until they lift the advisory
city has its own set of rules it has to follow…
like, there are none for them.
They are SPECIAL.
I see the BC Liberals under our fearless leader, Christy Clarke, are charging $10,000 per head for the well-to-do (i.e. corporations) to get personal, private access to her at parties in private homes. This is just to shake her hand, of course, not to lobby for government business or changes to legislation for the companies’ benefit. Right?
I remember when the Liberals were first elected in 2001 that they did much the same, charging a fortune for party coffers for access to Cabinet Ministers at limited seating events. Again, no doubt, just to shake their hands! It appears that the unethical practices of this governing BC Liberal party has not changed one whit over their tenure. They started out with unethical practices and they still have unethical practices 15 years later.
I want to know just how much money have the BC Liberals raised over the last 15 years by selling this favoured access to the Premier and Cabinet Ministers. However much it is, I believe that it constitutes a corrupt practice and should warrant legal penalties since it comes awfully close to influence peddling.
ammonra, the NDP do the same thing!
From Les Leyne’s “In the Fast Leyne” column on page 6 of today’s Prince George Citizne:
“New Democrats over-reached this week, manufacturing a bit of horror at Premier Christy Clark’s exclusive soirées, while overlooking how familiar their own party is with the concept.
They rapped Clark for not releasing the guest list for a $10,000-a-head reception organized by a wealthy Vancouverite where she was the star attraction.
Back in 2012, when the NDP looked like a sure thing to win the upcoming election, corporations and wealthy individuals started hedging their bets and writing cheques to the party, which it was only too happy to cash.
And then-leader Adrian Dix spent some time doing exactly what Clark is doing – holding exclusive get-togethers with people willing to ante up considerable sums of money for the right to attend. And none of their names were released, either.
The invitation to one such reception, covered at the time, has a very familiar ring to it. Executives from the resource sector were invited to the Fairmont Pacific Rim for a “private reception” with Dix and key caucus members. “This event has limited capacity. It’s a closed invitation list.”
Tickets went for $2,500, with a special $10,000 VIP package that secured hours more time with Dix over dinner.
A few months before the election, the NDP was putting the touch on business leaders again, based on the record year they had had with corporation donations.
“Between 2005 and 2012, you contributed significantly to the B.C. Liberals. It is our hope that you will adopt a balanced approach to your support in the lead-up to the election in May.
“I am asking your organization to make a contribution in the range of $5,000 to show your commitment to a balanced approach to government.”
And guess who charged Toronto business leaders $5,000 a head for a breakfast session on Wednesday? It was NDP Leader John Horgan. B.C. Liberals who were miffed at the Clark criticism posted the invite on social media to even the score.”
Ammonra, I’m not defending the Liberals! I’m just pointing out that it must really suck to point fingers at a party that you don’t support, only to find out that the party that you probably do support has done and is doing the same thing!
I don’t approve of purchased access to any politicians of any party whether I support them or not. So I don’t feel like it sucks, as you put it.
There is however one significant difference between the Liberals and the NDP and that is that the Liberals are in power, so it is not just a case of getting access to a person who is a possible, future influencee (??), as it would be with the NDP, it is a case of paying for access to someone who has the power right now to enact legislation for the benefit of the payee.
As it happens, I believe that all corporate donations should be forbidden under threat of significant fines, and I include unions as corporations for this purpose. I fully agree with the NDP on this, but think the penalties should be much more severe. Unseating an MLA who accepts such donations over a specified amount and then wins the election, for instance.
ammonra, I’m so glad that you mentioned “unions as corporations for this purpose” because as noted in the Globe and Mail today, it would appear that big labour was very very active in their attempt to influence our recent federal election.
Today, from the Globe and Mail:
“According to the reports filed with Elections Canada, the top ten third party spenders during the last campaign were:
— United Steelworkers: $431,640
— Let’s Build Canada, a coalition of building trade construction unions advocating for public investments in infrastructure: $428,975
— Canadians United for Change, a union-linked organization: $425,462.
— Public Service Alliance of Canada: $390.236.
— Friends of Canadian Broadcasting: $332,687.
— Canadian Labour Congress: $306,518.
— Unifor: $299,902.
— British Columbia Nurses Union: $256,872.
— Canadian Media Guild: $237,033.
— Canadian Union of Postal Workers: $208,572.
You can read the entire article at the following:
ht tp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/third-parties-spent-6-million-to-influence-2015-vote/article29491009/
there all a bunch of scoundrels
Corruption abounds!
We also have Bombardier, who apparently has met with Justin and Co. 29 times already this year as they line themselves up for another BILLION DOLLAR bailout!
Alberta wants/needs a pipeline at NO COST to the Feds! Bombardier wants/expects yet another BILLION DOLLAR bailout.
Who will win out? Alberta at no cost to the Feds, or Bombardier, at a never ending cost to the taxpayer?
Bombardier! Quebec! Justin! Quebec!
Hmm, I wonder??
Hart Guy, if you were to make a list of corporations that are not unions I am sure the list would be several times as long and several times the amounts. It ignores my comments that I am opposed to all donations from corporations and unions alike. I would remind you as well, since you appear to have forgotten, that the BC NDP wants to stop both types as well and is introducing a private member’s bill to that effect. The Liberals are oppose, of course, since they need to keep the moolah flowing.
My original point was not about donations at all and your stressing it has diverted attention away from my point. That point was that the Premier of this province was in collusion with corporate backers to have them pay $10,000 to attend a very, very limited party in a private home, in secret, to get an opportunity to meet her directly and, one must presume, lobby her for some kind of support for thei businesses. I think that is wrong. So wrong, in fact, that it should be made illegal for the Premier to do that, if it isn’t already, that is.
ammonra, neither was Hart Guy’s initial response to your initial point. You may have glossed over Dix having a private reception in anticipation of becoming the BC Premier by the polling numbers but others have not.
You forget that we are supposed to be living in a free (freedom of choice) society! If people want to purchase and attend events of that kind and costing that kind of money, so be it! As long as they do not use my money I do not care very much! The best punishment is to cast your vote for some other party, don’t you think?
For free and democratic elections it is important that there be a level playing field and that the results reflects the wishes of the voters, i.e. people not companies nor unions. That requires some means of ensuring that excessive donations do not bias the elections in favour of one group over another.
OMGAWD..what will the GOOHEADS do when Cannabis is Legalized…a planet change?? I have just the spot picked for em!!
Do you think that one day you’ll sober up enough to post something that makes sense?
I hope not, the entertainment value of her posts would diminish.
Speaking of influence peddling and lying to investors . Even more states have joined the litigation against big fossil . What an amazingly huge can of worms . The fossil money fuelled think tanks must be crapping themselves . #exxonknew
You should read this
ht tp://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/24/uh-oh-rockefellers-admit-paying-for-exxonknew-media-coverage/
seamutt, Ataloss only reads what’s in the HuffPost and the Tyee!
However, if he reads the article, I hope that he follows this link contained in the article:
ht tp://energyindepth.org/national/rockefellers-admit-paying-for-exxonknew-media-coverage/
Let us know when you are completely off the grid and not consuming fossils in any way, shape or form….then perhaps your always inane comments can at least be backed up by the courage of your own convictions. Until then you my friend are simply a hypocrite!
Grow up !
“Grow up”, he responds, thus confirming that he as an enthusiastic consumer of energy including fossil fuels.
Isn’t that sort of like telling a cancer patient that they have no right to support to advancement of alternate therapies while they are receiving chemotherapy?
I agree, the logic is ridiculous.
While driving home the other day, I came up to a red light, and the vehicle in front of me had the popular sticker of “Baby On Board”. I asked myself, how does this work? Does that sticker actually make anybody drive differently?
First of all, you can only read it when you’re bumper to bumper at an intersection, and not moving. If you get 2 or 3 car lengths behind, it’s a blob of colours. As it’s on the back of the car, nobody can see it from the sides or the front, even if you could read it.
I’m curious what the sticker’s purpose is, other than to advertise you have a baby. Those stickman decals would do the same thing.
Perhaps I should get one made that reads, “Octogenarian On Board” when I drive my mother to her appointments.
Its a free country.
Cheers
Since when?
Started out for emergency crews when vehicles in collision, now it’s one of those “Don’t you dare hit me no matter how crazy I drive, I got kids” LOL
The BABY was referrng to the HOT MOM
“One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with the environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole,” said Edenhofer, who co-chaired the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change working group on Mitigation of Climate Change from 2008 to 2015.
So what is the goal of environmental policy?
“We redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy,” said Edenhofer”
ht tp://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/another-climate-alarmist-admits-real-motive-behind-warming-scare/
Yippee.. Skakun resigned.
Give us a break its April 1st.
Cheers
I almost let out a cheer….
good one P Val
Be on the Look Out.
Had 2 Young People on Bikes early last night stop in our Apt. Parking lot and check the doors of alot of the Vehicles in the parking lot.
Spruceland Area.
Where they using the bike lane?
Seamutt that was hilawious!
But seriously, young people, 40 year old people on bikes have a backpack with them for a reason. They hold vehicle and housebreaking tools, then they carry off your goodies in them, stash the big stuff to pick up later.
Be very aware in residential areas day and night and for crying out loud, lock up the vehicle, the house, the shed.
Found a nice pressure washer in Moore’s Meadow a while ago, stashed for pick up later. Then there was the toolbox….
180000 people have in the last 24 hours put down a thousand dollar deposit for the model3 tesla and the line ups continue around the world .
Nobody hates tesla more than car sales people and dealership owners . Tesla don’t use them . So they can’t use us . No other production cars hold their value better . Some get more for their used teslas than they paid for them because people don’t want to wait .
198000 an hour ago and rising . At this rate three years of production will be sold well before being built . And no sales personnel or dealerships to siphon off a penny .
Last I heard, the Tesla (which is a fine, sexy electric car) sells for $70,000, making it something that only the well-off can afford. Originally the sale price was $100 grand and they were losing money, so they kept raising the price to $125,000. And they were still losing money. So they applied for subsidies from the government, and the Obama administration was only too happy to chip in, because after all, they’re electric. So now every one of those cars is subsidized to the tune of $50,000 by working Americans so the wealthy can have their toys.
Yep and a huge taxpayer subsidy, that is how Musk makes money by sucking up taxpayer paid subsidies for all his ventures. Hey you getting one, plug into your unicorn solar? Subsidies no road tax, hey whats not to like.
Interesting how we never hear anything about that nisson leaf UNBC bought. Silence seems to prove its use in the north.
248k 40 minutes ago via Twitter . Too funny . What’s the dealer fee and commission on 86 million dollars U.S. ?
248,000 times $50,000 subsidy per vehicle comes to about $5 billion in working poor taxpayer subsidies to the rich. And you think this is a good thing.
Well I made an error and now must correct it.
Tesla Model 3, a smaller version than the original and the second costs only $35,000US and is affordable to some middle class people too. It only qualifies for $8,000 in subsidies and that number will only cost the taxpayer around $2 billion.
As it stands the tesla 3 is nothing more than a glorified golf cart with the skin of a car over top.
If we wanted to have a weekend of spring skiing in Jasper and owned one of these things it would mean an overnight stay in Jasper and one each way in McBride to recharge. With our car an early departure Saturday and late arrival Sunday means two full days of skiing with only a single night hotel charge in a car that cost about half of what a tesla costs.
Are the people who bought these 45k carts going to have another car in case they want to take a holiday without having to stop for 8 hours every 200 miles? Or what if they got a call in the middle of the night about a family emergency 300 miles away. With my car even if the low fuel light is on a 5 minute stop for fuel and I am on the way. Tesla is off like a herd of turtles in 6-8 hours.
Unless they extend the range to 8oo or 900 kilometers on a single charge while using heat or AC or cut full recharge time to 15 or 20 minutes they will be of no use to the average consumer.
Yup, toy for the wealthy. Anybody who has one also needs another car powered by fossil fuels for anything more than local driving.
“Are the people who bought these 45k carts going to have another car in case they want to take a holiday without having to stop for 8 hours every 200 miles? Or what if they got a call in the middle of the night about a family emergency 300 miles away”
Maybe they would rent a car. Or take a train to their vacation spot. Or fly and then taxi around or take a subway.
Obviously the cars are being marketed to and purchased by people with different needs than you.
So do they seal the deal with a non-refundable payment, or can they simply withdraw without a penalty?
Looks more like an option . I would think its tradeable. Probably two year waiting list now .
Just paid my utilites bill and when compared to the same period in 2012, it has increased almost 63%. At this rate, the City should develop their rental property department soon.
50 million dollars in salaries has to come from someone. And that someone is the captive audience known as the taxpayer.
Don’t forget that we gotta have that performing arts center. Money has to come from somewhere.
It has been a year since grizzly Ben passed on. I think we all should be sending giant kudos to Elaine and the way in which she has managed to bring people on board and keep this site open. Thanks Elaine
Here here. Great job continuing with 250 News!
Thank you all for your support over the past year. The team at 250News wouldn’t be able to move forward if not for the support of our readers, our advertisers, and many friends. I thank each and every one of you and look forward to ‘carrying on” as Ben would have wanted.
Elaine Macdonald-Meisner
Whats with the groups of Camaros in town racing around on the highway and in town. They must have special “I” licences. Accidents waiting to happen. A white one likes to fun it from traffic lights
spraying rocks behind her. Should learn road etiquette before driving
a vehicle like that. Im sure the driver would not want someone spraying rocks
at her vehicle in a parking lot or street…
**gun it from traffic lights
I love irony. This morning, I was passed on a double solid line in front of a rise on the road (blindspot) by a silver Honda Van driven by a lady who appeared to be in her 40s. I know this, because she was in my rear view mirror for about 3 minutes before she passed. For you apologists – I was driving 10% over the speed limit, so I wasn’t holding her up. Only 1 km ahead, is a long straight stretch where it’s safe to pass. But for some reason, she felt it necessary to take this risk. A risk that, could have deprived her family of a mother/wife – or worse, saddled them with an invalid with little ICBC support. Did the same to an on-coming vehicle, and probably put me in harms way, although I drive a truck so likely I would walk away.
The irony, was the Ness Lake Volunteer Fire Department Plate on the front of her vehicle. Here a person, or someone in her family, who has to deal with the aftermath of traffic accidents as a volunteer firefighter, made a poor decision, that this time, was no harm, no foul. And I know she wasn’t going to a fire, because she got stuck behind the next column of traffic and ended up at the Hart about 30 seconds before me.
Some accidents aren’t accidents, they’re just regular people making stupid decisions.
That’s about 95% of them.
Seems there is a airline ripoff in the works. Fly out of Canada to the USA and you pay $25.00 plus tax for a baggage fee. On the return flight from the USA to Canada you pay $25.00 USD or the equivalent of $33.00 Cdn.
Amazing how it cost less for bags to fly south than the cost for bags to fly north. Maybe because the weight is in kilograms when going south but pounds when travelling north.
I sure wish the city would ‘ get on it’ painting lines on the main streets-almost got side swiped by someone downtown today!!!
The sound of spring in the air, the unmuffled Harleybird.
The sound of spring today. The sound of winter studded tires still on a significant number of vehicles.
It’s April 30 for studs off today is the day you don’t have to have winter tires if on certain highways.
yep they almost …. almost….. drown out the sound of the desiel 4X4 pavement princesses .
I am always amazed at the drivers who engage in stupid driving acts in a vehicle that has a company name on it. Wonder if the driver is the owner or just an employee who doesn’t care about the reputation of the company? IMHO the city should require the police to raise a certain percentage of their operating costs which would get them out there policing the highways and streets to raise the money. If police spent 2 hrs in the morning and 2 hrs in the afternoon on both the Hart and Hwy 16W, they would likely exceed their target in just a couple of days.
Those vehicles with the Company name on them, I don’t contract them.
Figure they drive like they work.
Just wondering what everyone does on gravel roads with no lines, drive down the middle? Pretty easy to figure out where your own lane is.
And yeah, they could very easily start painting now, especially crosswalks.
It does not sound like you have driven on too many gravel roads. Drive on the obvious most travelled section which will have the lest gravel left on it, that way you have the best grip on the road. Move over carefully to the right when you see an oncoming vehicle and driving uphill and cannot see over the crest.
Learned on gravel, drove on gravel, rule of the road is, slow down, logging trucks got right of weight. Too fast on curve, loose gravel will put you in the ditch.
Yes, unfortunately a lot of them do until they find an oncoming vehicle and then they aren’t sure where they can drive to the right side of the road.
Some people do this on paved roads too.
Hart is between 2 timmys……too easy…just like they are stopping cars with STUDDED tires…have to off now…
Winter tires are no longer required but you can have your studded winters on your car or truck until the end of April.
I paid my utility tax bill the other day.
Line up was out to the parking lot. Only two (out of six) stalls were open. Idle department employees wandered around trying to look busy balancing their coffee cups. I complained. No, I didn’t want to see the manager. He or she doesn’t care anyway. The best solution is to go online and vent your frustration to the public. All I want is some respect shown to the citizens of PG who pay management’s $100,000 plus salaries.
How is this any different than a privately owned store like Save-On, where six out of 10 cashier stations have no one manning them?
I guess that 4% Hydro rise was too much for CNR. They shut off all of their roadway lights in the main yard.
I sure would like to have a Liberal/Trudeau supporter explain to my why it was ok for Justin and Co. to blow their deficit out of the water to the tune of $30 BILLION dollars after their election promise of a modest deficit!
I’d also like an explantion as to why they are all OK with all of the other BROKEN election promises?
And what about the pay raise that our MP’s just voted for themselves, $6,000.00 more for Justin alone?!
That is easy. BTW, you asked a similar question before and I answered you on that one as well.
1. They formed the government now and they can do that, the same as Harper and everyone before him did since they are responsible for doing what they think is best for the country based on their understanding of what is needed.
2. As far as election promises goes, there is no such thing for a number of reasons such as not having had full disclosure before taking control, not having full access to administrative staff who do the actual work and know the details of the state of their ministries, and things change over time, at the moment quite rapidly with the state of the economy so one has to react just as quickly rather than turning to page 74 and applying proposal 53(e).
3. Pay raises are 1.8% for MPs and 2.1% for senators. Trudeau gets the 1.8% increase for MP which he had received before. Since he is now PM, he gets an additional $170,400 (which was also lifted by 1.4%) as PM. Keep in mind, he receives that level of salary – which Harper and others before him also received – only why he is PM.
sorry, that is 1.8% not 1.4%
and, just to make sure, that is not 1.8% x 2 = 3.6%. it is simply 1.8% on each of the two components of compensation for a total of 1.8% on the combined components.
The budget is not just for today but for the entire term and beyond thus your point #2 makes no sense. Didn’t read anything about 30 billion or was that point #4?
Funny JT was so adamant to give back the child tax credit as his family is too well off and should have never received it, yet after the election his small family is not so rich as to turn down a couple nannies on the taxpayers coin?
How many billions are we spending on other countries annually now? How about spending some of that at home maybe? Just another 93 million today… hopla
gopg2015,
“Break a campaign promise? No problem, says Trudeau”
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had no trouble breaking key campaign promises on deficits and, on Thursday, suggested it would have been irresponsible to keep his election commitments.
During the election campaign, Trudeau repeatedly vowed he would run deficits of no more than $10 billion a year if he was elected and that, in any event, he’d quickly balance the budget by 2020.
Last week, his government tabled a budget with a deficit three times as big as the one he promised. He also abandoned any target date to balance the budget.
gopg2015, I already know the facts of the matter!
What I wanted was, considering how all of the Lefties used to rage on everything that Harper and the Conservatives did or didn’t do, why are all of the Liberal/Trudeau supporters so silent with respect to Justin and the Liberal’s actions and broken promises now? Why are the broken promises ok?
Justin says that the world is facing lower growth rates! These were already happening during the election. He was well aware of, or should have been well aware of the global economic situation before he was elected and while he was making election promises. Why is ok to make promises that he should have known that he couldn’t keep. Why is ok that he LIED?
#1 and #2 are garbage. The world hasn’t changed that much since the election. He likely didn’t think he would win a majority so he just spewed to the uninformed. Harper had to deal with the biggest global financial crises in 80 years. See the difference Gus?
Likely not.
I agree, when people where voting for sunny, the budget will balance itself, boy he basically never said anything with any meat on it. His election platform was vote for change, well what change, anybody see a change? I do sunny boy is raiding Haper’s piggy bank. Notice sunny boy is always smiling, well that is because he still can’t believe how easy it was to suck everyone in and get elected well with lots of help from the very biased media. hey CBC got 500 million, pay off or what.
Raiding Harper’s piggy bank? Get real. There was nothing to raid out of Harper’s piggy bank. The piggy bank was already empty before Trudeau’s supposed raid.
Not to mention bringing in a carbon tax on us peons while flying all over the world and country pretty much non stop. He was in Calgary and Edmonton this week and you can be darned sure he didn’t walk.
Why would people who voted Liberal complain about broken promises? They know there plenty of whining Conservatives like you to fill the political arena with white noise. I didn’t see you or any of your Conservative cohorts complaining about Harper’s deficit spending. In fact, you spend a lot of time defending Harper’s additions to the National debt, any time other people bring up his deficit financing.
Also, what political party has ever kept all of its election promises? Exactly none of them. So why should Trudeau suddenly be expected to live up to some different standard?
Under the expert guidance of the Christy Clark Government, homeless deaths saw a 70% spike over the last few years. Huh… I guess people are literally dying on our streets here in BC.
I would think some resources sent their way in the form of substance abuse programming and treatment facilities would bring that death rate down, but then again who cares, right Christy?
Have a good weekend everyone maybe buy a homeless person a sandwich or some hot soup if you’re feeling generous, they are having a tough go of it.
Here are the numbers of homeless deaths in the GVRD from 2006 to 2014. The 70% “spike” was over one year, not several.
The high number was actually in 2008with two years at 43.
2006 31
2007 43
2008 50
2009 43
2010 32
2011 25
2012 28
2013 27
2014 46
sources:
vancitybuzz.com/2016/03/homeless-death-bc-megaphone-report
cknw.com/files/2016/03/megaphonedeath-numbers.png
A simple matter of poor quality street drugs can be the main cause, as can exceptional cold weather, and other similar causes.
Stats like that typically have spikes as well as deep valleys. Single spikes make good headlines, but really provide little information about trends.
For example, try matching the curve of the numbers with curves for the state of the economy to see whether there may be a correlation.
For sure, watch the numbers for 2015 and 2016 as they become available. People who work with the homeless/street people should be the best source of providing some insight into the reasons for the sudden rise in what has been a downward trend.
Then again, Christy Clark is as good a scapegoat some can fine. LOL
Homeless deaths are governments fault?
Thought they were all about peoples own choices.
Folks have to want to change, din’t yuh know?
“homeless deaths saw a 70% spike over the last few years.”
A useless piece of information on its own.
1. do we have more homeless?
2. are homeless getting older?
3. are homeless engaging in more dangerous practices?
I am sure one can think of a number more pieces of information needed to put the 70% into more perspective. It would also help to know what a “few years” means in actual number of years. 3? 5? 9? 15?
Exactly. In the last year there is a lot more fentanyl being added to heroin that is killing homeless addicts that are not using the safe injection sites. Now W-18 is also showing up and it is a hundred times more powerful than fentanyl.
The success rate for detox and addiction centers is low with a vast majority ending up back on the streets mere weeks or months after release.
I’m reminded of the old joke.
Guy on street with a sign asking for a dollar to help buy a soup and sandwich.
When asked “How do I know you are not going to spend the money on beer and drugs?”
Replies “Oh I already got my booze and dope money!”
Gopg2015 all what you have said, just insert climate change instead of homeless and the scam would be obvious.
gopg2015 and tliotg studded tires do not have to be off until April 30. Saves on tires and studs if you do, but the law says April 30.
Today you no longer have to have winter tires on highways in BC like the Coke, probably where the confusion comes in. Happens when you don’t listen to everything in the news announcements
80 year old high temperature records are being broken for this time of the year! What is the explanation for that: Global cooling. ;-)
PG …. you have a fridge … open the door and feel the cold ….. then feel behind the fridge and feel the heat rising ….
in order to have cold one needs heat ….. ;-)
So what happened before the past 80 years?
They didn’t keep records where there were no thermometers. Computers didn’t record the temps but some guy wrote them in a book after looking at a bubble of mercury
Good question, it’d been 10,000 since the end of the last ice age, that’s a lot of temperatures that weren’t included.
I hate trick questions! I’ll give it a try: Obviously a lot of history accumulated before the past 80 years. A lot of it, too much to quote here. Where does one start?
We just came back from Victoria TENT City has to go, on a happy note just drove by the skate park on Massey , the park is full of people using it looks like they should build another one.
I agree, I much prefer to read the posts in chronological order. Says axman . I however strongly disagree because the thread system requires return , which weeds out the lazy .
Hey Ataloss, this is for you!
You go on and on and on about renewables like solar and wind and about all the growth in these areas.
You should read this:
“Clean, green and catastrophic
There are signs of green economic turmoil everywhere
Green and clean, that’s how politicians all over the world like to describe their national energy profiles. From Europe to North America to China, action plans and policies are in place, subsidies have been dispersed and new ideas are in constant production. In Washington Thursday, Prime Minister Trudeau brought his Liberal green message to Washington, telling the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that green industries are the backbone of a strong economy.
Maybe it depends on what “backbone” means and on one’s definition of a “strong economy.” The latest news on green and clean energy fails to support the standard definitions of either concept. In the wake of government action around the world, industrial plants are closing, so-called green operations are failing, prices are soaring, subsidies are rampant, jobs are being lost, competitiveness eroded and energy consumers, especially the poor, are threatened by regressive carbon taxes.
What’s green and clean is turning catastrophic.”
ht tp://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/terence-corcoran-clean-green-and-catastrophic
A few more excerpts for you Ataloss:
“Subsidies to wind appear to be soaring in Ontario. The website Wind Concerns reports that for the first two months of this year, 425,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of wind power were spilled — which means power consumers will have to pay $120 per MWh for wind power that never reached consumers or was not produced. On an annualized basis, that would add $300 million to electricity costs with no electricity to show for it.”
I love this excerpt:
“Another green-energy fantasy, the Powerwall, just bit the dust. Touted not too long ago by Elon Musk, the US$5 billion e-car subsidy grabber, the Powerwall was seen as a potential miracle electricity-storage system for homeowners. It was scrapped this week. Never mind the economics, the chemistry didn’t work.”
And then there is Tesla, with more subsidies! Didn’t you say that Munk made his money from selling PayPal? Why would he need subsidies?
“Speaking of Tesla, the multi-billion-dollar electric-car subsidy seeker on Thursday announced its new Model 3, a $35,000, smaller e-car that still qualifies for $8,000 in subsidies at the retail level for buyers.”
Wow! An $8,000.00 subsidy on a $35,000.00 small car!
What a hot day for April 1st. The countryside is drying up much too fast, I hope we get some good rain soon.
Is today’s comment count the highest yet for Friday Free For All ?
metalman.
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