I see that all the gas stations in town ran out of their stored cheaper gas at exactly the same time once again. Gas went up 2 cents per US gallon in the States, we go up 28 cents per Imperial gallon. Still love that metric system. Remeber the days when they used to raise prices by 3 cents, then it went up to 5 cents and now they have the nerve to go for 7 at a crack.

Got to hand it to the Canadian Athletes. So very well done. Good luck in the next couple of days. *Go Canada Go*

Apparently the Olympic committee want to do away with women's hockey, what a joke when Canada kicks ass. I guess they want to go the same way they did with the ski jump.

Women's hockey as an Olympic sport is a joke. Until some other countries reach the same skill level as the Canadian and American women the sport doesn't really belong in the Olympics. I also think that men's hockey should be removed as an Olympic event until they stop using professional players.

I'm grumpy this morning. Does this make me an opinion250 regular? :)

The money you get for winning gold, silver, bronze, Is it Taxable???

Men's Olympic field hockey gold

1908 - Great Britain
1920 - Great Britain
1920 - Great Britain
1928 - India
1932 - India
1936 - India
1948 - India
1952 - India
1956 - India
1960 - Pakistan
1964 - India
1968 - Pakistan
1972 - West Germany
1976 - New Zealand
1980 - India
1984 - Pakistan
1988 - Great Britain
1992 - Germany
1996 - Netherlands
2000 - Netherlands
2004 - Australia
2008 - Germany

India won it 6 times in a row. I did not see that the game was pulled from the Olympics as a result.

Taxable????? Depends on the country.

Kim, the 19 year old Korean figure skater made something like $7 million last year in commercial endorsements in South Korea. I doubt she cares exactly what is taxable and what is not.

The Olympics are big business.

I agree, paid professional athletes have no place in the Olympics. Let the up and comings show their stuff.

I heard a while ago that the NHL was considering not allowing their players to compete in the Olympics after 2010. It costs the NHL too much down time & revenue and too many players are returning injured. Did anyone hear anything about this?

Paid professionals? Who are they? People who can afford to take the time to become excellent cannot do so on a starvation diet. They have money from home, or from their endorsements or from the state.

They are all "professionals" because they spend an exceptional time to perfect their sport. To say that anyone who is not paid is not a professional when they spend 8 hours of their days practicing, dieting, exercising, competing all over the world, etc. is absolutely ludicrous.

Money is not the indicator of professionalism in my mind. The drive to win at almost any cost to a more "normal" personal lifestyle to the point of it being an obsession is the indicator of "professionalism".

Conversely, in my mind, an amateur sportsman is one who is not driven to play in order to win but in order to enjoy the experience. They do not need approval from others in order to thrive. Their life is not lost and they do not break down crying if they come in 10th or 50th.

It doesn't matter that India won it six times in a row gus; the question is, did they have any worthy competition? Or, like the Canadian and American women's hockey teams, were they certain to obtain a first or second place finish? Is it really a competition if there is no competition?

Great editorial in the Citizen paper today. After discussing possible successors to the tories Jay Hill, the Citizen suggest a home grown boy called "Pot Hole". "Pot Hole" would be a shoe-in for the position of MP given his name is on the lips of everyone.
Of course "Pot Hole" will only get the nomination if he can beat out those other well known PG upstarts called "Tax Increase" and Downtown Revitalization".

On the scale of the worlds ills this is extremely minor, but damn it's getting on my nerves...

Why do so many people still light up their Christmas lights? There's six houses in my area doing this nightly. Are they waiting for the resurrection? It's enough that people light them up two months before Christmas but is it necessary to continue more than two months after? Yeesh.

There.. nuff said.

With all the grow up busts lately; Pot Hole might not be the most apropos name for a PG candidate. :)

Time for the residents of P.G. to withhold there taxes this year just like Catalyst Papers did in Powell River,Campbell River, and Crofton.

mythoughts... yes the NHL (Bettman) and owners are considering not going to the Sochi Olympics in 2014. But in my opinion it's a tactic to use for the contract agreement coming up in 2011. I can hear it now, "if you want to play in the Olympics you must sign this contract".

Ovechkin has already stated he doesn't care whether they are allowed to play or not... he's going.

My personal opinion is the 18-20 year old World Juniors should play in Olympic hockey.

The HST counter petition will be out soon. Remember to sign, lend a hand canvassing, and send Campbell and his cronies a message.

Shucks, I'm fresh out of things to grumble about (give me an hour)
Hey, with the way this weather is going lately, will everyone please look twice before turning left, changing lanes, and merging? A few more warm days and the serious motorcyclists will be among us again. Yep, robins, bikers and potholes, a sure sign of spring.
metalman.

metalman you forgot dogs+++, the smell of spring in the air.

"Why do so many people still light up their Christmas lights? There's six houses in my area doing this nightly"

Because they are probably Liberal supporters, Campbell encouraged all of BC to keep their Christmas lights on until after the Olympics.

There should be a limited number of athletes at the Olympics. Maybe the top 20 athletes in the world in each sport should have to qualify to compete. Spending thousands and thousands of dollars just to have an athlete come in 48th place doesnt seem worth it. It would be great if there was enough money to send everyone to experience the Olympics as an athlete,but if there is no chance of them winning maybe they should be in the stands paying their own way.

"It doesn't matter that India won it six times in a row gus; the question is, did they have any worthy competition?"

Interesting notion. So we pull the top two or so teams out and the rest will have worthy competition.

Sort of like Jamaican bob sledders.

It is not about winning .... it is about playing the game ..... it is about participating ......

It is NOT about OWNING the podium!!!!! It is about participating. The worst faux pas the country has ever made, in my opinion and we got hit hard for it by the USA and GB.

"Because they are probably Liberal supporters, Campbell encouraged all of BC to keep their Christmas lights on until after the Olympics."

Liberal supporters? Get out the torches and pitchforks! Everything is Gordon Campbell's fault!

Seriously though, thanks for the laugh. I needed it this morning.

No gus, you don't pull the top two teams, you pull the entire sport until there are enough equally qualified teams in the event to ensure that the winners are not a "gimme". Raise the skill level for qualifying and if enough teams can not qualify, pull the event.

I have to disagree with the, "it's not about winning" comment; for a lot of the athletes these days, that's all it's about.

There are minimum requirements. Not just anyone can get in.

If you consider the number of people in a country that there are to draw athletes from and look at countries like the USA which has 10 times as many people and a lot of money from sponsors, then look at Canada and even more so Norway, then you get more of an appreciation of what the two smaller countries can achieve compared to a powerhouse like the USA.

Then look at China, their large team and their showing and you can see that they have a long way to go.

Germany has less than a third of the population that the USA has, yet they are virtually neck to neck in the medals standing and may yet pull ahead before the games are over.

I think all team sports should be pulled from the Olympics.

I also think that since the Olympics are more about pitting one Nation against another, that foreign coaches should not be allowed.

I quit smoking in January, and now it seems everywhere I go people are smoking!!!

What about changing the structure of womens hockey and requiring USA and Canada to put in two womens hockey teams? Just like they do in events such as bobsled (ex Canada 1 and Canada 2). It would double the number of competitive teams from 2 to 4 and also water down the talent in those teams a little bit so that they are closer to the rest of the competition. Might work?

Other countries will just have to get better. Look at curling for instance. It has been dominated by Canada, the Swiss and the Swedes, and now China and Japan are putting a lot of money into their teams knowing that they can take it over, and they could soon.

Now that the Olympic farce is almost over,let's get back to focusing on serious issues like killing the HST.
Or the Campbell government...which ever comes first.
One is as disgusting as the other.

verballabel, Good for you. Just ignore the smokers. There arent as many today as awhile back.Its your imagination.
Cheers

I was at singfest last night, 4 schools in Prince George participated, senior and junior choir from College Heights, Vanway and Nukko Lake. Nukko Lake grades 1 to 4. I had forgotton just how small and precious these children are and our school board wants to bus these children and others who are from the proposed school closings. this is insane, some of these bus rides are 1 hour or more. I can not phantom that they would allow this. Let me ask you trustees how long does it take you to drive to work? I don't think anyone in Prince George would actually take any longer than maybe 1/2 hour to and from. Yet you want to send children some as young as 5 on a 2 hour per day bus ride, you should all be ashamed of yourselves. Are any of your children or grandchildren subjected to this? You would do yourselves well if you would check with Kamloop/Thompson school district 73 who faced the same challenges and were successful on not closing any of their rural schools. Here is some of what they did.I checked out the Kamloops This Week and there were several arcticles regarding their school closures. They lauched a massive public-consultation process in September, meeting with students, parents, interest groups to determine the best way forward, and in the 5 months held 30 meetings. In another article they stated about job losses including teachers, prep teachers, principles, secretaries and custodians. The only place more cost savings can take place is cutting staff they said. As a result they were able to save the rural schools. No mention of this in School District 57. In another arcticle the Trustees declined a pay raise for the second year as a result of possible school closures. Apparently the school board are all new only 2 years old, that is for the currents Trustees. New blood. Maybe that is what should happen in School District 57, new blood, new ideas, out with the old and in with the new, just a thought.

Rural schools need kids, not more money to keep their half-empty schools open.

Blame for rural school closures should fall directly on the rural communities themselves and the changing demographics of the area.

Maybe a special tax should be imposed on rural residents to keep their schools open. I would imagine that wouldn't be very popular.

If you can't bear the thought of home schooling or an hour bus ride, move into town. Seems pretty simple to me.

They should reverse the direction they are taking with the school closures. Instead of closing rural schools, expand them. Instead of busing the rural students into town, bus the urban students out.

1, the urban students would be exposed to fresh rural air

2, students would not be able to just skip school. When they are 20 km from town it is a long walk to hang out on the corner

3, it would force the enhancement of rural resources

4, instead of concentrating students, it would spread out the entire student body

5, the rural lifestyle becomes more visible to urban students

6, if there is a gun in the school it is for bear protection ;)

I am sure there are more reasons, if this issue is important to you, please add your thoughts along this line of reasoning. I think it would be in interesting exercise. It would still mean school closures, but the minority is not paying the piper.

City halls latest tax increase seems to have a lot of people considering moving from here.
Elderly people rethinking their retirement plans after living here 60 years. I was wondering just how many others are thinking in this direction? PG has lost over 5 thousand people in 5 years. Here are a few reasons why we are also looking to relocate:

Highest gas prices constantly. Quick to rise and slow to lower. We have to breath in the pollution from a refinery to boot.

The smell is disgusting from the pulp mills.

The roads are terrible. Vehicle repairs.

Tax increases every year. Went from 2400 to 3100.

Curling fees are too high. Have not been able to afford curling since we moved here. They want 800.00 a year per person. Upfront or nothing. No option to pay by the month even.

Been here for 5 years and still can not get a doctor.

"Been here for 5 years and still can not get a doctor. "

Really good point.

Somebody in the media should take this story and run with it. There are hundreds, if not thousands of people in this town who cannot find a doctor taking patients.

As the clock clicked down on last nights hockey game between the US and Canada, there appears to be another battle brewing behind the scenes of women’s hockey. While I feel awkward writing about women’s hockey and do not want to be part of the current hegemony that exists in sports, I am writing this as a hockey fan and as a country that values gender equality. I only have one thing to say to Jaques Rogge, current president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC); Shut your antiquated yap. I am sick and tied of hearing you moan on about how women’s ice hockey needs to be more competitive in order for it to move forward. I don’t think I am alone in this opinion.

What Rogge fails to realize is that this competitive imbalance has existed in other sports for years. For years we watched as the big Soviet machine dominated many sports, but that never held back any other countries from competing. In twenty one Olympic hockey competitions to date only 5 countries have won the gold medal and two of those countries (Great Britain, Czech Republic) have won it once, 2 countries (USA, Sweden) have each won it twice and the rest of the time either Canada or a Russian/Soviet team has won gold. For the first seven Olympic tournaments Canada won quite handily (Lets face it, the 1936 team from Great Britain was comprised entirely of Canadians). Was that competitively balanced?

I have had the privilege of watching the women’s game grow in Canada and watched as Hockey Canada allowed the financed the development of women’s hockey and in doing so, ensured that the leadership of women’s hockey in this country was lead by women. There is even a policy in Canada that states that the head coach of the women’s national team must be a woman, and my goodness, what wonderful role models we’ve seen in Shannon Miller, Danielle Savageau, and now Melody Davidson. Incredible home grown talent that could have been lost to other countries were it not for our country’s insistence on developing the women’s game and keeping the brightest and best we have right here at home.

I’m glad to see Hockey Canada President, Bob Nicholson, respond to Rogge’s insanity. Nicholson is a powerful figure in the hockey world, and his opinion holds a lot of weight with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Hopefully the IIHF will now step up and insist on women’s hockey being allowed to continue in the Olympics. For women’s hockey the pinnacle of success is the Olympic gold. There is nothing higher. Why should the decision of an old curmudgeon destroy the dreams of little girls across the world? There is supposed to be more than competition in the Olympics. Mr. Rogge really needs to read Pierre de Courbetin’s words, “The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

Mr. Rogge shut your mouth please.

The International Olympic Committee will investigate the behaviour of the Canadian women's hockey players who celebrated their gold medal at the Vancouver Games by drinking alcohol on the ice.

Several Canadian players returned to the ice surface at Canada Hockey Place roughly 30 minutes after their 2-0 win over the U.S. on Thursday night.

The players drank cans of beer and bottles of champagne, and smoked cigars with their gold medals draped around their necks.

Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director of the Olympic Games, said he wasn't aware of the celebration until informed by an Associated Press reporter.

"If that's the case, that is not good. It is not what we want to see," he said. "I don't think it's a good promotion of sport values. If they celebrate in the changing room, that's one thing, but not in public."

Oh my drinking, I guess the IOC want the team to go back to the dorms where 100,000 condoms were handed out.

Oh my drinking, I guess the IOC want the team to go back to the dorms where 100,000 condoms were handed out.

OMG! LOLOLOLOL

Proud of the Canadian women's Hockey team especially the way they partied afterwards. Smoking Cigars and Drinking beer. That our girls Wahooooo. As far as Russia goes suck on your sour grapes.

Another good example of this Libtard GOV.
DUI on the NS.these clowns should be the poster ppl for drinking and driving.
Cigars and beers at centre ice COOL way to go girls,let the IOC smoke that one!!we got gold!!
Can't find a DR,who in there rite mind wants to live in this stinky ,dirty town!!look at how many have left lately!

Stories like that of Joannie Rochette are stories that make the Olympics great! How anyone could overcome that is beyond me!

We have had a great Olympics! Canada, BC and Vancouver! We may not own the podium, but we have a great chance of getting more gold than anyone else. And thats a great showing.

The Womens hockey teams behavior was as tacky as matching Polaris jackets in the mall.

Instead of bussing rural students, why not move them into smaller, more efficient buildings?

The powers that be also seem to forget that if they can't sell their empty schools, they're paying to heat and maintain them anyway. So now we're paying to maintain empty buildings? Hmmm. That's efficient.

Finally, this is NOT ONLY about declining enrollment!! MANY of the schools they want to close or dismantle or reconfigure are FULL. They're full! How is that inefficient? Yes, there are schools that aren't full and maybe we can reconfigure or find other options. But seriously, with full schools and highly successful programs, I just don't get it, and no one has been able to explain it satisfactorily.

So they want to take a full school, close it, rip out 2/3 of the population of another full school, have all of these kids cross the highway at Cowart Road (??!!) in opposite directions where there is no sidewalk. Baffling.

And the money they have to spend on renovations in order to accomplish this is also baffling. Why not take that money, renovate Peden Hill, cause they're going to spend it anyway, and leave the dual track schools as they are -- successful, and FULL?

I'd be running around drinking a beer in my undies if I won a gold medal!! Way to go Team Canada!!

I am still amazed there has been no serious occurances at the Olympics yet, planned occurances I mean, given the state of the security there. I have read articles in other newspapers about the total ineffectivness of the security at these Olympics. So I guess what we got for 1 billion dollars was a wire mesh fence around the outside torch. I am also tired of hearing how Olympics are so good for a city because of the infrastructure that is left behind and the legacy of the games, blah blah blah. Yes, we now have a "world class" speed skating facility, "world class" bobsled and luge tracks, etc....WTF cares. Those venues are still only for a select few who are choosen as Canadas best to use. On a larger scale, for athletes to use. How is this beneficial to the average person other than add another piece of infrastructure that taxpayers will be supporting to upkeep? The Olympics should be held in the same place whenever they come up. Winter and Summer. Each country is responsible for the feeding and housing of thier own athletes and revenues generated at each event goes towards the upkeep of that venue and any profits go into improving that particular sport for all.

Does the voice of the guy commentating on long track speed skating irritate anyone else but me. I feel like muting my TV everytime he speaks with that raspy congested voice. I always expect him to clear his throat.

"Finally, this is NOT ONLY about declining enrollment!! "

Wrong.

SD57 has 14,000 students when it has enough classroom space to hold 22,000. This is about declining enrollment. And assuming the numbers keep going the way they are going, more school closures will happen in the future. You can bank on it.

Does the voice of the guy commentating on long track speed skating irritate anyone else but me. I feel like muting my TV everytime he speaks with that raspy congested voice. I always expect him to clear his throat.

MrPG please explain why they are closing schools that are full. I know that some schools do not have enough students but I also know of schools that are on the closure list that are full, which no one has explained.

It it is only about delcining enrollment why did the the district office grow after the last round of school closures?

Kagee - I don't know the specifics of any school closures, but have you put any thought into why a full school would be closed rather than just asking someone else to think for you?

Example: School A has a capacity of 120 kids and an enrollment of 115.

School B has a capacity of 200 kids and an enrollment of 80 kids.

What would you do?
(Hint, the school that is full doesn't stay open......)

As mentioned by others , with spots for 22K and only 14K enrolled we do need to close schools and a district wide plan is required, each school cannot be evaluated as if they were a separate system.

Look at the bellyaching going with a 5% city tax increase, imagine if we were stuck with a 50% school tax increase to keep empty schools open?

SD 57 let Bear Lake elementary school collapse under the weight of snow after they closed it, so ARE they looking after any other closed or soon to be closed schools? Like Giscome elementary, have they maintained it? kept the heat on? shovelled the roof, or checked it?
I doubt it. Too many chiefs, not enough........well you know.
metalman.

SD57 must be looked at as a whole. That means moving students around where appropriate. There will always be people that disagree with the decisions that are made, but they must be done.

Nobody wants 'their' school closed, but when the student numbers have been dropping as much as they have been, something has to give. You cannot keep throwing money into the system when the student population keeps dropping. Does anyone think these numbers will turn around soon? There's nothing that indicates they will.

The trustees jobs are thankless and nobody wants to do what they are doing. Wasn't it 8 people that run for 7 positions or something like that in the last election?

As far as administration goes, I agree that it should be cut to reflect enrollment. The trustees have been slow to deal to declining enrollment and have waited until the system was in crisis before reacting.

Reading the letters to the editor in the Citizen, it's clear that people really don't understand what's happening and want to place the blame everywhere but where it deserves to be.

Right on the money, rayban68.

acopolympics. I'm not sure if your familiar with Will Arnett from Saturday Night Live. But that guy on the skating sounds like him.

Rayban68, Yes I have looked into why they are closing the schools and have been following the money in the school district for many years. I do not let other people do my thinking for me but there are times that what is being said by the school board & district and what they are doing does not make sense. So at that point I ask for other opions.

resident: I presume you have studied the HST. I am sure you will be the first to complain when businesses shut down because they can't complete with other countries that have already adopted this tax system.

Let's blame Campbell for the girl's hockey team for partying.Heaven forbid they celebrate their accomplishment. If it was the men's team not a word would be spoken.

Hey let's also blame Campbell for the potholes.

The weather has been kind of bad....that is his fault too.

What ever happened to "We got one" in reference to the young figurer skater who trained for a week in PG. Nice to see a follow up story.

As for Charlie B.
I guess you welcome gov't taking more money out of your jeans to pay for the tax shift from businesses to the consumer that will take place if the HST proceeds. Somehow I just can't get real excited about the Liberals telling me that as a consumer having to pay more tax is a good thing for me.

resident you missed the Point, Have job and pay 20 cents more for a hamburger or no job,

Resident. You have it right. These dudes always talk about business that will shut down if they dont get this tax break, however that is a bunch of BS. When the Prices were up (especially for lumber) in 2004,05,06. These Companies were making huge profits. Didnt hear them whining and sniveling then.


Later when their profits are down they come running to the Government to give them a tax break. The same thing happened with the GST that was put in to replace the 13.5% Manufacturing tax. They used the same arguments. ***WHAAAA WE CANT COMPETE*****

The HST is nothing more than a tax shift from Business (Industry)to consumers,. Nothing more, nothing less.

Every taxpayer, and voter in BC should be prepared to get off their butts and have this BS HST recinded. Failing that we should recall some politicians. This is an opportunity to send the Government a message **Loud and Clear** NO MORE TAXES.

The same thing applies to this BS increase in Airline tickets to pay for more security at Airports.

Firstly security at Airports, is the responsibility of all Canadians, not just those who fly. If Canada has a **War on Terror** then the funding for fighting terror should come out of the defense budget, not from people who fly on Airplanes.

People should write to their MP's protesting this increase in the strongest terms. If the Feds hadnt given the BC Liberals $1.5 Billion dollars for implementing the HST., they would have lots of money available for this security issue. They also gave the Pulp and Paper Industry $1.5 billion disquised as a subsidy for burning black liquor, which was totally unnecessary. Now they want us to pay for security.

To refer to this increase as a user fee is bogus.

**A tax is but a tax by, any other name**

Anyone else notice how badly damaged the red bricks are on the new roundabout at the north end of the Cameron St. Bridge? In the real world, the genius who came of with that brilliant idea would be toast but in the world of union run bureaucracy that is the city of PG, guess who's going to pay to fix it?

Palopu it is very obvious you have never owned a business

Charlie B. Jim Pattison owns a number of business's along with thousands of other successful business;s in this Province.

How can you explain that it was the Governments of the day that brought in the Provincial Sales Tax years ago and taxed business right up to this year, and then all of a sudden they are saying its a bad tax.

Its time to quit kidding yourself. If it was a good tax for business up until this year then it is still good. You cant have it both ways.

The Liberals just want to get thier hands on the Federal $1.5 Billion plus pick up some extra money, and that is why they have implemented this tax. No other reason.

Do you think we are all a bunch of fools???

There are many sides to the HST story, but as a small business owner, I am in favor of it, there is a significant savings in it for me.

well since you asked. I see a lot of intelligent comments on here although I have seen many from you .

Interesting comment Stompin ..... How come you stopped at writing that there are significant savings in it for you? Why did you not go on to write that you will be able to pass those savings on to your customers who will then end up paying the same or even less than before? The ENTIRE premise is that those savings will be passed on, especially if they are significant!!!!!

Charlie B .... there are ethical business owners and there are less ethical business owners, the same as the spectrum of people in the general population.

Palopu is talking about the ideal of re-investing back into the business and getting ready for some of the valleys of profitability for which businesses are responsible, not governments.

If businesses cannot survive, they are not sustainable or they are not being operated in a sustainable fashion.

We need sustainable businesses. Without them, government is not sustainable, and without sustainable governments, countries are not sustainable.

CANADA WON!!!!!!