While the provincial government’s recent decision to increase the B.C. Arts Council’s budget by $7 million has been heralded by the arts community as a welcome shot in the arm for an industry that has been handled brutal cuts these past months, some critics can’t help be suspect of the announcement’s timing. (Sep 07 2010)
A former aide to provincial Liberal cabinet minister Kevin Falcon appears to have sided against the government’s decision to introduce the harmonized sales tax, Public Eye has learned. (Sep 07 2010)
While a federal funding announcement made last Friday didn’t contain any surprises for Victoria-based arts groups, comments made by Canadian Heritage and Official Languages Minister James Moore as he trumpeted the $1.6 million to be doled out to cultural, heritage and aboriginal organizations were intriguing. (Aug 31 2010)
The provincial government’s new drug review process could potentially include individuals with connections to the pharmaceutical industry in a move that has left critics troubled. (Aug 31 2010)
One Victoria city councillor has swapped her North Park post in for a student’s desk in Europe this week. (Aug 31 2010)
As a wildfire burned near Jordan River last weekend and into this week, the Capital Regional District was posting a request for proposals looking for a qualified consultant to develop community wildfire protections plans for the District of Sooke, communities located in the Juan de Fuca electoral district, as well as the regional watershed. (Aug 24 2010)
Last year, British Columbia Lottery Corp. president and chief executive officer Michael Graydon told reporters the firm had revamped its responsible gaming program, in part, because it was too “Big Brother-y.” This, according to The Province’s Cheryl Chan. (Aug 24 2010)
Ms. Emily Marie has bouquets of roses and daisies throughout her Victoria condo. She’s currently reading the Dali Llama. She cries every time she watches The Notebook. She practices yoga and kickboxing and sleeps with her dog at night. She’s finally discovering her long-standing desire to work with pottery and sculpting. She’s also one of the highest paid escorts in the city. (Aug 24 2010)
Sex may sell, and the revenues don’t only flow to those directly involved in the skin trade. Plenty of other folks make a buck from the sex business too, from landlords to the Yellow Pages. For example, individuals engaged in escort enterprises in Victoria are expected to be licensed by City Hall, just like their more conventional business counterparts. (Aug 24 2010)
The provincial government concluded there was continued need to encourage women not to drink alcohol when pregnant, just six months after terminating a program that helped do exactly that, Public Eye has exclusively learned. (Aug 17 2010)
The Week, August 19-25 Under evaluation
For the most part, the members of the Victoria Police Board think they’re doing a pretty good job overseeing the VicPD, according to the board’s “Effectiveness Evaluations” for 2009, obtained by Monday through a freedom of information request. However, where the board members identify shortcomings is in leadership, particularly that of Victoria mayor Dean Fortin in his capacity as board chair. (Aug 17 2010)
While its address may be in the oft-maligned 900 block of Pandora Avenue, a new restaurant and coffee shop is doing brisk business during its first week of being open. (Aug 10 2010)
Hey, there’s a Woodwynn Farm open house this Saturday. Why not pop by and see how things are progressing at one of the region’s few innovative projects to get folks back on their feet? (Aug 10 2010)
In June, Public Eye readers found out controversial former provincial Liberal campaign coordinator Barinder Sall had been promoting Kash Heed in the media back when the future Vancouver-Fraserview MLA was still the West Vancouver police department’s chief constable. (Aug 10 2010)
While the Johnson Street Bridge may steal the headlines when talk turns to the City of Victoria’s aging physical infrastructure, it is hardly the only piece in the municipal puzzle that needs substantial technical—and financial—attention. (Aug 10 2010)
After years of newspaper and television reports referring to their brother Ian’s Central Saanich business as the “Vantreight family farm,” sisters Heather Vantreight, Wendy Gedney and Sharon Hancock are tired of journalists making their relatives out to be the Sound of Music’s Von Trapp’s, all-the-more so since the three can only shake their heads from the sidelines as the agricultural enterprise where they grew up slides toward subdivision. (Aug 10 2010)
Some Fernwood residents are in mourning this week after a small Garry oak meadow on a Pembroke Street lot was torn up to make room for construction of a new home. (Aug 03 2010)
Public Eye has uncovered yet another connection between the Campbell administration and Vancouver-Fairview MLA Kash Heed’s controversial former campaign coordinator. According to records obtained via a Freedom of Information request, Barinder Sall was invited to two exclusive Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games receptions hosted by the government. But the government has said it doesn’t know how he came to be on that VIP list. (Aug 03 2010)
The people may have spoken, but it remains unclear whether the province is ready to listen. (Aug 03 2010)
Last week the University of Victoria sent out a dispatch celebrating its rank as one of the nation's 50 greenest employers. The press release notes UVic was selected for the list based on its "support for sustainable transportation options, including cycling infrastructure and a subsidized bus pass program, new green buildings . . . and a vehicle fleet that includes electric, hybrid and biodiesel-fueled vehicles as well as bicycles." (Jul 27 2010)
The independent agency responsible for regulating British Columbia’s oil and gas industry has no restrictions on its staff being seconded to the firms they’re responsible for watchdogging. (Jul 27 2010)
Taking a page from the private sector playbook, the VicPD is on the hunt for a PR professional to polish the image of a force that just can't seem to shake poor publicity (heck, Esquimalt doesn't even want to pay their share for the force any more). (Jul 20 2010)
An Esquimalt woman says a local social housing organization is trying to evict her from her home of two-and-a-half years for using cannabis to treat her chronic conditions. (Jul 20 2010)
Some Liberal legislators don’t have a favourable opinion of how the provincial government’s top financial watchdog, John Doyle, is doing his job. (Jul 20 2010)
(Jul 20 2010)
Victoria police chief Jamie Graham has managed to escape censure for his sometimes ill-considered sense of humour. (Jul 13 2010)
South Island residents will enjoy a little less democracy in their lives starting next year when recommendations put forward by the BC Local Elections Task Force come into effect. (Jul 13 2010)
“I made a choice when I left politics to leave politics and I’m enjoying myself in Arizona. But thanks for the question.” (Jul 13 2010)
Nanaimo's Jawn Lafratta wants better bike infrastructure on Vancouver Island's Greyhound buses and is calling on other cyclists to help convince the private transportation company that bike racks would bringmore clients. (Jul 06 2010)
The provincial government has been pushing California to count the electricity generated by British Columbia’s independent run-of-the-river power projects as renewable energy—allowing it be sold at a premium to the state’s electric utilities. (Jul 06 2010)
By now, most local residents will have heard—and likely already started fuming—about last week’s approval by the CRD of the controversial (some would say unnecessary) $782 million sewage treatment project at Esquimalt’s McLoughlin Point. While 10 members of the CRD board voted for the Esquimalt site, there were three strenuous objections: Esquimalt mayor Barb Desjardins, View Royal mayor Graham Hill and Saanich councillor Vic Derman. (Jun 29 2010)
Since 1994, businesses and homeowners in the Capital Regional District have been expected to comply with a set of rules that govern what sort of stuff can be discharged into our sanitary sewer system, and, by most accounts, those regulations have been a success. (Jun 29 2010)
Internal records exclusively obtained by Public Eye show Kash Heed and his former campaign coordinator Barinder Sall had a relationship dating back to before the former West Vancouver chief constable became involved in provincial politics. (Jun 29 2010)
In a move that appears to add insult to injury, Intrepid Theatre recently received a letter from the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch of the provincial government informing them that their application for a Community Gaming Grant had not been approved. The decision wasn’t too surprising—eligibility rules for the grants had been changed twice since March, first restricting arts grants to youth-oriented programs, festivals, museums and fairs and then, it appears, just youth-oriented programs—but what was a bit of a shock to Intrepid Theatre general manager Ian Case was the wording in the letter. (Jun 22 2010)
Take heart, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond! You’re not the only government watchdog whose suggestions have been sidelined by the ministry of children and family development. (Jun 22 2010)
It can’t be the endless hours of meetings, nor even the paycheques that motivate citizens to run for elected office in the region, so it can only be one thing: Free downtown parking. (Jun 15 2010)
Earlier this month, comptroller general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland chastised Vancouver elected school trustees for not taking advantage of training opportunities—even though, according to her, they don’t have the skills to do the job they were elected to do. But, just six months before, the province was warned that a majority of those overseeing British Columbia’s major post-secondary institutions don’t even have training opportunities to take advantage of, with many of them basing their decisions on shoddy information. (Jun 15 2010)
"Bodies and blood. Unbelievable"
"I’m many things, but I don’t think I’m a dupe.” So says Kevin Neish, defending himself against the op-editorialists and comment board critics who—at their more charitable—suggest Neish and other Western passengers aboard the ill-fated Free Gaza aid flotilla were tricked by peaceful promises from Turkish terrorists bent on fomenting an international incident as they tried to run the Israeli naval blockade off the Palestinian coast. (Jun 15 2010)
While Monday has spilled considerable ink discussing the controversial record of Victoria Security Services, it seems that firm is not the only local private security operator to run afoul of the ministry of public safety and solicitor general’s security industry and licensing division. (Jun 08 2010)
Gordon Campbell has given the civil service’s highest honour—an innovation and excellence award—to the office that stick-handled a controversial government initiative which was blasted by Canadian and American engineering, fire and earthquake experts. (Jun 08 2010)
All is not well at The Land Conservancy . . . again. (Jun 08 2010)
Island environmentalist Ingmar Lee was rather excited to take part in last weekend’s water conference in Nanaimo. Island Timberlands, owned by a Bermuda-based investment firm, however, was less than enthused to have Lee partake in a weekend tour of the Nanaimo watershed, which is owned by the company. (Jun 01 2010)
“It’s not something I’ve really turned my mind to, to be honest with you.” (Jun 01 2010)
Making a living towing illegally parked cars hardly paves a path to popularity, but it seems one Victoria towing company is bent on cementing a bad reputation. (Jun 01 2010)
Plans to breathe life back into Esquimalt’s Trackside Art Gallery (TAG) as a place for aerosol artists to hone their craft have hit a snag. (Jun 01 2010)
Environmental organization Friends of the Earth delivered its annual report card on the cruise industry last week, grading cruise ship operators and their vessels based on their environmental impacts. (May 25 2010)
Is the Knowledge Network about to become a cog in the Campbell administration’s spin machine? Thanks to a recent provincial government order, New Democrat advanced education and labour market development critic Dawn Black is worried it might. (May 25 2010)
When members of the Ancient Forest Alliance asked Port Renfrew restaurant owner Jessica Hicks to host a public meeting about a stand of old growth trees dubbed Avatar Grove, Hicks thought she might use the event as a fundraiser for the fledgeling environmental group. Then, reflecting on her Coastal Kitchen Cafe’s place in the community and the smouldering tension between environmentalists and B.C.’s logging towns, Hicks decided a simple information session might ruffle fewer feathers. (May 25 2010)
When City officials were trying to sell concerned residents of the Burnside-Gorge neighbourhood on the wisdom of building a homeless shelter on Rock Bay’s Ellice Street, it was with something approaching a guarantee that the neighbourhood would be well policed—so well-policed, in fact, that a 2008 press release from the Victoria Cool-Aid Society states, “The Victoria Police have committed to a co-location at the new facility from where they can do community outreach, which should help alleviate some of the existing neighbourhood concerns.” (May 18 2010)
Combine the impending opening of the Ellice Street homeless shelter in Rock Bay with several recent violent attacks on sex workers and you’ve got a recipe for a geographic shift in the city’s street-side sex trade, says outgoing Prostitutes Empowerment, Education and Recovery Society executive director Chris Leischner. This mini-migration, she says, presents an opportunity for the City to devote some discussion to the perpetually popular industry that no one likes to talk about. (May 18 2010)
Vancouver might not be the only major city in the province getting a new gaming facility. Two months after the government announced the development of an entertainment complex featuring 1,500 slot machines near BC Place, Public Eye has learned the province’s largest bingo hall has been pushing to open one of its mini-casinos in Victoria. (May 18 2010)
In last week’s story about the latest updates on the Victoria International Marina saga, we reported that mayor Dean Fortin did not respond to Monday’s request for comment on some curious pronouncements by B.C. forests and range minister Pat Bell. As it turns out, Fortin had sent Monday an e-mail that never arrived. But now it has. Here’s what it says: (May 11 2010)
An internal December 2007 RCMP report warned that top-flight criminals involved in illegal gaming would be given a free hand in British Columbia if the police unit investigating them was shut down. But that’s exactly what happened less than two years later. (May 11 2010)
It’s 2:08 on Sunday morning and four weary revellers wait at a designated City of Victoria taxi stand across from Second Slice Pizza on Douglas Street. Three commissionaires in reflective vests use something akin to semaphore in a vain attempt to guide passing taxis to their curb for a pick up. To each cab that drives by, the commissionaires motion wildly for them to pull over. None do. Cabs cruising past in the other direction are greeted with hand signals urging the driver to make a U-turn to the taxi stand. Still no one stops. Ten minutes and at least 20 passing cabs later, the four tired partiers are finally bundled into a Bluebird and chauffeured off into the early morning. (May 11 2010)
The countdown is on for marine scientist Alexandra Morton’s May 8 arrival in Victoria to mark the end of her “Get Out Migration” walk-and-boat journey down Vancouver Island from Sointula to the provincial legislature to demand an immediate end to open-pen fish farms at the mouths of our province’s wild salmon-bearing rivers. (May 04 2010)
Last week Monday told you that B.C. forests and range minister Pat Bell seems keen to deflect all responsibility for the fate of the Victoria International Marina project away from the province and onto the shoulders of the federal approving agencies and the City of Victoria. (May 04 2010)
The man who has been heading up a review of the British Columbia legislature’s independent watchdogs recently wrote an academic paper accusing Alberta’s former auditor general of overstepping his authority, recommending his successors be put on a leash. (May 04 2010)
With the impending retirement of Integrated Lands Management Bureau regional service centre manager Andrew Whale, responsibility for determining the fate of a Crown water lot required to see construction of the proposed Victoria International Marina go ahead has moved one step up the ILMB food chain to regional director Heather MacKnight. (Apr 27 2010)
Inside the legislature, Bill Barisoff is responsible for impartially interpreting its rules and traditions. But, outside the precincts, Public Eye has learned the speaker of the legislative assembly shares his Victoria accommodations with Premier Gordon Campbell—raising the eyebrows of one of the province’s most seasoned political observers. (Apr 27 2010)
If nothing else comes out of Thomas Braidwood’s inquiry into the use of Conducted Energy Weapons in British Columbia, the former appeals court judge’s broad exploration has at least offered an intriguing glimpse into the world of modern policing. (Apr 27 2010)
We’d love to tell you what happened at last Friday’s press conference hosted by Community Marine Concepts, the proponents of the planned Victoria International Marina project. Alas, Monday was told by project partner Bob “Bulldozer” Evans to leave the Songhees suite at the Delta Ocean Pointe Hotel before the event began. (Apr 20 2010)
News flash: people don’t like the idea of the HST . . . although apparently that’s only a news flash for the provincial Liberals, who seem surprised at the massive surge of support for former premier Bill Vander Zalm’s Fight HST citizen initiative. With a recent Angus Reid poll stating that more than 80 percent of B.C. residents would, if given the chance, sign the petition against the HST, and current estimates are as high as 70,000 of the roughly 300,000 required signatures already in place since the campaign began two weeks ago, it looks like organizers stand a good chance of getting the necessary 10 percent of signatures for all provincial ridings in time for the July 5 deadline—especially now that some local businesses, including select Serious Coffee and A&W outlets, have started signing up as canvassing venues. Busy counting signatures when we called (“Quite literally, my wife is jotting down messages and clearing out the answering machine two or three times a day”), we asked Brad Slade, regional organizer for Victoria’s seven ridings, for a ringside update on the fight. (Apr 20 2010)
The Crown corporation responsible for the province’s transmission lines is hiring a consultant with a background in Russian energy policy and the democratization of post-Soviet countries to analyze California’s power planning initiatives, directly awarding her a contract worth up to $80,000. (Apr 20 2010)
After more than a decade of working to restore the last stretch of Douglas Creek to something approaching its natural state, Bob Bridgeman knows that traditional rainwater management practices mean bad news for urban waterways. Ongoing attempts by the Friends of Mount Douglas Park Society to breathe life back into the Saanich watercourse—where today only the final kilometre before it meets Cordova Bay remains above ground—have been regularly frustrated by contaminated water sent rocketing into the creek from the drainage system that services suburban sprawl in the surrounding 520 hectare watershed, home to about 5,000 properties. (Apr 20 2010)
While many individual property owners would doubtless love to find ways to mitigate their contribution to our damaging storm water outflows—and they can, by controlling what goes down their own drains—much of the responsibility is borne by government, since it is government that is responsible for so much of our impermeable surface cover in the form of roads. (Apr 20 2010)
With winter over, the homeless shelter at Quadra Street’s St. John the Divine Church is getting ready to wrap up its services for the season, displacing the 40-or-so poor people who regularly sleep there during the cold months. The impending—though seasonally-scheduled—loss of that shelter space could mean upwards of 100 people sleeping rough in and around the downtown core. (Apr 13 2010)
Change comes slow to Victoria, and nowhere is that more evident than in the longstanding—yet perpetually unfulfilled—dream of a new showcase library for the downtown core. (Apr 13 2010)
The provincial government’s new lobbyists registration law appears to have prompted former Liberal campaign co-chair Patrick Kinsella to make his activities public. (Apr 13 2010)
Did the Vancouver Island Health Authority have an inkling that Jason Matthew Walker might not have possessed certain skills outlined in his too-impressive resumé before his arrest by Saanich police in late December? (Apr 06 2010)
What happens in Central Saanich should matter to everyone (Apr 06 2010)
The past few years have provided plenty of ammunition for Central Saanich residents who believe close ties between certain key community members and local politicians mean the doors of development are ready to be thrown open. (Apr 06 2010)
After quitting her job as head of the civil service, the government continued to pay Jessica McDonald for another 90 days so she could assist her successor Allan Seckel. But internal records obtained by Public Eye via a freedom of information request give little indication of the assistance the former service head—who made $231,835.07 in fiscal 2008/09—provided. And those same records show the premier personally authorized the transition agreement that saw McDonald spend at least part of that time in Ontario being trained as a corporate director on the taxpayer’s dime. (Apr 06 2010)
Realizing that viewers expect more than local news from their local newscast, Victoria’s newly independent CHEK-TV has entered into what it calls a “news sharing agreement” with CBC television whereby both stations will enjoy access to each other’s content. (Mar 30 2010)
The Insurance Corp. of British Columbia’s chair has a longstanding business relationship with Paragon Gaming Inc., the Las Vegas-based firm that recently inked a deal to build a mega casino in Vancouver, Public Eye has exclusively learned. (Mar 30 2010)
Every January, Victoria Police Department brass go before Victoria city council to ask for a budget increase. At the centre of their pitch for more money—ahead of wage hikes and replacing outdated equipment—is the need to hire more officers. And underpinning the need to hire more officers, the VicPD argue, is the higher-than-average case load borne by each sworn member when compared to other municipal police forces around the province. (Mar 30 2010)
We’ve long thought the guy leading the CRD’s slow transition toward secondary sewage treatment—Dwayne Kalynchuk—had pretty much the worst job in local government, stuck as he was trying to understand the technical and administrative complexities of what’s coming down the pipe and then explaining those to the politicians responsible for making decisions on the matter. (Mar 23 2010)
The province’s anti-illegal gaming team was axed even though an internal government report warned many of those crimes would go uninvestigated as a result. But the minister responsible has outright denied the 42-page report’s findings. (Mar 23 2010)
Trusting Our Way to a Greener Province
While lately ignored by the mainstream media, climate change remains a hot topic in our province. No one knows this better than B.C.’s public sector organizations, which, since Bill 44 (the Greenhouse Gas Reductions Targets Act) became law in 2007, have been battening down the carbon hatches in preparation to pay $25 per tonne of CO2 they emit starting in 2010. Health authorities, school boards, colleges, universities and Crown corporations are now scrambling to quantify their carbon footprint, and figure out what that footprint will cost them. (Mar 23 2010)
When the world dreams of British Columbia, it’s the Flathead Valley they see. In celebration of the area’s natural majesty and to build the campaign for its permanent protection, a night of images and words from the Flathead is set for this Thursday. Among the presenters are Kootenay resident and mountaineering legend Pat Morrow and UVic botanist Richard Hebda. Photos from the International League of Conservation Photographers—including the only Canadian member (and Island guy) Garth Lenz—will be on display. Monday spoke to Sierra Club BC Flathead campaign manager Sarah Cox about the Flathead River Valley and the fight to save it. (Mar 23 2010)
When former provincial forests minister Rich Coleman released 28,000 hectares of Western Forest Products-owned land on Vancouver Island’s West Coast from B.C.’s tree farm license regulations in 2007, he told the Island’s daily paper, “There are a lot of jobs that are at stake on the coast of B.C. in forestry, and if it makes [WFP] stronger, it makes forestry stronger and it makes the future of forestry for all those communities up and down Vancouver Island . . . that much more stable.” (Mar 16 2010)
The ministry of children and family development is supposed to protect British Columbia’s most vulnerable children. But safety outcomes for those children are no longer being used to measure the ministry’s success in its primary planning document. (Mar 16 2010)
On March 24 the Capital Regional District’s Core Area Liquid Waste Management Committee (CALWMC) assembles to vote on whether the region will adopt a public, private, or hybrid model for its impending secondary sewage treatment system on the South Island. As soon as March 31, the CRD’s committee of the whole could be asked to endorse, or reject, that decision. Now, as the clock ticks down on another deadline from B.C. environment minister Barry Penner’s sewage treatment calendar, stakeholders are growing more impassioned, and the stakes grow higher as the estimated $1 billion plan nudges closer to becoming a reality. (Mar 16 2010)
Ever get the feeling the Campbell Liberals govern exclusively to the benefit of corporate and business interests? Well, here’s proof of the narrow lens through which our province’s governing party views the world. Shortly after the March 3 budget was released, the government’s media room posted video interviews with a series of “stakeholders” responding to the document. That list of “stakeholders” was limited to the following individuals (brackets denote campaign contributions to the B.C. Liberals since 2005): B.C. Chamber of Commerce president John Winters, Disney Interactive Studios president Howard Donaldson, Independent Contractors and Businesses Association ($55,022) president Phil Hochstein, Initiatives Prince George Development Corporation president Tim McEwan, Canadian Independent Business Federation president Brian Bonney, Victoria Chamber of Commerce CEO Bruce Carter, Mining Association of B.C. ($13,180) president Pierre Gratton and Paul Varian, president of Sport B.C. (Mar 09 2010)
Last week’s announcement from the Capital Regional District that it has agreed to purchase 2,300 hectares of land from Western Forest Products to save it from residential development and help protect the region’s water supply was met with jubilation by environmentalists and many South Island residents. However, the question of what becomes of the purchased lands—and the remaining 25,000-or-so hectares owned for now by WFP west of Sooke—still looms large for the area’s inhabitants—original and more recent. (Mar 09 2010)
Illegal gaming on first nations reserves “continues unabated and is highly visible,” according to a 2008 internal government report obtained by Public Eye via a freedom of information request. But the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the minister responsible for gaming have said such crimes are neither prevalent nor a problem—in part, because of the availability of legal gaming business options for aboriginal communities. (Mar 09 2010)
It seems the one cop on the Victoria police force willing to call bullshit on Canada’s existing laws around psychoactive substances—drugs, in layman's terms—is being silenced for his views. (Mar 02 2010)
When the big quake finally comes and Victoria is swallowed up by the sea, the dying cry of its drowning citizens might well be, “Hey, we weren’t consulted about this.” And so it is with this oft-heard Victoria refrain in mind—and assuming the quake won’t come tomorrow—that the City of Victoria has launched a year-long process to review and update its 15-year-old Official Community Plan, promising “A high level of citizen involvement.” (Mar 02 2010)
Finance Minister Colin Hansen has said he doesn’t know exactly how many bureaucrats will be getting pink slips in the coming fiscal years. But what we do know is that, in the past six months, the government has supersized its plans to downsize the civil service. (Mar 02 2010)
In what is becoming something of a regular feature of the B.C. Ministry of Environment’s quarterly compliance reports, it seems Bob Wright’s Oak Bay Marina Ltd. has been fined once again. (Feb 23 2010)
A high-profile poverty law group has said it has been, in effect, barred from doing advocacy work with money it had been receiving from the Law Foundation of BC. (Feb 23 2010)
B.C.’s Deficit and Other Fanciful Tales
When B.C. finance minister Colin Hansen unveils the 2010/11 provincial budget on March 2, it will be accompanied by a story that goes something like this: “Despite the masterful economic management of the Gordon Campbell Liberal government over the past nine years, the recent—and entirely unforeseen—global economic downturn has meant a drastic decline in government revenues. To avoid amassing unsustainable levels of government debt, we will therefore begin cutting government services and personnel. These are difficult times, and difficult decisions are required to ensure the province’s fiscal house remains in order.” This is a familiar narrative, one unfolding in countries and states around the world that have elected governments ideologically opposed to delivering the very services the public has come to expect from the state. Here in B.C., the government has been whittling away many of those services for the past nine years (continuing a trend dating back two decades in some cases), and the recent economic calamity now provides a golden opportunity to increase the speed and depth of the cuts. (Feb 23 2010)
With the City of Saanich joining Victoria and Esquimalt as the latest local municipalities to ban the application of cosmetic pesticides on residential lawns and gardens without a permit, the provincial New Democrats are reiterating their call for a province-wide ban on the application of the chemicals, except in specific farm and forestry circumstances. In a submission to the Ministry of Environment’s soon-to-close Integrated Pest Management Consultation Forum, Victoria Hillside NDP MLA Rob Fleming wrote on behalf of his party, “Many pesticides used for cosmetic purposes contain known carcinogens, and the long term effects of exposure to many of the other chemicals contained in these lawn care products are unknown. With rising health care costs adding additional pressures on our provincial budget, taking preventative measures to protect British Columbians from exposure to these toxins is not only the right thing to do for the health of our population, it is also a financially prudent step to take.” (Feb 16 2010)
L ast month, Mary Polak said she was “perplexed” about an accusation that her ministry has stopped responding to recommendations made by the government’s independent child protection watchdog. (Feb 16 2010)
One week after Monday’s feature story about local security firm Victoria Security Services, our in-box continues to pile up with e-mails from the company’s critics, former employees and supporters. In light of revelations that the two-year old company has had more complaints filed against it than any in the city, we asked Sam MacLeod, executive director of Security Programs and Police Technology for B.C.’s ministry of the solicitor general what will become of the company. (Feb 09 2010)
A top bureaucrat has refused to give the government’s independent child protection watchdog any further personal briefings about her poorly understood effort to massively overhaul the way British Columbia’s children are protected. (Feb 09 2010)
The Olympics, in their modern incarnation, have mutated beyond sport and nationalism. Today, they are about domestic politics, real estate development, business (big and small)—and more and more with each Olympic year—they are about dissent. (Feb 09 2010)
Anyone who regularly strolls the stretch of Pandora Avenue between Cook and Douglas knows things have been getting a little weirder on the block. There’s more open drug use, more erratic behaviour and more people just hanging around. Monday wondered whether Victoria is witnessing the culmination of a two-year-old prediction that Vancouver’s hard-luck crowd might flee that city as the 2010 Olympic security noose tightens. (Feb 09 2010)
After months focussed on trying to sell the replacement of the Johnson Street Bridge to a wary public, it seems Victoria city council is returning to what it said from its swearing-in would be strategic priority number one: trying to resolve the city’s homelessness and affordable-housing crisis. (Feb 02 2010)
When the head of British Columbia’s civil service announced she was stepping aside, Premier Gordon Campbell told reporters in Victoria that Jessica MacDonald would “be here for a 90 day transition period” to offer her successor Allan Seckel support. But Public Eye has exclusively learned, during that period, the government paid for her to be trained in Ontario as a corporate director—sending her to attend around seven days worth of courses at a cost of more than $10,000 to taxpayers. (Feb 02 2010)
On the streets of downtown Victoria, it’s hard to miss Victoria Security Services. Whether it’s black-uniformed, leather-gloved VSS guards marching shoulder-to-shoulder with a mix of swaggering confidence and authoritarian paranoia on their nightly Douglas Street patrol, or one of the team’s portly, more affable members catching his breath on a Government Street flower planter and counting the hours left in his shift on his cell-phone clock, chances are good that you’ve seen them. And that’s been part of company boss Jason Graff’s plan since day one. (Feb 02 2010)
When Monday sent local freelance photographer Derek Ford out to snap some pictures of VSS guards in action late on a Thursday night, we didn’t anticipate that he would become a character in our story. Nor did Ford expect to discover the truth behind rumours about the VSS brand of diplomacy. (Feb 02 2010)
Perusing the list of creditors owed money by the CanWest Limited Partnership—which, for the time being, owns Victoria’s Times Colonist and seven other newspapers on Vancouver Island—it appears a few South Island firms will be hoping to recoup some cash through the eventual sale of the media conglomerate’s assets. Among the 300 creditors, as of a January 8 list, are the following Victoria-area businesses and organizations: (Jan 19 2010)
Michael Ignatieff said last week there are “some problems” with a high-profile Liberal private member’s bill meant to hold mining, oil and gas corporations responsible for their actions overseas. (Jan 19 2010)
Tis the season, it would seem, for turmoil in the environmental movement. With run-of-the-river power projects testing the solidarity of green-minded British Columbians, and last summer’s high-profile battle for the leadership of The Land Conservancy, we now have the Western Canada Wilderness Committee announcing the closure of its Victoria storefront and shifting the focus of its Island campaigner to marine issues from old-growth forest protection. (Jan 19 2010)
No spot in Greater Victoria better illustrates the capital region’s amiable—but erratic—relationship with building bicycle-friendly infrastructure than the intersection of Gorge and Harriet roads. There, at the border of Victoria and Saanich, the cyclist’s psychological safety bubble bursts with the realization that the white-painted bike lane on one side of the traffic light gives way to sometimes heart-pounding competition for road space with the speeding car-commuter crowd on the other. (Jan 19 2010)
Whether its coming from the heart, or he’s simply leading the city’s anti-Fortin forces into battle on a populist platform, city councillor Geoff Young has been throwing a democratic monkeywrench as of late into Victoria city council’s plan to replace the Johnson Street Bridge. (Jan 12 2010)
The minister of children and family development has made an outspoken social conservative responsible for overseeing the body that regulates one of the province’s most socially liberal professions—social workers. (Jan 12 2010)
A citizens’ group opposed to borrowing $42 million to replace the Johnson Street Bridge arrived at CIty Hall on January 4 to deliver 5,700 petition forms against the plan. That bundle, added to the 5,000 gift-wrapped ones delivered on December 21, puts the final counter-petition tally—which has yet to be verified by City officials—at more than 10,000, far surpassing the 6,300 signatures needed to bring the matter to a city-wide referendum. (Jan 05 2010)
The cost of harpooning loan sharks at British Columbia’s casinos outweighs the benefits. (Jan 05 2010)
For more than a decade, Johnson Street’s Dark Horse Books has satisfied Victoria’s appetite for alternative literature and alternative ideas. Now, the wild-maned man behind the glass display case of first editions and rare finds is riding out toward new adventures. (Jan 05 2010)
Want to weigh in on the Greater Victoria Public Library’s vision for the future? The library authority has just released its Draft Facilities Plan, which splits the CRD’s 10 municipalities into three districts—the core, Saanich and Peninsula and West Shore—each with three types of branches: large district, medium-sized community and the smaller expresses. GVPL CEO Barry Holmes took a few minutes to talk about the draft and what it means for the library system. (Dec 22 2009)
The Campbell administration has been under pressure to sanction privately run gambling websites as it expands its own online betting business, Public Eye has learned. (Dec 22 2009)
Part one of British Columbia ombudsperson Kim Carter’s report on the state of seniors care in the province was released last week and shone a spotlight on continued shortcomings in the care our province’s elderly receive in both public and private institutions. Among Carter’s recommendations? A one-stop website where clients and their families can access comprehensive information about care homes in (Dec 22 2009)
As Monday reported on its website last week, it seems Victoria International Marina proponent Bob Evans has been shaking every Conservative Party bush he can to make his yacht-parking plan a reality. (Dec 15 2009)
The recession may mean hardship for many British Columbians. But the head of the Fraser Health Authority has suggested it also provides an opportunity for reforming the healthcare system and cutting back on non-core services—a comment that’s coming under fire from the president of the province’s nurses’ union. (Dec 15 2009)
Outgoing Western Canadian Wilderness Committee campaign director Ken Wu is in Copenhagen right now as part of the massive contingent of non-governmental activists converging on the Danish city to push world leaders for aggressive and binding targets to reduce carbon emissions and slow the pace of man-made climate change. Monday caught up with Wu to get the view from the ground at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. (Dec 15 2009)
Election Lingers in Region’s Farm Belt
The November 2008 Central Saanich municipal election continues to hang over the community, with citizen activists criticizing the failure of pro-development candidates and their backers to properly document their campaign spending under the province’s Local Government Act. (Dec 15 2009)
The B.C. Court of Appeal last week shot down the City of Victoria’s latest attempt to stop the homeless from camping in the municipality’s parks, bringing a merciful—though probably short-lived—end to a saga pitting two levels of government against some of the city’s most marginalized citizens. (Dec 15 2009)
Local freelance photographer Bruce Dean has filed a formal misconduct complaint against Victoria police chief Jamie Graham pertaining to comments Graham made at a security conference in Vancouver on November 30. (Dec 08 2009)
Advanced Education and Labour Market Development Minister Moira Stilwell’s husband Samuel Lichenstein has a stake in a private surgical centre that has advocated for more private involvement in the public healthcare system. (Dec 08 2009)
A UVic student is crying foul over what he claims is a case of copyright infringement by a successful Victoria company. (Dec 08 2009)
While a 2008 VIHA study found that idling cruise ships are having little impact on air quality in James Bay, records from the United States show that those same vessels have regularly been cited for their negative impact on Alaska’s marine environment and air quality. (Dec 08 2009)
With so many British Columbians out of a job, it seems money earmarked for unemployed people hoping to get new training and return to the workforce can’t keep up with the surging demand. (Dec 08 2009)
Right-to-sleep campaigner David Arthur Johnston is back behind bars after being arrested under Centennial Square’s Sequoia tree last Tuesday. Johnston had pitched a tent to protest the BC Court of Appeal’s failure to deliver a timely verdict in the City of Victoria’s attempt to overturn a 2008 ruling that rendered its anti-camping bylaws unconstitutional. (Dec 01 2009)
Heading into this past weekend’s provincial New Democrat biennial convention, there were expectations leader Carole James would address her party’s lack of economic credibility. But instead, James told delegates about the economic value of education and the need to consult with “concerned business leaders”—dusting off policy planks and rhetoric her party laid down in the last two elections. (Dec 01 2009)
Downtown Victoria has long served as the regional hub for services that help people who need a warm place to spend the night, a meal, or access to physical and mental health services. But as the region’s homeless population grows, so too do the city’s costs—both social and financial—of addressing the situation by either stopgap measures or long term solutions. (Dec 01 2009)
The panel of scientists who review how Capital Regional District staff measure environmental impacts from our sewage discharge say the present monitoring system may miss potential contaminants to the marine environment by failing to closely examine the chemical content of the South Island’s stormwater runoff. (Dec 01 2009)
Life only grows more complicated for Bob Evans and his development partners in their quest to build a waterfront parking lot for the yachts of the rich in Victoria’s harbour. (Nov 24 2009)
A high-profile, provincial government-established fund meant to help children pay for their post-secondary education lost more than $18 million of its market value over the 12 months ending March 31, 2009, Public Eye has exclusively learned. (Nov 24 2009)
One day soon, citizens of Victoria may answer a knock at the door to find someone seeking their signature on a form titled “Alternative Approval Process for Loan Authorization Bylaw No. 09-057.” This work of bureaucratese is the counter-petition to the City of Victoria’s October 29 decision to borrow $42 million to replace the Johnson Street Bridge. That vote by city council marked the largest loan the City has ever requested to complete the single largest infrastructure project in its history, and the counter-petition is the last chance for the public to potentially thwart the deconstruction of an Island landmark. (Nov 24 2009)
The Vancouver Island Health Authority’s surprise announcement on Monday that it has abandoned plans to implement a fixed-site needle exchange in the city of Victoria and move instead toward what it calls a distributed model has left some members of its own Needle Exchange Advisory Committee wondering why they went to all those meetings in the first place. (Nov 17 2009)
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow often says just what the country’s economic and political elite need to hear, and usually right when they least want to hear it. Take, for example, her appearance at the 2008 Canadian Environment Awards to receive a citation for lifetime achievement. The event was sponsored in part by environmental villains Shell and Nexen, sparking debate in green circles about the ethics of accepting such a prize. Former federal Green Party leader Joan Russow wrote on the Peace Earth and Justice forum at the time, “The sponsorship of these two companies makes a mockery of the award.” But then came Barlow’s acceptance speech and the keynote address for the evening. (Nov 17 2009)
A candidate running to be a senior federal Liberal party official in British Columbia has called Stephen Harper a “d-bag” in a posting on his publicly accessible Facebook page. (Nov 17 2009)
When Victoria city council opted to look at forcing late-night eateries to close their doors at midnight back in September 2008, it seemed we were taking one more step towards living up to our moniker as “No-Fun City.” But the release of the Downtown Late Night Task Force’s report and recommendations earlier this week appear to signal a change in approach. After spending the summer consulting with downtown stakeholders, pouring over statistics and looking at how other cities have dealt with the kind of late-night hooliganism downtown Victoria is bombarded with when drinking establishments shutter their doors, the task force—comprised of mayor Dean Fortin, city councillor and downtown liaison Charlayne Thornton-Joe and VicPD chief Jamie Graham—concluded that the solution isn’t to shut down the city’s core, but to throw open its doors. (Nov 17 2009)
On a May 23, 2007, visit to Afghanistan, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the crowd of assembled soldiers, “Because of you, the people of Afghanistan have seen the institution of democratic elections, the stirring of human rights and freedoms for women, the construction of schools, healthcare facilities and the basic infrastructure of a functional economy.” (Nov 10 2009)
Two years have passed since the October 2007 release of the Mayor’s Task Force Report on Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addiction and Homelessness in Victoria. The document marked the first comprehensive look at the causes of—and solutions to—homelessness in the region, both in its overt and hidden forms. Moreover, it marked the first concrete admission by local government that families living in cramped motel rooms, elderly people pushing shopping carts piled high with belongings and wan drug users shuffling ghostlike through downtown backstreets are our wealthy region’s moral shame. (Nov 10 2009)
When the 2010 Winter Olympic Games get underway, Gordon Campbell’s administration won’t just be showcasing beautiful British Columbia. It will also be showcasing government programs that have been “undertaken to address the issue of homelessness” in Vancouver’s “colourful” Downtown Eastside. (Nov 10 2009)
This week Monday offers you another thread in the web of political connections lurking in the background of developer Bob Evans' plan to build the Victoria International Marina on the city's Songhees waterfront. It is these relationships that marina opponents fear may compromise an objective evaluation of the proposal by government agencies. (Nov 03 2009)
Provincial New Democrats could soon have the power to oust their leader, Carole James, Public Eye has learned. (Nov 03 2009)
• As of press time, Victoria mayor Dean Fortin had declined an invitation to meet with American heritage bridge restoration expert Frank Nelson this week. (Nov 03 2009)
Name: Salary / Expenses (Nov 03 2009)
Despite event organizers’ careful scripting, the Olympic torch’s arrival in Victoria last Friday still offered up its share of surprises—chief among them the cancellation of a section of the run because of what local police called, “safety concerns for the torchbearers and the public,” after a No2010 celebration blocked an intersection on the flame’s planned route. (Nov 03 2009)
Federal transportation minister John Baird was in town over the weekend to grace Victoria with $21 million toward the replacement of the Johnson Street Bridge. (Oct 27 2009)
Internal government records show British Columbia Lotteries Corp. wanted to cut its funding for the province’s integrated illegal gaming enforcement team two years before it was shutdown. (Oct 27 2009)
Short of a needle exchange or a homeless shelter, nothing uncorks a vigorous neighbourhood debate quite like the prospect of a new liquor store opening down the block. (Oct 27 2009)
It’s Homelessness Action Week once again, which means it’s time to ask the obvious question: Are we better or worse off when it comes to dealing with our local homeless population than this time last year? “Practically speaking, in terms of numbers, I don’t think we know,” admits Robert Mitchell, program manager for the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness. “There was a homelessness-needs survey done in 2007 but one has not been done since. We’ve always extrapolated that, when we started this program, there were about 1,500 people on the street and we feel we’ve housed 400 people over the last year, but we don’t know whether that means there’s still 1,100 people on the street.” (Oct 13 2009)
A Delta-based company that ships tractor trailers between Vancouver Island and the Mainland appears to have hired the premier’s former special advisor Ken Dobell to lobby the government. But the firm is tight-lipped about whether that lobbying has to do with increased competition from British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. (Oct 13 2009)
Graffiti is everywhere. All over Victoria, and in cities and towns around the world, blank walls have become covered with the colourful graphics of taggers. And wherever there are taggers—named for their stylized signatures known as tags—someone has the job of removing their work. (Oct 13 2009)
With all the commotion surrounding what appears to be the still-pending replacement of the Johnson Street Bridge, it seemed timely to note developments related to our region’s other mega-project, secondary sewage treatment. Having recently brought on the Stantec consulting firm to manage the project through to completion, the project price tag has dropped dramatically from $1.2 billion to $715 million. (Oct 06 2009)
Last month, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell said problems funding the preparation of community wildfire protection plans would have to be solved by local governments. (Oct 06 2009)
The Victoria Police Department's latest expenditure forecast for the fiscal year shows the force anticipates swinging from a $765,000 surplus to a small deficit for 2009. Part of the predicted deficit will come from the estimated $50,000 the force has had to budget for security provisions related to the Olympic torch's October 30 trip through the city. (Sep 29 2009)
If you haven’t heard the news about the largest land-use change in the CRD’s history—the 13 kilometre-long, 130,000 hectare chunk between Sooke and Port Renfrew that’s in the process of being opened up for development—you’re not alone. “There’s been no discussion here in the population centres of what’s going on out there,” says Ray Zimmerman, director of the Sea-to-Sea Greenbelt Society. (Sep 22 2009)
5 Questions-September 24 All Access
The fight against homelessness is far from over, but downtown’s street population can enjoy at least one positive change. Cool Aid’s Access Health Centre, which replaces their old community health care centre, now offers more services to more people in an expanded space. Originally purchased back in 2005 in partnership with AIDS Vancouver Island, Cool Aid executive director Kathy Stinson’s vision for 713 Johnson clearly reaches far beyond balancing the books. And rightfully so; while AVI’s upstairs space has yet to be completed, the centre itself—which provides just about everything except methadone (but might in the future, Stinson says)—was completed on time and on budget. We met up with Stinson just two days after the centre’s opening. (Sep 22 2009)
More than a million dollars in provincial government funding has been spent bankrolling the writing of wildfire protection plans in communities across British Columbia. But neither the province nor the Union of British Columbia Municipalities—which hands out that funding—knows to what extent those plans have actually been acted on. (Sep 22 2009)
If you’re among the 85 percent of B.C. residents who, in a recent Ipsos Reid poll, said they oppose the proposed HST, then you may want to swing by the back lawn of the legislature this Saturday afternoon for the FightHST.com rally, one of more than a dozen rallies happening province-wide. And while the Vancouver installment has naturally attracted the big guns (including FightHST.com honcho Bill Vander Zalm and Opposition leader Carole James, among others), Victoria organizer Brad Slade feels it’s important that local opposition be heard. (Sep 15 2009)
While government programs and unnecessary expenses were being chopped, the head of the liquor distribution branch took a seven-day, $8,155 business trip to Bordeaux and London. But the government has said that trip, during which Jay Chambers attended an international wine and spirits exhibition, was necessary to track industry trends and contact liquor suppliers. (Sep 15 2009)
While the arts community has already been up in arms over the dismal news that was last week’s budget, they’re certainly not alone. “This budget does nothing to get people back to work,” says Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour. “It does nothing to get people into classrooms for training or retraining. It does nothing to help British Columbians weather the economic downturn or prepare for a recovery.” The BC Teachers’ Federation agrees. “This budget doesn’t even meet the needs of students today, let alone a year from now,” says BCTF vice-president Susan Lambert. “There is no new funding to reduce class sizes or improve support for students with special needs . . . This budget will only make things worse for B.C.’s kids.” And NDP leader Carole James wasn’t holding back last week when she characterized the budget as “an admission that the B.C. Liberals misled the public and have no ideas about how to deal with the economic downturn.” (Sep 08 2009)
Last week, the Campbell administration announced it would miss its 2009/10 deficit target by $2.28 billion—in part, because of a dramatic decline in natural gas royalties. (Sep 08 2009)
Cuts to provincial arts funding will mean fewer dollars in the government’s coffers (Sep 08 2009)
Victoria residents will have their chance to chime in on what the future of our Inner Harbour will look like this week with the unveiling of the three choices for the new Johnson Street Bridge. But the public will have no say in the ultimate bridge question: Should it be rehabilitated or rebuilt? And the word is still out on when (or if) the proposed federal and provincial funding will come through. But Victoria mayor Dean Fortin remains confident that city council is pursuing the right project at the right time. (Sep 08 2009)
While anyone who has attended the Fringe Festival in the past week has likely already heard about Intrepid Theatre’s loss of a $35,000 gaming grant, they are just one of many arts organizations in the city who have been left in a lurch on the eve of a festival. (Sep 01 2009)
In 2005, Whistler’s community wildfire protection plan warned of “extreme consequences” if a forest fire struck the resort municipality. Four years later—as two blazes continue to burn near the 2010 Winter Olympic host community—most of the plan’s key recommendations remain incomplete. (Sep 01 2009)
Long before the harmonized sales tax and ballooning provincial deficit entered the picture, Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberals were already a government full of holes. Dogged by the BC Rail scandal, mounting Olympic-related expenses and the sustained decline of B.C.’s once-proud forest industry, the May 12 provincial vote was the New Democrat Party’s election to lose—and lose it they did. (Sep 01 2009)
With a citizen advisory committee in place, three different designs ready to unveil in September, a consultant on the job since June and a general contract already awarded, Victoria residents can be forgiven for thinking it’s all systems go for the replacement of the Johnson Street Bridge. But although city council is meeting this week to get final approval for the estimated $63 million cost—$42 million of which is expected to come from provincial/federal infrastructure grants—that doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. (Aug 25 2009)
Some provincial Liberal political aides “double-deleted” e-mails in an attempt to keep their communications confidential, Public Eye has exclusively learned. The aides believed “double-deleting” would prevent their e-mails from being saved by the government’s back-up tapes, according to sources familiar with the practice. (Aug 25 2009)
Premier Gordon Campbell and his entourage may be in for something of a tumultuous welcome when the legislature reconvenes after a long summer break on Tuesday, August 25. (Aug 18 2009)
Braidwood Inquiry data suggests VicPD went Taser trigger happy Welcome to Taser Town
Several weeks ago Monday ran afoul of the Victoria Police Department over an opinion piece that contained the line “ . . and the sergeant was ominously fingering his taser.” The local constabulary took exception to the notion that it would ever threaten use of conducted energy weapons (CEWs) on any but the most deserving of subjects. (Aug 18 2009)
There are indications the provincial government may introduce controversial legislation that will allow authorities to detain at-risk youths against their will. And that has civil liberty and youth advocacy groups concerned. (Aug 18 2009)
Among the enduring legacies of 150-or-so years of British Columbia colonial history is the continuing poor academic performance of first-nation students in the province’s schools. The Canadian government’s efforts to dislocate B.C.’s first people from their land, language and culture through assimilation has had lasting effects that continue to reverberate long after the shuttering of the province’s last residential school in 1986. (Aug 18 2009)
Educators and administrators involved in band-operated schools say looking to provincially funded public institutions for innovative ways to get first nations learners through to the end of their studies is of little value. According to B.C. education ministry statistics, the six-year completion rate for aboriginal students in B.C.’s public high schools is a meagre 47 percent. (Aug 18 2009)
Say what you will about the business practices of local hotelier John Asfar, his plentiful, low-cost rooms have long provided a place for local families caught in the rental crunch to get a temporary roof over their head while finding their feet. (Aug 11 2009)
B ritish Columbia’s poor might soon have a tougher time getting free legal aid for their day-to-day struggles. (Aug 11 2009)
Exploring Victoria’s recent indymedia renaissance Making New Media
With CHEK-TV on life support, the Times Colonist bleeding red ink, A Channel shedding jobs and big media across the globe scrambling for a survival strategy, citizen journalists are seizing the opportunity to report on issues and events that matter to their communities left behind as other outlets retrench. (Aug 11 2009)
A study from Dutch and Swedish scientists suggests that women who have breast augmentation surgery done for cosmetic reasons are three times as likely to commit suicide than the general population. The researchers believe the problem stems from issues of low self-esteem and poor body image in women who have breast implants and suggested that surgeons should evaluate women for psychological problems before carrying out any such surgery. “If women have a psychological problem and they are given breast implants they will still have the problem,” concluded the researchers. In similar yet totally different news, the new rage in cosmetic surgery is nipple enlargement, done with injections of collagen or cartilage taken from the patient’s ear. Nipple surgeon Bruce Nadler says that most people do it for that “teasing look” of erect nipples, while others—mostly men—have nipple fetishes and want their nipples to be the “biggest, most desirable nipples possible.” No word on how many men kill themselves after discovering their super nipples don’t make them feel good about themselves. (Reuters Health) (Aug 11 2009)
NDP environment critic Rob Fleming says B.C.’s new Harmonized Sales Tax could spell the end of tax incentives for property owners that want to green their buildings. (Aug 04 2009)
RFP shows patrolling city’s parking spots is serious business Meter Madness
It seems not a week goes by that Victoria’s daily newspaper doesn’t publish at least one letter from an angry resident or visitor railing about the enthusiasm with which the City’s parking enforcement patrollers carry out their assigned responsibilities. With the City’s current contract with the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires set to expire, it recently issued a Request for Proposals for parking enforcement services, and the document provides an inside look at the perennial thorn in the side of downtown drivers. (Aug 04 2009)
Among the several contentious debates generated by Victoria’s evolution toward secondary sewage treatment for the region is the question of whether those services will be managed and staffed by workers from the public or private sector. (Aug 04 2009)
While most South Island residents would be hard-pressed to define exactly what the CRD does, our regional government’s senior staff are well compensated for the duties they perform in the realm of waste management, water, parks and pound-keeping. (Aug 04 2009)
Many parents will be spending more money to send their children to summer camp thanks to the government’s new harmonized sales tax, Public Eye has exclusively learned. And camp leaders worry families without deep pockets won’t be able to afford the increase. (Aug 04 2009)
The former common-law wife of a man who died after being taken into VicPD custody on July 12 wants the public to know there was more to him than the drugs thought to be at the root of his death by cardiac arrest. Although separated for 10 years, Cathy (last name withheld at her request) says her former partner was an almost daily part of her life—and the life of their 13 year old daughter. (Jul 28 2009)
The provincial government was living it up as the economy was crashing, spending more than half-a-million dollars on parties celebrating civil service excellence. But the government has said those celebrations were necessary to maintain a “high performing workforce”—something that’s “even more important during these challenging times.” (Jul 28 2009)
Help! I’m Surrounded by Fogeys
What happens to the young in residential care? (Jul 28 2009)
The uncertain future of a Victoria TV icon (Jul 28 2009)
British Columbia’s public libraries may be forced to reduce their hours if they don’t get the funding they need from the provincial government. (Jul 21 2009)
To sit draped in the fragrance of Rhododendrons in Victoria’s Abkhazi Garden, or drift slowly with the cold current of the Sooke River as it meanders through the rock canyons of the Sooke Potholes is to revel in the simple tranquility of nature. But while both locations offer visitors respite from the urban landscape, the organization that worked to secure their preservation is undergoing something neither simple nor tranquil. (Jul 21 2009)
Taking a page from the provincial government’s supersized public affairs bureau, the City of Victoria is beefing up its own “good news” department. (Jul 21 2009)
With all the hoopla surrounding the use of “free speech zones” to corral protesters at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Monday wondered what sort of security crackdown might be coming down the pike when the Olympic torch begins its cross-Canada tour starting in Victoria this October. (Jul 14 2009)
The American rock musician Meat Loaf once declared that he would do “anything for love (but I won’t do that).” (Jul 14 2009)
The BC Wilderness Tourism Association hit back this week at a recent decision by the Strathcona Regional District to allow placement of a large open-pen fish farm in the Johnstone Strait near Sayward. (Jul 07 2009)
If ever the world needed the presence of the progressive left, then surely the time is now. With the current economic seizure demonstrating that the perpetual acquisition of stuff is hardly the bedrock on which to build a fair and just society, the door has abruptly been kicked open for a resurgence of those activists and organizations pursuing the ideal that social justice must always take precedence over profit. (Jul 07 2009)
The top employee at the Crown corporation responsible for BC Place and the Vancouver Convention Centre is making 166.67 percent more than he did eight years ago, according to an exclusive analysis by Public Eye. (Jul 07 2009)
It’s time once again for the only literary contest that matters, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (also known as the Dark and Story Night contest) which challenges writers to create the worst possible opening sentence to an imaginary novel. This year’s winner is David McKenzie of Washington State, who came up with this piece of crap: “Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin’ off Nantucket Sound from the nor’ east and the dogs are howlin’ for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the “Ellie May,” a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin’ and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.” Check out Bulwer-Lytton.com for a list of finalists in several other categories including this winner from the detective genre: “She walked into my office on legs as long as one of those long-legged birds that you see in Florida—the pink ones, not the white ones—except that she was standing on both of them, not just one of them, like those birds, the pink ones, and she wasn’t wearing pink, but I knew right away that she was trouble, which those birds usually aren’t.” And then there’s this gem from the romance category: “The first time I saw her she took my breath away with her long blonde hair that flowed over her shoulders like cheese sauce on a bed of nachos, making my stomach grumble as she stepped into the room, her red knit dress locking in curves better than a Ferrari at a Grand Prix.” (Jul 07 2009)
Critics worry Peninsula Co-op is drifting from its roots Co-Op Co-opted?
Following Peninsula Co-op’s $16,000 foray into the 2008 Central Saanich municipal election to endorse candidates sympathetic to its business ambitions, the organization’s board and executive continue to seek opportunities to tilt the table toward a longstanding plan to build a new grocery store on West Saanich Road farmland. (Jun 30 2009)
For just $400 million, Langford’s resort development could have been yours Bear Mountain Bargain
Documents posted to—and quickly removed from—a local property developer’s website last week offered a fleeting glimpse into the financial workings of the Bear Mountain Resort development. (Jun 30 2009)
If you received a pay raise in 2008, perhaps you are among the list of lucky public sector executives who took home more money last year, even as the economy headed for the tank. (Jun 30 2009)
The BC Agriculture Council applied to strip migrant farm workers of the labour rights enjoyed by Canadian workers while Steve Thomson, British Columbia’s new agriculture and lands minister, was its executive director. (Jun 30 2009)
Saanich city councillor Vic Derman says rather than build three large sewage treatment plants as the region appears poised to do, it should build two small “pilot resource-recovery and water-management plants”—one in Saanich East/North Oak Bay and one in the Western Communities as a show of good faith. (Jun 23 2009)
This week marked the first that Times Colonist readers went without the Monday print edition of the Vancouver Island daily, as parent company CanWest Global grapples with ways to reduce operating costs and service its massive debt. (Jun 23 2009)
Canadians have long taken a certain pride in our overseas presence. Studies suggest we see ourselves as a nation of peacekeepers, of defenders of the right and the just. But in his new book The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, Montreal-based author and activist Yves Engler probes the reality of Canada’s long history of backstopping the imperial ambitions of our Southern neighbour, and doing away with pesky impediments—like democratically elected governments—to the success of Canadian corporations operating abroad. (Jun 23 2009)
On June 18, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government rolled out the latest pillar in its tough-on-crime, short-on-imagination strategy with two bills designed to peer into the online lives of Canadians. (Jun 23 2009)
A recent annual report on the Victoria Police Department’s 2008-10 Strategic Plan suggests that between 2007 and 2008, calls for service related to prostitution in the city decreased 61 percent—from 253 calls to 98. (Jun 16 2009)
B y a 5-3 margin, the board of School District 61 has put plans in motion to spend an estimated $44,000 to elect a replacement for ousted trustee Catherine Alpha. (Jun 16 2009)
The fire risk surrounding many of British Columbia’s resorts is high, Public Eye has learned. As a result, the ministry of tourism, culture and the arts will prepare wildfire protection plans for three of those resorts—just as the province’s fire season is heating up. But those plans won’t be ready until November 2009. (Jun 16 2009)
At last, a small ray of hope in the otherwise grim local media landscape. It seems the Mother Corp so likes the good works emerging from Victoria’s CBC radio outpost that they’ve awarded the locally produced drive-time afternoon show All Points West with an extra hour of airtime when the new season kicks off in September. Host Jo-Ann Roberts will now begin her broadcasting day at 3 p.m. and carry right on through to 6 o’clock. (Jun 09 2009)
Everything “new” is old again By SEAN HOLMAN What’s in a Name?
Victoria parliamentarian Denise Savoie wants to take the “new” out of the New Democratic Party of Canada’s name as part of an effort to broaden its vision and base. (Jun 09 2009)
Concerns in Colwood Western separatists rattle sabres
Dreams of a common approach to managing growth on Southern Vancouver Island could be in trouble, as the mayors of three communities on the region’s western edges have asked their staff to examine the implications of providing infrastructure and utility services independent of the Capital Regional District. (Jun 09 2009)
Report shows who spent your tax dollars in 2008 By JASON YOUMANS Perusing the Public Purse
Last Friday saw the release of the City of Victoria’s Public Bodies Report—an annual requirement under the province’s Financial Information Act—which looks back at where taxpayer money went in the year that was and how City staff were paid to keep the municipal wheels in motion. (Jun 09 2009)
Some City staff made top dollar in 2008 (Jun 09 2009)
Exorcising Battershill’s ghost (Jun 09 2009)
Needle-X meets demand (Jun 02 2009)
There’s an ill wind blowing in the management ranks of the Vancouver Island Health Authority and observers say it’s only a matter of time before the public will face the storm. (Jun 02 2009)
A dry spring means the Campbell administration could be on the track to blow its low-ball estimate for direct forest fire-fighting expenses, according to provincial New Democrat finance critic Bruce Ralston. (Jun 02 2009)
A man who might be entering the Guinness Book of World Records as the most litigious person in the world has filed a lawsuit against Guinness in order to stop them from naming him as the person who has filed the most lawsuits in the history of the world. Jonathan Lee Riches, serving a prison term until 2012, has filed over 4,000 lawsuits worldwide against such notables as George W. Bush, Britney Spears, Martha Stewart, Somali pirates, Nostradamus, the Eiffel Tower, Three Mile Island and the makers of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!” His latest lawsuit claims that Guinness plans to publish false information about him and call him names such as “Johnny Sue-nami,” “The Duke of Lawsuits” and “Sue-per-man.” After Riches gets the psychological treatment he needs and is finally released from prison he plans to start a class called “Lawsuit 101” in order to teach ordinary people how to sue without a lawyer. “I will sell Jonathan Lee Riches T-shirts,” he claims, printed with the phrase “Watch what you do, or I’ll sue you.” (spokesman.com) (Jun 02 2009)
While area police departments have been busy sticking their fingers in the dam of Victoria’s illicit drug supply through a number of high-volume busts, Statistics Canada recently released data about how the nation’s appetite for drugs and its police forces intersect. (May 26 2009)
In 2008, Attorney General Wally Oppal said the Campbell administration might fix its flawed Lobbyists Registration Act—perhaps before the election. But, according to emails obtained exclusively by Public Eye via a freedom of information request, that statement appears to frustrated his top political aide. (May 26 2009)
One year ago, AIDS Vancouver Island’s Cormorant Street needle exchange closed its doors, evicted after years of complaints about public disorder around the facility. This made Victoria the only large Canadian city without a permanent location where drug users could trade dirty equipment for clean and prompted warnings from health-service providers that the closure put a marginalized population with an already tenuous link to health care at increased risk of infection or death. (May 26 2009)
Lesson one of how to be a gangster is, don’t shoot yourself in the crotch. Too bad Lukas Neuhardt, 27, failed this simple task when he tried to show off his gun to his friends and accidently shot himself in the most unfortunate of places. And while surgeons were able to stitch his manhood back together, the humiliation doesn’t end there: Neuhardt may face up to three years in jail for breaching Germany’s tough new gun laws. (Ananova) (May 26 2009)
Monday’s wacky publication schedule means a Tuesday election—like the one you may or may not remember from May 12—leaves us about a week behind putting results and analysis out in print form. (May 19 2009)
Former MI5 agent Annie Machon isn’t winning any points with her old employer. After leaving the British secret service in the late 1990s and going public with a litany of complaints about the lack of accountability and general incompetence of the organization, she lived in exile in France to avoid prosecution for helping air the English spook system’s dirty laundry before moving to Germany, where she now lives. (May 19 2009)
With her provincial Liberal opponent Wally Oppal in the lead by just three votes, independent Delta South candidate Vicki Huntington could still win a seat in the legislature after all the ballots are counted. But Huntington wasn’t the only independent who performed well in the recent election. (May 19 2009)
It seems like such a simple idea: feed the soil, feed the city. So it was that Chris Johnson came up with the concept of the Pedal to Petal Urban Agriculture Collective last year, a cycling-based compost collection service where the compost collected would be worked into community gardens growing food to be given back to the community. Ideal for people who either don’t have the time to compost their food scraps into their own garden or don’t have a garden in which to compost—a reality for far too many eco-friendly apartment dwellers—and based on a twice-monthly sliding-scale pickup schedule starting at just $10 a month (they even provide you with your own sealable bucket), it seems like Johnson’s zero-emission system is an idea whose time has more than come . . . especially when you consider that a shocking 37 percent of the average CRD household waste is made up of organic materials (which are due to be phased out of the Hartland Landfill by 2012). Reducing carbon emissions, increasing local food security, creating edible landscapes—Pedal to Petal is a great example of our Green City in action. (May 19 2009)
The 2009 provincial election was fraught with confusion for enviro-minded voters. A public schism between environmental leaders in the weeks before the vote—one magnified by the corresponding media circus—left many British Columbians wondering where they should place their support if concern for the province’s environmental future was among their primary considerations. (May 19 2009)
UVic political science professor and electoral systems guru Dennis Pilon says electoral reform will all but disappear from the province’s political agenda following May 12’s resounding defeat of the proposed BC-STV system. (May 19 2009)
Conventional wisdom holds that bad economic times are also bad for life expectancy, as less people can afford proper medical attention and more people succumb to depression and suicide. But the latest research has found that the opposite is true: the health of a population improves slightly when the economy tanks. According to the latest number crunching by professor Christopher Ruhm of the University of North Carolina, death rates consistently decline during recessions and rise during the boom times. Ruhm found that for every one percent rise in unemployment, the death rate falls by about half a percent; other research has found similar trends during economic downturns in 23 countries between 1960 and 1997. The exact reasons for this are not clear, but researchers suspect that during the lean years people tend to spend less money on fattening foods, alcohol and tobacco, while the fear of getting fired might help heavy drinkers stay sober. Deaths from car accidents also drop during higher unemployment simply because less people are commuting to work, industrial accidents drop because less people are working and even infant deaths drop, presumably because a less industrial output causes a decrease in air pollution. (Oregon Live) (May 19 2009)
As Times Colonist readers recently learned, the Monday edition of Victoria’s once-celebrated daily newspaper will cease to arrive on doorsteps and at corner stores starting June 22. (May 12 2009)
With the corporate media in meltdown and newspapers cutting back all over North America, one local activist has decided to throw his hat into the publishing ring by starting his own newspaper—one that turns a critical eye on the creeping corporatization of our public institutions. (May 12 2009)
Right Thinking British Columbians
The provincial Liberals might not have a monopoly on the British Columbia’s right-wing vote in 2013. In an interview with Public Eye, Tory parliamentarian John Cummins said he believes many members of his party will throw their support behind the provincial Conservatives now that the election is over. (May 12 2009)
When you’re ready to quit your soul-sucking job and re-ignite your childhood dreams, head on over to ehow.com for step-by-step instructions for becoming a professional alligator wrestler. The site advises to start at Colorado Gators, America’s only alligator-wrestling school, then get a job at Reptile Gardens animal park, spend a lot of time in swamps and start your wrestling career with the smallest gator you can find. Be warned, though: the average wage for an alligator wrestler is about $8 per hour. (May 12 2009)
How strange it must have been for Green Party leader Jane Sterk to be quarantined while Gordon Campbell and Carole James nattered away at each other during the May 3 televised leaders debate. (May 10 2009)
You can add the Australian government to the list of powerful foreign and corporate interests assisted by Liberal leader Gordon Campbell’s former constituency campaign manager. But Mark Jiles didn’t receive any compensation for giving the land down under a helping hand. (May 10 2009)
A funny thing happened on the way to the poll
Don’t want to vote on May 12? Can’t really blame you. With two elections in the last eight months already under our belts and one hell of a monkey-wrench thrown into the global economic works, B.C. residents could be excused for letting their minds wander to other matters. But in these waning days before the May 12 provincial election, remember this: government has the power to make things incrementally better. It can also make things much, much worse. (May 10 2009)
If watching the province’s political leaders make promises they probably can’t keep has turned you off the whole election, then at least consider making the trip to your neighbourhood voting station to cast a ballot in the referendum on electoral reform. (May 10 2009)
A painting by Adolf Hitler sold for six times as much as expected—almost $15,000—at an auction in London last week. The 1910 painting of a figure which is speculated to be Hitler himself sitting on a stone bridge was one of 15 paintings which fetched a total of $120,000. While the auction house was thrilled with the sale—they had expected the items to go for less than $50,000—not everyone was quite as excited. “Who would want to have in their house a painting by the most horrible murderer in the history of mankind?” asked Rabbi Marvin Hier. “Any individual that would buy it to hang in their homes should be ashamed of themselves.” (CNN) (May 10 2009)
It’s no secret that real-estate developers in British Columbia have done well by eight years of Gordon Campbell’s Liberal government, so it comes as no surprise that they’re rewarding him with hefty political donations heading into the May 12 provincial election. (May 03 2009)
As is the case in other jurisdictions, British Columbia’s public sector uses the Big Four international accounting firms to provide independent auditing and advisory services. But, according to a review of Election British Columbia filings, those same firms donated $136,199 to the governing Liberals between 2005 and 2008—with $96,794 being contributed by KPMG LLP. So couldn’t those donations put those firms in a perceived conflict of interest, compromising the independence of the work they do for the public sector? (May 03 2009)
Modern political parties are unsavoury creatures. Sure, there’s the chipper candidates out on the campaign trail shaking hands and kissing babies, but behind those soundbites and photo-ops are rancorous leadership contests, cutthroat war-room strategy sessions and rounds of targeted polling to determine what empty catch-phrases sell best to which narrow segments of the electorate. (May 03 2009)
If you’ve come to that point in your life where it
If you’ve come to that point in your life where it’s time to make your mark, you might want to go after one of the weirdest world records tracked by Guinness. Of course, some records can’t be beaten voluntarily, like trying to break the world record for the longest attack of the hiccups (68 years!) or the longest time living with a nail stuck in your head (a man in the U.K. had a rusty one-inch nail stuck between his ear and eye for 22 years). But there are plenty or world records which can be smashed with just a bit of perseverance and a wallop of insanity. Try one of these: hold your breath for more than 13 minutes, 42 seconds; jump on a pogo-stick 177,738 times; do 125 one-finger push ups; make a balloon dog behind your back in under 9.26 seconds; eat five watches in less than one hour, 34 minutes; lie in a bathtub full of maggots for more than 90 minutes; or type the words “one” to “one million” in less than 16 years. Good luck! (May 03 2009)
Deputy attorney general Allan Seckel has decided a freedom of information request to determine if Premier Gordon Campbell or members of his office placed any calls to Patrick Kinsella isn’t in the public interest. This, despite the fact that questions about Kinsella’s interactions with the Campbell administration have repeatedly been raised on the campaign trail and in the legislature. (Apr 26 2009)
It’s been four years since the Campbell government unveiled a new plan for the province, one formulated after a first BC Liberal term in office characterized by deep cuts to ministries and programs on which British Columbia’s quality of life was built. (Apr 26 2009)
A Norwegian inventor has won the Financial Times Clima
A Norwegian inventor has won the Financial Times Climate Change Challenge with a simple cardboard box transformed into a solar oven powerful enough to cook food, bake bread and boil water. The “Kyoto Box” consists of two cardboard boxes—one box painted black inside another box covered in silver foil—topped with an acrylic cover to trap the sun’s rays inside the box. “This took me about a weekend, and it worked on the first try,” said John Bohmer. “It’s mind-boggling how simple it is.” The solar oven could alleviate the need for firewood for up to three million people around the world and save millions of children from deaths caused by unboiled water. (CNN) (Apr 26 2009)
NEWS (Apr 26 2009)
The best part—from the government’s perspective—about the BC Liberals’ love affair with public-private partnerships is that because the contracts with private partners are kept under lock and key, it’s virtually impossible to verify the government’s claims about their benefits. (Apr 19 2009)
Last week, the provincial New Democrats—as part of the party’s plan to spur economic activity—promised to “expand B.C.’s trade promotion with 6 new offices to take advantage of emerging trade opportunities.” But not only does the party not know where some of those offices will be located, it’s also following in the footsteps of an initiative launched four years ago by the Campbell administration. (Apr 19 2009)
Victorians have endured a wet couple of months, but the rest of the world hasn’t been so lucky. Brush fires have ravaged Australia, California faces water rationing, and activists at the World Water Forum in Istanbul have demanded that water be recognized as a fundamental human right. So it’s time to celebrate one piece of our local infrastructure that’s still in good shape: Victoria’s water supply, the product of a century of engineering, foresight and legal wrangling. (Apr 19 2009)
Pop quiz: what do enviro-guru David Suzuki, Reform Party founder Preston Manning and former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic* have in common? Very little—as one might suppose—except that all three have voiced support for the British Columbia Single Transferable Vote, an electoral system that voters in this province have a rare second chance to adopt when they go to the polls on May 12. (Apr 19 2009)
(But that’s not really our problem) (Apr 19 2009)
Is this electoral reform’s last stand? (Apr 19 2009)
According to the book Who Owns the World?, Queen Elizabeth II is the largest personal landowner on Earth, with a vast empire which covers one-sixth of the planet’s non-ocean surface. The Queen is the legal owner of 6,600 million acres worth approximately $25.7 trillion, with her main holdings in Canada (2,467 million acres), Australia (1,900 million acres), Papua, New Guinea (114 million acres), New Zealand (66 million acres) and the UK (60 million acres). The Queen also eclipses all other challengers by a healthy margin: the next largest landowners in the world are Russia, with 4,219 million acres, and China, with 2,365 million acres. The second-largest personal land empire belongs to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who owns a mere 553 million acres of land. (Apr 19 2009)
A Vic West eyesore could be on the verge of a significant makeover if a deal can be finalized between a B.C.-based developer and the property’s current mortgage holder. (Apr 12 2009)
With a camera built into every cell phone, the average Joe has inadvertently become part of a watchdog force policing the police. But the irony of this is not lost on most people; according to Comrade Black, organizer of the upcoming two-weekend speaker series A World Without Cops, the issue of police brutality is nothing new. We asked Black how this world without cops might function. (Apr 12 2009)
Ten months ago, provincial civil servants advised the government there was a “limited understanding” of how wood-frame buildings taller than four storeys would react in an earthquake. Yet, despite that continuing lack of knowledge, the government went ahead and allowed their construction anyway. (Apr 12 2009)
For the last few weeks, Wayne Springer has spent his evenings waiting outside St. John the Divine Church on Quadra Street hoping to secure a mattress on the floor when the emergency shelter opens its doors for the night. It’s an unfamiliar ritual for the 59-year-old with a long resumé of work on behalf of the city’s tough-luck crowd. A former Together Against Poverty Society board member who once chaired BC Benefits Tribunal hearings—before the Campbell Liberals rejigged that program—Springer now finds himself on the receiving end of the very services he once helped others to access. It was not always like this, because three months ago, Springer had a home. (Apr 12 2009)
After a two-year-long search for a serial killer whose DNA was found at 39 different crime scenes, German police have finally discovered that the source of the DNA was a factory worker who packaged the cotton buds used to collect evidence by police. In one of the most puzzling cases in German history, the case had been tackled by hundreds of investigators and even a reward of $300,000 Euros was not enough to find the phantom killer whose DNA showed up in otherwise unrelated murders all over Germany and as far away as Austria and France. And now we know why. Detectives had been tracking the DNA of a worker from the company who has supplied the police with DNA collection materials since 2001. Good job, guys! (bild.de) (Apr 12 2009)
A briefing note prepared for Rich Coleman advised the housing and social development minister there would be “significant” fire-safety concerns with five- and six-storey wood-frame buildings. (Apr 02 2009)
A local limousine operator is primed to provide a late
A local limousine operator is primed to provide a late-night shuttle service to clear the downtown core of revellers after nightspots close their doors. (Apr 02 2009)
Before you even think about getting any work done on y
Before you even think about getting any work done on your face, head over to oddee.com for a compilation of the worst plastic-surgery disasters of all time. This site has disturbing photographs of the world’s most tragic face jobs ever done, including the King of Plastic, of course, who has had more than 10 nose jobs done to turn him into a hideous alien. This site also tells the stories of Hang Mioku, a Korean woman who became so obsessed with plastic surgery that she started injecting cooking oil in her face when the surgeons refused to keep operating on her, and Jocelyn Wildenstein, a once-beautiful trophy wife who has allegedly spent $4 million on cosmetic surgery. And don’t miss the bizarre photos of two freaks who have used body modifications to try and turn themselves into animals: Dennis Avner the Catman and Eric Sprague the Lizardman. (Apr 02 2009)
Unless things go terribly awry on May 12, provincial NDP leader Carole James will carry the Victoria-Beacon Hill riding when her friends and neighbours go to the polls. (Mar 26 2009)
The latest edition of BCBusiness magazine features a softball interview with Gordon Campbell by publisher Peter Legge. But was it editorial judgment or political favouritism that put the premier on the magazine’s cover? (Mar 26 2009)
Hey everybody, don’t forget that come May 12, you’ll be not only voting on the government but also the future of how we actually vote in this province. Yes, the referendum on the single transferable vote is back, but if you’re already confused about what the STV is, how it works and what it really means, maybe it’s time to attend a public forum on electoral reform. And you’re in luck—the non-partisan Saanich Civic League is hosting one this Sunday afternoon featuring UVic political-science professor Dennis Pilon (representing YES BC-STV), noted political pundit Bob Plecas (NO BC-STV), B.C. Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Reform member Diane Byford and John Heaney, a self-professed social democrat and former NDP deputy minister. We asked League chair Sher Morgan why people should care about electoral reform. (Mar 26 2009)
If you’ve searched for an apartment in Victoria at any time in the last year, chances are you’ve talked to Martin Syrovatka. Perusing the online classifieds at any given time, his name and telephone number pop up frequently as the contact for at least a half-dozen rental units across Greater Victoria. But in a city where the rental vacancy rate flickers perilously around half a percent, how is it that Syrovatka has so many gleaming apartments at his fingertips waiting for the right tenant to move in? The answer is simple: Syrovatka is the agent for local physician and property owner Dr. Edward Domovitch, who, on the instruction of his boss, will have delivered “end tenancy” notices to residents in what could be as many as 100 Domovitch-owned units by year’s end. These evictions, premised on the landlord’s need to undertake extensive renovations of the suites, mark the arrival in the Garden City of what until now had been a mainly Vancouver-centric phenomenon—the “renoviction.” (Mar 26 2009)
It’s been quite some time since the aliens have been fucking with our cows, but it seems that they’re back. A rancher in Colorado discovered the mutilated remains of one of his cows lying on the riverbed last week. The animal was found dead and missing its udders and reproductive organs with no sign of blood, tracks or predators in the area. The rancher, Mike Duran, firmly believes that aliens are responsible, especially since he has seen flying discs in the air above his property. “We have other life out there and I think that’s what it is,” said Duran, who believes that aliens abducted the cow, carved it up for whatever bizarre experiments they might be carrying out, and then dropped the cow back in the river rather than carving it up for a nice steak dinner. The sheriff’s office has investigated this case, along with a previous cow mutilation on the same ranch in 1995, but haven’t been able to solve either one. “It’s one of those unsolved mysteries, I guess,” said Duran. (MSNBC) (Mar 26 2009)
At least two prospective buyers of units at Bear Mountain’s Finlayson Reach condominium development have launched legal action against the developer to recoup costs related to what they claim to be a breach of contract. (Mar 19 2009)
While education minister Shirley Bond has been busy trumpeting an $84-million increase in provincial education spending for the coming year, not everybody thinks the math adds up. Just ask the Victoria Public Education Coalition, a community advocacy group that notes the budget increase doesn’t even keep up with inflation—which means students, teachers and parents will likely have to brace for more cuts in the 2009-10 school year. Co-chair Tamara Malczewska, a parent of two kids (one in grade one and one in grade six) at Doncaster Elementary, describes VPEC as a group of concerned parents, teachers and everyday people who are willing to stand up for “well-funded, quality public education that provides resources adequate for students’ learning needs” and who strongly believe “that public education is a public asset that should be protected from privatization.” (Mar 19 2009)
The March 16 public hearing on a proposed residential development for the south slope of Skirt Mountain must have been tough on acting mayor Denise Blackwell, hampered as she was from “exercising” her middle finger like she did one year ago when activists showed up at a Langford City Council meeting to share their concerns about construction of the Spencer Road Interchange. (Mar 19 2009)
If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.” So sayeth the Bible. (Mar 19 2009)
How do you kick America when it’s down? Create the Misery Measure Index and find the most miserable cities you could possibly live in. That’s just what Forbes magazine has done by adding crime, unemployment, inflation and tax rates to other misery-makers, such as commute times, bad weather and proximity to toxic waste dumps in order to create the inaugural list of America’s Most Miserable Cities. Not surprisingly, Detroit leads the list—thanks to soaring violent crime and unemployment numbers; Stockton, California, is second and Flint, Michigan, third for the same reasons. America’s two biggest cities also made the list, with New York at fifth spot due to the longest commute times in the country coupled with the highest tax rates, while Los Angeles grabbed sixth spot thanks to terrible commutes, horrible air quality, high tax rates and toxic waste dumps just outside its city limits. Meanwhile, over at ABC News they’ve compiled similar lists and declared that Portland is home to America’s unhappiest people and Miami has the country’s fattest citizens. (Mar 19 2009)
A-News recently aired several reports on a Langford family whose home, purchased through the city’s Affordable Housing Program, is plagued with mould to the point where they’ve been forced to rent a room until such a time as they can resolve the problem. (Mar 12 2009)
The sun is always shining on the city centre—or at least on Ken Kelly. Such is the disposition of the Downtown Victoria Business Association’s amiable general manager that it’s hard to untangle his enthusiasm for downtown business from his enthusiasm for greeting each new day. Kelly has proved to be among the core’s most energetic cheerleaders since 2005, when the DVBA was formed by downtown property and business owners to stem the exodus of shoppers to Langford’s big-box stores and the region’s malls, fleeing an imagined perception that Victoria’s commercial and entertainment heart had atrophied from neglect. (Mar 12 2009)
The incomprehensibly ludicrous plan to stop global warming by surrounding the earth with trillions of tiny mirrors to reflect back the sun’s rays is still being advanced by scientists. The main proponent of this idea is astronomer Dr. Roger Angel of the University of Arizona, who is spearheading an estimated $350-trillion project which will eventually shoot trillions of mirrors a million miles above the earth in order to create a “sun shade” around the planet. Shockingly, he has already secured funding from NASA for a pilot project which will begin with the creation of a massive cannon to shoot the mirrors into space. “Tests are ongoing but we expect to be ready to launch within 20 or 30 years time,” promised Dr. Angel. (The Telegraph) (Mar 12 2009)
UVic’s pro-life Youth Protecting Youth club is once again without funding following a recent decision by the University of Victoria Student Society board to overturn a vote by the UVSS clubs council that would have restore funding to the group after it was revoked last semester. (Mar 05 2009)
One of the first things Nicole Chaland recites to me when I call her is a quote from noted American humourist Will Rogers: “It’s almost worth the Great Depression to learn how little our big men know.” The context is obvious, of course, given the recent collapse of both the investment market and people’s general faith in big business as we know (knew?) it. (Mar 05 2009)
Superstitious Indian villagers still aren’t ready to let go of the ancient tradition of marrying your child off to an animal in order to ward off evil spirits. This time its an infant boy in a village near Jaipur, who was married to a dog after he began growing a tooth on his upper gum—a sure sign that the boy will be prone to attacks by tigers and other wild animals. “We performed the marriage because it will overcome any curse that might fall on the child as well on us,” explained the boy’s father. Fortunately, the ceremony is strictly symbolic and the boy will be able to marry a human bride someday without first filing for a doggy divorce. (Reuters) (Mar 05 2009)
It seems the shopping-cart caravan destined to stream up Government Street once BC Housing completes construction of the Ellice Street homeless shelter could stretch even longer. (Feb 26 2009)
Journalists are a touchy bunch when it comes to transparency from those who control the levers of power, so when last Thursday’s regular committee of the whole meeting kicked off with our elected officials retreating to a meeting room with the city’s new police chief, Jamie Graham, for a closed- door tête-à-tête, furrowed brows could be seen across the public gallery. (Feb 26 2009)
Last week we learned about the Army’s plan to re-hydrated dried food with a soldier’s urine. This week we have a perfect drink to go along with your pee-soaked meal, as a political group in India has created the world’s first soft drink made from cow’s urine. The Hindu nationalist group behind the new creation promotes cow urine as an inexpensive medicinal beverage which can cure a wide variety of ailments ranging from obesity to cancer. The new drink—gau jal (“cow water” in Sanskrit)—will include ayurvedic herbs to stimulate even more curative powers. “Don’t worry, it won’t smell like urine and will be tasty too,” promised Om Prakesh, the pee-brain behind this idea. (Times Online) (Feb 26 2009)
Campaign-spending disclosure forms are slowly trickling in to the City of Victoria and make for some interesting reading. Most notable so far are the number of candidates who ran campaigns on the cheap—very cheap. Of course, the number of votes those candidates received could reflect the dollars they spent. (Feb 19 2009)
CCPA’s (Feb 19 2009)
Responding to a rash of gang-related shootings and under pressure to reassure the public that Lower Mainland streets are safe, British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell announced last week the hiring of 168 additional police officers, 10 new special prosecutors and the imposition of stiffer penalties for gun crimes fuelled by turf wars over the province’s lucrative drug trade. (Feb 19 2009)
As a tribute to the magic herb which made Michael Phelps the most successful Olympic athlete of all time, coedmagazine.com has compiled a list they call “The 10 Most Successful Potheads on the Planet . . . Cool Enough to Admit It!” This list doesn’t even attempt to be comprehensive, bypassing all of the greatest creative geniuses of all time (“Every actor, musician and artist ever is a huge pothead. It’s a fact, don’t dispute us,” they claim), but does prove once and for all that smoking a bit of grass now and then won’t turn you into an apathetic slob (not that there’s anything wrong with that). So if you’re looking for role models, try these: Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin empire multi-billionaire who claims that if pot was legal he would sell it; Aaron Sorkin, multiple Emmy Award-winning writer and producer of The West Wing; Rick Steves, world traveller, TV host and author of 27 best-selling travel guides; Ted Turner, creator of CNN and the largest private land owner in America; Stephen King, author of 50 novels, which have sold over 500 million combined copies worldwide; Arnold Schwarzenegger, who radically liberalized the medical-marijuana laws in California; and, last but not least, President Barack Obama, who wrote about his stoner past in his book and once told an interviewer, “When I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was the point.” (Feb 19 2009)
It appears the RCMP dragnet to quash 2010 Olympic opposition before it begins has washed up on the shores of Vancouver Island. (Feb 12 2009)
In a busy harbour where ferries, seaplanes, barges and kayaks jostle for space, a local developer’s plan to build a marine enclave for the rich has revived debate about who gets a say in what happens on the body of water that defines Victoria’s downtown, but is itself defined by fractured ownership and a lack of accountability. (Feb 12 2009)
A March 14, 2007 letter from MLA Stan Hagen—then-minister of tourism, sport and the arts for the province— to local lawyer and project lobbyist Bruce Hallsor demonstrates the lengths the proponents are going to garner support for the marina project at all turns. (Feb 12 2009)
While NASA continues its pioneering work of turning an astronaut’s urine into drinking water, the mad geniuses of the U.S. Army have come up with another invention you’d probably like to live without: dried food pouches which can be rehydrated with your old piss. (Yum!) The U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center, which invented a sandwich that could stay fresh for three years, has now figured out a way to reduce the amount of water soldiers need to carry for their food supply. A specially designed filter inside the dehydrated pouches of food will enable soldiers to create a meal using the filthiest water they can find—or even their own urine. An engineer at the company which creates the filters was kind enough to explain that urine should only be used “in an absolute emergency” . . . as if anyone would use their own pee to cook food if they didn’t really have to. (New Scientist) (Feb 12 2009)
The Canadian government’s crumbling monopoly on the production and distribution of medical cannabis was dealt another blow Monday with a B.C. Supreme Court decision that effectively exonerated a grower who supplied the Vancouver Island Compassion Society with the good grass. (Feb 05 2009)
If you were wondering what the latest profit-over-preservation environmental outrage the BC Liberals are hatching, look no further than the Bute Inlet private power project. Tucked away just north of Powell River, Bute Inlet’s famed scenic beauty and delicate ecology are now at risk thanks to this U.S.-backed megaproject. We asked noted environmentalist Vicky Husband, guest speaker at one of this week’s Bute Inlet info sessions, about the risks presented by this proposed project. (Feb 05 2009)
Food facility inspection reports posted to the Vancouver Island Health Authority website show that problems persist in cafeterias around the South Island—four years after complaints about poor food-handling practices in VIHA’s own facilities sparked an audit of how the private contractor responsible for providing meals to hospital patients, staff and visitors manages its operations. (Feb 05 2009)
The mysterious orange sludge seeping out from a rock-rubble wall below the 19th hole of Bear Mountain’s golf course is again oozing its way down a narrow canyon on the hill, staining rocks and killing plant life along the way. (Jan 29 2009)
In the months leading up to last November’s municipal election in Victoria, council candidate John C. Turner presented Monday with his business plan to initiate a commuter harbour ferry service between an unspecified jetty in Esquimalt and the city’s Inner Harbour. Turner’s preliminary case envisioned a 750-passenger vessel making a 15-minute journey at $10 round-trip, with a planned expansion of service to View Royal, Colwood and Sooke once demand was established. (Jan 29 2009)
England’s tabloid newspaper The Sun reports that a strain of the Black Plague has killed at least 40 members of al-Qaeda and forced the closure of a training camp in Algeria. “It spreads quickly and kills within hours,” said an unnamed terrorism expert. “Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease.” While the idea of killing terrorists with the plague sounds pretty cool, the truth is probably much more disturbing. U.S. intelligence officials speaking anonymously suggested that the terrorists probably killed themselves by accident while trying to develop new weapons and confirmed that the U.S. intercepted an al-Qaeda communication in early January that the Algerian training area had been abandoned and sealed off due to a leak of a chemical or biological substance. (National Post) (Jan 29 2009)
The CRD Roundtable on the Environment will have a greener hue courtesy of recent appointments by regional district board chair Geoff Young. (Jan 22 2009)
When B.C.’s New Democrats launched their first ad of the 2009 election campaign recently, politics-watchers anticipated a nasty opening salvo in what is sure to be a heated contest. After all, the latest findings from the Mustel Group polling firm put the NDP 14 percentage points behind the governing Campbell Liberals—a significant gap to be sure, though one that leaves ample room to manoeuvre. But instead of rolling out a Sherman tank, the NDP lobbed a spitball. (Jan 22 2009)
Sure, he may have lost the civic election, but that doesn’t mean Frontrunners owner Rob Reid has abandoned his vision for Victoria. As noted in his post-election statement, “Through the campaign I have learned that there are many citizens who care deeply about Victoria and have a vested interest in its future. Let’s all take pride in our capital city and region. Please stay engaged.” And with last week’s announcement that he’s joining the board of the Downtown Victoria Business Association, it seems there’s no question Reid will be remaining engaged in the city. (Jan 22 2009)
Some nut in England has finally solved his Rubik’s Cube after working on it for the past 26 years. “I cannot tell you what a relief it was to finally solve it,” said Graham Parker, 45. “It has driven me mad over the years—it felt like it had taken over my life . . . When I clicked that last bit into place and each face was a solid colour, I wept.” (Metro UK) (Jan 22 2009)
Something seems amiss in the world of municipal administration these days. After watching Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson lower the boom on city manager Judy Rogers just days after that city lost its director of finance, Estelle Lo, Victoria residents now get to witness a slightly less expensive City Hall meltdown on this side of the pond. (Jan 15 2009)
The plywood-covered windows of the once-stately Caldwell Apartments at 2321 Cook Street are a graffiti magnet. They’ve been that way since City of Victoria bylaw enforcers ordered the eviction of residents from the former college dormitory building (pictured on this week’s cover) in 2006, citing owner Robin Kimpton’s failure to comply with city ordinances. With that decision, Victoria lost 18 units of low-cost rental housing—albeit of infamous repute—and added another building to the list of properties sitting empty and growing derelict while residents cope with what is, belatedly, being acknowledged by policy-makers as a bona-fide housing crisis. (Jan 15 2009)
The former living quarters for single female teachers in the early days of Victoria High School was damaged by a fire in November 2007. (Jan 15 2009)
The 22 units at Hillside Avenue’s Holiday Court Motel have sat vacant since 2005. While not a particularly pleasant place in its last days, it was, nonetheless, somewhere to call home. Today it’s owned by Andrew Sheret Holdings Ltd., but devoid of tenants. (Jan 15 2009)
When Westbank Properties purchased the Crystal Court Motel in 2005, it was with an eye to redevelop the 60-unit space into luxury condominiums. After repeatedly seeing their design plans denied by Victoria city council, the project appears stalled and the plywood will stay in place for the time being. (Jan 15 2009)
The Caldwell Apartments on Cook Street long had a reputation as housing of last resort with its cheap rent and small rooms, but since it was shut down by city building inspectors in 2005, it’s been just an empty neighbourhood eyesore. (Jan 15 2009)
A Catholic priest who died trying to set the world record for longest flight using regular party balloons has won 2008’s Darwin Award, a prize which honours people who improve the gene pool by removing themselves from it in a particularly stupid fashion. The Reverend Adelir Antonio de Carli, 41, attached 1,000 helium-filled balloons to a lawn chair and prepared for his record-setting flight by packing a survival suit, satellite and GPS system. The only problem was that he didn’t know how to use the GPS and, as the winds pushed him out to sea, he struggled to explain to rescuers where they might find him while the battery on his satellite phone slowly died. The recovery of his body (three months later) ended the reverend’s dream of using the money raised from the stunt to build a spiritual rest stop for truckers in the town of Paranagua, Brazil. At least he died in a noble cause—unlike the Darwin Award’s runner-up, a man who was killed by a train after somehow getting his Porsche stuck on a railway crossing and then running towards the train waving his arms in an attempt to save his car. (Jan 15 2009)
Victoria residents sympathetic to the plight of Palestinian people under siege by the ongoing Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip will have an opportunity to make their voices heard this Saturday. (Jan 08 2009)
It’s no secret that hotels and motels across the province serve as permanent housing for people from all walks of life: low-income families who can’t find affordable homes, workers whose jobs keep them on the road and out of town, foreign students and folks on income assistance whose cheques aren’t big enough to cover inflated market-rate rents. (Jan 08 2009)
Japan’s Sapporo Breweries has finished brewing the world’s first beer made from barley grown in outer space. They’ve planned a tasting event in January for 30 couples who won the right to taste the space-beer in a lottery. The barley used in the beer was grown as part of a five-month mission in a Russian laboratory aboard the International Space Station. Sapporo has brewed 100 litres of the creatively named Space Barley. (The Telegraph) (Jan 08 2009)
While children across the South Island spent the Christmas holidays looking forward to opening their gifts under the tree, many of their parents were simply looking forward to opening the trusty Times Colonist and relaxing with a morning cup of coffee. (Jan 01 2009)
The good news is that the future of surgery promises less cutting, less scarring, less pain and shorter recovery periods. The bad news is that they’ll be performing surgery through your mouth, anus or vagina. Yes, doctors gave a whole new meaning to the words “open wide” in 2008 with the advent of “natural orifice surgery,” a technique which enables surgeons to perform laparoscopic surgery through the openings that are already in your body. This type of surgery has already been perfected in animals, and human gall bladders and appendixes have been removed through the mouth. But in May, in an American surgical first, doctors at the University of California removed the appendix of a 24-year-old women through her vagina. “I feel kind of like I did too many sit-ups,” remarked the patient. (Time Magazine) (Jan 01 2009)
With the promise of snow in the forecast, the City of Victoria sent out a December 11 press release warning residents to keep their sidewalks clear of the white stuff or risk facing either a $150 fine from the city’s bylaw department or a bill from a city contractor to clear it. (Dec 25 2008)
Prices went up, then up again, then up yet again; then they went down, down, down. Ferry fares? Housing market? Gas prices? Make it all of the above and you’ve got 2008 in a nutshell. Earlier this year, everyone was talking about the B.C. Liberals’ proposed climate tax and their $100 payoffs—sorry, rebate cheques. (Did anyone actually use them to make an environmental difference?) What wasn’t on anyone’s radar as the year kicked off was a little thing we now like to call the global economic collapse—likely to be one of only two facts about 2008 that make it into the history books. (The other one? Just some guy from Chicago named Obama.) (Dec 25 2008)
Who’s ahead and who’s behind (Dec 25 2008)
Monday’s top letter topics for ’08 (Dec 25 2008)
1 Million Dead, $9 Billion Lost
And other stories you didn’t hear about in 2008 (Dec 25 2008)
You wouldn’t think you’d have to warn people not to eat parasitic worms in order to lose weight . . . but you’d be wrong. Hong Kong health officials were forced to put out just such a warning in February after products containing worm eggs were being promoted as a diet aid on a commercial website. Rather than help you lose weight, the health department warned that ingesting parasitic worms would cause pain, vomiting and diarrhea and could prove difficult to get rid of. (AFP) (Dec 25 2008)
The tobacco-industry PR machine spun into action this week in an attempt to discredit a proposed private members bill from BC NDP health critic Adrian Dix. The bill would tighten sales and marketing regulations on flavoured tobacco products Dix says are being marketed specifically at youth. (Dec 18 2008)
Crossing the road on a recent trip from her Fairfield apartment to downtown, Elizabeth McClung hit the curb cut and was pitched out of her wheelchair onto the sidewalk. Not the end of the world for the local author—she says it happens once every four or five times she leaves the house and the gloves she always wears save her palms from getting torn up when it does. And while McClung is able to strong-arm her way back into her chair, which she has used for almost two years since multiple system atrophy started eating away at pretty much everything under her skin, the experience still illustrates the impediments people with mobility challenges can face in Victoria—a city where most infrastructure was built in a time before Canadians with physical disabilities found the political voice to demand inclusion in, and access to, all areas of life that the able-bodied take for granted. (Dec 18 2008)
Although people with mobility disabilities often get top-billing in conversations about accessibility, persons with hearing or vision loss in their varying degrees are considered by government as persons with disabilities and also often have to navigate a world where considerations of their needs are an afterthought. (Dec 18 2008)
How come nobody ever told us that Santa had an evil twin? Google up Krampus, the sinister sidekick to Santa Claus who sports a whip and doesn’t hesitate to use it on the naughty boys and girls who’ve been misbehaving. The legend comes from Germany, where Krampus was an incubus who accompanied Santa on his rounds in order to punish those kids who Santa didn’t reward for being good. Krampus Night (Krampusnacht) is still celebrated in some countries on the eve of Saint Nicholas’ Day (Dec. 6), with the most vigorous celebrations taking place in Austria, where young men and women dress up as Krampus and roam through the towns in order to frighten young children. (socyberty.com) (Dec 18 2008)
Monday may have jumped the gun a little last week in bidding arrivederci to the Stephen Harper era in Canadian politics. (Dec 11 2008)
By early January, the province’s deputy attorney general will decide which two advocacy groups should split a $1-million grant to educate B.C. voters about the merits—or pitfalls—of adopting a Single Transferable Vote electoral system in a referendum question when the province goes to the voting booth on May 12, 2009. (Dec 11 2008)
Despite 2008 being the year of hope and change, some things will always stay the same . . . like Britney Spears sitting on top of the “10 Most Searched Terms of the Year” list for the eighth year in a row. Spears was joined in the top 10 by more vacuous celebrities like Miley Cyrus (#4), Jessica Alba (#6), Lindsay Lohan (#8), Angelina Jolie (#9) and Barack Obama (#3). The WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) held down the number-two spot for the third year running and the list was rounded out by RuneScape (#5), Naruto (#7) and American Idol (#10). (Yahoo News) (Dec 11 2008)
Security seems to be the order of the day in Victoria with militant-looking young men in black gloves patrolling the sidewalks in front of Douglas Street’s late-night eateries and more and more businesses erecting gates to keep out unwanted visitors. (Dec 04 2008)
A recent BiodiversityBC study suggests that 43 percent of British Columbia’s assessed plant and animal species are of “conservation concern”—but according to documents obtained by environmental groups in the province, it appears government scientists are being prevented from ensuring habitat that hosts those species is protected from man-made degradation. (Dec 04 2008)
A weekly roundup of newsbites from the “truth is stranger than fiction” department (Dec 04 2008)
When Gordon Campbell unveiled his “Five Great Goals” for British Columbia, maybe he should have added one more—ensuring that the province’s children don’t grow up in poverty. (Nov 27 2008)
Victoria’s new chief of police was unveiled at a November 24 press conference and, with little surprise to those following the rumour mill’s recent machinations, it is none other than once-retired, now newly employed former Vancouver police chief and occasional bicycle salesman Jamie Graham. (Nov 27 2008)
A weekly roundup of newsbites from the “truth is stranger than fiction” department (Nov 27 2008)
World financial markets may be crumbling, but Partnerships BC CEO Larry Blain says projects underway in the province using the public-private partnership model are in no peril—this despite large European government bailouts to the two financial firms carrying the debt for construction of the new Royal Jubilee Hospital patient tower. (Nov 20 2008)
• Voter turnout in municipal elections never ceases to disappoint and the 2008 horse races were no exception. Saanich once again plumbed the depths with 21.01 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot. The lone bright spots, so to speak, were North Saanich with 52.1 percent and the Highlands with a characteristically high turnout of 72.1 percent of eligible voters going to the polls. (Nov 20 2008)
I’m not sure how the drug companies are going to take this one away from us, but it seems that sex is the ultimate cure-all for whatever might ail you. In an article titled “25 Ailments that Can be Cured by Having Sex,” the author briefly touches on scientific research which links sex to some of the most common medical conditions of our time. For example, sex cures depression, thanks to a chemical in semen that makes women happier; sex cures headaches by releasing tension in the blood vessels of the brain; sex can relieve the pain and inflammation of arthritis (according to what must be a terrific book, How to Treat Arthritis with Sex and Alcohol); sex stimulates the immune system and helps fight off the common cold; sex boosts testosterone, which helps build bones and muscles; sex helps relax people enough to cure insomnia; sex releases endorphins and oxytocins that will cure a hangover; men who have sex more than twice a week have a lower risk of heart attack; and sex is a form of exercise which burns calories and strengthens the heart. Enjoy! (examiner.com) (Nov 20 2008)
While campaigning for re-election in 2005, Langford councillor and current CRD board chair Denise Blackwell told the Goldstream Gazette, “Langford Council has worked as a team and the results are visible.” Longtime Langford politician John Goudy told the same publication, “I’m proud to be a member of a team that has delivered so many significant achievements for our community.” (Nov 13 2008)
The winds of change have swept through the U.S., but here in Canada, we’ve still got Stephen Harper’s Conservatives blowing hot air. So what will Barack Obama’s win mean for Canadian policies? We asked Steven Staples, president of the Ottawa-based independent research and advocacy group the Rideau Institute on International Affairs, to give us a thumbnail of his upcoming talk this week, sponsored by the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative. (Nov 13 2008)
Two-term Victoria city councillor Dean Fortin has all the trappings of a man working hard to become mayor of a provincial capital. He’s dressed for the part these days in a white collared shirt and suit jacket and talks excitedly about the latent potential of his city and his potential to lead that city to better days. (Nov 13 2008)
Election week dawns and, for many who call Victoria home, the jury is still out on which way they’ll be voting for mayor. And despite 35 candidates vying for the eight council seats—including five incumbents—making choices for city council is a bit easier. Yet despite what initially held the promise of an exciting race—a three-term mayor stepping down during a time of much-needed change—the run, such as it has been, has been anything but thrilling. Regardless of how you feel about our eight mayoral candidates, there’s clearly been no Obamas stepping up to the civic plate. (Nov 13 2008)
Rob Reid seems pretty relaxed for a guy running to govern a city in need of big fixes. But then, the ginger-haired entrepreneur and rookie politician doesn’t have to worry about keeping any political skeletons from falling out of his closet like main rival and two-term incumbent councillor Dean Fortin. (Nov 13 2008)
Inside victoriavotes.ca (Nov 13 2008)
Considering Monday’s track record in elections past (Nov 13 2008)
There may have been no greater gift to Steve Filipovic’s mayoral campaign than the city hall calendar that left Dean Fortin as acting mayor when Alan Lowe jetted off on a recent goodwill junket to Asia. Fortin was thrust into the spotlight as the voice of the city’s reactionary decision to appeal Madame Justice Carol Ross’ October ruling that declared Victoria’s anti-camping bylaw unconstitutional, prompting some prominent left-leaning community members who otherwise might have checked their ballots in Fortin’s favour defected to the Filipovic camp. (Nov 13 2008)
Thanks to the website wreckedexotics.com, we have a list of the 10 Most Expensive Accidents in History. This list includes the sinking of the Titanic, which cost $150 million in today’s dollars; the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which cost $2.5 billion to clean up; and the space shuttle Challenger explosion, ringing up $5.5 billion in expenses. And the number-one most expensive accident in history was the nuclear reactor meltdown in Chernobyl in 1986, which cost an estimated $200 billion for cleanup of the site, the construction of a new steel shelter for the plant and the resettlement and compensation of hundreds of thousands of victims of the accident. (Nov 13 2008)
The Victoria Labour Council recently put forward its triennial endorsement of candidates running in the upcoming local elections across the South Island municipalities. (Nov 06 2008)
Assuming Obama wins, how much (Nov 06 2008)
What Have You Done for Me Lately?
Something of a theme has emerged this municipal- election season in Victoria and that theme, insofar as Monday hears it through telephone calls and letters to the editor, goes something like this: “Throw the bums out.” (Nov 06 2008)
If modern medicine hasn’t cured what ails you but you can’t quite stomach the idea of trying something as unorthodox as urine therapy, it might be time to consider picking your nose and eating your boogers. An Austrian doctor, Professor Friedrich Bischinger, claims that people who pick their nose and eat it are healthier, happier and more in tune with their bodies. He claims that the nose is a natural filter for various bacteria, which is true enough, but goes on to suggest that eating this mass of gunk will stimulate the intestines like a powerful medicine which strengthens the immune system. “Modern medicine is constantly trying to do the same thing through far more complicated methods,” says the doctor. “People who pick their nose and eat it get a natural boost to their immune system for free.” (damninteresting.com) (Nov 06 2008)
Remember the big brouhaha last year when the City of Victoria announced they’d be giving five-minute grace periods to people at parking meters? It turns out the same courtesy doesn’t extend to new moms in loading zones with screaming infants in the back seat. (Oct 30 2008)
With the municipal election field already crowded—35 people running for Victoria city council alone, the most since 1999’s civic election—and all-candidates meetings that often fail to offer any meaningful dialogue, how can candidates get their message out? Pamphlets, door-knocking and roadside signs are the traditional methods, but what if those signs repeatedly get torn down? Ask Victoria city-council candidate Wayne Hollohan, who has had 13 curbside signs defaced, stolen or destroyed during the past week. (Oct 30 2008)
Beyond Langford’s Anywhere-USA big-box store border lies the gateway to the last stand of rural wilderness in the Capital Region. The District of Highlands remains a near-oasis in an area rapidly being logged, blasted and built to residential use, altering irreversibly the very natural features that draw many residents here in the first place. (Oct 30 2008)
The self-proclaimed Prophet Yahweh (a.k.a. Ramon Watkins) has started another round of shameless self-promotion by promising that a fleet of spaceships manned by super-human black men will appear in the skies above Las Vegas at noon on October 31. The “Prophet” claims that the Angels of Yahweh talk to him telepathically while he sleeps (hey, dummy, it’s called dreaming) and have promised the spectacular show in order to convince Americans to vote for Barack Obama. The Angels have told him that if Obama does not win the election “America will quickly be led into a war with Russia via Iran that will result in: a cut-off of oil from the Persian Gulf, a great depression, stock market crash, runaway inflation, devaluation of the dollar, food shortages, riots, famine, race wars, outbreaks of disease, etc.” Yahweh has even set up the website ufotvnews.org, where he will broadcast the entire live event as it happens. Unfortunately, the Prophet has already promised such things before, back in 2005, with absolutely no results other than getting free publicity for his UFO Summoning School, which you too can join at ufoschool.info if so inclined. (Oct 30 2008)
Due to Monday’s publishing schedule, we were unable to bring you the results of the October 14 federal election in last week’s issue. (Oct 23 2008)
Reaction last week to a B.C. Supreme Court decision that struck down the City of Victoria’s anti-camping bylaw as unconstitutional revealed a local government torn between combatting homelessness and combatting the homeless. (Oct 23 2008)
My absentee ballot for the U.S. election recently arrived in the mail from Seattle. I’m a dual citizen and, with little surprise to anyone, I’m voting for Barack Obama. (Oct 23 2008)
Recapping Homelessness Action Week with Jill Clements The Week that Was
Last week was Homelessness Action Week, a province-wide initiative to raise awareness about, and offer some much-needed services (and meals) to, the people living on our streets. As such, the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness—not a name, or a mission, they take lightly—brought in veterans of both Toronto’s and Calgary’s fight against homelessness, offered civic-election-oriented and interfaith meetings, sponsored the hands-on service-provider/street community Project Connect, and organized the Gaining Community Acceptance Workshop with housing providers, city staff and neighbourhood associations . . . but a lot of what we really heard about was the fact that the homeless could now sleep in the city’s parks. We asked Jill Clements, executive director of the Coalition to End Homelessness, how it all went. (Oct 23 2008)
A weekly roundup of newsbites from the “truth is stranger than fiction” department. (Oct 23 2008)
Some brief observations on the election that never should have been (Oct 18 2008)
Monday recently asked Victoria electoral district returning officer Robert George if new voter identification requirements enacted under Bill C-31 had impacted the number of people able to cast votes during last week’s advanced polling period. (Oct 16 2008)
Coming Soon to a Park Near You
The mood was jubilant in the conference room of one Fort Street law firm on Tuesday morning as lawyers Catherine Boies-Parker, Irene Faulkner and a handful of activists and advocates pored over a B.C. Supreme Court verdict striking down the city of Victoria’s anti-camping bylaws as unconstitutional. (Oct 16 2008)
Perhaps demonstrating just how short citizens think the city of Victoria has fallen from reaching its potential, the upcoming municipal election has brought out an impressive field of 35 confirmed candidates for city council and eight who would be mayor. What follows is a smattering of random notes on the field: (Oct 16 2008)
A creative bank robber in Washington State used CraigsList to hire a dozen unsuspecting accomplices for his heist of a Bank of America last week. The ad offered $28.50 per hour for maintenance workers who would show up near the bank wearing a blue shirt, yellow vest, safety goggles and respirator mask—the exact same outfit the bank robber wore as he sprayed a guard with pepper spray, grabbed a bag of cash and then escaped by riding an inner tube down the Skykomish River. (king5.com) (Oct 16 2008)
Sick of the federal election campaign? Us too. (Oct 09 2008)
(Oct 08 2008)
October 2-9 (Oct 08 2008)
There has been much chatter about the city’s recent proposal to shutter a number of downtown eateries by 1 a.m. to curtail the rowdy behaviour of the post-bar crowd, whose antics city staff have deemed “an unnecessary burden on our police department.” (Oct 02 2008)
All over B.C. and across most of Canada it’s being called a child-care crisis. Parents spend years on waitlists hoping for daycare spaces. Funding cuts have led to increased fees, concerns about quality of care and, in many communities, have forced child-care centres to close their doors. Clearly child care needs more government funding, and the first step, according to two local groups, is to calculate just how much is needed. (Oct 02 2008)
Brimming with bike lanes and blossoming with community gardens, the electoral ridings of southern Vancouver Island should be fertile ground for Canada’s Green Party to sow the seeds of “healthy communities based on healthy economies,” as proclaimed in the party’s 2008 campaign platform. (Oct 02 2008)
The fact that there are children all over the world being used as weapons of war is a difficult thing to come to terms with. While there are no hard numbers (this is not exactly a sector of society that can stand up and be counted), it’s estimated that about 300,000 kids under the age of 18—and as young as eight—are used in direct combat by government forces or armed rebel groups. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soliders states that between 2004 and 2007, nine governments around the world—including the United Kingdom—used children under the age of 18 in armed conflict. When you factor in non-governmental groups recruiting children, that number balloons to 19. (Oct 02 2008)
Consider for a moment the iconic English-Canadian singer-songwriters and which one best qualifies as our national poet-laureate of song. While it would seem absolutely natural and right to pick Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young or Joni Mitchell, for my money, it’s Bruce Cockburn. (Oct 02 2008)
Every year we get at least one story about a dentist who snaps. This year our horror story comes from the town of Neu-Ulm, Germany, where a dentist made a special house call to a patient whose insurance company didn’t pay for her dental work. According to police reports the dentist arrived at her house with his equipment, forced her into the living room, tied her hands and forced open her mouth in order to remove two dental bridges worth £320 (about $650). According to the victim, he never said a single word the entire time. (The Telegraph) (Oct 02 2008)
•Almost 200 people took to the streets of Sidney on Saturday to demand firm commitments from Saanich Gulf-Islands federal election candidates about where they stand on the issue of oil-tanker traffic being permitted to troll the waters of British Columbia’s north-central coast. (Sep 25 2008)
BC Hydro president and CEO Bob Elton has lately trumpeted the utility company’s new two-tiered rate scheme as a tool to encourage conservation among higher-than-average electricity users. However, it seems the Hydro chief’s conversion to incentive-based conservation must be the result of a rather recent epiphany. (Sep 25 2008)
Hard to believe that it’s already been a decade since the local CBC Radio station went on the air. After so many years as the only provincial capital without a CBC station—and so much public support to get one established—it now just seems part of our regular radio dial, whether you’re a fan of the morning show, On The Island, or the afternoon offering, All Points West. And while the people have changed over the years—the tragic loss of the late, great David Grierson comes immediately to mind—Lisa Cordasco has been there from the start, first as the original host of On The Island and now as senior reporter, keeping a watchful eye on the city she’s called home since she first arrived in 1989. (“There was no station when I moved here,” she quips. “I was the only one, with a broadcast line in my basement.”) With CBC throwing an anniversary party this Friday, we asked Cordasco to reduce a decade’s worth of memories into some simple soundbytes for us. (Sep 25 2008)
Liberal house leader Mike de Jong’s September 11 announcement that his party would cancel the fall legislative sitting because the government doesn’t have any pressing business to move forward was met with incredulity in many quarters, but perhaps no one was more incensed by the decision than Sea-to-Sea Greenbelt Society director Ray Zimmerman. (Sep 25 2008)
The spectre of working life under the thumb of the Chinese government has pushed employees of a small Victoria electronics plant to seek union membership to ensure their rights are respected by the facility’s new overseas bosses. (Sep 25 2008)
A weekly roundup of newsbites from the “truth is stranger than fiction” department (Sep 25 2008)
CanWest Global Communications Corporation has been a little testy lately, cracking the legal whip against all that dare sully the good name of its entertainment empire. (Sep 18 2008)
Outside the city hall and around the polling stations in the market building the crowds were thick all day,” the Daily Colonist wrote, describing Victoria’s 1907 municipal election. “Among those who stopped to gossip, argue or smoke a campaign cigar, busy workers moved or endeavored to turn votes in their direction. Bets were flying around freely. No fewer than three men moved among the crowd calling for takers for $50 bets on Mr. Patterson, while money for mayor Morley was just as free, although in smaller amounts.” (Sep 18 2008)
Taking a page straight from the U.S. Republican Party’s playbook of dirty electioneering, legislation passed by Canadian parliament in 2007 will make it more difficult for citizens at society’s edges to cast ballots when the country goes to the polls on October 14. (Sep 18 2008)
Will an ice-free Arctic Ocean finally convince people about the threat of climate change? (Sep 18 2008)
A weekly roundup of newsbites from the “truth is stranger than fiction” department (Sep 18 2008)
The pros and cons of Monday's new website
(Sep 12 2008)
With Dean Fortin popping up at feel-good events around town and newcomer Simon Nattrass putting the finishing touches on his website, many were beginning to wonder whether Oak Bay property developer Stan Sipos’ July announcement he was taking a run at the Victoria mayoralty was all just a strange dream. (Sep 11 2008)
While the unionized staff at the University of Victoria Student Union Building continue their strike in pursuit of better wages, it’s clear from this year’s schedule of remuneration that plenty of the university’s 4,000-plus workforce are eking out a rather comfortable existence. (Sep 11 2008)
With the recent news that the provincial New Democrats had pulled ahead of the Liberals in an opinion poll, we here at Monday thought it would be a good time to check in with the NDP and see how they planned to capitalize on the stronger showing in the fall legislature session. Wait a minute—is there even going to be a fall session? (Sep 04 2008)
Attacks on humans by exotic animals in private possession, and other incidents involving non-indigenous wildlife, have increased dramatically in North America in recent years. Exotic animals, largely ignored by most jurisdictions so far, are coming under very close examination due to public-safety concerns and environmental risks. Recent studies confirm that non-native wildlife in private possession poses unanticipated risks, a matter that has recently been illustrated by recent incidents in British Columbia. (Sep 04 2008)
Let’s kick things off this week with the “rationalizing the use of illicit drugs” portion of this column, thanks to an article at cracked.com called “The 5 Greatest Things Ever Accomplished While High.” Counting down from number five, Nobel Prize winning geneticist Francis Crick discovers the secrets of DNA while tripping on LSD; Sigmund Freud creates the world’s most famous form of psychoanalysis based on what he learned during his love affair with cocaine; pharmacist (and cokehead) John Pemberton invents the world’s most popular soft drink, Coca-Cola; baseball pitcher Dock Ellis pitches a rare no-hitter while peaking on acid; and Moses transcribes God’s 10 Commandments after eating some magic mushrooms. Admittedly that last one might not be historically accurate, but there is much evidence that the ancient Israelites regularly used two different types of psychoactive plants in their religious ceremonies, so it can’t be completely ruled out. (Sep 04 2008)
Last week in these pages, British Columbia Teachers’ Federation president Irene Lanzinger noted her concerns with, among other issues, class size and composition across the province. One of Lanzinger’s biggest concerns was outlined in a BCTF news release this week: despite a 2005 legislation intended to limit class size to just 30 students, recent government statistics show that five percent of B.C. classes continue to exceed that number. The BCTF cites 3,000 classes “that exceeded the B.C. Liberals’ own legislated requirements” and over 10,000 classes that had four or more students with special needs—what they call “another violation of provincial legislation.” (Aug 28 2008)
Elizabeth May, the leader of Canada’s Green Party, rolls into Victoria this weekend to talk about the goal of a green economy, what’s wrong with Stephen Harper and how altering taxes can help climate change. She also has a new book coming out this fall, called Global Warming for Dummies, but you’ll have to read that one on your own. (Aug 28 2008)
You may not have heard about them over the din of the Beijing Olympics, but the federal Conservatives have quietly introduced some sweeping cuts to federal arts programs. The cuts, which will total nearly $45 million by April 2010, mean the end of programs such as the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund—which provides grants for things like independent documentary films—the Trade Routes program—devoted to promoting Canadian culture abroad—and the website culture.ca—devoted to “providing access to quality Canadian cultural content.” Most of the cuts will impact the Department of Canadian Heritage, and the Globe and Mail has reported that much of the savings will be redirected to Olympics programs, with $24.5 million going towards the 2010 torch relays. (Aug 28 2008)
How to you get to the Olympic games? Dedication, hard work and lots of training. How do you win a medal? Be born in the right month. Or so says British statistician Kenneth Mitchell. who crunched the numbers and discovered a strong correlation between gold-medal winners and zodiac signs. Mitchell had dubbed the phenomenon “The Pisces Effect” after discovering that athletes born under that sign win 30 percent more medals than those born under any other sign in water-based events like swimming and water polo (for the record, Michael Phelps was born under the sign of Cancer). He also found that Scorpios are the best fencers and Taurus is the best sign for pole-vaulters. Overall, athletes born under the signs of Capricorn, Aquarius and Aries win the most gold medals. “I am talking of odds against chance of hundreds of thousands to one,” Mitchell said. “And just for the record, I know a thing or two about statistics. I have a PhD from Glasgow University on statistical ecology and a further 33 years working on statistical data analysis.” (Reuters) (Aug 28 2008)
The Grey Cupis coming—but please, no tackling (Aug 20 2008)
Elk/Beaver Lake Park isn’t exactly all-natural (Aug 20 2008)
Local teacher Kristy Kilpatrick looks up—way up—to create her fall lesson plan (Aug 20 2008)
Literacy Victoria keeps everyday learning alive (Aug 20 2008)
Annual teachers’ conference is a chance for the BCTF to make battle plans for year ahead (Aug 20 2008)
What makes Victoria such a TESL destination? (Aug 20 2008)
Yet another attempt to prove the six degrees of separation theory (which suggests there are only a handful of people between you and anyone else in the world) has found that there is an average of 6.6 steps between any two people who use Microsoft’s instant messaging. The survey tracked 30 billion instant messages between 180 million people around the world during the month of June 2006—roughly half of the world’s instant-messaging traffic at that time. While the largest separation between any two people was 29 steps, the study found that 78 percent of people could be connected in seven steps or less. The last experiment of this nature carried out in 2003 found that it took between five and seven steps to find a stranger by contacting their acquaintances by e-mail. (MSNBC) (Aug 20 2008)
One of the few groups to regularly take advantage of Shaw-TV Victoria’s mandate to open its airwaves to citizen-produced content says the station is exercising an undue amount of control over what qualifies as appropriate community programming. (Aug 14 2008)
Olympics fail to distract (Aug 14 2008)
A Mite-y Big Find in Some Mighty Big Trees
Unknown to all but a handful of adventurous researchers, there is a world teeming with microscopic life in the green canopy far above the forest floor. Now, a prominent local environmentalist says recent discoveries by a UVic researcher about the secret realm of arthropods that dwell in the suspended soil of Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests provide further evidence of the need to protect what little remains of the area’s ancient trees. (Aug 14 2008)
It’s time once again for the only literary contest that matters, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (also known as the “Dark and Stormy Night” contest), which challenges writers to create the worst possible opening sentence to an imaginary novel. This year’s winner is Garrison Spik of Washington, D.C., who came up with this piece of crap: “Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped ‘Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J.’” Check out bulwer-lytton.com for a list of finalists in several categories, including this winner from the detective genre: “Mike Hummer had been a private detective so long he could remember Preparation A, his hair reminded everyone of a rat who’d bitten into an electrical cord, but he could still run faster than greased owl snot when he was on a bad guy’s trail, and they said his friskings were a lot like getting a vasectomy at Sears.” (Aug 14 2008)
(Aug 06 2008)
In his new book, Five Ring Circus, Vancouver author Christopher Shaw warns readers not to be blinded by the flickering Olympic flame (Aug 06 2008)
All the news that's weird to read (Aug 06 2008)
A fourth candidate made known his intentions this week to run—or “volunteer,” as he says—for the mayoralty of Victoria. (Jul 31 2008)
Nowhere to Paint, Nowhere to Learn
As Monday learned after publishing a recent editorial in defense of graffiti, it seems no one in Victoria likes the lowly tagger. But in a city quick to buff the first sign of unsolicited spray paint from its walls while offering no alternative for budding Banksys* to feed their egos and make their names known, the Garden City is setting itself up for a tourism-dependent town’s worst nightmare—an endless cycle of really crappy graffiti. (Jul 31 2008)
A picnic at the beach was suddenly no picnic. My son and his cousins were poking around at the base of some Douglas firs at Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park on a glorious April afternoon when I remembered. (Jul 31 2008)
A pair of psychiatrists in Montreal have begun research into a new form of mental illness in which a person believes that his or her entire life is the central story of a reality television show. The syndrome has been dubbed the “Truman Show Delusion” by doctors Joel and Ian Gold, who have personally studied five patients suffering from the delusion and have learned of six more cases since they started discussing this topic at psychiatric conferences. The Truman Show Delusion supposedly differs from more traditional mental illnesses because entire worlds are created by the person at the center of the paranoia. “I realized that I was and am the centre, the focus of attention by millions and millions of people,” explained one of the patients the Golds are studying. “My family and everyone I knew were and are actors in a script, a charade whose entire purpose is to make me the focus of the world’s attention.” (National Post) (Jul 31 2008)
With needle exchange on the run, can harm reduction in Victoria weather the year ahead? (Jul 24 2008)
City asks VIHA to let clinics take needles (Jul 24 2008)
The chairs of BC Ferries’ 12 ferry advisory committe
The chairs of BC Ferries’ 12 ferry advisory committees made a submission to the provincial Ministry of Transportation this week urging the government to develop a plan to offset fuel surcharges being passed on to customers travelling the ferry systems’ southern routes. (Jul 24 2008)
provincial approving officer Bob Wylie ponders
While provincial approving officer Bob Wylie ponders whether or not to grant Western Forest Products permission to steam ahead with subdivision construction on lands around Jordan River, Otter Point and Shirley, it seems his predecessor at the B.C. Ministry of Transportation office in Nanaimo also has an interest in the fate of the subject property. (Jul 23 2008)
W hen a crowd of concerned citizens rallied outside provincial transportation ministry offices in downtown Victoria last week to protest Western Forest Products’ subdivision application for lands west of Sooke, ministry staff responded as any government that knows it has acted against the will of the people would—they locked down the building while a security guard photographed those assembled from a second-storey window. (Jul 23 2008)
“Mummy’s going to work on the quad!” our two-year-old daughter Amelia shouts excitedly. She points out the window and blows a raspberry with her lips, imitating the dirty rumbling sound of the ATV’s engine. (Jul 23 2008)
The unelected and largely unaccountable board of the Vancouver Island Health Authority was served notice this week that area seniors, their families and those that care for them will not take plans to privatize residential care services quietly. (Jul 09 2008)
In March of this year, the CRD launched a campaign urging south Island residents not to flush their expired or unused medication down the toilet for fear the pills’ chemical properties could contaminate the marine environment. Today in Central Saanich, a debate is brewing over what happens to those same pharmaceutical compounds once we ingest them and whether spreading processed human waste on agricultural land is an appropriate way to dispose of sludge generated through modern sewage-treatment techniques. (Jul 09 2008)
I n the spring of 2008, large volumes of untreated water laced with fish-borne diseases spilled from the tanks of a University of Victoria laboratory used by a private company and into the city’s sewerage system, flowing toward the ocean and carrying with it the potential to harm wild fish. (Jul 09 2008)
Superstitions of a cursed Olympic Games are all over internet chat rooms in China after the flooding in Sichuan province seems to have fulfilled the curse of the five Olympic mascots, each of which are said to have predicted a different disaster to befall China due to the 2008 Olympic Games. The prophecy now seems to be fulfilled, as each of the five mascots is said to be linked to one of the five recent upheavals to befall China in recent months. First, the many protests which plagued the Olympic Torch Relay earlier this year were linked to Huanhuan the Olympic Flame (a.k.a The Bearer of Incendiary Strife). Next, Jingjing the Giant Panda (a.k.a The Lord of Angry Earth) brought the massive earthquake that killed 69,000 people and left over a million homeless. Yingying the Tibetan Antelope (a.k.a The Creature of Righteous Unrest) caused the demonstrations and riots linked with Tibetan protesters. Nini the Swallow / Shayan Kite (a.k.a The Bearer of Unfortunate Wind) is claimed to have caused the China Railway Train crash which killed 72 people. And finally, last but not least, the massive flooding of the past month is believed to have been caused by Beibei the Chinese Sturgeon (a.k.a The Bringer of Torrent and Flood). Good thing they didn’t create a mascot holding a suitcase nuke. (Reuters) (Jul 09 2008)
After a months-long search to find someone willing to handle the hot potato that is secondary sewage treatment for the Capital Regional District, the CRD says it’s found the man for the job. (Jul 02 2008)
Last week, in keeping with requirements under the province’s Financial Information Act, the City of Victoria released its annual public bodies report for 2007. The document contains a breakdown of how city money was spent—including the salaries of employees paid more than $75,000. (Jul 02 2008)
The 20th annual Sonoma-Marin Fair has ended with the crowning of 2008’s World’s Ugliest Dog. This year’s winner is Gus, a hairless Chinese-Crested with skin cancer who has only three legs (one was amputated because of a skin tumor) and is missing an eye thanks to a fight with a tomcat. Gus beat out 12 hideous creatures (check out the photos at sonoma-marinfair.org) to win a year’s supply of organic doggy treats, two trophies and $1,600 in prize money. “I’m just in shock,” said Gus’s owner. “We came so far and are so happy that we can put the winnings towards Gus’ radiation treatment. We’re just thrilled.” (Jul 02 2008)
Last Thursday, Victoria city councillor Geoff Young was the only elected official—with the exception of Dean Fortin, who is forced to excuse himself from all related proceedings because of his affiliation with the Burnside Gorge Community Centre—to vote against reclassifying the Ellice Street playlot as a development permit area and sending the property’s rezoning to public hearing, laying further groundwork for the construction of an emergency homeless shelter in the light industrial Rock Bay neighbourhood. (Jun 25 2008)
Plenty of worthy organizations are lining up for a slice of your Climate Action Dividend
(Jun 25 2008)
Victoria’s Pride Festival is about a lot more than just a parade
(Jun 25 2008)
Conference focusses on the challenges facing aging lesbians (Jun 25 2008)
Results of first national queer men’s health survey are in (Jun 25 2008)
Next time life throws you a curveball you might just want to suck it up instead of whining about it to anyone who’ll listen. A new study from the University of Buffalo claims that, contrary to conventional wisdom, people who do not express their feelings after a traumatic event actually end up coping better than people who are encouraged to share their feelings. For example, instead of urging students to seek counseling after something as intense as a school shooting, the study suggests that most people will cope just fine as time goes by. “We should be telling people there is likely nothing wrong if they do not want to express their thoughts and feelings after experiencing a collective trauma,” said the lead author of the study. “In fact, they can cope quite successfully and, according to our results, are likely to be better off than someone who does want to express his or her feelings.” (sciencedaily.com) (Jun 25 2008)
When the City of Langford began preparations to construct the Spencer Road Highway Interchange in 2007, it purchased—some might say expropriated—16 private properties on Leigh Road with the explanation that the municipality might need to clear out the neighbourhood to make room for the cloverleaf on-and-off ramps. (Jun 18 2008)
Indran Amirthanayagam makes an unlikely point man for a nation at war (Jun 18 2008)
Are community courts just a shiny gloss on a broken system? (Jun 18 2008)
If you’re still pessimistic about the near future, check out the books of Dr. Ray Kurzweil, a scientist, inventor and futurist whose predictions about technology have been coming true ever since the beginning of the computer age. Last week, he gave a speech at the World Science Festival in New York and predicted that within 10 years we’ll have a drug that allows us to eat anything we want and never gain weight, within five years solar power will be competitive with fossil fuels and within 20 years all of our energy will come from clean sources. Kurzweil also advises you to stick around for at least 15 more years when life expectancy will keep rising every year faster than you are aging—which means you may, in theory, be able to use future technology to live for hundreds of years, all the while benefiting from cool new toys which have yet to be invented. (NY Times) (Jun 18 2008)
In what has become a routine complaint to city hall, the View Street Bottle Depot is again raising the blood pressure of nearby neighbours, but a spokesperson for the sorting facility says it can’t be responsible for the behaviour of clients once they leave the property. (Jun 11 2008)
There are more than 10 things Victoria needs, but we had to start somewhere (Jun 11 2008)
The New York Times reports on a strange psychedelic berry that makes beer tastes like chocolate and Tabasco sauce taste like a sugary glaze. The “Miracle Fruit” (Synsepalum dulcificum, technically) is a bizarre little berry that when eaten will make your tongue perceive bitter and sour flavours as sweet and yummy for up to two hours. Some restaurants in Japan are already serving the berry alongside unappetizing low-calorie desserts. The berry makes customers believe that they’re eating a deliciously decadent treat. While the berry is just beginning to make it to North America, there’s no shortage of websites which sell the magic berry as a dieter’s dream come true. “Works with alcohol, vegetables, cheese, in fact almost everything,” exclaims one online sales pitch. “It is impossible to explain how wonderful things taste.” (Jun 11 2008)
A few weeks back we pondered whether the fact that the CanWest newspaper chain had signed on as an official sponsor of Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics might compromise the ability of that media outlet to report objectively on the sporting event—warts and all. (Jun 04 2008)
Integrated Resource Management study urges reconceptualization of how we understand municipal waste (Jun 04 2008)
Provincial party unveils brazen policy document on substance use (Jun 04 2008)
Following in the footsteps of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, that trendy old rocker Charlie Manson has released his new album as a free download for all his fans. “One Mind is pure Charlie, no additions, no corrections, no added opinions, filters or editing,” boasts the Manson fansite, familyjams.com. “This is all new material . . . consisting of songs, trance-poetry, conversations, raps, ramblings, musings and more.” This album doesn’t seem to include the tracks “Helter Skelter” or “Psycho Killer,” but no doubt Charlie makes good use of backwards masking to urge you to kill everyone he hates. (Jun 04 2008)
Residents say their neighbourhood is paying a steep price as government plays catch-up with the city’s social praoblems
(May 28 2008)
Last week it was announced that Victoria city manager Penny Ballantyne would be taking a four-month leave of absence effective immediately to be with her ailing husband and family. In her stead, assistant city manager Mike McCliggott will take over the municipality’s reins until September 30, 2008. (May 28 2008)
Nigeria calling (May 28 2008)
Get ready for a Colder War (May 28 2008)
Truehope gets sneaky on C-51, Needle-exchange vans skip core, Police priority is deja vu,
Barrie goes with the Lowe, Crystal Garden RFP deadline looms
(May 21 2008)
Proponents of the Billings Method say it’s family planning at its finest; skeptics say it’s as practical today as abstinence
By JASON YOUMANS
(May 21 2008)
Shot down in the 1980s, BC Hydro tests the public waters with new dam
(May 21 2008)
GOD STILL LOVES HUMANS THE BEST (May 21 2008)
Video of dumpster-divers’ arrest raised questions about poisoned food and press freedom. Now the case is headed to court
By Jason Youmans (May 14 2008)
Food and Drug Act amendments raise red flags
By Jason Youmans (May 14 2008)
Unregistered voters need homes (May 14 2008)
Straight from the “Ideas Stolen from Sci-Fi Movies” wing of the American military comes news that a robot army of spiders, flies, snakes and other insects is in development and should be ready for the battlefield later this year. The collaborative project between defence contractor BAE Systems and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects will build an army of miniature robot insects which will be able to scout out enemy territory and spy on suspects without endangering human soldiers. The project also includes the development of a surveillance robot which looks exactly like a common housefly but will be able to send audio and visual information back to the army’s command centre. (Daily Galaxy) (May 14 2008)
With one year before the May 12, 2009, province-wide referendum on whether to embrace proportional representation (PR) in B.C., the “Vote Yes” side is gearing up with a planning conference at UVic May 10-11. (May 07 2008)
It’s An Election Year, Damn It
Everything you are about to read is a lie.* Perhaps not the best opening line for a piece of reporting, but as the gears of the election machine grind slowly to life ahead of the city’s November 15 trip to the voting booth to decide a new mayor and council, straight answers from local politicos are already being obscured by mumbles and evasions. In other words, all definitive answers are subject to change as the political sands shift. Consider current councillor Chris Coleman’s response when Monday asked whether he would seek re-election: “I’m sure I probably will be.” (Always a seed of doubt planted to keep voters and other potential challengers on their toes.) Every “maybe” must be scrutinized to determine on which side of the middle ground it leans, and “Is this off the record?” becomes a regular response to questions posed by erstwhile reporters curious about what’s happening behind the closed doors of those who would influence the distribution of political power. (May 07 2008)
Former members keep quiet (May 07 2008)
Enviro party prepares to storm the ramparts of regional politics (May 07 2008)
Yet another prediction (May 07 2008)
Damn scientists can’t make up their minds. Now that we’ve all been trained to worry about the Earth warming up a few degrees (the horror!), some scientists are currently claiming we have a bigger problem to worry about: the coming of a new ice age. The twin culprits are the sun’s magnetic field and the flow of ocean and wind currents (no room for hard science here . . . Google it) with the bottom line being we’ve suffered the coldest winter since Al Gore became a superhero and glaciers are once again growing rather than shrinking. According to Australian geophysicist Phil Chapman, a lack of sunspot activity and the weakening of the sun’s magnetic field is to blame for the world’s rapid cooling since January 2007. “This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record, and it puts us back to where we were in 1930,” said Chapman. “If the temperature does not soon recover, we will have to conclude that global warming is over.” But only until it starts again . . . (Times of India) (May 07 2008)
Current council won’t go down without a fight
We all know mayor Alan Lowe is as good as gone, but what about the rest of the current cast of characters trapped inside Pandora’s Box? Their decisions to run or stand down come November will be a factor in who decides to run and what political ground will be up for grabs. (May 07 2008)
It’s a good thing the Olympic Games are immune from controversy, otherwise one might question whether CanWest Publishing Inc.’s announcement it has signed on as an official sponsor of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games could compromise its reporters’ capacity to cover all facets of the event with a critical eye. (Apr 30 2008)
There exists a proven antidote to homelessness, drug addiction and other symptoms of social disconnect—a service delivery model known as Therapeutic Community. This innovative approach to bringing marginalized citizens back into the social fold has recently been proposed in Greater Victoria, and a local non-profit group, the Creating Homefulness Society—led by CEO Richard Leblanc—is spearheading the multi-stakeholder effort. (Apr 30 2008)
A hypnotherapist in Britain recently underwent surgery without anaesthetic and felt absolutely no pain thanks to the hypnotic trance he had put himself under. Surgeons used a saw to cut open his arm and a hammer and chisel to remove a walnut-sized chunk of bone from his wrist, but Alex Lenkei felt nothing and even asked the surgeon how everything was going about halfway through the procedure. (Apr 30 2008)
The "Delving into Der Ling" story, originally printed in the April 24 issue of Monday Magazine, was actually written by Sarah Gignac, not Christine Matte as the byline read. Oops. (Apr 24 2008)
While BC Ferries passengers were busy digesting the seven percent fare increases on the three major coastal routes that took effect April 1, BC Ferries board of directors decided it was working so hard on behalf of British Columbians it deserved a fat raise. (Apr 23 2008)
FCA troubles (Apr 23 2008)
Green is the most important fashion statement of 2008—and not on a colour wheel. From manufacturing practices to fibre sources, components of the apparel industry are spurring the next major shift in the market for an organic—or, at least, more carbon-neutral—lifestyle. New fabric choices, like bamboo and soy, are allowing apparel to become eco-friendly, while remaining stylish and modern (see sidebar). (Apr 23 2008)
Some of (Apr 23 2008)
When Morene Bell was cajoled into entering a modelling contest for Hawaiian Tropic three years ago, she didn’t think it would ignite a passion for modelling—despite the fact that the petite, exotic-looking girl had always been encouraged to try her hand at it. (Apr 23 2008)
One really needs look no further than the success of colourfully artistic T-shirt companies like Threadless to understand that some folks are bored with boring old Ts. Many local boutiques are featuring works of local artists on T-shirts, but what makes a person gravitate to a uniquely screened image versus something mass-produced? (Apr 23 2008)
Vic Chic is a click away (Apr 23 2008)
Just below the Bear Mountain Golf and Country Club’s 19th hole is an ugly ecological mess. (Apr 23 2008)
The good news is that the future of surgery promises less cutting, less scarring, less pain and shorter recovery periods. The bad news is that they’ll be performing surgery through your mouth, anus or vagina. Yes, doctors hope to give a whole new meaning to the words “open wide” with the advent of “natural orifice surgery”—a technique which enables surgeons to perform laparoscopic surgery through the openings that are already in your body. This type of surgery has already been perfected in animals, and human gall bladders and appendixes have been removed through the mouth. But last month, in an American surgical first, doctors at the University of California removed the appendix of a 24-year-old women through her vagina. “I feel kind of like I did too many sit-ups,” remarked the patient. (Time Magazine) (Apr 23 2008)
Cannabis users not “Deadbeats”
(Apr 16 2008)
9/11 truth movement makes Victoria pit stop to poke holes in official version of events
(Apr 16 2008)
Local environmentalists and politicos weigh in on the region’s top threats for Earth Week
(Apr 16 2008)
It’s strange enough that placebos work at all, but a new study found the psychological self-deception goes even deeper. New experiments have shown placebos which are perceived to be expensive are more effective than “cheaper” placebos, even when the fake pills are exactly the same. Researchers at Duke University tested the exact same fake drugs on 82 subjects after giving half of them a brochure describing the pill as a newly approved painkiller which cost $2.50 per dose, and the other half a brochure describing it as 10-cent generic version. Of those who took the higher priced drug, 85 percent experienced the benefits of the fake painkiller compared to only 61 percent of those who took the cheaper drug. (ABC News) (Apr 16 2008)
Just when it seemed Victoria mayor Alan Lowe might leave office on a gracious note—having spearheaded the comprehensive task force report on addictions and homelessness in the city—he goes and spoils it all with a return to the patronizing persona his detractors say characterized his tenure at the city’s helm. (Apr 09 2008)
Saddled with mountains of paperwork and paying more than $1.2-million in annual overtime, the Victoria Police Department is asking taxpayers in Victoria and Esquimalt for a hefty budget increase to hire 19 additional officers to strengthen the long arm of the law in the South Island’s centre of business, boozing and begging. (Apr 09 2008)
A woman in England who had a kidney transplant last May claims she has taken on many of the personality traits of the donor. After the surgery, Cheryl Johnson, 37, found herself becoming more irritable and belligerent, traits she assumes came from the 59-year-old man whose kidney she now owns. Along with her personality changes, she also began reading Jane Austen and Dostoevsky rather than the pulp fiction she used to enjoy. While most doctors don’t believe patients who tell these stories, a theory called cellular memory phenomenon has been developed to explain the rare-but-famous examples of this effect, which include a woman with vertigo who became a climber, a chocolate-hating lawyer who began eating Snickers and a seven-year-old girl who had nightmares about being killed after being given the heart of a murdered child. (The Telegraph) (Apr 09 2008)
A lineup of people spanning the generations could be seen snaking from the doors of the James Bay Primary Health Centre on Michigan Street on April 1 as prospective clients queued in the hope of registering with one of the clinic’s family physicians. (Apr 02 2008)
While fortress-like clusters of up-market condos sprout around the city, the working poor crowd together in budget motels. Who’s to blame for Victoria’s broken rental market and what could be done to fix it? (Apr 02 2008)
If you’d like to start a new life in Australia, there’s a guy in Perth who is planning to put his entire life up for auction starting on June 22. (Apr 02 2008)
The ink had barely dried on the pages of last week’s issue when Monday received a call from Central Saanich daffodil magnate Ian Vantreight to clarify information that appeared in the story, “No more poisoned petals” on page six. (Mar 26 2008)
Taking a look at Minister Lunn's expenses (Mar 26 2008)
Federal contributions go to unlikely recipients (Mar 26 2008)
How do you find the most beautiful woman in Italy? A Japanese film crew went to Italy to test the supposedly foolproof method created by a Japanese “expert” (they didn’t say what he was an expert in): 1. Find a random woman on the street; 2. Ask that woman to introduce the film crew to a more beautiful friend; 3. Have that more beautiful friend introduce the film crew to an even more beautiful friend; 4. Repeat until one meets the 12th woman—she will be the most beautiful woman in Italy. While the results aren’t exactly scientific, it sure is an excellent way to meet hot chicks, as you can see at japanprobe.com/?p=4043 when you check out the video. (Mar 26 2008)
Around this time last year, Monday noted that while the Canadian Cancer Society talks a big game about its distaste of pesticide use for cosmetic purposes on lawns and gardens, the daffodils hawked by society volunteers around the country each spring are grown in fields where potentially carcinogenic herbicides and fungicides are used to ensure good growth. (Mar 19 2008)
A day of action to combat transphobia and homophobia (Mar 19 2008)
Once the wheels are in motion, it’s hard to slow down (Mar 19 2008)
Around this time last year, Monday noted that while the Canadian Cancer Society talks a big game about its distaste of pesticide use for cosmetic purposes on lawns and gardens, the daffodils hawked by society volunteers around the country each spring are doused in potentially carcinogenic chemicals to ensure good growth. (Mar 19 2008)
The Vatican has created a new list of seven social sins to go along with the seven deadly sins written up by Pope Gregory I way back in the sixth century. According to Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, the new “sins” are meant to add a global perspective to one’s moral behaviour. “If yesterday sin had a rather individualistic dimension, today it has a weight, a resonance, that’s especially social, rather than individual,” said the monsignor. The new sins are “bioethical violations” such as birth control, “morally dubious’’ experiments (such as stem cell research), drug abuse, polluting the environment, contributing to the widening divide between rich and poor, excessive wealth, and creating poverty. In case you forgot, the original seven deadly sins (also known as our seven favourite hobbies) are pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth. (bloomberg.com) (Mar 19 2008)
Cridge case about more than winning the right to sleep rough, says one advocate (Mar 12 2008)
On the wild West Shore, it seems everybody gets a slice of the Bear Mountain pie (Mar 12 2008)
A new dimension was added to the ongoing saga of the Spencer Road highway interchange in Langford last week when a group of 30 off-ramp opponents were confronted by more than 100 Bear Mountain construction workers on the shoulder of the Trans Canada Highway. (Mar 05 2008)
Further challenges face GVPL (Mar 05 2008)
Is James Chestnut’s wellness solution (Mar 05 2008)
After using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the full test results of antidepressant drugs, scientists have published a report claiming that Prozac and similar drugs do not work any better than placebos. The study examined all available data, including clinical tests which manufacturers such as GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly originally chose not to publish. Overall, all except the most severely depressed patients improved equally whether given a prescription drug or a sugar pill. “Given these results, there seems little reason to prescribe antidepressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients, unless alternative treatments have failed,” says the report’s lead researcher, professor Irving Kirsch of the department of psychology at Hull University. The results were the same for all of the antidepressants for which they were able to obtain unpublished test results, including Prozac, Seroxat, Effexor and Serzone. (The Guardian) (Mar 05 2008)
The showdown continues this week between local environmentalists and the City of Langford at the site of the proposed Spencer Road highway interchange. (Feb 27 2008)
How the federal government’s Marihuana Medical Access Division fails Canada’s sick and dying
By JASON YOUMANS (Feb 27 2008)
Medical cannabis program the product of many legal battles (Feb 27 2008)
MMAD licences explained (Feb 27 2008)
Medical establishment no great ally in battle for better access (Feb 27 2008)
Who can qualify for medical marijuana? (Feb 27 2008)
Just a few weeks ago, the Polish Catholic Church announced plans to open its first exorcism centre, staffed with 50 working exorcists to deal with that country’s growing demographic of people who believe they are possessed by the devil. But it turns out the entire world might be infected, as the Roman Catholic Church has just announced a new initiative which will train hundreds of priests as exorcists in order to fight the rise of Satan’s army. According to Father Gabriele Amorth, the Pope’s exorcist-in-chief, the increase of people dabbling with Satanism and the occult has led to a dramatic rise in demon possessions in every Catholic nation. “Thanks be to god that we have a Pope who has decided to fight the devil head-on,” says Amorth. “We are not very plentiful and certainly need more of us to cope with the big occult following that is emerging today.” (The Telegraph) (Feb 27 2008)
PCC paid off, Slots and booze, GVHA approves air, Upgrading parking lots, Tacks prove taxing, Library lockout begins (Feb 20 2008)
Was raid a test run for quelling 2010 dissent, or par for the course in development-mad Langford? (Feb 20 2008)
The GVPL closes the book on issues of gender equality in labour dispute (Feb 20 2008)
(Feb 20 2008)
After 30 days of going door-to-door collecting signatures, advocates of participatory democracy in Langford say they have collected the names of more than 2,250 residents opposed to the city’s plan to grant Bear Mountain developers a $25 million loan to construct the Spencer Road Interchange. (Feb 13 2008)
Five months ago Leslie Elliott was told by doctors that pancreatic cancer would kill her within a year. One month ago, and in the throes of the disease, Elliott was told by representatives of the province’s subsidized housing agency that, dying or not, she would have to find a new location to live out her last days. (Feb 13 2008)
What happened to those buildings? (Feb 13 2008)
Half a trillion bucks for U.S. “defence” against . . . China? (Feb 13 2008)
While Chinese athletes practice for the summer Olympics, Chinese meteorologists are practicing their weather modification techniques in order to make sure it doesn’t rain on their Olympic parade. The Chinese government has the world’s largest weather modification program in the world, consisting of 30 aircraft, 4,000 rocket launchers, 7,000 anti-aircraft guns and a massive reserve army of 37,000 people. Usually this branch of the government is responsible for seeding clouds in order to bring rain to drought-stricken areas of the country, but for the Olympics they will be challenged to do the reverse —ensure that the skies over Beijing are clear during the opening ceremonies on August 8. To this end, they claim to have perfected a technique in which they fire substances into the clouds which shrink the size of the raindrops, thereby letting the cloud float harmlessly overhead until it dumps its load somewhere else. (LA Times) (Feb 13 2008)
Esquimalt Juan-de Fuca Liberal MP Keith Martin received an unwanted endorsement last week from stormfront.org, the “white nationalist community” that operates under the motto “White Pride Worldwide.” (Feb 06 2008)
There’s good news and bad news for everyone who wants to avoid rush hour by strapping on a jetpack and zipping off to work each morning. The good news is a consumer version of the personal jetpack is finally a reality. The U.S. company Thunderbolt Aerosystems has spent the last 10 years perfecting the rocket-fuel- powered gadget and next May you’ll be able to order your very own at thunderman.net. The bad news is this gadget is really just a toy for the extremely wealthy. While the jetpack can reach the sweet speed of 75 miles per hour, it only flies for just over a minute and costs over $90,000. (Feb 06 2008)
New sticker program shows where your french fry leftovers go (Feb 06 2008)
Acceptance elusiv