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editor
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 Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:49 pm Post subject: |
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Government accountability / public trust - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
The Vancouver Sun
The legislature raid finally lands in court
After a dramatic start with police raiding legislative offices, the corruption case has lost a lot of its fascination
By Miro Cerntig
April 14/07
| Quote: | When a squad of policemen raid your government's legislative offices, announce they've been investigating a drug ring with possible links to government staff, then kickstart a corruption case that drags on for years, one might anticipate some serious political fallout for a government party.
And with the most anticipated political corruption case to hit B.C. in years set to begin in a Vancouver courtroom Tuesday, that in fact remains the central question: Has the B.C. Liberal government been - or will it be - damaged by the scandal swirling around the $1-billion sale of government-owned B.C. Rail?
The answer, at least so far, appears to be not much.
...Still, most expect the trial of Dave Basi, the former top aide of former Finance Minister Gary Collins, and Bob Virk, the former aide to then transporation minister Judith Reid, to dominate the news agenda for weeks to come.
As the court weighs the evidence to determine if both men used their political connections for personal gain, the case is likely to dredge up some big Liberal names - one big question is whether Collins and other cabinet ministers will be obliged to testify. The past suggests there will likely be surprises as hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence and wiretaps are vetted. In pretrial proceedings it was discovered the * RCMP mistakenly (find more RCMP goofs and gaffs at this riff) tapped into a conversation between Premier Gordon Campbell and Collins, whos was using his aide's wiretapped cell-phone. (-- p. A4) |
cbc.ca
Land deal with former solicitor general tore B.C. family apart: son
April 2/08
| Quote: | A Chilliwack, B.C., man says his family was torn apart by a land deal that's now part of the RCMP investigation that prompted former solicitor general John Les to resign.
Willy Rasmussen told CBC News Wednesday that he and his sister have not talked for 10 years because of the way their parents' 11 acres of farmland in Chilliwack ended up being owned and developed by Les. Wilmer and Karen Rasmussen, who owned the property just off Camp River Road, wanted to keep two acres of it for a home where they could retire and sell the rest, the son said. The municipality and the Agricultural Land Commission repeatedly denied their applications so the couple sold the land in 1997 to their daughter and son-in-law, Henny and John Watt. The Watts in turn sold the land to Les, then mayor of Chilliwack. The city subsequently approved a subdivision that parcelled the property into two-acre development lots that Les sold, in what is now known as the Rosebank development. (emphasis added)
"If it was 'No' for my father, it should have been 'No' for John Les," said Willy Rasmussen, who grew up in Chilliwack and now sells car parts for a living in Surrey and Coquitlam.
The attorney general's criminal justice branch says the RCMP investigation has to do with whether Les improperly benefited from commercial transactions involving land developers. ... |
cbc.ca
Embattled Port Coquitlam mayor refuses council demands to resign
May 27/08
| Quote: | Port Coquitlam's embattled mayor has once again refused to resign following his conviction on two counts of assault last week. Mayor Scott Young was asked by council to hand in a letter of resignation at his first council meeting on Monday night following his guilty plea last week on two charges of assaulting his former girlfriend and her boyfriend at her home last year.
It was the third time his fellow councillors had demanded his resignation since the mayor was arrested last year and spent Easter weekend in jail.
The latest motion, brought forth by all six of Port Coquitlam's councillors, read: "Now that Scott Young has admitted guilt, the city councillors are once again requesting that the mayor resign immediately."
All of the city council, except Young, voted for the motion. Coun. Michael Wright said he was not surprised at Young's refusal and said working with the mayor had become very awkward for the councillors. "Most people are absolutely incredulous that he is still the mayor of the city of Port Coquitlam and has not resigned," said Wright.
Apart from asking Young to resign voluntarily, the council has no legal options to force the mayor out. But he will have to answer to the public if he decides to run again in the November civic election. (emphasis added)
Young did not speak to the media following the meeting. He has been involved in municipal politics in Port Coquitlam since 1990, when he was elected as a school trustee. He was elected as a city councillor in 1996 and became the city's 14th mayor in 2001. Young pleaded guilty to two charges of assault and one charge of breaching the conditions of an undertaking, all stemming from an incident at the home of his former girlfriend last year. The B.C. mayor had faced a total of seven charges, including assault, criminal harassment and breaking and entering, following his arrest on April 4, 2007.
The Crown stayed the proceedings on the remaining four charges last week when Young appeared in Port Coquitlam provincial court. He will be sentenced at a later date. |
Yes, and now he's seeking a NEW term!
cbc.ca
Publicly-funded News Source ... so far
Embattled Port Coquitlam mayor won't quit politics
Oct. 10/08
| Quote: | The mayor of Port Coquitlam will seek a councillor's seat in the upcoming municipal election despite being found guilty of assault.
Scott Young put his name in the race Thursday afternoon before the deadline for the Nov. 15 election.
Young pleaded guilty in May to two charges of assault and one charge of breaching the conditions of an undertaking. He was later given a 12-month conditional sentence to be served at home, with a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. except to attend council meetings. (emphasis added)
Young was also placed on 18 months of probation, ordered to perform 60 hours of community service, abstain from alcohol and drugs, and stay away from former girlfriend Colleen Preston and her partner, Glen Shaw.
Many Port Coquitlam residents have called for Young to step down since his plea, and council has asked him to leave three times. (emphasis added)
He temporarily stepped aside but returned to the mayor's chair a month and a half after the April 2007 incident.
Initially, he faced seven criminal charges, including assault, criminal harassment and breaking and entering, but the Crown stayed several charges. |
Here's why the absent rule against criminals holding public office in 'BILLYville probably won't change anytime soon:
cbc.ca
B.C. premier says he won't contest drunk driving charge
Jan. 11/03
| Quote: | British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell has apologized after being charged with impaired driving in Hawaii. Maui police Sgt. Ken Prather says Campbell was arrested just after 1 a.m. Friday morning.
"At 1:23 in the morning, a Gordon M. Campbell, a 54-year-old male was arrested for drunk driving on the island of Maui. He has since bailed out. He bailed out sometime this morning." Prather says Campbell did spend some time in jail before bail of $257 was posted and a tentative court date of March 25 was set.
Late Friday afternoon Campbell's office issued a statement in which Campbell said he "made a serious mistake," and offered an apology to his family, colleagues and the people of British Columbia. "I do not intend to contest the charge," he said. ... Campbell is in Hawaii on vacation. He said he will speak with the media when he returns to Vancouver on Sunday. |
... BC Rail taint just won't go away.
CBC.ca
B.C. NDP seeks police probe of controversial BC Rail sale
April 20/09
| Quote: | The B.C. New Democratic Party wants the RCMP to launch a criminal investigation into the sale of BC Rail and the involvement of a Liberal Party organizer. The NDP's Leonard Krog, who is running for re-election in Nanaimo next month, made the request on Monday in a letter sent to B.C. RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass. At issue are what role Patrick Kinsella a key B.C. Liberal backroom organizer in the privatization of BC Rail played in the sale and why his consulting companies received $297,000 from the Crown corporation for undisclosed services between 2002 and 2005, according to documents released by the NDP last month. (emphasis added)
The Liberal government sold BC Rail to Canadian National Railway in December 2003, despite campaigning on a promise in the 2001 election to keep it in government hands.
David Basi, who worked for former finance minister Gary Collins, and Bob Virk, an assistant to former transportation minister Judith Reid, are charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting a benefit in connection with the billion-dollar sale of BC Rail. The case has been mired in procedural disputes for several years, and the actual trial has yet to begin.
Kinsella and Canadian National Railway may have broken the law, because the company allegedly made a payment to Kinsella when he was already under contract to BC Rail, said Krog, a lawyer and Opposition attorney general critic before the legislature was dissolved. "The issue is, was Mr. Kinsella working both sides of the track? Was CN providing a benefit to him at the same time he was obviously under contract to BC Rail? Whose interests were being protected here?" Krog said Monday. The Criminal Code of Canada makes it an offence for anyone who has dealings with government to make a payment to a government employee unless that employee has the written consent of a senior government official to receive that payment, Krog said. ... |
Link to this entry
http://www.bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=978#978
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editor
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:19 am Post subject: |
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Green roofs and roof gardens? B.C. 'BILLIES can't be trusted, say insurers:
The Vancouver Sun
Insurers put the brakes on green roofs
Daily Real Estate Trumpeter
By Frances Bula
April 14/07
| Quote: | ...No one who works in the green-roof industry had heard of any other jurisdiction in North America or Europe where insurers were refusing to insure green roofs. But in B.C., where problems with leaky building envelopes in condo buildings provoked a major crisis among consumers and the construction industry, anything involving water in proximity to residential building walls provokes nervousness.
"There are some issues that should be considered in the particular context of British Columbia before further application of green-roof systems in residential developments proceeds, in order to avoid another potential systemic building envelope failure," wrote Ken Cameron, CEO of the homeowner protection office, to municipalities in his warning letter.
Cameron also said the problem with green roofs on condo buildings is the question of whether strata councils have the skills to make sure they're maintained properly. There is no issue at present with commercial, institutional or residential rental buildings getting insurance for green roofs, since single owners are presumed to control maintenance standards. (emphasis added) (-- p. A12) |
| Quote: | | * Note: ...As you know, under the Homeowner Protection Act (Act), all new homes constructed for sale must be built by a Licensed Residential Builder and be covered by home warranty insurance, unless the home is exempt under a provision of the Act. Home warranty insurance is provided as a private contract of insurance by one of the four insurers authorized to offer this coverage by the Financial Institutions Commission (But see also Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators, yet another tier of the hopelessly opaque insurance industry). The willingness of private insurers to provide such coverage for multi-unit residential projects featuring green roofs is limited at this time and in fact some have indicated they will not provide coverage for buildings that will incorporate a green roof design. In addition, there are some issues that should be considered in the particular context of British Columbia before further application of green roof systems in residential developments proceeds, in order to avoid another potential systemic building envelope failure. (Excerpt from the Jan. 16/07 letter signed by HPO CEO Ken Cameron) |
Read about the DISASTROUS roof garden experiment at the leaky, moldy Law Courts building in downtown Vancouver.
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=980#980
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editor
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:41 pm Post subject: |
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From LEAKY CONDOS in the media? Hardly ever!
Vancouver Magazine
How to Play the Real Estate Game
The *Density Game
By Tyee Bridge, James Glave and Michael Harris,
acolytes of the Madison Avenue Advertising Copy
School of Mock-Journalism
April, 2007
| Quote: | Vancouver's response to sprawl and its acidic side effects - urban decay, cloverleaf gridlock, gobbled farms and wetlands - has been a bag of urban renewal tricks, with an emphasis on densely populated, mixed-use neighbourhoods. Thanks to the efforts of municipal savants like former co-director of planning Larry Beasley and marketing geniuses like Bob Rennie, condo living was rebranded from a squalid lowbrow compromise into a pret-a-porter downtown cocktail party, complete with those granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.
In the past 15 years, our downtown population has doubled; the success of our density effort even coined a global urban design buzzword, Vancouverism[/color]. Now, at least for a certain upscale, trend-conscious audience, the term density no longer connotes the nasty scratch-and-claw of the urban jungle. It has visionary loft to it, the conceptual shimmer of a halcyon metropolis. A condo, a futon and a latte for every citizen - at least for those who can handle the mortgage.
...Sullivan's initiative makes candid use of the ecological footprint model of UBC community and regional planning professor William Rees (whose environmental 'model' like so many others fails to take any account of 30+ years of housing failures littering the Lower Mainland and elsewhere throughout the province).
...You can already see it happening: townhouses in West Vancouver, infill housing in Shaughnessy, Dunbar's shrill but ultimately futile resistance before the steamroller of densification. (emphasis added) (-- pgs. 45-46) |
| Quote: | | * Note: Density here should be read as a comment on the corporate bilge stinking down what ought to be a thoughtful report criticizing steamroller civic approval for more and more and more inaccessible, barrier-full, substandard, mismanaged, poorly planned and frequently just plain unwanted by the neighborhood multiunit, multifamily, multistorey condo development. |
Sneak peak at that 'pret-a-porter downtown cocktail party' from Oak Street:
Larry Beasley's 'planning genius' up close and personal:
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=983#983
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editor
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| Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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An ancient spiritual practice -B.C. 'BILLY-style:
| Quote: |
The Globe and Mail
Dull, Self-important Daily
Is yoga getting bent out of shape?
By Ian Brown
May 12/07
| Quote: | For flat out irritation, there is the egregiously sanctimonious Lululemon website. One of the less acclaimed pleasures of contemporary yoga classes is that they're sexy - a detail Lululemon has exploited relentlessly, with its form-fitting sweat-wicking, arse-perking togs. But that hasn't stopped Lululemon from promoting one of its precepts of yoga practice: "Keep your eyes on your own practice. When you can finish your practice without knowing what the person next to you was wearing ...you'll know you were truly focused," the rule proclaims.
Agreed. But if you can get through a modern yoga class without noticing the half-clad bodies around you, male or female, perfect or otherwise, you are also half-dead.
Or this gem: "Just like did not know what an orgasm was before you had one, nature does not let you know how great children are until you have them. Children are the orgasms of life."
This is the sort of dogma that makes people want to find those who seek the path to enlightenment, then run them over with a speeding karma. (-- p. F10) |
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The New York Times Magazine
Magazine Subscription
The Green Issue
Ready-to-Wear
By Clay Risen
April 20/08
| Quote: | | ... not every claim to organic provenance is equal. "Greenwashing" is as prevalent in the clothing sector as it is in all sorts of other industries, like the oil business. Accordint to a survey of over 1,018 "green" consumer products by the environmental marketing firm TerraChoice, only 1 was completely free of inflated or unverifiable claims. Because apparel purchases are often made on the spur of the moment, buyers may be less likely than usual to research manufacturers' assertions. Last year, The New York Times exposed one trendy fashion label, Lululemon Athletica, which had claimed that one of its lines of yoga gear was made with seaweed. But lab tests showed that the clothing contained none of the minerals that indicaste its presence - findings that Lululemon disputed, although it withdrew the seaweed claim in Canada at the request of authorities there (emphasis added). Green fashion is a great way to connect with eco-conscious consumers, who then drive more conventional manufacturers to follow suit. But if consumers get the idea that green claims are inflated or unbelievable, the entire trend is threatened. That's why a number of eco-fashion marketers are pushing standardized labels for green clothing, the equivalent of existing imprimaturs like Energy Star and Green Seal. Still, let the buyer beware: TerraChoices's survey found that several products carried the labels even when they weren't up to standard. (-- p. 48) |
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=996#996
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| Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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B.C. 'BILLIES just gotta keep lots and LOTS of pet-slaves:
The Vancouver Sun
Equally Dull Left Coast Real Estate Flier
Tiger warning ignored: SPCA
An official says the government and RCMP
were cautioned about zoo where woman was
fatally mauled
By Miro Cernetig
May 12/07
| Quote: | Government officials and the RCMP were warned repeatedly for almost two years that a menagerie of tigers and lions at the Siberian Magic private zoo posed a serious danger to the public, the SPCA said Friday.
But despite the warnings and the poor conditions of the animals, no action was taken that might have prevented the death of Tania Dumstrey-Soos, 32. She was mauled by one of the tigers she was caring for in the private zoo near 100 Mile House.
..."We were made aware of the dangers in 2005. We served five violations-of-animal-welfare orders, the last in January 2007. We informed the regional district, the RCMP and [provincial] conservation officers."
B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner was also given a written warning more than a year ago about Siberian Magic zoo. He also was told its operator, Kim Carlton (the dead woman's fiancee), was taking his tigers to malls and did not have suitable cages to prevent escapes. "This is in our opinion a disaster waiting to happen," said a Dec. 1/06 letter from the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS), which was accompanied by video footage. Humane society spokesman Peter Fricker said there was no response from the minister. Penner also was not available Friday for comment. Nor would the RCMP comment on the case.
..."These cats were housed in 12-foot-by-12-foot pens made of chain link fence, with a simple padlock," she (SPCA investigator Marcie Moriarty) said. "He admitted that he walked tigers on a leash, that his kids fed them, that he took the tigers out and let members of the public take pictures with the tigers. It was a tragedy waiting to happen."
But why was it?
The reality is that this year, after almost 20 years of urging from the SPCA and VHS, the B.C. provincial government has finally begun reviewing its Wildlife Act with an eye to outlawing such menageries that contain tigers, lions, crocodiles, poisonous snakes and perhaps even elephants. A permit is only needed to keep an indigenous species in captivity, such as wolves or bears or moose. Exotic pets are left unregulated by the province.
...As well, there's the difficult problem of what to do with a 350-lb. tiger that needs a better home. The SPCA spent thousands of dollars trying to find new lodging for the tigers at the Siberian Magic zoo, even asking the Calgary Zoo to adopt them. It found no takers.
...Most people don't know it, but while tigers grow rarer in the jungles of Asia, North America is actually awash in them. Tigers are one of the favorite animals of the exotic-animal industry which has emerged as a $1-billion worldwide business. (emphasis added) (-- p. A4) |
The three-year-old Tiger was later euthenized by a vet.
More toxic pets and toxic condo pet bylaws.
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=997#997
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editor
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 12:25 pm Post subject: |
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Cha-ching!
Gambling - B.C. 'BILLY-style
Canada.com
Corporate Media Scion
B.C. probes odds-defying luck of lottery retailers
By Chad Skelton
May 30/07
| Quote: | The B.C. government has launched an audit of the lottery system in response to Tuesday's report from the province's ombudsman which found the system open to abuse by unscrupulous retailers.
"The ombudsman's report is a start, but by no means an end," said Solicitor-General John Les. "The bigger question of how and why B.C.'s retail lottery system was left vulnerable to potential fraud remains and that question is what the audit is intended to answer."
B.C. Ombudsman Kim Carter launched her investigation in December after the Vancouver Sun reported lottery retailers were winning major prizes at several times the rate of the general public. According to internal lottery documents obtained by the Sun, over the past six years, those who sell lottery tickets have won 4.4 per cent of all lottery prizes over $10,000 - a rate anywhere from three to six times their share of the population. The figures, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, raised fears that retailers may be stealing customers' winning tickets.
Immediately following the revelations, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation said that it had confidence in its lotteries and believed the high rate of retailer wins was simply due to retailers playing more often. However, Carter's report found several gaps in BCLC's security system. |
cbc.ca
Once-proud News Leader Post-Cutbacks - ugh!
B.C. Lottery Corp. tackles money laundering at casinos
May 28/08
| Quote: | The B.C. Lottery Corp. is promising to beef up its procedures to help prevent money laundering in casinos, according to the province's solicitor general. Last week, a CBC News investigation demonstrated how easy it was to launder money at the two casinos. Reporters were able to pump thousands of dollars into slot machines, cash out after playing only briefly and then receive casino cheques with few questions asked.
The investigation also revealed the BCLC was reporting only a fraction of the suspicious transactions to the Financial Transactions Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, or FINTRAC, the federal agency that tracks money laundering. B.C. Solicitor General John van Dongen said Wednesday the BCLC has come up with a plan to address concerns raised by the CBC investigation. He said the board looked into what the CBC was able to do at casinos.
"They had reviewed six transactions done by the CBC. Four of them failed in terms of the policy. They acknowledge that was a failure of the policy," van Dongen said. The BCLC also plans to review current policies and procedures around reporting suspicious financial transactions and the issuing of cheques at casinos.
Casino staff will receive better training so they can detect money laundering, van Dongen said. The failure of the BCLC to report suspicious transactions will also be addressed. He said the corporation will now pass on all reports collected in the last six years. ... |
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1003#1003
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editor
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| Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:17 am Post subject: |
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Does Toronto pay these people, we wonder?
The Globe and Mail
Dull Corporate Trombone
Naked came the stranger - off a 60-metre cliff
Injured B.C. driver arrested, hospitalized
By Armina Ligaya
July 28/07
| Quote: | ... "I heard this loud crash, then I heard the trees cracking - crash-crash-crash," said one nude sunbather on clothing-optional Wreck Beach. Then he said he saw a Caucasian man, with long, matted brown hair, covered in cuts and bruises, slip down the clff.
... Moments earlier, at about 12:40 p.m. yesterday, the 45-year-old man was speeding up a hill on NW Marine Drive, when he lost control of the Chevy Astro minivan, witnesses said. He swerved into a concrete median, which acted as a ramp, and the vehicle went flying over a metre-high fence and off the 60-metre cliff.
... Luckily, trees stopped the vehicle from falling onto the rocky shore below. The van was perched in a wooded area midway between the road and the beach, just a metre or so from a steep 30-metre drop-off.
... "We're not sure if he was ejected or if he crawled out," he (Vancouver Fire Rescue battalian chief, Tony Neratini) said.
... Daniel Paquin, 52, was lounging on a log along the rocky shore when he saw the naked man emerge, dazed and confused. "It was like he came out of the jungle," Mr. Paquin said.
The unidentified New Westminster man's injuries were non-life-threatening injuries, RCMP said.
He was arrested and ... taken by ambulance to Vancouver General Hospital. (p. 1, A10) |
Link to this entry
http://www.bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1015#1015.
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editor
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| Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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Yahoo! News
Second-rate Search Engine
Canadian man rescued after
chaining self to a tree
Attributed to Reuters
Aug. 1/07
| Quote: | A man has been rescued after he spent nearly a week chained to a tree in a mountain forest near Vancouver in what police believe was a failed suicide attempt.
Hikers searching for a lost dog near the city on Canada's Pacific coast heard the 48-year-old man's calls for help late on Tuesday. They alerted police, who eventually needed a helicopter to pull the man out safety because of the difficult mountain terrain. West Vancouver Police said the man told them he went to a remote area of the Vancouver suburb six days ago to take his own life and chained himself to the tree in the process. His injuries were not considered life threatening. |
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1021#1021.
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editor
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| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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Summer camp - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
Convicts working alongside kiddie campers in Maple Ridge
| Quote: | The News
Community Newspaper Online
Kids' camp and inmates don't mix
By Monisha Martins
Aug 04 2007
| Quote: | Working at the Allco Fish Hatchery is a coveted job for inmates at Fraser Regional Correction Centre, the best one available. Inside the B.C. Corrections facility at the end of Alouette Road, off 248th Street, *low-risk prisoners from FRCC spend their days outside, tagging fish and remediating streams. Clad in orange and red jumpsuits, prisoners have worked at the adjacent fish hatchery for more than two decades.
Still, Sharlow Leonardo was surprised to see prisoners from the prison working at the hatchery, where she had enrolled her children, ages 10 and 13, in a two-day summer camp run by the Alouette River Management Society. The outdoor adventure camp, advertised in the Maple Ridge summer recreation guide, teaches camping and surviving in the great outdoors. Children learn the basics of map reading, to pitch tents, build emergency shelters and how to tie knots. Not once did the brochure mention inmates worked on the site, Leonardo said. She found out Monday, after her son told her he was within arms' length of a prisoner who was handed an axe. (emphasis added)
... "Parents who don't normally travel to east Maple Ridge, who aren't aware that these grounds are being kept up by prisoners, could then (if advised by offeror that inmates work nearby) make an educated decision," she said. Leonardo pulled her children out of the program after finding out about the inmates.
She said she doesn't care if they are classified as low-risk. "You are incarcerated for a reason. I don't want to send my kids somewhere where it might be unsafe."
At any time, up to four work crews of 12 inmates are working around Maple Ridge. Inmates are paid a token wage by B.C. Corrections. A report to Maple Ridge council in July said inmates' free labour will save taxpayers $265,000 this year alone. One crew works at the Allco hatchery. Another cleans up at the Albion Fairgrounds and Pitt Meadows Regional Airport. Another works at Golden Ears Provincial Park during the summer, while a fourth 12-man crew does small construction jobs for non-profit societies. Two other crews work in Mission, at a tree farm, as well as Zajac Ranch for mentally and physically challenged kids.
David Boag, director of parks and facilities, said staff are considering whether the district should inform parents that inmates work on the site of the ARMS day camp.
He said 11 children registered for the program, which had one supervisor for every three kids. "I don't think it was anticipated that the [prison] crew was going to be there on the day this was planned," Boag said. The crew was carrying out work for B.C. Corrections and did not come into contact with the children, he said.
* Sex offenders and prisoners who are commit violent crimes are not allowed to work in the hatchery, according to Boag. "At no time would the prisoners be interacting with those involved in the program." Jenny Ljunggren of ARMS said more than 3,000 children have participated in the group's spring and summer camp programs since they started four years ago. Of those, only three people have complained about inmates, who have worked at the hatchery since 1979. "We would never put the kids in jeopardy," Ljunggren said. "These inmates are well-screened. The groups that are at the hatchery are pretty much the cream of the crop." |
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About the 'science' of *classifying offenders:
| Quote: | | The fact of the matter remains that, even with improvements, risk assessment will continue to be educated guesswork. (emphasis added) The implications of a risk assessment to an offender are serious and in Canada, could even result in incarceration for an indefinite period. The use of risk assessment to deprive an individual of his or her liberty, based on future conduct, is an issue that needs to be addressed. The public demands to be protected from individuals who will commit more offences, yet the justice system cannot accurately predict whether or not an offender will recidivate. Is it right, then, to incarcerate a person for a longer time than can be justified by their offence, to ensure that he or she does not recidivate? Risk prediction is fallible and so the principle of proportionality- that the severity of a sentence should fit the seriousness of the crime- must not be forgotten. (From the Executive Summary of a report by the John Howard Society, Alberta, 2002.) |
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1023#1023.
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editor
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| Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:48 am Post subject: |
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Washrooms - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
Public education facility accedes to secular demands
| Quote: | Vancouver Sun
Skunk's Misery Daily Trombone
(Block this number to stop
SM's ENDLESS telemarketing calls!)
A revo-loo-tion on the UBC campus
By Darah Hansen,
Aug. 14/07
| Quote: | ... Preparations are underway to overhaul up to 391 single-stall bathroom facilities on (UBC) campus in an effort to meet the access and diversity needs of the school's varied student body. Existing multi-stall men's and women's washrooms will remain. ... Upcoming changes range from the construction of new facilities, to replacing gender-specific signs on doors with gender-neutral ones. (Janet Mee, who, as UBC director of access and diversity, heads up the planned washroom renovations) Mee said no budget has yet been set for the project, and would not comment on possible costs.
Bathroom needs became an issue last year after members of the university's Pride association, representing gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgendered students, raised safety concerns with Mee's department. She said transgendered students have reported feeling harassed or embarrassed when forced to use traditionally segregated bathrooms on campus. The university has now come up with its own gender-neutral design for the one-stall washrooms. Yet to be formally unveiled, the new symbol -- a silhouette of a toilet -- will identify the facility, rather than the people who use it, Mee said..
... For Hesham Alsalman, with UBC's Muslim Student Association, it was the opportunity his group has long waited for. For years, practising muslims at UBC such as Alsalman have gathered in public washrooms at Brock Hall up to five times each day to carefully wash their hands, face and feet in preparation for daily prayers. It's a necessary ritual, symbolizing the cleansing of body and soul prior to prayer, said Alsalman. ... It's not uncommon for water to spill all over the floor -- an inconvenience for everyone using the interfaith facility. ... The university is now considering installing custom-constructed ablution facilities that would allow Muslim students to perform the bathing ritual in a safer, more convenient environment.
"It's a very small and minor requirement," said Alsalman of the proposed facilities, which would be included in both the men's and women's washrooms at Brock Hall used by the 600-plus association members for prayers.
In May, Simon Fraser University in Burnaby became the first university in B.C. to include ablution, or wudu, facilities for Muslim students on its campus.
(emphasis added) |
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More on the constitutional clashes between religion and human rights in Canada at the excellent Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) Legal Resources link.
Link to this entry using
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1026#1026 |
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editor
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Posts: 878
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| Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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GREEN Religion - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
Construction is about faith alone... forget the math!
| Quote: | Canadian Geographic
Vancouver Real Estate Pumper
Hardly Better than a Freebie
Insert for the Recycling Bin
Queen of green
Inspired as a girl to make the world a little
more environmentally friendly, Cornelia Hahn
Oberlander has taken her cue from nature to
become Canada's premier landscape architect
and green-roof champion.
September/October, 2007
By Sarah Scott
| Quote: | ... The three-block-long park is planted on top of an office building that stretches between Robson Street and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Designed to look like a concrete sky-scraper lying on its side, the building houses the Provincial Law Courts, a UBC satellite campus and government offices. The roof has hanging gardens, pine trees and rhododendrons, three waterwalls to block out sounds of the city, plus a rink that was once iced over for skaters but is now used by skateboarders and salsa dancers. Robson Square, as it is known, has been celebrated for the interplay between the soft contours of Oberlander's roof garden and the sharp geometric lines of architect *Arthur Erickson's construction. It is a place where lawyers and provincial bureaucrats do their daily business, but it has also become an oasis for anyone seeking an escape from the city's concrete core.
Yet today, as she drives past lines of pink dogwoods loaded with blossoms, Oberlander knows her award-winning roof garden is not altogether intact. The trees, bushes and vines were uprooted from the building in early 2006. The roof had been leaking. It leaked so badly that the entire garden had to be replaced. Oberlander and Erickson insisted that at least 40 of the 101 mature trees - mostly pines, maples and dogwoods - be rescued, while the rest were composted. When the repairs are completed in 2008, the architects will have installed a $21 million green-roof system that should not leak.
... Some people in this coastal rainforest suspect green roofs are bound to leak... (emphasis added) (-- pgs. 88-89) |
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More on B.C. 'BILLIES' laughable, head-banging insistence on disastrous LEAKY rooftop garden experiments.
More toxic construction at UBC making workers sick - even at the hospital.
More Gambling Condo Buyers.
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1030#1030
Last edited by editor on Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:05 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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editor
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Posts: 878
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| Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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Assessing the value of human life - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
| Quote: | CKNW(AM980)
Radio News Online
Xiao Zhang has been arrested again.
Sept. 17/07
| Quote: | The 21-year-old man who served only four months of an 11-month sentence for killing a pedestrian in a hit-and-run crash last year. (emphasis added)
The Province newspaper says Zhang was arrested on Friday afternoon when a soccer team at Andy Livingstone Park in Vancouver allegedly caught him with a wallet and cellphone belonging to team members. Zhang struck and killed Doctor David Higgins of New Zealand in June of 2006, before speeding off. He was released on parole Aug. 28th. Vancouver police say they will seek a revocation of Zhang's parole. |
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See also Vancouver man sentenced to 11 months for hit-and-run posted April 17/07 at cbc.ca.
... Did we get the name of Zhang's lawyer? Brian Mickelson.
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1031#1031
Last edited by editor on Sat Jul 18, 2009 12:54 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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editor
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Posts: 878
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| Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:43 am Post subject: |
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'New UBC family medicine building making workers sick': CBC report
| Quote: | CBC Radio One
The Early Edition
Oct. 1/07
7:30 a.m.
| Quote: | | A report on the Early Edition this a.m. revealed that the brand new David Strangway building, home to UBC's Family Medicine Dept., is making workers sick with a potentially dangerous lack of oxygen, poor air quality and ventilation that pipes up food odors from the cafeteria, windows that reflect rather than filter light, and temperatures that often hover at a sweltering 35 degrees Celsius. We've contacted CBC, asking reporters to alert workers in the Strangway building to the fate of MRI technicians at UBC hospital who suffer long-term respiratory illnesses as a result of faulty ventilation installation during construction. Should workers remain in the building and risk serious long-term injury like the MRI techs? No, we sure don't think so, either. The next question, logically, is whether any of the MANY other new buildings at UBC are similarly affected. We'll continue to follow this story. Please check back soon for updates. |
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See New building making UBC's medical faculty sick, staff say posted at cbc.ca Oct. 1/07:
| Quote: | ... A recent check of the building by WorkSafeBC found it has only half the required amount of oxygen, and the windows reflect light inwards, creating a greenhouse effect. The Strangway building was finished two years ago, and staff members say the problems started shortly after the department of family practice moved in. David Adams, the department's research co-ordinator, said he falls asleep at his desk, gets constant headaches, dizzy spells and nausea, and can barely concentrate. "It's beyond the general displeasing odour having to walk into your office and feel like you're in a McDonald's fryer," Adams said on Friday. "I'm at the point now where I can't stand in a meeting for more than two minutes without having to sit down."
Dr. Bob Woollard, head of the department of family practice, said employees are missing an average of one day of work every two weeks.
After a year and half of correspondence and complaints, staff said WorkSafeBC ordered UBC Properties Trust, a UBC-owned private developer that manages the building, to solve the problem.
A consultant has been hired, but the problem persists, Woollard said. "We have clear direction from WorkSafeBC to fix this thing, and I think a year and a half later
people are getting very frustrated," said Woollard. |
Who authorized the creation of this 'trust,' we wonder, to whom do these employees answer and why isn't WorkSafe BC enforcing standards this long after its study?
More about MRI techs at UBC Hospital who became ill because of a ventilation error during construction.
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1033#1033
Last edited by editor on Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:00 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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editor
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Posts: 878
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| Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 10:58 am Post subject: |
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Proud to guard Canada's borders - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
cbc.ca/bc
News Source of Chequered
Quality
Student recruits unfit for service, say former border guards
Facebook postings show drinking and partying while officers in uniform
Oct. 1/07
| Quote: | Canada Border Services Agency officers who work in B.C. are being accused of posting inappropriate and offensive material, some of it directly related to their jobs, on the internet. The material includes jokes about guns and passports, an allegation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a "serial killer" and insults directed at French-speaking Canadians.
"It's just revolting what is being posted
and the lack of action to stop them from doing that," said Chris Hughes, a former border officer from Victoria who revealed the material, captured on Facebook and similar sites, to CBC News. The postings also raise questions about whether some of the people trusted to guard Canada's borders are qualified to keep out terrorists and other criminals, he said. "This is a huge security issue," said Hughes.
Hughes and his former colleague, Levan Turner, both in their 40s, worked summers at the border until the government decided not to hire them permanently. They claim they were passed over in favour of younger, cheaper, student recruits. Hughes claimed he has been tracking website postings by several of those recruits ever since. In numerous posted photos, new recruits are seen drinking and partying at a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) centre in Rigaud, Que., where they train to become full-time officers, on taxpayers' money.
One recruit wrote, "My tolerance for alcohol that I built up at Rigaud
is insane." (emphasis added)
... One photo, apparently taken in B.C., shows a Canada Border Services Agency officer drinking from a keg while in uniform. Consuming alcohol in uniform, on or off duty, is a direct violation of CBSA's code of conduct. Another alleged officer, also pictured in uniform on the web, posted responses to a quiz answering that she has cheated on a test, smoked pot and felt like killing someone. When a friend apparently asks her, online, if she has been issued a gun, the officer answers, "I think the prime minister should be getting on the phone, and calling a few people and getting that straightened up real quick," said Turner. The female officer also wrote: "I don't have a gun... YET!!! You will be the first one to hear about it when serial killer Harper gives me one." It seems she didn't like training in Quebec. In postings, the writer refers to the province as "the land of poutine and frog," and "f---ing French bastards.". (emphasis added)
"If they are playing around with Facebook, saying those things, what are they going to do when they get a gun?" asks Hughes. "What kind of jokes and pictures are they going to take with firearms?"
A male officer, who posted his CBSA job title as "Bad Ass," did post a picture of the type of gun he expects to get, with the caption, "Soon enough, baby. Soon enough." That same officer wrote he is "incredibly excited that he got to arrest someone again." There are pictures of men necking and holding each other down, apparently as a joke. The photos are labelled "Victoria Rape."
... "If you were a terrorist and you wanted to get into Canada," said Hughes, "come when the students first go on the job." Hughes said he has been sending letters of complaint to the CBSA and to Day for months. He claims most of his concerns have not been acknowledged.
... The Canada Border Services Agency circulated an internal memorandum to employees on Aug. 24, warning about their participating in social networking websites. "Even off-duty conduct becomes a work-related matter if it jeopardizes the agency's reputation or programs," said the memo obtained by CBC News. "For these reasons, we would like to remind you that inappropriate behaviour by employees on such websites could result in administrative and/or disciplinary action," it said. |
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editor
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Posts: 878
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| Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:10 am Post subject: |
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CBC.ca/bc
News Source of Chequered Quality
Vancouver police seek recruits with easy online survey
Oct. 4/07
| Quote: | You may be middle-aged, have just a high-school education, and exercise less than an hour a week, but don't rule out a career with the Vancouver Police Department.
As part of its new recruiting drive, police have posted an online survey where even the seemingly least qualified candidates are encouraged to apply. Const. Tim Fanning, shown earlier in 2007, says the online survey is designed to direct people already interested in policing to one of the department's information sessions. As it turns out, clicking the worst-possible answer under every category still doesn't disqualify you.
"Do you have what it takes to be one of Vancouver's finest?" is the question posed at the top of the survey, part of the VPD's push to hire 100 new police officers. The survey asks prospective recruits about a dozen questions on their age, education, leadership and security experience, fitness level and teamwork skills.
It turns out that somebody over 36, with just a high school education, no leadership or security experience, who barely exercises and may not work well with others, makes the first cut. (emphasis added) |
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1074#1074 |
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