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Why Hospitalizing Sexual Predators Is Not Mollycoddling

Oct 4th, 2011 by

Remember, the goal is to protect society and deal with a dangerous sickness.

Today, a doubleheader.

First to my MP, John Weston (West Vancouver – Sunshine Coast – Sea-to-Sky Country).

Dear Mr. Weston,

I want to direct your intention to how sexual predators will be dealt with under your criminal law proposals, and point out that this is an area that requires leadership, not just braying to public prejudices.

Back when I was a young law student, rape was a hanging offense and guess what the unintended consequence of that was — rapists murdered their victims because it got rid of the principal witness and you could only hang once.

Sexual offenses against youngsters are so appalling that society expresses its massive rage and disgust — understandably so — and in doing so, creates two horrible unintended consequences that could and should be erased by the stroke of a pen. Continue Reading »

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Clark’s Answer to Deepening Debt: Pretend Shipping Tar Sands to China Means “Jobs” for BC

Sep 27th, 2011 by

Christy Clark, aka Premier Photo-Op, has a big mess on her hands – but, fear not, she’ll let us all muck about in it.

The government is in deepening debt and Ms. Clark can’t pretend that it’s a mystery how that came about. While there are many causes the principal one is that the government didn’t see the Recession coming and, when it came, went into denial. The budget of 2009 with which they proudly went to the polls was an utter and deliberate sham. Ditto the HST.

How is Clark going to deal with this?

Easy – Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

And where will those jobs come from?

In part from exports to China. Apparently Premier Clark hasn’t heard that China has its own Recession going, Big Time. Their banking system is essentially the government and only looks good on paper because the US owes them so much. Their mega-projects, especially the Three Gorges Dam, have become serious fiscal problems. Continue Reading »

Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 6 Comments »

In the path of the Vikings: Norway, Shetland, Faroe, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland

Sep 26th, 2011 by

Back in my radio days I would always do a bit of a travelogue after a trip. I haven’t done so for many years but the cruise Wendy and I just took was so extraordinary I thought you might like to hear about. It – including a couple of dodgy bits none of which detracted for a moment from the joy the trip gave us.

We were to sail on September 3 out of Dover which meant a flight from Vancouver to Gatwick thence to the ship. We flew Air Transat which we’d done before and the flight was fine – it was the baggage. As we were to be away 3 weeks we had two full cases and two full carry-ons and to make a long story short were dinged nearly $500! Lest you think we took our rock collection with us, when we returned via Air Canada there was no add-on, simply baggage tags saying “heavy”. Evidently when Charter carriers give baggage limits, believe them!

We got to London at 6:45AM and our pre-arranged car was there and waiting. The trip to Dover would cost 120 pounds by train and would have involved a lot of heavy lifting. Our car cost us 98 pounds which gave us a lovely car and a driver who did all the lifting. The company is Airport Pickups London, 011 44 20 8688 7744.

We stayed at a really neat hotel in St Margaret’s Bay called The White Cliffs Hotel which had a superb dining-room. At dinner we had what turned out to be a great bonus – Judy Crater, whom we didn’t know, came to our table having overheard that we were sailing on the Sojourn vessel the Sojourn and introduced herself. Husband Dick arrived and we agreed to share a cab to the ship. They became our dinner companions on the trip, we did some excursions and we became very good friends. The Craters live near Boston, were Democrats, and we soon found that our politics were in the same ballpark (dinner tables can become unpleasant when there is always a political argument in the wings). We also had a common interest in healthcare, Judy and Wendy being nurses, Dick a retired Hospital CEO and I Minister of Health. We’re all baseball fans and our new Boston friends politely refrained from talking hockey. In this spirit I kept my comments about the faltering Red  Sox to a minimum! Happily we’ll get together again in early 2012 in New York City.

Let me tell you about Seabourn – it is all-inclusive so there is no concern about tipping, The Sojourn only took 400 passengers, and it had that indefinable feeling of “laid back” about it. Dinner is when you want it with the choice of three restaurants and excellent food. Neither Dick nor I are small men and we’re both diabetic meaning a battle to lose weight and lower blood sugar numbers when we got home!

Wendy and I have cruised in most parts of the world except the North Atlantic so when our Cruise Specialist, Brandon Biss of Cruise Web sent us the info on the Seabourn trip we signed up.

Here is the itinerary: Start in Dover, then Leith (Edinburgh) Bergen, Norway, Lerwick (Shetland), Faroe Islands, Heimaey Island, Iceland, Greenland, L’Anse Aux Meadows, cruise down the St Lawrence finishing in Quebec City. Continue Reading »

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A User’s Guide to Rafe Mair

Sep 20th, 2011 by

Ten things to know about the inner workings of your columnist’s operating system.

I write this column with the uneasy feeling that no one gives a damn, yet I think people who read a columnist have a right to know what makes the writer tick. Or belch for that matter — something I often do when digesting news from Victoria and Ottawa. And so here’s a handy user’s guide to Rafe Mair’s worldview:

1. Journalism. As the late Denny Boyd said, I’m not a journalist but (particularly in my radio days) have strived to be a cross-examiner. I see my mandate (self-imposed to be sure) as a prod who constantly holds the establishment’s feet to the fire.

I know from experience how spinmeisters work — they lie through their teeth. The media also lies like dogs but their method is to remain silent on things that adversely reflect on their good friends, the establishment. One need only look at the appalling media reportage on environmental issues. Continue Reading »

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Public Can’t Rely on Government Processes to Stop Tankers and Pipelines

Sep 19th, 2011 by

This is the third part of a three part series on civil dissent.

In the last article I discounted the possibility that any hearing into the Enbridge pipelines or tanker traffic, to and out of Kitimat and Vancouver would dare stop these projects. I considered and rejected, without saying so, any intervention by the federal procedures, specifically the National Energy Board’s Federal Panel Review which held against the Taseko proposal at Fish Lake. I don’t believe for one moment that this Panel would put an end to the pipelines permanently but at most would attach conditions. Since there are no environmental conditions that would prevent horrendous and permanent damage to our environment, the NEB, will, at most, be a slowing down process.

Assuming that the pipelines and tankers are supported by both the federal and provincial governments I don’t believe that any review panel would have the jam to reject the projects outright (nor can it, in fact – it only has the power to make recommendations to the Minister of Environment, who has the final say) but most surely would use the weasel word “mitigation”, where no mitigation is possible or acceptable. Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 1 Comment »

When Civil Disobedience is Justified

Sep 13th, 2011 by

Actress/activist Daryl Hannah being arrested at a recent protest in Washington, DC, to stop the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline from the Tar Sands to Texas

Last week I advised that we must be prepared to lie down in front of machinery aimed at creating the pipelines from the Tar Sands to Kitimat and, as I fully expected, got some heat.

We have to face this question before we get into morality and legality issues – why do you suppose that there is no public process dealing with the merits of this idea?

The answer is simple: the Campbell/Clark and Harper Governments know that we won’t try to physically stop the undertaking, so why bother holding meaningful hearings? To do so would raise the expectation that we care and would listen.

I realize that the above is cynical but cynicism has been Campbell/Clark’s hallmark since they took office in 2001, announced that the NDP had left us in penury and promptly gave over a billion in tax cuts to the well off. Continue Reading »

Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | No Comments »

Will Violent Protest Rock BC?

Sep 9th, 2011 by

That can happen when government shuts citizens out of critical decisions.

The world abounds in wake-up calls but, as Sinclair Lewis wrote, “It can’t happen here.”

Or can it?

All over the world, citizens are taking to the streets and although the issues vary, there is an underlying theme — the government isn’t paying attention and the corporations, as usual, are lying.

Citizens against a large pipeline gather in rage in front of the White House.

Throughout the streets of the Middle East there are rebellions taking place. Continue Reading »

Posted in The Tyee | 6 Comments »

Tar Sands Pipelines: Our Moment of Truth

Sep 8th, 2011 by

I’m writing this in Bergen, Norway, after a cruise from Leith (Edinburgh) Scotland that took us past many oil rigs – giving pause to remember that we’re as dependent on oil as we ever were – in fact, perhaps more so. A day or two ago I read in an article in the Guardian Weekly how the US, by growing corn for methane gas for cars, was contributing to starvation in the Horn of Africa. I thought of the passionate embracing of weaning ourselves off carbon fuels done by our governments as they rush to help Alberta further screw up the environment. While this is going on, I watch as president Obama wrestles with the long Trans-Canada pipeline from the Tar Sands to the Gulf of Mexico as celebrities march their way into jail in protest.

I reflect. We are, I think, at the moment of truth. Either we stop these pipelines or the environmental movement becomes like unions were under communism – pallid burlesques of what we once were, now reduced to patronizing speeches by corporations and governments when they feel the need for some fuzzy warmness from the inert masses that now do precisely as they are told. Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | No Comments »

Precautionary Principle Missing in Protecting Wild Salmon

Sep 7th, 2011 by

Alexandra Morton and her small team have had the daunting task of searching through 500,000 documents for the Cohen Commission into disappearing Fraser sockeye – most of which had only been released after the Provincial Government and salmon farmers did everything possible to keep them secret.

This government, of all governments, tried to say that releasing the disease audits of the farms would betray privacy and I’m sure they were right – the privacy of the government departments and Norwegian fish farm companies that should have made these documents available long ago. Many of these documents may implicate fish farms in the loss of sockeye and were from the days when the provincial government carried that portfolio.

I’m sure this question has occurred to you: What right have the governments to withhold documents from the public they are elected to serve? Where the hell was Premier Photo-Op? Why didn’t she simply order that these be released (that is, before she felt compelled to do an about face at the last minute, under pressure from the media covering the Inquiry)? Same question for Prime Minister Harper who, after all, set up the Cohen Commission. Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | No Comments »

HST Down, Christy Clark to Follow

Aug 30th, 2011 by

Cartoon by Ingrid Rice.

Here’s why I am hoping the premier calls an election as soon as possible.

In spite of every dirty trick in the politician’s bag, the HST was voted down.

What will that mean for the early election that Christy Clark promised in May upon winning her seat in Point Grey? The defeat of the HST probably means we’ll have to wait instead.

Which is too bad. I hope Premier Clark goes ahead and calls an election at the earliest possible date. This is the rottenest government in my (long) experience, and I have no doubt that voters will agree. Let’s find out, the sooner the better.

I voted Yes to do away with the HST, but made it clear that it was for two reasons. Continue Reading »

Posted in The Tyee | No Comments »

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