Rafe Mair Online

J.M. Dent and Company, a publisher of antiquity if nothing else in Canada, has a lot to answer for. When I was a child they were the source of Canadian history and they did a lousy job. So did the Department of Education of the day – shall we say the late 30s?

I learned nothing of British Columbia’s history until I took a 2nd year course on that at UBC. Even then, I went into the world beyond knowing nothing of little BC history except as it related to the Hudson’s Bay Company.

If I were to go around BC offering $100 to any who could tell me the name of BC’s first premier in exchange for those who didn’t paying me $10 I’d be rich! Maybe not rich, but certainly better off than many of the business deals I’ve done.^*

From J.M. Dent and Company I learned about the Iroquois, Huron and Algonquin Indians including the heroics of Tecumseh. Continue Reading »

I note from the bad excuse for morning papers that ICBC is installing new cameras at intersections so they can take our pictures and fine us if we’re naughty. A paltry $23 million of our premiums will go towards this admirable effort to save us from ourselves.

My first reaction was “how do they get the authority of a policeman” but realized they must have it somewhere and, besides, I think it’s marvelous. I also hear that the police want to do spot road tests for drinking drivers. Sort of like shooting hostages – stop a bunch of traffic and select victims at random. Both of these government moves will be pooh-poohed by civil libertarians who will insist that our privacy is being invaded by the cameras and that police are only supposed to test where they have “reasonable and probable grounds” before they do. Continue Reading »

For some reason one of the main arguments against some form of proportional representation is that it invariably means minority governments and often means that it takes a long time to form a government after an election as parties negotiate towards a coalition. This fear is unjustified.

Let’s deal with minority governments first.

What’s the matter with having a situation where the premier and cabinet must have their legislation tested by the entire legislature instead of, as now, where the government tables the legislation, goes through formal “debates” which are not debates at all, before cramming it through? There is a great myth abroad that we have debates in the Legislature. We have no such thing – at least we certainly didn’t have any the five years I was there.

When the bill is tabled, it may or not be called for “debate” depending on the government’s wish. When the government does call a debate there is a period where the opposition, limited to 20 minutes per speaker, can say what it doesn’t like about it in principle. Most of the time the government doesn’t bother to put up more than one or two speakers. The opposition can nominate one speaker who speaks without time limit which is the time the “poor” designated speaker battles the evil forces until exhausted. If the government gets tired of listening, it brings in closure and that ends it. Continue Reading »