British Columbians as sheep rant #1 · Wednesday April 16, 2008 by colin newell
When it comes to taking a fleecing, it seems that no one bends over more quickly (for the man with the scissors) than the average British Columbian.
I mean – we love being taken to the cleaners… and I am not entirely sure why? Living on the West Coast in a haze of pot smoke could not possibly account for all of the passive behavior… or could it?
Take the price of gas. It can go up 3 to 5 cents in a day and there is nary a whimper from the general public… alright, maybe there are faint little bleats from the average British Columbian… but nothing sustained.
It is simple. We are all gutless, two stomached, masticating wimps in furry lavender soaked coats.
Now take todays news for a moment. The B.C. Ferries Board (whatever the heck that is…) have just voted themselves a 60% raise… pretty much out of your ruminant pockets. And before ewe get your trotters all a-twitter (as if!) how about a few more details? The board chair, Elizabeth J. Harrison, received a pay raise on April 1, when the pay hike went into effect, from $105,000 to $140,000 a year. Five new members were appointed to the 13-member board on April 11.
On April 1, BC Ferries hiked fares by an average of 7.3 per cent on the three major routes connecting Vancouver Island to the Lower Mainland and an average of four per cent on the remaining routes.
The company said the “fare increases are necessary due to the rising cost of fuel as well as operating and capital expenditures.”
I wonder what this Province of lamb-chops will do about it…
apart from uttering…
Baa
Humbug.
B.C. transit use of taser shocking · Tuesday April 15, 2008 by colin newell
I ride the B.C. transit system in Vancouver any time that I am in the city –
Bus, Train or Seabus – It’s the only way to go in a city choked by single vehicle traffic.
But what is this that I hear via the CBC? B.C. Transit Cops are using taser weapons on fare scofflaws?
The CBC website reports – Transit police have fired Tasers 10 times since January last year, and three cases involved non-violent suspects, according to internal police reports obtained by CBC News using access to information laws.
In one case, a person ran from transit cops during a check for free-riders and “the Taser was deployed as the subject fled,” the documents say. Another person who didn’t pay the fare was arrested but “grabbed onto the platform railing and refused to let go … the Taser was deployed.”
I ride the “trolley” or diesel buses regularly and drivers are explicitly instructed not to be fare regulators or police – as a result, there is lots of abuse. On the Trains it is another matter. Transit cops are there for some good reasons. The additional visibility of a peace officer on a system only mildly beset with violent incidents is a plus. But why the additional firepower in an already peaceful environment?
Have we learned nothing from the Vancouver International Airport incident when a confused and dehydrated Robert Dziekanski was tasered and died?
The officers on B.C. transit should not have these weapons.
Comments?
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Living with the health mullahs of British Columbia · Monday April 7, 2008 by colin newell
I am a non-smoker.
And as I wander past the Old Morris Tobacconist, on Government Street – Victoria, like hundreds of times over the last 25 years, I slow down to take in the wonderful smell of leathery tobacco and cigar products – merchandise that represents of all things: Being Male!
My wife even muses, “If you had the occasional cigar… I would be OK with it…”
Thank you, dear wife! This is one (of many) reasons why I love you so much: From time to time (but not too often), she lets me make up my own mind.
Not so in the province of British Columbia! God forbid we actually use our heads occasionally. Oh no. This society wants, no it needs, to be protected from decision making. We need to be protected… from ourselves. And the World around us.
And I here I am, walking past the tobacco shop… for the 4000th time in as many Saturdays of years gone by. Still not tempted. What I do love about adult products in this (apparently) adult World is knowing, at any time, I can have a flight of whimsy and turn right (or left) into the Old Morris and buy myself a big, fat and unhealthy cigar, pipe or cigarette.
Because the ability to see temptation and make up my own mind… Well, it is a wonderful thing. Because God… or whoever she is, gave us the ability to think these sweet temptations out and make up our own minds.
And although I have had the odd cigar and cigarette in my 40 plus years on the Planet, I have not been a regular (or irregular) consumer of tobacco products.
Now, after all these years of luscious free will, the glass windows at the front of Old Morris Tobacconists at 1116 Government St. have been frosted over. Owner-operator Rick Arora knows its not enough – he leaves the doors open. It is part of the draw… part of the experience of letting us make up our own minds.
But that has been taken away. Tobacco products in stores, like Rick’s Old Morris, have been forced to cover-up. Ostensibly to protect us and our children… from the evils of tobacco. New word: To-Burqa – meaning the shrouding of any tobacco product or smoking accessory.
So how about this… To those other Government Street tourist traps that taunt me: Enough with the vanilla waft of the waffle cone vendors! Take those ice cream cones out of the window!
And finally, a message to all grocery stores: How about covering up those displays of candy bars and junk food? I have never been able to resist the siren song of the Salt and Pepper potato chip… or peanut and chocolate in a deliciously satisfying bar.
And don’t get my started on all those coffee shops!
The mind. It was meant to be used… and tuned along the way. Do not let the government take yours away.
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Big obnoxious employer rant #1 · Monday February 4, 2008 by colin newell
I am a solid Union man from way back. At some point in my career I was the Chief Steward and Vice-president of a Union that represented several thousand employees…
at a (in my opinion) very fair employer in Victoria.
I feel Unions totally have a place in large companies that employ hundreds of people or more.
Where I do not feel Unions fit in are small Mom and Pop operations, small businesses in general. In todays economy, there are so many jobs to pick from that most employers live up to their obligations and follow the rules.
Enter The Overwaitea Food Group.
The Overwaitea Food Group, which also runs Save-On-Foods and Urban Fare, made the demand for two-hour shifts as it began negotiating a new contract with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
2 hour shifts. Where in this economy, in this Province, in this time in Earth history do we need 2 hour shifts for employees? What is the Overwaitea Food Group thinking?
What about the labor code you ask? Shortly after coming into power in 2001, the Liberal government changed the provincial minimum shift from four hours to two hours. Thank-you Gordon Campbell. The same Gordon Campbell that broke international law and Canadian human rights when he tore up legitimate contracts with the Health care industry. This same Gordon Campbell government got walloped in Canadian Supreme court who said: “No, no, no!” to the flagrant and unjustified bend in the rules.
The union representing the food workers also stated that Overwaitea wants union members to pay part of their own benefits, and the grocery giant wants to be able to convert any store to a PriceSmart outlet — with the matching reduction in contract language. Geeze.
Overwaitea and Save-On-Foods are owned by the Jim Pattison Group, Canada’s third-largest privately owned company, with $6.3 billion in sales in 2005, according to its website… Jimmy Pattison was previously mentioned in an earlier blog on outdoor Billboards in Toronto where more than 1/2 the Billboards on the streets of Toronto are unlicensed and illegally installed.
Way to go Jimmy!
Now play fair and make nice with your loyal workers!
