How many people has the Campbell government killed with needless infections

As a result of privatization of cleaning services in our BC hospitals people are dying,since 2003 .....153.000 hours of reduced cleaning hours annually has led to more infections,germs and any savings on the cleaning end are dwarfed by increased medical costs incurred trying to save people`s lives, the elderly and the weak are being slaughtered, I would like you to look into Gordon Campbell`s eyes and ask him why?

Study after study has made a direct link with reduced hours of cleaning,poorly trained low paid staff will result in more germs and infections. Gordon Campbell after lying in the 2001 BC election tore up the HEU contract and fired the lowest paid staff,the largest mass firing of woman in Canadian history, these workers weren`t getting rich, their average wage was 15.00$ per hour, these workers kept our hospitals clean.

In 2003 Gordon Campbell privatized the cleaning services to Aramark.......And it didn`t take long for things to get dirty, so instead of employees earning enough money to live a half decent life the Aramark workers were paid 8.00 to 10.00 per hour, minimum wage, these workers didn`t care,a dead end job, poorly trained and having to deal with human waste,blood,vomit and other pathagens.Request after request was made to Aramark and health authorities through freedom of information for documents and hard numbers on the amount of cleaning that was going on, yet Aramark and the health authorities blocked and denied, finally the freedom of information officer ORDERED the RELEASE of said documents,and why did interested parties want this information,simple,people are dying,viruses,flesh eating disease,norvwalk virus,staph infections were up throughout BC hospitals. Late 2006, 3 and 1/2 years after requesting a uncensored version of the business case and others related documents we got some answers.

The numbers jumped off the page, 153.000 less cleaning hours per year, poorly trained staff,high staff turnover because of low wages,minimal cleaning, and even when there was a infectious outbreak a call had to be be placed with regional offices and then and only then would more intensive cleaning take place,and it was at 57.00$ per hour,money that wasn`t going to poorly trained workers, cleaning hours were reduced by on average 15% and germs and infections were up by 17% on average across the board, there could only be one result of those numbers, people were and still are dying needlessly in BC hospitals and nursing homes!

(Read more here) http://cupe.ca/privwatchfeb08/Privatization_deal_s

Study after study has proven that outsourcing cleaning services of hospitals and nursing homes to private for profit corporations has been nothing but a disaster,Scotland,Britain,Spain,you name any jurisdiction that went this route and you will discover it has been nothing but a failure, it`s a fools game, save a few bucks on cleaning only to have people die,the cost of fighting flesh eating disease and pushing back these outbreaks ends up costing health authorities more money in the long run, and the saddest part,needless deaths,healthy people coming out of a hospital sicker than when they went in!(read about these failed privatizations here) http://cupe.ca/updir/cleaning_and_infection_control.pdf

When I was dying in St Mary`s hospital a couple years back the hospital was very crowded, there was a pneumonia outbreak on the sunshine coast, many seniors were ill, in the crowded hospital they placed me and 5 seniors in a linen closet,that`s right a linen closet, a room about 20 feet by 10 feet, I wasn`t a senior but that`s the room I ended up in, they thought I was going to die so who cares right, anyways, one of the seniors got up one evening to go to the bathroom and didn`t make it, they made a big smelly mess in our room, I buzzed for a nurse,when the nurse came she noticed the mess, she said there are no cleaners in the hospital, it would have to wait until the cleaning service makes it (once a day only) cleaning round tomorrow, I said to the nurse that`s crazy, she went on to tell me that to get an extra cleaning the hospital administration would have to call a regional office and request an additional expensive cleaning, and with budget restrictions this was rarely done...!

Well,WHATEVER.....The nurse left, I.....barely fffing able to breathe got up, went to a bathroom,grabbed soap and several towels and cleaned the mess up myself. By the time I left the hospital (because only the good die young) the staff loved me, I sort of turned into a unpaid patient employee assisting the old darlings in our linen closet.

Which brings me to some more shocking news from the Nanaimo hospital, it turned out there was a very serious infectious outbreak last year, 3 people died,90 others infected, a cleaning blitz was done after the fact,after the deaths to try and knock down the germs, a CDC (center for disease control)investigation was launched, and that investigation was completed last spring, yet the Campbell administration and the health authorities held back the report,that`s right,they held back the report and findings until after the election, the Gordon Campbell administration is playing with people`s lives, people are dying and premier butterfly is worried about any optics that would shine a unfavourable light on the BC government! And exactly what was in that report from the CDC.....

CDC report said the hospital was too over crowded, not enough hand washing facilities, and increases to cleaning and housekeeping practices were imperative, in other words the outbreak was completely preventable!

And what did VIHA have to say about ignoring multiple FOI requests for the report, "we had to temper our response"......We wanted to "provide context" before releasing the report........

What kind of bullshit is that, the CDC releases a report months before the election and VIHA refuses to honour legitimate FOI request, all in the name of protecting the Campbell government and to curry favour....What the hell is going on in this province.(read about the stall from government and VIHA here)

http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=3b6b2fe2-e664-4c3d-84e2-f00f38a59f70

In a subsequent story I read in the Times Colonist yesterday,(read it here)

http://www.timescolonist.com/health/Victoria+cleanliness+found+wanting+audit/2037408/story.html

The Nanaimo hospital is now ranked as one of the cleanest on the island after appropriate cleaning regimen was done,it ranked with a score of 91.61...The only other facility on Vancouver island that had a better score on cleanliness was the hospital in Port Alberni with a score of 92.28, which just happens to have their cleaning done IN HOUSE, by regular staff,is it just me or does anyone else see the significance of that, the best cleaning on the island is done by regular staff,not Aramark.It tells me the outbreak at Nanaimo general hospital was completely preventable in the first place.Who wants to explain to the families of the deceased 3 and 90 others that were infected that things should of been done better in Nanaimo?

What possible reason could there have been to delay and deny the CDC report except for political reasons, the VIHA needed to say but one thing, we are over crowded, we need to be cleaner,more hand washing,more proper housekeeping and we are NOW DOING OUR BEST TO MEET THE HIGHEST STANDARDS REGARDLESS OF THE FINANCIAL COST BECAUSE PATIENT SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT TO VIHA........

That should of been the appropriate response from VIHA about the CDC report, politics aside.

In my opinion The Gordon Campbell administration is by neglect,outsourcing,political interference and withholding public information is killing people.

Lastly, it has come to my attention that the Campbell Government has cut 13 members of the FOI department, the Campbell government already has the worst record in Canada on releasing documents and information through FOI....Now it`s only going to get worse(read about that story here)

http://www.timescolonist.com/business/Critics+fear+staff+cuts+government+will+delays/2039101/story.html

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

Gordon Campbell has turned the legislature into a joke

Bill 2-2009........budget measures implementation act (no.2) 2009

Lets talk about the BC legislature and how the Campbell administration has turned it into a sick joke.

This bill that is working it`s way through the legislature allows the government to run deficits until 2013.......And if you read the bill the first thing that comes to my mind is this.....On the top of the page on the right hand side it has...: Honourable Colin Hansen-Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier: ....I know there is protocol but that word Honourable needs to go, the honourable minister,the honourable premier, there isn`t any honour among the BC Liberals,John Les still under investigation,John Von Dongen had to step aside, Gordon Campbell is a proven liar and proven lawbreaker, Hansen and Campbell lied about the HST, they lied about the deficit, the honourable premier has lied so many times I have lost track.....If Gordon Campbell is to be addressed as honourable then so should Jamie Bacon, the cops who tasered Dzenski, Kenneth Lay of Enron fame because they all have something in common, they are bold faced liars.

So here this bill is presented so Campbell can run deficits and ministers don`t lose any pay but, these bills that the Campbell government bring in are never stand alone bills, you see this whole "LAW" that said BC can`t run deficits is a sick joke, every time Campbell and Hansen run deficits they run to the legislature and submit a get out of jail free card, because as you know the (no deficits allowed bill) was already repealed last febuary, at that time Campbell brought in an amendment to run deficits for two years, now he is re-breaking this law again by bringing in another amendment to run deficits for four years.....Sheesh......What I mean by a "Stand alone bill" is this, the NDP are going to vote against this bill and they should, how childish and immature can we get as a province, it`s like writing a bill that says Gordon Campbell is forbidden by law to shit his pants, well what happens when Campbell shits his pants again, hopefully he puts on clean underwear....This bill is a joke.

So the result of the NDP voting against this bill is this, the BC Liberals will be saying that the NDP voted against tax cuts for BCers....Because any putrid bill that Campbell brings forward there is always a teenee weenee little tax cut in it, the tax cut in this bill amounts to about 50$ per working BCer....yet there are changes to the carbon tax in this bill as well, changes that will cost people money.

The legislature-Question period, what is the point of question period when Liberal ministers won`t answer any questions, for example...Dawn Black asked Kash Heed if he would restore 44.000,00 $ in funding to a very successful group that helps prevent domestic violence, Kash Heed responded .." I have seen domestic violence first hand and it`s terrible" .......The supplemental follow up question from Black was ... I`m glad you care about domestic violence but will you restore the funding for this group....to which Kash Heed went on about how he has entered homes of victims of domestic violence to see children crying and their mother laying there dead, but not one word in his response about restoring funding.

If these are the answers the public can expect to get from the Campbell government what is the point in asking questions, it`s childish and non-productive,now back to bill 2-2009 budget measures implementation act(no.2) 2009 ....(you can read the bill here)http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th1st/1st_read/gov02-1.htm

What is the point of the no deficit law, the government has no control over deficits, I am totally offended by this bill, are we children, shouldn`t MLAs on the government side and ministers stand up and say this is stupid, shouldn`t the media be laughing over this bill

This bill wasted a week of legislative time already in this session, this same bill (act 1) wasted money last febuary, three days of arguing about a bill to break the no deficit law. How much money did it cost the tax-payer to call that emergency session last febuary, all the MLAs being flown to the island, all the legislative staff all called in and for what, would anyone out there let children get away with this let alone our elected leaders, yet bills that should of been debated don`t get debated at all, like the carbon tax bill, it was rammed through the legislature in the 2008 spring session in the last hour,along with 5 other garbage bills, 6 bills rammed through the legislature in one hour without debate and weeks of wasted debate on a bill that isn`t worth the paper it`s written on.

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

Canwest Global and Kash Heed,both pathetic losers

Watching Global news tonight two things became very apparent, Canwest Global is bordering on criminal reporting and Kash Heed is a useless son of a bitch!

You think I`m being harsh? I think I`m being kind, we the public can only be lied to so often before we explode, what kind of racket is Leonard Asper running, it`s bad enough they have that dork Steve Darling in the morning talking about his golf game, but cmon, Canwest should post a qualifier before every newscast, it should go something like this : We here at Canwest Global can`t honestly say that any of our stories are accurate, almost every story that has do with government or Translink has been provided by the BC Liberals public affairs bureau.

Let me lay out the story, first off I wasn`t going to post a story tonight but after watching the late news I changed my mind, I wish to set the record straight.

Global news ran a story about the golden ears bridge, the story started out about a couple who was vacationing in Manitoba and when they got home and looked at their bill for tolls on the golden ears bridge and they discovered they were charged for three crossing over the bridge when they were out of province,apparently some of the Translink transponders are defective.......They didn`t dwell on that part of the story too long, then the night host (blondie),what`s her name said ....Translink is making a fortune on the golden ears bridge, Translink made 2.1 million on tolls in august...Snip

Well as you know I was critical of Kirk lapointe and the Vancouver sun over their story two days ago : Golden ears bridge is a goldmine: I totally dissected that story,chewed it up and spit it out,it was garbage, trash reporting....But tonight Global news took that story and inflated it even more, 2.1 million in tolls Translink made in august, FALSE....They made half that amount of money and the short term bit of money Translink is making on that bridge completely vanishes in 4 months and in 9 months they start losing over a million per month. (Read my story here)http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2009/09/kirk-lapointe-and-vancouver-sun-are.html

Which brings me to the useless puppet Kash Heed, should I cut him some slack, no bloody way, the man is the ex west vancouver chief of police, he is not supposed to be fluff master, he is supposed to be the top cop and what has he talked about since the election, Text messaging ban....and he had two appearances on Global news tonight, his first news spot he was telling people to "slow down and relax, I know people are in a hurry but with all the road construction please slow down and take your time" and his second appearance on Global news tonight he weighed in on how there is not much that can be done to collect the money from fare evasion tickets.

Well let me fill you in Kash Heed, your the top cop, your number one duty is public safety, lets talk crime, lets just talk about crime in the last week alone........

Two people shot in west Vancouver, a body discovered in a suspicious car fire, a shooting in Vancouver, a murdered unidentified body in Maple Ridge today, a murdered person`s body discovered in a park in Merritt today, a deranged killer who walked away from a medical facility two days ago, a woman who was savagely beaten in Whally last week, and for good measure a couple of stabbings.

Where are the task forces,what happened to the election promise of taking back our streets, several cities want the new prison built in their district, including Delta and Vancouver, why hasn`t construction started? Just what the hell have you and Mike De Jong done since the election, thrown your hands up on the Bountiful child abusers, the election is over,you never intended to pursue it at all, Wally Oppal made sure it got tossed out by making a first year law graduate mistake,and what else, cell phone ban in cars eventually, and you clowns are wasting time and money trying to make everyone shut the hell up with a gag law!

What about murder Kash Heed, what are you going to do? where are the resources, not one press conference on violent crimes that are occurring daily, if that`s the best you can do Kash Heed I suggest you ask for a different portfolio, like minister of butt kissing,or minister in charge of connecting the strings to the backs of BC liberal MLAS......

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

Where is the other half of our infrastructure money?

A good news announcement, Gordon Campbell has finally accessed SOME of BCs allotted infrastructure money, but my question to the Campbell government is this, where is the other half?

719 million in infrastructure projects to be done in BC, in reading the some of the sketchy details on the deal I have many questions, mainly where is the rest of it, according to the Vancouver Sun article the federal government is kicking in 244 million dollars......The province of BC is kicking in 233 million dollars and municipalities are kicking in 242 million dollars. BC was allotted roughly 500 million in infrastructure money from the federal government, which means to access this money the province would have to kick in 500 million dollars and towns and cities would have to kick in 500 million dollars.



So where is the other 250 million from the federal government and the other 250 million dollars from the provincial government?



As you know to get this money these infrastructure projects must be completed by march/2011.......just over 18 months from now.

Now from what I gather from other stories about the delays in getting this money is that Gordon Campbell didn`t want to have this money added to the provincial debt, Campbell wanted the provincial contribution of this money put on the capital debt side of the ledger rather than the operating debt side of the ledger, in other words Campbell wanted to put the debt onto his over bloated credit card,our BC credit card but the federal government said NO, the feds said to access this money it had to be put on the operating debt for each province, so two things have happened today, the provincial debt will have risen today by 233 million dollars bringing the BC debt for the current fiscal year to 3.8 billion dollars, less 750 million that was deducted from the debt by applying the federal bribe to bring in the HST tax.

But what about the other 250 million of federal money? Unless Gordon Campbell agrees to match that money BC will lose it, and that means adding another 250 million dollars to BCs deficit, Campbell could perhaps wait until the next fiscal year to add 250 million to the deficit but that creates a problem, if Campbell does that then municipalities would have less than a year to start and complete these projects, because as you know these projects must be completed by march of 2011.

So what is the deal? Is Gordon Campbell going to let these dollars get away from BC in order to try and keep the deficit down? Is Gordon Campbell still trying to create a made in BC special deal? Or is it that BC lost a large share of our federal infrastructure money in lieu of having the federal government pick-up a large percentage of the 2010 olympic security bill? (you can read the Vancouver sun article here)http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Feds+province+announce+million+infrastructure+projects/2029448/story.html

I would like answers to these questions, also in reading the list of projects that have been approved I noticed there is lots of highway work, not new highways but what appears to be lots of maintenance work,like repaving of roads and money spent on BC ferry infrastructure.(read about the projects here)http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2009-2013/2009PREM0038-000403.htm

Now I`m glad these projects are going to be done but don`t you think that re-paving of roads and BC ferry projects are the responsibility of the ministry of transportation and the responsibility of the quasi private corporation of BC Ferries?

Anyways, I will wait patiently for the opposition(NDP)to ask these questions,especially about where is the other half of the infrastructure money.

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

Looking for 1000 volunteers to drag Gordon Campbell out of office

The initiative, the recall campaign,the anti HST rally, they will probably all fail, but don`t fear my friends,revenge is a dish best served cold, the HST will kill the BC Liberal party but I would like to get a little more personal, lets get a 1000 volunteers to personally canvass the Point Grey riding.

Recall can only take place 18 months after the provincial election and by then the HST will have been enacted, but with all the anger out there recalling the premier should be a snap, here is what we must do.

1. as of november 15/2010 we can pay a 50$ fee and submit a statement to the chief electoral officer,we must submit in writing the reason we want to recall the MLA in that electoral district,the application must be 200 words or less.



2. After the chief electoral officer receives our application he/or she will send us an application.



3. Once we receive the petition from the chief electoral officer we will have 60 days to to sign up 40% of the voters who were registered to vote in that electoral district and are currently registered to vote in BC.



4. we may be helped by volunteers to collect signatures,there is no limit to the amount of volunteers we can deploy.



5. BC elections then checks the validity of the signatures collected and this process must be completed within 42 days of its presentation.



6. If confirmed the MLA or in this case, the premier ceases to hold office and a bi-election is called.

Here are the voting numbers for the Point Grey riding for the 2009 provincial election.

1. Gordon Campbell--50.38%.......11.556 votes


2. sex party---------------0.57%.........130 votes


3. Green party-----------8.78%--------2012 votes


4. NDP-Mel Lehan-----40.28%------9.232 votes

As you can see by those results that Gordon Campbell wasn`t that popular in his own riding, to get this recall going in Point Grey should be child`s play, we don`t even need one BC Liberal voter to pull it off,yet I am sure that a large percentage of voters who voted for the liar(Gordon Campbell) would gladly sign the recall petition.

You see folks we can do this, with a 1000 volunteers working together to gather signatures we could canvass the entire Point Grey riding in days, there were only roughly 23000 votes cast in total for the riding, to sign up everyone would only require each volunteer to collect 23 signatures, and that would be all the voters, to meet the criteria for elections BC.....The 40% mark would only require collecting 9200 signatures......that would work out to 10 signatures per volunteer.

HST or not, how many of you would get great pleasure in having Gordon Campbell being the first and only premier ever to be removed from office, Gordon Campbell`s ego is so bloated,so important is his legacy, imagine the pleasure of having Gordon Campbell`s career being sullied by removal,the history books, Canadian political history on recall and there would be Gordon Campbell`s picture for eternity to see hanging on the wall of shame.

I am going to send this story to Bill teileman and ask him to start another face book page,a face book page dedicated to but one cause, gathering volunteers for the recall and removal of Gordon Campbell, I will be the first to join that facebook page, anyone care to join me?

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

Kirk Lapointe and the Vancouver sun are idiots

Is it too much to ask Kirk Lapointe (managing editor of the Vancouver sun) and the Vancouver sun to be able to do the simplest of math? I could see Bill Good(Gordon Campbell`s radio pimp) making these type of errors but shouldn`t print media fall to a higher standard?

Here I was checking out Canwest media outlets wondering what`s new, what`s going on in the world because when I slip away to go fishing I leave the world of news behind me, anyways, as I was perusing stories in various rags this little Vancouver sun story caught my eye....:Golden ears bridge a goldmine for Translink:

The reason the story caught my eye was that I specifically wrote about Translink and the Golden ears bridge several weeks back only my story was titled : Why Translink is going broke: So seeing the headline thoughts started whirring through my mind,could I have been wrong? I have been wrong before, I`m always messing up my too and to, so says my journalistic sister(journalistic,is that a word?.) Anyways I start to read the story preparing myself for probably having to write a new Translink story apologizing to my regular readers for jumping the gun on Translink.

So I read the story expecting the financial numbers to leap off the page but boy was I disappointed and exonerated at the same time, now I am not exactly a brain surgeon, school,well lets just say I never came close to a graduation party, apparently I was to disruptive in school and was told to leave,I obliged but I digress, back to the Vancouver sun, the author of the Canwest story was someone named Kelly Sinoski, there`s a perfect chance to do a Polish joke but with a (SKI) on my mother`s side of the family it would be like insulting myself, but cmon, Kelly are you stupid? Incompetent ? or just a Canwest stooge? OK, so simple math isn`t Kelly`s strong suit but surely Kirk Lapointe or Patricia Graham(managing editor and editor-in-chief) of the Sun would of caught the glaring errors or at least would of given a qualifier in the story but no,that would be professionalism and unfortunately the Vancouver sun and their editors aren`t capable of running a lemonade stand, funny though,the best and the brightest,dumb and dumber are more like it.

Here is the deal on the Vancouver sun story on Translink, presently 10.000 vehicles cross the golden ears bridge each day 10.000 one way and 10.000 the other way for a daily total of 20.000 crossing, that works out too 600.000 thousand crossing per month or about 2 million per month in tolls........Now presently Translink is paying to the private operator of the bridge 500.000.00 $ per month plus a monthly fee of 316.000.00 $ for maintenance,now if you total the two amounts together are roughly 820.000.00$ per month and Translink is collecting 2 million in tolls........

Now if I stopped right there the story would be correct but, in January 2010( 4 months from now) Translink`s payment to the private operator rises 1.5 million per month plus the 316.000.00$ maintenance fee,so 4 months from now the gold mine will only be breaking even,but it gets better because in June of 2010 the fee that Translink will pay to the private operator rises to 3 million per month plus the monthly maintenance payment,so in just a short 9 months from now Translink will be losing approximately 1.4 million per month on that bridge,and a year after that in July 2011 the monthly payment rises to 4 million plus the maintenance fee per month and then rising to 4.8 million per month plus maintenance in 2015.

Kirk Lapointe or Patricia Graham and to a lesser degree Kelly Sinoski you are idiots, Translink making a few bucks a month for 6 months then breaking even for 6 months the losing millions per month forever doesn`t qualify as a goldmine, journalistic trash, I would expect that from Campbell`s (PAB) public affairs bureau but don`t you have any integrity at all at the Vancouver sun.(Read their trash here) http://www.vancouversun.com/Golden+Ears+Bridge+goldmine+Translink/2021575/story.html

Final point, The deal was structured this way for exactly this purpose,to spin a story making Translink look good,to make the Golden ears bridge deal look good,well the deal stinks,the golden ears bridge deal stinks,the Canada line stinks,and the port mann bridge deal will stink to high heaven, looks like Gordon Campbell,Translink and the Vancouver sun all went to the same school,and none of them could run a lemonade stand,a government,or even edit a story.you can read my Translink story here.

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-translink-is-going-broke-fast.html

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

Insulin pumps, Autism,special needs kids be damned,give the money to the banks

Tough times indeed, cuts to early Autism intervention, cuts to Autistic adults with IQs over 70, cuts to sports, these choices must have been difficult for Gordon Campbell, SLASH...BURN....CUT.../ Imagine what 330 $million dollars could do for these programs?

Two years ago I launched into a personal campaign to embarrass the BC Liberals into action on child diabetes, in particularly type 1 diabetes, just imagine young children having to jab their arm dozens of times per day to test blood sugar levels then having to inject insulin to stabilize.



These children literally had to put their lives on hold, no school outings,no overnight stays at friends, a 24/7 cruel game of of jab, test and inject, what kind of a life for a child is that? After researching the issue I found out that new technology could allow these children to live normal lives,WOW, what a breakthrough, insulin pumps that would monitor blood glucose levels and automatically inject the appropriate amount of insulin, it`s a miracle, now children could lead a normal life.

So why didn`t all diabetic children have them? Well, these pumps and supplies are very expensive, roughly 10.000.00 $ dollar outlay for the first year, that`s a lot of money, now if your rich it`s no big deal but why should rich Point Grey and West Vancouver kids have normal lives while poor kids have their lives put on hold?

I looked into what other provinces were doing and lo n behold Ontario and most provinces were funding insulin pumps for kids and adults who qualified financially but not BC, anyways I wrote to the BC government, I wrote letters to the editor in various newspapers and called radio stations, meanwhile Gordon Campbell was dragging his feet on the issue and stalled, the pressure was mounting and I wasn`t letting up...........And lo n behold the Campbell government relented and with great fanfare and a Global news photo-op at a school the government announced they were going to fund insulin pumps for kids with type 1 diabetes and my internal glow was beaming through my eyes, but as the details of the program slowly leaked out my glow faded.



You see folks it`s the same old story, the devil is in the details and Gordon Campbell refuses to do anything right, and it`s not incompetence it`s deliberate, Gordon Campbell doesn`t give a damn about anyone in need, the only one`s he cares about are his corporate party donating friends.

Lets lay out the some of the lowlights of Campbell`s generosity.

1. The Campbell insulin pump program for needy kids is capped at 1.5 million$ per year or 200 kids.



2. The sliding scale to qualify for this program is pathetic, because as soon as a family makes over 30.000.00 $ per year the province claws back the money.



3. Even if your family expenses,mortgage,food,clothes leaves you pay cheque to pay cheque if you exceed the financial cutoff your out of luck.



4. Presently in BC there is about a 1000 kids who qualify for insulin pumps but Campbell capped the program at 1.5 $million dollars per year or 200 kids.

Is it just me or do we have real problem here, who amongst you wants to tell little billy or sally that they won`t get their insulin pump this year,your number 455 so maybe next year,or maybe the year after that or maybe never!

For 1/3 of the price of the $38 million dollar hallway connecting the convention centers or 1/40 of the price of the retractable BC place roof or about the same price as what Gordon Campbell has spent (so far) on trying to bring in a gag law we could supply all the kids with insulin pumps and supplies.

How long is a year in the life of a child, there is no do-over for a childhood, it comes once, so besides Gordon Campbell being a pathetic waste of skin,a proven liar, a proven lawbreaker,he is a short-sighted buffoon, the long term implications of diabetes is a huge medical cost, keeping kids healthy and well regulated in the long run would be cheaper but that doesn`t matter to Campbell, he would rather the underclass suffer with nothing,it`s Campbell`s core belief to give NOTHING to NOBODY who isn`t his type of person.

Why cap the program? Just do it, give all the kids insulin pumps, in this country,in this province it shouldn`t be a child`s privilege it should be a child`s right to have these insulin pumps.So here Gordon Campbell has cut off funding for autistic adults, cut funding for early intervention for autistic kids, cut sports funding for kids, now even special needs kids are going to be short changed because of school cuts....(read it here)http://www.theprovince.com/School+cuts+trickle+down+special+needs+kids/2018503/story.html

Yes indeed, such tough choices premier butterfly has to make, the reason I chose 330 $million dollars in the sub-heading is that is the cost to the province for fiscal year 2009/2010 for tax cuts for the banks! That`s right, the banks are getting 330 million in tax-cuts in this years budget,they were announced last year before the recession "snuck up" on Campbell and Hansen, so those are Campbell`s priorities, no claw back from the rich banks,no claw backs of the 300 million in this years tax cuts to the oil n gas industry in BC, only claw backs from Autistic adults, Autistic children, from sports for kids,claw back of 10000 surgeries, clawbacks from the environment, I hope your happy Gordon Campbell, I hope your happy Carole Taylor in your latest job worth hundreds of thousands a year in compensation as a member of the TD bank.I hope all you BC Liberals are happy, no wonder British Columbia is "The best place on earth" ......When pigs fly!

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

How low can Gordon Campbell go?

The Campbell government has done it again, last summer just before Campbell flew to Bejiing on a private jet with his developer friends(Jack Poole) in a back room deal he and Coleman changed the criteria for people with Autism to get funding, today the assault continued.

That backroom deal last year cut off funding for people with Autism, Campbell chose a number out of a hat, anyone with an IQ of 71 or more would not get funding, so if the government deemed you had an IQ of 70 and less you could get help, but can anyone with a straight face explain the difference between an IQ of 70.....against an IQ of 71 ?

But it wasn`t just that, the province changed the testing criteria, even people who were at 70 or lower were retested by government, in fact there were many that were retested and retested and retested, eventually many of these people scored 71.......And then their funding would vanish, I heard there was a legal challenge to their testing methods and the medical community stated that the Campbell government arbitrary number of 71 or more was flawed, I have been waiting for Campbell to back down on this policy, he hasn`t,he won`t, Gordon Campbell is one mentally deranged person.

And the assault on the autistic in this province has continued,I heard rumours of more cuts in that area and they were announced today,and I have to say that for the first time in my life I feel ashamed to live in this province.

The result of the IQ changes and retesting was to take hundreds and hundreds of autistic adults and leave them with no source of funding.

The announcement today by Mary Polak was that the program of early intervention was CANCELLED, that`s right,cancelled, so a good program in giving autistic children early specialized training and education has been cancelled, Mary Polak went onto say that if parents still wanted this early intervention they would have to cough up a few bucks....

And just what amount is a few bucks? 50.000.00 $ per year

Mary Polak said that because Autism is on the rise the government cancelled the early intervention program in order to serve more clients.

I can`t write down what I want say without getting ANOTHER phone call from Gordon Campbell`s security team, your a very sick child Gordon Campbell and the rest of BC Liberal MLAs there is something in this world called karma and you all with get what`s coming to you.

P.S. Sorry folks, I`m going fishing for a few days, my mind is ready to explode, I need to go recharge, I had no idea how much of a mental drain this blog would be, I put my heart and soul in to all these words and stories, I refuse to write black and white pablum articles like Michael Smyth or Les Leyne, I will continue to report and tell stories in full colour regardless of how they turn my mind black and blue.....Go visit the house of Infamy while I`m gone or Alexandra Morton`s new blog, the links are on the right, talk to ya in a few days.

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open,even as my salty tears flow

British Columbia, A Crime Story

There is something terribly wrong in BC--And since the last provincial election I haven`t heard a word about gang task forces, new(needed) prisons,hiring of officers, like everything else in this province,safety of the public has been put on hold and the only thing the Campbell government is interested in stopping is freedom of speech.





Lets go back to 2001, I lived in south Burnaby, there was some crime,there always is, the evening hookers would come out at night to earn their drug money,the police would move them along, there was shoplifting, petty thefts, some unseen gang violence,the odd assault, the once in a blue moon murder but all that comes with being a big city in the 21st century. But back in 2001 I could go anywhere,walk anywhere, I never had to worry about strolling down the wrong street and risk being assaulted,robbed or terrorized.

Now don`t get me wrong, I don`t expect a city of angels, people are rude,stupid, litterbugs, for the most part people are oblivious to their actions and thats okay because I expect as much, and I enjoyed walking, I liked to see all parts of Burnaby, believe me, I am no boy scout but to me, it`s very important that the citizenry know their town, know their neighbors and should not fear going down the wrong street.

But in 2001 something dramatic happened that changed the fabric of society for a generation, and who knows if we will ever get back our streets, because without a fundamental shift in government priorities we are heading straight to hell.

There have been many bad government decisions by governments of all stripes over the years that have allowed this to floursish but it`s my opinion and the opinion of police officers that I have interviewed that the floodgates were opened up wide in 2001.

What dramatic thing happened in 2001?---The BC Liberals were elected, now before you jump on me about having a political axe to grind let me lay out the series of events that have made BC the crime and murder capital of Canada.

In the first Campbell term one of the first things Campbell did was close down 25 courthouses and 9 prisons, all this to save money, because as you know that in 2001 Campbell gave high end earners and big business $2 billion dollars in tax cuts, so what was the result of those cuts?


The city slowly changed and I witnessed it first hand, and from police officers I talked to those changes occured not only in Burnaby but in most municipalities in metro Vancouver, I noticed that the hookers weren`t being shuffled along anymore, they were on the streets 24/7....Drug dealers started dealing in the open, even my brother in law who worked at a Burnaby Super Value told me the police wouldn`t even come out to attend to shoplifters they caught, the park I looked out to from my apartment became a drug haven, crack dealers moved into my building and the police seemed deaf to complaints from me and tenants, cars were being stolen from the underground, seniors were getting purses stolen, terrorized and it`s not as if these things that were happening were invisible.

Now all of this happened in a couple of years, seniors and adults, kids,everyone was being affected, well me being a in your face person didn`t back down, I wanted answers,none were forthcoming, I visited my federal representative on edmonds (Patty Sihota), she just gave me baffle gab, My apartment looked out onto Richmond park(in Burnaby), a once peaceful family,youth oriented area with a community youth center, young kids would play,there was a small kid playground in the park with slides and sand, but the area became dangerous,gangs moved in,the park turned into a drug bazaar 24/7.....needles everywhere,condoms, I spoke to many staff at the community center and they were in shock as to what was happening,their pleas fell upon deaf ears, I witnessed assaults, fights,dealing, thefts, I had to put the Burnaby police on speed dial.

Yet the more I called the worse it got, something was going on and I wanted answers, I went to the Burnaby RCMP and demanded answers,why weren`t they doing something, they shuffled me along,no longer were they shuffling hookers or criminals along only the complaining public, I threatened to do a video ex,pose on the whole situation and embarrass the Burnaby detachment, I finally got someone`s attention, but in reality all I got was lip service, I finally arranged a sting operation and put my life on the line to bring down the crack dealing gang in my building.

But now that I was a marked man in Burnaby my days in that town were numbered.


I made a few friends in the Burnaby detachment (who wish to remain anonymous for this story) and asked what was really going on.

And the story I was told shocked me to my core.

What was going on was this, the Burnaby police officers were under orders to ignore, to let petty crime go, don`t waste time on hookers,shoplifters, small level street dealing was also to be ignored, car theft, theft from autos, even break and entering was put on the lowest rung of their priorities.

But why I asked--Well it comes back to the Campbell cuts,the closing of 25 court houses-9 prisons, Burnaby RCMP was put in a cash crunch,to give you an example, Burnaby no longer had a court house, so if they had a shoplifter or a person with crack cocaine who was detained,the police would have to book the offender, then transfer the defendant to another jurisdiction(because Burnaby had no court houses) and with the overloaded court houses the police would be spending the better part of their shift transferring accused persons from jail to courthouses all over the city, so the cost to prosecute the simplest of crimes was staggering!

So slowly but gradually the police were given orders to ignore,look the other way, small crimes were mandated off the books and they were basically delegated to collecting revenue from drivers(seat belts,speeding,parking,to raise money) and they were told to concentrate their efforts on serious crime/violent assaults, murder,rape etc etc.

And it didn`t stop there, because it wasn`t just court houses,it was prisons, Campbell closed nine of them,cut corrections, now the prison system in BC had a problem,overcrowding,no space available and what space was available was being used to house the more dangerous offenders, so now the whole apple cart has been upset,police aren`t keeping the criminals in line, prisons have no space,prisons are forced to release the small petty criminal, and now it flows back to the judges, the judiciary is not immune or blind to what is happening,they know police,corrections and prison officials and they know the problem, but with a lack of space and resources the judges are now forced to not give jail time to people who deserve incarceration.

And the cascading effect has only just begun, people are predictable,patterns arose and the low-life criminals caught on very quickly to the "new" game in town.

So imagine this pattern repeating itself all over metro Vancouver, and the criminals caught on, the criminal element got more brazen, their fear of incarceration was gone, it turned into a free-for-all, a lawless,or at least unenforced lawless society,and it escalated,and escalated, I found myself as a one man sheriff in south Burnaby, I had the public coming to me for help.parents asking for assistance, well I have dozens of movie making stories I could tell but that`s not part of this story, eventually after having my windows smashed out, being swarmed, and hoodlums trying to turn my cats into maltoff cocktails I had no choice but to leave Burnaby for the safety of my animals and.....It was just a matter of time before my new armaments were put to use and someone would end up dead.

That is the reason I moved to the sunshinecoast full-time.

Meanwhile before the last election we had gang killings daily, thefts,assaults,violence,no one is safe,the downtown eastside has turned into a gong show, and now bring in the "LIAR" Gordon Campbell......His election promises,gang task forces,more police resources,Campbell vowed to take back the streets.

Gordon Campbell vowed to take back the streets,the same streets that his government downloaded the criminals onto.

Meanwhile the election has come and gone, I hear not a word about crime, I hear nothing about new prisons anymore,in fact in the last throne speech there wasn`t one word about crime,gangs, public safety, not one word, you see folks the election is over, premier butterfly has moved on,guard the valuables,protect yourself, be mindful of where you travel on metro Vancouver streets,don`t put yourself in a dangerous situation, avoid Surrey,Burnaby,Vancouver,The Fraser Valley....watch yourself in Abbotsford the new murder capital of Canada, but more importantly you should fear the Campbell government more than anything because they are the authors of BC, A CRIME STORY

P.S. last night on the local Global news it has been reported that the BC RCMP has had to cut recruiting resources and the story went onto to say that the force will be lucky to keep up with attrition rates with their present funding let alone actually increasing police manpower numbers,in fact many departments are being slashed,including the child pornography unit,the child exploitation unit, and when will they build the badly needed prisons ?

The Straight Goods
Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

Gordon Campbell,a small petty incomplete man

Many people find power in giving, not so with Gordon Campbell, his power comes in the form of taking, not only on a financial level but this mouse of a man has taken the spirit of BC and flushed it down the toilet.

I believe the word "man" in describing Gordon Campbell is a mistake, Campbell is a weak, puny vindictive child masquerading as a man. I have a smorgasbord of items to talk about, lets start with the gag law.

I was shocked today to find out that the Campbell gag law is not dead, remember the supreme court BC struck down the gag law just before the last provincial election, well, I listened to Mike De Jong (attorney general) trying to explain to John Macolm why the Campbell government have appealed the decision to the BC court of appeals, his argument was thin, his entire argument was based on fixed election dates.

Well, lets clear up a few facts, the gag law is repugnant whether our election date is fixed or not, secondly with all the cuts to sport,environmental,and arts group to spend tens of thousands or more to appeal a decision is nuts, because I will bet the farm that Campbell will lose his appeal, so then what, It will go the next step,it will be appealed next to the supreme court of Canada and how much will that cost the BC taxpayer? Probably a million dollars or more. So why is Campbell doing it ? There are several reasons, none of which will make you feel very good.

1. The first reason is this,somewhere in Gordon Campbell`s deranged mind he believes he will run again in 2013 and he must pull out all stops to control the message, but there is so much dirt on Campbell and his party that if groups can advertise will surely hurt his chances.


2. Campbell hates to lose.


3. Campbell is such a small petty child mind that this is nothing but being vindictive,how dare anyone challenge his authority.

Well all I have to say is this, I don`t care who or what you gag, I don`t care what happens with the economy,Gordon Campbell and the BC liberals are done, the depth and scale of betrayal,lies and corruption follows Campbell and his party around like a shadow.

There is something fishy going on with federal infrastructure money for shovel ready projects, and I believe I have the answer.

Let me explain, Harper announced federal infrastructure money for all provinces last spring, but that was before the 2010 olympic security budget was announced, now from what I gather is this, to have Ottawa pick up a large chunk of security budget we in BC have lost part of our share of federal infrastructure funding, but there is more to it than that, there are several criteria involved in accessing this money.

1. First off, any project to receive federal funding must be COMPLETED by april 2011,not started but actually completed,so why is Campbell dragging his feet?


2. Stephan Harper did a smart thing(forgive me for saying that) -Another criteria to get this money was this....Harper wanting to maximize the amount of money getting spent on infrastructure required that all three levels of government must contribute equally to receive funds----To give you an example of this, lets say Victoria wanted to build a sewage system and the cost was 150 million dollars, Ottawa would kick in 50 million/the province would kick in 50 million and Victoria would have to kick in 50 million.
3. The reason Harper went that route was this, our share of infrastructure funding from Ottawa was 500 million dollars,by having three levels of government having to spend equally would mean 1.5 billion in infrastructure spending.

But, something isn`t being told in this story, I read a story last month about Bill Bennett,the BC Liberal "bigot" MLA from the interior,Bennett said that time was running out on accessing this money,the story went onto say that the government was trying to speed up the process of getting these shovel ready projects going, I knew something was up, today on the radio news the union of BC municipalities are getting nervous about STILL nothing happening, Bennett today on the radio news admitted that there have been problems in going forward,but he was elusive with his response, but,in the same news broadcast it was reported that BC is last amongst all provinces in accessing this money.

Which brings me back to the olympic security, my photographic memory tells me that with Ottawa picking up a substantial amount of the 2010 security bill that BC lost 265 million in infrastructure money from Ottawa, now at the time I was shocked that the stooges in the BC media didn`t pick up the story,so you faithful readers of the Straight goods heard it hear first,Gordon Campbell government is not coming clean on the status of BCs share of infrastructure money from Ottawa,mainly, of the 500 million BC allotment how much is left? Anything,some,nothing? And why won`t the Campbell government come clean on this issue,meanwhile municipalities have been ready for over a year,they remain twisting in the wind.

I am saying this, BC cities are going to be sadly disappointed,Campbell will stall, the olympics will get closer and municipal infrastructure will be all but forgotten, because at most, BC has only about 100 million dollars left of federal money, 265 million has been put towards the 2010 security. (Read the story here,or should I say a piece of the story)

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/risks+losing+federal+cash/1993524/story.html

Today Rich Coleman announced another 10 million in gaming grant cuts to sports groups and environmental groups.

Rich Coleman said that groups with three year funding promises from the province will get their money but groups that don`t have those agreements will get NOTHING, thats right,Coleman must be getting a little testy,he didn`t soft peddle it he just said these groups are getting NOTHING.......And the only reason Campbell hasn`t reneged on the three year written funding promises to community groups is, they have been given a legal opinion that these groups will sue the province and win,costing the government money, you can bet that Gordon Campbell "The child" will make these groups pay a heavy price for threatening the government.---(Read the story here)

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/sports+groups+receive+million+less/1993179/story.html

One more subject to quickly touch on.

Gordon Campbell has killed the forestry industry in BC, it will never recover, BC is now nothing but a raw log whore.

I found out today that......Remember the softwood lumber agreement that was sort of resolved 18 months ago, the Americans were holding billions of dollars that rightfully belonged to forest companies, BC forest companies share of that money was about 1 billion dollars, the money went to Canfor and Timberwest and a couple of other forest companies,guess what they did with that money?

Did they hire loggers? Nope, did they keep workers in BC employed? Nope.........They didn`t do much of anything but they did something that I would like to share with you.....

The big three forest companies spent 700 million of those dollars to upgrade mills, not Canadian mills but 700 million spent upgrading American mills, meanwhile our raw log exports continue to grow.

Your not a man Gordon Campbell, your a vindictive little child, you need your mouth washed out with soap, you need to be spanked and put in a corner for a time out, and believe me, I am being kind, personally I would like to spend a day with you Gordon Campbell, in private and teach you about life, the school of hard knocks, and believe me,you would be crying like a little baby.

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

The gullible BCers bought the carbon tax,hook,line and sinker

Gordon Campbell and Marc Jaccard sold gullible BCers a placebo disguised as GHG reducer.............(Part V and final piece in pollution series)



The carbon tax, sequestration, tree planting, upgrades to efficiency at industrial plants, have you heard a word from Campbell or Jaccard on any of these issues since the fraudulent election,nope,they`re silent,industry is silent,even Obama is silent,the united nations is silent, David Suzuki and Tzporah Berman are silent.



Well what the HELL.......I am not going to be silent,I am going to scream from the roof tops until I either get locked up or committed.



You see I have seen this pattern over and over again, when ever business is rolling along with full coffers the politicians attempt to prove their relevance,but they never do,as soon as business quivers the politicians go slither back under their rocks. In reading a story on CNBC financial web site there is an interesting story,it has nothing to do with my story but it`s the story of big business....Apparently all the wall street boys JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and the other big banks and investment firms have gone right back to the risky behaviour,derivative betting and iffy financial products,speculative trading, everything they did before,well we know what happened,these thieves decimated world markets, but the second mistake was bailing these entities out to the tune of trillions of dollars,because by bailing them out they weren`t taught a lesson, now in the back of their minds at these "to big to fail companies" they know if the shit hits the fan again they will be bailed out.-----Read the story here.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32842099





So here it is, a year plus of the carbon tax and there is another 130.000 vehicles on BCs streets,not a reduction of cars or trucks an increase....



I remind you of one Gordon Campbell`s lies regarding the carbon tax, this is a direct quote from Campbell ......" The carbon tax will take the equivalent of 400.000 cars off the road each year"



If that was true there should be about 600.000 fewer cars on the road,well,I just mentioned the numbers, 130.000 more vehicles on the road since the implementation of the carbon tax, success,hardly, I call the Campbell/Jaccard carbon tax a complete failure.



I know there are many of you out there that are in favour of the carbon tax, but your naive, you see if, if in fact global warming or GHG is the threat that many scientists believe it is, by wasting time on a useless carbon tax or a phony trading market for emissions all we managed to do was waste valuable time we apparently don`t have, our last federal election,our last provincial election the only discussion was about a green shift(taxing consumers) or carbon tax.



And now that the world is in recession there isn`t one big time politician who dare`s to upset the industrial apple cart about implementing hard caps and emission reductions, you see that tired old business mantra has come full circle again, the business and industrial sector is in a "Fragile state" you don`t dare throw those costs at business at this time, then the argument will follow that we don`t know how real the recovery is so we must wait,and on and on it goes,meanwhile a decade will have passed with nothing "REAL" being done, so Campbell,Jaccard and Weaver,stephan Dion have set the movement back.



If you read the first 4 parts in the series you should be quite disturbed with the amount of indirect polluting we do overseas, the emissions from our coal exports alone equal the emissions of 15 million cars yearly output of GHGs or enough emissions to heat 23 million Canadian homes,our natural gas flaring in BC wastes enough gas to heat 300.000 homes, meanwhile our piddly little useless carbon tax simmers on the back burner,accomplishing nothing.

If we are to have a carbon tax there should be no tax cuts associated with it, no pain no gain, just like wall street,they felt no pain,they got bailed out on the back`s of taxpayers, and not just current taxpayers but off the back`s off taxpayers who haven`t even been born yet.



Because until we have mandatory reductions for industrial emissions they won`t reduce,until we stop the practice of buying unproven carbon offsets all we will do waste valuable time we don`t apparently have.



I want to be perfectly clear, I am 100 % against the HST tax shift, that $2 billion dollar yearly tax shift from business to the consumers, because I know one thing for sure, the Oil and Gas industry will pass on ZERO savings to the consumer and I challenge anyone who lives to prove me wrong, mining will not pass on $1 dollar of savings to the consumer,the forestry industry will not lower the price of a single stick of lumber, but you know what, there is an opportunity here in Canada and BC to make a loud bold statement to big industry, if in fact we go through with the HST tax shift........



And if in fact industry will save those hundreds of millions of dollars on PST they won`t be spending, why not mandate that every dollar of savings that big industry makes on the adoption of the HST be put into mandated emissions reductions,sequestration,carbon capture,replacement of wasteful pipes,leaky water systems, pollution controls, more efficient equipment......

And every dollar that isn`t invested in these areas is taxed at 100%

Now that is a bold statement, the carrot and the stick, but believe me,this will never happen under Campbell or Jaccard or Weaver or any gutless politician.

No,you will only hear about these idea`s from a simple angry blogger from Garden bay.

Now not only is this an idea that could catch on,industries would create job opportunities,investment in new technology, put those tax savings directly into the economy or pay it in tax.

Meanwhile the gullible media, the naive supporters of the carbon tax, the phony Jaccard, the auto dialing Weaver, the compulsive liar Gordon Campbell will be fiddling while Rome burns.

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

NOT in the PUBLIC`S INTEREST(BCUC DECISION)

The BCUC decision, a thoughtful,reasoned decision, despite pressure from IPPbc and Naikun and the BC government the comissionaires came up with the right decision, what part of NOT in the PUBLIC`S INTEREST doesn`t the media understand?
(Part IV in the series, the BCUC decision)

I have read the BCUC july 27 decision, I actually read it twice,it`s a very technical hard to read report, I will give you the link but trust me, it`s 236 pages of technical jargon that is difficult to read,especilly for an average person like me.

The BCUC decision is broken down into many parts I will try to express the flavour of the decision in a way that you can understand, I have read Vaughn Palmer,Michael Smyth, and other media`s take on the decision and it is quite apparent the neither of them bothered to read the report,probably a little above their paygrade,especially Michael Smyth.

The long term load forecast

The panel at the BCUC after reading submissions from all interested parties have come to the conclusion that the load forecast from BC Hydro is so greatly exaggerated, the board felt that with new consumer technology (more energy efficient appliances,light bulbs etc) plus a more aggressive conservation measures that 1000s of KWH would not be required.

Aquisition of new power

The BCUC board came to the conclusion that BC Hydro could not make the case to the BCUC to grant BC Hydro permission to aquire long term expensive power, the BCUC spent a good deal of time on each section,despite submissions from Naikun/IPPbc, and BC Hydro, despite the access to millions of dollars of paid legal opinions that these outfits presented the BCUC was able to separate fact from fiction, now BCUC didn`t completely slam the door on private power but they gave a very measured response.

The BCUC has one major over-riding concern :To protect the ratepayer: The board`s biggest concern about aquiring this pricey power was that if the demand wasn`t there,the spot market price of non-firm power would mean that we,BC Hydro(the ratepayer) would be selling this excess power for less money than we committed to pay for it.

Burrard thermal debate, should we or should we not

The majority of the BCUC decision dealt with burrard thermal, Naikun,IPPbc,BC Hydro fought on many angles against Burrard thermal.

1. Naikun,IPPbc made the argument that burrard thermal had to run full out at 6000 GWH to meet the long term load demand, which is the part that stuck in Palmer and Smyth`s head, IPPbc and Naikun were making the case that burrard thermal would be ramped up to full capacity 24/7 365 days a year to meet long term load forecasts, even though Burrard thermal had barely run anywhere near that capacity for years or ever, this argument was dismissed by the BCUC on the grounds that the future load forecast was artificially increased.


2. Naikun and IPPbc argued that burrard thermal would require extensive upgrades to be able to supply power, they had price scenario`s for upgrading burrard thermal on three levels, A B C ---(A) being a modest amount of power,(B) being 3000 KWH and (C) being 6000 KWH ...(C) being the most expensive upgrade,somewhere in the range of 360 million dollars. The BCUC rejected this argument because of upgrades that have already been done and the fact that Burrard thermal has already proved it could provide the low end of firm power without problems. The BCUC also noted that mothballing Burrard thermal would mean aproximately a $100 million dollar investment to metro Vancouver substations to be able to link the power together.


3. Naikun and IPPbc argued that the price of natural gas was going to get very expensive,therefor making Burrard thermal much more expensive to operate,again the BCUC didn`t agree with their crystal ball as to natural gas prices in the future,the BCUC took middle ground as to future natural gas prices.


4. The BCUC came to the conclusion that Burrard thermal in the mid-range of power which it had produced on and off over the years was easily attainable, it went on to say that in all probability Burrard thermal wouldn`t be required to produce that power but in the case of a problem with transmission lines or an emergency that Burrard thermal was up to the task of producing that power.


5. Naikun and IPPbc argued that if Burrard thermal was an insurance policy that it should be required to produce over 6000 KWH annually,the BCUC rejected this argument,the BCUC determined that a mid-range insurance policy was sufficient.

In reading the 236 page report, despite it`s technical language and difficulty for a layman to understand......

One thing became quite apparent, Naikun and IPPbc and BC Hydro(under orders from Campbell) totally exaggerated the future load demand, and to me it was quite obvious why they were exaggerating the future load forecast, because if Naikun or IPPbc could CON-vince the BCUC about future load forecasts than the BCUC would of had to do one of two things.

1. The BCUC would of had to of ramped up Burrard thermal to full capacity 24/7 to supply these needs which would of required Burrard thermal to have major upgrades and of course that would mean Burrard thermal would be belching out much more GHGs into metro Vancouver.


2. The BCUC if it had fallen for the exaggerated future load forecast they would of mothballed Burrard thermal and allowed BC Hydro to buy a lot of expensive IPP power,which was the whole purpose of this latest exercise.

So the BCUC made the right decision, the BCUC made the case that there will be power already purchased coming on line soon,lets be cautious and see where that power takes us,the BCUC made a very moderate decision as to Burrard thermal,a mid-range insurance policy of what is described as firm power close to the major population centers.

And finally the BCUC in rejecting the vastly over exaggerated future load forecast the other decisions fell into place including a reasonable expectation of Burrard thermal,not the 24/7 full out capacity that Naikun and IPPbc were making.

Anyone who over-rides the BCUC decision is playing with fire,we are on the cusp of new energy efficient technology,the BCUC has reccomended a slow modest march forward,with Burrard thermal as insurance and if need be cheap imports of power as a last resort, there is no need to commit BCers to the potential risk of buying expensive power with no market available,thus costing BC Hydro and the ratepayers alot of money.here is the link to the BCUC 236 page report

http://www.bcuc.com/Documents/Decisions/2009/DOC_22470_LTAP_Decision_WEB.pdf

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

Burrard Thermal,big polluter,not even close,let`s talk cement

Take a good look,this picture of Burrard thermal is what it looks like most of the year,it hardly ever runs,and as for pollution,lets have a look at the really big polluters in metro Vancouver. (Part III in the series.Burrard thermal)

Lets take the media to task on this one, Palmer/Baldrey/Smyth and Marc Jaccard,you will hear them slag burrard thermal,yet not one of those clowns has the balls to talk about the big polluters, I just wonder what is in their investment portfolio`s, I suspect that they own IPP stock, and no point letting the facts get in the way of an investment opportunity eh boys?

Lets start with listing the largest GHG emitters in metro Vancouver.

1. By far the biggest emitter is the automobile, the most current data states that the auto accounts for 25% of GHG emission in metro Vancouver, and of course Gordon Campbell and his road building coalition want that to stay that way,take the 10 lane super bridge under construction(port Mann) ---Campbell has refused to look at light rail from the valley, the right away exists already,a complete light rail system could be up and running from Vancouver all the way to Chilliwak for less money than the new port mann bridge.

But we wouldn`t want to take any work away from that American company based in Omaha Nebraska, Kiewet Construction would we, after all they just finished the multi billion contract to upgrade the sea to sky highway,and they have almost finished the pitt river bridge,just in time build a 4 billion dollar port mann and tear down the old port mann bridge,which has at least 50 years of life in it (the cost to tear down the old port mann bridge is over 300 million dollars)

The west coast express is such a huge success,the fact that the NDP got that going is one of the reasons Campbell refuses to direct Translink to think ground level rail.

So now we know that the auto is the big polluter and Campbell is insuring that never stops, but surely Burrard thermal must be the second biggest polluter in metro Vancouver,nope,no sirree bob,it`s not even close,lets talk cement.

Here is the list of the top 4 single point polluters in metro Vancouver for 2005

1. The largest single point producer of GHG in metro Vancouver was Lehigh`s Delta cement plant was in first place releasing 1.12 million tonnes of GHGs.


2. Lafarge`s Richmond cement plant produced 863.000 tonnes of GHGs


3. Chevron refinery in Burnaby was number 3 at 430.000 tonnes of GHGs


4. Burrard thermal came in at a distant 4th....A mere 70.000 tonnes of GHGs

Lets talk Burrard thermal upgrades.

The 950 MW burrard thermal generating plant (BTGP) in Port Moody which burns natural gas to supply electricity has the capacity to generate approximately 10% of the total electricity demand supplied by BC hydro.

A number of improvements in recent years such as the installation of Selective Catalytic Reduction Units have significantly reduced its emissions of smog producing pollutants by approximately 90% and that (e.g.) in 2006,the BTGP is estimated to have only contributed only 0.05% of the NOX emissions in the lower fraser valley.

A number of improvements in recent years such as the installation of dechlorination equipment and reduced use of chlorine in cooling water have reduced its impact on water quality in burrard inlet.

The BTGP is located in the lower mainland close to BCs major population center and thus is strategically located to supply electricity during emergency conditions such as storms which could effect transmission lines.

The BTGP continues to play a key role in providing voltage regulation on transmission lines through use of its generators as synchrous condensers and it could cost up to $76 million to install new equipment to replace this function.

The electricity produced by BTGP is a firm source that can be delivered locally on demand unlike the intermittent and more distant sources of private power producers.

The BTGP played a key role by producing electricity during the critical winter months of 2006/07 (4 units were operated as required,total 625 MW of capacity)

The BTGP has rarely been used at full capacity,has been well maintained and thus continues to have a reasonable life span well beyond 2014.

Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel which generates the least amount of greenhouse gasses per energy unit and is a source to which many jurisdictions are now turning instead of coal and oil.

Operating BTGP during winter months to meet peak energy demand during cold periods with short daylight hours is the period of the year when the generation of smog-producing chemicals is of least concern.

Using burrard thermal rather than purchasing electricity from coal-fired sources outside the province would be consistent with provincial energy policies to promote self-sufficiency and minimize GHG production.

The provincial energy plan indicates there could be a shortage of electricity to meet future provincial needs in the absence of a continued reliance on BTGP.

BTGP provides local jobs,revenues to the city and is a valued member of the port Moody community.

Keeping the BTGP operating as long as possible will keep options open regarding a potential re-powering of the facility at some point in the future.(read the story here)

http://www.cityofportmoody.com/NR/rdonlyres/05532DBF-2CCB-4F82-8E04-D500FD395CFE/73687/btlcminutes.pdf

So there you have it, Gordon Campbell has ignored gas flaring,Marc Jaccard has poo-fooed gas flaring,cement plants,refineries don`t pay one dime of carbon tax on their emissions.

The Carbon tax legislation was rammed through the legislature without debate in the last hour of the spring session of the 2008 legislature in Victoria,the reason it was rammed through is because there was no hard data to prove that Campbell`s carbon tax would do anything except cost consumers.And that has been proven to be fact because since the implementation of the carbon tax in july 2008 there has been an addition of 130.000 vehicles put on the roads in BC.

But this is all part of the Campbell pattern,the man has been nothing but a compulsive liar from day one when he became premier in 2001...He lied about BC Rail,tearing up contracts,he has lied about the effectiveness of the carbon tax,his government has lied about security costs for 2010,lied about the cost of infrastructure and has totally manufactured phony import/export numbers in regards to BCs power needs,he lied about the HST,he lied about the size of the deficit,the man(Campbell) has proven to be a compulsive liar over and over again.

Burrard thermal has been upgraded considerably,and burrard thermal can be upgraded again to be the most efficient natural gas burning electricity producer in the world,why would we not upgrade the facility instead of buggering up our rivers,killing off fish and bear habitat,taking a huge financial risk with the spot market for electrical sales as well as the NAFTA implications,because under NAFTA once we provide a natural resource service under NAFTA we will not be able to stop it.

Are we to believe Gordon Campbell on anything,the man involved with BC Rail,the government that either lost,or ordered documents destroyed during the last provincial election,a government that is run by the likes of Paul Taylor,Patrick Kinsella and Ken Dobell.

Campbell`s energy plan is a fraud,meanwhile big polluters get a free ride while us BCers are paying a useless carbon tax,a tax that has set BC back from real environmental measures, a carbon tax that even Jaccard has stated in it`s present form is useless.

(Part IV The BCUC report to follow,my analyses)

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

Marc Jaccard`s advice to B.C. (Burn Baby Burn)

According to the world bank,about 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas are burned off or vented every year-the equivalent of all the annual gas consumption in England,France,and Germany combined. (PART II in the series)

Before we get started lets talk about Marc Jaccard.

Two days after the NDP came out with their election platform Marc Jaccard came out with his latest trash paper,the gist of his paper was that the NDPs plan to go after gas flaring and cap n trade was going to cost 60.000 jobs. It`s a long paper,how he managed to rejigger his numbers in two days is a mystery to me,anyways,the phony Jaccard was only concerned with possible job losses,none of it provable one way or another,so the BC Liberal paid spokesperson Jaccard wants the consumer carbon tax to save the world.....

Lets examine that, first off Jaccard is on the record stating that the BC carbon tax WILL NOT WORK unless it is 20 to 30 times more expensive than it currently is,in other words,Jaccards admits that Campbell`s carbon tax won`t work until people can`t afford fuel. Yet Jaccard fails to address the fact that most of the province has ZERO transit or train options.

But that didn`t get in the way of Jaccard pimping for Campbell,no siree bob, Because nowhere in Jaccards (two day,rushed together paper to attack the NDP) does he raise the slightest concern over the massive coal exports from BC or the 63 million tonnes of carbon those exports emit in to the atmosphere, or nowhere does Jaccard mention the 1.8 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year by the gas boys in BC each year...No,instead of Marc Jaccard wanting to get on board the world fight against gas flaring or coal emissions,Jaccard was only interested in Campbell`s useless gas tax to joe public.....

Marc Jaccard didn`t mention in his rushed paper that ICBC one year after the Campbell carbon tax had been initiated had 90.000 more registered vehicles driving in BC, no that little fact seemed lost in his paper,nor has he written an updated paper now that there are 130.000 more vehicles on the road,nor has Jaccard responded to the HST being applied to super energy efficient appliances,or the cancelling of the home smart program,apparently Marc Jaccard only cares about his useless Carbon tax.

It is my opinion that Marc Jaccard`s work is badly flawed,his job numbers are pulled out of thin air,the jobs would be there if the massive profits in the gas sector remain,it is also my opinion that Jaccard has done far more harm than good, instead of promoting real tough measures against industry,instead of trying to start a world movement against flaring he has opted to promote a tax that attacks BCers with no choice to get around,add that to the fact that Jaccard himself has admitted publicly that Campbell`s carbon tax in it`s present form WILL NOT WORK.......I don`t believe your worthy to teach students Jaccard, perhaps you would like to write a new paper about the HST in BC not applying to fuels at the pump,or cancelled home smart program,or taxing energy saving appliances, your silence is deafening Jaccard,and you have caused more harm than good,because instead of a real,mutli pronged strategy we have wasted years on a useless carbon tax.Sleep well eh Jaccard! You can read Jaccards trash paper here,it`s lengthy and full of unproven assertions,and it was put together in two days after the NDP platform was released.

http://www.sfu.ca/pamr/files/spring2009/BC_NDP_Climate_Policy_Apr_10-2009/pdf

Here is a special guest article by Mitchell Anderson

B.C. gas sector has carbon to burn

Feel like you`re doing your part for climate? Changed your light bulbs? Riding your bike? Like many British Columbians,you are probably pitching in to try to reduce our collective carbon footprint.

Now if we could only get the natural-gas industry to stop dumping 1.8 million tonnes of co2 into the atmosphere every year due to gas flaring,we might be getting somewhere.

It is a little known fact that the B.C. sector of this industry "flares", or needlessly burns off,about 960 million cubic meters of natural gas every year.That remarkable waste of finite and relatively clean fuel is enough to heat more than 300.000 Canadian homes annually.

According to Steve Simons,corporate-affairs director of B.C.`s Oil and Gas Commission,B.C. flares 2.9 percent of annual production,which in 2007 was about 33.1 billion cubic meters of gas.

That means the B.C. gas industry flares almost one billion cubic meters of gas annually,producing about 1.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.This is approximately 2.8 percent of the total carbon emissions for the entire province.

Although B.C. did manage to reduce flaring by 11 percent between 1996 and 2006,across its eastern border the Alberta energy and utilities Board managed to reduce gas flaring by 72 percent between 1996 and 2004.

So why do companies burn off the very resource they are drilling for? According to Lee Shanks,spokesperson for the the Oil and Gas Commission,companies flare gas mainly to release pressure in their systems. "it`s sort of like a tea kettle; it`s to let pressure off" Gas is also flared during well testing and maintenance.

The B.C. government also committed in the 2007 throne speech to eliminate gas flaring by 2016. However,the fact that Victoria made that commitment indicates that this type of waste is entirely avoidable.

Worldwide,this wasteful practice remains a huge problem.According to the world bank,about 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas are burned or vented every year--the equivalent of all the annual gas consumption in England,France,and Germany combined.It is also an enormous waste of money.Gas flaring squanders about $31 billion in natural gas annually.

Here in B.C., wasted gas was worth almost $300 million in 2007. The B.C. government would of also have collected more than $49 million in additional gas royalties had that public resource not been squandered or if royalties were charged on gas flaring.Even under the new guidelines to reduce flaring,royalties are not charged for wasted gas.

We should also not forget the human-health impacts of burning off unwanted and often unrefined gas in the atmosphere.Incomplete combustion from flaring can release many known carcinogens,such as benzene,toluene,xylene,and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

The B.C. office of the Canadian Center for policy alternatives released a september 2007 report on this issue called foot off the gas: Regulating B.C.`s Oil and Gas industry As if the Environment mattered.According to its author (and occasional Straight contributor). Ben Parfitt, flaring is symptomatic of a wasteful industry mindset fostered by a long history of government subsidies to encourage growth. B.C. gas production has increased by more than 40 percent during the past 10 years, a pace he feels cannot be maintained.

"We need to be very focused on the fact that the resource being exploited is finite,that it might only have a shelf life of only 17 years or so if we see a doubling of gas production," Partiff said in an interview. "Therefor we need to be doing everything we can to ensure that we get a fair dollar value for the gas being pulled from the ground and that we don`t waste it."

_Partiff and the CCPA feel that immediately charging industry a royalty on every unit of gas that is flared would be a step in the right direction. "That would send the message right away to industry that they need to find a way to end those practices," Partiff said.

Ending subsidies to this already lucrative industry would be another positive move.Every year,the B.C. taxpayers shovel about $260 million to the oil and gas sector.Much of this largess is to encourage questionable practices,such as developing marginal or drilling muskeg-damaging wells in the summer when the ground is not frozen.

Is Victoria moving to reduce these subsidies? NO. In fact,the most recent budget,they are slated to increase by 24 percent in 2008-09, to $327 million.

The B. C. government continued coddling of the natural-gas sector only undermines efforts to reduce our carbon footprint.We should note that the carbon tax is a retail tax that only applies to you and me.Flared gas is not taxed for carbon emissions,Neither is the entire industry.

Story by Mitchell Anderson

( Burrard thermal is next in the series part III )

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open