[ i ]

We've still moved...

2006-10-16T23:09:00.000-07:00

... and now we've figured out how to redirect you to the new site. If your browser doesn't automatically take you, just go to www.irwinloy.com.

We've moved!

2006-09-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

... to a more permanent sounding home. The new website is appropriately, if unimaginatively, named www.irwinloy.com.

The new site will feature an expanded music section, in addition to all the hard-hitting reportage and multisyllabic adjectives you've come to expect from a trusted news source.

Subscribers, there will now be two feeds: one for the news blog, and one for the music blog. Please update them here:

Blog
Music

The site you're reading right now will no longer be updated. Please go!

Who's in charge of transit cops?

2006-09-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

The chair of TransLink's law enforcement-dominated police board plans on attending a conference in October that advocates for civilian oversight of the police.

Police board chair Lorne Zapotichny is asking his board for permission to attend a conference to be held by the Canadian Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, a prominent national organization chaired by B.C.'s police complaint commissioner, Dirk Ryneveld.

Discussion topics will include preventing in-custody deaths and defeating terrorism without violating rights and freedoms.

But the transit police board has come under fire because most board members are not civilians, but police officers - Zapotichny is also New Westminster Police's chief constable.

“The governance of policing should have members of the public, whether it's an elected board or an appointed board,” community activist Am Johal said in an interview yesterday. “There should be no policing representatives on the board whatsoever.”

In contrast, Vancouver's police board is overseen by five civilians and led by Mayor Sam Sullivan. Under the province's Police Act, municipal police boards appoint their chief constables and determine department priorities.

“I think it's amazing that the rest of the police boards at the city level have public oversight, and yet the transit police board does not,” Johal said.

Last year, the GVTA police service became the country's first transit force to be given the same powers as municipal police. Officers are also allowed to carry guns.

Tags: vancouver, transit police, translink

New casino owners want liquor licence

2006-09-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

The new owners of Vancouver’s struggling Edgewater Casino want gamblers to be able to have a drink while they play.

Nevada-based Paragon Gaming announced yesterday it had finalized a deal to buy the downtown casino. Now Paragon has a strategy to improve Edgewater’s lethargic performance, which will include applying for a liquor licence on the gaming floor.

“In most jurisdictions, people will identify the ability to have a drink and to game as going hand in hand,” said Yale Rowe, vice presidentof operations with Nevada-based Paragon Gaming. “We’re working with the city now to get our arms around what the best strategy is … we’ll be applying in short order.”

But it could be a controversial plan. Edgewater’s original owners didn’t seek a liquor licence when the casino first opened because of political sensitivities – the expansion of gambling and the introduction of Edgewater’s 500 slot machines has proven unpopular in some communities.

Edgewater averaged losses of $150,000 a week during its first year of operations. Its previous owners cited a lack of a gaming-floor liquor licence and parking and signage restrictions for its troubles.

The City of Vancouver has taken in $5.3 million in Edgewater revenues since the casino’s opening last February.

Related posts:

Cities take a gamble on casino earnings
Casino profits plunge again
Edgewater Casino losing $150,000 a week
Extend casino licence, say Edgewater buyers

Tags: vancouver, casinos, gambling, slot machines, edgewater, great canadian, paragon gaming

It's not an extension, it's a deferral, dammnit

2006-09-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

Casual Tony.

Health Minister Tony Clement has "deferred" a decision on keeping Vancouver's supervised injection site open for another year and a half.

"Do safe injection sites contribute to lowering drug use and fighting addiction?" Clement asked himself rhetorically in a statement released late this afternoon. "Right now the only thing the research to date has proven conclusively is drug addicts need more help to get off drugs.

"Given the need for more facts, I am unable to approve the current request to extend the Vancouver site for another three and a half years."

A bit of commentary here:

Conspicuous in its absence from the minister's statement was any discussion of or argument against the largely positive research results from Insite's first three years of existence. As Health Minister, Clement has every right to shut the project down now if he saw evidence Insite wasn't serving its purpose. Instead, he extended its legal exemption, albeit draping his extension in a "deferral".

But buried in this afternoon's press release: In addition to its original mandate of evaluating HIV transmission, overdose rates, public injection and treatment referrals, Clement now wants Insite research to look at how the facility affects crime and drug prevention.

Crime reduction is the domain of law enforcement and prevention is the domain of the federal government's non-existent national drug strategy. Yet the minister would believe a small facility that receives all of $500,000 in federal funds must now somehow tackle what police and government policy have been unable to control. Hmm.

It's not Insite that's been granted a reprieve - it's Clement who's bought himself time to shut it down.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Tags: vancouver, safe injection site, downtown eastside,addiction, harm reduction

a.k.a. How not to inspire public confidence

2006-08-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

There's trouble brewing over at Liberal defector David Emerson's old party. It stems from a heated race to seize the Liberal nomination in Emerson's Vancouver Kingsway riding.

Businesswoman Wendy Yuan won it in a tight vote at a meeting Saturday. But her sole opponent, Mason Loh, a Vancouver lawyer and previous federal Liberal candidate in Vancouver East, is crying foul.

"The conduct of the meeting was not transparent, fair or even-handed," Loh told reporters at a press conference yesterday. "Residents of Vancouver Kingsway have a right to be cynical about the way Canadian politics is conducted."

Loh claims the meeting's timing - there was only 12 days' notice - was tilted unfairly in favour of Yuan, a longtime Liberal fundraiser and provincial executive. Loh claims Yuan knew well before he did when the nomination meeting would be, allowing her to get the word out and recruit supporters long before him.

He further claims that Yuan supporters intentionally misdirected and intimidated voting members and that Yuan's campaign manager, Mike Hillman, abused his superhuman powers as vice-president of the Liberal party to advance her candidacy.

Hillman declined to comment on the matter.

"I think to be fair, we did not see Mr. Loh's appeal so I can't comment on it specifically," he said. "I can say we have in every way over the last years, conducted our campaign at every level in the highest integrity."

Hillman also refused to say whether or not he had a say in setting the date of the nomination meeting and if his candidate had advance knowledge of it.

"If that's the charge or something he's making specifically in his appeal then I will need to read that first and respond," he said.

Loh said the kerfuffle has turned what should have been a "hotly contested nomination meeting" into a "public relations disaster."

The Libs' B.C. executive director, Mark Grant, instead took a shot at Loh.

"Both candidates ran a very competitive and tight race," Grant said. "... The side that did not [win] is clearly unhappy about that and would like to find a reason or somebody to blame."

Tags: vancouver, politics, liberals. david emerson

This just in: VPD chief big fishing fan

2006-07-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham has found himself in hot water over what was apparently meant as a funny gesture.

It started yesterday morning, when a column by Vancouver Courier columnist Allen Garr revealed the chief constable was being investigated over “an incident” that took place between Graham and Vancouver city manager Judy Rogers, the city's respected top bureaucrat.

But Graham said it was a misunderstanding.

“On June 30th, I placed one of my old shooting targets from the range on Ms. Rogers desk with a note saying 'A bad day at the range is better than the best day at work,'” he said in a short statement. “This saying is similar to the 'I'd rather be fishing' bumper sticker'.”

Graham said he apologized to Rogers when he learned his “gesture had caused some concern.”

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, who is chair of the Police Board that oversees Graham and the police department, said he felt the matter at the time was “sufficiently serious” to bring to the board.

“[But Graham] has very recently apologized in writing for his action, and no investigation has been undertaken by the Police Board,” Sullivan said in a statement.

The Deputy Police Complaint Commissioner will decide if further action is necessary.

A phone call to city manager Judy Rogers's office was not returned.

Yesterday's kerfuffle finds the police chief on the other end of the microscope. Last fall, Graham asked the RCMP to investigate Sullivan after the mayor said he once bought crack for an addicted friend. No criminal charges were laid, and relations between the two have been amicable at board meetings.

Related:
Statement from Chief Constable Jamie Graham

Questions were raised in the media today about an exchange between myself and City Manager Judy Rogers.

Only because it has been raised in the media I feel it is important to let the public know what happened.

On June 30th, I placed one of my old shooting targets from the range on Ms. Rogers desk with a note saying “A bad day at the range is better than the best day at work.”

This saying is similar to the “I’d rather be fishing” bumper sticker.

When I later learned that this gesture had caused some concern, I apologized to Ms. Rogers verbally and in writing.

The original gesture was made with only the most positive of intentions and I regret any confusion it may have caused.

Jamie H. Graham
Chief Constable

Fire at will! Appeals panel is fair game, court says

2006-07-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

Vancouver city council is free to fire its independent appeals panel at any time, a B.C. Supreme Court Justice has ruled.

The decision, delivered by Justice Robert Bauman yesterday, effectively quashes a bid from the five fired members of Vancouver's board of variance to be reinstated.

Bauman ruled the Vancouver Charter demands any bylaw or resolution passed "in good faith" by city council cannot be overturned - not even by a court.

"The burden of proving bad faith rests on she who alleges it, and it's a heavy burden," he said.

Bauman called the ex-board members' claims that council was attempting to reign them in as "rhetoric not supported by evidence," and said the proper recourse for disgruntled voters is at election time.

Furthermore, city council is not required to explain their decision to the courts, nor are they obliged to allow its fired board members an opportunity to air their grievances - because board members are volunteers.

"The council owes no duty of procedural fairness," Bauman said.

The now officially ex-board members say they may appeal the ruling.

Meanwhile, NPA councillors, minus Vision Vancouver councillors who were boycotting in protest, named its shiny new board of variance yesterday afternoon. The new members are:

realtor Parveen Adrakar
development consultant Jagdev Dhillon
former TEAM city councillor Marguerite Ford
Alex Lam, an electrical engineer, and
Francesca Zumpano, a federal Liberal by way of the NDP

The new fivesome, with whom the vast majority of Vancouverites will never have any dealings, ever, are to get down to business with a fresh backlog of appeals at their inaugural meeting tonight.

Tags: vancouver, city hall, politics

Wanted: One (1) board of variance

2006-07-05T16:24:00.000-07:00

The former members of Vancouver’s board of variance plan to take the city to court, after they were suddenly dumped late last week.

Court action could come as early as tomorrow morning. The five members are seeking a stay on council’s decision to fire them. If granted, they could in effect be reinstated as board of variance members until their grievances are heard by the courts.

“We intend to seek a stay as soon as possible, and that would mean a stay on the decision of council,” now-former board chair Terry Martin said in an interview, even as the city advertised his former position.

NPA councillors said the board was fired because it consistently went over budget.

But others who have had dealings with the board in recent weeks see the issue as a power struggle between the city and its layperson board.

Developer Raj Nijjar became frustrated with the board, after it quashed a city permit allowing him to subdivide a 50-foot lot in Dunbar.

“In our case it was almost two years of work and almost $80,000 in architectural fees that went down the drain,” said Nijjar, who says he is about to file court action against the board.

He called the group a “rogue board” which worked above and beyond its jurisdiction.

But False Creek resident Rider Cooey defended the board.

“I would reject that characterization entirely,” said Cooey, who led a citizens’ group that just last week won its appeal against a Concord Pacific development, convincing the board to block a planned marina.

“They’ve been extremely conscientious,” Cooey said. “They’re very hardworking. It’s a great deal of time spent serving the people in the city.”

Dhaliwal ♥ Iggy

2006-07-04T23:29:00.000-07:00

Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff now has, what is it, three B.C. MP's behind him?

I think his Roméo Dallaire trumps anyone in the Senator category, even the esteemed Senator from Vancouver. But what's with the random facial expression? I guess it's better than Stéphane Dion's video diary.

Michael Ignatieff Welcomes Sukh Dhaliwal as Western Regional Chair of National Campaign

For immediate release:

SURREY (July 4, 2006)– Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff, MP for Etobicoke- Lakeshore, is honoured to have received the endorsement of Sukh Dhaliwal, MP for Newton - North Delta. Sukh Dhaliwal will act as Regional Chair for Western Canada in his leadership campaign. As Regional Chair, Dhaliwal will play a senior organizational and policy advisory role on the National Campaign Committee, working closely with the National Co-Chairs.

“Sukh has been instrumental in the steady advance of Liberalism in British Columbia over the past two elections, he also represents the very best of our party’s future,“ Michael Ignatieff said. “Sukh’s support means a great deal to me, especially now as we enter the next phase of the campaign, leading up to the delegate selection meetings. I welcome his sound advice and counsel. as well as his influence as a community leader in BC and beyond.”

Sukh Dhaliwal, a businessman first elected to Parliament in 2006, played an active role in Surrey municipal politics, the Surrey business community and a number of local charities prior to winning his seat. Having immigrated to Canada from India in 1984, he became a Canadian citizen in 1987 and completed his post-secondary studies at the University of Calgary and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. An engineer and surveyor by profession, Dhaliwal built and ran a successful land surveying company prior to entering politics. He is currently Associate Opposition Critic for the Canadian Border Services Agency. He is also Michael’s seatmate in the House of Commons.

“I have come to know Michael as a valued and respected colleague in the Liberal caucus,” said Dhaliwal. “He understands the issues that matter most to me and my community - modern urban infrastructure, sound fiscal management, accessible health care and reducing youth violence. He also knows that transforming our immigration system is key to Canadian success in an increasingly competitive world.”

“I am convinced that Michael is not only our best choice to lead the renewal of the Liberal Party of Canada, he is the candidate who can defeat Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in the next election,” Dhaliwal added. “I look forward to working closely with Michael and his entire team, here in BC and across Canada, in the lead up to the Montreal convention and the next election.”

For more information on Michael’s campaign, visit www.michaelignatieff.ca ..

-30-

Office of Sukh Dhaliwal, MP

Time to register city hall lobbyists?

2006-06-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, he used to work in the highest levels of government. Now he's a consultant for one of the country's most prominent public affairs firms, and word is, he's well sought-after.

And why not? Behind government lines, he served as chief of staff to one government minister, as well as a senior analyst in a big-budget ministry.

His newest client is one of the world's largest corporations, with an expansive product line ranging from glue sticks and masking tape to fuel cells and bomb resistant windows.

What would this giant U.S. company want with the Canadian government?

A betting man might observe the company is particularly interested in government matters relating to public health, influenza, and pandemic preparedness.

Coincidentally, one of the company's big products happens to be a simple respirator device, which the World Health Organization believes could protect front line healthcare workers against a deadly strain of Avian Influenza - bird flu.

The problem is, the Canadian government hasn't officially recommended the respirators be used. The company evidently sees a major opportunity, however, which could be why, as of the middle of last month, it has retained the services of our aforementioned lobbyist.

This isn't the sort of stuff that hits the newspapers everyday. But all this information is readily available to the public on the federal government's online registry of lobbyists.

British Columbia's got one too. As of yesterday, the province had 220 active registered lobbyists, people paid to lobby the government.

In fact, four provinces, as well as the federal government, have some form of registration system for lobbyists.

Noticeably absent from the list are local municipalities. A prominent citizen watchdog group says it's about time city governments get on board.

“If it's needed for the provinces, then it's needed for the city,” says Duff Conacher, coordinator of Ottawa-based Democracy Watch. “There's a lot of money at stake and it can be easily wasted or spent on politicians, city staff, friends, families or donors and supporters.”

Vancouver alone has a yearly operating budget hovering around the $800 million mark. This year, it will spend more than $150 million alone on purchasing. Add on the budgets of every city in the region, and Greater Vancouver as a whole has a buying power comparable to a small province.

But is a registration system for lobbyists really necessary at the city level? After all, a city hall lobbyist is just as likely to be a building developer with money on the line, as it is a concerned parent looking to install a speed bump on a busy street.

“We do get lobbied a lot. We get lobbied by non-profits. We get lobbied by citizens. We get lobbied by development consultants,” says NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton. “I don't see it as anything insidious or dangerous. I simply see it as people bringing their position to us on all manner of things.”

Anton says there are very few secrets at city hall.

“I think sometimes you can make life way more complicated than it needs to be by introducing too many rules and regulations,” Anton says.

COPE Coun. David Cadman supports some form of regulation for lobbyists, but also worries it could take away from the “personal touch” of civic governments.

“One of the things about local government that is a blessing is that it is local, and you can talk to your local politicians and have a discussion about issues that affect you,” Cadman says. “What I don't want to do is establish a bureaucratic mechanism that impedes us from being able to talk to people in this city, be they a business owner or a resident.”

In January, Vancouver commissioned a wide-reaching external governance audit. That audit, which will be reported to council this week, recommends the city review its policies on lobbying and lobbyists.

“We found that as we discussed the question of governance, the topic of lobbying came up,” explains May Brown, the former city councillor who chaired the audit committee. “It's interesting that the federal and provincial government has dealt with it, but at the civic level I don't think it's been dealt with.”

The City of Toronto is in the midst of establishing its own registry for lobbyists. It largely came about as a reaction to a computer leasing deal in the late 90's that ballooned into an embarrasing fiasco that cost taxpayers millions.

There are no suggestions whatsoever that Vancouver has the same problems, but Brown's committee studied the Toronto case anyhow and came to its conclusion.

"We want to be ahead of things in governance," Brown says.

Actually, Vancouver's council already considered the issue last March - and rejected it. A motion put before council would have asked the province to institute a lobbyist registry for all cities. COPE councillors supported the motion, but NPA and Vision Vancouver councillors combined to defeat it.

And it's not as if the province has received heaps of praise for its problematic registry, which like all Canadian registries, relies on the honour system of lobbyists registering themselves.

What's left is a system full of loohopes, argues Democracy Watch's Conacher.

For example, lobbyists only have to register if they spend more than 20 per cent of their time lobbying. That works out to one day a week (assuming a five-day work week). What's more, that 20 per cent includes only actual lobbying time, not time spent researching or otherwise. Lobbyists can - and do - fly under the radar.

Instead, Conacher wants to make it mandatory for city councillors and city staff to disclose who is lobbying them.

“If you deal with it the other way, you'll always leave loopholes,” he says.

But Coun. Cadman says he has yet to see a lobbying registration system that works.

“When all is said and done, people who need to press their influence will find a way to do it,” Cadman says. “Is registering effectively going to change that?”

The key, says Conacher, is having stiff penalties - including jail terms - for those who flout the regulations.

“It's very hard to stop the influence of money in politics,” Conacher says. “But making it illegal discourages a lot of people from trying.”

Tags: vancouver, lobbyist, lobbying, city hall, politics, registry

Give peace a lawsuit

2006-06-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

Cash-strapped organizers of this month's World Peace Forum may appeal a court decision that would hit them in the pocket books to the tune of $50,000.

A B.C. Supreme Court Justice has ordered the World Peace Forum Society to cough up the damages after former co-executive director Lynn Hainsworth was sacked from her job last November.

But current executive director Jef Keighley said organizers are “looking at … legal options”. Such a payout would mean a “big hit” to the finances of the forum, which has already shaved its budget by one-quarter to meet funding shortfalls.

Embattled forum organizers had a previous $50,000 setback earlier this year when the City of Vancouver pulled funding for a related event.

In March, the city approved a $50,000 grant for the forum amidst much debate over whether or not organizers had reached preset fundraising goals.

Either way, Keighley said the forum, running from June 23-28, is a go. “What we've said right from the outset is that we are sizing the budget to meet the available resources,” he said.

That budget now stands at about $1.3 million, down from a previous estimate of $1.9 million.

Related posts:
This just in: Vancouver hates peace
Vancouver: Still hatin' peace

Tags: vancouver, world peace forum

Now that's how I like to be spun

2006-06-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

AM730 CONTINUOUS DRIVE TIME TRAFFIC HITS THE ROAD ON MONDAY at 730am

(June 2, 2006 – Vancouver, Canada)

On Monday morning at 7:30, Corus Radio Vancouver introduces a unique radio format – Continuous Drive Time Traffic and the Best of Talk. AM730 will broadcast Vancouver’s only essential traffic reports without the wait during the critical morning and afternoon drive periods. AM730 will become an [sic] vital element for the region’s commuters.

AM730 will also provide signature time-shifted CKNW talk and original programming including Vancouver Whitecaps, Vancouver Giants and Seattle Seahawks play-by-play games.

AM730 Drive Time Traffic and the Best of Talk is an integral part of the Corus Radio Vancouver cluster, providing superior up-to-the-minute traffic reports to AM730, CKNW News-Talk/980, 99.3 The Fox and Classic Rock 101 from the AM730 Traffic Chopper and the AM730 Traffic Centre.

ON AM730 you will never have to wait for a traffic report again when it matters most.

For further details:

Ian Koenigsfest
Program Director
AM730 Continuous Drive Time Traffic.

Slightly related:
Corus takes the axe to CKNW and MOJO.

Anonymous donors ♥ harm reduction

2006-06-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

Mayor Sam Sullivan says another donor has come forward offering to fund a drug harm reduction program in the city.

Sullivan said a “non-local” donor has offered $100,000. It’s in addition to previous offerings of more than $500,000, which the mayor revealed last month amidst some controversy.

He had announced he would risk his political career to promote a program that would provide drugs for addicted prostitutes.

“I was worried the media attention might have dissuaded him but [the donor] is still committed,” Sullivan said in a recent interview.

Opposition city councillors have accused Sullivan of being reckless with his drug policies, challenging the mayor to put his drug plans in writing. But Sullivan said he’s merely advocating for a plan.

“I’m trying to move forward on issues that have been scientifically proven to reduce crime and public disorder,” he said.

Either way, the more than $600,000 the mayor has now apparently been offered for harm reduction programs may be more symbolic than substantive.

“These types of programs are expensive,” said Donald MacPherson, the city’s drug policy coordinator. “It’s a good start, but you want to think of sustainability when you’re designing programs.”

At this amount, MacPherson said the money is more likely to be leverage when lobbying other levels of government for funding.

Meanwhile, the RCMP announced yesterday there will be no criminal charges against Sullivan after he admitted to giving money for drugs to an addicted friend. Vancouver’s police chief had requested the RCMP investigation after Sullivan took office last fall.

Related posts:
Pillars of Owen, by Sam Sullivan
Alcoholics next target for harm reduction?
Tobacco harm reduction: The lesser evil?

Tags: vancouver, sam sullivan, harm reduction

Extend casino license, say Edgewater buyers

2006-05-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

The Las Vegas company looking to take over Vancouver’s struggling Edgewater Casino may back out of the deal if the city doesn’t extend its casino license by five years.

Paragon Gaming's plan to buy Edgewater depends on the license being extended until 2013, the company's V.P. of planning John Cahill confirmed in an interview yesterday. The current permit is set to expire in 2008.

Cahill said Paragon needs time to secure financing and to reposition Edgewater, which has averaged operating losses of $150,000 a week since its opening last February.

City staff are advising city councillors to endorse the casino license extension when they consider the issue tomorrow.

But Vancouver is already too reliant on gambling revenues, says anti-gambling advocate Bill Chu.

“It’s not just people that are addicted to gambling,” Chu said. “If governments are addicted to money from gambling that means they don’t have any will or power to overcome their own addiction.”

City staff concede the casino generates "significant and necessary revenues" for the city. The staff report going before council tomorrow notes, that "without the contiued operation of the casino, there is a budget risk due to the loss of revenues,” and extending the license "in the long run would most likely increase revenue contributions to the city.”

In 2005, those revenues from Edgewater fell almost $3 million short of the original $6.5-million projection, forcing the city at one point to consider raiding its emergency contingency fund.

Court documents obtained this month reveal Edgewater was in such bad shape last year that its owners even tried to sell the casino to their biggest rivals, Great Canadian Casinos, as well as Greg Kerfoot, the media-shy owner of soccer’s Whitecaps.

Last month, Kerfoot demanded repayment of some $17.5 million in debts originally taken on as part of his aborted bid to buy the casino.

If endorsed by council tomorrow, the license extension should go before the development permit board next week for final approval.

Related posts:
Cities take a gamble on casino earnings
Casino profits plunge again
Edgewater Casino losing $150,000 a week

Tags: vancouver, casinos, gambling, slot machines, edgewater, great canadian, paragon gaming, whitecaps, greg kerfoot

Liberals meet, greet, eat dim sum

2006-05-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

Where is Ken Dryden's game face?

Speaking at a meet-n-greet in Vancouver's Chinatown yesterday, the Liberal leadership hopeful's nerves of steel seemed to turn to jelly over the course of a rambling, 10-minute speech that had all the eloquence of a sweaty post-game scrum.

At one point, his voice noticeably trembling, Dryden knocked over a full glass of water with a wayward flick of his glove hand.

The two-hour long session at Floata Restaurant was set up by Richmond MP Raymond Chan to showcase Dryden and other leadership hopefuls Michael Ignatieff, Stéphane Dion, Carolyn Bennett and Hedy Fry to Vancouver's Chinese Canadian community.

Perhaps sensing his NHL legend status pulled little weight yesterday, Dryden tragically benched his hockey metaphors in favour of a long-winded talk touching on his recollections of:

Growing up in Etobicoke ("This place of immense... space")
His parents' hope for the future ("Whatever we were then, we would be that much more in the future")
Change ("We are an immensely different country than we were in that time")
White people in high school yearbooks ("Page after page of white faces. That was the face of suburban Canada")
International trade ("We can move to the east just as easily as we move to the west")

and, finishing with his discourse on multiculturalism:

"There have been mistakes along the way. But we're doing better. Things are changing. Walking down any street in Toronto or Vancouver, there are almost no double takes anymore. Nothing shocks us. We've been accustomed to those differences."

Believe me, it actually makes much more sense listed in half-formed sound niblets.

Michael Ignatieff, fresh off an endorsement from Vancouver Quadra Liberal MP Stephen Owen, knew his audience well, playing both the Chinese railroad workers card ("They died laying the steel that tied our country together") and the immigration card within minutes of taking the stage. Ignatieff promised to push for immigration wait time guarantees for families seeking to sponsor relatives.

"We have to go into the next election saying it's a matter of justice," Ignatieff said to polite applause.

The military, as well, needs to be beefed up, he said.

"I don't think you can be a serious defender of human rights unless you are capable of sending a combat-capable military who are capable of defending someone who is in danger of losing their lives," he said.

And in case Vancouverites needed a few more sturdy pillars, Stéphane Dion has three of his own: economic performance, social justice and environmental sustainability. The former environment minister is hoping his eco-friendly plan will resonate in green B.C.

"We need to reconcile humanity with the planet," Dion said in his vigorous speech. "We will make Canada the champion of sustainable economics."

Dion, whose national campaign manager, Mark Marissen, is Paul Martin's former right-hand man in B.C., predicted an amicable campaign before December's leadership convention.

"This race will be lengthy. It will be rigorous. But it will be respectful."

But it's also a race only a bilingual candidate should win, Dion said before his speech.

"If you're unable to win a debate in French, how can you win an election?"

Enter unilingual Hedy Fry, who twice broke from her no-script speech to read off an awkward phrase or two in French.

But language, Fry added, presumably referring to that of the 250 predominantly Chinese Canadians in attendance, was Canada's "secret weapon" on the global scene, a "weapon of mass inclusion."

Hmmm. Here's hoping that's the last we hear of that phrase.

Tags: vancouver, liberals, ken dryden, michael ignatieff, stephane dion, hedy fry

Wal-Mart wants in after big box ban lifted

2006-05-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

"If Osama Bin Laden proposed a building with solar panels on the roof, would city council allow it?"

- Former COPE Coun. Tim Louis

Vancouver looks to be headed for another big-box showdown this summer.

A moratorium on big box applications in Vancouver is set to be lifted any day now, and Wal-Mart Canada says it's still interested in erecting its "eco-friendly" store on Marine Drive - even though the plan was soundly rejected last summer.

"We've said all along that we're committed to the site that we have. We still think it makes sense for a retail development," Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Groh said in an interview yesterday.

A lot has changed in a year. The left-wing council that dominated city hall has been replaced by a slim centre-right majority more open to Wal-Mart's overtures.

But there's still strong opposition to the big box behemoths.

"We knew this was coming. We're starting to get the ball rolling," said Louise Seto, chair of the Building Better Neighbourhoods group that has bitterly lobbied against Wal-Mart.

Council must first decide whether to adjust its industrial zoning policies that currently permit big box applications. The previous council ordered a review of the policy after the Wal-Mart rejection.

Any decision on that would likely head to a public hearing in the early summer; Wal-Mart expects the earliest it can re-apply is in July.

Last year, the NPA's Sam Sullivan and Peter Ladner, along with former Mayor Larry Campbell, were the only ones to vote in favour of the Wal-Mart application, as well as an additional Canadian Tire store along the same stretch.

Tags: vancouver, walmart, big box

Honourable Bob Bunts for B.C.

2006-05-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

"Call me" Bob Rae's B.C. team is looking slightly Ontarian in these early days.

Taleeb Noormohamed once-upon-a-time contested the Liberal nomination for Hedy Fry's Vancouver-Centre, but is based in Ottawa. Publicist Elana Rabinovitch is a 416-er.

On the flipside, does this mean we are to expect 15 different press releases from Liberal leadership hopefuls whenever Stephen Harper burps?

From: "Bob Rae's BC Team"
Subject: Bob Rae Statement on Kelowna Accord
Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 15:35:30 -0700

Following, please find a statement from Bob Rae regarding the Kelowna Accord.

______________________

Statement by the Honourable Bob Rae on The Kelowna Accord

May 9, 2006

The Kelowna Accord was the culmination of a long process of sincere discussion and negotiation on the part of Prime Minister Paul Martin, all the Premiers and the leadership of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit.

Premier Gordon Campbell was right when he said that the Accord constituted an historic moment. He was also right when he said it was a solemn commitment of the Crown, not something to be tossed aside in a moment of partisan whimsy.

The spin masters in Mr Harper's entourage have been working overtime. The Minister of Immigration said it was written on the back of a napkin in the middle of the election. Wrong on all counts. Others have dismissed it, distancing the new government from any of its commitments.

Canadians should not listen to this propaganda.

A commitment of the Crown should bind the Crown. Period. To walk away from it is disgraceful. It dishonours the undertaking not of one politician or another, but thirteen first ministers binding their governments to meet their responsibilities.

The Harper Conservatives should be ashamed of themselves - to walk away and pretend the commitments mean nothing will further undermine the relationship between all Canadian governments and Canada's first citizens.

It cheapens the political process, and in practical terms deprives Aboriginal people of services, housing, education, and the recognition they constitutionally deserve.

Nothing shows so clearly that Mr Harper "don't get it". When majorities abuse power, ignore their obligations, and assume arrogantly that all previous commitments can be broken, they deserve to be called to account.

- 30 -

For further information, please contact:

Taleeb Noormohamed, mobile (613) 866-XXXX, or,
Elana Rabinovitch, mobile (416) 934-XXXX

NPA PR firm batting from both sides

2006-05-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

Ah, city politics.

On the same day the city's mayor submits his official statement to the RCMP for its potential investigation into why he bought crack for an addicted friend, enlisting the help of his favourite PR firm to spin the mildly awkward news, that same firm enlists the help of the media to lobby City Hall, and the mayor, not to approve a controversial new Downtown soccer stadium.

It happened this week, with Mayor Sam Sullivan bypassing his on-staff press secretary in favour of PR firm Reputations, to explain to the media (but presumably not the RCMP) what went down, and why he did it. Enter Reputations' first e-mail of the day:

Date: Tuesday, May 2, 2006 7:30 AM
From: Adam Grossman

MEDIA ADVISORY

May 2, 2006

Mayor Sullivan gives statement to RCMP

Vancouver, BC - Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan has today released an official statement made to the RCMP regarding his past decisions to provide money to illegal drug users.

The following are excerpts from the statement made by Mayor Sullivan to Inspector Paul Nadeau on May 1, 2006:

In my twelve years on City Council, I have been frustrated by the terrible harm caused to drug addicted individuals and the communities they live in. Whereas most jurisdictions rely on three pillars of public policy -- Prevention, Enforcement and Treatment -- I became convinced that we needed to add a fourth pillar -- Harm Reduction. In the late 90s, I began to advocate this in Council Chambers.

Between five and seven years ago, while this new Four Pillars concept was being discussed, I developed a friendship with two people with addictions who gave me great insights into the subject.

I learned a lot from these two wonderful people and what they taught has helped shape my thinking and City policy. I am committed to going further in following the path of harm reduction as a means of helping people like Shawn and Michele and as a way of reducing the harm to our neighbourhoods caused by drug addiction.

For more information regarding this statement, please contact Adam Grossman on 604.689.8801.

Less than two hours later, my e-mail inbox runneth over once again with another e-mail from Reputations. A new 'Gastown Neighbourhood Coalition' ain't pleased about Greg Kerfoot's plan to build the new Whitecaps stadium downtown. City Hall could give its blessing in June:

MEDIA ADVISORY

GASTOWN NEIGHBOURHOOD COALITION TO LAUNCH PUBLIC CAMPAIGN AGAINST PROPOSED STADIUM

The newly-formed Gastown Neighbourhood Coalition will hold a press conference at a local Gastown restaurant to launch its public campaign against the proposed waterfront stadium. The coalition will be joined by other local groups to outline their concerns with the proposed stadium and its potential impact on Vancouver’s premier heritage area.

The Gastown Neighbourhood Coalition has been formed to provide a constructive voice for the Gastown residents and businesses who oppose the plans for the stadium.

When: Wednesday, May 3, 2006

Time: 10:00 A.M.

What: Press conference to launch the Gastown Neighbourhood Coalition’s public campaign

Location: 6 Acres Café (formerly Moonshine Café), 203 Carrall St. (behind the Gassy Jack Statue)

Media Contact:
Adam Grossman
Phone: 604-689-8801

It's at least the second time in recent weeks that Reputations, whose director of public affairs, Allen Langdon, a Peter Ladner backer, sits on the NPA's board of directors, has launched a campaign to influence city hall:

Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 10:03 AM
From: Adam Grossman

For immediate release
March 21, 2006

Decision by City Council threatens future of Vancouver Marathon
Approval of U.S. proposal will irreparably harm City’s jewel

VANCOUVER, BC – The Board of Directors of the Vancouver International Marathon Society are gravely concerned that an upcoming decision by City Council could spell the end of their 35-year old race. City Council is slated to make a decision in April regarding a proposal from Elite Racing, a sport marketing company based out of San Diego, California, to introduce a half-marathon to Vancouver in August, 2007. The establishment of a half-marathon is likely just the first step as Elite is expected to apply for a full marathon in Vancouver within another year.

“We have carefully studied the potential impact of another marathon in this city and have determined that the city does not have the market at this time to support two major marathons,” said Gordon Cook, a member of the Vancouver International Marathon Society’s Board of Directors. “However, even the introduction of a competing half-marathon will have significant impact on our race as Elite will begin targeting the 50% of our registrants that travel from out-of-province to our race.”

The BMO Bank of Montreal Vancouver Marathon is the largest marathon in the country and one of the largest events held in the City of Vancouver. The event is entering its 35th year and is run by the non-profit Vancouver International Marathon Society and its volunteer Board of Directors. The Society has six full-time staff and relies on over 1,800 volunteers to help run the event every year. The marathon generates over $20 million in economic activity each year, uses local suppliers and supports a number of local charities.

“The decision by Council next month is not whether to add another major racing event to Vancouver’s calendar, but whether they want to substitute a long-standing community event with a cookie cutter, U.S.-style show production,” said Cook. “To compete with Elite Racing is not about who has the best event, it is about how it leverages its marketing power in the U.S. to overpower local competition. We would not just be competing against another race; we would be competing against a major U.S. sport marketing company that can outspend us 10 times over.”

City Council will make a decision on Elite Racing’s proposal when the Annual Special Event Report is presented to them on either April 6th or 20th. If successful, Elite Racing will run the event out of its corporate headquarters in San Diego, California, where it employs a staff of 60. While the Vancouver International Marathon invests any excess profit back into its event and the community, any profits from Elite Racing’s event would be sent back to California.

“What I find particularly distressing is that this is just the latest example of how we as Canadians are selling out our local institutions,” said Cook. “I think it is incumbent on City Council to stand up for our event, which has a 35-year history of success in this community.”

- 30 -

For more information:
Adam Grossman
Tel: 604.689.8801

Fabulous stuff.

Related posts:
Pillars of Owen, By Sam Sullivan
Municipal elections and manila envelopes
Edgewater Casino losing $150,000 a week

Tags: vancouver, npa, sam sullivan, public relations, city hall, reputations, whitecaps, greg kerfoot

Edgewater Casino losing $150,000 a week

2006-05-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

Court documents show the owners of Vancouver's Edgewater Casino tried to sell off their bleeding operation to their biggest rivals, as well as Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot, who wants to build a new soccer stadium downtown.

A Las Vegas company that specializes in First Nations partnership casinos has inked an initial agreement to take over Vancouver’s struggling Edgewater Casino.

Paragon Gaming hopes to have the deal wrapped up by the end of the summer, according to its VP of operations, Yale Rowe.

Edgewater has struggled since its launch last February, averaging operating losses of more than $150,000 a week, according to court documents.

They reveal owners Len Libin and Gary Jackson tried to sell off the struggling operation last year to its biggest rival – Great Canadian Gaming Corporation - as well as the reclusive owner of soccer's Whitecaps.

Libin and Jackson knew the casino needed help “shortly after opening day”. They had a tentative agreement with rivals Great Canadian, owners of Richmond’s successful River Rock Casino Resort. The deal would have been enough to pay off Edgewater’s debts, plus provide “several million dollars” to the casino’s shareholders, along with deferred payments kicking in a further $50 million.

But Great Canadian backed out at the last minute after seven months of negotiations, the documents claim, which was “financially devastating” for Edgewater and its creditors.

After the deal collapsed, Greg Kerfoot, the media-shy owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps, entered into negotiations to buy part of Edgewater, taking on a chunk of the casino’s debts as part of an initial agreement.

But that deal too fell through and last month Kerfoot demanded his share of Edgewater’s debts be repaid – some $17.5 million.

The deadline was Tuesday evening, but a B.C. Supreme Court Justice granted Edgewater temporary relief from its creditors, allowing the casino to continue operations for now.

Up until now, Libin and Jackson funded the casino's day-to-day losses with loans through their affiliated companies. Since its opening last February until March 31, 2006, Edgewater Casino has tallied a net loss of $12.9 million, according to the company's unaudited statement of operations and deficit.

The disappointing numbers even had an impact on pocketbooks at the City of Vancouver, which sees a portion of the casino's revenues. At one point last summer, city financial staff were warning council they would have to dip into contingency funds to make up for a $1.5 million shortfall in revenue projections.

Libin and Jackson have been unavailable for comment this week, but insufficient parking, signage concerns, and the lack of a liquor license on the gaming floor have been cited for Edgewater's lethargic performance to date.

It's likely many gamblers have instead headed to Great Canadian's splashy River Rock in Richmond, which has more than doubled that municipality’s share of the local gaming market in two years, according to the B.C. Lottery Corporation.

Paragon's Yale Rowe said his company was obviously aware of Edgewater's problems, but would not speculate on how Paragon could turn the casino around.

"There's not a lot of detail I can share with you yet. We've obviously put a lot of thought process into what we would do differently," Rowe said.

Calls to Greg Kerfoot’s office were not returned.

Great Canadian’s VP of media and entertainment, Howard Blank, declined comment.

Related posts:
Cities take a gamble on casino earnings
Casino profits plunge again

Tags: vancouver, casinos, gambling, slot machines, edgewater, great canadian, paragon gaming, whitecaps, greg kerfoot

Tobacco harm reduction: The lesser evil?

2006-05-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

The principles of harm reduction should extend to tobacco, argues one anti-smoking advocate.

We’ve got harm reduction for heroin, so why not tobacco? That’s the controversial argument from one Canadian researcher, who says abstinence-only quit-smoking policies just aren’t working for everyone.

David Sweanor, an adjunct professor of law and medicine at the University of Ottawa, said some smokers should consider smokeless tobacco products like snuff or chewing tobacco, even if those alternatives aren’t healthy either.

It’s a big jump from current health policy, which Sweanor describes as a “moralistic” agenda, in which the “likelihood of success is very very low.”

“The essence of harm reduction is not necessarily to eliminate harm, but to reduce harm,” Sweanor said.

He compares the idea to heroin harm reduction initiatives like needle exchanges or prescribed drug programs, which seek to lower rates of disease transmission rather than force drug users to quit.

“What we have with cigarettes is an incredibly dirty drug delivery system,” Sweanor said in an interview. “What could we accomplish if we have a far less hazardous form of nicotine available to consumers?”

Sweanor wants the government to approve more medicinal tobacco and make smokeless tobacco products more readily available than cigarettes, taxing the products differently as well.

“Different tax levels for relative harm,” he explained. “Generally we want to make the safest option the easiest option.”

But the idea hasn’t impressed many anti-smoking advocates.

“The evidence shows that smokeless tobacco products are highly addictive and cause cancer,” said Cathy Adair, VP of strategic initiatives with the Canadian Cancer Society. “Clearly for us smokeless tobacco has carcinogens in there and we would not support their use.”

Instead, Adair suggested the government subsidize the cost of quit-smoking products like Nicorette. These products differ from smokeless tobacco in that they are meant to be consumed for only a limited period of time, containing gradually smaller doses of nicotine, with the end-goal of total cessation.

Health Canada isn’t big on spit tobacco, which includes chew and snuff. It says:

“Spit tobacco has over 3,000 chemicals, including 28 known carcinogens. Spit tobacco is not a safe substitute for cigarettes and can harm your health.”

Among the consequences:

- Throat and mouth cancer, including cancer in the lip, tongue, cheek, floor and roof of the mouth
- Leukoplakia – white leathery sores, which can lead to cancer
- Increased heart rate, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats
- Addiction
- Tooth and gum disease

Source: Health Canada

Related posts:
Alcoholics next target for harm reduction?
The sex trade, after the women went missing

Tags: vancouver, harm reduction, four pillars, drug policy, smoking, tobacco

Pillars of Owen, By Sam Sullivan

2006-05-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

May 1, 2006

TO: Inspector Paul Nadeau, RCMP
FROM: Mayor Sam Sullivan
RE: Request for Statement

In my twelve years on City Council, I have been frustrated by the terrible harm caused to drug addicted individuals and the communities they live in. Whereas most jurisdictions rely on three pillars of public policy – Prevention, Enforcement and Treatment – I became convinced that we needed to add a fourth pillar – Harm Reduction. In the late 90s, I began to advocate this in Council Chambers.

Although former Mayor Philip Owen initially had reservations, he eventually came to the same conclusion and the Four Pillars policy was the result. I supported Mayor Owen by working hard to convince my NPA Council colleagues to unanimously approve a Safe Injection Site and the NAOMI heroin maintenance trial.

Between five and seven years ago, while this new Four Pillars concept was being discussed, I developed a friendship with two people with addictions who gave me great insights into the subject. In the year 2000, a front page article was published detailing how I gave money to a 20-year-old woman to buy heroin to prevent her from risking her life and health by prostituting herself to get drug money. I also disclosed to a journalist writing a feature article about me that I gave money to a crack cocaine addict. For five years no one ever questioned the legality of my actions or worried about the health of my addicted friends. During the 2005 Election campaign, former Mayor Larry Campbell and his Vision Vancouver party made these experiences a focus of their campaign and in particular bombarded the Chinese media with inflammatory advertisements. Former Mayor Campbell wrote to the Solicitor General questioning whether I was fit to be Chair of the Police Board. At that time, my political opponents developed much concern about the health of these two individuals. Because of the increased public awareness, the Police Chief had no alternative but to request that the RCMP investigate these incidents. Although this caused me great personal distress at the time, the voters ultimately chose to support me as Mayor and Chair of the Police Board.

The following describes in detail my interactions with two individuals, which prompted the review currently being conducted by the RCMP:

In the late 1990’s I met 20-year-old Michele outside of a convenience store in my eastside neighbourhood. I asked her to leave the area but noticed she was crying. She had skin lesions covered by heavy makeup. She confessed that she was a heroin addict forced to degrade herself as a prostitute because of her addiction. She had excelled at sports in high school, had a mother who loved her desperately, but her stepfather had kicked her out of the house for smoking marijuana. She was afraid of her customers but became nauseous and sick when she tried to quit. I asked her how much money she would need from me per day to stop putting herself at risk of becoming one of the missing women she spoke about. She said $40/day. For the next 3 weeks, I gave her money. I loved the fact that my neighbours could go to the convenience store without harassment and that she could be free of the customers who terrified her. I tried to get her into detox but she was afraid of the withdrawals. I convinced her to try methadone but she seemed furtive and suspicious when she was on it. When she had just a bit of heroin she was clear and lucid.

I went through a goal setting session with her and I asked her to visualize what she wanted for her life. She had a very clear vision of being curled up on her sofa in front of a fireplace with a white fur throw carpet on a hardwood floor. After 3 weeks, I really noticed the effect my support was having on my bank account, and I became resentful that over 90% of my money was going to support organized crime. I told her I would not be able to give her any more money. I saw her working Kingsway for a while after that and then I never saw her again. I often wonder if she ever ended up on that sofa in front of a fireplace or as an anonymous soul on some pig farm in the suburbs.

One day a couple of years later, I was checking my email at City Hall and found one from a man named Shawn, a crack cocaine addict who wanted to raise money for the missing women through a cross-Canada bike tour. I was impressed with his thoughtfulness and eloquence and his desire to help others. We agreed to meet at a restaurant, that I would buy him dinner and then drive him to his west end home. He told a fascinating story about how he could stay off crack only if he could ride his bike intensely every day. He had ridden his bike to Alberta and back but once he stopped riding he would fall back to drug use. The natural endorphins produced from bike riding were a substitute for drugs. I asked him what would prevent him from taking crack. He replied that if he could drink what millions of Americans used to drink – Coca Cola - by its original formula with a small amount of cocaine in it, it might be just enough to prevent him from bingeing. He also stated that if he could do what millions of South American Indians do every day – chew coca leaves – it might be enough to reduce the cravings.

We talked about the mechanics of the cross-country bike trip. In the middle of the dinner, he started to get fidgety and said he was going to leave. I asked him if it had something to do with drugs. He confirmed it. I wondered if he would have to do something illegal to get the money for the drugs. I was also conscious that I had committed to driving him home. I made a quick decision. I was there to learn. He had me drive him to near the police station where there was a busy trade in illegal drugs. People were smoking crack and shooting up in the open while police cars drove by. I gave him some money and he disappeared into the crowd. I saw him weaving back and forth like a pro, searching out an acceptable dealer. I lost sight of him. He returned with drugs and showed me a makeshift crack pipe made from simple materials. He smoked it while seated in my passenger seat. I drove him home, but part way there he said he wanted to go back for more. I agreed, but asked him if he could tell me what he was looking for as he weaved through the crowds. I parked in what I thought was a better location to see the deal and gave him the money. Once again I lost track of him. I drove him home and he spoke about his lack of food money. I gave him some cash, hoping that he would use it to subsidize his bike riding and keep him from the drugs.

I learned a lot from these two wonderful people and what they taught has helped shape my thinking and City policy. I am committed to going further in following the path of harm reduction as a means of helping people like Shawn and Michele and as a way of reducing the harm to our neighbourhoods caused by drug addiction.

Councillor wants limits on lengthy meetings

2006-04-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

NPA Coun. Peter Ladner wants to put a cap on Vancouver's epic council meetings to stop them from dragging on into "ridiculous hours in the morning."

It's been less than two weeks since council's marathon 19-hour budget session earlier this month finished up at the unseemly hour of 4:30 a.m. - or so I hear, having left nine hours prior to meet deadline - and it seems councillors are still trying to catch up on their sleep.

Ladner says the protracted meetings are "bad management, at the minimum," making his proposal to put a time limit on council yesterday during the shortest meeting in recent memory.

Since a bout of opposition filibustering back in December convinced the NPA to change its mind on an early key issue, meetings have stretched on into the evening, often drawn out by political bickering.

Tags: vancouver, city hall, politics

What's the 3-1-1?

2006-04-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

Heather Deal is back.

After a brief hiatus, the Vision Vancouver city councillor has reappeared in mayoral news releases, thanks to the mayor's director of community relations and former Non-Partisan Association board member, Anna Lilly.

As observed by the Courier's Allen Garr last month:

Mayor Sam Sullivan's very partisan press secretary, Anna Lilly, performed an act of political magic last week. She made a Vancouver Vision [sic] councillor disappear. Council decided two councillors, the NPA's B.C. Lee and Vision's Heather Deal, should join the mayor on his visit to examine the 311 central phone system in Calgary Friday. Somewhere over the Rockies, Deal disappeared and, unlike Sullivan and Lee, was nowhere to be found in the news release Lilly put out about the trip. Abracadabra indeed.

But in the mayor's monthly newsletter sent out last week, Deal was graciously reinserted back onto her trip.

Here's the original press release, sans Deal:

Date: Friday, March 3, 2006 12:46 PM
From: Cit of Vancouver Mayor's Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2006

Mayor Sullivan meets with Calgary Mayor;
tours 3-1-1 Communication Centre

CALGARY, AB - Mayor Sam Sullivan and Councillor B.C. Lee travelled to Calgary today to tour the city's 3-1-1 Communication Centre and to meet with Mayor Dave Bronconnier.

Mayor Sullivan, who also toured the 3-1-1 centre in New York in a recent stop-over on his way to the Olympic Games in Torino, wants to learn how other cities have successfully implemented the single-access phone system for municipal services.

Vancouver City Council recently asked staff to report on the possibility of establishing a similar system in Vancouver. A 3-1-1 system would allow citizens to call one central number to obtain information from city hall and access non-emergency civic services.

"Calgary has been one of the first cities in Canada to introduce a 3-1-1 system and I understand that it has greatly improved the city's ability to deliver timely and efficient services to citizens," Mayor Sullivan said. "I'm looking forward to learning more about how Calgary has implemented 3-1-1, and how Vancouver can benefit from the experiences of civic officials here."

Following a tour of the call centre, Mayor Sullivan had a lunch meeting with Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier to discuss the 3-1-1 project and opportunities for the two cities to engage in a dialogue about planning for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

"3-1-1 has been an outstanding success for Calgary, and we're very pleased to have Mayor Sullivan here to see our operations centre in action first hand," said Mayor Bronconnier. "We're also very happy to officially recognize Vancouver as Canada's Olympic City. Mayor Sullivan's city will do an outstanding job hosting the world in 2010!"

According to the City of Calgary, the 3-1-1 call centre receives almost 3 million calls annually from citizens for information on programs as well as to report problems or to request a service.

- 30 -

For more information:

Anna Lilly, Director of Community Relations to Mayor Sam Sullivan
604.873.7410

Marc Henry, Chief of Staff to Mayor Dave Bronconnier
403.268.8125

Tags: vancouver, city hall

This just in: Reporters teased, promised illicit documents

2006-03-31T17:44:00.000-08:00

"We've hit a snag," according to lawyer Heather Maconachie, counsel for CBC and CityTV.

It seems the counsel for Aneal Basi hasn't had time to look at the document today before it was to be passed on to the media.

Now the handover might not happen until Monday morning.

I guess Kent Brockman was right: Democracy just doesn't work.

In other news: No, you read it correctly. CBC and CityTV have joined forces at last.

Related:
Court throws media a bone

Click here to download a PDF of B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett's ruling granting media access to vetted information on search warrants used in the B.C. legislature raids.

Court throws media a bone

2006-03-31T11:32:00.000-08:00

The search warrant information from the aftermath of the 2003 B.C. Legislature raids should be available this afternoon.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett authorized the release of information on four subsequent 2004 raids this week, but it's taken three days just to transcribe her eight-page ruling.

In the mean time, that ruling has been released. Click here to download a PDF copy.

Whatever information is eventually released will be edited. Around 24 paragraphs of information will be severed until after witnesses testify or until after the trial is over. That includes about nine paragraphs on Erik Bornman and Brian Kieran, whose Liberal-connected P.R. firm was raided as part of the investigation.

Kieran, the former political columnist, last week announced he would be preparing for retirement by lightening his responsibilities at K&E.

Tags: basi, virk, b.c. legislature, supreme court, brian kieran, erik bornman, british columbia

Newsflash: Developers love Vision, NPA outspends everyone

2006-03-21T12:15:00.000-08:00

Vancouver's civic parties should put a cap on election spending, says the group that received almost $1 million in donations from corporations during November's election.

Vision Vancouver chairperson Josh Coles says it's time for campaign finance reform. “It's obviously ratcheting up,” Coles said outside City Hall yesterday, the deadline for candidates to file their financial disclosures. “… It certainly makes it difficult when you have to raise the kinds of money necessary to bring out the vote.”

Vision, which elected four candidates to council, raised more than $1.3 million and spent $1.55 million on the campaign. Much of its money came from developers as well as several smaller but substantive donations from the bar and restaurant industry. In total, corporations donated about $1 million.

Trade unions also liked Vision, forking over about $160,000. CUPE BC donated $72,000 collectively.

Senator Larry Campbell was nice enough to drop $520 on his old party, while Vision was also bolstered by a modest $300 donation from Zlotnik, Lamb and Company, the financial group co-founded by NPA park board commissioner Marty Zlotnik(who by the way raised an impressive $55,000 to sit on the board)'s dad, Harold.

The Non-Partisan Association and its candidates, which elected Mayor Sam Sullivan and five city councillors, appear to have spent a staggering $1.9 million on their victorious campaign.

Individually, NPA council candidates seem to have raised the most, with councillors B.C. Lee and Suzanne Anton leading the way: $89,000 and $72,000 respectively. They are the only major party, however, whose candidates stated individual donations in their disclosures - but each candidate was requried to hand over money to the party.

The left-wing Coalition of Progressive Electors, which lost all but one council seat, received and spent about $530,000, including $5,000 'loans' from its five council candidates. Trade unions handed over $360,000. COPE also spent a sizeable $174,000 on polling, far more than their competitors.

Not surprisingly, some benefactors double-dipped, donating large sums to both major parties.

For example, Great Canadian Casino dished out $30,750 to Vision, and also dropped about $20,000 on the NPA or its candidates. Usual suspects Concord Pacific were once again all over the map, donating almost $50,000 to Vision, while making significant individual contributions to NPA candidates.

Screw the bidding, we've got an Olympic Village to build

2006-03-20T08:29:00.000-08:00

Can I use this logo?

Completion of Vancouver's Olympic Village could be delayed if the city doesn't scrap a bidding process for crucial work to be done on the lands of Southeast False Creek.

The city must begin stabilizing the soil around Southeast False Creek by April. The work is meant to increase earthquake stability on the site. But even a few weeks' delay could put "significant time pressures" on the Olympic Village's strict fall 2009 completion date, according to a city report going before council this week.

None of the three companies who bid on the contract were able to meet the project’s requirements.

City staff now want to negotiate directly with the company that offered the lowest bid, Geopac West Ltd., which undercut its closet competitor's bid by more than $350,000.

The deadline for bidding on the contract was March 1, only a month before the crucial work had to begin. It’s a major time crunch for a project that’s already facing razor-thin deadlines.

“This is not good news,” said Bob Laurie, a prominent businessman who sits on the SEFC advisory committee. “Southeast False Creek has a definitive timeline to have the Olympic Village ready.”

Coun. Peter Ladner, whose centre-right NPA holds a majority at city hall, blames the previous left-leaning council for delays.

That council changed the SEFC plan to include two-thirds social housing and boost its community amenities. The new council controversially scrapped those changes in January.

“[They] certainly put us in an awkward spot with all kinds of deadlines,” Ladner said. "The whole project is on a really tight deadline right now."

But Vision Coun. Tim Stevenson refuted the claims.

"My understanding was that it [his previous council's changes] was not to have set [the timeline] back," Stevenson said. "So if that's changed it's changed unbeknownst to me."

Related posts:
City councillor offers $10 to the astute, waterfront condos to the poor
False Creek housing gets the chop
This just in: City council hates kids, poor people

Tags: vancouver, olympics, 2010, southeast false creek, olympic village

Uh oh oval: Media line up to trash oval

2006-03-20T08:25:00.000-08:00

It is a very nice looking oval.
City of Richmond
ARTIST'S CONCEPTION

The man in charge of running Salt Lake City’s struggling Olympic speed skating oval has a warning for the people behind Richmond’s own multi-million dollar facility: Be careful.

John Bennion, president and CEO of the Utah Athletic Foundation, says he’s not optimistic his oval can pull a profit – ever.

“I guess there’s a wish,” Bennion said in a recent interview. “But I can’t say there’s a realistic plan, because there just isn’t.”

The facility was built for Salt Lake City’s 2002 Winter Olympics. Four years later, it’s not even close to being self-sufficient.

Operating costs for the oval are more than double its revenue. Add on capital replacement costs, and the oval is losing $2 million a year, according to Bennion.

“Essentially it’s high operating costs and low utilization,” Bennion said. “The energy costs alone are close to $750,000 (US yearly).”

The oval now survives with the help of a $75-million endowment fund.

Locally, Richmond’s planned speed skating oval has seen its share of controversy. Its financial viability leans heavily on a similar endowment fund to “underwrite potential gaps between general facility costs and revenues,” according to a recent cost update. A detailed business plan has not been publicly released.

VANOC is footing a capped $60 million for the bill; the City of Richmond is responsible for the rest of the projected $178 million facility.

But Bennion does see a difference in circumstance between the two Olympic cities. Utah's oval is actually located 45 minutes outside Salt Lake City's downtown in a neighbourhood that lacks 'infrastrucutre'.

"It's really just got a very unfortunate location," said Bennion, who guessed the Utah oval might have had a shot at breaking even if it was located "downtown next to a convention centre, or at a university."

This weekend, reports in the Vancouver Sun revealed uneven soil on the construction site could potentially pose problems for the facility’s future. Officials in Richmond maintain it's a controllable risk.

Tags: vancouver, 2010, olympics, oval, richmond, speed skating

Alcoholics next target for harm reduction?

2006-03-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

Vancouver should explore a harm-reduction plan that could see red wine given to hard-core street alcoholics, says the city's drug policy coordinator.

Such a program would target homeless alcoholics who may now be drinking extremely harmful substances such as after-shave or Lysol to feed their addictions.

"It's stabilizing the drug use," drug policy coordinator Donald MacPherson said in an interview yesterday. The benefits of the program would be a reduction in emergency room attendance and less contact with police, according to recent research from a similar program in Ottawa.

But he adds, "How big the need is in Vancouver still needs to be determined."

Anne Livingstone of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users says an alcohol-replacement program is logical.

"It brings dignity to people who aren't going to stop drinking," Livingstone said.

The program would be similar, in theory, to heroin-assisted treatment programs, such as the controversial NAOMI heroin program that's now taking place on a small scale in Vancouver. MacPherson also says that program should be expanded.

MacPherson has been integral to the city's implementation of the Four Pillars drug policy, which has received much attention for harm-reduction measures such as the supervised heroin-injection site.

Now he's asking council to approve permanent funding for the city's drug policy program, which will cost $320,00 yearly.

MacPherson acknowledges there have been critics, who say not enough attention has been paid to the components other than harm reduction.

"I'd have to agree if they're talking about prevention," MacPherson said. "It's probably not had the same amount of focus that enforcement and harm reduction have had."

This story first ran in today's 24 hours.

Tags: vancouver, harm reduction, four pillars, drug policy, alcoholism

Let TransLink directors sit longer, Grinnell says

2006-03-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

The woman in charge of reviewing how TransLink is governed says it's clear future directors need more time to rule.

“Regardless of who's on that board they just have to have a longer tenure than one year. That's just a given,” said former TransLink director Marlene Grinnell, who retired as Langley mayor last fall.

“It's a huge business,” Grinnell said of the more than $840 million operation. “You can't just learn it in a year.”

TransLink's current board of directors is made up of municipal politicians - most often city mayors - who hold one-year terms.

B.C. Transport Minister Kevin Falcon this week announced that structure will come under review, prompting Burnaby Mayor and current TransLink director Derek Corrigan to accuse the province of attempting to hijack control of the regional transport authority away from municipalities.

But Grinnell insists she and her panel, which includes former transportation deputy minister Dan Doyle and Richmond businessman Wayne Duzita, have been given a clean slate.

“There's no way we were given any bias from government at all,” Grinnell said.

Related posts:
Mayor Corrigan craps on Falcon (metaphorically speaking)

Tags: translink, marlene grinnell, kevin falcon, derek corrigan, transportation, british columbia

Mayor Corrigan craps on Falcon (metaphorically speaking)

2006-03-09T08:59:00.000-08:00

The province is trying to wrest control of the Lower Mainland's transportation network, says Burnaby Mayor and TransLink director Derek Corrigan.

Corrigan says the governance review announced yesterday by Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon is just a thinly veiled power grab.

“Falcon is worried the GVRD is going to become more activist in protecting the Livable Region Strategic Plan and controlling regional transportation,” an angry Corrigan said in an interview yesterday. “This is an attempt to gain control. It's ridiculous.”

But Falcon denies the move was meant to ensure the province had control over TransLink, which has been directed by appointed municipal politicians since 1999.

"I think it's more of a way of ensuring that the very substantial amount of tax dollars that pour into TransLink ... are being spent in a way that lends confidence to the public," Falcon said in an interview.

Falcon, who has criticized the region's Livable Region Strategic Plan that favours transit over roadways, says the public has lost confidence in TransLink's governance after the board went back and forth for months over the divisive RAV-line project.

“[The public] has seen some of the decision making processes that have gone on in the past that raised a lot of questions as to whether this was the appropriate mechanism for overseeing TransLink,” said Falcon, who has also been critical of many municipalities' opposition to the controversial Gateway Program that will twin the Port Mann Bridge.

Asked what governance structure he favoured, Falcon said, "I don't have any real hard thoughts about what the outcome should be. But I am always guarded to the belief that the real solution is to create another elected level of government."

Richmond Mayor and TransLink board chair Malcolm Brodie said if TransLink's governance structure is altered, it should still include representation from local municipalities.

"I find it difficult to understand how you can have a TransLink director who is not on the local government when you are levying property taxes," said Brodie, who said he welcomed the governance review.

Meanwhile, Corrigan had some harsh words about members of the independent panel that will conduct the review.

Corrigan said Chair Marlene Grinnell, the longtime Langley mayor, "dithered for two years" and "produced absolutely nothing" when she sat on a TransLink committee that looked at the organization's governance structure a few years back. Ouch - although he did preface it with saying Grinnell was a "nice person."

Nor did Corrigan appreciate the inclusion of Dan Doyle, the former deputy transportation minister who now chairs the board of Rapid Transit 2000, the regrettably-named company the province has charged with building SkyTrain's Millenium Line.

"I don't know what Dan Doyle is doing there," Corrigan said. "I don't see him doing anything but advancing the province's agenda."

Corrigan professed to knowing little about the third and last panelist, Wayne Duzita, which a Ministry of Transportation news release describes as having "35 years of experience in business and all aspects of the transportation of commercial goods."

Duzita is also blessed with great skills in posing with oversized novelty donation cheques. And again.

Brodie, for his part, was more charitable: "I think they are very experienced, seasoned professionals with a wide range of expertise."

Tags: gateway program, vancouver, kevin falcon, derek corrigan, translink, transportation

Vancouver: Still hatin' peace

2006-03-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

There could be more trouble looming for cash-strapped organizers of the World Peace Forum.

Some Vancouver city councillors are unimpressed with the funding process behind the June event, and could decide tomorrow to withhold a $50,000 grant that organizers have been counting on.

“There is a very serious problem,” NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton said in an interview.

Organizers were expected to come up with $200,000 in cash in order for council to kick in another $50,000.

Instead, only $82,000 has so far been raised, plus another $45,000 in promised support and $140,000 in 'in kind' support - such as services donated in lieu of cash.

“'In kind' is a number that can be very flexible,” Anton said. “They have definitely not come up with what I know was in people's minds.”

City policy does not normally count 'in kind' donations as cash equivalent, which NPA Coun. Peter Ladner and Mayor Sam Sullivan noted yesterday. Both have been critical of the way the forum has been organized.

But World Peace Forum executive director Jef Keighley said the fundraising plan had always meant to include 'in kind' contributiuons, such as an estimated $30,000 worth of office space the B.C. Teachers' Federation has provided in its Vancouver offices.

"We're certainly behind in terms of overall funding," Keighley said yesterday. "But there never was a plan that the funding would be made [entirely] in cash."

But even if council nixes the $50,000 grant tomorrow, or a future one that is contingent on another $500,000 being raised, Keighley says the forum will fit the size of its budget - whatever that may be.

"We have the capacity to downsize," Keighley said. "We have no intention of running a deficit. The suit will be cut to match the cloth available."

But a city staff report on the event organizers' progress isn't so sure.

"A significant amount of cash fundraising must still be achieved to meet the Society's budget projections of $1,133,000," reads the report, which Keighley disputes. "... Staff is concerned that the Forum's program agenda has not been confirmed, the Society has limited cash on hand and little attention has been given to security issues and emergency preparedness or their costs."

In fact, with less than four months to go, organizers have raised less than half of the $1,133,000 they have budgeted. Keighley says he expects another $250,000 to be raised, with the remainder coming from participant registration fees during the event itself.

Last month, city council axed its commitment to a smaller event related to the peace forum, citing cost concerns and a lack of preparedness.

Organizers accused the NPA-dominated council of playing politics, since it was the previous left-leaning council that originally backed the forum.

Related post:
This just in: Vancouver hates peace

Tags: vancouver, world peace forum

Blah!

2006-02-15T10:55:00.000-08:00

A couple thoughts:

Could this be Vancouver's most dysfunctional council, ever? Another marathon council meeting yesterday saw bickering councillors discussing... nothing.
Vancouver's NPA-majority council is far from fulfilling its campaign promise of lightening the tax burden for businesses. With city homeowners facing steep property tax increases in light of this year's tight budget, some councillors have already admitted lightening the load for businesses (therefore shifting it to homeowners) could be a bit tough.

Now TransLink's controversial parking stall tax, approved by the last TransLink board of directors, looks to hit business owners in the pocket books again. Vancouver's new directors, the NPA's Suzanne Anton, Peter Ladner and Sam Sullivan, have begrudgingly accepted the tax as a done deal. One alternative to the task, afterall, if you believe COPE Coun. David Cadman, would be to raise bus fares again, and no Vancouver politician would be caught dead doing that, at least for another year or so.
I'm on vacation until March. In the mean time, right click and listen to this: [mp3] On Vacation

Conservative candidate planned to step aside for Emerson

2006-02-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

Vancouver Kingsway Conservative Kanman Wong says he had a backup plan to step aside for controversial new cabinet minister David Emerson - long before January's election.

“That was my plan. I heard lots of rumours that Mr. Emerson wasn't happy with the Liberal party long before the election,” Wong said in an interview yesterday. “If one day Mr. Emerson prepared to cross the floor I was ready to step aside for him.”

Wong said he knew Emerson's years of high-level business experience made him more qualified to be the Conservative candidate for Vancouver Kingsway.

"My personal opinion is if anybody was better qualified, I'd step aside," Wong said.

Instead, Emerson ran as a Liberal, taking the riding over the NDP's Ian Waddell and Wong, only to jump ship this week to the victorious Tories.

Wong said he respects Emerson completely, but wouldn't have switched parties if he were in the same position.

“If personally, I had to [leave a party], I'd pretty much sit as an independent first, and then run in the next election,” he said. “It's bad timing for Mr. Emerson, certainly.”

Wong finished a distant third in the January election, with about 18 per cent of the vote. Waddell had 33 per cent, while Emerson won for the Liberals with 43 per cent.

Meanwhile, the "Recall David Emerson" online petition has ballooned since it sprung up earlier this week.

Tags: david emerson, politics, stephen harper, liberals, conservatives, vancouver, canada

City flirts with prostitution

2006-02-07T08:36:00.000-08:00

Should prostitution be legal? Some say it already is.

"When people ask me what a pimp looks like I say he wears a suit and tie and sits on city council," says SFU criminologist John Lowman.

A quick scan through the city bylaw that regulates business licenses is revealing.

Body-rub parlours, for example, are regulated under the bylaw. The description of a body-rub, sandwiched between ‘Billiard-room keeper’ and ‘Bowling alley’, is clear: It “includes the manipulating, touching or stimulating by any means, of a person’s body or part thereof."

By comparison, a license for massage parlours explicitly forbids female employees from attending to male customers, or vice versa. There are no such restrictions in place for body-rub parlours.

More obvious, perhaps, is the fact that the bylaw regarding ‘health enhancement centres’ specifically outlaws employees from engaging in “an act of prostitution”. No such stipulation is in place for body-rub parlours.

The costs of business licenses are telling as well. Massage parlour licensees are $202 a year; a license for a body-rub parlour costs $7,730 yearly – the third most expensive business license the city charges for, behind horse racing and the PNE.

The difference between licenses for dating services and escort services are subtle. Dating services require the names of customers be logged; escort services do not. Effectively, it allows customers of escort service companies, which also pay higher license fees, to remain completely anonymous.

At the end of the day, to say the city is profiting from licensing sex trade workers is extreme. But either way, it puts Vancouver in an awkward position, says Lowman.

"You have the municpality of Vancouver on the one hand taking money from escort services, taking money from prostitution," Lowman says. "And on the other hand pointing the moral finger at men, telling them that prostitution is immoral. If it's immoral why are the bloody municipalities running it?"

Related post:
The sex trade, after the women went missing

Tags: vancouver, sex trade, downtown eastside, prostitution, robert pickton, prostitution law

The sex trade, after the women went missing

2006-02-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

Sex trade worker Susan Davis wonders if women on the street are any safer now than they were when women started disappearing from the Downtown Eastside.

Ask Susan Davis when the last time she had a ‘bad date’ was, and the Vancouver sex trade worker doesn’t have to think too far back.

“Last night,” Davis says. Her ‘date’ was drunk, and got a little too rough. But Davis didn’t even think about telling the police.

“It’s amazing what we get used to,” she shrugs, by way of explanation. “An assault to me is relative to the number of times I’ve been assaulted. And I’ve been assaulted so many times I can’t remember.”

Davis isn’t Vancouver’s average sex trade worker. She’s also an outspoken advocate, chairing the support group PACE, speaking with prying reporters whenever asked. Nor does she work on the street any more, instead plying her trade through small classified ads in the backs of newspapers. She’s a licensed escort; she even pays taxes on her earnings, a hushed sort of government-condoned part of the industry.

But Davis’s profession is once again in the spotlight after the start last week of the high-profile Robert Pickton trial. The Port Coquitlam pig farmer is accused of being Canada’s worst serial killer, with 27 murder charges on his indictment.

Safer today?

Many of the women Pickton is accused of killing were street sex trade workers in the city’s troubled Downtown Eastside. Davis doubts women on the street are any safer today.

“It’s right back to where it was,” Davis says. “There are missing women posters up in the Eastside right now.”

Long-time activist Jamie Lee Hamilton agrees.

“You still get anecdotal evidence of women who are victimized,” Hamilton says. “And so while there hasn’t been the [alleged] serial killings, the victimization is still occurring.”

But while the police were at one time accused of ignoring assaulted sex workers, Hamilton says the relationship between the department and the neighbourhood has improved.

“[The police] often come down to the strolls, and they are I think a lot more open to hearing about when someone’s been hurt,” Hamilton says.

Red light districts

But the police are handcuffed by laws that allow governments to quietly accept taxes from ‘indoor’ sex trade workers like Susan Davis, while turning a blind eye to street prostitution, says SFU criminologist John Lowman.

“Police are in a no-win situation,” Lowman says. “What they've done in Vancouver is essentially set up informal red light districts.”

It happens when street prostitutes are quickly shooed out of residential areas because of the inevitable outrage from local residents. Instead the women move to scarcely populated industrial zones where few will complain.

“We've put a target on them and invited serial killers to pick them up,” Lowman says bluntly.

Lowman, winner of the 1997 ‘Sterling Prize for Controversy’, wants prostitution to be decriminalized and the discussion on how to make it safer moved forward.

But he admits that will be unlikely with the new Conservative government taking office. In fact, a parliamentary committee report on prostitution law was shelved before the election, and there’s some question as to when it will see the light of day.

A tough solution

In the meantime, the cycle of the street sex trade continues. A ‘shame the Johns’ campaign has moved many of the women from their traditional strolls. Some have returned to more residential neighbourhoods, like along Kingsway into the suburbs.

“They’re being pushed into areas where the community’s not used to seeing them,” says Susan Davis, who acknowledges there are no easy solutions, or even easy targets to blame.

“This isn’t necessarily the fault of the police,” Davis says. “This is the cost of cutting back social programs. Cutting money to addiction services. Cutting money to mental health services. Cutting services for women who have no capacity to help themselves.”

And even SFU’s John Lowman admits changing prostitution laws isn’t the answer for the so-called ‘survival sex trade workers’, some of whom are addicted to drugs, or abjectly poor, or both.

“They may choose to be a prostitute but they choose to do so in circumstances where they have no other choice. Law is not the issue at all,” Lowman says. “But until we can figure out how we can solve their real problem, I would prefer to see them protected.

“If that means some form of acknowledgement that prostitution is legal, which it is, we have to decide under what circumstances it can occur. Otherwise, we’re just going to see a repeat of the violence that’s happened in the last 20 years.”

This story first ran in today's 24 hours.

Related post:
City flirts with prostitution

Tags: vancouver, sex trade, downtown eastside, prostitution, robert pickton, prostitution law, harm reduction

City councillor offers $10 to the astute, waterfront condos to the poor

2006-02-04T12:42:00.000-08:00

Want an easy $10?

In an e-mail to friends and supporters, Vancouver Coun. Peter Ladner has offered a crisp tenner to anyone who correctly answers a series of questions on Southeast False Creek and the Property Endowment Fund. They're listed here, conveniently with answers attached.

Send yours, in Jeopardy question/answer format, to: peter@peterladner.ca.

And in the 'Ironic Exaggeration' category, Ladner says in his e-mail:

"If I could get $10 for every mis-statement, exaggeration and uninformed accusation about the new council’s changes to the Southeast False Creek plan, I’d have enough to buy every low income person in Vancouver a waterfront suite."

If, like me, you're curious as to how many misstatements, exaggerations and/or uninformed accusations a city can hurl upon its esteemed councillors, here are a few quick calculations.

Assuming a low-income rate in Vancouver of 19.1 per cent, as it was in 2000 according to Statscan (incidentally, a 3.3 percentage point increase since 1990)...
... and assuming a population of 560,000, according to the City of Vancouver website...
... there are 106,960 people in the city who qualify as low-income.
Multiply that by $299,999, the price of the cheapest online MLS listing for a waterfront condo...
... and you get some $32 billion (rounded down $88 million or so).

That's the amount Peter Ladner might have in his bank account right now if someone gave him $10 for each "mis-statement, exaggeration and uninformed accusation" about SEFC.

Divide that by $10, then multiply that by the population of the city, and that means that Vancouverites have uttered such egregious statements to Ladner an average of 5,730 times each. Shame on you, Jim Green.

In other news, if I could somehow get $10 everytime a city councillor exaggerated the number of times people have exaggerated their facts on Southeast False Creek and then sent out a mass e-mail declaring it in the last day or so, I would have... $10. No exaggeration.

Related posts:
This just in: City council hates kids, poor people.
False Creek housing gets the chop.

Tags: peter ladner, vancouver, false creek, city hall, social housing, waterfront condos, vancouver real estate

This just in: Vancouver hates peace

2006-02-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

Vancouver's city council has pulled funding for a planned peace conference that was to be part of the World Peace Forum in June.

The move was supported by all Non-Partisan Association councillors. Vision Vancouver and COPE councillors, who first approved funding for the conference when they were in power last March, voted against the motion passed today.

Mayor Sam Sullivan blamed a tight budget for the move. The city is facing a steep 6.4 per cent tax increase as part of its yearly budgeting decisions.

"We are facing some very tough decisions in the 2006 budget process and I was not prepared to put Vancouver taxpayers on the hook for additional costs," Sullivan said in a prepared press release.

The costs for the conference were supposed to fall within a $50,000 range. City staff worried the costs could have ballooned to $200,000, however, which prompted Sullivan and his staff last month to blame potential budget overuns on the previous council.

The move had critics, aka the damned liberal media, charging Sullivan with setting up a smokescreen for more significant cuts to come, given the relatively small amount of money compared to the city's overall budget the conference would have commanded.

And it inspired positively warlike words from World Peace Forum communications coordinator Rosamelia Andrade:

"This is clearly an excuse and a campaign against the Vancouver peace movement because Sullivan doesn't believe the people in Vancouver who want to promote world peace are his friends. He thinks peace activists are leftie troublemakers."

You read it here first: Sam Sullivan hates peace. And possibly cute fuzzy animals.

Here's a portion of Andrade's vitriolic press release:

Date: Thursday, January 19, 2006 1:25 PM
From: Rosamelia Andrade

WORLD PEACE FORUM 2006

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sullivan's war on peace

Vancouver, January 19, 2006
The World Peace Forum 2006 will not be the cause for Mayor Sullivan to rise up property taxes for Vancouver homeowners. Sullivan has been constantly blaming the Peace Forum and the Peace Messenger Cities conference for the city's budgetary problems. If this was indeed a budget issue, Sullivan would have much better targets to save money.

During the City Council meeting that took place on March 31, 2005, the motion to host the World Peace Forum in Vancouver in 2006 passed unanimously with the support of all City Councillors who were present, including Sam Sullivan. The motion also approved $50,000 to organize the Peace Messenger Cities conference.

Sullivan says he expects more bills loom for such things as meals and security, but he has offered no evidence or reason for this expectation. The city's exposure is set and limited to the $50,000 to host the mayors, and $100,000 to support the Peace Forum venues. The $50,000 funds will not be used to pay for costly expenses such as air fare, accommodation and food for mayors. These expenses will be covered by the city governments that will send their representatives to attend the
conference.

According to Sullivan the excessive city expenses will force him to increase property taxes by 8.1 percent this year. And he is expecting to save costs by canceling two conferences that will cost $150,000 in total, which represents 0.5 percent of the $30 million shortfall that he claims the city faces.

This is clearly an excuse and a campaign against the Vancouver peace movement because Sullivan doesn't believe the people in Vancouver who want to promote world peace are his friends. He thinks peace activists are leftie troublemakers.

...

Tags: vancouver , sam sullivan , world peace forum

What Prime Ministers do when they're not Prime Minister

2006-01-30T07:20:00.000-08:00

Shooting begins today for the one-episode CTV reality show, Canada's Next Great Prime Minister, which features Joe Clark, John Turner, Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell as judges.

It seems Clark, for one, has been trying hard to become the multi-faceted triple threat most R&B divas can only hope to become, apparently pitching a book deal to the how-to folks at FabJob.com:

Tags: joe clark

Sullivan talks Harper, housing, hotels

2006-01-29T19:19:00.000-08:00

Vancouver can boast the most unaffordable housing market in the country, according to a report by Demographia International, a company which advocates for hands-off government policies.

But Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan says the city still has its share of affordable housing - in the form of the Single Room Occupancy (SRO) units that make up a chunk of the housing stock in the troubled Downtown Eastside.

"I know that we do have a lot of affordable housing," Sullivan said last week. "For instance in the SRO's. I don't think they're a great option for low-income people but they're a very important option and in this city at this time we have 1,000 SRO vacancies."

A city housing report puts the number closer to 600 vacancies. These are single rooms, which may or may not include ensuite bathroom and kitchen facilities that are found in predominantly aging buildings in the Downtown Eastside.

Sullivan was responding to questions on a report by 24 hours colleague and Public Eye Sean Holman that the B.C. government is pondering slashing its funding for social housing projects in favour of rent subsidies given directly to low-income people.

"I know economists agree that that's the way you really should be helping people in need: Fund them directly," Sullivan said.

It's a plan for which representatives of the rental housing and construction industry have lobbied. But social housing advocates worry what the effects of such policy would be in a tight housing market like Vancouver.

Former city councillor and failed mayoral candidate Jim Green says the vacant SRO's are no place to house low-income families. "The reason for [the high vacancies] is usually they're in such lousy condition that people don't want to go there," Green said. "To just give more landlords more money without [maintenance] work that needs to be done is just giving money straight to the landlords."

While Sullivan appeared to give a tentative thumbs up to increasing rent allowances by cutting social housing funding, moments earlier he called on Prime Minister-designate Stephen Harper to fund more social housing.

"What I'm going to focus my energy on is towards the social housing component of making sure that Vancouver has the federal dollars that it needs and making sure that the new deals that the previous government committed to are maintianed by the next government," Sullivan said. "I believe we're going to be keeping our hands full trying to fill up the existing 16 sites that still are not receiving the funding it needs. There's a lot of work for us to do."

Tags: vancouver, social housing, sro, affordable housing, downtown eastside

Dosanjh ponders legal action against Conservatives

2006-01-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh has been cleared of wrongdoing in last year's infamous 'Grewal tapes' scandal.

Now, the Vancouver South MP is hinting he may take legal action against the Conservatives.

"I will be examining all my options in light of this orchestrated attack on my integrity and reputation," Dosanjh said in an interview yesterday, adding that some of his options "may be of a legal nature."

Dosanjh said senior members of the Conservative party, including the office of newly elected Prime Minister Stephen Harper, acted inappropriately.

Last year, the Conservatives went public with a tape-recorded conversation in which they allege Dosanjh asked then-Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal to switch parties in exchange for an plum Liberal job posting.

At the time, the Liberal minority government looked to be in danger of falling without a boost in numbers.

But in a report released yesterday, federal ethics commissioner Bernard Shapiro said it was Grewal who misbehaved, by either trying to seek a reward from the Liberals in exchange for crossing the floor, or by trying to "entrap" Dosanjh into offering such a reward in order to go public with the controversy.

"[Grewal's] actions were, in either case, extremely inappropriate," Shapiro wrote.

The inquiry, requested by an NDP MP, cost taxpayers $20,274.26, including $3,883.40 for digital 'tape enhancements' that Shapiro never used.

Grewal did not seek re-election in his riding, which this week went to Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal, who was interviewed as a witness in the inquiry.

NDP MLA and Children's Ministry critic Adrian Dix was also interviewed as part of the inquiry. Reached at an NDP getaway in Prince George, Dix said he happened to be present during a conversation where the 'tape scandal' was discussed by people in Punjabi, but he did not understand a word of what was said and told the inquiry as much.

Calls to Stephen Harper's press secretary have not been returned.

See also:
Medical tourism industry watches and waits
Conservative ♥ Ujjal?

Tags: ujjal dosanjh, gurmant grewal

Medical tourism industry watches and waits

2006-01-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

Will the Conservative health platform crack open the door to letting provinces outsource health care? One industry is keeping its fingers crossed.

Robert Stuart Smith walks without pain these days, but that wasn’t always the case. Last year, the Vancouver realtor was told he’d have to wait up to two years for routine surgery.

“I was getting pretty crippled with my knee,” the 72-year-old explains now. “I felt there had to be a better way.”

So Smith did some research and found a B.C. company that would arrange for him to get the surgery at a private hospital in India. Immediately.

It was an opportunity to which Smith couldn’t say no.

“I respect the system in Canada,” Smith says. “But there are options, so I looked at the options.”

Faced with sometimes lengthy waits for health services, more and more British Columbians are also exploring their options, and a few companies have sprung up to meet their needs.

Burnaby’s MedSolution is one of them.

“It’s just now getting to the point where people are so fed up with having to sit and wait for 18 months in agony until they get the services they need,” says spokesperson John Knox. “People want to get on with their lives and they want to do it as fast as possible.”

Outsourced care

“Medical tourism”, as the fledgling industry is being called because of its often-exotic destinations, has so far avoided the heated public vs. private health care debate.

But some within the industry have already lobbied provincial and federal governments to look at medical tourism as a publicly-funded health care option.

"I've travelled all across Canada. I've spoken to all the provincial governments," says Yasmeen Sayeed, whose company, Surgical Tourism Canada, has been one of the quickest out of the gates.

Sayeed says that B.C. and Alberta have so far given her the warmest feedback, claiming B.C. deputy health minister Penny Ballem thanked her for giving the province "another option to consider."

In the U.K., lobbyists have convinced the National Health Service to “outsource” some of its patients abroad. Some regional health commissioners have partnered up with private caregivers in other countries, mostly in Europe, and are able to offer Britons expedited treatment using public money. In a system that already delivers some health care through private insurance, the cost savings and potential waitlist reductions have been a convincing argument.

Here in Canada, patients can apply to provincial health ministries to seek funding approval for out-of-country surgeries, although it's rarely granted.

Knox admits it’s potentially a contentious issue.

“Should the government be paying people to get stuff done outside the country?” Knox asks. “Well, if it can’t be done at home in a timely manner, I think a lot of people would feel that it should.”

For now, Knox says the industry is taking a wait-and-see approach.

“We’re heading into the election and from our point of view, we want to see how the cards line up after Jan. 23,” Knox says. “Then we’re going to be taking a look at who’s running our health care system and whether or not there’s any room to pursue those kinds of talks.”

The next step?

If recent polls are accurate, the Conservatives might well be the ones running the system.

Its platform, like that of the Liberals, seeks to establish wait time guarantees under a publicly funded system. But if nothing’s available within that time, patients can be transferred between provinces – or if need be, and unlike the Liberal platform, to the United States.

Such a plan would seem to leave the door open for health ministries to pay for out-of-country treatments. But Conservative health critic Steven Fletcher insists it’s unlikely.

“I can’t envision a scenario where to fly someone half way around the world can be helpful to a patient quality-wise or cost-wise,” says Fletcher.

But private hospitals in countries like India likely disagree. In an industry that has developed exponentially with or without Canada's interest, international hospitals already know that success demands nothing short of "Western" quality standards.

And whereas patients could shell out $40,000 on a hip replacement in a U.S. hospital, for example, the same procedure would cost less than $6,000 in India, according to MedSolution. Even with airfare added on to the price, it’s hard to argue there aren’t potential cost savings for a health care system that’s forever in need of extra funds.

In fact, the Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, already met with Liberal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh on at least one occasion last year to lobby on behalf of his region’s medical tourism industry, according to Indian media reports.

Dosanjh, who did not respond to several interview requests, has said the meeting was a “courtesy” and is not interested in pursuing the matter.

For his part, however, Robert Stuart Smith and his brand new knee would just as soon hit the golf course than get involved with the debate.

"I could say I opened the door for somebody else and that the government should have paid for it," Smiths says. "But no, I don't know the answer. There's a lot of people out there that are sick. I happened to be very fortunate because I could afford to go and do this. I don't feel that the system should accomodate me."

Related posts:
Conservative ♥ Ujjal?

Tags: medical tourism, health tourism, health care, ujjal dosanjh, steven fletcher, canadian election, conservatives, liberals, private health care

Owen farms fish for campaign donations

2006-01-22T09:32:00.000-08:00

Liberal MP Stephen Owen received a campaign donation from a prominent Vancouver company involved in the controversial fish farm industry, according to 2004 election financial reports.

Syndel Laboratories donated $500 to Owen's successful bid for the ritzy Vancouver Quadra riding. Months later, Owen's ministry, Western Economic Diversification, partially funded a $2.4 million research centre in Campbell River that would look at the health of wild and farmed salmon. Jim Brackett, formerly a general manager with Syndel, was installed as the CEO for the new B.C. Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences.

At the time, the move prompted critics to accuse the government of trying to develop the controversial farmed fish industry.

Tags: stephen owen, syndel, fish farms, canadian election, liberals, aquaculture

If voting makes you hungry

2006-01-18T17:30:00.000-08:00

Is someone allowed to eat a ballot?

The question is evidently the ninth most frequent query posed to Elections Canada. It’s listed high up on the FAQ section of the organization’s website, above other evidently less important conundrums such as “Am I registered to vote?” and “Why should I vote?”

For your information, ballot eating is strictly not allowed.

“Eating a ballot, not returning it or otherwise destroying or defacing it constitutes a serious breach of the Canada Elections Act,” the website unambiguously states.

But for those who plan on flouting the law, a group called the Edible Ballot Society has included a handful of interesting ballot recipes on its website, like this intriguing one for ballot fondue.

It’s not all fun and games, of course. The group is protesting what it calls an “inherently undemocratic process.”

“Being guilt-tripped into voting for the least offensive politician isn’t synonymous with genuine democracy,” the website reads.

According to the Calgary Herald, members of the group were charged with destroying a ballot in the 2001 Alberta election. They had faced five years in prison but the charges were later dropped.

Military spending promises off target: Think tanks

2006-01-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

Is this the one thing everyone can agree on?

Canadian political parties have been stumbling over themselves to throw money at our military, which is broadly presumed to be underfunded and undermanned.

Take Paul Martin’s Liberals, who have promised almost $13 billion over five years to boost our defence forces – the largest increase in spending in more than 20 years.

Or how about Stephen Harper and the erstwhile thrifty Conservatives, who have promised to beat the Liberals by more than $5 billion?

Even Jack Layton and the NDP supported the huge boost to national defense in last year’s budget, although the party’s election platform now only pledges not to reduce spending.

But surprisingly, even military observers say the money’s off target.

“A lot of what is being said is political porridge,” says David Rudd, executive director of the Toronto-based Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies. “It’s done mostly to attract votes. The military utility of some of these proposals may in some cases be secondary.”

Harper’s promise for a new airborne unit with a parachute infantry, Rudd says as an example, is unnecessary in a military hungry for more robust search and rescue capabilities.

But Rudd does like the Conservative arctic sovereignty plan, although he notes a promised "northern training centre" seems unnecessary.

As for the Liberal promises: "Most of them are very reasonable," Rudd says of a party who's two most recent notable prime ministers, Jean Chrétien and Pierre Trudeau, he blames for "neglecting" the military.

"What you're getting here is two different periods of time, from leaders most interestingly of the same generation, where both of them had extremely little regard for the armed forces," Rudd says.

To demand more money for defence assumes that every dollar that is spent now is being spent wisely

But in this world of the War on Terror and high profile peacekeeping missions that don't materialize, the political appetite for funding the military has changed.

“There is a cross-party consensus that the armed forces have been starved and needs an infusion of people and cash,” Rudd says. “The question is what should the priorities be.”

The overriding concern in the military is one of personnel, he says, not equipment. And on that level, none of the parties have delivered.

Simply put, promising to recruit more soldiers just doesn’t sound as “sexy” as promising, as the Conservatives have pledged in their platform, a “new air force surveillance capability with a new long range unmanned aerial vehicle squadron.”

Either way, this sudden political urge to arm the military is alarming, says Steven Staples, a director with left wing think-tank the Polaris Institute, who says the NDP has been surprisingly silent over what may be a politically-sensitive issue.

“Jack Layton hasn’t said that much about defence, and I hope he says more,” Staples says. “Right now between the Liberals and the Conservatives there really is no difference of opinion. Why is the NDP not speaking out more on this? I think that’s a good question.”

Compared to NATO countries, Staples points out Canada’s spending on defence was a respectable seventh highest.

Flip over the institute’s own numbers, however, and Canada’s spending as a percentage of GDP was ahead of only Luxembourg and Iceland, which has no military.

But what both Rudd and Staples agree on is that politicians first need to re-evaluate what they want the military to be before promising the cash.

“What we do know is that the armed forces are too small for the tasks being assigned to it,” Rudd says. “But it’s almost too big for its existing budget.”

For Staples, that means putting checks and balances on defence spending.

“To demand more money for defence assumes that every dollar that is spent now is being spent wisely,” he says. “I can’t think of any other department where people would just automatically assume every dollar spent is being spent wisely.”

A version of this story first appeared in today's 24 hours.
Department of National Defence PHOTO

Tags: military spending, defence spending, Canada, Canadian election, Liberals, Conservatives, NDP

NDP! Election! Shocker!

2006-01-16T19:13:00.000-08:00

Conservative candidate Darrel Reid
focuses on his family.

Forget strategic voting. What's the best way to get NDP supporters to vote Liberal? Try having every single Lower Mainland NDP candidate disqualify themself from public office.

According to Section 550 of the Canada Elections Act:

No candidate shall sign a written document presented by way of demand or claim made on him or her by any person or association of persons, between the issue of the writ and polling day, if the document requires the candidate to follow a course of action that will prevent him or her from exercising freedom of action in Parliament, if elected, or to resign as a member if called on to do so by any person or association of persons.

So what? According to Section 502(3), the candidate is not allowed to "be elected to or sit in the House of Commons; or hold any office in the nomination of the Crown or of the Governor in Council."

That's what Richmond Conservative candidate Darrel Reid had on his mind today when he went to show his support for a group of Chinese-Canadian headtax payers calling for a government apology and financial compensation.

They wanted him to sign a petition pledging to pursue the issue in parliament. Reid said his Conservative party lawyers told him not to.

And that's when the heckling came.

"Shame!" some elderly people yelled. "Bullshit!" someone else said. And for a nervous hour, an uncomfortable Darrel Reid stood on a stage in a Richmond shopping mall behind a slate of NDP candidates, as well as Green candidates and the Canadian Action Party's Connie Rankin, who had all signed a statement of support.

The NDP's Peter Julian wasn't impressed.

"For the Liberals and Conservatives to try to hide behind some sort of legal mumbo jumbo is abominable," Julian told the crowd to polite applause. "Commitments like this are made all the time."

But is the NDP now doomed or not?

Good question, says Elections Canada.

"Elections Canada doesn't interpret the [Canada Elections Act]," Elections Canada spokesperson Susan Friend said on Sunday. "If someone believes that someone else is contravening the elections act, then they can make a written complaint to the Commissioner of Canada Elections."

Elections Canada noted in a December press release, however, the act shouldn't prohibit simple election promises made in writing: "It does, however, prohibit a candidate from signing a pledge that is intended to act as a trigger requiring the candidate, when presented with the document, to follow a particular course of action in Parliament at a later date."

But the B.C. Coalition of Head Tax Payers pressing candidates to sign its petition says it's not legally binding - candidates are free to break their promise if they want, so therefore signing it doesn't contravene the act.

However, just in case the powers that be decide otherwise, here are the candidates who signed on the dotted line:

NDP:
Neil Smith, Bev Meslo, Ian Waddell, Libby Davies, Bill Siksay, David Askew, Peter Julian, William Jonsson, Dawn Black, Mary Woo Sims, Svend Robinson and Penny Priddy.

Green Party:
Richard Gordon Mathias, Doug Perry, Christine Ellis, Ray Power, Ben West, Jean-Philippe Laflamme, Sven Biggs, Ron Whyte, Silvaine Zimmerman.

Canadian Action Party:
Connie Fogal-Rankin

Conservative:
Paul Forseth.

Organizers claimed Conservative candidate George Drazenovic and the Liberals' Mary Pynenburg had also said they would sign the petition, but both were no-shows.

Related link:
Click here for Darrel Reid's guide to donation tax credits. (PDF file)

Tags: canadian election, vancouver, headtax, liberals, conservatives, ndp, green party, canadian action party

Conservative ♥ Ujjal?

2006-01-16T07:10:00.000-08:00

Vancouver Liberal Ujjal Dosanjh, right, and Mississauga Conservative Raminder Gill, left, have a wee chat in this undated photo published in the Indian magazine Frontline.

Federal Liberal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh relied on a few interesting donors to fund his 2004 election campaign - including a business tied to a candidate running for the rival Conservative Party.

All-Round Travel Ltd., a company formerly owned by Mississauga chemical engineer and Conservative candidate Raminder Gill, donated a modest $250 to Dosanjh's 2004 campaign, according to financial reports filed with Elections Canada.

Dosanjh, the ex-NDP premier of B.C., would go on to win his Vancouver South riding in that election, being awarded a plum cabinet post for his efforts. Gill, on the other hand, lost his Bramalea-Gore-Malton riding in what the Brampton Guardian described as a "landslide victory" for the riding's incumbent Liberal.

When reached at his campaign office, Gill, now running in the Mississauga-Streetsville riding, refused to discuss his relationship with Dosanjh.

"It certainly wouldn't be doing us any justice," Gill said. "There is an election right now, as I'm sure you understand."

Gill did say, however, that he was no longer connected to All-Round Travel Ltd, having sold the company in 1999 when he became the first Sikh member of provincial parliament in Ontario as part of a Mike Harris government.

"I had some employees at the time and I sold it to them," Gill explained.

Given their respective political histories, one might wonder what policies Dosanjh and Gill have in common. But with both being prominent and successful members of the Indo-Canadian community, it doesn't necessarily make a difference, says the editor of the Asian Star, a Surrey weekly written for the Lower Mainland's sizeable Indo-Canadian population.

"Ujjal has received support from across the spectrum. In the Indo-Canadian community, sometimes there is this friendship and bond which transcends political parties," Umendra Singh said in an interview.

For example, Singh said he recently covered an event for Dosanjh's rival, Vancouver South Conservative candidate Tarlok Sablok, only to find "the place was full of lifelong Liberals."

"I asked them, 'What are you doing here?'" Singh explained. "They said, 'We're coming to support [Sablok] because he's a friend. We're not supporting the Conservative party. We're still Liberals, but we're just supporting this one candidate.'"

In fact, it's not uncommon for Gill and Dosanjh in particular to be featured in Indian media eager to highlight the successess of the nation's emmigrants:

"The election of Ujjal Dosanjh as the Premier of the Canadian Province of British Columbia is a landmark event for the Indian diaspora in Canada," the Indian magazine Frontline announced in a 2000 article. "Dosanjh's recent victory at the leadership convention of the governing New Democratic Party in B .C. also marked a triumph of the political efforts of the local Sikh community."

And when, less than 15 months later, Dosanjh's then-NDP would be run out of office by Gordon's Campbell's B.C. Liberals, Gill joined other Indo-Canadians at a Mississauga banquet hall to thank Dosanjh with a reception in honour of "all that he had done for the community and the country", according to the Indian news portal Rediff.com.

"Politics is in Dosanjh's blood," Gill was paraphrased as saying. "I am confident he would come back to politics."

Related links:
The Tribune, of Chandigarh in northern India, visits the Punjab village in which Dosanjh grew up shortly after Dosanjh became the premier of B.C.

Tags: ujjal dosanjh, raminder gill, canadian election, liberals, conservatives, ndp

False Creek housing gets the chop

2006-01-14T17:13:00.000-08:00

Social housing should get the chop, but a full-service community centre and parkspace in the controversial Southeast False Creek development can be spared.

Those are the recommendations from Vancouver city manager Judy Rogers in order for the city's Property Endowment Fund to try and recoup $50 million in funds.

If approved by council on Thursday, the recommendations will spell the end for the previous council's ambitious planned mix of 1/3 low-income housing, 1/3 middle-income housing, and 1/3 market housing for the site of the future Olympic Village.

In a report released yesterday, Rogers notes that a "middle-income" housing component has never clearly been defined, and the uncertainty was a deterrent to potential investers. If councillors agree, chopping this component will allow $8.3 million to be re-invested into the Property Endowment Fund.

The greatest cost savings - $16.6 million - will come from cutting the low-income housing mix down to a more manageable 20 per cent. Rogers notes the percentage is still significantly greater than the 8.5 per cent city-wide average.

But Rogers recommends against downsizing a full-service community centre in the area, saying a reduction would return only about $2.4 million to the Property Endowment Fund and that the centre will be necessary to support the area's population. The city's ruling Non-Partisan Assocaition have said a full centre was not needed with the #1 Kingsway community centre being erected just a few blocks away.

The city does not have a shortage
of affordable housing sites.
It has a shortage of senior government funding

Rogers notes her recommendations will account for about $28 million of the target $50 million in recuperated costs to be reinjected to the Property Endowmnet Fund. That target is based on the roughly $30-million cost of city-owned land in the area - owned by the Property Endowment Fund - and some $20-million in profit that would normally be reinvested into the fund as well.

The previous, left-leaning council last year voted to take the $50 million and instead inject it back into the development in the form of social houisng and improved amenities, much to the chagrin of the fiscal prudence-preaching NPA. When the NPA swept back into power in November, the right-leaning party put it on the top of its agenda, voting in a controversial series of pre-Christmas meetings to take another look at the project.

The ambitious 2/3 non-market housing ratio set by the previous council, although admittedly optimistic, was based on a 1973 edict for all new neighbourhood developments to reflect the diversity of income-levels in the city.

But the city's role in building social housing has always been one of land provider; it is higher levels of governments who can afford to kick in the millions required for construction.

But when such funds from senior levels of government began dwindling in the 1980's to cover only urgently low-income families, the city's ratio also changed to reflect the 20 per cent or so of the population who's income fell within a "core-housing need" - those who would need to spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing.

Then the federal government stopped funding social housing altogether in 1993, while the province's funding for social housing languished for the rest of the decade. In 2002, the provincial government reduced funding to crippling levels.

Since then, according to the city, only one site has been developed with the 20 per cent social housing component. The city says there are six sites now ready to be developed with 20 per cent social housing if senior funding was available.

"The city does not have a shortage of affordable housing sites," Rogers notes in her Southeast False Creek report. "It has a shortage of senior government funding to support construction of the buildings."

As for the project itself, Rogers warns its financial future isn't rosy even though the city is now in a position to save $50 million.

"It should be noted that not all future considerations on the development economics will be positive," Rogers writes. "... Due to rising labour and material costs, it is anticipated that infrastructure costs will increase beyond what was budgeted in the Finacial Plan and Strategy, offsetting to some degree future increases in revenue."

Incumbent city councillors know what Rogers is talking about. The #1 Kingsway project had councillors loosening their collars last year when it was revealed escalating construction costs had pushed the price of the community centre up by 50 per cent in just a couple years.

Rogers' recommendations go before council Thursday.

Related posts:
This just in: City council hates kids, poor people

Tags: false creek, Vancouver, social housing, vancouver politics

The price of remorse

2006-01-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

June Matheson looked nothing if not relieved.

Dressed smartly in black, coiffed in a stylish haircut that belied her 72 years, Matheson seemed to breathe a sigh of relief after a B.C. Provincial Court judge granted her a full and absolute discharge yesterday.

Her crime? Mischief, for poisoning several trees in Stanley Park, which happened to obstruct the beautiful ocean view in front of her million-dollar English Bay apartment.

She plead guilty yesterday morning. By mid-afternoon, the once-prominent interior designer had the crime struck from her record.

Part of the reason why Judge Ellen Gordon was so understanding, admitted Matheson's defence lawyer, Ian Donaldson, was because Matheson last month wrote a cheque for almost $50,000 to the Vancouver Park Board.

The sum included some $29,826, to replace three of the trees Matheson had successfully poisoned. But another $20,000 was simply a generous offer from Matheson, a sort of monetary apology for her wrongs. Judge Gordon duly noted the contribution in her reasons for judgment.

Maybe it looks a bit like
one law for the rich
and one law for the poor

Therein lies a problem; or at the very least, an issue of poor optics for the justice system.

Until yesterday, Matheson never publicly apologized for her tasteless act. In place of her remorse, however, was this incredible donation to the park board.

But Matheson is one of an extreme minority of people in the city who can afford to write a check for $50,000. What of the rest of Vancouver, where the average person makes about $51,000 a year (before tax). Does this now mean that those who are able to display their remorse with cold, hard, cash are more likely to be shown leniency in a court of law?

The question seemed to stump the normally verbose Ian Donaldson. "That may be so, that may not be so," stammered Donaldson outside court to a couple of straggling reporters.

The question was later posed to UBC law professor Anthony Sheppard.

"You could certainly draw that inference, couldn't you," Sheppard said in an interview yesterday. "[Matheson] had an option that wasn't available to other people."

Taking restitution and remorse into account when deciding on a sentence is par for the course in a court of law, Sheppard said. "It's legitimate for the court to take that into account, but maybe it looks a bit like one law for the rich and one law for the poor."

But Sheppard said those without money can still make restitution that should hold equal weight in court.

"The people who don't have money can perhaps borrow it, or make financial arrangements to pay the money over time," Sheppard said. "Community service could be offered and that would be taken into account. There are different ways of showing remorse in a tangible way."

What I now realize is how wrong it was
to take away something that wasn't mine to take

But whether or not Matheson got off more easily because of her money, it wasn't the only factor. Interestingly, the defence suggested, and Judge Gordon accepted, that "reckless reporting" by the media also played a role.

In October 2004, after the media reported Matheson had been arrested and publicized her address - information given by the police - the public became outraged.

In the heat of the public indignation, some went too far. A park board commissioner called for life in prison for the culprit. Lawyer Donaldson claims people threw rocks, eggs, even dog feces at Matheson's balcony.

"I think it's going too far to throw shit at people's homes," Donaldson said. "I understand people are going to be upset about this but there's a line."

As for the media spotlight, Judge Gordon said it proved to be appropriately denunciatory and enough of a deterrent that Matheson shouldn't be punished further to achieve those goals.

"The public has denounced her conduct much more so than any court could," Gordon said.

In the end, Matheson did apologize. She had wanted to release a statement of apology last year, but didn't after being warned not to by her lawyer.

But after Matheson sped off in a gold SUV yesterday, Donaldson read it aloud to reporters.

"At the time I did this, I thought only selfishly about my view and the thousands of dollars spent on waterfront taxes to enjoy the beautiful ocean. What I now realize is how wrong it was to take away something that wasn't mine to take. For that I apologize."

And as reporters from almost every English language daily media outlet in town barked questions, a passing woman, smelling faintly of booze, muttered loudly.

"All this for a lady who killed trees? Jeez!"

Related link:
Click here for a scanned copy of the Crown's statement of facts.
(Courtesy CBC)

Tags: June Matheson, Vancouver

A new year, a new council

2006-01-03T07:16:00.000-08:00

What fun does the New Year have in store for Sam Sullivan and friends?

Vancouver city council may be in the middle of its holiday hiatus, but that doesn't mean the city's esteemed alderpersons don't have a couple juicy decisions to look forward to when they get back. Here are some controversial issues likely to cause a few overtime hours to be logged down at 12th and Cambie.

(Tragically, none by me).

Everything must go!

Well, at least $50-million worth. City staff will report back to council on Jan. 19 with options on shaving $50 million in costs from the ambitious Southeast False Creek development.

The Non-Partisan Association-dominated council voted to cut costs just before Christmas, in order to reinvest the $50 million (including profit) used to buy the original land back into the city's $1.3-billion Property Endowment Fund.

Of course, no politician wants to be seen as beating up on the poor to balance the books, but the inevitable accusations from critics have already come out. It's not likely to be a good news story for new mayor Sam Sullivan, with his council choosing between slashing social housing, getting rid of waterfront public park space or cutting back on a full-service community centre for the area.

Somewhere, failed mayoral hopeful and SEFC proponent Jim Green is morally outraged. Oh wait, that was right here.

Wal-Mart: Round 2

The big box retailer has said it plans to resubmit its application for an eco-friendly store on Marine Drive, after being rejected by the previous council last summer.

Sullivan and his centre-right NPA made Wal-Mart an election issue in November, accusing centre-left parties COPE and Vision Vancouver of making a biased decision based on far left ideology.

Roll the dice

Vancouver's new Edgewater Casino has been a financial disappointment. Revenue expectations for this past year were pegged $2.2 million below original projections, mostly due to competition from the splashy River Rock Casino, just across the Fraser in Richmond.

But with the city taking a cut in gambling revenues, the casino's performance also affects the city's bottom line. Edgewater's owners say relaxing restrictive signage bylaws along Vancouver's waterfront and allowing a liquor license on the gaming floor will go a long way to increasing profitability.

But council could provoke the ire of anti-gambling activists if it finds itself debating how to improve profits at the casino.

Bite vs. Bark

Last year, the loudest citizen voices came from an unlikely source: Vancouver dog owners, particularly in affluent Yaletown.

Just before the election, Sullivan promised to peg off-leash fines for dogs at $125, effectively flip-flopping on an issue he and NPA Coun. Peter Ladner had voted on just weeks earlier, after months of public debate.

In doing so, Sullivan likely earned a not-insignificant number of votes in what turned out to be a close election. But if Sullivan doesn't move forward with his campaign promises, city dog lovers will once again have something to bark about.

Will it be something that makes or breaks Sullivan's first term in office? Of course not. But the ruckus makes for long council meetings.

Sam Sullivan: Tough on crime

“I want a city people feel safe in. Where they're not harassed or feel under siege. If I can't achieve that in three years, I will have failed.”

Those were Sullivan's words back in September during the NPA leadership debates with Christy Clark.

It's not the first time Sullivan has made dramatic statements. In 2002, the then city councillor told a Langara College forum he was responsible for not preventing drug deaths in the troubled Downtown Eastside.

"If there's a good reason not to vote for me, that's it," Sullivan was quoted as saying in the Nov. 7, 2002 Vancouver Province. "I am appalled with myself. There are 1,200 dead junkies on my watch. I'm very ashamed."

Few observers question Sullivan's sincerity in making such bold declarations. But as the city's new mayor, Sullivan now has more power than most to do something about it. In his first year with the top job, it will be up to Sullivan himself to lay the policy groundwork for his ambitious promises.

This just in: City council hates kids, poor people

2005-12-22T07:41:00.000-08:00

The future of Vancouver's last piece of undeveloped waterfront property is still uncertain.
CITY OF VANCOUVER photo illustration

Jim Green touched down in Vancouver yesterday to find the Burrard Bridge lane closure axed and the Southeast False Creek project on a forced diet.

Suffice to say, the failed mayoral candidate was none too pleased with what transpired on council while he was away in Barcelona.

"What has really made Southeast False Creek a very important international symbol for Vancouver is that it's a socially sustainable project," Green said in an interview yesterday, a day after the new council laid the groundwork to rejig the project in another long Tuesday meeting. "The way the NPA will do it is that they will remove the social sustainability from that picture and paint a very negative picture instead."

The Southeast False Creek project was seen as an urban design jewel of social sustainability - at least by the the left-wing dominated former city council that approved it. Ask right-leaning Non-Partisan Association councillors Sullivan or Peter Ladner, however, and they would have pointed out the plan called for the city's last remaining plot of undeveloped waterfront real estate to be developed - with no profit to the city whatsoever. Add on a $50-million, never-to-be-repaid loan from the rainy day property endowment fund to help finance the venture, and you've got a recipe for a fiscal planner's hissy fit.

Now with Sullivan in the mayor's chair and the NPA holding a one-vote majority, the new council will likely pull back the fiscal reins when staff presents them with options on shaving off the $50 million from the project in January.

Former COPE Coun. Anne Roberts, who didn't get the nod from voters in November, worried the project would see its ambitious mix of 1/3 low-income, 1/3 middle-income, and 1/3 market housing drastically cut.

"I think it's very disturbing especially at at time when our homelessness crisis is growing and growing," Roberts said yesterday. "Here the council says, 'No, I'm going to back away from efforts to deal with social housing and more affordable housing'."

The previous council's plan, as well meaning
as it was, had a complete and total lack
of economic sustainability

But the huge question mark looming over the project has always been: What is "1/3 middle income" housing?

Bob Laurie, a civilian member of the project's advisory committee and real estate bigwig with CB Richard Ellis, says he still has no clue.

"What does 'one-third affordable' mean? What does 'market' mean if it's not affordable? There were no definitions around any of that," Laurie said in an interview. "If you don't have a definition to what market housing is, how can you respond as a private sector development consortium without any sense of it? This project is the city offsetting the developers' risk."

The new council's controversial decision, Laurie says, was simply a matter of realigning an altruistic vision with cold, hard reality. "The previous council's plan, as well meaning as it was, had a complete and total lack of economic sustainability."

And even if the plan had been allowed to proceed untouched, Laurie says upper levels of government would never have agreed to help fund the project that will contain the site of the future 2010 Olympic Village.

"I sincerely believe [SEFC] would sit on the shelf gathering dust," Laurie said. "I say that because the [official development plan] is so dependent on provincial and federal government funding. With no business analysis and no business case, the auditor generals of those two respective levels of government would crucify the politicians. There would be nothing forthcoming."

But John Irwin, who also sat on the SEFC advisory committee, maintains the project was fiscally sound, saying critics were basing their opinions on "narrow economics."

"I think it needs to be clearly stated that the property endowment fund is used [to support social housing] regularly," said Irwin, who holds a PhD. in urban planning and environmental studies. "It's an investment for the public good."

Either way, what it will come down to in January is that council must pick and choose which elements of the SEFC plan have to go. Will it be the two-thirds ratio of non-market housing? The ample planned parks and green space? The environmentally-friendly, but pricey, building designs? Or the full-service community centre?

When asked, NPA Coun. Peter Ladner wouldn't commit to any one cost-cutting direction. But his NPA clearly campaigned on the issue, promising a social housing mix closer to the 80 per cent market 20 per cent non-market ratio, and dropping hints the full-service community centre was unnecessary with the new, and not-too-much-less controversial #1 Kingsway project just a few blocks away.

"We would like to see as few changes as possible and still enable the property endowment fund to get its money back out," Ladner said in an interview. "But clearly there's going to be some change in the mix of housing and in the scope of the amenitites ... it's just a matter of how much and how much we can afford."

Related links:
Click here for the city's overview of the Southeast False Creek development.
Click here for the Vision Vancouver press release vowing to fight this week's decision.

Tags: false creek, Vancouver, social housing, vancouver politics, jim green, peter ladner, npa

Now who will we vote for?

2005-12-22T07:13:00.000-08:00

One-issue voters will have one less issue to vote on come Jan. 23.

B.C.'s Sex Party, which made a respectable, albeit predictable media splash in its provincial election debut in May, won't be fielding any candidates in the federal election.

Turns out the "sex-positive" party missed a 60-day deadline to become an official party.

"We couldn't get registered in time," Sex Party leader John Ince said in an interview yesterday. "We were anticipating a spring election like everybody else. When it was called in November we were not yet registered."

So Ince and co. will have to wait until another election to build on their B.C. performance, in which Ince ran in the hotly-contested Vancouver Burrard riding that was eventually won by B.C. Liberal Lorne Mayencourt.

Ince finished 6th out of 8 candidates, with 88 votes. According to Elections B.C. data, he earned his most votes (four) out of any voting area in a tiny zone bordered by Burrard and Drake streets to the northwest, and Howe and Pacific streets to the southeast. As this is typed, Sex Party political strategists are reportedly pouring over the data to grasp why people in this apartment complex, more than any other voting area, wanted a sex-positive government.

Ince is perhaps more famous for staging what was apparently the first live sex art show two years back, in which a threatened police bust never materialized. Ince also co-owns a Kitsilano sex store, the Art of Loving. I understand they're recruiting home party reps.

The voters have spoken. What did they say?

2005-12-21T07:44:00.000-08:00

New Mayor Sam Sullivan says voters
have given him a mandate to run the city.
Exactly what that means isn't yet clear.

It certainly didn't look very good in front of the TV cameras.

There was soft-spoken Ned Jacobs, son of reknowned urbanist Jane Jacobs, unceremoniously being escorted from the speakers' podium by an albeit polite security guard - at the behest of new mayor Sam Sullivan.

To be fair, the gentle but defiant Jacobs was holding up yesterday's council meeting, refusing to sit down after Sullivan informed him his allotted five minutes was up. As mayor, Sullivan has been handed the role of reluctant timekeeper for council meetings destined for tears and hurt feelings.

Still, it's hard to argue the optics of it all were particularly flattering for the embattled mayor.

And coming just days after his first controversial motion - suspending all civilian committees - was defeated by his own caucus, one has to wonder if Sullivan has overestimated his powers as head of a council in which his Non-Partisan Association only holds a one-seat majority.

Case in point: Yesterday's meeting, held to debate the controversial issues of nixing the trial lane closure on the Burrard Bridge and changing the social housing mix in Southeast False Creek, the site of the 2010 Olympic Village.

One of these divisive issues alone could have taken up the entirety of a single council meeting. Instead, Sullivan lumped them and other decisions together, with just two days' public notice, in the last meeting before Christmas. Outraged opposition councillors accused the new mayor of trying to ram through his election promises with little press and little debate.

What's more indicative, however, is Sullivan's newfound fondness for the word "mandate" - as in, "the voters have given me a mandate to govern this city."

Politicians of all stripes have taken to using the word in post-election message tracks. It's not-so-subtle politico-speak roughly translated as, "Yes, the opposition may not like what I'm about to do. But the voters do. See? Most of them voted for me."

There has been a huge process of public consultation called the election

But NPA Coun. Peter Ladner took it a step further during yesterday's meeting. At one point, the second-term councillor appeared to suggest the entire city supported cancelling the Burrard Bridge trial lane closure - because Vancouverites had voted in an NPA majority that had promised to kill the trial as part of their election platform.

At the very least, the notion certainly went against the opinions of the more than 30 people, including Ned Jacobs, who came to speak in favour of the trial. After council eventually voted to kill it, the group felt like they had been ignored, given that only one person among them spoke in favour of the decision.

But speaking with reporters, Sullivan evoked the powers of his mandate.

"These are issues I ran on," Sullivan said, his new chief of staff, Daniel Fontaine, hovering behind. "There has been a huge process of public consultation called the election."

But does that mean the city supports the new mayor on every controversial issue? And how much of the city? As Vision Vancouver Coun. Heather Deal later observed, "You have a 55 per cent majority. That's not a huge mandate."

And at one point yesterday, Sullivan advised councillors they had to pass the controversial motion to rejig Southeast False Creek by the end of the day - before council had even heard from the dozen or so people signed up to speak on it. The verbal slip added to the appearance he was listening not to those citizens who spoke out against his plans, but only to those who supported his mandate by voting for him.

Sullivan later corrected himself, saying he meant to say "vote" instead of "pass", therefore not implying his caucus had already made up its mind.

But that didn't stop opposition councillors from seizing on a bitter sentiment those in the gallery were already feeling.

"There was absolutely no use in anyone coming out," Vision Coun. Tim Stevenson said. "A decision has already been made. All we're doing is playing a little charade."

Six hours after the meeting began, council voted to kill the Burrard Bridge trial lane closure. Unlike last week, there was no last-minute switch, no NPA councillors voting against their mayor.

Outside, Ned Jacobs, dressed sharply in a pin-stripe suit, was visibly dissapointed.

"I think it shows a total lack of vision on the part of this council," Jacobs said, his eyes shut tight as if imagining a throng of cyclists crossing an imaginary bridge. "There is so much evidence that these experiments can be successful."

But he was more disturbed by how it happened.

"I'm left speechless," Jacobs said. "We have a crisis in democracy. When I see this happening it brings me to the edge of despair."

But is it really a betrayal of democracy if council doesn't listen to those who come to speak to it? In reality, relying purely on the opinions of those who have made the not insignificant effort to speak to council is problematic, in the same way relying on answers from a self-selecting poll produces unscientific results. Clearly, despite their near unanimity, the group that protested against quashing the Burrard Bridge trial can't possibly speak for the entire city.

Yet for Sullivan to justify controversial decisions by gesturing towards some nebulous mandate is no better. As evidenced by Jacobs and the rest of yesterday's dejected group of advocates, it doesn't produce a very trusting citizenry.

Related posts:
Building bridges

Related links:
City staff recommendation on Burrard Bridge cycling options

They ain't leaving till 6 in the mornin

2005-12-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

Little did I know when leaving 12th and Cambie last night at 8 p.m. I hadn't even reached the half-way point of the marathon council session.

Turns out reporters more dedicated than myself stuck it out at last night's council filibuster (of sorts) to see Mayor Sam Sullivan's new NPA caucus vote against him on his first controversial idea to suspend all committees pending internal reviews.

You can bet Sullivan will be having a chat with his NPA colleagues. Or vice versa.

Former COPE councillor-turned-shit-disturber Ellen Woodsworth explains her view on the matter to the Early Edition's Rick Cluff, here.

Da Vinci's City Hall: Somebody turn off all the mics

2005-12-16T00:16:00.000-08:00

Will these five people make Sam Sullivan's life hell?

"We'll go 'till three in the morning if we have to."

- Vision Coun. Tim Stevenson

So this is what it's like to actually have an opposition party at City Hall.

Enraged by what they saw as the majority NPA ramming through their election promises on short notice, left wing parties COPE and Vision Vancouver took over yesterday afternoon's Planning and Environment meeting and slowed it to a snail's crawl.

The NPA planned preliminary votes on cancelling the divisive Burrard Bridge trial lane closure scheduled for next April, and reducing the social housing mix at the pricey Southeast False Creek development. But they also proposed a surprise temporary shut-down of all but four city committees in order to conduct a review of their necessity, which drew the wrath of opposition councillors and committee members alike. And they did it all with just two days' public notice.

"We're a brand new council in its very first week, why push this through now?" new Vision Coun. Heather Deal said before the meeting. "You can't implement an entire election platform in 48 hours. What about the debate?"

Indeed, any one of these contentious topics by themselves could easily have taken up the bulk of an individual meeting. By cramming them all into the last council meeting before Christmas, the NPA and Mayor Sam Sullivan left themselves open to a few shots from the new opposition.

But new NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton urged people not to overreact, saying yesterday's votes on the bridge and Southeast False Creek were meant to carry through with NPA election promises, but there would still be time for public consultations and final decisions in the future. "We're not rushing into anything here," Anton said.

That may be the understatement of the new council term. Nobody was rushing anywhere in council chambers yesterday.

By 4:00, two hours after the start of the meeting, the boxing analogies had already come out.

"Sullivan has dropped the gloves with us. I've never experienced this before," Vision Coun. Tim Stevenson said during a lull in the barrage of inane questions being asked inside.

Asked how far he'd go to delay the inevitable voting, Stevenson shrugged. "We'll go 'till three in the morning if we have to."

By 5:30, defeated COPE Coun. Ellen Woodsworth was outside council chambers phoning for reinforcements to address council and delay any chance of a vote. "It's a filibuster," Woodsworth said with a smile when she got off the phone.

By 6:00, the polite and soft-spoken Woodsworth was heckling the new mayor.

By 6:30, after four and a half hours of questions on normally routine issues, the opposition had made their first unsuccessful challenge of committee Chair Anton's authority. With all councillors present, the NPA holds a one-vote majority.

By 7:30, the NPA chair survived another challenge, despite rookie NPA councillors Kim Capri and B.C. Lee having to be reminded which way to vote.

By 8:00, I left.

Did the NPA actually manage to pass anything last night? I'll be damned if I know. You try sitting in council for 11 straight hours.

B.C. government: My bad

2005-12-15T07:39:00.000-08:00

Solicitor General John Les admits 713 child deaths were unaccounted for in the province partly because the B.C. Liberal government didn't budget enough money to review the files.

In a letter to former judge Ted Hughes, who is conducting a review into what went wrong, Les said there was “clear evidence that budget constraints were a complicating factor” in the transition that saw 713 child death files go unexamined after the Liberals shut down the Children's Commission in 2002.

“It is clear from my review of the materials that a complete failure of the transition process resulted in the incomplete transfer of the child death review files from the Children's Commission to the Coroner's service,” Les said in the letter sent to media outlets yesterday.

Effectively, Les admitted the government axed the body responsible for reviewing child deaths and transferred its files to the Coroner's Office - but didn't give the Coroner's Office enough resources to handle its new workload.

The government originally saved $4 million by chopping the Children's Commission three years ago. $1.4 million was added to the Coroner's Office this past spring.

NDP critic Adrian Dix, who has kept the spotlight on the embattled Children's Ministry for months, said the Liberals still aren't taking any responsibility for their actions.

"Here we have a series of ministers who have been proven not to have done their job properly and there are no consequences for any of them," Dix said in an interview yesterday, naming Premier Gordon Campbell, Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon, Forests Minister Rich Coleman, the Children's Ministry's Stan Hagen and its former minister, Gordon Hogg.

But Dix stopped short of outright calling for heads to roll.

When asked if jobs should be lost as a result of yesterday's admission, Dix said, “I think that's an option,” but added, "It's the premier's responsibility to take responsibility and decide how accountability should be expressed in their government."

The issue came to light last month when Solicitor General Les revealed the files of 713 child deaths had been collecting dust in a Victoria warehouse for the last three years. The deaths included 14 children who died while in government care.

But the Children's Ministry has felt the heat for months, particularly with the delayed release of a report into the death of Port Alberni toddler Sherry Charlie this past year. The ministry placed 19-month-old Charlie in the care of her uncle without conducting a basic criminal check on him. He would later be convicted in her beating death, although he first told investigators Charlie's brother, Jamie, had pushed her down a flight of stairs.

The report also revealed the ministry had allowed the brother to stay in the uncle's care for months, even though investigator's knew Charlie's death was suspicious. It was first released in the form of a glossed-over, six-page summary, drawing charges of a cover-up from critics. The full report was released later in the summer.

An inquest into Charlie's death is scheduled for next February.

A version of this story first appeared in today's 24 hours.

Can a condom protect HIV sufferers from the law?

2005-12-14T07:54:00.000-08:00

Adrien Nduwayo has been found guilty of charges including aggravated sexual assault because he had unprotected sex with several women without revealing he had HIV.
RCMP COMMUNICATIONS photo

You're breaking the law if you are HIV-positive and you have unprotected sex without telling your partner, according to a precedent-setting 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision.

But what if you're HIV-positive and you don't tell your partner - but you do use a condom?

A B.C. Supreme Court jury last night could have found itself debating the potentially significant legal precedent, but instead avoided the issue by ruling that Adrien Nduwayo intentionally spread HIV through unprotected sex.

Nduwayo, 36, looked on with little emotion as the jury's verdict was revealed: guilty on six counts on aggravated sexual assault, guilty on attempted aggravated sexual assault, guilty on sexual assault.

In a surprise move, Justice John Truscott had earlier instructed the jury that while Nduwayo was legally bound to disclose his HIV-status if he had unprotected sex (as per the 1999 Supreme Court ruling), there was "no legal duty" to disclose his HIV if he used condoms. Nduwayo told the court last week he always used condoms. His victims, in sometimes disturbing testimony, insisted otherwise.

The argument goes that by using a condom, the risk to the alleged victim is lowered. Nduwayo defence lawyer Paul McMurray explains:

"By using a condom, the substantial risk of serious harm [that constitutes an aggravated assault charge] is not there because the risk is reduced to a very low level," McMurray said before last night's verdict was reached.

It's an issue of whether or not we're prepared
to isolate HIV sufferers to the point where
they cannot have any intimate contact whatsoever

But while condoms provide a medically-accepted degree of protection against HIV, they are not 100 per cent foolproof.

And of course, not all forms of sexual protection, or even condoms, are equal. Surely, for example, using two condoms will lower the chances of infection. If that's true, then certainly using two condoms as well as a female condom will lower infection rates even further. By comparison, a single condom may seem relatively unsafe. At what point does the law draw the line to indicate that an HIV-infected person has done enough to protect his or her partner so that the act of sex will not be a crime?

"That's a question that parliament ultimately has to decide," McMurray said, adding that the country could potentially be instituting "modern day leprosy" if parliament should decide to set that line too high.

"It's an issue of whether or not we're prepared to isolate HIV sufferers to the point where they cannot have any intimate contact whatsoever," McMurray said.

But in the end, that's not what Adrien Nduwayo's trial ended up being about. That precedent will be for another trial to debate, says Crown prosecutor Andrew MacDonald.

"It's something that still needs to be tested," MacDonald said after last night's verdict. "I suspect it is something that will be visited at some point in time."

What Nduwayo's verdict did do, however, was reaffirm the landmark 1999 Supreme Court ruling.

"When you're HIV-positive, you have a positive duty to disclose that fact to any prospective sexual partners that you may have," MacDonald said.

But Nduwayo didn't tell his partners he had HIV, seven of whom were complainants in his case.

According to testimony over the three-week trial, Nduwayo, a soccer coach and refugee originally from Burundi, juggled relationships with multiple women. Four who testified, three of them complainants, would test positive for HIV after having unprotected sex with Nduwayo.

What Nduwayo did may be morally wrong
It may be reprehensible. But it's not criminal

One witness revealed how she discovered Nduwayo was cheating on her with another woman when she called Nduwayo's house, only to speak with his other girlfriend. The two would later go for coffee.

"I was under the understanding that I was his only girlfriend and she was under the understanding that she was his only girlfriend," the witness said. "So we obviously had a lot to talk about."

The witness, who now has HIV, testified the virus has wreaked havoc on her eyesight, muscle mass, and even her teeth, which are brittle to the point of breaking. But she isn't named as a complainant because she can't prove Nduwayo knew he had HIV before he had sex with her.

Another witness, also HIV-positive, testified she was a virgin until she met Nduwayo. "Adrien was very manipulative and coercive," the witness said on stand. "... I guess you could say he forced me into it."

Another testified she only had sex with Nduwayo about four times. The condom broke on one occasion however, and the couple had consensual unprotected sex on another occasion. She would later be told she had seven years to live after testing positive for HIV.

But when Nduwayo took the stand, he disputed much of his complainants' testimony, and he insisted he always used condoms.

Defence lawyer McMurray appealed to the jury in his closing arguments.

"What [Nduwayo] did may be morally wrong. It may be reprehensible. But it's not criminal," McMurray said. "As much as you may dislike him for his conduct, the evidence doesn't establish that Adrien Nduwayo is guilty of any crime."

Lawyers will discuss a date for sentencing on Friday.

Casino profits plunge again

2005-12-01T07:33:00.000-08:00

The City of Vancouver is relying on an unexpected surplus projection from the Police Department to keep its books in the black after gambling revenue expectations were again lowered, according to a quarterly financial review.

After a May review determined the city would have to dip into its contingency reserve to make up for a $1.6-million shortfall in casino revenue, the latest review shows the city is expecting its casinos to be short by a further $600,000 by the end of the year. A rare budget surplus by the Engineering and Police departments, however, will allow the city to project a $2.66-million overall surplus in the end.

New mayor Sam Sullivan, who in the past has claimed "deeply held" beliefs against gambling, says he's hesitant for his council to help the city's struggling casinos, who face stiff competition from Richmond's splashy River Rock Casino.

"I’ve always been uncomfortable about casino revenues being part of the budget," Sullivan said in an interview. "I know it’s a fact and a reality but I am not interested in doing anything unusual to make gambling more prevalent among our citizens."

But Sullivan's new council will likely be asked to do its part to make city casinos more profitable. The owners of the fledgling Edgewater Casino, for example, at which Sullivan once voted against allowing slot machines, say they're struggling with tedious signage bylaws and a lack of a liquor license on the gaming floor.

When asked if his council would help casinos increase their profits, Sullivan's response was diplomatically cautious.

"I don’t really look towards doing anything to increase gambling in our population," Sullivan answered. "I think gambling opportunities are available and completely accessible and I don’t look to gambling revenues as a critical part of the city’s revenue stream."

Related posts:
Cities take a gamble on casino earnings

Sullivan's picks for GVRD, TransLink

2005-12-01T07:27:00.000-08:00

Mayor-elect Sam Sullivan has made his picks for who he wants to represent Vancouver at the major regional authorities.

Not surprisingly, they're almost entirely made up of his Non-Partisan Association caucus, which holds half the seats on the new council.

Vision Vancouver Coun. Tim Stevenson is the only non-NPA pick for the GVRD or TransLink boards. Raymond Louie and COPE's David Cadman were relegated to the role of alternates for GVRD appointments, despite the fact both served on the GVRD and TransLink boards in the last term.

During the last term, Mayor Larry Campbell chose not to appoint either of the opposition councillors, Sullivan or Peter Ladner, to anything whatsoever.

[editor's note: the accompanying photo, which is completely unrelated to this story, is a press promo for Belfast's new city bus network. See www.translink.co.uk for more information]

Sam Sullivan under fire, the weekly update

2005-11-30T19:37:00.000-08:00

Larry Campbell he's not.

Mayor-elect Sam Sullivan has learned the media has yet to take to his humour as quickly as they lapped up Campbell's dry one-liners.

Facing a gauntlet of reporters before yesterday's council meeting, his last as a city councillor, Sullivan tried to shrug off news the RCMP may look into his past behaviour, with a joke:

"Well, you've got intrigue, you've got conspiracy theories . . . you've got prostitution and drugs. And they thought I would be a boring mayor."

*cough*

After the awkward silence, Sullivan got down to business, trying to turn the spotlight on Campbell, who asked the Solicitor General during the election also to look into Sullivan's behaviour.

"I very much question the fact that Mayor Campbell wrote a letter to the Solicitor General in the middle of an election campaign, brought this up in the media," Sullivan said. ". . . I question whether that was appropriate when he was so clearly advocating for Jim Green and against me."

And Sullivan later seemed to draw support from an unlikely source. COPE Coun. Tim Louis, perhaps Sullivan's exact political opposite on council, urged the police to remove itself from "involvement in the political arena", alluding to Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham this week asking the RCMP to look into Sullivan's past.

That past, of course, is Sullivan's admission during the campaign that he payed for crack, then allowed an addicted friend to smoke it in his van several years ago. Sullivan has since publicly apologized for his behaviour, saying he was trying to learn about what an addict goes through. The story's been floating around and was generally known well before the campaign, but only seems to have stuck to Sullivan during the election.

Meanwhile, Jim Green ducked out early from this current council's last meeting. He missed a rare event - the councillors one by one standing up to say (generally) nice things about each other.

Most touching speech:
Departing COPE Coun. Ellen Woodsworth, somewhat emotionally imploring the new council, for the second time yesterday, to take care of Vancouver's sizeable homeless population, all the while looking straight at mayor-to-be Sullivan.

Most uncomfortably touching speech:
Tim Louis eulogizing good friend and departing Coun. Fred Bass, who was not deceased, but in Toronto on business. At one particularly awkward point, Louis invoked the spirit of NDP power couple Jack Layton and Olivia Chow to describe his relationship with Bass and his ideal relationship for any council. Layton and Chow, you see, could vote differently at Toronto city council, yet, we suppose, still stay married.

James Green for mayor, the weekly update

2005-11-30T07:23:00.000-08:00

James Green says he's dead serious about taking a run for the mayor's chair in 2008.

In fact, the third-place place finisher in this year's race says he's prepared to walk the walk - by sitting in on every council meeting between now and November 2008.

"Well, as many as I can make," Green explained before's yesterday's council meeting, the last for the current council.

If Green comes anywhere close to managing the feat, he will no doubt have a better attendance record than at least a couple elected city councillors.

Meanwhile, Larry Campbell's executive assistant, Geoff Meggs, on loan to Vision Vancouver during the campaign, says Vision's still debating what to do about this whole "James Green affair."

Attorney General Wally Oppal has already said "no thanks" to an independent inquiry and it seems the only avenue left is taking it to the B.C. Supreme Court. Trouble is, that avenue requires the always problematic issue of finding evidence to back up the allegations against Sam Sullivan.

A note posted on the Vision website sends a shout out to anyone with incriminating evidence:

Also, if anyone has any information on voters casting their ballots for James Green when they meant to vote for Jim Green, please contact Vision Vancouver at 604-340-2140.

Thank you.

Vancouver school board to ventureinto education business?

2005-11-28T07:24:00.000-08:00

A COPE school board trustee who lost his seat in this weekend’s election is warning the new batch of trustees not to turn the district into a business.

“The new board can’t stop thinking of themselves as educators first,” said Kevin Millsip in an interview. “If the board begins to think of itself as a business enterprise or as a little corporation within some larger construct, then they’re setting themselves up for trouble.”

School districts have been legally able to form companies since 2002, when the B.C. Liberals passed the School Amendment Act. At the time, the NPA-dominated school board created a separate company with the intention of generating revenue in the wake of a tight budget.

But the concept quickly became controversial in places like New Westminster, where that school district, which had partnerships with schools overseas, was accused of transferring costs between the board and the company to make the fledgling enterprise seem healthier than it was.

When the COPE-dominated school board swept to power in 2002's fall election, Vancouver scrapped its business plans and nixed the company.

But with Saturday's election results, the NPA is back, seizing six of the nine seats on the board. New NPA school trustee Ken Denike, who was part of the original board that voted to encorporate, says he’d like to revisit the idea of exporting the board’s managerial expertise to Asian countries.

“Let’s face it. We have budget crunches,” Denike said. “Administration and administrators are highly looked for outside Vancouver.”

Forming a company again would likely cost the school board more than $12,000. Denike said he thinks his plans can be accomplished without the school board having to encorporate. But he ruled out actually setting up private schools in other countries.

Two Greens better than one

2005-11-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

Yup, there are three politicans, but only two different surnames and just one mayor's chair.

And these are likely the wisest words anyone has uttered in the last few days concerning the whole Green vs. Green vs. Sullivan debacle:

"I think [Sam Sullivan] should just come clean and say he made a mistake," said James Green in an interview yesterday. "And I think Jim Green should accept his loss."

But with Jim Green, through his Vision Vancouver campaign planners, calling for an Attorney General's inquiry and Sullivan spouting off denials, little looks to be solved as Saturday's election results are made official today.

For his part, Jim Green didn't attend his own press conference yesterday, with his Vision Vancouverites saying the 62-year-old had health issues. Reached on his phone a few times this week, an emotional Green said he was still troubled by this weekend's loss and needed a few days to himself.

Mayencourt talks money, gives math lesson

2005-11-23T07:11:00.000-08:00

Lorne Mayencourt's still steamed the government has overturned the reported 15 per cent pay hike that provoked public outrage when it was announced last week.

The controversial MLA for Vancouver-Burrard says the pay hike wasn't correctly reported, and blames both Premier Gordon Campbell and Opposition leader Carole James for the debacle.

"If anybody did the math on this one they'd realize that MLA's were not going to get a raise, they were going to get a pension," Mayencourt said in an interview yesterday.

Here are Mayencourt's mathematics, explained in a letter he sent out to constituents:

First, the pay raise which has been reported as a 15% increase. In 2004 I received $78,135 as a private member. In addition, the province contributes money to my RRSP which totals $5,675 and change, so currently my true income is $83,810.50. With the passage of Bill 17 my total income would be $86,450 for an increase of $2639.50 or in other words a 3.05% increase. The RRSP contribution from the province is negated by Bill 17.

The second portion of the bill provides for a pension. I am required by law to contribute 9% of my income or $7,708.50. The pension provides up to 65% of my income or $56,192.50.

The net affect of Bill 17 is that my gross pay will be $78,741.50 or an increase of $606.50 annually. Not much of an increase, around $11 per week. But I do get a pension after six years of service and that pension max’s out to $56,000 at twelve years.

The third portion of the package is riding services. Currently I receive $84,000 for my constituency office. Most of that is taken up in salaries to my two valued assistants. It’s important for you to know that each year I have to supplement the government contribution through fund raising to the tune of $30,000. Why? Well I have 90,000 residents in Vancouver Burrard. Most ridings have 30 – 40,000 voters. My riding has seen a building boom in the past few years and has grown faster than anticipated. So the Legislative Assembly Management Committee decided to give ridings a $36,000 increase. I need that money to serve my community.

I love my job as your MLA so I don’t often complain that I have to maintain two homes, travel weekly, work long hours etc. and I won’t bore you with any of those arguments but I do ask you to consider these facts over the next few days and tell me what you would like me to do.

But it seems Mayencourt's already made up his mind.

"I never will talk about it again when I'm done with this. I will never deal with it again," Mayencourt said. "I think it's disgusting what's happened."

Independent candidate fails miserably,descends into self-contemplation, reflection

2005-11-21T07:47:00.000-08:00

City hall hopeful Kevin Potvin can't believe he didn't
come close to securing a council spot on voting day.

Independent council candidate Kevin Potvin says he's shocked by his "miserable showing" in Saturday's civic elections.

"I don't like to be embarassed, and this was an embarassingly low turnout," said the journalist and would-be politician in an interview yesterday. "The number is shockingly low."

To be fair, Potvin actually acquitted himself well, earning the most votes, 10,806, out of any independent candidate. The problem is, Potvin would have needed at least 50,000 votes to win.

"I didn't come into this out of nowhere," Potvin said with remarkable self-awareness. "So it's surprising. It's surprising how really truly tough it is for independents to win."

But it had all seemed so promising.

Already known in the community through his left-wing newspaper, The Republic, and frequent columns in the Vancouver Courier, Potvin did all the right things with a modest budget.

He branded himself as a smart, objective thinker with fresh ideas. His admittedly hare-brained platform to move the UN to Stanley Park at least, if nothing else, got him noticed.

Next, he turned himself into a logo, a stylized, vaguely socialist two-tone profile of his face, which he forwarded to media outlets and used as his calling card.

It's just astonishing to me that all that adds up
to nowhere near the dream of a seat

Then, while the so-called "legitimate" politicians were busy playing in the mud, Potvin instead positioned himself in the media as a commentator on topical news stories, even penning an op-ed on small business economics in the Globe and Mail.

He even became the only candidate to be officially endorsed by a comic strip (Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman).

Still, it added up to nothing for Potvin.

But he's not blaming his failure on a lack of media coverage, as most independent candidates will (perhaps rightfully) claim.

"I had way more media coverage than any other council candidate, party or otherwise," Potvin said, and it's true. Looking back over the last month of the campaign, the media focused almost entirely on the battle for mayor between Jim Green and Sam Sullivan. Individual candidates, even within high-profile parties, were, for the most part, ignored. Potvin, on the other hand, had his share of articles, almost all beamingly positive, written on his campaign.

Even what he thought would be his biggest obstacle - money - turned out to be a relative non-issue after Potvin counted more than $15,000 in cash donations.

"I had a serious campaign. With all the campaign imagery, the media attention, it's just astonishing to me that all that adds up to nowhere near the dream of a seat," Potvin said. "I know I did everything I could do and I really scored good hits with all the things people say you need to do."

The NPA could have left a blank space on the ballot
and you would have had the same result

Potvin says his failure has taught him the immense importance Vancouver voters seem to place on political parties.

"I look at [Green Party candidate] Ann Livingstone. She got 27,000 votes. I know Ann and I like Ann, but she didn't campaign, she wasn't out there working," Potvin said without a hint of bitterness. "But she has the Green Party label and she gets 27,000 votes. That's the range that I had calculated as my worst-case scenario."

The impact seems even greater with the major parties.

"You look at some of the candidtes. [Comedian and political newcomer] Patrick Maliha, for example," Potivn continued. "He gets 39,000 votes* and he had an NPA affiliation. But no campaign. In other words, the NPA could have left a blank space on the ballot with no name, and you would have had the same result. You could have put a dog or a bird in there and you would have had the same result."

When first interviewed back in September, Potvin told us he was running for council partly to prove independents could make it in Vancouver city politics. Screw that.

"Today it's a whole different story," Potvin said. "I wanted to encourage other independents in future elections by showing success. But all I can say to anybody now who asks me about running as an independent is, 'Forget it'."

* 39,165, actually, the lowest out of the three major parties: COPE, NPA and Vision.

James Green in '08!

2005-11-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

Voting for (Three of) the Men
Who Would be Mayor:
Sam Sullivan...................61,543
Jim Green.......................57,796
James Green.....................4,273

James Green says he's already building on his surprising third-place showing in the mayor's race.

"I'm gearing up Monday to run for Mayor again," the other Jim Green said in an interview yesterday. Ever the optimist, Green says he's not worried when people say it's next to impossible for independents to win seats on council, let alone the city's top job. "I actually believe an independent can be mayor of Vancouver. We just need more volunteers, more time."

4,273 voters ticked the box beside James Green's name this year, according to unoffical election results. Of course, those in second-place finisher Jim Green's camp say the Non-Partisan Association put James up to run to spread confusion among Green voters. As it turns out, the dreaded Jim and James combination (a.k.a the Green party) would have beat Sullivan by 526 votes.

But (James) Green says the conspiracy theory's getting a bit tiresome, a day after the election.

"I'm not the spoiler. I think the story's getting a little old now," Green said, as he was preparing to give live interviews to the top two TV news stations in the province. "I feel more offended for the voters. I think people can tell the difference between Jim and James."

If I had gotten the coverage I had gotten last night and today, it would have been a different outcome. It would have been a lot closer

Green claims he was the victim of "dirty tricks" from both Vision Vancouver and the NPA. On one occasion, Green says a mutal friend of him and Sam Sullivan, who had offered to print brochures for Green, was told not to by Sullivan's camp. On another, Green claims a Vision operative sullied his good name [editor's note: not actual words used] at a recent all-candidates meeting.

But still, Green says he could have done even better on Saturday, with a little help from the media.

"If I had gotten the coverage I had gotten last night and today [regarding his effect on the mayoral outcome] - my name in every newspaper, on TV - if that had happened everyday it would have been a different outcome. It would have been a lot closer."

Yesterday, Sullivan wasn't biting when reporters asked if his victory had been "tainted" by James Green's success, saying he was a "serious, credible candidate" that had attended more all-candidates meetings than (Jim) Green.

Either way, tongue-in-cheek Sullivan supporters Saturday night were more than happy to cheer on (James) Green when early results hinted his votes could play a factor in the final outcome. Chants of "Go James Go!" rang throughout the Hotel Vancouver ballroom each time Green's total went up.

James Green, on the likelihood of being related to Jim Green:
"If you saw me, and saw Jim Green you'd kind of think maybe not. But I want to tell you that my great grandfather was white, and my grandfather was half-white. So who knows? That's pretty interesting. I'm a child, obviously of slaves and he's from Alabama, so maybe at some point his people were slave owners. Maybe we worked for them."
Vancouver Courier, Sept 12, 2005. Read the story here.

Everybody Loves Kim

2005-11-19T08:15:00.000-08:00

Who would win a spot on city council if the only people allowed to vote were city councillors?

It undoubtedly would not be Fred Bass, who may have garnered the most votes in 2002 but is decidedly less popular amongst his council counterparts at the NPA and Vision.

How about the NPA's Kim Capri? The rookie council candidate was picked by both Jim Green and David Cadman as an opponent they could both tolerate.

"I suppose if you twisted my arm, I might say someone like Kim Capri, because I think she's reasonable from what I've seen in the debate, she's well-informed," COPE Coun. Cadman said in an interview last week.

In a separate interview, Jim Green said he would like to see a slate wiped clean of NPA councillors.

"The only exception to that is that I think Kim Capri might be okay but I don't know her well enough. At least she has some experience with the John Howard Society, she's been involved in drug and alcohol treatment," Green said. "[The NPA] have no expertise at all in those things, so I think that she might be okay but as I said I've only seen her twice. I'd certainly take her over the comedian."

Perhaps not coincidentally, Capri describes her politics as left of centre, throwing her support beyond civic elections behind the New Democrats. She is executive director of the B.C. Crime Prevention Association and has a background in the criminal justice system.

Bigger than Jesus?

2005-11-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

Free media training for Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate Jim Green.

Lesson #1

1. Do not mention Hitler, under any circumstances whatsoever, no matter how logical your words seem to you.

eg. When, late last month, you reacted to allegations that NPA candidate Ronald Leung was anti-gay by telling CBC radio reporter Stephen Quinn...

"What if somebody were making comments, for instance, that Hitler didn't go far enough in dealing with the Jewish question? Would we not be concerned about that person's ability to lead a multi cultural city like this? I certainly would."

... that was silly.

2. Do not refer to Pierre Trudeau, Jesus Christ, the Buddha, and yourself all in the same sentence. People will think you're boasting, and that's unbecoming.

eg. Yesterday, when asked why you have so many vocal detractors, and you said...

"If they don't like me, I'm sorry. There are people that didn't like Trudeau. There are people that didn't like Jesus Christ. Or Buddha. Well. I mean... I'm not those people. That's not what I'm saying. I'm not comparing myself to Jesus."

... it sounds like you are. The Beatles learned the hard way, and look where they are now.

That's right: split up and half deceased.

End of lesson

Lefties back Sullivan... kind of

2005-11-18T07:44:00.000-08:00

It wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement, but NPA mayoral hopeful Sam Sullivan will take it.

Yesterday's last minute press conference showing off left-leaning Sullivan supporters was meant to refute opponent Jim Green's campaign attacks that brandished the NPA as "Stephen Harper conservatives." But it soon became clear that some of the speakers were more interested in some good ol'fashioned Green bashing.

"I never thought about seeing myself at an NPA campaign," said Connie Fogal-Rankin, the widow of the socialist founder of the left wing COPE party, Harry Rankin. "But I'm gravely concerned about what [Jim Green] represents."

But Fogal-Rankin admitted in an ideal world, she wouldn't normally support a candidate like business-friendly Sullivan, who has voted to introduce slot machines and for the Olympics, two key issues to which Fogal-Rankin was staunchly opposed.

Instead, Fogal-Rankin diplomatically explained she was choosing the "lesser of two people who are more likely to act out a specific interest" as opposed to choosing the "lesser of two evils."

Ann Livingstone, a co-ordinator for the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and a civic Green Party council candidate, wouldn't go so far as to even endorse Sullivan. Instead, she warned against voting for Jim Green.

Don Larson, a Downtown Eastside activist, alluded to several allegations against Green but declined to be specific before the assembled media.

When asked by reporters why he had chosen the negative message two days before voting day instead of making platform announcements, Sullivan said he had asked everyone to come to support him, not necessarily to critize Jim Green.

"I have not attempted to control the message that is here," Sullivan said. "It's not necessarily my message."

Whatever the message, Green said he was unconcerned by his detractors.

"I'll have the firefighters, I'll have Mike Harcout, Larry Campbell and Bob Rennie wtih me, and he can take those folks and I wish him good luck," Green said.

A shorter version of this story first ran in today's 24 hours.

NPA graphics designer flip flops on Sullivan

2005-11-17T07:24:00.000-08:00

Either Sam Sullivan can't decide which way to part his hair, or whoever designed the NPA's communications materials is a perfectionist.

Careful observers will notice Real Life Sam, left, here pictured during a 24 hours editorial board interview last week, prefers a right-side part while Promo Shot Sam, right, parts from the left. The surefire clue the photo's been flipped? Check out the wee dogwood flower pin that Real Life Sam wears on his left lapel. As the helpful circles indicate, Promo Shot Sam likes it on the other side.

Promo Shot Sam has been featured prominently on all NPA campaign literature, billboard ads throughout the city, as well as the NPA website.

The politics of Woodward's

2005-11-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

Civic elections are two days away, and a marketing push for the flagship Woodward’s redevelopment project has also shifted into high gear.

Coincidence? NPA mayoral candidate Sam Sullivan isn't so sure.

“I think it’s very interesting that the advertisement for Woodward’s has come out just before the election,” Sullivan said at a press conference this morning, after he was shown a slick two-page ad in yesterday’s Vancouver Sun. “I think there may be some effort to talk up the Woodward’s project in anticipation of this election.”

Of course, prominent local realtor Bob Rennie is a strong supporter of Vision Vancouver’s Jim Green. His company, Rennie Marketing Systems, is involved in the redevelopment of Woodward’s in the Downtown Eastside, a massive, but risky venture that is seen as a legacy of Jim Green and the COPE/Vision council.

But Green said he nor his party have anything to do with this week’s timely promotion of Woodward’s, a controversial project which supporters predict will save the troubled Downtown Eastside, but whose detractors say could become a financial burdern to the city.

Meanwhile, Sullivan confirmed he would not try and halve the number of social housing units in the multi-purpose development if he becomes mayor, as he had previously hinted.

Related links:
For a pre-election Frances Bula article on Woodward's, click here.
For the City of Vancouver's overview of the project, click here.
For the snazzy new website for the Woodward's project, click here.

Municipal elections and manila envelopes

2005-11-16T07:29:00.000-08:00

Mayoral candidate Jim Green has long accused Downtown Eastside advocate Jamie Lee Hamilton of doing opponent Sam Sullivan's dirty work.

But while Hamilton has made no secret of her support for Sullivan’s mayoral bid, both she and Sullivan deny there’s any connection.

So what was Hamilton doing yesterday wielding an envelope addressed to her from Reputations Corp., the P.R. firm involved in Sullivan and the NPA’s council campaign?

Oh, nothing, according to Hamilton, who was holding a small news conference directly across from Green’s Victory Square campaign office. The independent council candidate said she was merely using the envelope to carry unrelated court documents on Green.

Reached in his office yesterday afternoon, Reputations public affairs director Allen Langdon laughed when asked if there was any relationship with Hamilton. Langdon, who runs NPA Coun. Peter Ladner's re-election campaign, said he didn't know why Hamilton had the envelope.

"I have no idea how she got an envelope from Reputations," Langdon said. "I'd be surprised if it had anything to do with us."

An hour later, Reputations president (and Sullivan’s campaign communications director) Wayne Hartrick had an answer.

The envelope must have been sent last year, Hartrick explained, when his firm worked on Sullivan’s successful Know Wards campaign against a changed civic voting system. Hamilton had supported Know Wards and requested brochures, Hartrick said.

For his part, Sam Sullivan set about further distancing himself from Hamilton, saying he would quiz Reputations on the issue, then adding that he had already told the P.R. firm not to have any dealings with Hamilton.

"I will ask questions about that for sure," Sullivan said when reached by phone yesterday afternoon. "... I've even asked about [Hamilton]. I have stressed there should be no support or connection to her."

Meanwhile, Vision Vancouver communications manager Clay Suddaby (formerly the executive director of the provincial NDP caucus) called the whole envelope incident (somewhat sarcastically) a "colossal coincidence." Suddaby likely didn't mind putting in his two cents either, on a day in which his candidate was slammed by Sullivan and former NPA mayor Philip Owen.

A version of this story first ran in 24 hours.

The Loose Ends:

The documents that were actually inside the said envelope were court documents on Green. Hamilton claims they show Green was involved in an early 90s incident in which a large sum of money went missing from the accounts of the Downtown Eastside Residents' Association. Green, who used to run the non-profit group, was cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident.
This is the second time in recent weeks that Hamilton, Green's former employee at DERA, has gone public with the allegation. Last month, the self-styled "Queen of Hearts" held a press conference in front of city hall claiming to have proof Green stole the funds, but declined to show it to the mass of reporters assembled. Yesterday's press conference was attended by three reporters.
Green and Vision candidate Heather Deal are also suing Hamilton for libel. The suit is related to comments on her blog, which insinuated a relationship between Green and Deal. The lawsuit prompted Hamilton to invent this catchy phrase: "I'd rather be the Queen of Hearts than the King of Lawsuits." By his count, this is the second lawsuit Green's been involved in. By our count, and that of the B.C. Supreme Court's Vancouver registry, it's three.
And finally, as first reported by Public Eye and 24 hours colleague Sean Holman, Reputations has in the past worked for US big-box chain Wal-Mart. Read Sean's story here. Wal-Mart, of course, had its controversial application for a Peter Busby-designed "eco-friendly" store on Marine Drive turned down by city council earlier this year. Mayor Larry Campbell, along with the NPA's Sullivan and Ladner, cast the only votes in Wal-Mart's favour.

Cities take a gamble on casino earnings

2005-11-14T07:38:00.000-08:00

“We gambled and we lost.”

- Vancouver COPE Coun. Fred Bass

It wasn’t quite how the cards were supposed to be played.

On a muggy July morning before a long summer break, Vancouver city councillors opened their staff reports to find their city’s revenue projection for the year short by almost $2.5 million.

The bookkeepers would have to tap the last of the city’s contingency reserve – the rest allocated for snow removal and a forever-looming West Nile virus outbreak – to make up for the shortfall.

How could this have happened?

The city had been banking on a $7-million revenue windfall from the newly-opened Edgewater Casino along False Creek. Instead, competition from other municipalities saw the casino pull in only $5.4 million, and the city found itself in the awkward position of debating how to help the casino jack up its profit.

“We’ve got ourselves into a situation where we’re trying to get people to gamble,” a visibly upset NPA Coun. Sam Sullivan said at the time. “It’s unbelievable.”

And indeed, Sullivan's personal convictions against gambling aside, it's hard to argue that relaxing signage bylaws along the False Creek waterfront and granting Edgewater a liquor license, both options council will likely soon consider, couldn't somehow be seen as encouraging gambling.

At the other end of Sullivan's political spectrum, COPE Coun. Fred Bass fretted aloud over the possiblity. "I would hope that our staff doesn't go very far out of their way in chasing lost or undelivered gambling revenue," Bass said at council. "I have great reservations about gambling revenue, and if it doesn't come in, well, we gambled and we lost."

Gambling is wrong,
whatever ways the profits from it are used

Sullivan, now running for mayor, opposed allowing slot machines in the city but relented when they were approved at Edgewater. Both he and Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate Jim Green now say there will be no further expansion of gambling in the city - after, of course, both councillors gave the final thumbs-up to permit slots at Hastings Racecourse just last month.

But it’s still a touchy subject in other areas.

Take Richmond, which saw a 250 per cent increase this year in its share of Lower Mainland casino revenue, thanks to the opening of the River Rock Casino and its 1,000 slot machines.

Now the city is counting on much of that income to fund some risky projects – like $50 million over 10 years for the controversial $155-million Olympic Oval on River Road. Mayor Malcolm Brodie has already promised the project will not see taxes go up, but what happens if the city’s share of revenues don’t add up to a jackpot?

The answer has Richmond council candidate Annie McKitrick worried.

“When you allow casinos, you become dependent on it. It’s easy money,” McKitrick said in an interview yesterday. “It scares me that we’re tying something good, like the Olympics, with the casino.”

Granted, McKitrick, a school board trustee and outspoken social advocate, may already have strong views on casinos: "Gambling is wrong - whatever ways the profits from it are used," McKitrick wrote in a 2002 letter to the Richmond News.

But McKitrick points out what Vancouver city councillors learned just this summer: Counting on steadfast casino revenue numbers is indeed a gamble. "We don't know what's going to happen to casino funding in years to come," McKitrick said. "We're projecting revenues coming from casinos but really, we have no idea if they will change."

But while Richmond Coun. Evelina Halsey-Brandt acknowledges casino revenues are unguaranteed, she insists they can be a good way of keeping taxes down – as long as they are applied to capital projects like the Oval, and not to the city’s yearly operating budget.

“If I take $10 million from this year’s casino revenues and apply it to the capital cost, that cost is not going to be repeated,” Halsey-Brandt said. “Once you build something you no longer need the capital money.”

Back in Vancouver, however, Sam Sullivan says casino profits should be pumped straight into general revenue and not tied in with specific projects.

"When you tie it to speciifc objectives then you potentially get a political constituency that is now lobbying for increased revenues," Sullivan said in an interview last week. "The better way is to put it into general revenue and decide where it goes based on an analysis of the whole city's needs."

Either way, Sullivan acknowledges gambling in Vancouver is here to stay. If he's elected mayor on Saturday, the four-term city councillor will find himself in the interesting position of leading a city that welcomes gambling revenue, yet despising the very idea at the same time.

Sullivan was asked if he was now satisfied with where the city has come with gambling revenue.

"I don't have an opinion on that," Sullivan said after a brief pause. "I don't think that's what should drive our policies on the revenues we're getting off gambling. I think we've gone with the provincial government's formula. I don't actually personally endorse it."

A version of this story first ran in today's 24 hours.

Building bridges

2005-11-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

With less than two weeks to go until voting day, the Non-Partisan Association is placing its bets on the voting power of disgruntled motorists.

Vancouver's centre-right civic party is promising to cancel the controversial plan to close two lanes of the Burrard Bridge to traffic next year, if it gets elected.

NPA Coun. Peter Ladner says the party's doing it because the lane closure "has the potential for pitting a group of very angry drivers against cyclists, and causing a lot of traffic problems."

But Ladner downplayed the traffic concerns back in April when he voted in favour of the lane closure. At the time, the avid cyclist said motorists would adjust to the disruption, shifting over to the nearby Granville or Cambie bridges. Ladner also liked the fact the lane closure could save the city the $13 million city staff had recommended be set aside for sidewalk widening.

So what's changed?

"Since the vote I have been deluged with outraged comments from both cyclists and drivers," Ladner said in an interview yesterday. "If you've got a lot of car drivers who are angry at cyclists you are risking losing political support for cycling improvements in the future, which I think are pretty important."

But the NPA isn't the only party that realizes how divisive the bridge issue is in the leadup to next Saturday's vote. In September, Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate Jim Green made the unusual move of promising to revisit the issue through public consultations - after the election.

Green now says the consultation process last April wasn't "thorough".

"There's a lot of people involved that didn't have an opportunity to speak to us," Green said yesterday, citing various business and community groups. Green also said council hadn't taken into account what impact RAV line construction on Cambie Street would have on Burrard traffic.

A 1996 experiment that closed only one lane of the Burrard Bridge was aborted after just one week.

Next year's trial lane closures will see the two outward lanes of the Burrard Bridge closed to traffic and re-dedicated exclusively to cyclists.
CITY OF VANCOUVER photo illustration

Track o' the Week archives

2005-11-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

Free mp3 download once a week or so. If you like what you hear, why not buy the album at your local record store?

July 30, 2006

Pharrell
How Does it Feel?
In My Mind

> How Does it Feel? .mp3

It doesn’t take long to get to the meat of Pharrell’s much delayed debut album, released this week.

Lead-off single Can I Have it Like That and second track How Does It Feel, at least musically, suggest the outside-the-box, freeform thinking that’s so rare in hip hop. Pharrell even sounds like a competent rapper on the latter.

The problem is the Neptunes producer has little else on the menu.

Not that In My Mind is a terrible piece of work – if just a tad dull. It holds its own against anything on pop radio these days – indeed Pharrell had a hand in producing half of it anyways - which might be his biggest conundrum, and that of a handful of other big time hip hop producer/performers.

It’s understandably problematic to keep raising the bar with each new track. But in penning hits for every manner of pop star – Britney, Justin, Gwen, et al - a sound that once was eyebrow raising, as in Kelis’s I Hate You So Much Right Now, has been peeled back to reveal its formulaic core.

It’s not good news for hip hop, which after three or so decades in existence, is still largely stuck in a creative rut reminiscent of Motown and early rock-n-roll. Carbon copy Radio-friendly singles are churned out week after week, but stand-alone artistic statements in the form of albums are rare. Even if mainstream producer/performers like Pharrell, OutKast, Kanye West and Missy Elliot are the equivalent of the singer/songwriters who changed the industry then, a hip hop musical evolution is still slow in coming.

Which brings us back to In My Mind. At best it’s a competent update of what hip hop’s already sounded like. Pharrell’s synth-heavy production holds no musical statement as to a new direction for a staid genre – and co-opting Thriller-era Michael Jackson on an unfortunate eight-minute track with Jay-Z just doesn’t cut it.

The good news? A Timbaland-produced sophomore release for M.I.A. is still in the works. And Pharrell’s Bathing Ape-designed album art sure is swell.

Julyl 21, 2006

Hot Chip
Boy from School
The Warning

Hot Chip are making some of the most listenable dance music out there these days. Sappy, earnest lyrics and over-the-top synths never sounded so stoic.

And the Londoners have been rewarded for their efforts, picking up a prestigious Mercury Prize nomination this week for their sophomore disc, The Warning. Previous nominees include: The Streets, Radiohead, M.I.A., PJ Harvey, and, uh, Coldplay. And M People. And Take That. Hmmm. Never mind.

> Boy from School .mp3

June 18, 2006

Zero 7
Crosses (ft. José Gonzalez)
The Garden

It's a Starbucks barista's wet dream: Swedish navel gazer José Gonzalez joining forces with understated Brit producers Zero 7 on the latter's new album.

Unfortunately, (or predictably?) the results are as bland as a grande no whip soy laté. For what it's worth to Gonzalez, however, who happens to be playing at Richard's on Richards on Tuesday, his 3 or 4 contributions to The Garden are the album's best, including this reworking of his own song, Crosses.

> Crosses .mp3

May 21, 2006

Jamie Lidell
Multiply (Gonzales - minor key mix)
Multiply

This remix of Jamie Lidell's surprising single isn't so much a remix, per se, as it is a natural interpretation.

Gonzales, the Feist collaborateur and producer/pianist, strips Multiply of its R&B-esque arrangement, instead pairing Lidell's sandpaper 'n sugar vocals with a rolling gospel piano line.

> Multiply (Gonzales - minor key mix) .mp3

May 13, 2006

Radiohead
Arpeggi

Radiohead have been floating this new track for the past year or so, first with the backing of a full orchestra, then as an acoustic number. A bootleg recording of Arpeggi taken from a European show earlier this month finds Thom Yorke and co. fitting it with an arrangement for the full band for the first time - or so I gather.

And it sounds good. It's a reserved performance from Radiohead, simmering but never quite boiling over. Subtle drumming from Phil Selway keeps the song's rolling crests in time. Right click to download:

> Arpeggi (acoustic) .mp3
> Arpeggi (full band) .mp3

May 6, 2006

Beirut
Gulag Orkestar

All the bloggers are talking about him, you know. Or so I read on a blog talking about him. That being the man behind Beirut: apparently a 19-year-old from Albuquerque with a penchant for Balkan funeral jigs.

Gulag Orkestar isn't perfect. At times the shallow timbre of the recording and final mix pulls back the reins on what should be the open, expansive sound of a massive 12-piece band. But it's also the most interesting stuff to be released in recent months.

And who can resist the bold EuroTrash-ism of the album title? To wit: the delightfully-named Swedish band Süperstar Orkestar, whose debut 2001 CD, according to the band's bio, was released "before Balkan brassband music was really famous in Sweden." So there.

Beirut's ode to Balkan labour camp house bands drops Tuesday. In the mean time, right click to download:

> Postcards from Italy .mp3
> Mount Wroclai (Idle Days) .mp3

April 8, 2006

Part 3 of Riding the Hi-Hat: A Learn by Listening Guide

Communicators and Black Experience Band
The Road

With dueling soloists, an unwieldy strutting bass-line and the baddest extended horn riff since Curtis Mayfield went solo, the only thing keeping one of the hardest funk tracks of the 70's from falling off the rails is its impressive hi-hat work.

Listen to the metronomic rattle of the hi-hats keeping the instrumental in order; notice the stutter on the open hi-hat shots accenting the chugging guitarst.

Right click to download: The Road.

March 31, 2006

Part 2 of Riding the Hi-Hat: A Learn by Listening Guide.

Todd Terje
Italian Stallion
Eurodans/Italian Stallion

This ain't your daddy's mildly homoerotic, Italo-discofied cosmic house. Unless, of course, your dad is Norway's Todd Terje, who shows you don't need to be a drummer to ride the hi-hat. You don't even need a hi-hat.

Right click here to download "Italian Stallion", the B-side to Terje's Eurodans single. Listen in at 1:03 seconds, and again at 2:25. Terje's open hi-hat drives the beat so hard, you can overlook the fact the track never actually goes anywhere.

March 25, 2006

Part 1 of Riding the Hi-Hat: A Learn by Listening Guide.

The Police
Bring on the Night
Regatta de Blanc

Riding the Hi-Hat: If done correctly, you barely need song structure. Witness Stewart Copeland on this underrated track. The hi-hats are the first thing you hear; the rest of the arrangement blends into Copeland's pace, carrying the tune until the end and distracting you from Sting's off-key delivery. This song would also make a great example for a future guide: Riding the Kick Drum.

Right click here to download the track.

March 10, 2006

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
According to Plan
Fear Is On Our Side

The best named band in the universe released their debut full length this week.

Right click here to download According to Plan.

February 10, 2006

Belle and Sebastian
Funny Little Frog
The Life Pursuit

Brand new album sees the band polish and tighten its four-minute pop. Pitchfork aptly calls it "glam, soul, country, and '70s AM rock."

Click here to download. Pay attention at the 59 second mark for proof that handclaps make any song better.

February 03, 2006

Gnarls Barkley
Untitled

Keyboards have been salivated on across the blogosphere ever since producer Danger Doom and Cee-Lo dropped a preview track, Crazy, for download last year. A full album collaboration is expected any time now, but already several tracks under the 'Gnarls Barkley' moniker have been leaked. Most sound particularly raw and unfinished.

This track has Cee-Lo waxing on suicide ("But I'm fine," he assures us at the end) along with a Spanish guitar while in the background, live drums and crashing cymbals sound DJ Shadow-esque.

Download here, courtesy of DJMonsterMo.

January 27, 2006

Death from Above
Sexy Results (MSTRKRFT edition)
Romance Bloody Romance

Raw Toronto indie/metal/whatever duo re-envision themselves as a glam disco act, complete with synth and, yes, cowbell. It's a standout track on a hit & miss remix album. Alan Braxe's remix of Black History Month is excellent as well.

Click here to download the track.

January 20, 2006

The Cloud Room
Hey Now Now
The Cloud Room

They were the New York City buzz band that recorded one of the best pop songs of the year, only to disappear before the OC had time to grab the track for the next mixtape.

Click here to download the track, then read about the one hit wonder that wasn't ever a hit.

January 13, 2006

José González
Veneer

A classicly-trained guitarist, it's clear the Swedish man with the Latin name's greatest strength lies in his ability to reinterpret: Witness the haunting cover of The Knife's electro Heartbeats, for example. But González's original creations hold water as well.

Download Crosses, the album's best original track.