Attawapiskat and Why We Need Change
Posted by: The Working Dog on: December 6, 2011
This week’s disgusting news out of the Attawapiskat Band showed us again why the way we deal with First Nation’s bands has to change. Something is broke and it stinks to high heaven and it is the government’s job to clean it up.
Some of the facts:
- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence of the Northern Ontario reserve declared a state of emergency because her people are living in plywood shacks with no heating or running water
- The Attawapiskat community of fewer than 2,000 people has received more than $90 million in federal funds since 2006
- About $17-million flows annually from Ottawa to the reserve
A question that should come to mind for any Canadian reading this is-What the hell is going on here? When you consider that the under 2,000 people includes family members who live together the amount per family the reserve has received is even more disturbing.
The government sent a third party into Attawapiskat to manage its finances and you could hear the howls from Chief Spence all the way from Attawapiskat to Ottawa. Now we have Chiefs from across Canada condemning the government… and are you ready for this? They are talking about asking the UN to monitor Canada’s actions. Hold on here!! So they are all for monitoring when it comes from the UN but when it comes from Ottawa who is trying to fix how the band can be managed so inefficiently that the people on the reserve are suffering unbelievably that is taboo!! Huh? Who can believe that these Chiefs have the living standards of their people in mind when they spout garbage like this?
Let’s face it the Attawapiskat reserve’s management has to be an abject mess and for the government to not act would be irresponsible. It’s high time the MO from the government to give First Nation’s bands money and letting them manage the money has to stop immediately. The Chiefs might not like this but the arrangement is totally broken. What’s even more amusing is Spence’s comments that her reserve’s record-keeping “has improved in recent years”. Oh yeah, well what happened this year? This shouldn’t be a decade long fix, it should be resolved in months and I really question whether the Chief has the competency to do this.
Let’s be honest here. For years the government has been going along with the First Nation’s Chiefs and giving them money to just keep them quiet and go away. Even though the amounts sounded way over the top it was easier to basically pay hush money and both sides went along with it. But when you see people suffering and living in squalor as we are seeing in Attawapiskat the jig is up and the government has to tell the Chiefs to move over and let the authorities do a proper job that obviously is not being done now.
UPDATE: If you want to look at what was officially published go here. Over $23 million in last reported year for Program Delivery, Wages and Benefits? Would be nice to see details on these two line items.
Does Vancouver need to look at a Ward System?
Posted by: The Working Dog on: November 20, 2011
- In: BC News
- 5 Comments
Saturday’s civic election in Vancouver resulted in an abysmal showing by the NPA which resulted in them getting 41% of the mayoral votes with Gregor Robertson and Vision getting 54% of the total vote and 5% voting for others. Counting the mayor (who can break a council deadlock) when you add up the councilors-Vision has 73%, the NPA 18% and the Greens 9% representation on council.
Something doesn’t smell right here. Forty one percent voted for the NPA but they have only an 18% voice on council. I know Vision supporters will say that is the system-tough apples and they are right. But there is nothing saying that the system at the municipal level doesn’t need to be changed.
When you look at the turnout municipal votes are an absolute failure and the format is definitely broken. You are not going to hear a peep from everyone that got elected because the current system suits them just right but is it really the best thing for the city and is it fair to the people who voted NPA. There is no way they should be relegated to a rumour on council with the substantial numbers they had.
We need Elections BC to get involved in civic elections for many reasons including financial restrictions but also to take a close look at the format in Vancouver and looking at the possibility of a ward system so that all areas of the city have proper representation. Taking nothing away from Vision who ran a successful campaign and played the system like it is allowed to be played, but let’s be honest here the whole format is a farce.
Years ago the left were adamant that a ward system was what Vancouver needed when it was advantageous to them. Let’s see how willing they are to revisit a ward system today.
Video Montage Mayor Moonbeam
Posted by: The Working Dog on: November 16, 2011
With the Vancouver civic election happening this weekend and Mayor Moonbeam Robertson taking a lot of flack for doing nothing I think we should review the last few years with Gregor with a Youtube montage of his antics.
Ooops Please turn off the mike…F@#king NPA Hacks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IDcmUQa0WM&feature=related
Shuck and jiving from blame with the Stanley Cup Riot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g6EYLWJ4F4
Small group of troublemakers interview and it goes downhill from there………
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBKfEykfYZY
The Chicken Coop Insanity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THGTQrR6yE4&feature=related
Playing drums to a journey song. The Tshirt really lives up to the Moonbeam name
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rWIDaUDobI
Addressing Critical Mass…. So he helped start it in Vancouver… thanks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAY_UeZBwyo
Many faces of Gregor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSCqcRfCPQ4
$370000 spent for Olympic tickets for civic employees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woe-sGkkMfQ
Tap Dancing on the Pandora Street Inquest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QC_Ec2moVc
Fare Evasion Evasion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5oCT-I20TY
The Hornby Bike Lane Rush to build for the winter season
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9CwtVBVlCM
Growing Wheat in Front Yards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCY3xI0js1g
Mayor Moonbeam video
Occupy Movement is not the 99%-They are the .0005%
Posted by: The Working Dog on: October 26, 2011
What’s with Gregor Robertson-Vancouver’s weak-kneed mayor laying low while the Occupy Vancouver vermin camp out on public property stealing public power from power plugs on the Art Gallery building and not only creating an eyesore but reducing the whole Art Gallery area to a public slum. The mayor should have read the riot act to these lunatics a long time ago and he wouldn’t be faced with the mess he has now and the even bigger mess he will have next week. Hopefully these degenerates will not take the mayor’s advice to Vancouver homeowners and plant wheat with chicken coops.
These idiots claim they are the 99%……….what the hell!!! They are the .0005% of Canadians who live in the gutter and love it with the only demand being for the taxpayers to take care of them. I say get a bunch of trucks from the 800 Junk guys and hall everything away. Of course that may never happen. Vancouver’s mayor is a left wing wacko who just like any liberal wants the world to love him and booting these maniacs out from the slum they created goes against his MO.
I heard one psychotic Occupier being interviewed claiming that Canadian corporations are making incredible profits that should never be allowed. Huh? If the person interviewing the idiot would have been a proper journalist they would have asked her to name some Canadian corporations making excessive profits. If she can prove it I want to buy some stock in those companies. Truth of the matter is these wackos are just repeating rhetoric and BS that they have read in their Occupy Manifesto. It would be interesting to see someone go through the crowd and ask some questions about Canadian finances and see what the Occupiers know. Truth of the matter is they probably wouldn’t know much if anything.
Case in point their brothers and sisters demonstrating on Wall Street were asked what the SEC was and 7 out of 10 demonstrators didn’t know. To put the icing on the cake a scant one in 10 could identify the top marginal tax rate for America’s despised “1 Percent.”
Which proves the point that the education system has let these people down and not the “system”. Just check the spelling on the sign.
Wall Street Protesters Are Protesting Against the Wrong People
Posted by: The Working Dog on: October 12, 2011
The rats on the streets of New York protesting Wall Street are protesting against the wrong target. Instead of Wall Street they should be focusing on the education system which has produced the bunch of idiots that you see protesting. The protesters remind me of the sit-ins of the 60’s where you had outcasts who were satisfied to lay in their squalor and filthy sleeping bags for days on end. As can be seen by some of the above pictures these filthy creatures have gotten to a new low with one protester photographed defecating on a police car.
A large part of these gems are apparently college kids from schools like NYU or Pace which are such great institutions that on a good day they might produce a graduate almost fit enough to work at Starbucks as a barista and the only challenge is seeing if he or she can hold the job for three days. Let’s face it these students are not real students. They are not students of chemical engineering or medical school. They are a product of a misdirected school system that is not focused on young people’s futures. That is why I say the protesters should be protesting a school system which has not prepared them for working in the real world. What kinds of jobs do these idiots think they are going to get when they graduate with a degree in philosophy, sociology, women’s studies or environmental awareness. Stellar training that if they are lucky enough to get that job at Starbucks they will get fired after a week when they get too nervous and flustered because someone came in and ordered a plain cup of coffee.
By the sounds of it Vancouver will have its own demonstration on the weekend. Who knows what they will demonstrate about. The economy is nowhere near as broken as it is in the US, the unemployment rate is not bad at all and Canadian banks have been held to a higher level of responsibility than their US counterparts. Nonetheless it’s no surprise the BC Federation of Labour, a group that would crawl over broken glass to demonstrate and be an all around S disturber has now said they will support demonstrations by this group on the weekend. All I can say is that the BC Fed better hope this doesn’t develop into another riot because if it does they will be right at the top of the list for responsible groups. When are union members going to have the guts to reel their leaders in and say “enough is enough stop wasting union dues on your left wing projects that have nothing to do with labour negotiations”.
Hopefully the VPD will treat this event seriously as the rent a mobs and anarchists will latch onto this group like flies chasing a garbage truck and very easily produce another riot to tarnish Vancouver’s image. Hopefully the MO of the VPD will not be to high five everyone and sing Kumbaya to keep them from rioting.
Yeah Right!
Hey Mayors! It’s Not just about the 2 Cents
Posted by: The Working Dog on: October 6, 2011
Well it looks like the Mayors will vote everyone a 2 cent per litre increase in their gas costs on Friday thanks to “Her highness who can do no wrong” Dianne Watts (is she still driving a Cadillac Escalade) and the guy who will do anything right now to try to look like he knows what he is doing Gregor Robertson. Not to mention a property tax hike to in the mayors’ words “avoid Los Angeles type congestion”. What the hell are they talking about? Even the mayor of Langley Peter Fassbender is pulling a fast one on his residents by supporting this. Of course it might not matter as many Surrey and Langley residents will go to the US to buy their gas and not even contribute to this cost since they are right next to the border.
It’s not really about the 2 cents but about the fact that these supposed public servants don’t know the words “We can’t afford it right now”. I have never been much of a fan of Burnaby’s Derek Corrigan and but I have to tip my hat to the guy on this one as he is one of the few mayors who actually gets it. Right now people want to slow down spending while things level out.
So what if Coquitlam has been asking for a Skytrain for years and never got it. It’s not like they don’t have transit in Coquitlam. As a matter of fact the area is the biggest example of extravagant transit spending with the West Coast Express. Which by the way is still scheduled to run even after the area gets their Skytrain which in my view shows everyone how out of touch Translink is. When you spend billions on transit people don’t want to see duplication. The West Coast Express should be scrapped with the new Skytrain line to Coquitlam and run only between Mission and Coquitlam Centre. But who at Translink would want that? It might save taxpayers some money.
What will be interesting is if this blatant ignoring of people’s wishes will translate into many of these mayors losing in November. We can only hope but a groundswell of dissatisfaction could very well change things in November as no one really votes in civic elections unless there is a good reason to and this might be enough to get people out.
Are Teacher’s PD Days just Fun Days?
Posted by: The Working Dog on: September 29, 2011
- In: BC News
- 3 Comments
Last week Susan Lambert (BCTF president) was defending teacher’s professional development days in the usual spin like they help teachers determine how to improve themselves, allow teachers to check on needs of current classes, allow teachers to talk about opportunities and build programs to meet the needs of their students.
Oopsy!! I guess no one told the teachers at Eric Hamber who earlier this week went to a Maple Ridge retreat where the bulk of time for Monday’s PD day was set aside for activities that included ping-pong, air hockey, foosball, archery, bocce, shuffleboard, Frisbee golf, volleyball, basketball and the Frisbee game Ultimate. What gives! Teachers are refusing to supervise kids at recess but don’t mind playing games on their supposed development day.
Let’s face it everyone knows these PD days are extra days off for teachers over and above the time they get off for summer holidays, spring break, Christmas break and who knows what else.
The teachers argue that PD days was an agreed upon extension by them of the school year without pay. Well then I suggest the government negotiate these days out of the school year and allow teachers to do whatever they like before the school year starts. The way they are spread out now just inconveniences parents when they have to scramble around looking for day care for their kids.
It is also extremely hypocritical for teachers to start eliminating some of their regular duties in the name of a new contract but conveniently keep the PD days active at the same time.
It’s high time that these days are eliminated from the school year and teachers should be told if they want to team build they can do it in all the extra time they get off through the year.
What next teacher team building at Playland riding the Roller Coaster and eating Mini Donuts?
What’s Up with John Cummins does he really Want to Win Seats in the Next Election?
Posted by: The Working Dog on: September 28, 2011
As much as I think the BC Liberals are doing themselves a disservice by elevating Cummins and his party into the limelight one really has to wonder what he was thinking when he admitted to actually voting NDP in the last provincial election. His lame excuse was something about Campbell’s “policy making on the fly”. Cummins went on to say “Post-election I think that you’re going to see a good number of federal Conservatives moving to a new (provincial) Conservative party.” What this essentially says is that Cummins was willing to sacrifice the province to another term or two of NDP slash and burning just so his BC Conservatives will have a crack at a hopefully ruined BC Liberal party.
What Cummins doesn’t realize is that he is coming from the wrong end of the spectrum. If he really and truly wants to be a factor in BC politics he needs to plunk himself between the BC Liberals and the NDP and siphon off enough support from both to be a factor. Truth of the matter is that the Conservatives will never be able to slot themselves in that position and if anything they will probably surround themselves with a bunch of fringe rightists who will spout at the mouth at any occasion giving the lazy media enough quotes to supply a year’s worth of stories of how out to lunch and over the top their party is. They started that this weekend with the election of a new president who is nowhere near the centre of the political spectrum and will allow opponents to successfully peg the BC Conservatives as right wing wackos.
The obvious question is where is Cummins while all of this is going on? Either he agrees with the wackos or he is inept at controlling the party to put their best foot forward next election and is folding like a deck of cards.
Should Jim Chu’s New Name be Jimocchio?
Posted by: The Working Dog on: September 22, 2011
- In: BC News | Uncategorized
- 1 Comment
Well well well. As many thought all the cover your butt action that appeared to be going on behind the scenes when questioning how prepared Vancouver City Police were for game seven and the Stanley Cup riot just didn’t sound believable at times.
Quoting Chu on September 7th he said “Prior to game seven, there was no intelligence, there was no phone calls, there were no reports received by us.”
Hmmm. Now we find out that in an email that was sent after game five the Liquor Control Board expressed concern about drunkenness and fighting with one government official saying they thought the police were “totally overwhelmed” after game five.
This new information stinks and points to the police and possibly the mayor who said he was in control and worked closely with the police not telling the public the whole truth.
The people of Vancouver need a proper investigation into the dealings of the city and the police prior to the riot. The optics aren’t good and if it can be determined people were lying heads should roll. As well what about the Furlong-Keefe report? How did they miss this. Can we please have our money back?
Everyone expects politicians to cover their ass and not tell the whole story unless they are asked point blank. But when it appears someone is lying that crosses the line.
Schools and Hospitals Paying Carbon Offsets-What Gives?
Posted by: The Working Dog on: September 21, 2011
Most people in BC have had it with school and hospital workers whining and sniveling for more money like clockwork but the news last week that schools and hospitals are paying too much in carbon offsets I am sure made most BC’ers perk up in amazement.
As insane as you might think the whole carbon offset system is where businesses that pollute too much are supposed to buy credits from other companies that don’t pollute as much (thank you Al Gorelioni) what goes another step up the insanity ladder is none other than Gordon Campbell had actually set up a system where hospitals and schools pay carbon tax. What the FFFFFF………! When you consider all the money the taxpayers pay into the education and medical system and how we continually hear there is no money and the systems are broke, to have budgets depleted by some moronic scheme like carbon offsets is truly the highest level of absurdity possible.
Let’s face it as much as environmentalists will defend carbon credit programs they are a scam that only a liberal could fall for. The only reason these groups defend them is because they have been told it’s great by people like Al Gore (who by the way is profiting personally from carbon offsets) and that’s good enough for the Kool-Aid drinking sycophants that they are.
A Carbon Offset Program is the equivalent of a mob boss donating money to the church because he just knocked someone off. It is unbelievable that people actually fall for this garbage and to have our tax dollars being blown away because some idiotic premier fell for this scam is even more stunning.
Thank you Gordon Campbell I assume there are more Europeans that believe in this kind of nonsense so I am sure Gordo will feel right at home while sipping tea in London worrying about global warming.
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