Worrys? (sic)

Apart from the spelling faux pas--which is horrible in itself--there's now a new phrase (simply by virtue of its frequent use nowadays).

"Business tax burden".
As in today's Morning Star story "Chamber worrys(sic) over business tax burden", which stated:

Vernon Morning Star Staff
The Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce welcomes the provincial budget's focus on affordability for average British Columbians, but say there's a concern about the "growing financial burden" facing business.

Comrade Horgan in B.C.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are facing $5 billion in cumulative cost increases over the next three years.

"...the corporate tax rate has gone from 11 to 12 per cent,

carbon tax is climbing by another $5 per tonne in April,

Employers Health Tax will see $1.9 billion raised

same time that MSP premiums are still collected, 

creating a double-dip scenario"

"The layers of tax eat into the bottom line and increasingly make it challenging for businesses in the North Okanagan and across the province to be competitive," said Dione Chambers, Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce general manager.

"At the same time that the government is trying to make life affordable for individuals and families through housing and child care, affordability is a real issue for businesses who provide employment opportunities for individuals in our community."

"B.C. businesses feel the cost of doing business

 in the province has worsened..."

Since the Budget 2017 update, the corporate tax rate has gone from 11 to 12 per cent while the carbon tax is climbing by another $5 per tonne in April, on its way to $50 per tonne by 2021.  The first full year of the Employers Health Tax will see $1.9 billion raised in 2019/20 at the same time that MSP premiums are still collected over this fiscal year, creating a double-dip scenario for business(sic) (shouldn't that state 'for government?')

The B.C. Chamber of Commerce's recent 2018/19 Collective Perspective Report indicated that 80 per cent of B.C. businesses feel the cost of doing business in the province has worsened in the last year, and one in two owner/operators report their confidence in B.C.'s economy has declined in the last 12 months.

"The provincial government is keying in on many of the right issues regarding housing and childcare but we need to remember it's a thriving business community that funds these investments.  Domestically, our businesses are facing increasing cost pressures.  We need to ask ourselves, are these investments sustainable in an increasingly uncertain global economy?" said Val Litwin, B.C. Chamber president and CEO.

Among the business-friendly components of the budget are $3 million over three years for the Industry Training Authority to increase hands-on support for apprentices and employers and $3 million to Destination BC to support marketing to global markets.  The government has also made the B.C. Mining Flow-Through Share Tax Credit and the Mining Exploration Tax credit permanent.

"We appreciate the steps taken by the provincial government to assist business, but more needs to be done.  There needs to be a concentrated effort on reducing the overall financial burden on business so they can thrive, not only benefitting their communities but the entire province," said Chambers."

And that's only a piece of B.C.'s problems.

Look at B.C. Hydro rates:  they're projected to increase another--yes another--8.1 per cent in the next five years!

Okay, okay, enough.

Ooops, there's more in the same Morning Star issue:
Tom Fletcher wrote an article entitled "NDP turning B.C. into nanny state"  (seems the Morning Star's version left out the word "massive" between 'into' and 'nanny'!

"So when are we leaving British Columbia?" Kia would've asked.

It's not when, but where (is it less of a Nanny State?)
Where indeed.

Coldstream Taxes to Increase by 3.85 Per Cent for 2019

Uppa, uppa, uppa.
And we're not talking about balloons.

Apparently immune to reality, staff at Coldstream recommended a 3.85% increase to taxes.
The reality is that the cost of living increased approximately three per cent.

This toddler reacts to Coldstream's proposed tax increase

Beachradio reported that one per cent is for Operations $61,595), while the rest is for capital items and reserves ($181,100).  Included in that is a $100,000 increase to the road reserve, a $31,100 increase for an equipment replacement reserve, and a $50,000 increase to the drainage reserve.

Staff's recommendation went to Mayor and Council on February 25th.

"No mention of the $260,000 cost for the Rail Trail crapper," Kia would've said.

Maybe that's part of the road, equipment and drainage budget...

Personally, I'm outraged there'll be a cost of $22,000 for each of five signs for the Rail Trail.

A $260,000 Bathroom

Holy crap, as the saying goes.

Beachradio Vernon states Regional District of North Okanagan directors have agreed to spend...are you sitting down?...$260,000 on a washroom for the new Okanagan Rail Trail.

There's more:
Also there's $170,000 in fencing and a lock-block wall on Westkal Road in Coldstream.

The other big ticket item is wayfinding signage in five areas, costing $140,000.

Wait a minute, that's $28,000 each for 5 signs on a lineal path, with presumably no exits other than at its municipal toilet(s) and the opposite end of the path?

How tough could it be to produce a few signs on which arrows and a few words are displayed?

Twenty-eight THOUSAND dollars a sign?


There’s also plans for $20,000 in garbage receptacles, and $10,000 for trail head development design.

"Maybe the pricey bathroom is fully staffed," Kia would've said.

Must be that the indigenous Ogopogo is on the committee.

Wonder how many locals are planning to open a sign shop...

Dignity and Reputation

 When it comes to the B.C. Legislature, both are lost.

But Speaker Darrel Plecas is going to turn that around.

In a meeting today of the Legislative Assembly Management Committee, Speaker Plecas delivered his second report on the response by Messrs. Lenz and James to the original Plecas report.

"The lack of accountability

 that has been revealed

 has been largely

 of these officers’own design..." 

 excerpt from Second Plecas Report (linked above)

Lenz and James were suspended, with pay, on November 20th and it was reported that Lenz wrote a 62-page letter stating that he would like to return to work.  James wrote a 24-page reply to the charges levied by Plecas, adding that the report went out of its way to smear his character.

Allan Mullen, the Speaker's special advisor, has stated the Plecas Report's findings are "the tip of the iceberg".

The CBC report stated the committee agreed to release the report publicly, keep James and Lenz suspended and on paid leave and have an independent review of the allegations performed by a retired B.C. Supreme Court justice.

"My Preliminary Report

 and this follow-up report

 raise issues which I believe

 the public will find unacceptable."

 D.Plecas Report                     

Speaker Plecas stated he would now recuse himself from the proceedings, concluded the CBC story.

I've overheard people suggesting that Darrel Plecas should be Premier, expressing the hope many feel that truth and honesty will prevail.

"Darrel Plecas for Prime Minister," Kia would've said, adding "there's trouble there too...Plecas could certainly do no worse than Justin Trudeau."

A good point.
Because Plecas would do a hell of a better job than Justin Trudeau.

The first story "Corruption in Victoria" is here.

The First Professor With Whom I've Agreed

Justin Trudeau by Garry Harrison

One Man’s View of JT

 Interesting to say the least!

- Garry Harrison (Professor of British and Irish Literary Studies who lives in Canada)

Say what you will about Pierre Trudeau – and you may say many negative things about a man who deliberately chose to spend the Second World War sitting on the sidelines, who shilled for Red China while it murdered tens of millions of people, who was a life-long apologist for Soviet Communism, who began a relationship with a teenager when he was already an old man, who nearly spent Canada into bankruptcy, who tried to steal the wealth of the West and ruined a generation of Albertans, whose quest for personal glory nearly broke the Canadian federation, and who recklessly fathered a daughter when he was a septuagenarian and therefore left a little girl of nine without a father when he died – but it is beyond dispute that he was at least a somewhat very intelligent man.

It is true that he was also a cold, reckless, and destructive man, but there was definitely something there.

Of Justin it may be said that he has managed to inherit all of the flaws of his father – his recklessness, his arrogance, his willingness to apologize to and appease enemies of our civilization, and his almost-unique ability to be wrong about every issue of significance. Whether or not he inherited the other qualities of his parents – that is to say whether his personal life is as dissolute and debauched as that of his father – is not currently a matter of public record, but I imagine that it will be soon enough. However, it can be said with certainty that J Trudeau did not inherit his father’s sole virtue: everything that is already in the public record suggests that Justin Trudeau is a profoundly stupid man whose only qualification to be Prime Minister is that he has a famous name. That he should, at this particular juncture in history, be elected Prime Minister of Canada ought to shame all Canadians.

What, pray tell, has this man ever accomplished in his entire life? His biography is available for all to read. Young Master Trudeau, so far as I can tell, has never held anything resembling a real job for any length of time. His biography describes him as having been a teacher, but he was still a substitute teacher at least as late as 1999 (he worked at my High School) and he appears to have begun a never-completed graduate degree in 2002. Before that – when he was already in his mid-twenties – he was a ski bum in Whistler. In other words, this Prime Minister appears to have – at the absolute most – had about three years of full-time work experience before seeking to lead the nation. This man never led anything in his entire life. Quite literally he doesn't have the requisite experience on his resume to be hired as the Manager of a Starbucks. Indeed, to be very clear, the last sentence wasn't intended to be at all insulting to anyone who either manages or works for Starbucks – I'm a frequent customer and it is, by all accounts – a very challenging job. But, surely, we can all agree that Prime Minister is a job that requires at least the same level of previous management experience as Starbucks management?

Consider all that you have achieved in your own life. Most of you, I presume, are from background rather like myself. That is to say that you are from middle class families and had to earn your way through life. You had to work to pay your way through school. You had to worry about paying the rent, about saving money for a down payment, about how much of a mortgage that you could afford. Most of you have probably worked bad jobs or taken work beneath your education and dignity because we simply needed the money. Some of you probably missed out on having fun – on ski trips to pick one relevant example – either because you could not afford them or because you simply had to work. That, you and I probably both believe, is simply a natural part of life. All of that is quite foreign to Justin Trudeau.

Now, I am both a conservative and a capitalist. I do not begrudge or resent great wealth and privilege in and of itself. One of the primary aims of my own life is to eventually earn (and manage to keep, in the face of a rapacious (greedy) state) enough so that the next generation of Yoshida's doesn't have to make compromises when it comes to fundamental life decisions for financial reasons. I think that people have a right to earn as much as they can and to pass that along to their children. But, as the children of privilege get to enjoy certain advantages in life, so do I believe that those to whom much is given have a profound moral responsibility to contribute to the world in some fashion exchange for all that they have been given in life.

And what, we ought to inquire, has J Trudeau done with his life and privileges? His accomplishments such as they are – eternal years as a student, two partially-completed Masters’ degrees, and perhaps a few years of work experience – are scant when compared with those of the average middle-class Canadian of modest means and background. I could literally walk down the street outside of my home and pick out a hundred random people with more work experience, education, and life experience than J. Trudeau has. When you consider that this man is the child of a multi-millionaire and carries arguably the most famous name in Canada, his below-average record is particularly shameful. This man had every single advantage that it is possible for a young Canadian to have and that is all that he could do with his life?

In general, I view the idle rich to be more objects of pity than ones deserving of hatred. That calculation, however, changes rather rapidly when they aspire, as J. Trudeau does, to translate that unearned privilege into power over the rest of us. If “Justin Trudeau” were instead “Justin Thompson” it’s pretty safe to assume that he'd be collecting EI and writing a screenplay on a battered laptop at some local coffee shop. The only reason why we are threatened with this man in 24 Sussex is that he carries a famous surname.

It is the greatest of ironies that so much of the support for this particular man came from the sort of people who spend the rest of their time re-blogging articles on “white privilege.”

Now, as Canada prepares to join the fight against ISIS and the other Islamic barbarians who threaten our people and way of life, we see that J Trudeau intends to use his unearned privileges to carry on his father’s tradition of serving an apologist for and appeaser of all of the enemies of our civilization. In this he is, most regrettably, simply carrying on in the long tradition of a sad Quebec political establishment whose behaviour in the face of our enemies has long been disgraceful and immoral. Just as the Quebec political establishment took seditious and at times almost traitorous positions in the face of the German threat in both World Wars (shameful episodes that are somehow generally hushed-up in the retelling of our history), today J. Trudeau is, as his father once was, on the other side in the great crusade for civilization.

Justin Trudeau in 24 Sussex – will likely be fatal for the Canadian Federation.

How long do you think, in this day and age, will the Western Provinces remain willing to accept the dictates of a Quebec-controlled government hostile to the very basis of its entire economy?

This child doesn't have the political skills or the experience to navigate such a potentially-perilous situation, for not only is he unfit to lead the nation, but he is also an unworthy successor to his predecessors as Leader of the Liberal Party who, for all of their many faults, were at least men of accomplishment and substance.

If you believe in individual merit – if you believe that we should have a country where accomplishments matter more than your name – then we should have rejected this haughty and arrogant child who would presume to rule over us all.

"Promising to legalize marijuana got T2 the votes from all the young people," Kia would've said. 

 Whoever and wherever Garry Harrison is, thanks for this!

 

Vernon vs. Medicine Hat

They're about the same size, with Medicine Hat at 62,935 in 2017 and Vernon 40,116 (2016 numbers).
Medicine Hat was incorporated in 1898; Vernon in 1892.
And it's just as cold on the streets of Vernon as Medicine Hat, especially this February.

But that's where the similarity ends, especially with the homeless issue that appears rampant.


This from the Medicine Hat Mayor: 
"No one in the city spends more than 10 days in an emergency shelter or on the streets. If you've got no place to go, they'll simply provide you with housing. We're pretty much able to meet that standard today. Even quicker, actually, sometimes," Medicine Hat Mayor Ted Clugston tells As It Happens host Carol Off," reported CBC.

Here in Vernon, last Fall's civic election had a candidate who headed a task force on homelessness.  He didn't succeed in his bid.  But city council thought they'd "outlaw" shopping carts to solve the homelessness issue!


Recently, the Vernon Morning Star featured a well-respected businessman detailing that "the issues haven't changed (but) the frequency of issues has."

Here are excerpts:

"Larry Fisher of Vernon’s Fisher’s Home Hardware, located at the same location in downtown Vernon on Coldstream Avenue and 33rd Street for 84 years, attended a meeting Feb. 6 at Vernon’s Schubert Centre with members of the downtown business community, service providers, and the Social Planning Council of North Okanagan.

"A lot of stuff mentioned

 has been talked about many times before.

 It’s beating the same old bush."

Larry Fisher, Fisher's Hardware

Not surprisingly, Larry Fisher could only stomache an hour of the meeting.
I doubt I would've made it that long.



“I didn’t think too much was said or done, and it’s the same old deal," said Larry, continuing: "These meetings have the same old results.  A lot of stuff mentioned has been talked about many times before. It’s beating the same old bush."

The paper continues:  "Fisher’s Hardware, said Fisher, is at Ground Zero.



Their property adjoins the Gateway Shelter and the former Enlighten Salon, which has been turned into another shelter facility. Unlike other businesses that have a storefront on a city sidewalk – and Fisher makes it clear he’s not diminishing their problems – Fisher’s Hardware has adjoining property, paid parking in behind the store, a compound area, and back of the store.

Staff constantly deal with trespassers through their property, he said. They remove garbage of all types, including shopping carts, on a daily basis. They collect spent needles, drug-related paraphernalia and condoms. The sex and drug trade business, said Fisher, is right at hand. They clean up human feces.

Staff deal with shoplifting as a result of interaction of the street-entrenched people on their property and travelling to and fro, he said. There’s outside theft, loitering, graffiti, vandalism, sleeping in entrances, concern by fearful shoppers, said Fisher, that do not like the presence of some of the street people, and feel intimidated by them. There’s the loss of (our) paid parking from people out behind the store that don’t want to park there anymore because “there’s always somebody pooled around their cars.”

“It’s the whole gauntlet,” said Fisher, who said he did not speak at the meeting, and thought the meeting was handled “differently."

“The issues at hand seemed to be smokescreened by the social system,” he said. “Their approach to the whole thing was like ‘what can we do for the homeless,’ never mind what can we do for the business people and the community that’s encroached by them.”

System is right.
Larry Fisher is right.
 
But maybe...just maybe it's the new mayor learning from the old mayor that is the problem! 
 

It's entirely natural for a new mayor to learn the ropes from an outgoing mayor.  Victor Cumming is no exception, and shadowed outgoing Mayor Mund for some time before taking the reigns.

"Maybe the Cumming pup shouldn't have followed old dog Mund around," Kia would've said.

Perhaps.
Because it's widely known that Akbal Mund achieved diddly-squat concerning homelessness.

But Akbal Mund was successful in his bid for councillor.
After winning a seat, he stated "Over the next four years, I'd like to continue working on affordable housing in the community."

Where is that incredulity emoticon when you need it???!!!!
Ah....here it is.

Comment from Mund leaves people incredulous!

It's the job!

Initial amusement this morning turned to concern on reading the front page of the Morning Star newspaper.

The heading stated "Rescuers frustrated with sledders", and quotes Leigh Pearson of Vernon Search and Rescue as saying, in part "This time of year, snowmobilers are the ones we get called out to the most.  It's sort of been a thorn in our side."

The newspaper continues:  "So far this reason, Vernon Search and Rescue has been called out a total of nine times for lost or missing snowmobile riders in the area.  Five of those calls were received in one day...included eight injured riders, two who had gotten stuck in unfamiliar terrain and one who had gotten lost.  Several required helicopter rescue."

So, eight of the 11 snowmobilers were actually injured.
And likely could have died had they not been rescued.

"Bet those eight were glad they were rescued by Vernon Search and Rescue," Kia would've said.

Isn't it SAR's job to rescue people?

Or are they suggesting we simply--as the adage goes--remove the safety labels, and let the problem sort itself out?

By extension, could it also mean that insurance companies are no longer necessary?

Winter Needs Humor

It sure does, especially when February has frequently been -15C, nine degrees below seasonal "normals".


Starting with one of my favorites:

From the internet

Vernon Toyota dealership

If it doesn't warm up soon, will need a lot more humor...

Fraud...Sea to Shining Sea

Nobody's in jail...yet.
But many certainly should be.
And we hope they will be!

Whether it's the as yet to be proven fraudulent expense claims of James and Lenz--top bureaucrats in the B.C. Legislature--and the province's money-laundering scandal, or the long-whispered-about foreign investor corruption that now includes Charlottetown, P.E.I., Canada's reputation on the world stage has sunk to new lows.

Or maybe not.
Perhaps Canada's reputation is marked as "simple-minded", especially in China?


Loan sharks, banks and even elected officials in the federal and provincial governments are implicated.

Canada's top financial administrator is now promising some action. 
Failing to secure convictions makes one wonder just how seriously governments are taking this issue, considering that sizeable funds flow through corporations controlled by governments, i.e. Casinos.
How about casinos on native lands?

But all this isn't new, and goes back as far as 1999 when then-Premier Glen Clark was investigated in what was known as Casinogate. 


Money laundering is a gift-horse for governments.

And Christy Clark's Liberal government actively sought to minimize the exposure of money laundering.  Why would government, voluntarily, seek a reduction of the millions flowing into provincial coffers?  Whether it's money laundering or real estate (the property transfer tax), provincial governments gain, gain, gain, gain dollars.

"Time to clean house of the ugly dirt that lurks in all corners," Kia would've said.


Pity the RCMP whose investigative channels are stretched thin.
Let's hope they're not worried about discovering the involvement of their immediate bosses?

Corruption in Victoria

Now that Messrs. Lenz and James have had sufficient time to provide excuses for what we citizens KNOW to be fraud, it's frankly disgusting what they came up with:

Messrs. Lenz and James, Victoria's bureaucratic crooks

All "lawyered up", it took them a couple of weeks to come up with the following tripe:

"Mr. Speaker drew conclusions not based on facts proven in court. By convention since 2001, this defence is sufficient for all accusations raised against political appointees in British Columbia. 

However, we provide exculpatory explanations:
Each of us was undercover, gathering evidence of possible wrongdoing by the other. Because they were complex, our investigations lasted years. Had they been completed, citizens would have thanked one of us for diligence.
Travelling the world is not easy. We were absent from friends and family for extended periods, staying in unfamiliar places and eating unusual foods. Travel was an imposition, not a benefit. Our sacrifices meant others did not have to suffer.
As Liberals, we believe in low taxes. Having the Legislature pay for our goods and services was an effective strategy for us to reduce income tax. This allows improved recruitment and retention of people like us.
The Legislature has few areas for storage so, by keeping the log splitter and trailer at home without charging storage fees, we were doing BC taxpayers a favour. Any use we made of the equipment was to ensure its readiness in case the Legislature’s giant sequoia fell.
Taxpayers paid retirement benefits to us because we expected to retire. Our decisions not to retire came afterward, so payment of the extra hundreds of thousands of dollars to us was appropriate at the time.
We were testing financial oversight at the Legislature. Having proved existing measures ineffective, we were about to make corrections when the LAMC suspended us.
Despite our removal efforts, there was too much liquor at the Legislature. This may have resulted in certain behaviours beyond our control.
Everyone else was doing it."

Really?
REALLY?
 
An 8-year old's excuses would've been more imaginative!

A few comments from another blog, citing an excerpt from the Globe and Mail:

“. . . In his statement, Mr. James said he had responded as well as he could to the concerns raised about his behaviour, given the short time provided and “in the absence of access to records and staff.”
“I maintain, as I have all along, that I have not done anything wrong which justifies the actions that have been taken against me, or the unfair and prejudicial manner in which those actions have been taken,” Mr. James said in his statement.
“I am depending on the [Legislative Assembly Management Committee] and the members of the House to review the information that I have provided carefully, and treat me fairly,” he added.” . . .
I expect Mr. James will get a buy out and fade quietly into the sunset, keeping all his secrets. I predict no messy criminal trial.
And that the “audit” will be tepid, delayed and finally produce a mind-numbingly convoluted and essentially meaningless bureaucratic report with the lightest of wrist-slapping and yet another promise of better processes and oversight. Inappropriate contracts? Wrongful dismissals? Corruption? Nothing to see here!
Darryl Plecas’ report was a bombshell and a clear indictment of all that is wrong with the legislature and the culture of entitlement and the much too cozy relationships including the senior MSM (mainstream media) reporters."

Maybe (Speaker) Plecas’ continued stick-handling and public opinion will force a real House cleaning."

I believe taxpayers will force a thorough House-cleaning.
The House of the people, the taxpayers of British Columbia.
At least I hope so.

"Get rid of the maggots in Victoria," Kia would've said.

Whatever happens, Speaker Darryl Plecas deserves a medal.
And a huge thanks from taxpayers in B.C.

Winter Arrives

...with a vengeance!
Woke up this morning to the sound of the furiously flapping firewood tarp.
Quickly shut the bedroom window because it was C O L D.

Holy Toodles!

Makes us all realize how nice the last four months were!  October 2018 was warm and mostly sunny (certainly nicer than September), November was cooler but not bad, December was wonderful especially when we received some snow for Christmas festivities.  And January was relatively mild, with the coldest here at about -6C, little snow.

Grandson is happy as a clam, and loves his ski lessons on Silver Star.

Grandson listening to his instructor during ski lessons last winter

The only downside is that he's getting older wayyyyyy too quickly.

He'll be attending school this September!

Our lil man...

We're not getting any older though!  GRIN

Quickly filled the bird feeders and got back indoors.  I feel for the Robins that have already returned, hopefully they'll find the suet feeder.  The Quail were huddled under an overhang, but they're fed now.

And I always feel for pets and wildlife when it's cold.
I can't imagine why people would leave their trusted companions--dogs--outdoors, barking and barking.  Truly sad what goes on at some people's acreages.

I frequently think of our dear Kia's life with us.
She loved to curl up at my feet (often on my feet) in the family room.
And I will see her there in my mind's eye forever.