Water quality advisory continues - Duteau Creek, & Goose Lake..

A very unfortunate situation. We have spent $30 million on our new treatment plant and now we know that it is not removing all the Cryptosporidium and Giardia from the treated water. We also find that water from Goose Lake will be permanently under water advisory until September and Duteau Creek water advisory continues until further notice. Not a good outcome so far.

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Feds approve controversial MS therapy trials in spite of latest studies

OTTAWA - Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq is bucking some of the latest research and giving the go-ahead for clinical trials of a controversial treatment for multiple sclerosis patients.

Aglukkaq says the federal government will fund trials of the so-called liberation therapy in spite of recent studies that have cast doubt on narrowed neck veins as the primary cause of multiple sclerosis.

The minister says a scientific working group established by the federal government last August has agreed unanimously that a clinical trial should proceed.

"Our government has been clear that we were prepared to fund a clinical trial, but only when there was sufficient medical scientific information to support proceeding safely," said Aglukkaq.

She said the team reviewed scientific reports on the procedure and deemed it safe enough to go ahead.

"There is unanimous agreement that a clinical trial should proceed at the Phase 1 and Phase 2 level."

Narrowed neck veins — or chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency — became the subject of numerous studies after Dr. Paolo Zamboni of Italy theorized it could be a factor in the development of MS.

Zamboni surmised that reduced blood flow leaves iron deposits in the brain, leading to the neural lesions typical of MS. He contends that reversing the condition by unblocking neck veins using balloon angioplasty could help alleviate symptoms.

Many hopeful Canadian MS patients have gone abroad seeking the procedure, which isn't offered in this country, while the MS community has been leaning on Ottawa to proceed with trials.

Some clinical studies — most recently by a team at the University of Buffalo — have indicated that the vascular condition does not have a primary role in causing MS.

But Dr. Alain Beaudet, president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, said some evidence brought forward to the panel suggests "a trend to an association between the greater prevalence of CCSVI in patients with MS than in healthy controls."

"More studies will be needed, particularly the results of the seven ongoing studies, to strengthen this conclusion. But, nonetheless, the committee felt that, on the basis of this preliminary evidence and what's published so far, that we should in parallel start already with a Phase 1-2 trial."

These a preliminary trials involving small sample groups. If they continue to show promise, a larger Phase 3 trial could go ahead at some point in the future.

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Note -- change of deadline for name change suggestions.

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Readers write -- TO ALL CITY OF VERNON BLOCK WATCH TEAM MEMBERS

We now have had two official complaints about these people and van. Our Block Watch Captain from South Valley Ranch reported the following on Wednesday May 25^th:

“Judy and I were just confronted by 3 males in a white van at our door step wanting to know if we wanted our furnace vents cleaned. The vehicle was a white Chevy van, no windows and no markings or names on it. Two of them never got out of the van so we have no description of them. The fellow that approached us looked like a biker kind of guy. Bald head, wearing a bandana, well built, about 6 feet tall, wearing a muscle shirt and blue jeans.

We told him that there was “No Soliciting” in here. He told us to F...K off and mind our own business because he said he could do whatever he wanted in here.

We told him we were calling the police and he said go ahead you F.....g old bastards. While we were on the phone talking to the Police, the van quickly departed the complex.

When Judy called 911 with the license plate number, the operator knew all about these characters. She said that they had reports and complaints from Salmon Arm, Enderby and Armstrong at similar complexes where elderly people resided.”

On June 16^th this same van turned up at 3603 27^th Ave. with very similar results.

This is for your information. When I receive further information I will pass it on.

Please remember to forward this information on to all your neighbours!

Regan Borisenko
Crime Prevention/Block Watch Coordinator
City of Vernon/RCMP
Community Policing
250-550-7847

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Laila's take on the new High Commissioner to Great Brittain.

http://lailayuile.com/2011/06/24/shame-on-you-mr-harper-shame/

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Coldstream Technical Advisory Committee Meeting -- June 28, 2011

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Council Meeting Agenda -- June 27, 2011

Agenda Package

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Octopus picks Canada in Women's World Cup opener.

APAP – Fri, Jun 24, 2011

BERLIN (AP) — A German aquarium's new octopus oracle has gone out on one of her eight limbs by choosing underdog Canada to beat Germany in the opening match of the Women's World Cup on Sunday.

Konstanz Sea Life Aquarium's octopus Paula, an heir apparent to Paul, gave defending champion Germany no thought on Friday. She shot quickly into a tube marked with Canada's flag to grab a morsel of food in an event broadcast live on national television.

Paul, who died in October at Sea Life's Oberhausen aquarium, gained fame by predicting eight matches correctly at last year's World Cup, including Germany's run to the semifinal and Spain's victory over the Netherlands in the final.

Octopi at Sea Life's seven other German aquaria were divided in their picks for Sunday's match: Three chose Germany, one other took Canada and three made no choice at all.

The octopus with the most correct choices at the end of the nearly monthlong tournament will be anointed the next "official" oracle.

The cheeky octopus

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Canada Vs. England (2-2) U-17 World - an unusual goal!

Photo Gallery - The Prickly Pears are blooming [ Desert Rose]! - Courtesy: Debbie Gibson.

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Robert Reich Solves U.S. Economy In Two Minutes (VIDEO)

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Reader's contribution - The new Commonage "VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT."

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Water bottles - A letter to the Editor and a response.

Vernon Morning Star

Published: June 12, 2011 1:00 AM

I read with interest the article written by Richard Rolke in the May 15 edition entitled, “Fountains reviewed for recreation facilities.”

Mr. Rolke quotes Greater Vernon Advisory Committee director Gyula Kiss as stating that, “the overwhelming majority of bottles end up in the landfill and pollute the environment.” This is incorrect.

According to industry steward Encorp Pacific, more than 75 per cent of plastic beverage containers, including bottled water, were diverted from landfill in B.C. last year. We have no objection to the installation of water fountains on municipal property, as long as they are maintained to public health unit standards. Why? Bottled water does not compete with tap water. It competes with other bottled beverages. About 70 per cent of Canadians drink both. They drink tap water at home and consume bottled water away from home.

GVAC director Mike Gavinchuk had it right when he said, “Why should we dictate to people how they drink water?”

The fact of the matter is that Vernon residents have the legal right to purchase and consume bottled water wherever they may be, unencumbered by well-meaning but misinformed environmental activists, some local elected representatives and competing commercial interests.

John Challinor,
Director of corporate affairs
Nestle Waters Canada
Ontario

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Mr. Challinor takes exception to my remarks at a GVAC meeting in a letter to the Editor (Morning Star, June 12, 2011, attached for reference). He questions my statement that “the overwhelming majority of bottles end up in the landfill and pollute the environment.”

Perhaps he is right in the proportion of un-recycled plastic bottles. However, even if he is right we loose an entire annual production of bottles every four years. Where do those bottles go? Landfills, ditches, lakes and even to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The debate was about eliminating the sale of bottled water at GVAC facilities and providing an alternative source of drinking water through reinstatement of once popular drinking fountains. While we can’t save the World we can do our part to reduce our share of pollution. Local politician do have the right of regulating what is sold at their facilities.

Is there an environmental cost to producing a plastic bottle for a single use? You decide! Here is another link to help you in your decision.

http://lifewithoutplastic.com/en/about-plastic.html

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MyVallySun News!

Breaking News: Penticton votes 66% against the jail

June 18, 2011

Competition for the jail took another twist today as referendum results became available from Penticton.

Residents in that city voted two-to-one against locating a correctional facility in the city.
The result of a five-day opinion poll was released Saturday night with 4,302 of the 6,445 votes cast being opposed.

Read more at:

myvalleysun News

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Readers write - Subject: Fw: F Deceptive HST "Voters Guide" taints independence of legislature.!.

Hello:

The message below needs no explanation. Read it and weep about the deception this provincial government is perpetrating. Vicki Huntington is an Independent MLA in the BC Legislature representing Delta South. And do send it out to all the people in your email address book who live in BC -- just as I am going to do right now.

Steve Heeren

Please broadcast far and wide. Send to all your friends, whether they vote Liberal or NDP or Green.

MLA REPORT

Deceptive HST “Voters Guide” taints independence of legislature

Delta, B.C., 13 June – Did you receive the HST Referendum “Voters Guide” the other day? I did. And so did the good people whom I work with at the Ladner constituency office. The guide struck us as a peculiar, agenda-driven voter information package, so we phoned Elections BC to confirm that they had sent it.

No such luck.

An Elections BC employee advised us, in no uncertain terms, that the Ministry of Finance was responsible for the booklet – not Elections BC. The folks at Elections BC are an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly, after all.

We’re all used to receiving sneaky junk mail designed to deceive – only usually it’s from bad credit card companies, “sweepstake” marketing surveys and the like. Not propaganda from the Ministry of Finance. Add another page to the HST’s long story of deceit.

The booklet doesn’t identify its source. The only indication that you are reading a government-produced document is a dime-sized “British Columbia” logo positioned on the front corner, brushing up next to an image of a pencil eraser. Flip to the back page though, and you see, in emphasis, an “Important Notice to BC voters from Elections BC.”

This “voter’s guide” is a government PR document deliberately designed to make you think you are receiving valuable, non-partisan voter information from Elections BC.

Exploiting an independent office in such a premeditated and consciously partisan manner is simply unacceptable. It is beneath a government to do so, and disrespects voting British Columbians. Yet it is so typical of this government, isn’t it? The more we are told “things are different,” the more things stay the same. It is almost as if this government can’t help itself.

The BC government has a long way to go to prove that “change” is more than mere electioneering. It is one thing to see that the time-old “buy-the-vote” style of politics is clearly alive and well in BC today. It is quite another observe the contempt displayed by those in power when they seek to deceive the very people whom they represent.

The brochure, at its core, is deceptive: it purposely misleads the public and sullies an independent office of the Legislature. It is unacceptable politics. Good tax or bad tax, the government deceived us. And it continues to deceive us. And I am really tired of it.

-30-

Contact:
Vicki Huntington
Office: 604-940-7924
Cell: 604-817-2129

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Readers write - Boats do pollute lakes!

Well, there are those that say boat has no negative effect on our drinking water and those that disagree.

You choose your side.

Attached are photos of the boat which was on fire in Kal Lake a few minutes ago.

Rob

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NORD Board meetings - June 15, 2011!

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Readers write - photos from the Kal Park Celebrations!.

Thank you, Councillor Besso!

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Coldstream Council meeting -- June 13, 2011

Agenda Package (80 pages).

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Stormy Skies for Canada's Middle Class

By Ken Lewenza | The Mark News – Sat, 11 Jun, 2011

The Canadian middle class is in crisis. Each year, its share of our national income shrinks, relative to that of the richest few. Recent reports show Canada’s wealthiest one per cent accounted for 32 per cent of all income growth between 1997 and 2007 – the most in recorded history. Thanks to skyrocketing executive compensation levels and an aggressive attack on well-paid, family-supporting jobs, the gap between the rich and the rest of us grows ever wider.

Nothing epitomizes this situation more than the recent history of Air Canada. In the last decade, Canada's national carrier has suffered unprecedented financial turbulence, including run-ins with bankruptcy protection. According to the Canadian Auto Workers’ internal research, over the same period Air Canada's CEO at the time, Robert Milton, pocketed $86 million – while thousands of front-line employees were forced to take cuts, to the tune of about $10,000 per year, including an erosion of real wages, lost vacation, paid lunch breaks and other benefits.

Air Canada workers made major sacrifices. The company plowed ahead with plans to do more with less. Work intensified and productivity skyrocketed. Measured in seat miles delivered per employee, labour productivity at Air Canada jumped 75 per cent. Yet many who had earned a good (albeit modest) salary saw their quality of life and working conditions decline.

This storyline has played out in too many workplaces across Canada. “Good” jobs are on the wane, in all sectors – whether in factories, service shops, office buildings, or among the professional classes. Many have come to accept the logic that jobs in the “new economy” are inherently insecure. Pension plans exist only in fairy tales, and personal sacrifice has become the new norm. We accept the mantra that the next generation of workers will be worse off, and assume they simply aren’t in a position to demand better.

This attitude must change – for everyone’s benefit. The squeezing out of Canada’s middle class has major implications for our collective prosperity. Middle-class incomes drive economic growth, pay for public services, support healthy families, and build communities. Society cannot subsist on crumbs left over by the rich. Workers cannot accept the logic that relentless cuts and constant sacrifice will bring better days ahead.

Air Canada employees have already drawn a line in the sand during their current contract talks. They’ve resolved to make up ground on lost wages. They’ve rejected a program of two-tiering, which would make second-class workers of future generations. And in a recent show of solidarity, the CAW, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (three unions representing the lion’s share of Air Canada employees) rejected a company proposal to undercut and eventually eliminate the current defined benefit pension plan. By saying “no” to these demands, Air Canada employees are facing down the corporate-led riptide that’s pushing Canada’s middle class to the brink.

With the company’s return to profitability in 2010 and a brighter future on the horizon, Air Canada’s demands for more cuts, fewer full-time jobs, and outsourcing appear baseless. It’s made worse by CEO Calin Rovinescu’s hefty 76 per cent pay hike that landed him $4.55 million in compensation last year, a defined benefit pension that would pay him $351,000 per year at age 65, and a $5 million retention bonus he would be paid just for staying on the job until March 2012. His insistence that workers accept less reeks of hypocrisy.

Not surprisingly, the frustration and anger among Air Canada employees is reaching a breaking point. Demonstrations have been taking place in communities across Canada, with impressive turnouts. CAW members recently voted 98 per cent in favour of strike action, as a last resort. They know that what’s at stake in these negotiations goes far beyond their own self-interest.

Air Canada is recognized as a world-class carrier and has received dozens of awards for quality service, largely because of its hard-working employees. It’s time they receive their fair share.

The Air Canada battle is a principled fight about fairness and justice. It’s about reclaiming workers’ rights to good jobs, as well as our collective ability to demand better from employers and government. It’s about closing that ever-widening wealth gap and strengthening the middle class, for all Canadians.

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Kal Park 25th Anniversary Celebration - Reminder!

For more information visit Friends

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Readers write - The story of the Cola Tree!

Greetings,

I’m sending this email to you in order to respond to the many questions I have received regarding events happening at my property. Many of you have been curious about the large white cube vans and other strange activities. In fact, I have been sworn to secrecy for the past month; however the cat is out of the bag since the events here have now hit the international media.

So…to make a long story short, I’ve pasted in one of the news articles – it will tell all – and no doubt you will hear much more in the coming days.

World News Network Report:

Mysterious Cola Tree Discovered in British Columbia

Scientists perplexed as to whether it’s natural evolution or genetically modified.

Sciencewire – June 8, 2011 - By Amar Kasan

VANCOUVER, CANADA - A strange anomaly in a central British Columbia forest is causing a stir in scientific circles across North America today. A scar on what was thought to be a Douglas Fir tree has exposed an unusual red core completely different than what naturally occurs in such a tree.

College student Albert Glass discovered the tree while compiling a spring bird count about 6 miles east of the small hamlet of Lumby which is about 400 miles east of Vancouver.

“It caught the corner of my eye when I had to maneuver around a fallen tree on the trail. I was very surprised and examined it right away. The core beneath the bark is a very bright red, almost metallic in nature with white grainy patterns - it seems very unnatural” stated Glass who immediately notified the landowner.

Don Elzer owns the remote property the tree is on, but said he never noticed it before and was also very surprised.

“There was quite a crowd of neighbors by the time I arrived, some of them saying it must be some sort of genetically modified tree. I scraped some of the sap running down the scar and gave it a taste and it’s very unusual, it tastes like a combination of maple syrup and root beer – nothing like Douglas Fir sap”.

Elzer has nicknamed the tree the “cola tree” and added that earlier reports were wrong, the scar is not recent.

“The bark has been growing around the scar which is like a wound to the tree, so it happened quite some time ago”.

Elzer discounts suggestions that it is a genetically modified tree; he guesses that the tree is over thirty years old.

“I don’t think that sort of modification was happening 30 years ago”, he said.

But Dr. Michael Phipps disagrees.

“In the 1970’s and 80’s there were extensive experiments that introduced genetically modified species into large forests in both Alaska and Washington State, the seeds from those trees may have spread over a larger area by birds or by some other natural event.

Phipps is the head of Forest Research at the University of Southern California – Berkley, and he is both excited and concerned about the discovery.

“If it is a man-made species then it could tell us a story about how dramatically forests can move and expand throughout a region; if it’s natural evolution of a species then the find is extraordinary and represents a big bang event in the eco-system. Either way the Canadian government should move quickly to protect the tree”.

Phipps added that the tree itself may have spread seeds over a vast area by now and there is no telling how it may have impacted the environment.

“I would also suggest that people not taste the sap, or burn the wood there may be toxins that present serious risks – you don’t want to be sucking the syrup out of that tree – at least not yet”.

Phipps is organizing a team of scientists to further examine the tree and should be onsite with a research lab by the end of the week.

So far there has been no response from the British Columbia Ministry of Forests or the Canadian government.

For Albert Glass who discovered the tree, local celebrity status is eminent but he shrugs it off.

“Tomorrow I’ve got birds to count and unlike trees, I know they really move around”.

(30)

Copyright 2011 World News Network

I have taken photos and have posted them on my website.

www.wildcraftforest.com

Thanks so much,

Don Elzer

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Photo Gallery - Flowers of Vernon mountain! - Courtesy: Debbie Gibson.

Calypso Orchid [ Fairy Slipper ]





Mountain Ladyslipper

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Readers write - View from the new library.

Thought you might like this picture of the view from what will be the Library second floor.

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper attends Game 4 of Stanley Cup final

Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press

Wed, 8 Jun, 2011

OTTAWA - In the NHL season of the head shot, Prime Minister Stephen Harper should have seen this one coming.

The Conservative leader was at TD Garden on Wednesday night as the Bruins tried to even their best-of-seven series with the Vancouver Canucks in Boston.

But word of Harper's flight to Bean Town with his daughter Rachel and Heritage Minister James Moore on a government jet had opposition critics stepping up to the Tory blue-line to lower the boom.

Opposition MPs were incensed that Harper — who used to rail about government abuse of its executive jets — is flying to Boston on the taxpayers' dime for a hockey game even as his government is on a mission to slash some $4 billion per year in "fat" from federal programs and services.

"Excuse me, aren't we in a time of tightening our belts? Aren't we in a time of making sure that we use our money wisely?" fumed Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis.

New Democrat Charlie Angus noted "how important it is politically" for Harper to associate himself with the Stanley Cup and Canada's remaining team.

"The whole world would love to be in his shoes, but we are not and he is the man saying again and again ... we are going to do things differently," said Angus. "Well, there's two rules, there is one for Mr. Harper and his gang and one rule for everyone else."

"Expenditures of tax dollars and increasing his enormous carbon footprint is a bad idea," chirped Elizabeth May, the Green party leader.

Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas said the prime minister is buying his own game tickets and paying the equivalent of a commercial airline ticket for himself and Rachel on the Defence Department Challenger jet. The PMO said later Harper paid $1,000 for two game tickets.

"The Prime Minister is not allowed to fly commercially if he wanted to," added Soudas.

But as a politician who's dished out his own world of hurt on the use of Challenger jets in years past, Harper was not going to be allowed to enter the Boston zone cleanly.

Liberal Leader Bob Rae has often groused that Harper leads a government that "throws the ball at your head every time."

Just before he became prime minister in 2006, Harper ripped Liberal ministers for traversing the country, looking "out the windows of their $11,000 per hour Challenger jet flights .... They just don't get what real life is like for ordinary Canadians."

Turnabout being fair play, Rae stepped up Wednesday.

"I've got nothing against people going to watch a hockey game but ... I don't think you can hardly say that's an official visit by the prime minister of Canada to the United States."

Harper showed up to TD Garden with a significant security detail of eight to 10 people. Wearing suit jacket and collared shirt, he sat 12 rows back of the ice near the blue-line. He chatted with fans near his seats and posed for pictures, smiling and waving.

Harper, a huge fan who has claimed for almost a decade to be writing a book on the game's history, was a fixture at Canada's games during the Vancouver Olympics.

Environment Minister Peter Kent maintained the trip to Boston is more than just a personal junket for the hockey-obsessed prime minister.

"He's representing Canada," Kent said.

"It is a major sporting event. Certainly, for many Canadians it's the equivalent to the final hockey game in Olympic competition and the prime minister has made the commitment that he's paying his own way."

Given the oft-cited Conservative figure of $11,000 per hour to fly the Challenger, Harper's commercial airfare won't begin to cover the cost.

Defence department officials could not immediately provide the current per-hour operating cost of the Challenger.

Military documents, obtained in 2007 through Access to Information, suggested at the time the cost of operating the jets range from $9,124 to $11,541 per hour.

However, most of the money is a fixed cost that accrues whether the jet is flying or not.

Tory MP David Tilson chided reporters for making a mountain out of a molehill, maintaining that Harper has been "very rigid" about paying his own way to hockey games, even when they're in Ottawa.

"He's a rabid hockey fan and I know that every ticket that he buys to go to hockey games, no matter where they are, is paid out of his own pocket."

NDP Leader Jack Layton basically ignored the cost factor, sniffing that Harper will "have to defend that, won't he? I won't be on the plane."

Layton was more interested in expounding on the NDP's call for "a royal commission on the whole issue of head injuries in hockey."

"It was something that had widespread support prior to the election and we would call on the government to embrace our proposal there," Layton said.

Boston's Nathan Horton was knocked out of the final with a severe concussion after taking a late hit from Vancouver's Aaron Rome in Game 3. Rome was suspended for the rest of the final.

The Canucks are looking to become the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since Montreal won it back in 1993.

Vancouver took the first two games on home ice and hosts Game 5 on Friday.

— With files from Gregory Strong in Boston.

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Another friend of Kal Lake Park!

This young bear was surprised on the main Red Gate trail about 800 meters in from the gate.



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Letter to the Editor and the response.

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Re: Letter to the Editor, NOT RIGHT, from John Hegler Sunday June 5th, 2011

Dear Mr. Hegler.

In response to your recent letter in the Morning Star, and your concerns about my expenses, expressed at the May 24th Coldstream Council meeting, I am providing here, an explanation of the total number of meetings I attended and reasons for them. As I have already stated, "I make no apologies for trying to be better informed, in order to make better decisions".

Courtesy of Vernon blog, I have pasted below, a chart listing remuneration amounts for Greater Vernon politicians (I have confirmed that these figures match those reported in Coldstream, Vernon, and Regional District (RDNO) financial reports). The chart speaks for itself: In terms of expenses as well as total remuneration, I am 5th from the bottom in relation to the others.

I reiterate that in 2010, I attended 196 meetings. Some of these meetings were shorter but for the most part they were 2 hours or more, plus preparation time before, and follow–up time after. Of these meetings, 41 qualified for the $139 meeting pay, 151 meetings did not. Of those 41 meetings, only 24 meetings were for RDNO or GVAC (Greater Vernon Advisory Committee) and the rest were for the Okanagan Regional Library (ORL).

The RDNO and GVAC meetings are often long, and have important presentations from staff and public on Parks and Water. For Coldstream taxpayers, RDNO and GVAC taxes are 30% of our total tax bill. Another way to look at this is that, the dollar value of these taxes is equivalent to 62% of the dollar value we pay for the municipal Coldstream taxes portion of our tax bill. The one designated Coldstream rep. on the RDNO Board has a large responsibility, and does a great job, but often another set of eyes and ears helps for more informed discussions and decision making at our Council meetings. You cannot capture all the information in the Minutes and a 5 minute summary.

As for the Regional Library(ORL), it has been a very busy year - in great part because they are building the new Vernon Branch. (Incidently, I am happy to say, I believe that I may have been instrumental in helping to keep the Vernon Branch in downtown Vernon.) I made many trips to attend meetings in Kelowna for the Vernon Building Committee, plus I sit on the Library Finance, and Strategic Planning Committees. Further I attend 4 ORL Board meetings per year. On top of the 17 meetings in 2010, I was compensated in 2010 for 8 ORL meetings from 2009 because I had never put in for pay for those meetings (theses are not included the 196 meeting count). The reason I had not put in for meeting pay is that I was not told that these meetings qualified until September 2010, when the policy was clarified by an inquiry made by another Councillor.

So perhaps this clarification can help explain to you and the electorate, Mr. Hegler, why my wages at $15,996 may seem high compared to Councillor Cochrane’s $8,885.

As for my 2010 expenses of $3,360, these are calculated as the expenses attributed to me for attending meetings or Conferences sanctioned by Council. For 2010 these were: a 1day transportation meeting in Kelowna; a 3.5 day Southern Interior Local Government’s Association (S.I.L.G.A.) Conference at Sun Peaks; and a 3.5 day Union of B.C. Municipalities (U.B.C.M.) Conference in Whistler. These expenses include the 'Conference Fees', and the 'accommodation fees', (paid through the office and generally out of a Councillor’s control), and a 52 cents per km mileage charge (for wear and tear on your private vehicle); and a $100 per diem for any other expenses – note there is NO meeting pay for these meetings. Is it any wonder why Councillors who have a regular job or business, are not falling over each other to attend? If you have to take time off work to attend, it actually costs you money and more importantly in my case, time, to go to a conference.

Now you may wonder why my fellow Councillors, Enns and Cochrane, actually defended my salary and expenses. I believe the reason is because they know and value how much work I do, and they realize that it is beneficial and necessary for Coldstream to be represented at these conferences. (witness the Grid Road funding, Hwy 6 improvement funding, SILGA resolution for Agriculture, support of RDNO resolutions at SILGA, UBCM resolutions, meeting and networking with other elected officials and ministry staff). Our Council works as a team, some of us offer expertise, some of us offer our time, some offer wisdom, it is all a balance.

I know that there have been some politicians who have abused expense accounts, meeting pay and perks. I am not one of them. I welcome it when the public holds those people to account. For my part, I know that my Council has full knowledge and support for all the meetings and conferences that I attended - otherwise I am sure they would not have approved my requests.

Mr. Hegler, I offer no apologies because I have a clear conscience. If you think you can offer better value to the voters, I would welcome you running on that platform at the next election.

Sincerely,
Maria Besso
Coldstream Councillor

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Burrows does it again! 11 seconds into overtime and it's a wrap!

Alex Burrows scored his second goal in the game to beat the Boston Bruins 3:2. The Canucks now lead the bruins 2 games to 0.

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Fed's solution to a nagging problem

The problem:

Future Earth 2025 - The Passionate Eye | CBC News Network

Prime Minister Harper's solution:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/06/02/ottawa-trims-dozens-of-jobs/

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Scientists not needed - Ottawa trims dozens of jobs

Tamsin McMahon

Updated: Jun 2, 2011 5:33 PM ET

The federal government has handed out dozens of layoff notices ahead of announcing its budget next week that hopes to trim a projected $30-billion deficit.

The layoffs involve five curators positions at the National Gallery of Canada and 50 contract employees, mostly scientists, at Environment Canada.

Most of the contract employees were technicians and junior scientists, said Environment Canada spokesman Mark Johnson. They all work in areas of water, atmospheric science and technology mainly supporting senior scientists with their research. Read More »

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A mind of her own - Page fired after protest during Speech from the Throne

Tamsin McMahon

Last Updated: Jun 3, 2011 9:28 PM ET

A Senate page was arrested and fired after staging an anti-government protest in the middle of the Senate chambers as Governor-General David Johnston read the Speech from the Throne Friday.

Brigette DePape, a 21-year-old University of Ottawa graduate 10 months into a prestigious internship with the Senate, stunned the packed chamber by walking to the middle of the room dressed in her black-and-white page uniform and holding up a homemade stop sign that read “Stop Harper.’’

She was quickly grabbed by the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers and whisked down to Parliament Hill security, where she was arrested but not charged.

“I was in shock, I’ve never seen that,” said Senator Mobina Jaffer, who watched as the young page stood behind six Supreme Court Justices, the Governor-General and Prime Minister and staged her protest. “Pages, they’re sort of part of our group, we see them as our own normally.”

Ms. Jaffer, a Liberal, said she knew Ms. DePape as “a pleasant person. I’ve had nothing but nice chats with her.” more

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