Vancouver Aquarium: two sea otters float around, napping, holding hands. SO CUTE!
Showing posts with label british columbia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label british columbia. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Vancouver Aquarium: two sea otters float around, napping, holding hands. SO CUTE!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
BC naughty-teachers list :)
New bill will create a naughty-teachers list
Those who have been punished would be publicly named
Ian Austin, The Province March 28, 2007
The B.C. government yesterday introduced legislation to compile a teacher disciplinary registry that will publicly name teachers who have been disciplined.
Education Minister Shirley Bond said the online registry will name teachers "when the discipline relates to physical, sexual or emotional harm to a student, or conduct or competence in breach of College [of Teachers] standards."
Bond said the registry will protect students and inform the public.
"Parents and school trustees asked for better access to information about educators who have been disciplined for misconduct, and this government committed to take action," said Bond. "Our students need to be safe in order to learn, and parents need to feel good about sending their children."
B.C. Teachers Federation president Jinny Sims called the registry "unnecessary" and said there are no guarantees teachers won't be publicly named for inconsequential matters.
"If a teacher is late three times, they may be suspended," said Sims. "This creates an unnecessary intrusion."
Sims called the proposed law a "distraction" to take the public's eye off serious concerns such as government underfunding and school seismic safety.
"This is just another unnecessary piece of legislation so they can say they're doing something when they're doing nothing," said Sims.
An education ministry spokesman said the B.C. College of Teachers already reports discipline decisions, but often without naming names.
"From September 2005 to January 2006, there were nine discipline decisions that were made public," said the spokesman. "Only two of the educators were named, and no details were available."
The proposed registry would include the name of each disciplined teacher in B.C., the teacher's record of suspensions or cancellations of credentials, and the discipline imposed.
The bill requires a minimum five-year posting of disciplined teachers, after which a teacher can apply to have his or her record removed from the website.
Bond says she hopes to see B.C.'s registry used as a model for a national registry, so that the discipline record of every teacher in Canada will be publicly available everywhere across the nation.
"We have been asking for years for this,'' said Penny Tees, president of the B.C. School Trustees' Association. "This gives districts a chance to do complete reference checks.''
Bond said the new registry makes B.C. "a national leader in the protection of students." But without a national registry, "the public still won't know if a teacher has been disciplined in another province."
The B.C. College of Teachers is the professional, self-regulatory body for more than 64,000 licensed educators in B.C. The registry will include disciplinary details for teachers, principals, superintendents and retired teachers.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Sex toys, lingerie show up on government bill, lol
Sex toys, lingerie show up on government bill
NDP blasts B.C. for questionable spending; Minister says sexy purchases result of credit card fraud
Lindsay Kines, Times Colonist Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The B.C. government blamed credit card fraud yesterday for a number of eyebrow-raising purchases that showed up on provincial credit card bills last year.
The NDP asked Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon during question period why his ministry spent $300 at Honey Gifts Incorporated in 2005-2006.
"On its website Honey Gifts specializes in adult sex toys, lubricants and lingerie," NDP critic Guy Gentner said. "My question to the Minister of Transportation is: Why was the ministry's credit cards used to purchase such items."
Gentner and NDP house leader Mike Farnworth also questioned Falcon about a $191 payment to JDate dating service that show up on purchase card transactions in the 2005-2006 Public Accounts.
Noting that he is responsible for a $1-billion budget, Falcon said he was unable to comment on specific line items in a credit card bill.
But he said ministry staff did uncover multiple cases of credit card fraud last year, and he accused the NDP of using that to malign the government and the public service.
"This was a case of credit card fraud where the numbers were stolen, as happens every day unfortunately throughout North America," Falcon told reporters. "Individuals -- not individuals in government -- but individuals who committed the fraud then went and made these purchasing decisions.
"Obviously that's inappropriate, but those cards were cancelled and credits were provided by the credit card companies back to government."
The Transportation Ministry confirmed that the Honey Gifts and JDate purchases were fraudulent, as was a $295.92 charge to Laska Maria Entertainment, which offers sex-toy parties.
"I think it's very unfortunate the Opposition would bring that up in the house," Falcon said.
The minister declined to answer further Opposition questions during estimate debates about how many frauds his ministry uncovered, and how much money was involved. Instead, he advised the NDP to submit written questions.
The NDP also asked the government about a ministry expenditure of $3,263 at Village Ski Hut Ltd. in Nelson. The ministry said it spent the money legitimately as part of its snow avalanche program.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
local lakes infested with perch
Officials ponder lake closures
Salmon Arm OBSERVER STAFF Feb 28 2007
Illegal fish dumping: More drastic measures may be needed to protect natural ecosystem.
Provincial fisheries officials are considering taking more drastic measures, including the closure of some local lakes to fishing entirely, as part of a strategy to prevent the spread of invasive fish species like yellow perch.
Kelly Dahl, BC Conservation Officer, says a recent incident where perch were illegally introduced into the White Lake watershed has made the issue the number-one enforcement issue in the province.
Yellow perch are not a species native to local waters. If illegally introduced into local lakes, they can threaten the existence of native species like trout and salmon. This can result in both environmental and economic damage for the billion-dollar B.C. fishing industry.
Dahl says the situation is so grave that options being considered include closing popular fishing lakes like Gardom Lake, which are infested with perch, to fishing altogether, or banning perch outright, which means any angler caught with live or dead perch would be ticketed.
The other option, which is already under consideration and has been the subject of public meetings in the Shuswap, is the use of rotenone to kill off the species in a lake and re-introduce native species.
The problem is all the work of killing off the perch in a lake could be undone by one person flouting the law and dumping another bucket of perch into the water.
“We are at our wit’s end,” says Dahl. “We are on the razor’s edge and we still have the chance to stop the spread of perch, but unfortunately we need to look at extreme measures to do that.”
Steve Maricle, small lakes biologist with the Ministry of Environment, says the perch dumped into the White Lake channel likely came from Gardom Lake. He says the job of protecting native trout and salmon stocks is getting tougher as more anglers develop a liking for perch fishing.
“It’s not that these aren’t great fish, they are –‑in their own environment. And this is not it. The pros of having fun catching perch in our lakes doesn’t outweigh the cons –‑which is total ecosystem collapse,” says Maricle.
“It’s a tough wall to hold back. We just hope it is not too late.”
He says closing lakes would send a clear message to anglers and would allow for easier enforcement.
“We know there would be a huge outcry, but this would be a wake-up call about the seriousness of the situation.”
Maricle says a decision has not yet been made about lake closures in the Shuswap, as a formal order will have to come from Victoria; however, it could take place this season.
In the meantime, enforcement efforts have been stepped up around local lakes. Dahl says they are aware of a number of situations where live perch are being transported and he warns anglers that this action is illegal.
“Anyone caught transporting fish that are still alive will be issued a violation ticket.”
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
1 exec. left for Colin Mayes : Be Proud Harper!
More turmoil on local Conservative board
Scott Neufeld Mar 6/07 Vernon Daily Courier (viaVernonBlog)
Citing issues with a fellow board member, the president of the local Conservative association has resigned. Although Lori DeJong said that she wouldn’t comment on exactly what the board member did that led her to quit, she said the issue was significant. DeJong is the 17th board director on the 30 member board to step down since March 2006 including the vice-president and financial agent. “I (resigned) because of the actions of the secretary (Al Schalm),” DeJong said. “I still support the party but for now I won’t be on the executive.”
Salmon Arm resident Schalm, is now the last remaining executive member on the board. DeJong said she won’t rule out a return to the board in the future. “We’ll see what the future will do,” she said. “I would still like to be involved.” The party has also cancelled its last two meetings before its annual general meeting in April. There is disagreement, however, as to who stopped the meetings. DeJong said that she didn’t realize that the meetings, including one on Tuesday night, had been cancelled. However, Ethan Gorner, the party’s organizer for the B.C. Interior said they were called off after he spoke with DeJong.
With no more meetings until a new board is elected at the AGM, Gorner denied that the move has effectively dissolved the board. He said there is no pressing reason for the board to meet within the next month. “(National office) hasn’t taken over, there’s nothing to take over,” he said. “They wouldn’t dissolve the board, national office doesn’t have any power to dissolve the board.” Gorner will be chairing the AGM and said he is interested to see who will come forward to join the board. He said he’s hopeful that things will run more smoothly for the next edition of the board. “We’re hoping that people will start working well, work toward liking our guy again,” he said. “We’re hoping the old battles in the past are behind us.”
coming out of the woodwork, 3rd liberal seeks nomination in Okanagan Shuswap
Busy Liberal Ballot
March 7,2007 107.5 Kiss FM
There's now three candidates vying for the Liberal nomination in the Okanagan Shuswap riding.
Jake Ootes, who lives in the Shuswap community of Celista, is the latest to declare.
Ootes operates a farm but previously was an MLA and cabinet minister in Yellowknife from 1995 to 2003.
He says his concerns are the environment including Shuswap Lake, and funding cuts to women's programs and child care.
He joins Vernon city councillor Buffy Baumbrough and university student Scott Blurton in the race.
A date hasn't been set for the nomination meeting.
Meantime, the Green Party has set March 26-th for its nomination meeting at the Schubert Centre in Vernon. (7pm)
Its the first time the party has had a formal association in the Okanagan Shuswap riding. (Pete McIntyre)
Monday, March 5, 2007
blurton writes to the editor
i haven't seen anything from colin mayes or alice brown (ndp candidate) or Buffy Baumbrough (another local liberal candidate) in the local papers regarding the Anti-Terror Act (if there was i missed it) ... however, the following is a letter to the editor sent to the local papers from Scott Blurton: a Candidate for the Federal Liberal Nomination in Okanagan-Shuswap:
Letter to the Editor – Anti-Terror Act
In the past few weeks, a furor has erupted in Ottawa over the expiration of two provisions of the Anti-Terror Act passed five years ago. Stephen Harper has argued that any one opposing the extension is “soft of terror” while Stéphane Dion has argued that “we can’t worry about extending today and worry about rights tomorrow.” In the avalanche of overheated rhetoric and name-calling that has engulfed this debate, an explanation of the controversial measures in question seems necessary.
The first measure in question is the provision for investigative hearings as covered in Section 83.28 and 83.29 of the Criminal Code of Canada. The purpose of these hearings is to compel individuals to give up information that may reveal the location of a person suspected by the police of having committed a terrorist act or who may commit a terrorist act in the near future. Some commentators have argued that compelling an individual to testify may force him to incriminate himself, contradicting a central safeguard of our legal system. However, Section 83.28(10) prevents that danger by decreeing that the evidence obtained from the witness can be used against that witness in a court of law, other than perjury. In other words, a suspect can walk into an investigative hearing, confess, and then walk away scot-free as his concession would be inadmissible in a court of law. Thus, it is of little surprise that our police forces have never used this provision, as it would give terror suspects a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. Instead, our police and security forces have used the other tools they have at their disposal to stop almost twenty terrorist attacks since 2001, including the arrest of 17 individuals in Toronto last year.
The Conservatives have tried to buttress public support for the provisions by arguing that investigative hearings could be used by the Air India Inquiry. This is false. According to the terms of reference of the Air India inquiry as set down by the Conservative government, the purpose of the inquiry is to make findings and recommendations to improve the assessment, investigation and prosecution of terrorist threats by the Canadian government, RCMP, and CSIS. Nowhere in the Terms of Reference does it state that the inquiry will be investigating the individuals responsible for the attack. Thus the provision for investigative hearings is legally incompatible with the Air India inquiry.
Furthermore, the Conservatives have argued that the provision for investigative hearings could be used for the Air India investigation and that the expiration of this provision could imperil the investigation. This is false. Section 83.33(1) inserts a “grandfather clause” into the provision that allows an investigative hearing to continue beyond the “sunsetting” of the provisions. All the RCMP had to do was to make an application for an investigative hearing before March 1 and the hearing would have been allowed to continue past the date of expiry. In the five years that this provision has been on the books, the RCMP bombing, choosing to use far more effective tools in their toolbox. Thus, contrary to the Conservative position, investigative hearings are an ineffective tool for investigating previous terrorist attacks. Taken together, these arguments concur with the Liberal position that this provision is useless in the fight against terror.
The second controversial provision is the allowance of “preventative arrests” under Section 83.3 of the Criminal Code. Under 83.3, the police can arrest an individual without a warrant if they suspect it is necessary to stop a terrorist attack. The suspect must then be brought before a judge within 24 hours or, if not available, as soon as possible. If the judge is convinced by the evidence supplied by the Crown, the judge can then order the suspect to prison for up to twelve months. Nowhere in the provision does it allow the suspect to retain counsel who could examine the evidence used to imprison the suspect, for reasons of national security. Thus a suspect could sit for a year in prison without once examining or questioning the evidence used to imprison him. It was for this very reason that the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the use of security certificates as unconstitutional last month. In this sense, this provision certainly is “dangerous” to the freedoms and civil liberties that we hold dear.
Some commentators have criticized the Liberal party for arguing that these measures are both “useless” and “dangerous”, two seemingly contradictory statements. But as this letter has explained, this criticism is misplaced. One provision is useless, the other is dangerous. Thus the decision of Stéphane Dion to allow these provisions to expire and to pressure the government to carry out a comprehensive review of Canada’s anti-terror legislation is the correct course of action – not only to protect our civil liberties, but also to improve the security of our nation.
Scott Blurton
Enderby
Candidate for the Federal Liberal Nomination in Okanagan-Shuswap
Thursday, March 1, 2007
traffic through Salmon Arm
The Friday AM , our weekly independent community paper for Salmon Arm and area:
comments on local traffic:
"... Trans Canada averages 11,000 to 16,000 vehicles per day, ...", through salmon arm!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
BC schools and homophobic parents
... students need to learn about respect and inclusiveness to get along in Canadian society. ...
Angry parents send letters to Bond
Vancouver Sun February 19, 2007
Thousands of British Columbians have signed petitions and sent letters to the Education Ministry insisting that parents be allowed to pull their children from public school lessons to avoid gay-friendly messages that conflict with religious or family values.
But Education Minister Shirley Bond said she doesn't intend to change a policy that says parents may only remove their students from specific health lessons in three courses: Health and Career Education for K-7, Health and Career Education 8-9 and Planning 10.
Bond said the protest is premature since government has not yet moved on a promise to revise the K-12 curriculum to ensure individuals and groups "across the full range of gender identity and sexual orientation" are represented in a positive, non-denigrating way that emphasizes their contributions to society.
That promise was part of a contract the government signed last spring with gay activists Murray and Peter Corren to end a protracted human-rights case. As part of that deal, the government said it would enforce a policy that limits the ability of families to opt out of classes they find objectionable.
In an interview Sunday, Bond said the agreement is intended to make public schools inclusive and respectful, and parents should wait to see what curriculum changes are proposed before worrying about whether they can remove their children from classes.
But Sean Murphy of the Catholic Civil Rights League said the minister is ignoring the central point, which is the requirement for public schools to accommodate freedom of conscience and religion.
"That's the point that we've been making since September and that's the point she's been steadfastly ignoring," he said in an interview. The ministry has placed school boards in an awkward position by requiring them to adhere to a policy that violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, he said.
By making a freedom-of-information request, Murphy found out that the ministry has received 1,000 pages of petitions and 5,000 pages of correspondence related to the Corren agreement. The ministry confirmed those numbers Friday.
Bond said she doesn't know how that compares to public outpourings about other issues, adding she also received thousands of letters and petitions from across the province about a requirement -- recently revoked -- that students complete a portfolio of their non-academic work in order to graduate from Grade 12.
"There is certainly a group of people who have expressed concern [about the Corren agreement], but it is balanced by those who support the initiative," the minister said.
Murphy has also written to all school boards and to key members of the B.C. Teachers' Federation, warning them that following the ministry's rules could result in lawsuits. Of the 60 B.C. school boards, six replied that they will not compel students to attend classes over the objections of their parents, he said.
The Abbotsford school board is expected to discuss the issue at a meeting tonight.
Contacted Sunday, the Correns said they didn't want to feed the debate any further by making public comments and referred questions to Glen Hansman, an anti-homophobia consultant with the Vancouver school board.
Hansman said he supports the ministry's policy because all students need to learn about respect and inclusiveness to get along in Canadian society. Tension between the secular public school system and families is not unusual, although the concerns heard most frequently are about evolution and Halloween, he added.
Leonard Remple of the Christian Coalition of Canada said it's not only religious parents who are concerned about possible future changes to the curriculum. He said he worries that classroom discussions about homosexuality might encourage young people to experiment with same-sex relationships and that could result in them getting HIV-AIDs.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Pls. sign petition / auxiliary officer to be added / memorial
Auxiliary officer killed in the line of duty
Total signatures: 5756 to Feb. 14
Its pretty sad when an auxiliary officer killed in the line of duty is not added to the list of Canadian police and peace officers memorial in Ottawa. the city of Vernon has tried 3 times now. Now an auxiliary officer from surrey has set up a petition and hopes that this time Ottawa will open their eyes and maybe read what we have to say.
Please sign the petition these officers are out there night after night helping the rcmp as most cities and towns are so short staffed with the right amount of rcmp members.website address is http://www.surreyauxiliary.org/petition
After you and your family members sign, tell your friends by copying this link to your e-mail list.
via VernonBlog
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Did sex play role in ferry crash? Queen of the North
Did sex play role in ferry crash?
Draft report of fatal B.C. accident expected in days
Feb 08, 2007 / Toronto Star
The Transportation Safety Board confirmed yesterday it has investigated the possibility that sex was taking place on the bridge of B.C. ferry, Queen of the North, when it sank last year.
"We've heard that, as part of the investigation," spokesman John Cottreau told the Star's editorial board. "That's been hinted at."
A draft report on the sinking – in which two passengers were missing and presumed dead – is to be delivered to the board within days, said board chair Wendy Tadros. The draft goes next to interested parties for comment, with a final public report expected in three to six months, Tadros said.
"There has been speculation out there (about sexual relations) but we wouldn't comment on that," a spokesperson for B.C. Ferries, which is doing its own investigation, said by phone.
Two crew members – a man and a woman – were reported to have been on the command bridge at the time the Queen of the North sank at 12:22 a.m. last March 22, after crashing at full speed into rocks off Gil Island, south of Prince Rupert.
Of 101 passengers aboard, 99 were rescued. The two others are listed as missing but have not officially been declared dead.
In a briefing on the agency's activities, Tadros also said that a draft report on the Air France crash-landing at Pearson airport in August 2005 is to be delivered by next week.
In that event, an airliner overshot the runway and plunged into a ravine. All 297 passengers and 12 crew escaped before the plane was engulfed in flames.
On the subject of Canada's rail system, Tadros said the relatively high number of train derailments in 2005 seems to be an anomaly rather than a trend.
"Derailments decreased 30 per cent in 2006 over 2005," she said, "and were down 8 per cent in 2006 from the five-year average."
The Transportation Safety Board is an independent government agency charged with investigating and reporting on transportation accidents with a view toward enhancing safety.
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