The Secrets Of Vancouver BC, Canada

The Pot Calling The Kettle Black

Give me a break…

From our Venezuelan newspaper: China and India lead condemnation of Canada’s Kyoto withdrawal

I’ve spent a total of 14 weeks in China this year, and although the people are REALLY green focused, the reality is they are 10x as bad as we were in the worst era of our polluting. The government there knows now is the time to build -when it’s cheap, and does little to reign in polluters… in fact, they are the biggest polluters. India has problems that would take a book to explain.

The reality is that we are cleaner than since the beginning of the industrial revolution, have more trees than ever, and have water that we can drink in every city.

So what’s the problem?

We put an end to extortion, as well as an end to a dark era where we were sucked into making our manufacturing unaffordable. We have stopped wealth creation instead of enriching the Global Warming Cartel.

“It is regrettable and flies in the face of the efforts of the international community for Canada to leave the Kyoto Protocol at a time when the Durban meeting, as everyone knows, made important progress by securing a second phase of commitment to the protocol,” said Liu Weimin, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry.

Canada stopped the transfer of our wealth dead in its tracks.. now the howling from the cartel begins.

photo credit: MelbourneID

Class Warfare Aive and Well in Canada

A couple of stories that continue to fan the flames of envy in Canada…in their subtle way.

Shaw paid $25.5-million to retired CEO

The Globe and Mail story is about the retirement plan of recently retired Jim Shaw.. None of the shareholders were asked what they think..

The comments that follow here are 100% against the family that built one of Canada’s most successful businesses. It’s an expected response, and the Globe and Mail uses these types of stories to get people upset. It’s none of their business… if they don’t like Shaw’s rates, cancel. (I am mad at the CBC, but how do I get it off of my TV?)

On a different note, we’re constantly told of how bad off we are.. and how our poverty continues to increase.

Vancouver, the world’s #1 and most livable city, is now #22 in Canada for family income. We’ve fallen behind my home province, Saskatchewan. Oh, dear.

Real earnings show decades of decline in livable Vancouver

Some key points:

Why should we pay attention? My parents taught me that income is no one’s business. It’s a private matter and up to each person to make their own.

The creative among us have found a way to keep their income up:

B.C.’s rates may be skewed somewhat by a larger-than-average underground economy and the thousands of British Columbians involved in the production and distribution of illegal drugs, a source of income that few likely declare.

Drugs and Real Estate are the drivers of Vancouver’s wealth and economy… income that isn’t being accounted for. Let’s not talk about that. These folks are making a fortune. That’s what really keeps Vancouver going.

Blame the tax rate:

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives calculates that the cut in provincial taxes between the turn of the century and 2010 is the equivalent of a $3.4 billion annual cut in government program spending. Since most of the benefit of tax cuts goes to the highest income earners, the diminished capacity of the government to provide services is, relatively speaking, a double whammy for the poor.

Because they cut taxes so income-earners could keep more of THEIR OWN MONEY, we now are in decline. No mention of the HST, Carbon Tax, and the other numerous taxes they’ve created to offset all of this..

You’d think that our generous social programs would actually be propping up our standard of living.. lord knows we spend enough.

• Poverty in BC represents a direct cost to government alone of $2.2 to $2.3 billion annually, or close to 6% of the provincial budget.
• The cost to society overall is considerably higher — conservatively estimated at $8.1 to $9.2 billion per year, or between 4.1% and 4.7% of BC’s GDP.

How poverty costs us (me) is something I am not really clear on. Aren’t we spending this money to help lift people out of poverty? If so, why does it keep costing me more?

Shouldn’t we be encouraging business growth, trying to attract high-paying jobs to BC?

Instead, we keep finding new ways to take from the “haves”, skim a chunk off for expanding our gov’t, and give away the rest to the “have nots”.

Encouraging the “poor” or “99%’ers” to blame the rich is the socialists way of extracting more money from all working Canadians.

Let’s call it what it really is – a wealth transfer. And a lousy one that keeps us all down. The game has been going on for far too long.

Canada Finally Exits The Emissions Extortion Game

The Canadian government is formally withdrawing from the Kyoto protocol on climate change-the first country to do so-though it said it would honor a separate, carbon-reducing agreement reached over the weekend in Durban, South Africa.

It is now clear that Kyoto is not the path forward for a global solution to climate change. If anything, it is an impediment,” Mr. Kent told reporters in front of the Canadian legislature.

Mr. Kent said the pact was futile in combating climate change because it didn’t incorporate the world’s three major emitters. He also said Canada would have faced 14 billion Canadian dollars ($13.6 billion) in fines under the treaty.

The NDP wants us to pay up:

Canada’s New Democratic Party, the major political opposition, denounced the move. “This government is abdicating its international responsibilities,” said Meagan Leslie, the New Democrats’ environment point person.

You’d think that they would have plans for more free daycare with that 14 billion we’re saving.

Good first step.

 photo credit: bjornmeansbear

Too Fat To Fly

Kevin Smith would be proud: as someone who has had a hefty passenger beside me, I vote that they should have to pay for 2 seats.. or the portion they take from me.

Obese travelers to sue Air Canada over extra fees

OTTAWA — 2011 AFP - A judge has authorized a class action lawsuit against Air Canada on behalf of obese travelers forced to pay for an extra seat, a law firm announced Monday.

BGA Barristers & Solicitors LLP said in a statement the lawsuit aims to reclaim fees the airlines charged clinically obese passengers for a second seat before Canada’s transportation watchdog banned the practice in 2008.

A similar suit targeting its rival WestJet is also reportedly planned. So far no numbers of possible clients have been released, but according to court documents the suit could involve a multi-million dollar claim.
Following complaints, the Canadian Transportation Agency in 2008 ruled the two carriers had breached Canadian case law by charging obese and other disabled passengers accompanied by an attendant for two seats.

It cited a Federal Court of Appeal decision that found “a person who is obese may be (considered) disabled for purposes of air travel if unable to fit in an airline seat.”

The class action lawsuit covers fees paid to Air Canada between December 5, 2005 and December 5, 2008, as well as damages.

 photo credit: One From RM