Vancouver Airport decided to raise the fees on travelers by 33% (again).

“Every penny of (airport improvement fees) collected goes toward building a better airport for British Columbia,” said Larry Berg, Vancouver Airport Authority president and CEO.

That’s great… but considering that I have saved an average of $200 per flight (Hawaii savings for two = $850/or free hotel) by taking the (enjoyable) trip to Washington, plus the savings on duty-free beer, hopefully they will learn that there is a limit to overcharging people.

I am in business… I travel every month to the US and Asia. The additional fees (and higher airfares in general) to have the privilege of flying out of YVR, comes right off my bottom line. The savings I get by spending and additional 45 minutes to go to Bellingham, means I can also fill my SUV, and have a dinner or two and still be ahead.

Plus, I don’t have to put up with those grumpy old Air Canada stewardesses.

I’m not the only one. The border-crossing folks tell me that they are seeing a huge increase in people from Vancouver driving to Belllngham to fly.

Meanwhile, Premier Christy Clark lauded the “next century” improvements at YVR as helping to build on her government’s B.C. Jobs Plan.

“This level of investment demonstrates YVR’s confidence in British Columbia, our economic strategy and the thousands of British Columbians working at the airport,” she said in a statement

Investment? When did YVR ever end making investments. At least they aren’t making you fork over $10 at security like they did through the 90′s.

Watch the layoffs start there by summer. The YVR airport is about to find out how the Lauffer curve works.

photo credit: caribb

They are hopefully going to charge the last of the rioters before the next Stanley Cup finals start. The police have been going through the pictures and video and are making an airtight case against each person. That is, if they can charge them before the statute of limitations comes into play.

If you are worried about another riot, you can thank Facebook and YouTube for making it so that only an idiot would try it again. With camera’s in everyone’s hands, we now have complete surveillance of all events.

What’s odd is that our newspapers are finally turning over their pictures (on a website that doesn’t really work). Not that they have done so willingly… first a couple of court cases, which they lost, now they’ve posted all for “innocent” people to go through to see if they are in any.

“The Sun and The Province are posting every photo online (5481 of them) so readers can see whether their images are included in the massive police file assembled for the riot investigation.”

Give me a break. The reality is that the social media sites have much more incriminating shots and statements that the newspapers have. Search Google for Vancouver rioters and you’ll find 81,700 images. They could have saved a lot of legal expense using this. There also are very incriminating images there. Or, does this not count?

Which kind of raises the question: is there any privacy left? I am kind of in favor of hanging looters and rioters, so it’s not an easy answer.

The issue won’t be going away anytime soon.

From the what the “rewarding bad behavior” file:

Raise the Booze Tax and Then Give It Away Free…

The program is run by Vancouver Coastal Health near the Downtown Eastside. The building is managed by the Portland Housing Society, who also operates the safe injection site on Hastings Street.

Started in July, Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education has landed $52,000 in a research grant, with aims to gather clinical evidence across B.C. on the benefits of alcohol maintenance programs.

Within the next year they hope to produce research in order to help land a partner in the health care sector to fund a Downtown Eastside drinker’s lounge stocked with vodka, sherry and high-alcohol beer.

Advocates say at a cost of about $350 per month per drinker, alcohol maintenance programs can reduce policing costs and medical fees associated to frequent emergency room visits for illicit booze drinkers. Read more:

Meanwhile, as they provide free crack pipes, needles, and now booze, the count of homeless addicts continues to rise. It’s no wonder as they are doing everything possible to make getting wasted as comfortable as possible.

Why not move the free drug/alcohol program outside of the city to some remote area, and remove all incentive on Hasting street. Round up all addicts by promising the free stuff. The cost of caring for our homeless would drop dramatically, and we’d reclaim our city. They could then focus on helping these addicts without the distraction that the city provides.

The idea that the homeless addicts have a right to Vancouver’s most valuable land is absurd.

We’d then be able to open up this area to redevelopment, allowing for residents that contribute positively to the city’s tax base.

Problem solved.

photo credit: rageforst

% of valid votes voting Yes (Scrap it) 54.73%

% of valid votes voting No (Keep it) 45.27%

Today is the day when our votes on HST are tabulated.. and judging by the timing of the results, now the fun starts.

They tried the deceptive “yes mean no” trick question, hoping that the average BC resident is too dumb to read.

They diverted tax dollars to the “for HST” cause.

Business groups spent considerable money on the “for HST”. There costs have been cut, and we may see the savings someday. (We know better.)

Now, BC residents – the silent majority – have spoken.

Political deception – or standard political operating procedure – has been given a blow. Lying to get elected has a price.

The great thing to see is that even though we have been lectured that it will cost us big time to repeal this swindle, people decided to no reward the politicians for duping us. We are willing to accept the consequences, even though it should have never happened. Gordon Campbell’s big lie has cost us a few billion.

If they really wanted to save the HST, they would have dropped it pre-referendum. Not a year from now. We didn’t fall for this.

BC residents are now paying a huge price for the deception. Politicians will have their day soon enough.

What is really obvious is that the rich were apathetic and voted to keep it, the poor hated it and voted strongly to go back to the old system.

Thanks Gordon… you F’d BC.

photo credit: Jeff_Werner

In Vancouver, they really, really want us to take the bus.

Although in downtown Vancouver about 40 per cent of commuter trips are by transit; in Surrey, the number is less than five per cent. Step outside of our perpetually gridlocked downtown, where you have a choice, and no one uses the bus.

Translink has the authority to tax us, and boy, do they use it (1.3 Billion last year):

Parking: As of July 1, 2010, the responsibility for the Parking Tax payable at commercial parking lots within Metro Vancouver was transferred from the Social Service Tax Act to the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Act and administration of the tax has been transferred to TransLink.

Property Tax: They levy a fee to pay for transit. They blend this in with a road tax to lessen the pain.

Transportation Improvement Fee: A fee on all cars.

Gas Tax: Drivers are forced to pay a tax on gas to Translink, making our gas prices among the highest in Canada.

Carbon Tax – they are still negotiating their cut.

New: Tolls. As they replace our bridges, they get to add tolls.

Government transfers.

Actual transit fees pay less than 50% of their costs to run the system.

Now, as the geniuses at TransLink are finding out, we actually hate this form of transit despite being forced to pay exorbitant taxes to support it. Statistics Canada reported, in their 2010 General Social Survey, that the average Vancouver car commute was 25 minutes, 23 minutes shorter than the average transit commute of 48 minutes.

“Slightly less than half (47 per cent) of those who had tried public transit felt that it was a convenient way to get to work” reads the report. Yet 85 per cent of Canadians surveyed who commute by car say they’ve never tried public transit before.

Despite our social engineers doing everything possible to slow traffic to a crawl (quick, find a freeway in Vancouver – we have none),  we have a choice, for now.

Ride in a crammed bus, with the addicts they let on for free, or in the comfort of your car. In a move to get the freeloaders off the system, they are finally adding fare gates at on the skytrain so that you now need to pay to ride. This will set off a series of protests.

Keep in mind that housing requires 92% of the average income to own a home. Soon we’ll all be renters, forced to take the bus.

Social engineering does work.

Vancouver has been especially vocal when it comes to toughening up our court and justice system… ask Stephen Harper.

The belief is that because crime is on a downward trend, we do not need to change anything… forgetting that here in Vancouver we have our own form of justice. Ask the Bacon brothers, or anyone with a family member gunned down in the mob wars.

After game 7 of the Stanly Cup, we discovered the power of Facebook and the web when it comes to catching the rioters. Their acts are clearly on display, captured for all time. The evidence seems overwhelming.

So how many have been charged to date? NONE.

In London, where it is even more lenient, they have charged hundreds so far, and the riot is still going on. Using the same evidence as we have.

There have been more than 1,700 arrests, with some rioters already convicted and serving jail time.

Here in B.C., police have to recommend charges to the Crown, who then reviews the evidence and must decide whether a charge is in the public interest and if there is a substantial likelihood of conviction.

The only two people have been charged have been charged for an assault that took place during the riot: Edgar Ricardo Garcia, 20, has been charged with aggravated assault and will next appear in court Aug. 19; Joshua Lyle Evans, 27, was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon and will appear in court Sept. 27.

Sad day for Canada’s justice system… and Vancouver is doing all to show just how bad it sucks.

photo credit: Mark Donovan Vancouver