The Rural Canadian

Gathering Rural Voices.

2012-01-13T10:51:00.001-05:00

Regular readers, the few that I have,will know that I have been encouraging rural folks to become involvedin the Ontario WomensInstitute Rural Voices initiative, unfortunately whilst they didget a great response at their recent public forum in Ridgetown the online participation can only be described as disappointing. I suspectthat this is in part due to the fact that it often takes months oreven years for users to 'find' a new web page, blog or forum ofinterest to them given the enormous volume of 'stuff' on theinternet. (There are just over 100 mentions in the last 3 months according to a Google search and 3 or 4 % of those are MY posts!) I will even go further and say that even the WIs ownmembers seem to be avoiding getting involved, at least in the on linecomments and survey questions. Very discouraging!

I am aware only too well of thechallenges faced by many rural citizens to get connected to theinternet and that only a small portion of those that are will seeksuch information or involvement, but given the rural population ofOntario is around 1.8 million you would think a few would find it anduse it.

As I said above part of the problem maywell be finding such sites of interest to rural folks and in thatregard I have a proposal, some of you may be aware of a number of'Aggregators ' on line which collect posts from blogs, news sites, orother on line sources and post a short clip of each new article alongwith a link to the full post as and when they appear. Such sites areusually directed to a specific subject like the CanadianGreensor ProgressiveBloggersfor example.

My proposal is to create a RuralAggregator that would collect feeds from rural bloggers, ruralsupport and advocacy groups and similar on line posting related torural things not only across Ontario but across Canada. UnfortunatelyFeedcluster is not accepting new accounts at this time but I imaginethere are other such sites out there, if not independent softwarecertainly is. The problem of getting the rural folks to be aware ofsuch a one stop resource is still there but given time this couldbecome a major resource to bring together the 6 million Canadiansthat live outside of urban areas. Perhaps such a site already existsbut if so I have not found it!

We also wonder if the RVN shouldconsider such a thing for their project. What do you think, callingall rural bloggers and organizations if you think this is a good idealet me know either by commenting here or by email (link in side bar)and if I get six or more bloggers or other who want to participate Iwill 'give it a go' and try creating such a site. Perhaps it couldeven be called 'Rural Voices' and promote the WIs other efforts inthe main header?

As I say onmy other Blog 'Democracy requires Dialog' but so does thesustainability of rural Canada – TALK TO US rural Canada!

UPDATE: I have been made aware of twosites that provide links to various web sites concerned with ruralmatters. They are not exactly what I have in mind but may be ofinterest to some of you, particularly researchers.

http://www.netvibes.com/ruralontarioreader#News_%26_Views
http://rural-research-network.blogspot.com/

Rural verses Urban populations in Ontario

2012-01-01T07:05:00.000-05:00

Having locatedthe data showing the rural and urban populationsplit I though I would share a little of what I have learned, make ofwhat you will because statistics can be manipulated to show almostanything and my selection of where to divide one area from another ispurely arbitrary......

The data is for Ontariois divided into 48 Census Districts corresponding closely (so far asI am aware) with County, District, or City boundaries. These 48 areasare further divided into at total of 584 Census Sub Districts whichvery loosely reflect community, town or township boundaries.

Of the 48 CensusDistricts, Toronto has 0% rural population and just 7 more have lessthan 10% 'rural' population (as defined by Statscan) those being

Durham 10%

Ottawa 8.3%

Hamilton 7.3%

Waterloo 6.5%

Halton 5.7%

York 5.7%

Peel 2.7%

A further 5 fall belowthe 20% threshold namely

Brant 15.1%

Essex 14.4%

Niagara 12.1%

Sudbury 11.3%

Middlesex 10.9%

If we discount theselarge Urban populations the remainder of Ontario has a ruralpopulation of 41% verses the overall percentage of just 15%. It canbe seen that when it comes to getting the ear of upper levels of government where the majority rules (as it probably should) largegeographical areas of the province are at the mercy of small(geographical) but populous urban areas.

Breaking this down evenfurther the Sub District data reveals that of the 584 sub-districtslisted there are 101 'communities' that have a population of lessthan 20% 'rural' residents (over 80% urban) whilst the number of'communities' with more that 80% 'rural' residents is 333. There islittle doubt that some of the 100 or so largely urban community’sare considered 'rural towns' but it also includes such places asBarrie, Kitchener, Mississauga and of course Toronto, which clearlyare not. This once again highlights the number of smaller'communities' verses the number of larger Towns and cities, make ofit what you will, I just like to see the actual figures so that whenI say 'rural' or 'urban' I know (somewhat) what I am talking about.

All this started offwith my efforts to come up with a suitable introduction page for acommunity web site which over the next year or so I am interested inhelping develop, and desperately hoping will lead to a one stop ruraldata base and interactive 'portal' for all of rural Ontario.

Here then is a sampleof the sort of thing I think a visitor should see at the top of eachcounty or district page.

GreyCounty

GreyCounty forum - List of Municipalities - List of communities -Other resources - Video & Audio

Youare here – Ontario – SW Ontario – Grey County

Stretching fromGeorgian Bay and the City of Owen Sound in the north west to Meafordand the Blue Mountains in the North East and to the towns of Hanoverand Dundalk in the south. It has a population of 92,411 (2006) withalmost 55% being considered rural residents. It has an area of 4,508sq km (1740 sq miles) and is approximately 50km from east to west and70km from north to south.

There were 2867farms in Grey County in 2006 totaling approximately 2,300 sq km (888sq miles) about half of which were under 53 hectares (130 Acres),more than one third of the farms were primarily beef operations.

A public forumwith a variety of topics related to rural matters would be insertedhere.

The Municipalitiespages would be similar each with their own separate public forum.

I will be developingand sharing MY vision of such a network in future posts, suggestionsand comments are welcome.

If such an Ontario wideforum were to be created would you use it? Let us know either here inmy comment section or over at TheRural Voices Network forum. (please join andencourage this group in their efforts to bring our rural communitiestogether)

Sources:-

Numberof Census Farms and Number of Farm Operators, by County, 2006

CommunityProfiles from the 2006 Census, Statistics Canada - Census Division

Populationcounts, census divisions and census subdivisions by urban and rural,2006

Green Christmas

2011-12-22T11:09:00.002-05:00

Having just returned from a hike aroundour woodland trails, the first at this time of year without snowshoesthat I recall, and all signs of previous snowfall totally disappearedI believe it is indeed going to be a green Christmas here. The bushis rather drab this time of year but the green of the mosses andlichens stand out in stark contrast to the browns of the fallenleaves and the bare trees and the bright overcast skys allowed forsomereally nice pictures.

Green, brown or white I wish all myreaders a Very Merry Christmas and a Trouble Free New Year.

Rural Counties & Districts Demographics

2011-12-19T08:56:00.003-05:00

In considering what information shouldbe included in any onlineRural Network I thought that any county or community pages onsuch a web site should contain the basic demographics of the area. Inthat the Network we are considering is aimed at rural communities Ithought that for any given County that population figures should bebroken down into rural and urban (asdefined by Statscan). Thinking that these numbers should beeasily available from Statscan, especially given that they have justannounced that all data will be 'free' I went looking, but after muchdigging could find no such breakdown.

I can get the numbers of urban versesrural for all of Canada or for any Province but I am danged if I canfind it for Counties or other 'census areas' . Much information isavailable in the 'CommunityProfiles' tables, population, area & every thing from incomestats to type of housing and much more is all there, but not a breakdown by rural or urban. It must be available somewhere, after all Imust presume when we refer to a 'largely rural riding' or county itis based upon the numbers not just a wild guess. One could I supposefigure it out by taking the total population of the county andsubtracting the population of those towns or 'urban' areas with itsboundaries but this would involve both local knowledge and viewing,and extracting data from, many separate tables.

There is, I believe, a way forresearchers to query the raw data and produce a customized report butso far as I can see this not only involves large downloads of data(not a option on limited connections) but is, at this point, stillbeing charged for. The cost indicated for such data download isconsiderable $35, $50 or more per chart, we wonder if Statscan isgoing to survive what with budget cuts AND, if the promise to ceasecharging for data includes such downloads, the loss of other income.Is this a move by a government, now renown for its disdain forscientific data and those that produce it, to weaken the availabilityand viability of such data. Guess I am getting cynical, I wonder why!

So my little research project todocument the percentage of rural & urban population in eachOntario County has gone down the tubes....... unless someone canpoint me to a source for this information or has previously extractedfrom Statscans raw data.

How about it, anyone have any ideawhere such data may be found on line without cost?.

UPDATE – Ok I have found the datafor 2006 here. Found by a google search, still dont know why itwas so hard to find directly on the statscan site!

Collaboration and Communication

2011-12-14T12:33:00.002-05:00

Regular readers willknow that I try and keep an eye on rural issues, reports &initiatives and that I do so largely via information available on theinternet, I had though until now that I was reasonably up to datewith such things. I was wrong! In communicating with the RVN and withSamara (thedemocracy research folk) I became aware of TheRural Ontario Institute and this in turn lead me to theirresources and links pages where I found that not only are there morethan 100 Rural Research Centers, Networks & Organizations listedthere (with links to each) but that there are also dozens of'reports' on rural issues listed that I did not know about or havenot read.

My first reaction was'Thats great, so many folks trying to get a handle on rural issues'but then after a little while and visiting a few of the links I beganto think 'How is it with all these organizations and reports thatrural communities are still going down the tubes, how is it thatrural issues are still all but ignored by upper levels ofgovernment?' Of the (admittedly very small percentage) reports that Ihave read and organizations that I have checked out I see very littledifference in either their objectives or their conclusions, each hasa slightly different perspective or focus but the similarities arestriking. In fact the words Voices, Vision, Collaborate andCommunicate appear in so many of the report titles and organizationaloutlines that its easy to get mixed up between them all, but arethose latter two things happening? At this point I am not convincedof it!

The other thing thatstruck me was the difficulty of 'engaging' the rural community atlarge in the studies and indeed making the rural population aware ofsuch things. Many of the reports are based upon 'focus groups' andmeetings held in a very limited number of (usually small urban)locations, I wonder then exactly how representative such studies are,not that I substantially disagree with the conclusions andrecommendations of the few that I have read. It is for this reasonthat I believe we must engage rural communities on line wherelocation is less of an issue.

Folks that have readsome of my other posts here (and elsewhere) will know that I thinkthat the internet has a immense potential to both enhance and developbusiness opportunities in rural Canada but to also to allow ruralresidents to interact without the need to travel, often considerabledistances, to attend meetings or have input into communityinitiatives or decisions. It is by no means the magic bullet but is,I believe, going to be a major key in maintaining our rural towns,villages and farms as viable entity’s and not just bedroomcommunities for some large urban center upon which we are increasingforced to rely upon for jobs & services.

With that in mind hereare a few extracts from some reports and my thoughts on this specificsubject..

I could go on about theavailability and cost of High Speed Broadband Internet in rural areas(and that is still a major issue in many areas), how it is now almostessential for any business to be 'connected' and how so many'service' industries with the right infrastructure no longer need tobe physically located in those expensive urban office towers but, inthis post at least, I will finish up by concentrating on thepossibility’s within the social and community aspect ofinternet communications.

First cost &affordability

“It has beennoted in several circumstances that an acceptableprice for high-speed residential connectivity is less than $50 permonth, any higher than that and the demand for services fallsoff dramatically. Theeconomics of supply and demand is such that suppliers (ISPs) are notwilling to supply the service insome areas as their costs are greater than that $50 / month maximumfee clients are willing topay” (And many charge additional fees for usage volumes) “Weshould not assume that once broadband is available, users will beable to afford the service.”

“Thevast majority (97%) of households in the top income quartile,those with incomes of $87,000 or more, had home Internetaccess. This compares with a rate of 54% of households in thelowest quartile, those with incomes of $30,000 or less.” This report also says that those outside major population areas have10% 'less access', with 1 in 5 of the Canadian population 'not havingaccess from home'!

Secondly, how are wegoing to get the rural community, those that are on line, to use itas an alternative means of communications within both the localcommunity and the broader rural population. There seems to be a realreluctance by many, both urban & rural, to 'interact' on line,thousands use it to get information but relativity few join in ononline forums and discussions. Why is that, limited forum choices,technically challenged, privacy issues, or simply not interested? Idont know, but I do know we must 'get over it' and startcommunicating with each other if we are to save both our ruralcommunities AND our democracy!

“Theuse of community portals has been identified as being animportant contributor to the local economy. These‘portals’ should be set to view local stores,organizations and businesses with the information well-organized and up to date. In the instance of portals, theresponsibility for updates may have to bedelegated to an individual / organization.” Which is exactlywhy I am so interested in the RVN initiative in that one of theirgoals is to (provide / develop?) a “Web portal designed tofoster a living ‘RuralVoices Network’ to facilitate community engagement andcollaboration through online forums.”

In my view theprovision of an over arching web site providing a set of pre formatedinformation pages and open interactive forums for rural Ontario withthe availability of separate but integrated pages available for thosecommunities who wish to join would go a long way to knit both thelocal community and the whole of rural Ontario together. A one stop'Portal' for rural Ontarian's and possibly in the future for allrural Canadians.

This post already beingrather lengthy I will expand upon MY vision of how such a site couldbe arranged and what it should incorporate should such web spacebecome available in future posts.

Rural Voices – Questions.

2011-12-06T08:25:00.001-05:00

A month ago I wroteabout the RuralVoices Network and the efforts to to understandwhy and how people participate in the common life oftheir communities. With all but one of the public forums now behindthem they have published the list of questions on which these forumswere based at their OnLine Forum. Unfortunatelythese are not publicly viewable unless one registers and logs on(something which I urge rural ontarian's interested in communitybuilding to do), however in the interests of creating a little moreresponse to this initiative than currently seems to be the case Ihave published those questions and my responses to them below.

Not you typicalresponse I would suggest, are you more involved or have a differingopinion? Why not register and have your say. Or, of you prefer letus know your thoughts in my comments section!

Important note:- Sincewriting this piece the questionnaire has been removed from the forum,no response has been received from RVN as to why this is so or if itwill be reinstated. Never-the-less I will publish it here along withmy intended responses for the readers interest.

UPDATE:- I am pleased to report thatthe forum questions are now posted in a publicly viewable area of theforum at http://ruralvoicesnetwork.ca/forum/questions/

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PUBLIC FORUM?

I am deeplyconcerned with the viability of rural communities, family farms andother rural enterprises across Ontario & Canada.

WHAT ARE TWO DIFFERENT WAYS YOU ARE ENGAGED IN YOUR COMMUNITY?

Almost nonephysically, I try (mostly unsuccessfully) to keep up with localissues and maintain a blog about local & rural issues.

Imagine you are in an empty room, and the closer you stand to the middle represents more active participation in your community. Standing by the outer periphery represents less active participation. Your can also move around the room if you choose. WHERE WOULD YOU STAND TO REPRESENT YOUR CURRENT LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION, AND WHY?

I have my backagainst the wall, most probably near the corner! Why? Lack ofalternate methods of participation.

Now move to where your desired level of participation is, given all limits of your current circumstances were removed. WHERE ARE YOU STANDING AND WHY?

About half waytowards the center of the room with occasional forays to the center..

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO BE INVOLVED IN THE COMMON LIFE OF YOUR COMMUNITY?

Maintaining localservices both governmental and commercial, protecting the rurallifestyle, protecting land use & stopping misuse.

WHAT ENABLES YOU TO BE ENGAGED IN THE COMMON LIFE OF YOUR COMMUNITY?
WHAT BARRIERS PREVENT YOU FROM BEING ENGAGED IN THE COMMON LIFE OF YOUR COMMUNITY?

Enabled by knowledgeof local issues via radio, newspaper, mailed flyer or internet.

Barriers many, include-

No local newspaper (or news sheet) reportingcouncil or social meetings or issues

Minimal local information available viainternet

High speed internet either unavailable or veryexpensive in many rural areas.

Minimal feedback mechanisms except by travel tomeetings.

Reluctance to travel to meetings, particularlyevenings and nights.

NOTE (to votein the recent election was round trip of about 50km!)

Few means to communicate easily with otherresidents on common issues.

Personal reluctance to leave our rural'retreat' for anything less than really good reasons.

NOTE (Armchair critic? But does that make myinput less valid to the community? Catch 22 – you cannot beinvolved in the community if you do not know what is going on and youcannot know what is going on unless you are involved with thecommunity!)

7.Identify an issue, enabler/barrier, or theme that is affecting yourcommunity and/or interests you personally.

WHAT DO YOU THINK COULDBE DONE TO MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE/CHANGE?

Not being one tojoin clubs, socialize outside of close friend and family or attendmeetings it is difficult to even hear about things or organizationsthat may increase my participation. As one who obtains 90% of hisinformation either via local radio (from city 25 miles away) or theinternet (very little LOCAL information available) I feelcommunication is the key to involvement in rural areas (particularlyoutside of settlements or villages) where one rarely meets other thanones close neighbors informally. I strongly believe that ruralcommunities can be brought much closer and lively discussions, noticeof social and community meetings, local governance issues etc can begreatly enhanced by the increased use of internet tools. The use of alocal web site / forum / blog / public space where residents can bothread and opine about local issues would in my opinion then fostermore face to face meetings, be they formal at one of the everdecreasing 'parish halls' or informal at local residences. Manycitizens seen reluctant to embrace this method of communications, whyis that?

In my view we need a common platform 'one stop'web site for both individual communities and rural communities ingeneral where communities and rural individuals can interact withoutthe need to travel (in this riding) 50km or more to attend meetingsof interest.

Unfortunately thisproject in and of itself is demonstrating all to well thedifficulties of communicating with rural citizens, with a google newssearch turning up but one news item on the recent public forums andwith the online forum seeing but 2 or 3 citizens participating thusfar. This is hardly unexpected but is a great disappointment to me, Ido hope that the mail out survey which this initial process isintended to produce receives more attention.

I'm Done, I'm Done, I'm Done!

2011-11-25T12:55:00.002-05:00

Fall is always a busy time what withfinding & putting away all the gardening tools left in various hiddencorners, leaning against this tree or that or, surprise surprise,back where it actually belongs! Gathering those tender pots ofplants just hanging around, dragging the citrus trees grown from seedsaved from fruit eaten many Christmases ago back into the greenhouse,and doing all the little thing that the onset of winter dictates thatwe must get done NOW adds to the list!

This fall in addition to the usualchore of transferring 6 or 8 cord of wood from the 'woodyard' to thewoodshed and then felling, moving and cutting up a number of damaged,twisted or dieing maples for next years firewood we cut about 20 pinefor lumber. It is now all sawn thanks to Dennisand his portable sawmill and 2000Bd ft or so of pinelumber is put away to dry ready for next summers buildingprojects, and the mostly maplelogs are all blocked ready for splitting come spring.

The old Fergison tractor is servicedand blower hung on back, pails of soil brought in ready for feb /march seeding of more perennials (though where we will plant themwhen grown is a bit of a problem). A gentle strollaround our bush trails reveals many recently blown down small dead limbs to be pickedup for firewood or moved off the trails but at this point in the yearthat is yet another job for after winter has added to the pile.

Meanwhile both the wood box and the rumbottle are full AND the sun is out .......life is good.

Wind Wars

2011-11-21T08:51:00.000-05:00

As some urban dwellersin Ontario rail against a gas fired generating station intended toprovide power for their area continuing to be built in theirneighborhood despite election promises to move it, the war betweenrural communities and wind farm advocates also continues. Thedifference is that a gas fired plant provides power 100% of the timeand a wind turbine perhaps 30% of the time, the gas plant providespower within the community in which it is built whilst the wind farmscovering large areas of rural land are intended to serve primarilythe needs of distant urban communities, the urban area has sufficientpopulation to provide objectors with enough 'clout' to makepoliticians at least listen whilst the rural populations are but awhisper in the wind!

Much of the problemthat has arisen is purely due to the “Green Energy Act”which removes any meaningful control of the location, size or evenvery existence of wind farm projects from both the local populationand their local councilors, it overrides any land planning,environmental or atheistic considerations that would normally be partof the planning process. It is not that wind power is all bad, justthat (as I have said before) its ability to provide relief from usingother forms of hydro generation is severely limited until and unlesshighcapacity storage solutions are part of suchprojects. That such an intermittent source of power should findstrong support from large corporations is not a surprise given thegovernments guarantee price (for 20 -25 years) of the electricitythat is generated at what is currently many time the going rate forhydro.

MPP Chris Bentley the man in charge of this file“promisesto listen to suggestions about how to make wind turbines moreacceptable in rural areas. But Ontario’s new energyminister, who doubles as the Liberal government’s point man tomake peace with rural Ontario, says science shows turbines pose nohealth risk and he has no plans to let their location be returned tolocal control.”

Given that “Another 2,000 turbines have beenapproved.” I don’t thing there is going to be too much “peace with rural Ontario” any time soon! Do the math, at atypical 500m spacing that is another 1,000sq km of rural Ontariocovered with these things, and proponents of the projects wonder whyrural dwellers oppose such developments. We wonder what would be thereaction were every park in Toronto had a wind turbine erected in it.........!

Since it seems that thefish and urban folks have more clout than either the birds or ruralfolks and have stopped the proposals for offshore wind farms itsseems to me that other forms generation such as tidal / waveaction projects should be considered. Thelatter may well be suited for the great lakes given that beingrelativity shallow they develop a great deal of wave action with little excuse. Ice may create some limitations in fresh waterlocations but I suspect that it would be at least as viable as wind.The long term answer would, at least given Icelands experience withit, seem tobe geothermal however as of yet I have seenlittle appetite in Canada to develop such high capital cost ventures.It remains to be seen whether the change from a majority to aminority government will mean any changes to Ontarios GEA that willencourage other innovative and perhaps less intrusive way ofsupplying our power hungry society.

It is not that any ofthese types of energy supply should not be part of our system butthat consideration must be given to both the impact upon theenvironment AND those living near such installations.

And thats the way itlooks from my neck of these rural woods!

The Rural Voices Network

2011-11-07T15:07:00.001-05:00

The Women’s Institutes ofOntario very recently launched aproject to develop a “RuralVoices Network” (RVN) andwhist it is early days yet it gives me some extra hope that our ruralvoices will become more audible in Queens Park and Ottowa. I havewrittenextensively about ruralissues, governmentreports about suchissues and even tried, unsuccessfully, to better defineexactly what 'rural' encompasses , this initiative then is one which I fullysupport. The WI has long been active in rural communities, far more Isuspect than in urban areas, and thus may well already have moreinsight than most into the challenges that rural communities face.

Activities within this initiative include creating aProject Advisory Committee, a literature review, ‘Let YourVoice Be Heard’ public forums, online forums, publicsurvey and establishing collaborative networks. The RVN projectis sponsored by a $140,200 grant from The Ontario Trillium Foundation(OTF). The purpose of the RVN Project is toexamine what enables rural citizens to participate in the common lifeof their community, and to identify barriers to rural civicengagement. The Rural Voices Network is driven by the mandateto give rural citizens a space to have their voices heard, and tocollaborate with charitable organizations and leaders in all levelsof governance.

They will be holding several PublicForums commencing Nov 10^th 2011 in 7 communities tounderstand why and how people participate in the common life oftheir communities. All community members are welcome to participatein the forums. The aim of the public forums is to have rural citizens‘voice’ their opinions, life experiences and ideas to bekey influences for a Province-wide survey relating to rural civicengagement.

They also have anOnline Forum where citizens can initiate discussion and forwardideas or respond to other interested rural residents without the needto participate in a face to face Public Forum. I for one expect to bequite active in said space over the next few months as this ideaprogresses.

Finally a Tip o the Hat to TheGuelph Mercury for publishing an article on this and thusbringing it to my attention.

Election numbers

2011-10-07T08:57:00.002-04:00

Just a quick observation on the Ontario election numbers and the percentage turnout. I dont know how the percentage turnout is calculated when large numbers of voters amongst those who chose to vote were not even 'on the list', we wonder how many who did not vote are also missing from the voters list. My contact at one particular rural voting location tells of complaints about long line ups due to so many revisions being required, perhaps as many as 50% of those voting either were not on the list or their address contained errors and thus did not match their identification. Many did not receive their voter cards due to these address anomalies and, as I said in previous posts, many had to drive some distance to vote and thus were already somewhat frustrated. A considerable number of voters left extremely upset without voting or were turned away due to being at the wrong location, we wonder how much effect this had upon the outcome, with the tight numbers at some polls it could make the difference between one candidate or the other being elected.
Elections Ontario does not get any accolades for this one, given that we now have a minority government and thus they may NOT have four years to prepare (we wonder what they have been doing for the LAST four years) for the next election there is MUCH work to be done in the next little while.

All in all it seems that my first impression was correct it was indeed a CF!

Elections Ontario Responds

2011-09-22T07:40:00.000-04:00

Having written toElections Ontario to express my concern with thevoting locations which some rural residents are asked to attend,that being some distance beyond several closer polls, I was surprisedto get a quick response. Here is what they had to say on this issue:-

“ReturningOfficers must consider a number of criteria to find the most suitablevoting locations including convenience for electors; the location’scapacity; the extent to which electors are likely to be familiar withthe location; any significant barriers that electors will encounterin reaching the location; and any other factor that may be relevantto the proper conduct of the election.

Additionally,recent amendments to the Election Act require that all votinglocations are fully accessible. To meet these new requirements,Elections Ontario has developed comprehensive Site AccessibilityStandards to help Returning Officers find the most accessible votinglocations in their electoral district.

Thechanges we have made to selecting voting locations mean that somebuildings which have held polls in the past are no longer used. Insome instances, electors may therefore have to travel further to avoting location than in the past.

In theexamples you have cited, it is true that in some instances there maybe other voting locations that are closer geographically, howeverthese locations are already at capacity. The electors would then beassigned to the next closest accessible location”.

I have a couple of comments regardingthis, firstly how is that Elections Canada managed to find locationswith sufficient capacity and access to have us vote locally, secondlyI view the distance we have to travel to vote a significantbarrier to many voters, and the factthat we drive past an open poll to get there a significantdisincentive to vote.

A poll clerk at one of the advancedpolls told me that there is already considerable discontent with thevoting locations (this not from the area mentioned inthe original post), as another who worked in previous polls said“It’s broken on all levels and noamount of tweaking is going to fix it – it needs a majoroverhaul.”, Whist talking about the federal election it isclear that the same hold true at the provincial level.

Its long pasttime for 'electronic voting' be it by phone, on the internet or bymachine at a poll location – preferably all three! ElectionsCanada is working on such an initiative I believe. Let us hope thatany system devised is shared across the country with both theprovinces and municipalities- or will everybody devise their ownsystem each different from the next? I think we all know which waythat will go!

Ontario Election Cluster F**k!

2011-09-20T15:15:00.005-04:00

Having just received our “Notice ofRegistration” card in the mail we were surprised and dismayedto learn that we did not vote in one of our local communities ofChatsworh or Desboro or Wiliamsford but were expected to drive somedistance to Holland center. Upon checking where others around ourarea were required to vote it became even more bizarre in that somefolks would be driving practically past our door to vote at a CLOSERpoll whilst other (including ourselves) would be driving PAST an OPENpoll in order to get to the one specified by Elections Ontario.

Is this a concerted effort todiscommode rural voters or are the folks who set this up totalyunaware that maps exist that would tell them where these locationsare?

Just for you interest here are a few ofthe WEIRD decisions in this regard:-

Let us take those at the North end ofConcession 4 near County road 40 just a mile out of Chatsworth theyare asked to vote miles away at

HOLLAND CHATSWORTH CENTRAL PUBLICSCHOOL
Address: R.R. # 3, 777346 HWY 10, HOLLAND CENTRE, ON N0H 1R0.

...... as are many others just to thewest of Chatsworth, However those a little further to the west on the North end of Concession 8 for instance get to vote at

WILLIAMSFORD COMM. CTR.
Location:LOUNGE
Address: 112 SALTER ST, WILLIAMSFORD, ON N0H 2V0.

....they like ourselves must ignore theclosest poll at

CHATSWORTH FIRE HALL
Location:COMMUNITY/TRAINING ROOM
Address: 76 MCNAB ST, CHATSWORTH, ON N0H 1G0.

.......... and drive way down the roadto Williamsford. We on the other hand must ignore the nearbyChatsworth poll, drive practically PAST the Williamsford poll andtravel all the way to Holland Center.

If this is typical of how the pollinglocations are figured out then I predict two thing, 1) Many folkswill ignore their cards and go to the nearest poll (if they are awareof it through others) and get turned away. 2) Many will look at thedistances involved in getting to their poll and simply not bother.

Whilst I really do encourage folks tovote option '2' is looking increasingly attractive particularly inthat the advanced polls, whilst open anywhere from 5 to 10 daysdepending upon where you go, are even further away.

You can check thing out for yourselvesat this search form provided by Elections Ontario

http://faq.elections.on.ca/faq/faqsearch.do?language=en

but don't even bother to try it unlessyou have a great deal of patience as it is hardy 'user friendly' , isslow to respond, and there is no fuzzy search here, one minor thingwrong and it goes tilt! Additionally it seems that many of the lotsand concessions do not exist according to the search engine.

Have fun checking out your votinglocation, you may have to book some extra time off to getthere.........

UPDATE - I now learn that there is also a polling station in nearby Desboro (where we voted for the federal election), the excuses that ElectionsOntario has given for the unavailability of local polling locations is thus total nonsense!

UPDATE #2

Fora map of the above polling locations go here.

Broadcast TV stations in Ontario.

2011-08-27T07:36:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago I wrote of the difficulty in finding out the current and future status of various Broadcast TV Transmitters in Ontario with regard to which were or were not switching to Digital transmissions as of the end of August.

Whilst we will find out by default very shortly the following link to a list of ALlocated, APproved and OPerational transmitters directly from the Industry Canada database thanks to Jon LeBlanc is a good indication of current and future plans.
It also gives the Latitude and Longitude and the height of the transmitter site which is helpful for those wondering where to point their antenna or if they are within range. It is unclear how often Industry Canada updates said list.

http://www.user.dccnet.com/jonleblanc/Canada_TV_Stations/ON.html

Another useful site for rural folks is this one, which allows you to input your location and then produces a list of stations close to you and the direction to actually point your antenna.

http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp

Crude but Effective

2011-08-20T07:21:00.004-04:00

Its been a little thin here this summer, there is always another thing on the list ahead of blogging. One of those things is now dealing with the glut of apples and pears on our trees just now becoming ready for picking and deciding what to do with it all. Having always wanted to try making cider but not sure how to effectively crush large volumes of fruit ready for pressing I recently came up with a quick and easy method of doing just that.

Use the wood chipper! Yes, thats right give that chipper a good clean out, remove the screen, place a polly feed bag over the outlet and dump a ½ bushel of fruit in the top and 15 seconds later you have a bag of pulp ready to be pressed, my press takes two such bags per pressing and yeilds between 2 and 3 gallons of juice.

So I now have several liters of Pear and apple juice (suitably heated to kill the wild yeast) in the fringe, an experimental gallon each of cider and perry bubbling away in the corner AND some pear butter made from the squeezed pulp (waste not want not) on the go in the slow cooker. Biggest problem is that this was all done with a couple of bushels of early 'fallers' and I already have 2 or 3 bushels of pears ripening in the basement, many, many more on the tree and have not even started on the apples.

Given that I also want to make some pear wine and only have enough equipment to make about 20 gallons in total it looks like I will be once again giving away fruit to anyone who drops by as we hate to see stuff go to waste and the chickens and peacocks (who love fruit) are already overloaded with the left over pulp. Apple pie anyone?

Oh, then there are the grapes which are also loaded with fruit..........

Broadcast TV in Grey Bruce

2011-06-21T16:34:00.003-04:00

You have all seen the bits on yourscreen saying that you MAY have to change your old tv for new or geta 'digital converter' if you want to continue to watch station thatyou receive via an antenna rather than satellite or cable. For manyof us cable or satellite is not an option for reasons of cost orunavailability so we are left wondering if we will have to buy one ofthose converters or not. I have spent many hours trying to find outif the stations I receive here just south of Owen Sound are are going, a) to continue broadcasting from the local transmitters, b) Continuebroadcasting in 'analog' format as they are now, or c) switch tobroadcasting in digital format on a new channel.

In some cases that information is easyto find and the stations involved will readily give you thatinformation when requested, in other cases they are no soforthcoming.

What follows is the result of myinquiries in this regard.

Channel 2 CTV 'Georgian Bay'transmitter north of Wiarton will continue broadcasting as is, nochange.

Channel 8 CTV / CKNX 'Wingham”transmitter will continue broadcasting as is, no change.

Channel 12 TVO 'Owen Sound'transmitter from Keady will continue broadcasting as is, no change.

Channel 20 CBC 'Owen Sound' transmitterfrom Keady - unable to get definitive answer, presumed to continuebroadcasting as is.

Channel 45 CBC “Wingham”transmitter - unable to get definitive answer, presumed to continuebroadcasting as is (see below).

Channel 4 Global 'Owen Sound'transmitter from Keady – unable to get definitive answerdespite multiple requests via internet, email AND phone, presumed tocontinue broadcasting as is but I start to wonder what they arehiding!

What follows is a little moreinformation on some of the above...

CTV / BELL

An email inquiry to CTV resulted in aspeedy and definitive response indicating that both channel 8 Winghamand channel 2 Georgian Bay would remain unchanged.

TVO

Conventional TV stations like TVO will be allowed to continuebroadcasting in analog beyond August 31, 2011 in markets where we donot make the conversion to digital.

High-and Medium-Powered TVO transmittersites that will continue broadcasting in analog include:Peterborough, Owen Sound, Sudbury, Kingston, Penetanguishene, SaultSte. Marie, Hawkesbury, Huntsville, Timmins, Pembroke, Parry Sound,Kenora, McArthur Mills, and North Bay. TVO will also continue totransmit an analog signal via more than 100 Low Power RepeatTransmitters across the province.

http://www.gopublic.org/?page_id=914

CBC

"The Corporation will continue tooffer analogue service beyond the August 31, 2011 shut-off dateestablished by government in all markets not identified by the CRTCas mandatory for digital transmission."

There are some markets, such as London,which are mandatory for Digital Transmission, and CBC does notoperate a station there (but does operate a transmitter). In thesecases, CBC will shut down the analog rebroadcaster and not replace itwith a digital rebroadcaster.

http://cbc.radio-canada.ca/newsreleases/pdf/DTV_plan.pdf

GLOBAL / SHAW

After the analog television shutdownand digital conversion, which takes place on August 31, 2011,[13]CIII-DT-41 will move from channel 65 to its current analog channelnumber, 41, following transition, because of the phaseout of channels52-69.

Global intends on transitioning itsCIII-TV Paris and CIII-TV-6 Ottawa transmitters to digital by August31, 2011. CIII-TV-7 Midland (serving Barrie) is also required tobroadcast in digital by August 31, 2011 or cease broadcasting. Globalhas decided to transition Midland's transmitter after the deadlineand by 2016. CIII-DT-41 Toronto will increase coverage area to servethe Barrie area between the transition deadline and when the Midlandtransmitter begins broadcasting in digital.

CIII-TV-55 Fort Erie is required tovacate its channel frequency as of August 31, 2011. Global hasdecided to shut down this transmitter. Coverage to the areas inCanada served by the Fort Erie transmitter will be provided byCIII-DT-41 Toronto.

Global plans on transitioning all ofits transmitters to digital by 2016.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIII-TV#Digital_programming

NOTE this is from wikipedia, neitherGlobal or their owner Shaw has ANY information available regardingindividual transmitter sites and both the web site and phone numbersupplied on air will not lead to further information.

There are many rural residents andcottage owners who receive broadcast TV in the Grey Bruce area andthey should not replace their analog TV or purchase a digitalconverter on the assumption that their signal will be unavailable inanalog as of august. For the most part it would seem that thing willremain as is for the next several years in this area, at this pointin time the only questionable broadcast that MAY be changed ordiscontinued is Global as broadcast in analog format on channel 4.

Too darn hot!

2011-05-31T14:16:00.000-04:00

After having to light the wood stove just a few days ago to take the chill off in the house I hate to complain but with temperatures inthe shade over 30c and a humidex of around 40 we are hiding in the house with all the dooors and window shut today, its still over 70 in the house but better than outside. Most time we enjoy being so sheltered in the woods that we get little wind but today a cool breeze off the lake would be very welcome. Ah well there are compensations and last weeks blossoms on the apple and pear trees was wonderfull despite the cool wet weather. I have added a pic of them to the photo page. (tab above).

Woodland Walk

2011-05-19T10:35:00.001-04:00

This morning I took a walk around our trails between showers and sawthat the number of Trilums in flower continues to increase. A littlebeat up by the recent rains some of them are huge (click on the 'TodaysPhoto' tab to see a pic), there are also a much greater number of RedTrilums this year. The violets are mostly all now out, I have seenCommon blue, Dog, Long Spurred, Smooth Yellow & Canada violetson my stroll, the Trout Lilly are done flowering but the Toothwort andBellwort are now out. A wonderfull showing this year.

The'Todays Photo' tab is a new idea to give dialup users a choice as towether they wish to take the time to view the pictures or not andpictures will change with time rather than be added to. Enjoy!

Rural Returns.

2011-05-14T12:11:00.000-04:00

Having been fixatedupon the state of our democracy and the federal election thingshave been pretty thin here at The Rural Canadian but now havingdecided that for my own mental heath I must step away from politicalcommentary for a bit and realizing that with the current majority government talk of democratic or electoral reform is but a distant dream I willbe returning to my rural roots and posting a little more here.

The first part of that healing processis well in hand now that spring has finally arrived, a few walksaround our bush trails to view the woodland wildflowers quicklyputs thing in perspective. Getting down in the dirt creating newflowerbeds and doing battle with the never ending twitch grass in theexisting beds is very therapeutic. Simply sitting out in the sunrecharging my batteries whilst checking out the latest birds toarrive from parts south does wonder to push thoughts of more weightymatters to the back of my mind.

The long list of jobs to be done nagsat me a times, those trails need cleaning up and branches fallen bywinters wrath need picking up and cut to fuel the camp kitchen BBQwhere an ever increasing number of meals will be prepared in thecoming weeks and months. Customers drift in to disturb my daydreamingwith mowersto get ready to trim the greening grass, traded equipment needsto be dug out and check over for sale, the veggie garden needstilling ready for those tomato plants that have been stretching upseeking the light in the greenhouse, the list is long but I don'tmind, whilst the political winter may be yet to come the Canadianwinter is over.

Although my old bones do protest alittle more each spring it is good to get out and DO something, tosee a flower bed without weeds (even if the next one in line offersthe next challenge), getting that chain saw running and making shortsticks out of long ones, putting the first few beet seeds in therecently warmed ground. Even just wandering around LOOKING at jobs tobe done outside is a wonderful way to spend an hour or two, after allwe cannot rush into these things now can we?

So my philosophy for now is to relax,puddle along at my own pace, let the world largely pass by whilstkeeping a few locals from having to go get a new piece of junk totrim their grass, share our woodland hideaway with a few natureenthusiasts and simply enjoy the summer.

Much of the equipment I work on maywell be like the guy working on it, a well used oldie, but I hopewith proper maintenance they both will go for a few more years yet,but please use us gently eh!

Anti-democratic News Media

2011-03-30T08:51:00.005-04:00

Ithas been reported this morning that the news media barons havedecided that you shall not hear from all the political leaders in anyupcoming debate, but that Elizabeth May who had the support of over900,000 voters right across Canada in the last election will beexcluded. This is particularly galling when a regional party, theBloc,with only a slightly higher popular vote and NO representationoutside of Quebec is included. Who gave them the right to decide whoyou can and cannot listen to, who gave them the right to effectivelypre-decide who should have the opportunity to put their views beforethe public, why should we allow a few corporate big wigs toartificially spin the odds in favor of the incumbent partys.

It matters not which party you supportthis is once again an affront to democracy, not this time by theHarper regime but by the corporate media barons, it is unacceptableto exclude a party who represents the wishes of so many Canadians.

I have no doubt that there will be thesame outrage that a similar decision last time brought about, it waseventually changed to include Ms May and any citizen who truly caresabout democracy must once again let these media types thatpre-filtering the news and political debates is no less a measure ofcontempt for democracy than the Harper regime has shown of late.

Elizabeth May MUST be included in thedebate if it is to have ANY legitimacy in helping us decide who REALLYcares about our parliamentary democracy.

Sign the petition athttp://demanddemocraticdebates.ca/

UPDATE
And so it starts, the VictoriaTimes Colonist reports -

"The consortium's decision was met with disagreement from atleast two parties. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff told reporters inVancouver that May "belongs in the debate.
"Of course she's welcome . she was there last time," hesaid.
A spokeswoman for the New Democrats' campaign said the party is"fine with her in the debate."
"We believe in open debates that are based on consistent andunderstood rules," said Kathleen Monk. "If certain leadersare not invited to participate, I think it is reasonable for them toknow why."

Also see E Mays piece in the Globeand Mail and Andrew Coynes twitter commentsas collected here.

UPDATE #2

The televisioncompanies, while admitting they have no rules for who participates inthe leader’s debate, have attempted to overrule Canadians bybarring Elizabeth May. She learned of the decision from a CanadianPress reporter and not from the TV companies.

“Theyare trying to silence the voices of one in ten Canadians,” saidElizabeth May.
The Green Party has retained legal counseland will be making an application to the court in the next few daysshould the TV companies continue to deny democracy. Details of thelegal application will be provided soon.

“TheHouse was brought down on contempt. This is contempt for democracy,”said Deputy Leader Adriane Carr.

http://greenparty.ca/media-release/2011-03-29/another-blow-against-democracy

Show your support for democracy and contact the news directors of consortium members CBC, CTV, Global, TVA or email party leaders Stephen Harper, Jack Layton, Michael Ignatieff and Gilles Duceppe

UPDATE #3

The MontrealGazette reports that - Earlier in the day, Duceppe said he agreeswith Elizabeth May, the Green Party leader, that sheshould also participate.

Meanwhile Mr Harperseem to prefer to debate just the Liberal leader, seems the otherpartys 'don't matter' in this election!

Hub Good, Cost High, Usage Data Bad

2011-03-09T09:45:00.002-05:00

As the few readers I have may know Ihave long whined about being stuck on dial-up at 28K and theunavailability of affordable options out here in the country,recently I stepped up to the Rogers Rocket Hub. Far from ideal, itdoes free up the phone line and give me up to 200K (must spring forthat $150 external antenna to try and improve that some time) even ifit does triple my basic Internet costs, there are however a fewwrinkles which despite weeks of research and several conversationswith Rogers representatives before committing to the two yearcontract necessary to get the Hub at the reduced price of $150.

As some of you may know both Bell andRogers hub wireless plans have a threshold of 3GB, 5GB and 10GB whichif exceeded takes you the the next level, the cost being about $45for 3GB (taxes and other costs included) and rising to abt $55 for5GB and over $70 for up to 10GB (with a per MB charge beyond that).For old folks like us that is hardly the 'affordable' Internet thatour government is touting that all Canadians should have but if weare to move on from dial-up it is the best of a very limited choice.

As you may imagine it is our wish tokeep our usage as low as possible and monitor it to try and staybelow the thresholds. With that in mind I signed in the the Rogerscustomer pages where I was told we could check our usage – wellyes you can, sort off! After checking said pages several times Icould not figure out how my usages was increasing in large jumpsafter minimal or no use, so I call Rogers customer service (nice guyswho actually are in Canada by the way) and here is what I learned.

The wireless usage shown on yourcustomer page is up to 48 hours or more out of date!! Rogers willtell you that said data is updated every 4 hours and that may be truebut the data posted is from several days before meaning thatthe usage in the last couple of days is not reflected in thosenumbers making it all but impossible to know when you are approachinga point where your monthly charges are going to jump.

Now that little wrinkle is bad enoughbut let us say that despite the lack of accurate information you wantto check your usage regularly, this of course will use up a little ofyour basic usage but that should only be a few hundred K. Wrong!!Simply accessing your usage on the Rogers site (going there directlyafter a redirect to sign in) is around 2MB (plus the uplink datawhich is counted in wireless usage) and if you enter via the usualpage after signing in around double that. Now to those with unlimitedhigh speed or some of the more generous plans may scoff and say twomeg is nothing, but given that my secure banking site takes less than500K to sign in, view my account synopsis and get a detailed up todate view of my payments and deposits I have to ask is this adeliberate ploy to send our usage over the edge?

The funny thing is that said pages arevery simple in appearance, almost all text with a few logo links, nohigh rez pictures, no marquee's scrolling across the page or stufflike that. It just reinforces my belief that many IT professionalssimply have no conception of the limits some viewers are workingunder, they have the latest and greatest, have T1 connections and itdoes not even enter into their personal hard drive (the one abovetheir shoulders) that unnecessarily 'heavy' pages not only slowthings down for those on less than speedy connections but add to thegeneral congestion that is starting to emerge on the net andpenalizes those of us that must pay big bucks for bandwidth.

Nuf said..... Rant OFF.

Gardening Time / Seed Swap

2011-03-07T12:03:00.000-05:00

With the sun emerging for a few daysand despite the snow still on the ground and the minus 10temperatures us northern gardeners are getting that 'spring itch' toget something growing.

I have recently started 3 or 4 trays ofperennials in our heated growing cabinet constructed of two 4lampflorescent fixtures stacked and insulated. The ballasts put off morethan enough heat to bring it up to 70f when the lights are on (6am to9pm) even when the temperature in the cold green house drops toaround freezing. When the sun out and temps rise to 65f or so it willoverheat if I do not open the door up wide!

Meanwhile my daughter reports that shehas 92 variety's of perennials seeded !!! and scores of tomatoes andpeppers, most already up. Think I will wait a bit before startingmine!

For those interested she would love tohear from gardeners who have unusual seeds to swap and I have beenalready asked to gather seeds from ourwoodland flowers for that project. You can visit her newly formedweb site at http://haskinshorticulture.webs.com/

Happy gardening.... is it spring yet?

Mercer for PM.

2011-02-03T08:34:00.002-05:00

There are days when, asI get sidetracked writing a new piece for DemocracyUnder Fire , I fail to connect as usual with my goodfriend and brother in all but bloodlines. Despite all the writing Ido I cannot compete with his way with words inherited I suspect fromfrom his Newfoundland roots. Here is how he responded to my excusethat I had been busy blogging and so was late with my morning email.

ToMe Bloggin' Brudder....

BlogI shall, till rooster crows

Frostto fingers so cold me toes

Spreadthe word so voter knows

Canadagames, we have a-new..!

Hesaid, she said but noted wrong

Wordsto paper, sometimes too strong

Wishthey could all just get along

RickMercer, can do the job.

Rickfor Prime Minister we must chant

We'vewatched him in his glorious rant

Butwhat party you may say...

Startanother..no, Greens on its way.

PutRick in Green with Suzuki too

Thiscountry soon returned to you

Withdollars spent here at home

Pensions,investments are left alone.

WallyGuy -Jan 2011

Shitty pickings - Shitty service

2011-01-27T16:33:00.000-05:00

Another flawed tenet of right wingideology is going to be tried yet again by the mindless HarperConservatives. Here is the plan ... give Billions of borrowed dollarsto the largest corporations (banks, car manufacturers, etc.) andthese dollars will be invested in the economy by the big capitalistscreating jobs and prosperity. Problem is that this ideology hasfailed time after time after time. Essentially, the concept isthat if you give a bushel of oats to a big old horse, the oats willwork their way out of the arse end of the horse and the littlesparrows can pick through the crap and find some of the oats to eat.Trickle Down Economics is a pillar of the Right's failed ideology. Itbasically feeds the corporate sector with borrowed money that thetaxpayers have to repay. It works VERY well for the Corporate sector.It doesn't work that well for the little sparrows .. I mean workingtaxpayers.

http://buckdogpolitics.blogspot.com/

Cheap, cheap ....this tastes likeshit......

Belgium's much-reviled phone companyMobistar was elaborately pranked by a program on VRT Belgium; thepranksters hid themselves in a steel container, which they haddropped directly in front of the gates of a large Mobistar office at5AM. The container had a prominent customer service number printed onthe side of it -- a number which rang the pranksters inside thecontainer -- that was promptly called by a series of Mobistaremployees who wanted to get the container moved off before 2,000Mobistar employees reported for work and found the parking lotblocked off.The pranksters proceed to put the Mobistar employeesthrough a high-art comedic phone hell, disconnecting them,subjecting them to terrible hold music (performed live from withinthe container on a little synthesizer), gradually ratcheting themisery up in a Dante-worthy re-enactment of every terrible, awfulmobile phone company experience. The program was a huge hit inBelgium

http://informedoninformation.blogspot.com/

Now where did you say Bell corporateoffices are?

Medical Officer of Health Outraged !

2011-01-22T14:20:00.000-05:00

Dr. Hazel Lynn, chief medical officer of health in Huron and Brucecounties, was outraged when the Canadian Association of Physiciansfor the Environment sent out a media release that suggested she haddisavowed the link.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Lynn, who estimatesbetween 10% and 15% of people living near turbines in her area saytheir health has been affected.
It’s not clear if turbines cause physical harm or stressthat brings on poor health, but concerns are real and need to beexamined, she said.
“Many people, in many different parts of Grey Bruce andSouthwestern Ontario have been dramatically impacted by the noise andproximity of wind farms. To dismiss all these people as eccentric,unusual, or as hyper-sensitive social outliers does a disservice toconstructive public discourse and short-circuits our opportunities tolearn and benefit from their experiences as we continue to developnew wind farms,” she wrote in a report to her health board.
“It is apparent that a minority of those people living orsituated near Industrial Wind Turbines may experience dramatic,negative impacts. We cannot pretend this affected minority doesn’texist. A determination has to be made as to what level or extent ofnegative impacts is tolerable.”
Those findings weren’t mentioned by the Canadian Associationof Physicians for the Environment when it issued a release thathighlighted two lines from Lynn’s seven-page report —that most people don’t complain of ill effects from windturbines. (Which is akin to saying that most people don't complain about the affects of lung cancer or poor air quality)
“Forty years of science suggests wind turbines do not harmhuman health,” wrote Gideon Foreman, the group’sexecutive director. He linked Lynn’s report to a review donelast year by Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, areview Lynn publicly objected to because it excluded a section oncommunity harm.
“The study found the scientific literature ‘does notdemonstrate a direct causal link between wind turbine noise andadverse health’ effects,’ ” Foreman wrote.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/01/21/16986491.html

The Haircut

2011-01-16T11:47:00.001-05:00

One day a florist went to abarber for a haircut.

After the cut, he askedabout his bill, and the barber replied, 'I cannot accept money fromyou , I'm doing community service this week.' The florist was pleasedand left the shop.

When the barber went to openhis shop the next morning, there was a 'thank you' card and a dozenroses waiting for him at his door.

Later, a copcomes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barberagain replied, 'I cannot accept money from you , I'm doing communityservice this week.' The cop was happy and left the shop.

   The next morning when the barber went to open up, there was a'thank you' card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.

   Then a Member of Parliament came in for a haircut, and when hewent to pay his bill, the barber again replied, 'I can not acceptmoney from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The MP wasvery happy and left the shop.

The next morning,when the barber went to open up, there were a dozen MPs lined upwaiting for a free haircut.

    That,my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between thecitizens of our country and the politicians who run it.

Sorry, could not resist sharing this one!

On the soapbox again!

2011-01-03T13:16:00.002-05:00

Its been a while since I dragged out myrural soapbox but the following article struck a chord with me. I wasparticularly struck by the reference to the difficulties that lessaffluent rural residents face regarding transportation to largercenters where we are directed for various services. This washighlighted when watching the local news on new years day and hearingthe father of the New Years Baby in London, Ont say that they haddriven from Goderich. Whilst there may have been a pressing reasonfor them not getting delivered in their own community I doubt it,there is an ever increasing centralization of services of all sortsand I am aware of a number of mothers being told to drive to Londonor Kitchener because there “are no obstetricians” at thelocal hospital wherever that may be. Childbirth should be the mostbasic of services in most cases and families should not have to driveto a hospital one to two hours away with birth imminent, this is butone example of how rural residents are increasingly becoming secondclass citizens. The squeaky wheel get the grease and there is a lotmore noise coming from the more populated areas!

Read on for another perspective......

Imagine a community with no soup kitchens, no Out of the Coldprograms and no homeless shelters. No support groups, communitycounseling, legal aid clinics or social assistance satellites.
Only a food bank and the Ontario Provincial Police.
Welcome to Wasaga Beach. Home to the world's longest freshwaterbeach with 14 kilometres of white sand beach. Located on SouthernGeorgian Bay, it's one of Ontario's favourite four season tourist andvacation destinations.
"Our quality of life and our safe and friendly community hasattracted a steady stream of new residents and season dwellers to ourtown over the years," said Cal Patterson, Mayor of Wasaga Beach,in the 2010 Wasaga Beach Visitor's Guide.
Like other small communities across Ontario, Wasaga Beach also hasits share of homeless and poor people trying to survive without theresources that are available in large urban centres.
"In a rural community, fighting poverty is so much harderbecause it thrives in silence and lacks the resources necessary toget people back on their feet," said Amy MacPherson, founder andexecutive director of Wasaga Cares, a recent not-for-profit startuptrying to help people living in poverty gain access to a broad rangeof social services. MacPherson said the Salvation Army will provideshelter in a motel room for up to three days "but even that isin a remote location with no transportation and you'd have to findyour way to Barrie, ON (50 minute drive) for emergency accommodationsafter that."
For a family, the nearest shelter is located in Newmarket which is1.5 hours' drive away. "So if you have no vehicle you caneither hitch a ride along the 400 Hwy with the kids underarm... or...beg I suppose," she said.................
Read more of this article athttp://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/johnbon/2011/01/fighting-rural-poverty-poses-unique-challenges

There goes any hope of redemption...

2010-12-20T15:43:00.001-05:00

PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPERANNOUNCES THE APPOINTMENT OF TWO NEW SENATORS

OTTAWA -Prime Minister Stephen Harper today filled two vacancies in theSenate, announcing the appointments of Don Meredith and LarrySmith. (Thus now having a majority of “Conservative”senators in the upper chamber)

The Reverend Don Meredith is theExecutive Director and co-founder of the GTA Faith Alliance.......The Reverend attended Ryerson University and holds a master'sdegree from California State Christian University. He is thePastor of the Pentecostal Praise Centre in Maple, Ontario.

Larry Smith is a widely-recognized inQuebec.......known in Montreal from his days as a fullback with theMontreal Alouettes .........He has received numerous awards including the Commissioner's Award for conserving the CFL (2001), the American Marketing Association-Marketer of the Year and SportsPersonality of the Year

So a football jock come salesman tokick the shit outa ya and tell ya its for your own good, and apreacher who hold a “degree” from a U.S. “Christian”university to pray that the truth will stay hidden. This is the besttwo individuals that Harper can find to appoint to the Senate? Whenyou consider that Duffy was one the last lot you can see howdesperate he is to get his majority in the Senate so that he can riseto the position of Dictator of Canada.

Praise the lord, praise the lord,Harper is nigh........

Blowing in the Wind

2010-12-14T13:11:00.001-05:00

This blog has not seen much action oflate however after todays experience I thought what is the use of apersonal blog if one cannot have a good whine about the weather, oldtractors, snowblowing and income shortages.

Out here in the wilds of the Klondikewe do not have any 'new' stuff be it Ma's wheels, my tractor or Mikessnowblower but when the tractor gets to be almost as old as the ownerthen one must expect both to get a little persnickety in theircombined dotage. Made in my home country of Jolly old England in the fiftys, whilst I wasstill wearing shorts to school, the Fergison tractor is a surprisinglyreliable old girl but like the old man does not like these -20 windchill mornings and when asked to gather herself together on suchmornings to beat a path out to the road through 18” of snowgets a little cranky.

Today being the first time this yearshe was asked to do such a chore she was particularly reluctant, Igot her heart started but the blood flow to the hydraulics was notably lacking, left to warm up she had a hissy fit and bust her fanbelt. Now the old man has been giving her TLC for a number of years, and we have the skills to patch up the old girl when she quits,but why o why does she always do these things when its so friggincold and windy? So out with the wrenches and off with the gloves,kneeling in the snow praying that it will only take 3 or 4 more tripsinside to rediscover my fingertips we go to work to patch her up.Much cussing, wading thru 2 feet of snow to the tool shed, and askingfor the wherewithal to have a least one piece of equipment that isyounger than my son we bring her back to life. After a while to warmup that blood flow we get the old girl moving, sort off!. MeanwhileJunior blows a path back to the shop with the little antique......only to find that his belt also needs replacing, (hey he was at leastnear the shop, lucky beggar!) and that one is only in her mid 20s nother late 50s!

Now Fergi is a game old bugger but 18”of packed snow is a bit much to ask of her so with blower and bucketraised we knock the top foot of white off all the way out to the roadand back, now comes the hard part Fergi. Blowing the packed bottomfoot of snow takes all she can do and half way out she startscoughing n gaging and almost gives up. Upon checking her out I seeshe now has a bladder problem and is pissing green fluid into thesnow, upon further inspection I see she has heart failure and the oldpump has just give out due to old age but the game old bird makes itback to her spot in the snow bank by the house.

Now her cousin died some years ago andwe keep her in the mausoleum out back of the shed and it looks likewe are going to have to do a heart transplant after first examiningthe replacement heart for defects or seizures. I just wish I couldafford to bring in an outside surgeon but doubt whether any suchtechnician would consent to work in a snow bank in the middle ofwinter anyway. Ah well I think she is going to get a bit of a resttill warmer days arrive, just wish I could get a rest as well but itlooks like its shoveling time for this old antique!!

Now I know that folks out on theprairies will say “cold, that aint cold” and the folksdown in London will say “snow, you aint seen snow yet”but Fergi and I, we have had enough of winter thank you very much. Isit spring yet?

Climate Change Deal Reached?

2010-12-11T08:24:00.002-05:00

Governments today reached an historicdeal on climate change that commits all major economies to greenhousegas cuts. The deal, brokered at international talks in Cancún,has been hailed as restoring faith in the multilateral UN process butwill not reduce temperatures as much as scientists say is needed, andit pushes many of the most important decisions to futurenegotiations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2... ummit-deal

And from E May
It has left me pinchingmyself. It is all beyond what I had hoped for.... It is not over yet.So fingers crossed...

But the texts I am reading are on BOTHthe Kyoto Protocol (KP) and Long-term Cooperative Action (LCA underthe FCCC). They are both free of square brackets which means theparties have agreed.
The KP text recognizes industrializedcountries need to reduce emissions 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020.It also sets out that a second commitment period under KP should use1990 as a base year. It also recognizes the need to "raise thelevel of ambition of emission reductions" from industrializedcountries.
The LCA text calls for no higher than 2 degrees, andthat there is a need to consider keeping below 1.5 degrees. It callsfor a "paradigm shift towards building a low-carbon society...".It also establishes a Cancun AdaptationFramework.
http://greenparty.ca/blogs/7/2010-12-10... rty-update

Rick's Rant

2010-11-25T11:17:00.002-05:00

As isusual Rick Mercer hit the nail squarely on the head....

I likeit when light shines on the Canadian Senate. Because there's no doubtabout it, it is a very strange and unique place. And let's face it,it has been a dumping ground for political hacks and bagmen sinceMackenzie King was in short pants.

We all know it needsreform. So why is it such a big deal that Tory senators killed abill? I mean the senate has killed bills before, right? Well notreally, not like this. Because they didn't just kill a bill, theykilled a bill without any debate. And that is the entire reason thesenate exists. They are, despite the fact that Mike Duffy is amember, the chamber of sober second thought. And the Tory senatorstook a bill that had been voted on and passed by a majority of theduly elected members of the House of Commons – the people weactually vote for – and killed it without a debate. To put thatin perspective, the last time it happened was the 1930s.

Thinkabout this: Jean Chretien, who we all know, would have sold his ownmother to get his own way and embarrass the opposition, he nevertried this. 

It’s one of those things; it's soundemocratic nobody actually believed any Canadian Government woulddo it. It's one of those things that’s just not done. And sowhen Marjory LeBreton, the senate leader, was asked about this, shejust laughed and said, “Ha, it's legal."

Oh, that'sa great defense there Marjory. It’s legal. It’s alsolegal to walk up to a veteran, stick a quarter in his poppy box andtake all the poppies. But people don't do it. Because most of us, welike to think about what’s right, not what’s legal. And if you're dealing with people who go through life and don't careabout right or wrong and don’t care about democracy as we knowit and only care about what they can get away with? All the reform inthe world won’t make a difference.

http://www.rickmercer.com/Rick-s-Rant/Blog/November-2010/Kill-Bill--No-Vote.aspx

The Superhighway to nowhere!

2010-11-10T10:13:00.001-05:00

“It'sthe superhighway to nowhere if you don't live in a city or town”So says Connie Woodcock in the TorontoSun, having written about this issue in the past in my blog hereandhereit was good to see this article published in a big city newspaper.The comments it gleaned showed the enormous divide that existsbetween rural and urban citizens, something that was also raised inthe senate report on rural poverty referenced here. I will let Connie take it from here:-

“In six months ofhouse hunting in rural Ontario, we’ve come to one conclusionthat has become more inevitable the more we look: We have to moveinto town. We’ve looked and looked and looked but not a singlerural property for sale in our area has the one essential withoutwhich we can’t work — high-speed Internet access.

That puts us on thewrong side of Canada’s digital divide.

Virtually all urbanCanadians can access broadband easily and inexpensively. Thousands ofrural Canadians — and not those who live in remote areas —can not. Urban Canadians can use their cellphones wherever andwhenever they want. The rest of us can’t.

The CRTC held hearingslast week into the future of broadband in rural Canada and whether itshould be a basic service that must be regulated and available toall. The first people the CRTC heard from, naturally, were those whodon’t want to do it — the big telecommunicationscompanies like Telus and Rogers and Bell. You can guess what theysaid: Can’t be done; too expensive; market forces will takecare of it … blah, blah, blah.

Several serviceproviders said it was impractical, unnecessary and would cost $7billion. A Telus vice president said the cost was too high and thereare other alternatives. It’s enough to make you laugh, unlessyou don’t have service available and then it’ll make youcry. It’s the kind of argument which, in an earlier age, wouldhave kept rural folk from having electricity or telephone service.

Indeed, Bell Canada,once the only phone service provider, dragged its heels offeringprivate service, leaving many rural residents with party lines asrecently as the 1980s. Having tried to do my job as a reporter doingfire and police checks on an eight-party line, I can tell you it wasall but impossible. Bell finally finished upgrading just in time forthe Internet age to begin.

And nothing much haschanged. Now the big companies think I can get along without the kindof Internet service 95% of Canadians expect as their right. My housedoes have high speed access but I’m one of the rare lucky ones.Few others in my area do. Satellite service is available but it’scostly and unreliable and experts say it’s unlikely to improvesignificantly. Cellphone technology is even more expensive andunreliable. Yet we’re only a two-hour drive from downtownToronto.

Ironically, theInternet is probably more important to people in rural and remotelocations than it is to urbanites who have easy access to the wholegamut of cultural experiences. It evens out the playing field. Somekid in Iqaluit isn’t ever likely to see the inside of the ArtGallery of Ontario, but with broadband, he can tour the best in theworld or get access to the same vast store of information urban kidstake for granted.

This is also huge forrural people who need to be able to have the same businessopportunities everyone else has. My husband and I couldn’t doour jobs without high speed. If you want to know just how desperatelyit’s desired, all you have to do it go into town to my locallibrary any afternoon and watch the librarians refereeing use of thefree wireless service.

This week, Liberal MPMarc Garneau, with whom I’m amazed to find myself agreeing,told the hearings if rural people aren’t guaranteed access,they’ll be second-class citizens. “All Canadians shouldhave equal opportunity to succeed, no matter where they live,”he said.

He’s right. TheCRTC must regulate broadband access and force compliance. Governmentsubsidies would help and the sooner the better. Broadband needs tobecome the same basic right telephone service is to make sureeveryone can access the future.

connie.woodcock@sunmedia.ca

Republished bypermission of the author.

Biodigester online soon

2010-11-06T09:11:00.000-04:00

The Chatsworth andGeorgian Bluffs biodigester, the first of its kind for amunicipality in Ontario, is now producing gas and the hydro producedis expected to begin to feed the grid later this week This seems tobe a win - win for local residents, not only does it provide a safemethod of disposal of septage and other wastes but will, throughtippage fees and hydro feedback tariffs, pay for itself andeventually make some money for the townships. Way to go Councilors,once again the little guys show how it should be done!

TheOwen Sound Sun Times says:- The organics-to-energy facilitywas originally intended to be a solution to septic sludge disposal,which the province planned to ban from being spread on agriculturalfields. Municipal officials now plan to quickly expand the list ofacceptable waste to ensure a reliable supply of raw material. Fat,oil and grease from restaurants, leftovers from slaughterhouses andvegetable and fruit scraps from kitchens are expected to be added tothe list.

Georgian Bluffs council authorized the townshipto take out a $1.2-million, 15-year debenture from the Bank ofMontreal to pay for its share of the project's cost. Chatsworth alsosecured a $1.2 million loan. Revenue from the biodigester, expectedto be at least $322,000 a year, will be used to pay back thedebenture, township officials say.

Earlierthey reported that :- Chatsworth and partner Georgian Bluffswill receive two-thirds of the money needed to build a biodigesterfor waste disposal. The municipalities are getting $1.66 million ofthe $2.5 million needed from through the communities component of theCanada Builds program.

The other $833,333 will be split equallybetween the two neighbouring municipalities. The biodigester will bebuilt just south and east of Kilsyth, at a Georgian Bluffs-ownedproperty about four kilometres north of the boundary with Chatsworth.The location was chosen because Georgian Bluffs had a ready site.

There seems to be alittle confusion as to exactly how much the townships are on the hookfor but either way its a great initiative and may actually help toreduce our taxes in a few years.

Where to draw the line?

2010-11-01T19:31:00.000-04:00

The following was a response to ablog post by E May on the Green Party web site...

With municipal elections over and manyhaving taken place using “alternative” voting methods,some of which enabled voters to make their choices over a period of aweek prior to closing, I recentlymused whether, should this trend ever get to Federal voting,whether opinion polls should be banned during that period. It seemsthat like political party advertising, opinion polls have a overlystrong effect on voter preferences, particularly in the last few daysbefore the polls close.

We SHOULD be voting for the best personto do the job, bearing in mind the overly strong influence that partypolitics has upon the actions of that individual after he or she iselected, that is not however how it works. Negative advertising,strategic voting based upon the latest polls, and Party Politics hasa far greater influence than it should, but can we eliminate orreduce these things? In an open and democratic society (and I amstarting to wonder if we can continue to describe Canada as such) canwe dictate who says what and when?

Drawing the line between free speechand political interference with election processes is a verydifficult line to draw but given the direction that such things aregoing is one that perhaps needs to be defined. When the ability toblast the airwaves with advertising has a measurable outcome as tothe results (even if that outcome is to not vote) it is time toreconsider the rules, if for no other reason that the less affluentamongst us may well be disenfranchised by not being able to heavilyfund those partys that may better represent our interests. Recentrevelations that publicly funded utility companies are fundingpolitical campaigns reinforces my belief that we must look atrestricting the manner in which such advertising is used and funded.

You reap what you sow.

2010-10-13T08:53:00.000-04:00

By Elizabeth May on 12 October 2010 - 5:03pm

Itwas reported on CBC this morning that in a last ditch effort to winover votes for a seat on the U.N. Security Council, Canadian diplomatswere giving out maple-leaf shaped bottles of maple syrup.
Maybe our government’s grasp of the concerns of the world’s nationsis a bit lacking in substance. Maybe it would have won some votes ifthe Harper government had sent any member of federal cabinet to theemergency meeting on the food crisis in Rome in June 2008. Instead, welet our Ambassador to Italy sit there without instructions, speakingvolumes about Canada’s concern for the world’s poor and hungry.
Maybe it would have helped if we answered the call for peacekeepersin the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We were once the world’snumber 1 contributor to peace-keeping. Now we are 56th. From over3,000 soldiers deployed in the past to this year’s compliment – 57.
Maybe it would have helped if we had lived up to our commitments tofight poverty in Africa. Or maybe it would have worked better thanmaple syrup if Prime Minister Harper had not ignored the specialmeeting on climate at the General Assembly, leaving for an event at TimHorton’s instead of staying to deliver a speech.
I remember once, a long time ago, when I was at Sierra Club,speaking to a Conservative MP when Stephen Harper was Leader of theOpposition. I won’t use his or her name. I wouldn’t want her (or him)to feel the PM’s wrath.
I was pushing for any kind of commitment that, in power, theConservatives would reduce Greenhouse gases. The answer stayed withme. Regardless of how achievable Kyoto would be, the MP saw no chanceof the Conservatives being able to support action, because StephenHarper would “always see Kyoto as one of those U.N. things.”
So, no matter how much we give out last minute bottles of maplesyrup, and no matter how sincere the pitch for membership from the PMto the General Assembly seemed two months ago, actions speak louderthan words. The actions of the Harper government led to this outcome -- not their words, nor the words of Michael Ignatieff in saying whateveryone knew, that our reputation in the world was tarnished afterfour and a half years of Harper government policies.
You reap what you sow. Let us hope that this is the nadir inCanada’s world reputation. Let us commit to be the country we oncewere, with a Prime Minister and a House of Commons that understandswhat it takes to be a constructive member of the family of nations.

From http://greenparty.ca/blogs/7/2010-10-12/there-s-not-enough-maple-syrup-world

Milk is Hazardous to Your Health

2010-10-10T15:11:00.000-04:00

News flash, BCcommunity Healthboard declares Milk a hazardous material.

Not that thin highlyprocessed stuff with all the rich cream and much of the taste andgoodness removed that you buy in the store, but the stuff that comesfrom cows.

Now that may come as ashock to some city folk and indeed some lawmakers, not the bit aboutit being hazardous but the fact that milk actually comes from cowsand actually contains rich cream and tastes wonderful. We here inCanada are in fact one of the few places in the world where we cannotbuy Real Milk, pretty much all of Europe has it available, in thethird world many get it direct from the cow as has mankind forthousands of years. Eventhe Queen of England drinks it! But our lawmakers have decidedthat not only must all milk sold to the public must be “processed”and pasteurized , thus giving a defacto monopoly of milk distributionto a few large “milk Processors”, but that we individualsare so uninformed that we must be “protected” from thevery small risk of drinking “contaminated” real milk by atotal ban the sale and distribution of same. Not only that but now itwould seem those knowledgeable folks that choose to enter into a “cowshare” in order to protect their right to choose what theyconsume and those that share the work of caring for said cows are nowcriminals distributing “hazardous substances”. Say What!Has The World Gone Mad?

If one was to uselogic, not a talent one often finds in government, one would ask“given the numerous heath scares from contaminated meatproducts, after processing one might add, how is it the cow its selfis not declared hazardous material,” or the beef cattle, pigs,sheep and other food products issuing from the gates of farms acrossCanada. Mind you the government is working on that one, the farmerthat butchers his own cow and GIVES a roast or chop to his neighboror relative is now also breaking the law (at least here in Ontario)and can be charged. Should he want to have his local abattoir do thework for him he had better get it done soon as the regulations putupon those massive operations, from whence all the contaminated meatcomes, have also been put upon the little one or two man operationsthat have been producing uncontaminated meat for eons. Some of themfor longer than some of the big boys have even existed. The result?All the small abattoirs are closing unable to absorb the costs of allthe regulatory hurdles intended to keep the big boys in line, but arein fact further cementing the big corporations monopoly on our foodsupply.

That my friends is whatthis is all about, it has little to do with health issues, but a lotto do with the mega corporations desire for a food monopoly, and thegovernments total lack of support for the small supplier and thefamily farm. It is a policy that may well come back and bite us asthe corporations both domestic and international get more and morecontrol over our food chain from farm to plate.

A Tip o the Hat toBruceon the Bruce for this one!

Chatsworth Wards for 2010 Municipal Election.

2010-09-22T09:00:00.001-04:00

Have just been toldmuch to my surprise that I am in Chatsworth ward not Sullivan as Ihad thought, I requested a map of the ward boundaries forclarification. My thanks to Will Moore at the township office for hisassistance with this.

Ward 1 (Chatsworth)consists of the village of Chatsworth PLUS all the surrounding areassouth of Grey rd 16, east of Con6 and north of Side rd 5 in theformer Sullivan township PLUS the area south of the Holland-Sydenhamtownline, west of Veterans rd N and north of 20 sideroad in theformer Holland township.

Ward 2 (Holland)consists of all of the remaining township to the east of Hwy 6

Ward 3 (Sullivan)consists of all the remaining township west of Hwy 6.

The map is picturedbelow, I have added a few place names and road names to make iteasier to tell where the boundaries are. Click image to enlarge.

For a list of those whoare running for a position on council see myprevious post or the ChatsworthMunicipal web site.

Chatsworth mayor retires. (updated)

2010-09-04T08:21:00.001-04:00

Its official, MayorHoward Greig has announced that he will not be seeking reelection inOctober. Howard served at various times as councilor, deputy mayorand mayor for the former Township of Sullivan since 1982, he hasserved as mayor of the Township of Chatsworth since amalgamation in2000.

Chatsworth. Councilhas, under the guidance of Howard been, so far as I am aware, acooperative and non confrontational venture unlike the constantsniping and personal attacks that some other local municipalitieshave, and still are, experiencing. Both Howard and the currentcouncillors must be thanked for their efforts on our behalf, Isuspect that their work is all too often taken for granted .

There have been nomarked increases in property taxes in recent years which consideringthe downloading and/or reduced funding of mandatory programs fromupper levels of government is no small feat. I hope that the newcouncil will continue this tradition of cooperation and fiscalresponsibility.

Tom Kuglin has alsoannounced he will not be seeking re-election and deputy-mayor BobPringle is seeking the mayor's position.

Unofficially, with aweek to go before nominations close here is the list of thosestanding for positions on Chatsworth Council. The list is subject tochange up until nominations close at 2:00 p.m. on September 10^th,2010 at which time the official list will be publishedon the township web site where further information maybe found (unfortunately in a PDF download).

(Final list updated Fri 10th 7pm)

Mayor (1 to be electedat Large)

BOB PRINGLE (currentdeputy Mayor)

Deputy Mayor (1 to beelected at Large)

TERRY MCKAY (currentcouncilor ward 1)

RODNEY SAUNDERS

Councillors (3 to beelected, 1 from each Ward)

Ward 1 (ChatsworthWard)

ROBERT MACKEY

BRUCE MENARY

Ward 2 (Holland Ward)

CORNELIUS VLIELANDER(incumbent)
PATRICK FORGRAVE

Ward 3 (Sullivan Ward)

BILL KUGLIN

TRINA SIMMONDS
BRIAN GAMBLE
SHERRY KNAPP

The Election will be bymail in ballot which residents should receive early in October. TheElection will take place on Monday, October 25, 2010 . The townshipwill not be publishing any personal information on the candidates andI therefor invite the candidates to provide me with their CV and/ortheir reasons for standing for council. I will then publish it herefor the benefit of our citizens, an email link is provided in theside bar of this blog.

Quiet in the Klondike

2010-08-27T07:26:00.002-04:00

With fall fastapproaching out here in the Klondike Hills we seem to be in a timewarp with the days all blending into one. I love the quiet andpeaceful times but now I keep having to look at the time / date atthe top corner of the computer screen to know what day it is! Mydaily emails to a fellow old fart up on the Wiarton cliffs doesn'thelp much as he is just as confused as I am, must be sometimerscoming on.

The tomato's take allof 5min to pick and as they have no leaves left due to “leafspot blight” its not hard to see from the chair on the porch ifI even need to do that, I will have to get off my arse soon and digthe spuds but the beets and carrots are doing so poorly this yearthat I may be digging them in the snow! I would get a cow for theoutput to fertilize the garden but it seems that some input isnecessary at the other end of the beast, wonder if a neighbor willrent me one?

The wood is all splitand finally after several years of building the pile we may even havesome left over next spring, just as well for these old bones arefinding it less fun to find, cut and haul those trees that need to beremoved from our “managed forest” as each year passes. (Note to self – take a gentle stroll around the trails soon andmark trees for “harvesting” and see if its going to be an“easy to get to” or a “need a longer winch cable”sort of fall)

I'm ahead of the gameon my winter woodworking projects as well, no need to bring the millin this year, lots of pine, maple and cherry boards drying in variouslocations. Even ran a few through the planer yesterday so when theambition strikes to get building I can get at it right away. Theorder is in for a center island storage / work area for my daughterkitchen so no problem with deciding what to make come those winterdays, meanwhile these sunny days must not be wasted with work. Lookat the gardens (look at the weeds!), plan in great detail the jobs tobe done, make lists, sip on a beverage and enjoy the last of thesummer whilst we can.

Even the politicalscene is relatively quiet, the Greens have decided to all pull in thesame direction, Igniff is quietly raising his cholesterol on the BBQcircuit, Harper will unfortunately come in from the cold after hisarctic “I love me” tour, and Jack.....Jack who? Thesequiet days of relative calm will all come to an end come September,the kids back to school, the other kids back to Ottawa, even ourHumming Birds will be heading back to Mexico, so make the best ofwhat remains of summer whilst you may.

Thats how it looks inthese here hills with September almost upon us, and the need to writea few words on this blog comes upon me before my few readers think Ihave become lost in the forest or perhaps lost in my thoughts.

Ladies Night in Owen Sound.

2010-08-18T11:40:00.003-04:00

The Grey Bruce OwenSound Greens nomination meeting was most definitely a time for theladies to shine with candidates Lynn Morgan and Emma Hogbin as wellas Green party leader Elizabeth May and deputy leader Adrian Carrfront and center. Approximately 100 green party supporters filled theroom to hear the candidates speak and answer questions from the floorprior to voting taking place.

Lynn spoke about thedemise of our democracy under the Harper regime and how the arrest ofinnocent protesters and bystanders at the G20 was comparable with theactions of several totalitarian regimes overseas. She said we areheading for more of a Lord and Serf relationship with our governmentthan a representative democracy unless things change.

Emma spoke of her dreamfor the future, of a participatory democracy with citizens involvedand excited about the possibilities, of using the modern toolsavailable on the Internet and phone systems to include everyone inthe process. The best quote of the night came at the mid point of herlively speech when remarking upon the choices to be made she askedwhether if you find yourself to be riding a dead horse is it not bestto get off!

Elizabeth May who spoketo the crowd whilst the votes were being counted later picked up uponthat repeating Emma's assertion that the Greens CAN be elected to theHoC and that GBOS has a real good chance of being the first to do so,just before herself, given that the polls close here long before theydo on the west coast.

Having just come from ameeting with some representatives of the local agricultural communityshe said that those in this area should be particularly concernedwith Harpers assertion when referring to the closure of the prisonfarms that “learning how to farm was not a useful skill”.She said that Canadian values are clearly different from Americanvalues as evidenced by our social safety net, our sharing and caringabout all out citizens and how the Green party's values reflect thosevalues.

CEO Randy Dryburgh whoMC'ed the meeting asked Elizabeth to announce the successfulcandidate and she read the name Emma Jane Hogbin to loud andsustained applause from the supporters. Elizabeth had earlier saidthat she rarely had the opportunity to say “may the best womanwin” and it is no disrespect to Lynn that Emma's enthusiasticand bubbly personality, and ability to get folks to want to getinvolved that won the day.

Congratulation Emma, Iam sure we will be hearing much more from and about you in the nextfew months.

Also see Greenspick Hogbin - Owen Sound Sun Times - Ontario, CA

UPDATE Emma has posteda copy of herspeech on her blog here and there is a video of her “shortestever” acceptance speech athttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxGCyDnm5Yo(1min 13sec)

A Reminder

2010-08-16T14:54:00.001-04:00

.TheGBOS Greens nomination meeting willtake place tomorrow, Tues August 17^that 7pm at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Soundwhen both Green Party leader Elizabeth May and Deputy Leader AdrianeCarr will attend and speak The public is welcome but only members ofthe Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Green Party of Canada will be permitted tovote.
Stay tuned for a full report on the proceedings here at The Rural Canadian later in the week.

Moreinformation on both candidates can be found in myprevious post and at the GBOSGreens web site

Green Choices

2010-08-01T08:37:00.000-04:00

Ihave been taken to task (perhaps rightly so) for coming out in favorof one of our candidates for the Green Party nomination in our ridingover the other before fully knowing both candidates positions.

Havingnow met and talked to the second candidate , Lynn Morgan, I will tryand correct somewhat that omission.

First off Lynn has saidshe is “passionate about our GreenValues, and our humanity and responsibility in governance.”She was moved to stand in part by the G20 fiasco, the subversion ofprocess in the tabling of the 900 page Budget Bill that trashed theEnvironmental Act, and the erosion of our civil liberties, wealth andhealth of the people. Being involved with several local groupsdealing with housing, transportation and poverty issues she isincensed that over a million dollars was spent on the g20 with littleor no benefit to Canadians whilst so many of our local citizens arestruggling to make ends meet.

We spoke of thedifficulty of citizens being heard by government and the need for anMP to represent the views of their constituents as much as possibleand the difficulty of finding out exactly what that is. We spoke ofcommunications and the difficulty of finding a balance between thosewho do everything electronically and those who don't even own acomputer or texting device. She said it is essential to take hermessage, particularly the message that the Green party is not a oneissue party, out to all the communities in our riding and to do so ina way where citizens can chat and interact in an informal setting.

Both in herprofessional career as a consultant and in her work for charitableand non profit organizations Lynn advocates for those who need theirview better understood, she sees her candidacy as a naturalprogression from this and an opportunity to advocate for our entireregion. She advocates for a bottom up democracy and like myself isvery troubled by the top down oligarchical style of government we areincreasing seeing, something she says that has been graduallyoccurring for at least a decade.

She sums up herposition in three phrases, Responsible Government, Sustainable FuturePlanning and Upholding our Rights as Canadians to a democraticprocess.

Afinal note here, localmediahas been quick to pointout thatneither Lynn nor the other candidate Emma has any real previous“political experience”, given the mess that those WITHpolitical experience are making of it in Ottawa I believe that maywell be one of their biggest assets. Its time for some fresh ideasand integrity in the House. Its Time for Change.

Thenomination meeting willtake place at 7 PM on August 17^that the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Soundwhen both Green Party leader Elizabeth May and Deputy Leader AdrianeCarr will attend and speak The public is welcome but only members ofthe Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Green Party of Canada will be permitted tovote.

Moreinformation on both candidates can be found in myprevious post and at the GBOSGreens web site

A Political Green Soul Mate?

2010-07-27T07:22:00.000-04:00

I recently had theopportunity to speak with one of the two ladies running to become theGreyBruce Owen Sound Greens federal candidate and seem tohave found a political soul mate.

Emma Jane Hogbin is anenthusiastic & articulate young lady with a passion fordemocracy, she believes that government, political partys andcandidates should be as open as possible and believes, as I do, thatthe GPC most closely represents those values. Like myself she hassought out the platform documents of the various parties and foundthem non existent , lacking in content or misleading, excepting forthe GreenParty’s Vision Green document, where like myselffound a clear and broad ranging document giving the GPCs position onevery thing from theeconomy to democraticrenewal to qualityof life issues. No one individual will agree 100% oneverything but I personally found little that I could seriouslydisagree with, why don’t you take a look and decide foryourself, ignore the spin, and read the comprehensive party position.Good luck finding a similar document from the other parties tocompare positions!

She is passionate aboutmaking politics accessible and like myself has deep concerns aboutthe state of our democracy and the lack of the long promised “openand accessible” government as well as the lack of respect &decorum in the House.. She is a strong advocate for our Grey Bruceregion, supportingthe local environment and local people, choosing to spend moneylocally, deciding to work from home globally, but choosing to livevery locally, and again like myself has her ownbusiness here in the region. That it is a techcompany and that she is right on top of the latestInternet technology seems to me to be a bonus as I believe a largepart of the future of an accessible and democratic government restswith Internet access to data. :

She has said that thechoice in this nomination race could be expressed as between someonewho seeks to get people excited and involved and someone who perhapswas more familiar with and focused upon GPC “policy”.It’s a difficult choice, some are all about policy whilstothers may be more about the individual running, getting folks“excited about politics” is a pretty difficult goal butif she can reach enough of those folks who are turned off and do notvote then it just may work. All I can tell you that after a 10 or 15min conversation with her I was excited to have a candidate who wasso passionate about democracy, which readers of my other blogDemocracyUnder Fire will know is a pet issue with me. Given myjaundiced and cynical view of our federal politics in particular,that is no mean feat!

That this passion andconcern for our democracy mirrors not only my own but Green Partyleader Elizabeth May,s gives me hope for the future of the local“greens” and our region and our country. Withoutdemocracy all the “policy” in the world is but windowdressing!

It is perhaps a littleunfair, as I have not spoken to the other candidate Lynn about theseissues, but at this point I think it is clear where my choice lays.To balance that I will post extracts both bios for the benefit oflocal greens. If you fall into that category do learn more aboutthese two ladies and join us at the Bayshore on Aug 17 to hear themspeak, renew your membership if necessary and vote for the Candidateof your choice.

Nominations are openuntil Thur July 29^th, the nomination meeting will be atthe Harry LumleyBayshore in Owen Sound onTuesday August 17. It is rumored that Elizabeth May will speak anddeputy leader AdrianeCarr willalso attend. Further details will be posted here and on the localGreen Party web site.

Emma Jane Hogbin2010 – GPC Candidate

Emma iscommitted to helping people define and achieve success. She ispassionate about creating opportunities for people to participateequally in their community of choice. In 2007 and 2008 Emma hostedHICK Tech, a rural technology conference which highlighted the uniquechallenges and opportunities her community faces. In January 2010 shewas recognized by The Google Diversity Programme for her efforts inincreasing female participation in software development.

Currentlyemployed as a freelance technical author, Emma works from her homeoffice in Owen Sound, Ontario. She is a highly sought after technicalspeaker and has given presentations around the world about theimportance of small business, open source software and the role ofwomen in technology. Her first book, Front End Drupal, is a bestseller within its industry.

The Green Party is a natural fitfor Emma. She was selected to be a Legislative Page at the OntarioLegislature while attending public school and was later a LegislativeUsher while studying at the University of Toronto. She graduated fromUofT in 1999 with a BSc in Science and the Environment where shefocused on the politics of migratory fish species. Emma brings withher the experience of two successful campaigns run in Bruce-Grey OwenSound where she acted as Web consultant. In addition to her ownriding, Emma has a family history with the Green Party--her greatuncle Richard Thomas was one of Canada's first visible Green Partycandidates nearly 20 years ago.

In 2005 Emma returned to herhome town where she continues to be inspired by her book store ownermother, her artist father, the local farmlands and the shortdeciduous trees which surround her.

Lynn Morgan2010 – GPC Candidate

As a BusinessManagement/Project Management Consultant for over 20 years in thetechnology field, I assist organizations, businesses and individualsto make better use of their technology. I am analytical/logisticaland intuitive with strong leadership skills.

I am a board memberfor the following groups: The Women’s Centre Grey & BruceInc., the Affordable Housing Coalition Grey Bruce and the addictionseducation group LEAD. Past volunteer activities have included boardmembership with the Adult Literacy Group, Non-Profit HousingAssociation, and the Property Standards Committee, in Thunder Bay.Other volunteer work included the Heart & Stroke Foundation,Canadian Diabetes Association, and the Arthritis Society, Habitat forHumanity, HAYWEST, and Home and Community Support Services. I createdthe Holland Chatsworth School Literacy Library database andcoordinated the Sauble Beach Clean-up in September 2007 inconjunction with the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.

Currently, I am theRecording Chair for both the Executives of the GPC and the GPO BruceGrey Owen Sound EDA since 2008. Previously, I volunteered in the 2008Federal Election campaign. In the last local municipal election, Iworked as a Deputy Returning Officer.

My values...Ibelieve we are stewards of our Country and allthe people in it. We, as citizens, need to assume this communityresponsibility at all levels now. Our voices need to be united andspeak out against the non-existent government-directed environmentalaction and the economic policies that subject growing numbers ofCanadian citizens to subsist in poverty. We need to focus our effortson living without fossil fuels and building our economy to supportsustainable green industries. We need to be a voice for those in ourcommunity who suffer injustice or marginalization and who despair ofever gaining equality or being respected. We need to inspire peoplewith our integrity to re-enter the political mechanism – getthem out to vote! We need to speak out against policies that deprivepeople of their homes, livelihoods and hope. We need to start bywresting Canada back from the brink of destruction; socially,environmentally, and economically. It starts here...one voice addedto others in our community...one community added to the other ...forall of Canada.

My personal thanks toboth candidates for making this commitment, whoever comes in secondwill be no less a winner than the nominated candidate. Up withDemocracy.

Sirens in the bush.

2010-07-21T09:20:00.000-04:00

Recently we have beenhearing whoops and wails coming from the back of our bush so whilsttrimming our trails I took a detour to where I knew we previously hadfound a red foxes den. I fear Mr Fox is no more, for a family ofCoyotes has moved in and upgraded the small entrance to a 2 footdiameter hole. The large mound of sand (numerous wheelbarrows full)at the entrance speaks to both the size of the den and to what’swithin the side of the drumlin (glacial deposit) where they havetaken up residence.

Nearby an area of 10 to15 sq ft is worn bare of any vegetation where presumably the Kittsromp and play. Well defined trail lead away from the den in severaldirections.

This would also explainwhy our Grouse population seems diminished this year, no doubt theWild Turkeys that wander through will take a hit also. I usuallyleave Ma Nature to do her own thing in our managed forest,interceding as little as possible so I do hope that they do notbecome aggressive, move up closer to the house or have a face offwith our Australian Cattle Dog and force me to take a more activerole!

Meanwhile it soundslike police, fire and ambulance have all parked in the bush withtheir sirens going. Ma Nature at work!

Green Party of Canada Convention

2010-07-14T10:33:00.002-04:00

TheGreen Party of Canada is having their convention in August andas with any political party will be considering a number ofresolutions on policy and governance. Unlike any other party thegrass roots membership can view and vote upon these resolution online, this post will then be of primary interest to existing membersof the GPC. Others however will be able to get a small insight intothe things that are being considered (and as with any political groupthat covers a spectrum of opinion) and will find links to VisionGreen the official green party position on a variety of topics.

These links to Dave Bagler's blog arethen to make it easier for GPC members to make their decision, youdon't have to agree with Dave (I disagree on several items) but youwill find these a quick way to identify those issues in which youhave a particular interest. Thanks for your efforts on this Dave!Please read the official motions before voting but do vote upon asmany motions as you can.

BGM Resolutions Review

BGM Policy Resolutions Part 5: Intergovernmental Relations

BGM Policy Resolutions Part 4: Justice and Democracy

BGM Policy Resolutions Part 3: Health and Environment

BGM Policy Resolutions Part 2: Foreign Affairs

BGM Policy Resolutions Part 1: Economy and Finance

BGM Resolutions Part 5: Regional Organizing - EDAs

BGM Resolutions Part 4: Leadership

BGM Resolutions Part 3: Shadow Cabinet and Policy Development

BGM Resolutions Part 2: General Meeting and Party Procedure

BGM Resolutions Part 1: Council Structure and Obligations

GPC members wishing to discuss any ofthese motions in detail should do so in the non public memberssection of the GPC web site where they will find groups dedicated tothe Policy, Constitution or Directive motions.

Democracy requires dialog, the GreenParty of Canada includes all its members in that dialog why not jointhem.

UPDATE – For another point ofview see “SudburySteve,s” Posts about some of the motions and the “spin”around them.

GreenParty Voting

Autonomyunder fire

Hydro demand July 7 - 3pm

2010-07-07T15:23:00.005-04:00

For particular attention of those who say wind power (and solar) can replace nuclear.

Ontario Demand: (3pm Wed July 7) 24,974 MW

Operating Reserve Requirement: 1,453 MW

Today's Projected Peak: (at 5:00 p.m. EDT) 24,866 MW

SUPPLY Generation by Fuel Type:

Nuclear: 9,325 MW

Hydro: 3,759 MW

Coal: 5,050 MW (Still over 20%)

Gas: 5,405 MW

Wind: 39 MW (0.16% of demand or 3.5% of installed capacity)

Installed wind farm capacity is approx 1100MW.

Other: 1,038 MW

Hourly Imports: 2,118 MW - Exports: 2,111 MW
Today's Generator Availability at Peak: 26,790 MW
Maximum Ontario Import Capacity: 4,600 MW (approx.)

From http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/media/md_index.asp

Credit where credit is due.

2010-07-04T08:01:00.000-04:00

Regular readers will know I am not a particular Liberal supporter but having stumbled across an announcement that Ignatieff was going to do the rural bbq thing this summer to promote rural issues I checked it out and found the following announcements from May:-

Michael Ignatieff announced a future Liberal government would introduce a $3,000 refundable tax credit for Canada’s volunteer firefighters. It’s a policy meant to recognize the tens of thousands of men and women put their lives at risk to keep us safe when they don the firefighter’s uniform.

..............a future Liberal government would introduce a $3,000 refundable tax credit for Canada’s volunteer firefighters. It’s a policy meant to recognize the tens of thousands of men and women put their lives at risk to keep us safe when they don the firefighter’s uniform.

A future Liberal government will achieve the goal of 100 percent high-speed internet connectivity within three years of being elected, and expand mobile phone coverage for rural and remote Canada. (and are) building on our commitment to legislate a Rural Canadian Postal Service Charter that would prevent further reductions in rural mail service by pledging to work with Canada Post to modernize rural community mail centres with high-speed internet connectivity.

And........ committed to helping Canadians eat healthier, home-grown food through a new national food policy based on healthy eating, safe food, sustainable farm incomes, environmental land stewardship and international leadership.

As well as announced............... that a Liberal government would help attract doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners to underserved rural communities by forgiving up to $20,000 of their student debt over four years.

Now I am not sure that winning the rural vote will do much for the Liberal fortunes with us being such a small part of the fabric of Canada but is sure is nice to see someone in Ottawa getting out in the country and trying. These things are all “no brainers” I would think, and relatively easy to implement (except for 100% connectivity within 3 years?) but talk is cheap and we know how these things get lost once elected, but still its a step in the right direction for rural and remote residents.

Thanks for that Iggy!

A better way?

2010-06-26T09:14:00.001-04:00

There must be a better way for world leaders to consult with each other than the CF we have seen in fortress Toronto of late. Given that all the real work is done by aides & staff, mostly before such meetings, are they even necessary at all. What will be accomplished here that could not be accomplished by a few phone calls, possibly a conference call or video conference. Do not these nations have the capability to set up secure connections in these days of electronic communication? And if they must meet there must be better places and methods.

Option one would be one of the several Canadian Forces Bases across our country, it easily secured by personnel already available, already on the federal payroll and who don’t get paid overtime. It does not disaccommodate any civilians or shut down large portions of any cities, it does not impact businesses to any great degree excepting that the Hotels would not be accommodating 20,000 police “troops” who would be largely unnecessary. The “leaders could even fly in directly into the secured area avoiding shutting down major highways and city streets! Accommodation for the “VIPs” could be arranged a far less cost, perhaps it would be good for them all to spend a night or two in army barracks or typical married quarters? Hell there would even be money left over for building fake lakes in the nearest aircraft hanger!!

Option two which I have seen proposed several time also makes more sense, that cruise ship in the middle of Lake Ontario would give them all the accommodation AND security needed and no fake lake required, hell they could even cruse the shores of any or all of our lakes whist at it. Seems a moving target would be even safer for these rather questionable proceedings.

As for the press not having access to the leaders in such a venue, for the most part they do not now. Why any of the international press even bothered coming except to report on fortress Toronto I do not understand, (except to get those free meals & drinks on our tax dollars) they could get just as much information (as provided by the government spin doctors and “approved” reporters) from their desk in Moscow, London or Timbuktu

I am sure there are other solutions MUCH better than the last minute Harper CF, many have suggested that ALL such meetings in future be held in the UN compound, and why not, its already set up for such meetings. What is the point of a country “hosting” such meetings other than for political gain? Somehow I don’t think the Harper regime is going to gain much from this fiasco either domestically or internationally.

If a “government” cannot arrange a meeting of a few “leaders” better and at less cost than this how do we trust them to run the country? I for one do not!

Murdoch on Rural Democracy

2010-06-21T07:43:00.000-04:00

The pursuit of green energy in the fields of rural Ontario is just another example of a Toronto-centric mentality by governments at Queen’s Park, says MPP Bill Murdoch.
“We have a problem in rural Ontario, we’ve had it for a long time,” Murdoch said in a recent interview. “Everything at Queen’s Park being, it’s OK for Toronto so it’s OK for the rest of Ontario.”
Murdoch says it’s this “attitude” that fuelled his comments earlier this year that Toronto and the rest of the province should go their separate ways.
Murdoch acknowledges his proposal to hive the rest of the province off from Toronto is not likely to happen. But he appreciates the chance to air his concerns.
“It’s great to have this discussion, and hopefully the least that will come out of it is that McGuinty will start to realize we are serious in rural Ontario, and do want some say. Where it goes I have no idea. I’m looking for input.”
The Green Energy Act, which removes municipal input into the construction of wind farms, other than an obligation to consult, is the latest in a long line of initiatives that favours urban over rural areas, he says.
“You can almost take any bill and look at it, and it’s designed for Toronto.”
He mentions the Clean Water Act.
“There’s no compensation in there for anybody if you have to, say, fence all the rivers on your property — no compensation for the land you lose plus all the work you do. Does that affect anyone in downtown Toronto? Not one iota!”
On the species at risk legislation, he says, “they could stop you from cutting your hay in a field because there might be some sort of a bird out there that’s endangered, and no compensation again. It just goes on and on and on.”
The urban-over-rural mentality isn’t unique to one party, he says. Rather, it crosses the political spectrum.
“Rural Ontario has just been dumped on forever, because we don’t have enough votes . . . and I’m not saying McGuinty is the only one, it’s been like this for ages. Who killed the spring bear hunt? And there was no consultation on that.” (The hunt was ended in 1998 by the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris).
On the Green Energy Act, Murdoch expresses surprise that provisions curtailing local input on proposed wind farms didn’t generate more of a reaction from municipalities. And he doesn’t mince words when responding to McGuinty’s “nimbyism” remark in early 2009, when the premier said that safety and environmental concerns would be the only legitimate objections to green energy projects, including wind farms.
“It was awful. Arrogance, arrogance! It’s because he has a vast majority and he knows that he can win every seat in Toronto and down in that area . . . that’s where all the power is, and that relates back to what I’ve been (saying about) the Toronto mentality. It’s the most arrogant thing I’ve ever seen somebody do — take away the rights. And the municipalities are starting to pick up on that. They were a little slow; we have municipalities in Grey and Bruce now who say we’re not going to allow them, but they have no choice.
He added: “When my resolution went to Queen’s Park, I didn’t really get support from the municipalities. Now, they are all saying we don’t want this to happen, but they were asleep at the switch and McGuinty rammed it through.”
Murdoch’s resolution called for a moratorium on new wind energy projects, pending an independent review of health-impact claims. It was defeated.
“I felt there should be a moratorium on any more in rural Ontario until we actually get the facts. If we put a moratorium on it, it would get done. People do say, ‘oh we are looking at this, or we’re looking at that,’ but it drags on and meanwhile there are more wind farms going up.”
It seems unlikely there will be a moratorium on new wind farms in Ontario anytime soon. This spring the government announced the approval of 184 renewable energy projects, among them wind farms.
The projects are expected to generate 2,500 megawatts of energy.
Recently the government announced 512 renewable energy projects, capable of producing 112 megawatts of energy.
With the Green Energy Act in force, and renewable energy an integral part of the government’s electricity-generating strategy, Murdoch says, “it’s in Dalton McGuinty’s hands” whether or not a wind farm is approved.
“The municipalities don’t have any say about it. I realize there are a lot of groups out there upset about it, but, you know something, they don’t have anything . . . to protect them.”
He worries the streamlining into provincial hands of the approvals process for wind farms represents “a slippery slope” of eroding municipal responsibilities.
“Once you get away with this, what’s next? What’s the next one they are going to do? They’re going to say, ‘oh we don’t need the municipalities, so we’ll just do it from here.’”
While the lack of local input on a wide range of issues is a symptom of the “Toronto mentality,” the MPP says, the roots of the problem run deeper.
“The whole system is screwed up. It comes to the point where we don’t have what you call representative democracy anymore. We have what you call party democracy. You get elected in an area, and then they expect you to toe the line and do what the party tells you to do.

“In this country we elect our dictators, other countries just appoint them.”

Alternate short URL for linking

Credit: By JOHN DEVINE, SPECIAL TO THE SUN TIMES,

www.owensoundsuntimes.com 18 June 2010

Explore the Bruce!

2010-06-17T13:36:00.000-04:00

Explore the Bruce, come see our forest of wind turbines, come stay at one of our nearby campgrounds where you can experience for yourself the wooosh of the blades and the flickering light as they cut through your view of the evening sunset on Ontario's Sunset coast!

.....................................

An application has been filed to build a 240-megawatt wind farm near Mar on the Bruce Peninsula.
Tribute Resources Inc. of London, Ont., said in a news release that it recently set up a wholly owned subsidiary, Mar Silver Birch Limited Partnership (Mar LP), and incorporated Mar Wind Corp. as the general partner to apply to the Ontario Power Authority for a Feed-In-Tariff agreement and "to ultimately develop the project" north of Wiarton.
Tribute said it has "executed options to lease lands with 35 landowners for approximately 10,000 acres on which to place the turbines."
Mar LP's applications to the OPA say it anticipates being ready to start commercial generation by the fourth quarter of 2014 "subject to the construction of a new . . . transmission line" that connects to the Hydro One grid, the company's news release said. "Mar LP intends to pursue an application to the Ontario Energy Board in 2011 for a leave to construct the new transmission line as well as the necessary routing and environmental studies."
Tribute said it has been working on the wind energy project since 2005, when it began a three-year wind resource data program. The company erected an anemometer — a device that measures the force of wind — on land east of Sky Lake that it leased from former South Bruce Peninsula mayor Carl Noble.
From the Owen Sound Sun Times with a tip o the hat to Wind Concerns Ontario.

Can we find a worse location for these industrial installations, can we perhaps place them any further from the Toronto users who consume so much of our power? Having already destroyed much of the view further south on the sunset coast now we are moving up to one of the most naturally unique and desirable tourist areas in Ontario if not Canada.

The Bruce Peninsula with its large expanses of forest, fens, alvars, beaches, small lakes and wetlands is not the place for these industrial turbines. The Bruce Peninsula supports a rich diversity of plant and animal life. Some of the rarest ferns and flowers in Ontario can be found here, including the threatened dwarf lake iris and lakeside daisy. The diversity of orchids on the Bruce Peninsula is among the highest in North America: 44 species. Seven at-risk reptile and 17 at-risk bird species live here, and astounding concentrations of dozens of bird species can be found at the globally significant Cabot Head Important Bird Area during their migration. Part of the Bruce Peninsula has been classified as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

Abattoirs - Death by Regulation

2010-06-12T18:57:00.001-04:00

Once again Bruce on the Bruce has hit the nail on the head, this time I will just post some extracts but I think you will get the point. Government regulations are indeed killing our ability to provide local produce to our citizens whilst at the same time they tell us to support small suppliers by shopping local. For what, sausage from China? Read on!

Kelvin Arnold of Sullivan’s Butcher Shop in Wiarton told a crowd at a meeting in Elmwood Wednesday night that some of the provincial meat industry inspection regulations are “physically impossible” for him and other small butcher shop and abattoir owners, “and extremely costly.” Arnold says he’s spent more than $75,000 in the last three years trying to comply.

“But there’s no way you can question the rules, or not do what they want,” he added. “They’ll just shut you down.”

Stricter regulations are destroying small abattoir across Ontario, threatening also the farmers who use them and reducing opportunities for people to buy local food, said Barb Klages, a member of the Malcolm Women’s Institute, who spearheaded the organization of the information meeting.

Sullivan’s shop is spotless you can eat off the floors. The meat he sells is outstanding! He knows what he is doing. Sooner or later the Government is going to push him a little too far and he is going to shut down. Then where will we get sausage? Canada Packers, you know that company that made half the country sick a couple of years ago while mishandling the products they produce and have the gall to call it sausage!.

Don’t know of anyone getting sick from Sullivan’s shop!! Fifteen years ago, Ontario had more than 900 businesses to process meat and poultry. Today, there are about 130.

Paisley-area farmer and NFU spokesman Grant Robertson called small abattoir “the small jewel in the food system who must be protected” and I say lets protect them!

Judy Trimble of Desboro, a farmer who sells directly to consumers from her farm, admitted the loss of local small abattoir “may end our enterprise” after 22 years of selling “what consumers want — lean, fresh, smaller portions of beef cut just the way they want. Small abattoir owners have outstanding skill sets . . . for them it’s a calling, not a job. When we lose them, we all lose.”

Bill Murdock and Larry Miller had better get off their fat asses and deal with this. If it isn’t stopped and stopped now there won’t be any small butcher shops left.

Its my sausage BACK OFF GOVERNMENT!!!

I agree entirely however neither Bill nor Miller will have any effect against all them city folk who think their sausage comes from a factory and beef grows in the back room of the grocery store from demanding more & more regulations that only the big corporations can afford to adhere to!

If I had a billion dollars

2010-06-08T08:06:00.002-04:00

If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd build you a lake (I would build you a lake)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you furniture for your lake (maybe a nice Muskoka chair, or a hammock)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you a steamboat (a nice reliant paddleboat)
If I had a billion dollars, I'd buy you vote

If I had a billion dollars
I'd build a gazebo in your town
If I had a billion dollars
When I'm done I'll just tear it down
If I had a billion dollars
Maybe we could put a jumbotron in there(You know, we could just take the steamboat there and hang out,
even though it's nowhere near the summit,
but Baysville is really cool - they have an LCBO in a trailer)

If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you rubber bullets (but not real rubber bullets that's cruel)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you an exotic meal (like a duck breast, or maybe fugu)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd but John Diefenbaker's remains (All them crazy Prime Minister's bones)
If I had a billion dollars I'd buy your vote

If I had a billion dollars
We wouldn't have to walk to the lakeshore
If I had a billion dollars
We'd build it in Toronto cause it costs more
If I had a billion dollars
We wouldn't have to eat Kraft dinner
(but we would eat Kraft dinner because we're trying to showcase Canada to the world here and Kraft Dinner is Canadian, right?)

If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you a canoe (but not real canoe that's cruel)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you a fence (maybe concrete, or razor wire)
If I had a billion dollars (If I had a billion dollars)
I'd buy you a sound cannon (haven't you always wanted a sound cannon?)
If I had a billion dollars If I had a billion dollars
If I had a billion dollars
If I had a billion dollars...

I'd be Steve.

Courtesy of Jennifer Smith over at Runesmith. Brilliant Jennifer!

Update, here is a link to a version with links to the various abuses mentioned :-

http://www.erichthegreen.ca/2010/06/if-i-had-billion-dollars.html

and Jennifer and friends have produced a video of the song:-

http://runesmith.blogspot.com/2010/06/if-i-had-billion-dollars-video.html

Who is in control?

2010-05-16T07:22:00.002-04:00

I spotted this at Bruce on the Bruce and thought it worth repeating, particularly the bit about how much control the Province has over our Municipal councils decisions.

People living here and those who live here part time have expectations.

The Province controls the Municipality legislatively. They control the revenue the municipality achieves through MPAC and through transfer payments.

They control new construction and housing through regulation and or the building code produced by NGO’s as well as through legislation the Province introduces.

Engineering standards are set by the Province and the NGO”s by regulation.

If the MOE decides that we need sewers or that our existing infrastructure needs updating they are mandated to do so at their will.

If a group of taxpayers want a street paved or a bridge improved or a new Medical Center built and demand it the city fathers are faced with election issues should they decline the request. Or in the alternative should the majority of Council vote to give it it gets done.

Now if going through the tunnel the Province cuts transfer payments for what ever reason the Municipality is forced to increase the tax base or go broke.

Now if the area wants to attract tourists to the area to develop an economy thus generating more tax revenue, they must make investment into infrastructure according to the parameters set out by the Province or the NGO”s.

Yes the Council has input but they are really driven by the Province who denies that they are responsible for Municipal tax increases.

The problems associated with the demands of locals both part-time and full-time combined with the Provincial direction which is contingent upon who we have elected Provincially really dictate the actions of Council.

Having said that, if you don’t want local tax increases then stop demanding new roads, more services, new medical centers etc.

There is only so much money both from a consumer stand point as well as a government stand point.

To expect all the services that Toronto has in Grey Bruce without the tax base you are dreaming unless you are prepared to continue paying additional dollars to provide those services etc.

Case in point Owen Sound and their rec center. In my opinion we need this like we need a hole in the head but yet they are building it or in the case of TSBP a Medical Center.

It comes down to stupid is as stupid does! You cannot have things both ways. Our elected reps are at the mercy of their masters, that is you and me and the Province. Damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Food Sovereignty negotiated away

2010-05-07T13:48:00.000-04:00

The Canada-E.U. Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement negotiations are based on commitments to place corporate rights before social and economic justice, democratic control, and ecological sustainability. Negotiations are progressing quickly and with little public scrutiny until now.

Trade Deal Attacks Seeds, Farmers, Food Sovereignty

Agriculture is a critical economic sector that will be severely affected by the proposed trade agreement with Europe. The trade deal will concentrate even more power in the hands of corporations, at the expense of farmers and food sovereignty.

Corporations Get Powerful New Tools to Control Seeds

The trade deal would give biotech, pharmaceutical, pesticide, seed, and grain companies powerful new tools to force farmers to buy seeds at high prices, on corporate terms. It would give corporations even more power to ultimately decide who farms and how.

Eliminate the Right to Save Seed?

The trade deal would almost entirely eliminate the rights of farmers to save, reuse and sell seed.

Plant varieties can be protected as intellectual property through Plant Breeders Rights as well as patents on genes. The trade deal would give rights holders an unprecedented degree of control over seeds and farming by committing Canada to adopt UPOV'91, the draconian 1991 version of The International Convention for the Protection of New Plant Varieties. The inclusion of UPOV'91 in the deal is completely unnecessary and is excessively harmful to Canadian farmers. Seed breeders would have the right to collect royalties on seed at any point in the food chain!

The draft of the trade deal also says that biotech corporations could seize the crops, equipment, and farms, and freeze the bank accounts of farmers who are deemed patent infringers, like farmers who find unwanted contamination in their fields.

End Supply Management?

The deal would commit Canada to reducing or eliminating agricultural subsidies and other government supports to farmers over time. Supply management systems that have allowed farmers in the dairy, poultry, and egg sectors to earn a decent living are under attack. The Canadian Wheat Board (a farmer controlled grain marketer) is also very likely under threat.

From - http://www.tradejustice.ca/Food-Sovereignty?bl=y

Rural Tax Rates Rise!

2010-05-01T17:12:00.002-04:00

Recently my local municipal Council has, like many other rural municipalities set their annual budget and have noted that due to lost revenue from the Provincial Government have had to raise our taxes. This has been an ongoing problem for such municipalities for four or five years now due to the “downloading” of the Farm Tax rebate and Managed Forest tax rebate program costs to said municipalities. Prior to 2006 the province paid for these tax discounts directly and promised to compensate the townships for such costs when they changed the manner of administering the program for the 2008 taxation year.

Since that time there has been a steady dwindling of funding returning to rural townships to cover the reduced taxation on these properties (such rebates are MANDATED by the province should property owners apply for same). The Association of Municipalities of Ontario says that “Today it pays only $65.8 million, about one-third of the original amount allocated” and that “ the total amount of the tax rebate that municipalities would expect under the original plan, because of higher assessments, has ballooned to $253.2 million, almost four times what the province pays rural municipalities now. Municipalities have had to come up with a whopping $187.4 million from other tax sources to make up the difference.”

More specifically - North Dundas a municipality “heavily dependent on agriculture which collected $13.1 million in taxes in 2009, is short $800,000 in tax revenue because the province has reneged on its promise to pay the full tax rebate.”

“North Dundas is not alone. SDG collected $31.2 million in taxes last year but lost $4.4 million or 14 per cent of the revenue because of the decreased farm tax rebate.”

“Prescott-Russell County is losing almost as much as SDG. Areas with an agricultural base are highly affected. Some of the rich agricultural counties like Middlesex in western Ontario have the same problem.”

“In the Municipality of Brighton, (they) get nothing from the province. The reneged deal means the township has to collect $140,000 more through increased property and industrial taxes.”

“Kawartha Lakes collected $908,789 from eligible farmland and managed forests in 2009. But if the land had been taxed at the full tax rate, the city would have received $3.6 million. The consequence was the $2.6 million shortfall that Kawartha Lakes believes should have been paid by the province was charged to local property and business owners.”

And in my own Township of Chatsworth, Mayor Greig says “They lost 273 thousand dollars in Ontario Municipal Partnership Funding and another 400 thousand from the farm tax rebate program. ……. the shortfall translated to 12.7 per cent of their budget.”

“He says the province's new funding formula is seriously flawed and "it's almost criminal what they're doing".

For those that are unaware of this program and the way such tax rebates work here are a few details:-

Farm properties satisfying the eligibility requirements are taxed at 25% of the municipal residential tax rate. The farm residence and one acre of land, surrounding it, will continue to be taxed as part of the residential class.

OMAFRA has the responsibility to determine and report eligible properties to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation from property owners submitting the multi-year application.

To be eligible for the Farm Property Class tax rate, the following criteria must be satisfied:

The property must be assessed as farmland it must be part of a farming business generating over $7000 of gross farm income and be reported to Canada Revenue Agency. The farm business operating on the must have a valid Farm Business Registration number. More than 50% of the property must be owned by Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. If the property is owned by a business which is a sole proprietorship, the owner must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

To receive the Managed Forest tax rebate the property owner must submit an approved forestry plan (renewable every 5 or 10 years) and the plan and forest must be reviewed by a licensed forestry technician for approval and renewal. The plan can only be applied to properties over 10 acres and a minimum of one acre surrounding any residential areas cannot be included. It cannot be applied to “commercial operations” and a minimum density of trees also is required.

Until recently Townships have been quietly lobbying the Ontario government to stand up to their promises to fully compensate municipalities for said rebates because “.It’s an issue we hate to bring up because it can reverberate back on farmers. Some people think farmers should pay the full tax rate." No doubt some of our urban cousins will be of that opinion, but such a point of view shows a lack of understanding of the plight of our farming community (particularly the family farm) and perhaps a lack of acknowledgment of the need for the preservation of forested lands for future generations health and well-being.

I submit to you that our farms and forests are critical for the future of all citizens in Ontario, indeed Canada, and not just the “local municipality”. If we are to have a tax incentive for these lands to continue to produce the food we eat and clean the air we breath (and I believe we should) then the cost of such programs must be spread across all those that benefit, and that includes residents of both rural AND urban areas. The rural population and farming population is steadily declining and such extra costs spread out over a small sparsely populated(by urban standards)area can be considerable.

It seems that the Ontario Government has already made their choice, rural municipalities are to be ignored, don’t fund their costs for provincially mandated programs, override their zoning bylaws and motions regarding wind turbine installations, enforce expensive water testing regimes and food processing regulations without regard to the effect upon the struggling rural areas. After all those rural folk are totally outnumbered by the urban population so their vote counts for little. By the time oil prices go through the roof, terminal seed terminates our crops, countries cease to export food in order to feed their own and urban populations look to us rural folk to feed them it will be to late. Multinationals will own all the land, our villages will be “retirement communities” and few will be left to care for our farms and forests.

Pessimistic, you bet, but it’s increasingly looking like a more lightly scenario.

I’m “Rural” and will do everything I can to remain so.

With extracts from

http://propertylimit.com/Prop_Farm_Properties.html

http://www.farmersforum.com/APR2010/p12.htm

A request for further information from Chatsworth Township did not receive any response.

A Comprehensive Vision Needed for Rural Ontario

2010-04-25T07:46:00.002-04:00

This CFFO Commentary sums it up quite well, but who is going to form that "comprehensive team" and will any one with the power to implement change take any notice?

There are many factors that influence the shape of the countryside, but it seems that they often work at cross purposes. Provincial ministries, municipalities, and interest groups are all so busy pursuing their mandates that they end up battling each other. Is it possible that a comprehensive vision for rural Ontario would help reduce these clashes? Is it time to consider the value of having a comprehensive team establish a vision for rural Ontario?

There are many government ministries at work in rural Ontario. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is working to provide opportunities for farmers and rural residents. The Ministry of the Environment is busy developing rules and regulations to protect our air, water, and soil resources. The Ministry of Natural Resources is safeguarding our forests and repopulating or controlling wildlife populations in the province. While there is communication between these departments, they continue to serve their own agendas, which is arguably the proper course of action as things currently stand.

Then there are the interest groups that are vying for influence with government and its different agencies. Farm groups advocate for a variety of benefits for farmers, from tax breaks to easing regulations. Some environmental groups push for firmer rules to protect water, air and wildlife while others push for reforestation and naturalization projects.

Then there are municipalities that need to find ways to provide infrastructure and services to rural residents. This growing burden creates the need for new sources of property tax revenue. Ensuring that rural schools and hospitals remain available to rural residents, attracting employment opportunities and providing the latest in communication technology highlight today’s municipal responsibilities.

All of these goals and objectives have merit to varying degrees, but where is the vision that balances these goals and works to create a thriving rural Ontario? Are we ensuring that infrastructure needs are being met? Have we considered the best way to balance increasing wildlife and forestation with a profitable agriculture industry? Have we considered the need to improve transportation and water infrastructure so that agriculture is competitive in a global marketplace, while doing so in an environmentally responsible manner?

All of these conflicting agendas point toward the lack of a cohesive vision for rural Ontario. If rural Ontario is to thrive there needs to be a bridging of the different ministries, interest groups, and municipalities to generate a comprehensive vision that balances these interests to make rural Ontario a thriving and important part of the province.

Nathan Stevens is the Research and Policy Advisor for the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario. The CFFO Commentary represents the opinions of the writer and does not necessarily represent CFFO policy.

www.christianfarmers.org/index.html.

Cooking by candlelight.

2010-04-17T17:56:00.001-04:00

“Under the new rates announced this week, peak pricing will be 9.9¢ a kw/h beginning on May 1. The off-peak price will be 5.3¢ a kw/h. The Ontario Energy Board, responsible for setting the prices, said the increase will add $7.60 — or 8% — to the average monthly hydro bill.”

Currently I pay 5.8¢ per Kwh for the first 1,000Kwh, have been informed that the delivery charge will increase around 7% {3.3% of total bill, delivery is more than 50% of the bill} AND that HST will add a further 5%) So by my calculations if I manage to transfer ALL my hydro use to nighttime or weekends under the TOD metering I will save just 60¢ per month if I use 1000Kwh per month! (5.3 x 1.033 x 1.05 = 5.74)

If just 50% of my use is “on peak” my hydro bill will increase by abt $22 a month (9.9-5.8 x 500 x 1.033 x 1.05). With us old folks looking for bed by 9pm, not cooking a meal or doing the wash it looks like our already tight budget is going to take a shellacking once again.

It seems the incentive is not to be saving money on our hydro bill for using off peak but a substantial penalty for using it on peak. Given that non of us can totally eliminate the use of hydro before 9pm or after 7am your hydro bill is going to go up substantially and when all that “green hydro” get paid for at 400% to 800% the current PEAK rate (wind around 40¢, solar around 80¢) we will all be going back to cooking on the wood stove (something we here already do quite a bit off) and reading by candlelight!

As one who was original in favor of time of day metering (and still think the concept of shifting use to even consumption is a good plan) I am very disappointed that even major shifts in my hydro usage will not result in any saving to my wallet. I note here also that when originally proposed there were “mid peak” periods proposed that allowed some savings during less busy DAYTIME hours, this has been now eliminated!

One more thing - if I see one more report or flyers saying the price of hydro is in the 5¢ to 9¢ range I am going to sceam, its not as if I have a choice where I get it or that I can go to the generating station and get “a bucket of hydro”, the cost of hydro INCLUDES the delivery charge, the dept retirement payment, the line loss calculation, the “regulatory charges" AND the frigging TAX on it all!! That totals out to around 14c per Kwh at the CURRENT price of hydro.

Tip of the hat to http://windconcernsontario.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/off-peak-hydro-rate-too-high-watchdog/

Funding Priorities

2010-04-03T19:24:00.004-04:00

Regular readers will know that I still struggle with dialup internet, even here in SW Ontario just 20 minutes from town there is no dsl, wireless is "out of range" but with the need for a tower, hardware depost and high monthly fees is out of my price range anyway. The only other option, satelite internet is then wayyyyy out of my grasp!

For a take on this from someone who's view is not coloured by the frustration of a slooooow connection see This piece from Impolitical!

Its about time.

2010-03-26T09:31:00.000-04:00

The Ontario budget that just came down has called for a wage freeze on all “non union” public workers and Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan has said that the government “will not fund” any wage increases in the unionized sector. Given that so many Ontarians, indeed Canadians, have been laid off, have run out of unemployment, are having difficulty finding new employment or are reduced to a part time job this is a quite reasonable and prudent thing to do.

Unfortunately the unionized sector will continue to get their “negotiated” raises and as the contracts come up will no doubt continue to demand “more” and threaten to walk off the job and disrupt services if they do not get their way. That government “will not fund further raises” is a bit of a non starter given that in both the heath and education sectors the government does not negotiate directly with those employees, so when, that’s when not if, these public employees with secure jobs and above average wages and benefits demand “more” where will it come from? Simply really, it will come out of the already stressed Hospital or School Board budgets and thus something else will suffer to pay for them.

This is not speculation, it is history folks, it has been this way for years and there is no reason for it to change. The union folk will cry “our members deserve a decent wage” whilst raking in two, three, four and even five time that received by those folk in those minimum wage jobs that for many are the only choice left. The teachers, nurses, technicians will decry cuts to services that may be needed to pay for their generous compensation but will they direct their unions to reduce any of their “demands”? Not a chance!

Bottom line, with an ever increasing demand for more government “services” and ever increasing demand by those providing those services for “better compensation” and an ever increasing percentage of our population working directly or indirectly for government, only two solutions exist. Increased taxes or reduced services.

Would that reduced compensation, reduced waste, and increased efficiency was in the government and union lexicon, and that the public reduce their ever increasing “need” for non essential services from government.

And that how it looks from one of the many who has been making do with less for some time now……

The Province of Toronto

2010-03-19T08:28:00.001-04:00

Recently rural MPP Bill Murdoch created some attention to the disconnect between the majority of urban voters and the minority of those who compose citizens outside of major cities by suggesting that Toronto should become its own province. Whilst this may have been a somewhat tongue in cheek comment the idea that our provincial government is city centric is indeed something of great concern to many of us who do not belong to that majority. Be it wind power, water source protection, species protection, forestry management, agricultural practices or any other issue affecting rural landowners and residents the majority urban representatives have a much greater impact upon decision making than those closer to the land. This is no less true for Federal governance than Provincial, with 4 out of 5 Canadians living in urban areas it is understandable that those folks will have a greater impact upon decision making than “The Rural Minority”

What follows is the text of an article I wrote some 4 years ago on this subject and is no less valid now that it was then.

We, the rural population, are in my view, rapidly being viewed as irrelevant by both much of the urban (particularly large urban) dwellers and many of our Provincial and Federal Leaders. We have seen of late very little attention given to our farm families despite a few vocal rallies at Queens Park and Ottawa, many of the urban population and indeed our leaders have the view that if you cannot compete in the “global market” dominated by the multinationals then you should simply quit! The “clean water” initiative to protect source water is at first glance a great move but if one looks closer we see that Conservation Authorities and rural municipalities are expected to regulate and police the new rules with little or no funding from upper levels of government. There is at this point no indication of how our cash strapped farmers , as willing as they may be to protect our streams, can afford the time or money to comply with these changes. Many small communities are already struggling with the increased testing and filtration required for drinking water systems. In the past few years the formula regarding tax incentives for both farm and forest land have been changed to put an increased burden upon our local municipalities (and thus our rural taxpayers) to pay for this. Many programs mandated by the provincial or federal government are being funded in whole or in part at the municipal level and this often disproportionately impacts the less populated townships. There is much more, but in short, there is an ever increasing move to download the costs of programs and changes that benefit all citizens to the rural areas that have to implement them.

The above is hardly a surprise, we are after all governed by an electoral system that favors the majority and much as our representatives may endeavor to make rural points of view known when these changes come before parliament, but they too are a minority. If we look at some figures from StatsCan it can be seen just where things are going………

Across Canada the “rural” (StatsCan defines rural as centers with a population of less than 1,000 or with less than 400 persons per square km) population is just 20% of total population. In Ontario that drops to 15%, here in the Grey Bruce area it is slightly above 50%, which is why I suppose we are known as a rural area, but note that nearly half of our residents are in fact urban dwellers.

If we look at those that really comprise the working rural folk and attempt to make that area outside the urban areas productive and of benefit to us all, the story gets worse.

Farm families comprise just 2.4% of our total population and 1.6% in Ontario and the numbers are steadily declining total numbers being down 10 – 15% since 1996 (5 years, all the above being from the 2001 census being the last available info)

See http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/ for more information.

It can be thus seen why many of our political leaders who rely upon the MAJORITY to vote for them in order to get into power do not give much thought or effort to supporting rural and farm communities despite their importance to the health and sustainability of our Country.

How can we change this………………

Firstly communication, we must educate both our leaders and the urban population as to the importance of the wellbeing of our Farms, Forests, Streams, Natural and Open areas and those that care for and own them. Most Farmers and rural landowners are very conscious of the heritage that they own and try and maintain in a sustainable and ecological manner as much as possible, but unless their income and lifestyle is sustainable they cannot sustain that which they care for. We must tell them that the Family Farm is crucial to the survival of many small rural communities, each are interdependent. We must tell our fellow citizens that the multinational corporations that would have control of our food supply from seed (or birth) to market to processing to retail, MUST have some limits put upon them. We must tell governments that regulate (and the corporations that compete with) the small farm cooperatives and farm gate / farmers markets out of existence, that it is these places where the best product and value can be found and that every one gains not just the “middlemen”

We must support our rural communities by shopping at such places and encouraging what few independent food stores left to “buy local” wherever possible. Use those small local businesses whenever possible so that our cash stays in and supports our community, avoid those “big box” stores (easy to say but harder to actually do) whose profits not only do not stay in the community but often do not even stay in the country. Encourage and educate those tourists from the big cities who come to see our beautiful countryside, show them the crops, the cattle, the forests and the flowers, tell them how we care for this land that future generations may continue to enjoy the abundance that it provides. Tell them that we cannot continue to do so if we cannot sustain our community’s economy, if we must all travel to the city to find jobs for ourselves or our children or if our ability to care for our environment is compromised by a lack of resources.

We must start to beat our own drum and LOUDLY, we must get the attention of all those that would forget about us, not by demonstrating at Queens Park or blocking highways, but by constantly telling what we do for the area, Province and Country, even if that is only maintain a small forest to clean the air or a visiting garden to provide escape from the city. We must understand that by its very definition rural folks will always be in a minority (not everyone can, or wants to, live outside urban areas) and thus we can only change things by garnering support from those that do live in urban areas that understand the importance of sustaining our rural communities.

We must not become the FORGOTTEN MINORITY.

“Murdoch also cited the Liberal-created Green Energy Act, along with the Endangered Species Act and Ontario Water Resources Act as causing hardship for rural Ontarians. He said his latest criticism of Toronto speaks to bigger concerns with democracy at Queen's Park. Murdoch said the premier of Ontario's office holds too much power. Cabinet ministers, deputy ministers and parliamentary assistants should be selected by caucus, he said, and MPPs should not be forced to vote as the party dictates.”

From some of the on line commentary and less than complementary posts about both Bill and rural residents in general it would seem that both sides need to get some more perspective. Democracy is, or should be, inclusive not exclusive. For more of the rural perspective and Bill’s views see these owensoundsuntimes articles

Access to information cut by Feds.

2010-03-15T19:39:00.003-04:00

This from The globeandmail is very troubling particularly for the rural communities and those for whom internet access is a luxury they can ill afford. The internet is in my view one of the few tools left to keep tabs upon government actions, both good and bad, federal or provincial, and is increasingly becoming essential in order to dig out the truth. That many of those who’s funding has been cut are those trying to help the less fortunate in out society, or those providing internet services to those who may not otherwise have it available for one reason or another, simply reinforces the belief that those in power to do everything they can to block information access from the general public. To eliminate funding for such help groups whether within 25km or within 1km of a library or not, particularly given the very modest amounts quoted, shows a total disregard and understanding of the operation and needs of such groups.

“The Conservative government is quietly cutting funding to hundreds of community groups and even hospitals that provide free Internet access to Canadians who might not otherwise have a chance to get online.

Organizations that benefit from Industry Canada's 16-year-old Community Access Program began receiving letters last week informing them that sites located within 25 kilometres of a public library would no longer be eligible for cash.

Groups had been receiving between $4,000 and $5,000 a year to buy computers and other hardware, such as printers and wireless routers; to pay for technical support and skills training; and sometimes to pay for the connection bills.

Organizations that have used the program include employment and youth drop-in centres, English-as-a-second-language programs, libraries, and seniors groups.

In rural areas, such organizations are often clustered in the middle of town and near the local library, meaning they are the most likely to be hit by the change in funding criteria.”

I said in a recent post that “the austerity program is about to commence” and I believe that there will be MUCH more along these lines, its not that government does not need to control spending but more about where those spending cuts will take place. We must take very close notice of the disconnect between what our governments at all levels say and what they actual do. I for one believe that past and current actions speak much more clearly to the direction our leaders wish to take us than the spin and BS that they feed us on a daily basis.

Shorter throne Speech….

2010-03-04T08:35:00.000-05:00

The Regime that has been busy cutting funding to woman’s programs now wants to give them “equality” by changing a couple of words in the National Anthem.
Upon returning from their 3 month “recalibration” holiday they wish to reintroduce EXACTLY the same legislation that THEY killed by proroguing parliament by regurgating previous promises using phrases like "Our government will continue," or "keep" or "reintroduce".
Freezing the already generous salaries of MPs and Senators but nothing said of their pensions which we pay 90% of.
Nothing about their unkept promise of several years ago of being “Open and Accountable”, or of Climate Change issues, but they have 19 Billion “infrastructure stimulus” left to bribe us with and spend on ads telling us how well they are doing!

In short, more of the same.

New Infrastructure Projects??

2010-03-02T08:40:00.001-05:00

"Mr. Harper, who announced 15 new infrastructure projects at a news conference yesterday with B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, weaved Olympic themes throughout his comments, including those about the economic recovery."

Correct me if I am wrong but didn’t they say that 99 / 95% of the funds were “committed” some months ago and that the deadline for “applications” has passed?
Could this be more “renouncements”, they were previously lying, or simply more PR on the backs of our Olympians?

Update – I knew I had seen it somewhere these are direct quotes from the government web site in Oct of last year from my post from Oct 11^th 2009, naturally those pages no longer exist but I am sure some enterprising individuals can find other quotes from new articles of the period.

Our Government …..ooops, sorry, Harpers Government says that “90 per cent of the stimulus funding for this fiscal year has now been committed” - “More than $7.6 billion in federal funds have been committed to more than 4,700 provincial, territorial and municipal infrastructure projects” and “Our Economic Action Plan is helping create or maintain an estimated 220,000 Canadian jobs by the end of 2010."

Ok, I get it, that was LAST YEARS stimulus now we are working on this years stimulus, wonder if we will be keeping better track of it this year?

Quote of the week!

2010-02-18T08:02:00.000-05:00

Accountability is the forgotten promise of Conservatives applying secrecy and control with such audacious ingenuity that Liberals are torn between anger and envy.
James Travers

Coal to Wood, a good idea?

2010-02-15T09:13:00.000-05:00

What follows is some extract from an article in The Globe & Mail

On Dec. 1, 2006, Public Service Co. of New Hampshire (PSNH) replaced a coal-fired plant with a wood-fired plant in the Atlantic seacoast city of Portsmouth. The first such conversion in North America, this plant generates 50 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 50,000 homes……..

Designated formally as Northern Wood Power at Schiller Station, the wood-fired plant gets its fuel from its own heavily forested neighbourhood. Most of the loggers who supply the plant with low-grade wood are family operations - and most of the 400,000 tons of wood chips they produce each year come from stumps, brush, small branches and tops of trees that would otherwise be discarded. The company has documented an impressive environmental record. The wood chips replace 130,000 tons of coal a year - or 400,000 tons since the plant went into operation. It has eliminated 6,500 tons of sulphur dioxide emissions and one million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. PSNH says the use of wood releases 70 per cent less nitrogen oxide than coal, 90 per cent less mercury, 95 per cent less sulphur dioxide and, further, produces only insignificant amounts of particulate matter……………….

The environmental superiority of wood-fired electricity, by the way, was confirmed for Ontario last week when a team of eight scientists associated with a University of Toronto research program reported its findings: Using wood pellets instead of natural gas , they calculated, reduces greenhouse-gas emissions by 78 per cent. Using wood pellets instead of coal reduces GHG emissions by 91 per cent.……………..

"In contrast to many other renewable generation options," they said, "biomass firing does not have the drawback of being intermittent and is applicable in areas without significant wind, solar or hydropower resources ... [It] requires low capital expenditures ... [It can be used] with virtually all types of coal boilers ... There are no major technological obstacles." Oh, yes. Ontario could revive its forest industry at the same time, essentially for free - transforming the money it now uses to import coal (and to fund "stimulus programs") into reliable, productive incomes for loggers and pellet makers.

The documentary proof is in New Hampshire. "We are producing the same amount of power [with wood as with coal]," Northern Wood Power Plant manager Dick Despins said in celebration of his company's wood-fired one billion kwh. "We are using a local, renewable fuel source. Our emissions are lower. The dollars we spend stay close to home."

More at Coal to wood: A powerful plan for Ontario - The Globe and Mail

For a more technical overview go to http://www.power-technology.com/projects/wood-schiller/

Not a Good Start

2010-02-13T10:07:00.000-05:00

Like all Canadians I was saddened to hear of the death of an athlete at the 2001 games just before the opening ceremonies but one wonders if that is why the Canadian National Anthem was sung more like a funeral dirge that a celebratory salute to our country. Not the singers fault we are told as that is how she was instructed to sing it!

That the start of the ceremonies consisted of four giant condoms being inflated above those representing our native peoples did little to make me feel patriotic. It did get better - at times – some skillful lighting effects made up for even more of the less than uplifting musical background to the “cultural” portion of the presentation. The fiddlers and tap dancers finally woke me up enough to take notice, at which point it being waay past my bed time I switched off figuring I would leave on a high note. Not being a hockey fan the fact that I missed Greskey lighting the flame is no big deal, like everything else in our world today its all over-hyped in my opinion.

I really hope that our athletes do a better job than those responsible for the opening ceremonies, if the money spent on the stage show was available to the athletes they probably would have a much better chance! Probably having some snow would help also, but we cant blame that on the organizers…. or can we? Historically the warmest place in Canada during the winter, one wonders what the committee was thinking when choosing Vancouver!

Good luck Guys, with both the weather and the results..

Senator Corrects Harpers Spin

2010-02-09T08:28:00.003-05:00

David Akin reproduces a letter from Liberal Senator Jim Cowan to Harper Justice Minister Rob Nicholson. Nothing more needs to be said, I have however highlighted some of the more relevant sections.

February 4, 2010The Hon. Rob Nicholson, P.C., M.P.Minister of Justice
Dear Minister Nicholson,I am writing concerning several statements made by you on Friday, January 29 when defending Prime Minister Harper’s appointment of an additional five Conservative Senators. In the past 12 months, Prime Minister Harper has made an unprecedented 32 appointments to the Senate – the most Senate appointments made by any Canadian Prime Minister in a 12-month period since Confederation.

I was puzzled to read press reports in which you defended the latest Senate appointments as necessary to allow your Government “to move forward on [y]our tackling-crime agenda.” You accused the Liberal opposition of having “obstructed that agenda in the Senate.” According to a transcript of your press conference, you said:"The Ignatieff Liberals have abused their majority in the Senate by obstructing law and order bills that are urgently needed and strongly supported by Canadians.”

I can only assume that you have been misinformed as to the progress of anti-crime legislation. In fact, as I am sure your Cabinet colleague, Senator Marjory LeBreton, would tell you, the overwhelming majority of your Government’s anti-crime bills had not even reached the Senate when Prime Minister Stephen Harper chose to prorogue Parliament. Indeed, an honest examination of the record compels one to acknowledge that the greatest delays to implementation of your justice agenda have resulted from your own Government’s actions – sitting on bills and not bringing them forward for debate, delaying bringing legislation into force, and ultimately, of course, proroguing Parliament. That action alone caused some 18 of your justice-related bills to die on the Order Paper.As a Canadian Press report described, “Indeed, [Prime Minister] Harper himself has done far more to delay his own crime legislation, by proroguing Parliament and other stalling tactics, than Liberal senators have ever done.”

Your Government introduced 19 justice-related bills in the House of Commons. Of these, 14 were still in the House of Commons at prorogation. Of the five justice bills that passed the House of Commons and came to the Senate:two passed the Senate without amendment;one (the so-called Serious Time for the Most Serious Crime bill) was tabled by your Government in November in the Senate but not brought forward for further action after that;one was passed with four amendments and returned to the House of Commons which did not deal with it before Parliament was prorogued; andone was being studied in committee when Parliament was prorogued and all committee work shut down.

There were a further two justice bills that your Government chose to initiate in the Senate. One was passed by the Senate after 14 days, sent to the House of Commons, passed and given Royal Assent. The other was tabled in the Senate on April 1, but has not been brought forward by your Government for any further action since then.In terms of the status of the 14 law-and-order bills in the House of Commons, that had not yet reached the Senate when Parliament was prorogued:Four of these bills have been sitting in the House of Commons at first reading, three in that state since October, and one since November – your Government chose not to bring any of these bills forward for second reading debate. Another bill, Bill C-19, was tabled in the House of Commons by your Government in March, 2009, brought forward for two days of second reading debate in June, and not brought forward for any further action since then.Similarly, Bill C-35 was tabled in June, brought forward for one day of second reading debate in October, and no further action taken since then.

Seven justice-related bills were being studied in Committee in the House of Commons as of prorogation. That work, of course, was required to stop immediately upon prorogation.One bill – Bill C-34, the Protecting Victims from Sex Offenders bill – got as far as to be reported back from the House of Commons Committee on December 7, before dying on the Order Paper with the Government’s prorogation of Parliament.

I fail to understand how this factual record could lead you to say, as you did in your press conference that, “the record also shows that the Liberals are soft on crime” or that the Liberals in the Senate “obstructed” law and order bills. In fact, as I am sure you will now recognize, it is your Government that has failed to move forward a number of your own anti-crime bills. And, of course, by choosing to prorogue Parliament, Prime Minister Harper chose to let 18 of his Government’s 21 “tough-on-crime” bills die on the Order Paper. Comparing the numbers, Canadians would have to conclude that it is the Harper Conservatives who have chosen to obstruct law and order bills – while shamelessly trying to smear the Liberals and the Senate with the blame.

It is difficult to take a law-and-order agenda seriously when it is argued with so little respect for facts. Justice above all depends upon truth. As our country’s Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of Canada, your first allegiance must always be to the truth, far beyond any political or partisan gamesmanship. Our system of justice depends upon it. How can Canadians have any confidence in their justice system, if the person responsible for that system – the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada – is prepared to play fast and loose with the truth?

In your press conference, you pointed to three bills as evidence of Liberal Senators’ supposed “obstruction” of your Government’s agenda: Bills C-15, C-25 and C-26.Bill C-15 was passed by the Senate with four amendments. These amendments represented our advice to the House of Commons, reflecting what we heard and concluded after listening to testimony from Canadians about the bill. That is our job as members of the second legislative House of Canada’s Parliament. We fully expected to hear back from the House of Commons with that House’s considered response to our advice. Unfortunately, that was not to be: instead, Prime Minister Harper chose to prorogue Parliament. The Senate’s work – done in the best tradition of Canadian parliamentary democracy – was lost.

While we may disagree as to whether the Senate’s amendments improved the bill (as I would say) or weakened it (as you would say) what cannot be truthfully said is that the Senate either delayed or obstructed the passage of the bill.What “killed” the bill in the end, was not the Senate but the Prime Minister in shutting down Parliament before the House of Commons had a chance to consider the amendments proposed by the Senate.
I was particularly surprised that you referred to Bill C-25 during your press conference. That bill, which dealt with limiting credit for time spent in pre-sentencing custody, passed the Senate without any amendments on October 21, 2009, yet as of this writing, according to the Library of Parliament and the Privy Council Office, the bill has still not been brought into force by your Government – more than three months later. One is left to wonder whether you simply forgot to bring it into force? Or was the bill more about the appearance of being “tough on crime” than actually taking action? Certainly we now know that bill was not as urgent a priority for the Harper Government as was initially represented.

Finally, Bill C-26 was being studied by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee when Parliament prorogued. As of prorogation, that bill had been in the Senate for 38 days. By comparison, the bill spent 42 days in the House of Commons. Committee study of proposed legislation is what many observers say is among the best work of the Senate. I am sure you want Canada’s criminal legislation to be the best and most effective it can be, and would agree that the proposed changes to the Criminal Code regarding auto theft require careful study consistent with our parliamentary system. Unfortunately, that work had to cease because of prorogation.
As Minister of Justice, and as a personal proponent of a strong law-and-order agenda, you have a duty, which I am sure you recognize, to uphold the truth and not mislead Canadians.
Accordingly, I am confident that you will wish to quickly correct the record, and agree that the Liberal opposition in the Senate has not in fact “obstructed” your Government’s anti-crime agenda. To the contrary, the greatest delays to the implementation of your agenda have been due to your own Government’s actions in failing to bring bills forward for debate, dragging your feet in bringing legislation into force, and most significantly, proroguing Parliament.
I look forward to your clarification of these issues for Canadians.

Yours very truly, James S. Cowan
Cc: The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Cc: The Honourable Marjory LeBreton, Leader of the Government in the Senate

t/h to Harperbizarro for this

Harper & Hockey

2010-02-05T08:18:00.000-05:00

From CP
TORONTO — Stephen Harper a hockey fan, you say? And then some, it turns out.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, the prime minister holds court in detail on both the history of the game and its role in shaping Canadian society……….
Harper says the tough, aggressive, fast-paced aspects of hockey are as much a part of the Canadian character as being "peace-loving and fair-minded and pleasant."
Harper also concedes that the chance to live out his boyhood fantasy of playing in the National Hockey League would outweigh the powerful pleasures of life as PM…………..

Quick someone give him a place on the team in exchange for him leaving the Peace-loving and Fair-minded Canadians alone and quitting as PM. Please, please, please!

No Prorouge Rally

2010-01-23T15:37:00.005-05:00

Please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/ruralpic/OwenSoundRally# for a few pics of the Owen Sound Rally. Due to my 28k connect speed they are not HQ but if you want one in a better quality contact me.

The rally against proroguing parliament in Owen Sound had about 250 – 300 citizens out in front of MP Larry Millers office to hear speakers from various individuals, political parties (no Mr Miller though!) and labour organizations speak to the distain that the Harper regime has shown for our democratic institutions. The point that was made by all was that this is not about political partisan views but about our parliamentary democracy and accountability of the government to that institution.

The highlight of the whole rally was however a young fellow who in conversations with organizers just as folks gathered impressed them so much that they said “would you like to say a few words to the crowd?”, having said that he would, he then went on to speak passionately and without preparation or notes about the current situation in Ottawa and the need for citizens to get involved.

He received the greatest ovation from the crowd of all the speakers and was almost mobbed by the several press representatives present after he had spoke. I suspect his name will be prominent in the local news tomorrow and I will update this post with links to appropriate articles as they become available.

I spoke briefly to him between interviews and he said how hard it was to not become depressed by the feeling of helplessness in effecting change but that this rally had given him much hope. I invited him to contact me should he wish to put some of his views and ideas into a post for my blog Democracy Under Fire and I truly hope that he contacts me. The future of Canada rests in our youth and this young man is one who this old fart would be glad to see have a large part in our future governance.

Update – Here is a link to the Sun Times article on the Owen Sound Rally

The speakers were labour leaders, community activists, former and current political candidates and student Jon Farmer, 19, who said he is "an anti-party person myself." Asked just minutes before taking the megaphone if he would give his youth perspective at the gathering, Farmer spoke off the cuff about his disappointment in Harper, Miller and the "broken" system.
"We're only the start," Farmer said. "Because we care, it's our responsibility to make sure people keep talking about what is happening. Our parliamentary system is broken down right now, it may even be rotten from the inside out."

Well said Jon, you are welcome to express your views here or at the blog http://democracyunderfire.blogspot.com/ - Democracy requires dialog, please join us!

UPDATE – For those with high speed here is a link to Jon speaking at the rally

Real Milk IS ok!

2010-01-21T14:33:00.001-05:00

Michael Schmidt is acquitted on 19 Charges today in Newmarket court.

I think it's great news to see that over bearing government interference has been beaten back in the case of Michael Schmidt, charged with the illegal sale and distribution of raw milk and raw milk products.Sure raw milk CAN occasionally produce illness if contaminated but man has lived on this product for 1000s of years and survived, Mr Schmidt has never had anyone complain of illness and some of the best damn cheeses in the world are made with raw milk. This is a case of over zealous government policy attempting to interfere with educated peoples right to consume healthy whole food. It's not as if he's selling it as pasteurized when it's not. These consumers are more than eager to pay a premium for what they consider a more natural and healthy product, which should be their right. It also should be available without having join Mr Schmidt's brilliant but ridiculous Cow Share program. Who needs this grief just to buy a jug of milk!

I think the government needs to spend more time monitoring the filth in factory farms and meat packing plants and leave proven safe vendors of raw milk alone.

Thanx to G A B

No Prorogue Rally

2010-01-16T19:08:00.001-05:00

Our local MP Larry Miller says he supports the PM in shutting down parliament and that to do so to avoid criticism is “normal”, further that Canadians “don’t care” about the Afghan detainee issue. Democracy as we know it is dependent upon our elected representatives, both those in power and those in opposition, being “open and accountable”. Our parliamentary processes are where much of the checks and balances take place and the arbitrary suspension of the House is but the latest of a long string of actions by the Harper regime to undermine those processes.

Hundreds of thousands of Canadians across the country have expressed their concern on the Facebook Group Page , in blogs, in letters to the editor, in letters and emails to their MPs and in conversations with their friends and neighbors. Next Saturday there will a number of rallies across the country to show that we DO CARE and that Proroguing Parliament for partisan purposes IS NOT ACCEPTABLE

Locally the rally will take place as follows, show you care about our democracy and be there to let Mr Miller and the Harper regime know that they are not going to get away with it this time.

RALLY
Date: Saturday, January 23Time: 1:00 – 4:00 pmLocation: 1131 2nd Avenue East in front of our conservative M.P.’s (Larry Miller) office

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=238998635487#/event.php?eid=239819708620&index=1

RALLY PLANNING GROUP

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=238998635487#/group.php?gid=238998635487

Information for the over 50 rallys in other cities across Canada can be found on the Facebook Event Page and in the side bar at No Prorouge

Well done Councilors

2010-01-13T08:58:00.001-05:00

As I have said before I am a supporter of wind power….. in the right place and at the right price. BUT the heath problems, property value and visual impacts upon local residents MUST be addressed before these large corporate wind farm installations are approved. The environmental assessment process must be fully reinstated to protect local residents and local councils must have the ability to make the final decision on the projects not senior levels of government remote from the local area impacted.

So thank you to all these municipal councils and more particularly my own council in Chatsworth.

Township of Chatsworth Resolution:

WHEREAS there are concerns about the impact of adverse health effects, caused by large scale wind turbines,
AND WHEREAS it appears that no third party independent review of the impact of these adverse health effects has been completed.
NOW THEREFORE be it resolved that the Township of Chatsworth support MPP Bill Murdoch’s Private Members Bill imposing a moratorium on new construction of wind turbines untill such time as the Medical Officer Of Health for Ontario has deemed that there are no health issues caused by large wind turbines;
AND FURTHER that the Township of Chatsworth not support construction of any large scale commercial wind turbines within the Township until such time as a third party independent study has determined that there are no health risks caused by the said wind turbines
Carried

42 other municipalities have also enacted similar resoulutions including Town of the Blue Mountain, Bruce and Huron Counties, and Grey Highlands as shown below.

Resolution from the Grey Highlands Council:

RE: Removal of local land use planning controls for renewable energy facilities
“WHEREAS , the Municipality of Grey Highlands is concerned that the removal of local land use planning controls for renewable energy facilities will have a detrimental effect on the Municipality;
AND WHEREAS, the passage of Bill 150 will limit the ability of the Municipality to provide meaningful comment and participation in the placement of wind and other renewable energy facilities with the removal of power under the Planning Act;
AND WHEREAS, without powers under the Planning Act, the Municipality will no longer be able to require Agreements related to access, landscaping, and securities for renewable energy projects;
AND WHEREAS, the Municipality will no longer be able to address the needs of the local area in such an Agreement.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the Municipality of Grey Highlands requests that the Province undertake a comprehensive review of the potential health and land use impacts (including property values) to the General Public associated with the placement of all Renewable Energy Facilities; and review the proposal to remove local land use planning controls under the Planning Act through Bill 150.”
CARRIED.

The Price of Hydro

2010-01-08T14:02:00.002-05:00

Like so many others I generally support the move towards self-sufficiency whist at the same time reducing our impact upon our environment but have to question some of the decisions made regarding “green power”. Setting aside for now the visual impact that wind farms have upon our countryside and the unproved (unresearched) impact that the turbines have upon nearby (largely rural) residents and the questionable placement of large solar arrays over arable land, setting aside the fact that neither wind power or solar is a 24hr a day 7 day a week means of generation, let us instead look at the costs that consumers must eventual pay.

This from a Globe and Mail article recently-

“The average market price for electricity in Ontario is at its lowest level since the market was opened up in 2002. It was 3.3 cents a kilowatt hour yesterday, compared with a record high average of 9.97 cents in September, 2005. But customers are not reaping the benefits of lower prices because the government is recovering the cost of new projects from power users.”
“The Ontario Power Authority, the government’s planning arm, says it managed 47 large-scale electricity supply contracts worth a total of $14.1-billion last year. Contract holders receive a fixed price over 20 years for the electricity they produce – 13.5 cents a kilowatt hour for on-shore wind farms and up to 80.2 cents for solar power. While wind and solar make up only a small portion of electricity supply today, the rates are well above the average of 4.5 cents that government-owned Ontario Power Generation receives for most of its electricity output.”

One of the arguments that opponents of nuclear power make is the high cost of building and maintaining nuclear generation facilities but even taking into consideration that “debt repayment” bit we see on our hydro bills the cost is nowhere near the fixed price being offered the private corporations to “encourage” them to build new wind or solar facilities. Given the glut of applications for wind farms (to the dismay of most of those impacted by these installations) the price must indeed be generous and more than pay for the investment!

There is little doubt that consumer prices for hydro are going to rise, in fact once time of day metering is instituted this summer in most areas of Ontario daytime prices will approximately double. This is still well below the “cost” of wind power and not even in the same ballpark as solar. Look at it this way, “cheap” nuclear power is subsidizing the “expensive” wind and solar power in that the price you pay is the “average market price” and if other forms of generation were receiving the same as say wind power corporations we would all be paying approximately FOUR TIMES as much for our hydro. To those who want to do away with nuclear power and rely entirely upon “renewable resources” I say beware what you wish for.

Just to be clear I support the use of wind generation to supplement nuclear or hydroelectric when such installations are placed away from residential areas (that includes rural residences) such as offshore or other unpopulated places. I support the use of solar power, expensive as the installations may be, on roof tops and individual homes provided that such thing can be done at a reasonable competitive price, but the go green at any price is not to my mind “sustainable”!

The PBO Report on the Infrastructure Spending

2010-01-01T12:39:00.009-05:00

The PBO recently released this report which shows where the ISF (Infrastructure Stimulus Fund) is going and how much has flowed (insofar as he is able to track it). Couple of things of note – Value of approved projects 4.7 billion, Federal portion 1.7 billion, work done to date just 345 million, actual cash that has flowed 23 million (includes provincial share).
So after almost one year less than 1% of the “stimulus” has reached the pockets of any taxpayers – as of Sept 2009! (1,700,000 divided by 23,000 / 2)

Some extract from the report (2mb pdf) are shown below. The report also includes individual reports for each province.

The principal objectives of the ISF were to stimulate economic growth and “to create jobs”. The government has yet to provide a performance reporting framework to assess the success of the ISF in achieving these objectives.

The PBO has received basic project data on all of the ISF projects approved as of September 22, 2009, as well as the first set of quarterly recipient progress reports as of September 30, 2009, and has undertaken an assessment of these datasets.

The September data indicate approved applications totalling 3,035 projects in Canada valued at $7.4 billion with an average value of $2.5 million per project. The total approved federal contribution from the ISF is indicated to be $2.8 billion. With regard to the type of projects, more than two thirds of the money has been dedicated to projects related to highway and regional transit, local roads, water and wastewater.

The first dataset (the applications dataset) was received by PBO on November 6, 2009, and contains application information from 3,035 individual projects in all provinces and territories for which applications had been approved as of September 22, 2009.

The second dataset (approved claims dataset) was received by PBO on November 20, 2009 and includes data on 1,643 of the 3,035 projects identified in the first dataset, for 9 provinces (data for Quebec is unavailable) and 3 territories for which claims reports were filed.

The Response to the Beyond Freefall Report. (part 3)

2009-12-26T08:32:00.000-05:00

Part 1 and Part 2 of my response to the response were largely negative, in this final post on this I will try and find some positive things to say about the governments various programs and funding outlines contained in this document as difficult as that may be.

Throughout this response the government makes repeated references to The Rural Secretariat and almost all of the new initiatives are “coordinated by” that small department within the Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food. It is my understanding that this department does not deliver or manage any programs themselves but is “responsible for developing partnerships with federal, provincial, territorial and rural stakeholders” and “works with government departments & agencies …. to explore mechanisms to … coordinate federal government programs….”

There are two point here, firstly you can only “coordinate” programs that exist or are being developed and such programs specifically aimed at rural Canada seem to be in short supply.

Secondly the senates recommendation that the “Government create a new Department of Rural Affairs which would assume and expand on the responsibilities currently assigned to the Rural Secretariat.” Was met with this statement:-
“The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food was assigned specific responsibility for coordinating rural development and enhancing the quality of rural life.”

In other words NO new Department of Rural Affairs, its all up the Minister! It then goes on to basically say that the Minister is “supported by” the Rural Secretariat, nothing specific is said about recommendations “that all memoranda to Cabinet include the Rural Secretariat’s analysis of the policy or program’s likely impact on rural Canada”

The Secretariat did however get “$45.6 million over four years ….. to continue its work”.

The Senates recommendation that the “government provide stable, long-term
funding to the Co-operatives Secretariat and the Co-operative Development Initiative.” Seems to have been met with some success in that “funding for CDI had been renewed and enhanced through to March 31, 2013 with a $19.1 million investment” It should be noted however that the Co-op’s supported by this initiative include housing co-ops (CDI has supported a number of co-operative housing projects over the years) and that the “Agricultural component of CDI, put in place in 2006” provided support to (only about) “60 new and emerging value-added agricultural co-ops” of the over 1500 co-op projects supported since 2003.

This in my view is one area that has enormous potential for the rural communities to enhance their economy and sustainability. Local co-ops processing local goods and employing local residents should be strongly encouraged and supported by all levels of government.
The senate specifically addressed rural TRANSPORTATION infrastructure and recommended that the “federal government should study how to coordinate existing rural transportation services into a flexible network …… and provide extra transportation services to rural citizens. The Governments response largely referred to generalized infrastructure funds available to municipalities across Canada including the “Building Canada Plan” the “GTF” (Gas Tax Fund). Nothing was said specifically about rural transportation issues or funding.

This funding to municipalities is indeed one of the better things coming out of this government and no doubt each municipality will use it as they see fit to benefit the “infrastructure” in their community. There is however a BIG gap in transportation infrastructure left by these programs and that is transportation outside of, and between, small towns and cities across Canada. Many of those in rural Canada have recently lost what for many was the ONLY means other than by private vehicle to travel to the nearest large urban area where all the services are increasingly being “centralized”.

The inter city (Greyhound and others) bus service may well need to be subsidized to keep running in some areas and given the recent initiatives by many larger communities to “get people out of their cars and on to public transportation” one would think that both Federal and Provincial governments would do so. In that such services cross municipal boundaries it is all but impossible for such support to come from individual municipalities, that previous governments allowed the sell off of our rail corridors now seems like a lost opportunity for modern intercity links.

There is lots more but I said in the last post that I would keep it short so I will make no further specific comments but will say that although I was very impressed with the Senate report I was singularly unimpressed with the governments response to it. It appears to me to be largely a document promoting existing programs (some going back 5 or more years), the 2009 budget of which so much was temporary “stimulus” and the contention that many of these issues are “not their problem” and should be addressed by other levels of government. I can see little new or good coming out of this response!

At last check a copy of this report still cannot be found on either the Parlimentry site or the Rural Secretariat site (it appears their efforts to make a text available there are being frustrated) it can however be found at Govresponse_ruralpov_eng_final.pdf

Fossil of the Year

2009-12-18T13:57:00.001-05:00

We interrupt our series on our governments response to rural issues to highlight yet another area where we have been totally let down by our leaders.

"This afternoon, Canada was awarded the Colossal Fossil, a dubious honour given to the country that has accumulated the greatest number of Fossil of the Day awards. The latter is a shaming award recognizing the most obstructive countries at the negotiations on a daily basis."

“After snagging an impressive ten Fossil Of The Day awards, Canada has managed to attain the prestigious "Colossal Fossil" designation in Copenhagen. Canada wins Fossil of the Year, for the second year in a row.”

Meanwhile our PM is no where to be seen, not surprising given the ever decreasing respect that Canada is receiving from delegates and citizens at home and abroad on this issue.

The Response to the Beyond Freefall Report. (part 2)

2009-12-13T13:03:00.009-05:00

As promised I have studied the governments specific response for a number of recommendations contained in the Senate report “Beyond Freefall: Halting Rural Poverty”. Below is the synopsis of those particular recommendations that caught my eye back in June of 2008. For the sake of brevity and clarity the text of the response has been heavily edited, those that want to read the full text should go to the Rural Secretariats web site. My comments are in italics!

Even though I have only addressed a few issues it is a long post, I hope you will take the time to wade through it, reading the full report and response will take even more patience!

RECOMMENDATION 2-3: The committee recommends that the federal government work with provincial, territorial and municipal governments to identify ways in which a range of existing and new services might be delivered through existing rural infrastructure points such as rural post offices.

Government Response - Service Canada provides one-stop, integrated service across delivery channels such as telephone, Internet, mail, and in-person……
SC has, on a very limited basis, piloted partnerships with provincial counterparts, such as Service Ontario………
Canada Post also provides an important federal presence in rural Canada ………
In response to the recommendation to expand the range of services offered by rural post offices, Government departments and agencies may make arrangements with Canada Post to deliver services to Canadians through rural post offices.

In other words what you see is what you get! “Departments MAY make arrangements” not SHALL or are ENCOURAGED to! As for SC good luck with that if you need to produce documentation or require face to face help in rural areas! The use of existing rural infrastructure, be it federal or provincial, schools or post offices, to provide a location to provide services to the rural community (even on a part time or occasional basis) is a recommendation that makes so much sense that it should be a “no brainer”.

RECOMMENDATION 2-4: The committee recommends that the federal government move at least 10% of its existing large urban centre employees to regional centres in rural Canada.

Government Response - It is important to note that 60 per cent of Core Public Administration positions are already located outside of the National Capital Region

So if its not in Ottawa it must be rural?? A “Regional Center” in Toronto does little for the residents of Owen Sound or Goderich, or the many rural towns and villages across Canada.

RECOMMENDATION 3-1: The committee recommends that the federal government reintroduce the Canadian Farm Families Options Program with modifications that take into account feedback from farmers……………

RECOMMENDATION 3-2: The committee recommends that the federal government eliminate the tax on capital gains on the disposition of qualifying farm property of an active farming business to a child (as defined in the Income Tax Act) who commits to engage in an active farming business…………..

Government Response - Changes were made to the second year of Canadian Farm Families Options Program, as a result, $230 million was redirected to other agricultural priorities……..
The Income Tax Act contains provisions that benefit small businesses, including farm operations……..

Seems like another Non Answer to me!

RECOMMENDATION 3-3: The committee recommends that, as part of the proposed long-term farm policy framework, the federal government introduce direct payments in recognition of the ecological goods and services provided by
farmers and rural landowners.

Government Response - Environment Canada (EC), and other federal and provincial departments are evaluating the efficiency of a range of innovative mechanisms to enhance Ecological Goods and Services , such as tradeable permits, conservation easements, enhancements of environmental farm plans, and market-based instruments such as water quality trading and auctions.

Water Quality trading and auctions?? Market Based instruments?? Tradeable Permits??
Sounds like another one of those “if you don’t want to clean it up you can buy your way out schemes!

RECOMMENDATION 3-4: The committee recommends that the federal government should…………. help organize and fund efforts to develop watershed agreements between urban communities and major stakeholders in relevant rural communities. These agreements should ensure that rural communities, including rural private property owners, are adequately compensated for their efforts to protect watersheds.

Government Response - In Budget 2007, the Government made a series of investments in Canadian watersheds including:
$12 million over two years to support the clean-up of Lake Simcoe;
$11 million over two years to accelerate the clean-up of eight Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes Basin under the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality agreement;
$7 million over two years to support federal leadership in advancing the clean-up of Lake
Winnipeg; and
$5 million over two years to the International Joint Commission for further study of the Great Lakes and outreach on water quality with the U.S.

The provinces and territories are the main authorities managing water resources in Canada.
The Government of Canada is responsible for drinking water provisions in areas of federal jurisdiction (First Nations, national parks, national defence), aquatic ecosystem protection, including for fish and wildlife habitat and species at risk; marine navigation; and formal agreements for managing water resources between provinces, and between Canada and the United States.

The Government of Canada is investing in the protection of our watersheds under the Action Plan for Clean Water and is evaluating the effectiveness of a range of watershed management instruments to ensure that they can demonstrate measurable results.

OK, I will give then this one but will have to see what this “Action Plan for Clean Water” is! But nothing about “help organize and fund efforts to develop watershed agreements between urban communities and major stakeholders”

RECOMMENDATION 3-5: The committee recommends that the federal government provide stable funding to Environment Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk over a five-year period.

Government Response - The Government is pleased to report that the HSP is funded on a stable basis through the Government’s Species at Risk Program. It is supported by government annual appropriation funding and is being supplemented by additional funding until 2011-2012.

I will have to give them this one also although I do wonder if “stable funding” means the same thing to government as is does to those administering the programs.

RECOMMENDATION 3-7: The committee recommends that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada along with key producers conduct a thorough assessment of the impacts on the rural economy of the various government supports to the biofuels industry……………..

Government Response -The Government is investing $2.2 billion over 9 years to help develop the Canadian biofuels industry. ……..
As the Canadian renewable fuels strategy is implemented, there will be benefits to biofuels development for rural economies including new jobs and new market opportunities for farmers………
Analysis conducted within AAFC estimated that to meet the renewable fuel mandate, about 8,700 jobs (direct and indirect) would be created in Canada with an expected average of about 334 jobs per 100 million litres of biofuels production capacity developed. …….
This integrated approach makes it difficult to evaluate the strategy solely based on its impact on rural communities…..

So much for the “thorough assessment” sound like its all decided and that the impacts upon rural communities, or for that matter the viability of using arable land to grow food for cars rather than people, comes secondary.

RECOMMENDATION 3-8: The committee recommends that the federal government, with the provinces and territories, change food inspection regulations to ease the entry of local producers and organic growers into the market………..

Government Response -The Government’s legislative and regulatory base protects consumers’ and producers’ rights while maintaining high standards for a safe, fair, and secure trading system. This includes putting in place devices to better identify importers, track imports, and work with foreign authorities to verify the safety of foods at their country of origin.

For local organic growers to enter the market, compliance with either provincial or federal regulations may be required. The Government is supporting producer access by making the Canada General Standard Board’s Organic Production Systems - General Principles and Management Standards (CGSB 310 Standard) and the Permitted Substances List publicly accessible.

Through a system of product and labelling certification, consumers can have confidence the products they purchase are organic and Canadian producers of organic products can have confidence that products offered in the market meet the principles of organic production. An organic equivalency arrangement with the United States is also now in place. With this arrangement, importers of organic products from the United States are required to meet the terms of this arrangement, contributing to a level playing field.

Lots here about regulations but nothing about making it easer for small local producers to enter the market or to comply with all those regulations! Support is making the regulations “publicly accessible”? Should they not be anyway? I am not sure whether “equivalency arrangement with the United States” help or hinder our small producers.

RECOMMENDATION 4-2: The committee recommends that the federal government provide incentives for sustainable forestry management practices on private woodlots through the Income Tax Act.

Government Response - The Government of Canada appreciates the recommendation of the Committee regarding incentives for sustainable forestry management practices on private woodlots through the Income Tax Act. The Government of Canada notes that owners of commercial woodlots …… may already benefit from tax measures………

In other words the appreciation does not extend to actually doing anything and non commercial wood lot owners in particular are on their own in this regard!

RECOMMENDATION 6-4: The committee recommends that the federal government commit to 50-50 capital funding for new rural transportation infrastructure. {and} study how to coordinate existing rural transportation services into a flexible network {that would}provide extra transportation services to rural citizens.

Government Response - Municipalities have significant flexibility to use the (GTF) funding to address their infrastructure priorities. The federal GTF doubled on April 1, 2009 from $1 billion to $2 billion per year …….. (and) will become permanent beyond 2014 at $2 billion per year nationally……….
(The) 100% rebate of the Goods and Services Tax paid by communities …….. , The Communities Component of the Building Canada Fund …………
Federal, provincial and territorial transportation Ministers maintain a forum, the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety to discuss transportation issues. Any jurisdiction wishing to discuss transportation in rural areas may raise this issue at the Council and propose to other jurisdictions possible initiatives for study.

OK so funding from various programs is available to all municipalities across Canada but what off specific help with coordination and funding of RURAL transportation issues?

RECOMMENDATION 7-5: The committee recommends that the Canada Revenue Agency and Services Canada undertake to inform clients about the full range of programmes and tax benefits to which they may be eligible, regardless of which program(s) they applied for. {and should} automatically calculate an individual’s eligibility for existing and future tax benefits……..

Government Response - The CRA has introduced several measures to simplify the application process and automatically calculate benefit entitlements. Taxpayers that file their T1 Income Tax and Benefit Return are deemed to have applied for the GST/HST credit, even if they forget to tick the “Yes” box ….
The CRA deliveries of provincial and territorial programs harmonize a client’s application and filing requirements. By using …. information already collected at the federal level, recipients do not need to apply separately…..

The CRA has recently introduced ….. an integrated Canada Child Benefits Application registration option presented to an applicant ….during the birth registration process. (The) applicant’s registration information (is sent) to the CRA for eligibility determination.

So again very little new, seniors must still apply for OAS and supplements, if you miss a deduction to which you are entitled you may or may not have your return corrected. Rarely are we directly informed of new programs that may be of benefit to us. The amount spent on telling Canadians “we have a plan, we have a plan” would easily allow the government to give us all monthly updates on changes to tax rules, support programs, and the like. God forbid that we should be subject to an influx of actual real information!

RECOMMENDATION 7-6: The committee recommends that the federal government extend eligibility for its charitable income tax credit to bulk donations of food items………

Government Response - Corporations are allowed to deduct the fair market value of charitable donations (including bulk donations of food items and other gifts of inventory) up to a prescribed limit expressed as a percentage of the corporation’s income for the year.

The federal government does not impose an excise tax on imported food goods. In addition, there is no Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) on basic groceries (imported or domestic).

Seems like the Senate Committee begs to differ, I cannot say which is true. It seems to me that the GST/HST should not be charged on ALL foodstuffs. This one is very topical with the demand at food banks up substantially and the donations to fill that need down substantially.

RECOMMENDATION 8-3: The committee recommends that the proposed Department of Rural Affairs study any existing and potential rural-urban school partnerships, shared schooling services among rural communities, and options for using rural schools to their full potential.

Government Response - The provision of elementary/secondary school services is an area of provincial and territorial jurisdiction, with the exception of elementary/secondary education for First Nation students living on-reserve, where the Government has responsibility under the Indian Act.

What a cop-out, as with the issue of providing services via our rural post offices our rural schools could well provide a venue for providing federal and provincial services to the surrounding community. School locations are generally in use less than 30% of the time but are rarely used for community functions. Federal and Provincial governments cooperating to provide evening or summer adult learning, tax seminars, passport application opportunities etc etc in our school facilities would not only make access easer but (unless unfunded at that level) provide much needed financial support for our rural schools.

-----------------

My biggest disappointment with this response is the total lack of SPECIFIC answers to the very specific and well received recommendations made by the Senate Committee. It is in my view a total waste of time and by-enlarge just a regurgitation of information that we (and the Senate) already knew, with little commitment to actually adopting any of the recommendations.

In part 3 I will try and take a deeper look at those recommendations not covered here. Hopefully in a shorter post, but as in waiting for this response from our government, don’t hold your breath!

Update Dec 20 2009 - Whilst a copy of this report still cannot be found on either the Parlimentry site or the Rural Secretariat site it can be found at Govresponse_ruralpov_eng_final.pdf

The Response to the Beyond Freefall Report. (part1)

2009-12-09T08:00:00.001-05:00

The Government of Canada recently responded the report of the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, Beyond Freefall: Halting Rural Poverty, adopted by the Senate on June 18, 2009. Twenty-nine departments, agencies and Crown corporations contributed to the Government Response, giving careful consideration to the report's 68 recommendations.

Regular readers will know that I along with many others including municipalities from across Canada have praised this report both for its coverage of the issues and its recommendations. Full report here. I wish I could report that the government has acted upon these recommendations however from what I can see the response is largely a bit of PR for their much flaunted “Economic Action Plan” which by their own definition is a “temporary stimulus” and thus hardly addresses the real need for ongoing changes in rural support mechanisms.

A quick scan of this report reveals over 50 references to either the “Economic Action Plan” or “Budget 2009” each saying this is what we have done, unfortunately few of these things in said budget are specifically aimed at rural communities but are broader based “initiatives” from which those communities may receive some benefit. Much of the 2009 budget was dedicated to temporary stimulus measures and presumably will be discontinued in short order. The specific recommendations by enlarge do not seem to have been addressed. In short this seems to be a bit of PR writing intended to make it look like a lot has been done without actually doing anything!

One of the thing I find interesting is that there are several references to existing programs such as “In Budget 2003, the Government allocated $85 million over five years ” and “Funding over three years (2005-08) to…” leaving me to ask, “so what, this is going to help us how?” The words “the Government will” do appear a total of 7 times but 5 of those simply say “The Government of Canada will continue to work with” this agency or that one. I would bloody well hope so, that is after all your job, to work will all agency’s for the betterment of our population! Also of interest given this governments propensity to beat its own drum and the references to the “Action Plan”, is that nowhere in this document do the words “The Harper Government” appear. Could it be that they are not too proud of this one?

In June 2008 I said “From my point of view it was a good report (from the Senate) that clearly outlined some of the problems and offered some possible solutions, I am less optimistic about the report actually making any difference to government policy, be it with this particular bunch of arrogant partisans or any other of our elected representatives.”
As you may gather by now that I am not really impressed by this “response” there may be a few specks of gold in there somewhere but I have yet to find them. Many of those recommendations were more to do with non monetary support and changes to process to let us build our own economy and support systems back up, but these issues have received little attention.

Stay tuned, over the next week or two I will go though it clause by clause comparing it to the Senate recommendations, starting with those that I highlighted in my initial reaction to the Beyond Freefall report. If you wish to read this response you will have to contact the Rural Secretariat and ask for a copy. I am told they are “working on” providing an online copy but that the “government web 2.0 rules” are slowing this process down!

Update Dec 20 2009 - Whilst a copy of this report still cannot be found on either the Parlimentry site or the Rural Secretariat site it can be found at Govresponse_ruralpov_eng_final.pdf

Some lead some follow…

2009-12-06T08:24:00.000-05:00

"The White House said the president had discussed the state of the negotiations (UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen) with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown." BBC news

He would not need to consult PM Harper as he knows that Canada will just follow along with whatever the U.S. decides! With Obama “delaying” his attendance expect some changes in schedule from our Poopy dog.

HST Protest & Sit in.

2009-12-02T16:20:00.000-05:00

This from Owen Sound Radio News
“It has been a long night for Bruce Grey Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch as the Opposition continues to protest the HST. Murdoch and fellow Progressive Conservative Randy Hillier refused to leave the Ontario legislature yesterday (MON) and spent the night in the Chambers.
Murdoch was the first to be ordered out for calling the Premier a liar over the 13 per cent harmonized sales tax. But Murdoch wouldn't budge -- and other Tories came to his side to block any attempt to remove him.

(As a result of this) Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said the public would be able to comment this Thursday, but in Toronto -- and Murdoch says that is not good enough. “

Whilst some have decried the disruption of the legislature caused by the opposition Conservatives over this I want to publicly thank Bill for his effort. When a government becomes so arrogant as to ram through legislation without any effort to compromise, or in this case until now refuse to hold ANY public hearings, then the opposition is perhaps to be forgiven for “less than parliamentary” behavior. It matters not whether the government is a liberal one or a conservative one, a provincial one or a federal one, when they reach the point where they will not even ATTEMPT compromise and completely ignore requests for input from the general public on such an important issue as this, then they represent “the people” not rule them!

Well done Bill, you have listened to your constituents and acted in their best interests as you always do. “Callers to Bayshore Broadcasting (open line) overwhelmingly supported what Murdoch was doing at the Legislature to try and force the Provincial Government to hold public hearings on the HST outside of Toronto.”
I may not support your party but as one of the few politicians who truly tells it like it is and actually represents the people you serve I fully support you and your actions.

Note Bill “came to an agreement with the speaker” and left the chamber to “go home for a shower” after 2 days of protest. He is now not allowed back in the chamber until the next throne speech whenever that may occur. Given the amount of notice that the Provincial Liberals have been taking of the opposition and the general public of late ALL our MPs could be banned with little or no impact upon the daily regime.

Sorta reminds me of the situation in Ottawa. Democracy, what’s that?

Our Government at work – or not!

2009-12-01T08:12:00.003-05:00

This from an article in the British newspaper The Guardian web-site written by George Monbiot should be of significant concern to every person in Canada. The article, entitled: Canada's image lies in tatters. It is now to climate what Japan is to whaling is a scathing indictment of Canada's horrid position and reputation when it comes to climate change, pollution, and action to curb an impending global environmental catastrophe. Its hard to disagree with him!

"When you think of Canada, which qualities come to mind? The world's peacekeeper, the friendly nation, a liberal counterweight to the harsher pieties of its southern neighbour, decent, civilised, fair, well-governed? Think again. This country's government is now behaving with all the sophistication of a chimpanzee's tea party. So amazingly destructive has Canada become, and so insistent have my Canadian friends been that I weigh into this fight, that I've broken my self-imposed ban on flying and come to Toronto.

So here I am, watching the astonishing spectacle of a beautiful, cultured nation turning itself into a corrupt petro-state. Canada is slipping down the development ladder, retreating from a complex, diverse economy towards dependence on a single primary resource, which happens to be the dirtiest commodity known to man. The price of this transition is the brutalisation of the country, and a government campaign against multilateralism as savage as any waged by George Bush.

Until now I believed that the nation that has done most to sabotage a new climate change agreement was the United States. I was wrong. The real villain is Canada. Unless we can stop it, the harm done by Canada in December 2009 will outweigh a century of good works." Read full article by clicking here....

Also see his plea to Canadians in today’s Globe and Mail: Please, Canada, clean up your act

T/H to Larry Hubich and Chris Tindal

On No Work & Blank Screens

2009-11-27T09:17:00.000-05:00

A couple of updates to recent posts….

The Recession is over …. NOT!

If you thought the July & August figures were discouraging try these on for size.

In Ontario, the number of EI recipients more than doubled in 10 of its 41 large centres between September 2008 and September 2009. In the southern part of the province, Hamilton and Kitchener saw the fastest increases in the number of beneficiaries. In Hamilton, the number of EI recipients rose from 4,800 to 10,400, while in Kitchener, the number increased from 3,900 to 8,400. At the same time, the number of EI recipients in Toronto rose from 46,300 to 86,600.
The full report is here

T/H to RPPE

More on that Broadcast / Cable fight!

“Fee for carriage is only part of the story, as broadcasters are also seeking to: block U.S. signals; leave some Canadian communities without over-the-air television; and delay the transition to digital television transmission until 2013.”

“The broadcasters also confirmed some Canadian communities will lose their over-the-air signal as part of the transition from analog to digital. For decades, Canadian broadcasters have used spectrum to transmit over-the-air analog broadcast signals; estimates indicate 10 per cent of Canadians still rely on over-the-air TV signals.”

“The broadcasters are not willing to invest in digital transmitters for all communities, leaving residents of Kingston, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, and Kelowna (among others) without over-the-air signals. Moreover, the broadcasters admit they will not be able to complete the transition by the Aug. 31, 2011 deadline. “

From The Toronto Star -Broadcasters want more

T/H to Blast Furnace Canada

Rose Coloured Glasses

2009-11-21T13:53:00.003-05:00

I recently heard Elizabeth May once again repeating the anti nuclear message of the Green Party calling nuclear power “a sink hole” regarding money. Its hard to disagree with that, but what are the alternatives? In the same interview Ms May promoted wind power as one of the alternatives but given that wind power projects are receiving several times the price per Kwh than are “conventional” powers sources, is this any less of a sinkhole? I note that one recent solar project just coming on line is getting 40c per Kwh (guaranteed for some years) for its output whilst the current price for “conventional” is less than 20% of that! What price are you prepared to pay for what may be an unreliable source of power? Whilst many of us in rural areas can (at considerable capital cost) become somewhat self reliant, how many apartment dwellers in the city have any viable alternatives? Are you ready to pay 5 times as much for the same amount of hydro, are you prepared to buy “dirty coal” power from the U.S. when wind and solar cannot keep up? The questions are many and the answers are not easy but those rose colored glasses seem to be obscuring many folks view of the future!

As someone who believes that we must indeed embrace new technology and move away from old polluting methods of hydro generation I never the less have great difficulty in the “ra, ra wind and solar is the answer” crowd who have yet to satisfy my question as to where does the power come from on a cold, dark, windless night.
Do you prefer damming of rivers, run of river generation, gas fired generation, clean coal, or some other form of generation each of which comes with its own problems, opponents and supporters. I know, I know, conservation is a big part of this debate and I agree with those that say we are wasteful but we must be REALISTIC in our desire to improve things. Just because due to the “downturn” and the closure of many manufacturing plants demand has recently reduced we cannot expect the demand for hydro to remain low, the electric car is coming, the hydrogen car (requiring hydro to generate hydrogen) is coming, hopefully industry (even producing wind turbines and the like) is coming and all these things will require power. Very few of these “requirements” will be limited to a sunny or windy days so get real folks, wind and solar is a great PART of our hydro supply but we still need a great deal of base supply that we can rely upon.

One thing I will agree with Elizabeth on, and that is the need to reduce the impact of wind farms upon our rural communities, this is a case of where the few are bearing the brunt of the move to wind power - to benefit the many (mostly urban) users. The use of more “offshore” installations makes a great deal of sense to me, less impact upon individuals (particularly rural individuals), all but eliminates the visual pollution across the countryside and places them where generally the wind is the greatest. Of course the usual objections will come from both the “developers” re cost and the “environmentalists” re wildlife but each and every means of generation and each and every location for said project will have the same consideration. Is the heath and welfare of a nearby family any less important than that of the birds, fish or other wildlife that will be affected in varying degrees by each and every wind turbine, solar array, power plant or hydroelectric installation? Its where we each find the balance acceptable is the question and it is important that we do so in a logical way based upon ALL the information not upon one-sided “spin” from one group or another.

That’s my view, many will not agree, some will call me “not green”, but the debate must continue without those “rose colored glasses”!

Getting the Rural Vote - Some Issues

2009-11-14T11:34:00.004-05:00

Recently a fellow blogger asked me “what can (governments or partys) do to get the rural vote”? Having been blogging myself about rural issues for some years now I was surprised to find that I did not have a substantive answer ready in regard to either federal or provincial jurisdictions.

Before going much further I must make clear that the rural population is no less divided in our preferred choices of government than the urban population, we may in fact be more divided in that the mere definition of “rural” perhaps covers a much broader range of “lifestyles” and situations than does the definition of “urban”. I will try and answer the question above at a later date, it will of course be a personal view and cannot represent what all the “rural” citizens may want or think. In the meanwhile my best response is to give readers a crash course in some of the issues that effect us here in the cities, towns, villages and countryside that comprise a “rural” riding. I will do this not by regurgitating information and opinions posted elsewhere but by pointing you to each of those articles along with my reaction to them in various posts over the last two or three years.

The first question is “What is Rural”, a question I have previously attempted to answer (unfortunately that piece has disappeared into electronic hell) and a question asked by many other including in some of the reports below. It is a very difficult definition to pin down with as many views upon it as there are writers!

One of the best outlines of rural needs is “The Senate Report on Rural Poverty” and my reaction to it. It covers a great deal more than just “poverty” issues and says that Rural Canada “lacks a voice” in the Federal Government.

Also of interest is the report on “ The Federal Role in Rural Sustainability” and my post on that.

A National Symposium on How to Build a Sustainable Rural Canada was held in Edmonton my post reflects the theme of One Vision, Many Voices at that gathering.

My view that rural populations are rapidly becoming “The Forgotten Minority” may be worth a read.

The ever increasing rules and regulations to be followed by food processing operations that make small operations non-viable impact the rural areas more than most. Farm “value added” operations are becoming ever harder to start or maintain.

Also of interest a discussion on property taxation and how a small municipality with a limited tax base cannot compete with a larger one in regard to providing services to their citizens.

The move by the Ontario government to reduce the need for environmental assessments for “Wind Farms” and the impact they may have upon rural residents heath and property values is a big issue in some areas. Overriding residents and local municipal concerns to benefit mostly urban hydro users is not acceptable.

Then there is the other side of that coin where property owners can be negatively impacted by the EPA without compensation for their work to preserve a species or loss of land use arising from such action.

I will try in a future post to bring all these things together in a more concise overview but if you have visited just a few of these links you will begin to see the difficulty in answering that question we started with. At this point it would seem that the best answer is to move “universal services” such as ambulance, policing, social services etc off the municipal government (but maintain and improve those services) and give more local say in what can be locally unique issues like land use, small industry regulation and environmental protection.

As is recommended in that Senate report, the use of local Post Offices to supply Government Services would do much to make rural folks life easer, this sort of initiative should also be considered for our rural schools which are also once again under threat of closure and “centralization” in the name of “efficiency”. Our rural schools have in fact been under almost constant “review” since my children started in the school system 20 years ago resulting in the gradual decline in the number of local schools and the ever increasing time our kids must spend on the bus each day.

You will note that I have made no effort here to separate the various levels of government responsibility, it is rather difficult to do so when responsibilities for delivery, funding and regulation is so often a mix of two or more government bodies.

I will end with one recommendation from the report One Vision, Many Voices …

”The best ideas about rural Canada come from rural Canadians.Municipalities need to ensure that senior levels of government are listening and not providing solutions in absence of local representation.”

This final Priority is probably the most important, and the one which most rural folks feel strongly about. Made in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton or Ottawa solutions not only rarely work for us but are rarely acceptable or even practical to those living far from the city. Whether we “the rural” residents can agree on what those solutions should be, or get Government to listen, is another whole issue!

The good news is.....

2009-11-07T08:09:00.001-05:00

Rick Mercer always gets to the heart of things in his rants, this extract from Oct 13 is worth repeating again …………… and again!

But the good news is, the same guy who said that we could never go into a deficit, now says we will pay off that 60 billion dollars without raising taxes or cutting spending. Imagine for a moment your fiancé comes home and tells you that when you weren't looking he or she dropped 150 grand that you don't have at the casino. Now imagine the same fiancé says, "Don't worry, we'll pay it back without making a single change to our lifestyle: I stand on my financial record." I think piano playing or not, we'd all start looking at other options.

Now don't get me wrong, just to be clear to my Tory friends, I am not saying that I believe Michael Ignatieff is better suited to manage this economy. No. I'm saying that based on the past twelve months, Porky Pig is better suited to manage this economy. Because as it stands right now this country has a 60 billion dollar wake up call coming and for the record, not a single leader has come even close to being honest.

Endangered Species and Landowners

2009-10-31T09:02:00.001-04:00

I recently saw that the Ontario Landowner Association had gathered to destroy potential habitat for endangered species on a members farm and whist not advocating such extreme action can certainly see their point. It was I suspect more of a publicity move than a real removal of a critical habitat, after all many farmers grub out fence lines in order to maximize their crop lands and whilst these “corridors” are important to wildlife few contain “endangered species”. Or do they?

There are several things that we need to know about the Endangered Species legislation and the lists of creatures and plants covered by these laws. Firstly there is Provincial and Federal legislation on Species at risk they can be Endangered, Threatened or of Special Concern with corresponding regulations and interventions, the average landowner simply will not have a clue as to what is involved in all this.

“If a species is listed on the Species at Risk in Ontario List as an extirpated, endangered or threatened species, the Bill prohibits killing, harming, harassing, capturing, taking, possessing, collecting, buying, selling, leasing, trading or offering to buy, sell, lease or trade a member of the species. Some of these prohibitions also apply to parts of a member of the species, and to things derived from a member of the species.”

More importantly “If a species is listed on the Species at Risk in Ontario List as an endangered or threatened species, the Bill prohibits damaging or destroying the habitat of the species.”

Secondly a habitat once identified by the MNR or a Conservation officer who feels that it needs “protecting” and the process started, the landowner may have little control over the outcome, hence the publicity stunt by the OLA. Whilst most conservation authorities do encourage cooperation between the landowner and the authorities the bottom line is that private land can be seized, managed or declared a protected area by the authorities WITHOUT compensation to the landowner (in so far as I know or can tell, there is little said on the pages above about the actions that can or will be taken). This seems to be where most of the opposition by more radical landowners comes from.

Lets take a look at one particular “species” that has just been declared in danger and the possible ramifications of that. The Butternut grows in many parts of SW Ontario and is rarely cut down as it is not considered a “valuable” wood by most and has few commercial uses. Carvers and hobbyist do like it when available as it is a soft straight grained wood that is easy to work and polishes to a nice finish, but to say that even a small percentage is cut for sale would be misleading. The Butternut, at least here in Ontario, is susceptible to a fungal disease called Butternut Canker that results in it dieing off before it reaches full maturity, although many do reach a size that in a Maple would be considered a “harvestable” size before doing so. There is little doubt from my observations that the majority of these trees will succumb to the disease and fall to the forest floor eventually, the protection of HEALTHY trees is perhaps necessary and is no doubt the intention of the legislation. The actual regulations however are such that the landowner is dammed if he does and damned if he does not.

At a recent presentation by a conservation officer on tree recognition a piece of butternut log was held up so that participants could see the characteristics of the bark with the remark “it is probably illegal for me to have this”, which started a discussion as to why. None of the participants, which included several woodlot owners, were aware of any restriction regarding this tree, most of us would probably preferred to remain ignorant!

We were told that it was now illegal to cut down ANY butternut tree without a permit, even those that are dead and in danger of falling upon someone or something must be “assessed” by a certified BHA (Butternut Health Assessor) and “approved” for felling. If the darn thing did fall over it was still illegal to cut it up and that the mere ownership of a piece of butternut may well soon be a crime, is this then Canada Ivory! Ridiculous, if its standing there in the spring with the bark peeling off and no leaves on it, its dead folks, we don’t need to retain a forestry consultant to tell us that, and furthermore the wood from such a tree is perfectly usable for the type of projects mentioned above why leave it rot on the forest floor. One would think that the diseased trees should be removed from the woodlot as soon as identified for that is certainly what we are told to do with cankered or diseased trees of other species.

Here are some extracts from one pdf document found regarding this, very few other web sites were found…

“It is the landowner's responsibility to contact a BHA to determine if their Butternut tree is retainable. Even if the tree appears to be dead or dying, it must be assessed by a BHA before removal. If a Butternut tree is removed without a Butternut Health Assessment or without a permit the landowner may be at risk of prosecution under the ESA.”

The information I have at this time (and it may well have changed since it was posed on the web site consulted) says that Butternut MAY be possessed and used provided it comes from a “non retainable tree” i.e. one that has been cut with a permit. Hmmm, how would anyone know which was which?

“A person is entitled to possess any items made from Butternut wood that were legally possessed before the ESA was put into place on June 30, 2008, regardless of the health of the tree the items came from. Any wood from a non-retainable Butternut tree can be used, bought or sold.”

We were the told that “protection of habitat was being considered” for healthy butternut trees and since “Butternut is intolerant of shade” this involved removing all the trees around it to create a clearing, even it would seem for a small sapling. So it seems that if we have one of these trees identified or it self seeds in the surrounding mixed forest we must then start hacking down everything around it, that doesn’t sound like “conservation” to me, particularly when one can find few growing in isolated open areas but many in some mixed forest situations.

Once a tree is identified by an outside agency on a private landowner property he or she may have little choice but to comply with “orders” from the authorities, and if they find other flora or fauna “at risk” you can imagine the possible implications.

It all comes down to this, the protection of species is an important initiative but it cannot be successful without the cooperation of landowners. If even those of us who make an effort to preserve sections of our property in as natural a state as possible are reluctant to even look for “species at risk” for fear of the financial, bureaucratic or land use implications that may result. How then do you expect the farmer who’s whole operation may be put at risk for finding a Lesser Spotted Bureaucrat or some such in the middle of his corn field to react knowing that he will not receive any compensation for losses thus incurred. Truth be known, a scientist closely studying any given piece of land, particularly forested land here in Grey & Bruce has a fair chance of finding something on one of these lists of birds, animals, plants & trees so that many landowners could be impacted at one time or another. The addition of the Butternut to this list increased that probability considerably.

We all benefit from the protection of these things, or at least they are protected on our behalf so we should all pay for such protection, not just the affected landowner. Therein lies the fatal flaw in the “act”!

Deep in debt

2009-10-23T10:15:00.001-04:00

With the Ontario Government just releasing their budget forecast with a 25 Billion deficit for this year I was somewhat surprised by the lack of commentary in the blogesphere about this millstone hung around our neck. It is true that most of the blogs and aggregators I visit are left leaning but come on folks NO government should get a free ride on this one. Lets take a few minutes away from the Federal fiasco to look at the Ontario situation, whilst I am sure that some stimulus was in order I am not at all sure that this kind of debt is good for the economy or for Ontarians.

Twenty Five Billion Dollars, that’s abt $5000 per household more being spent than is coming in, of which according to some reports over a third is interest on the provincial dept.

“That's on a $113.7 billion budget, which includes $104.3 billion in spending on programs and $9.4 billion on interest payments to service a provincial debt that has skyrocketed to $137.9 billion.”

My first question on this is where the H are they borrowing the money from? At 9.4b interest on 137.9b debt that’s abt 7%, with prime at ½% I think its about time they renegotiated their mortgage!! The second part of this is that each family not only has that $5000 budget shortfall around their neck but also has a dept of around $27,000 to pay off. Scary isn’t it!

But wait we are not done yet, we cannot forget those federal debts, at an estimated 55.9 Billion Dollars budget deficit that’s about another $4500 per Canadian household in more outgo than income. But wait there is still more, how about the Federal DEBT of around $495 Billion Dollars that adds another $38,000 per household for a grand total of about $75,000 per average household using the 2006 census figures

I wonder how many of us with a debt of $50 or $60,000 and an income almost $10,000 less than our obligations would be able to go out and borrow more on the assumption that we were going to get a better job some time in the next 3 or 4 years!! I also wonder how many employers in this position would not have to lay off some of their workers and cut costs rather than increase their prices. That the government workers unions are already screaming about that possibility shows they are just as out of touch with reality as are our governments.

Ok now I’m even more depressed, think I will go and count my meager savings to see how long I can hold out………….

How to track that Infrastructure Spending

2009-10-18T09:41:00.000-04:00

You cant!

See this from STEPHEN MAHER LETTER FROM OTTAWA

“As a journalist, it’s not my job to tell those people what to think or how to vote.
It is my job, though, to tell them how their government is spending their money, and I can report that the federal government is making it so difficult to do that, that it’s sending me into a black rage.

In order to create a database of federal stimulus spending in Nova Scotia, it was necessary to look at all kinds of different federal websites, all with scraps of information, and then find out from other levels of government how much money was spent on each project and figure out where the shovels were hitting the ground.

In the United States, on the recovery.gov website, you can, in seconds, download exhaustively detailed databases showing where and how stimulus is being spent, who is getting the contracts, for how much, when, and how many jobs are created.

In Canada, on the actionplan.gc.ca site, there’s a map with icons showing where projects are located, but if you click on the icons, you get a popup with a charming picture of what’s his name, our prime minister, but no dollar amount.”

More at http://thechronicleherald.ca/Opinion/1147994.html

H/T to Impolitical

A word about Workfare

2009-10-11T12:20:00.001-04:00

With EI having run out for many I suspect as I said before that the number of folks applying for welfare I workfare will be going up. I recently became aware of one of the things that young folk cannot do if they wish to get assistance from this safety net. Move in with their parents!

It seems that someone in dire circumstances can rent a hovel or a mansion, live with their aunt, uncle, brother, sister, a neighbor, a friend or any one but their parents and receive assistance to pay rent and grocery bills or room and board.
It would seem that their parents could even live with them (provided that they didn’t pay enough rent to build the applicants bank balance above about $550) and still be eligible for help.

How very bizarre. Moving in with parents and paying a small amount to cover costs is not considered to be a person in need, moving in with a brother (and their family) and paying the same amount is considered a person in need! What is even more bizarre is that welfare / workfare payments are based upon costs (with limitations) so that renting an apartment at $500 month and living expenses to maintain that separate existence will be supported whilst living at “home” at less than half that cost will not.

So there you go folks, if your son or daughter who lives at home is unable to find work or laid off and out of unemployment, and therefore unable to contribute to household expenses - kick them out. The government will then pick up the tab instead of straining the perhaps already tight family budget.

I hope you are on good terms with a relation or friend in the same situation because then all you have to do is switch homes and start collecting. Don’t feel guilty for “playing” the system, that seems to be what you have to do in order to get help.

As for actually finding a job and moving on with life…….., good luck with that. Try applying for government jobs because that is where all those “new jobs created” that Harper is boasting about are to be found. Our tax dollars at work.............. enough said!

Telephone woes – talking to India!

2009-09-24T08:10:00.000-04:00

As regular readers will know I am stuck on dial up internet at speeds that at times it would be faster to send it by Canada Post. I have learned to tolerate this in that I have little choice but to do so, however when recently the phone once again crapped out entirely, a situation that happens all to frequently, I finally got pissed off enough to spend the hours on the phone required to work my way up through the layers of “service representatives” that stand between Bell Canada’s customers and the folks that are actually responsible for operation and repair of said telephone system. It was not easy let me tell you!

So here is the saga of my telephone / internet woes over the last 5 years or more for your interest and edification!!

Let it be first said that I am at the end of a cable stretching some 5 or 10 miles to the nearest switch station and as such one cannot expect internet speed above 36k, my best achieved speed was 32k last summer, this year it is 28k….. UNTIL IT RAINS! When it rains, or spring or fall as the frost in the ground comes or goes it will gradually decrease until it totally craps out often the voice connection is unusable due to noise and at times it get to the point where we totally loose dial tone. Naturally each time this happens I get on the cell phone and dial 611 “telephone repair”, where upon I am directed to an operator in INDIA who insists upon my identifying myself often with personal information in order to proceed further.

Lets deal with that bit before we continue with the story. In a recent call I was asked for my Bell account number and not having that right in front of me I said “sorry I don’t have that handy” and was then asked for my SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!! What the HELL, if a operative in INDIA can confirm my identity with my social security number that means it must be available to them, where did they get it, why do they have it and is that not supposed to be secure information? In this case I refuse to do that and made them wait until I had dug out an invoice with my customer number on it, we then proceeded with the call……

In order to try and get to someone who could actually help I decided to call the Bell “customer service” line rather than “telephone repair” and upon explaining my problem (as outlined elsewhere in this saga) requested to speak to a supervisor and upon finally getting said supervisor on the line and once AGAIN explaining my problem it was suggested that I “hold” whilst it could be seen what could be done. Upon return I was told “OK I will transfer you to a repair supervisor”. Great I thought, we are finally getting somewhere but after a short wait, guess what? Yup, you are right, I was connected to the 611 “representative in INDIA. …..SHIT!

Now you must understand that with any where between 2 to 10 calls to 611 each year about the same problem I now am fairly familiar with the “system”. The “representative you first talk to will go through a set procedure consisting of a number of set questions and set warning of costs should it be a problem in your house and not on their system. There is little one can do to shorten this procedure even if you have heard it 50 or 100 times over the years, so settle in for a prolonged conversation before you ever get to the meat of the problem. So, 10 min later I get to report my troubles, phone don’t work, line noisy, no dial tone. In order to try and fix this ongoing problem permanently I request to be connected to a CANADIAN supervisor, preferably a supervisor at least in the area where I reside and one responsible for cable repair. I explain that having talked to many repair technicians over the years the problem is in the bell cable / connection boxes leading from my house to the bell switching station and that unless I can get someone out WHILST IT IS STILL RAINING they will, by the time they get here the fault will have dried out and all will be well.

As an aside here I will say for the most part that the technicians who have responded to my many calls have been helpful and friendly but I recognize that they cannot find a fault that is not there by the time they get out here. The few times that they have located some problems with the line I have been told that it appears the underground cable coming up the road is probably NFG and / or there is water getting into the joints / cable somewhere. Each time this happens the 611 guy escalates it to the “cable guys” who then come out and basically do / tell me, the same thing. Each of the 6 or 8 spare circuits in that cable have been tried at one time or another with only temporary improvement. Next spring, Fall or rain here we go again.

By now you will be just STARTING to understand my frustration! Anyway on with the saga. So having told this long story to the “representative” in INDIA I finally persuaded her to let me talk to her supervisor and after a short wait he came on the line. The first question I asked was where was he located and what was his position in the company. The reply? INDIA, 611 supervisor! So after having gone through the LONG story AGAIN I asked to be connected to a CANADIAN supervisor and was told “that is not possible, we do not have any phone numbers of supervisors or managers in Canada besides which the 611 repair service is run entirely out of INDIA!! At this point I am getting really ticked and after a few more go-arounds establish that the Canadian technicians are dispatched by email directly from INDIA. This was later pretty much confirmed in my conversation with a repair technician who said “ I don’t get to talk with anyone, I am dispatched by email but I don’t really know where (or who) that comes from. Hmmmm, I don’t seem to be getting anywhere here but do eventually agree to have a repair guy come out with instructions to make sure that he comes to my door before proceeding any further so that I can TRY and get a phone number of someone who can resolve this long standing problem and he said he could “send a message” to a Canadian supervisor who would call me within 24hrs.
One note here, what set me off was the fact that I had gone through most of this the day before but the tech who came out DID NOT come see me but sent an AUTOMATED message “we cannot find anything wrong with your line”. Duh, its stopped raining you fkin idiot, did they not tell you that it comes and goes with the weather!!
End of chapter one!

So we are now 24hrs after the SECOND recent call to INDIA and I finally get to talk to a Canadian technician who has received an email dispatch to repair my phone and after explaining the whole story AGAIN to him he tells me he will see what he can find / do and will report back to me. Sure enough his initial testing showed no problem with the phone line but the thank the Lord it started to rain and sure enough the phone line went tilt and he was able to return and say “yes, there is a problem, there are grounds and shorts in the cable and / or connections. Great, thank you, but I already knew that from talking to several other technicians over the years. Now what are we going to do about it?
Step one, he says is to forward it to the “cable guys”, ok that’s been done several time before. What’s next? He indicated that he can do little more being just the guy on the bottom of the totem pole but does give me a number of his “manager” in Toronto (70 miles away), apparently there are no “local” managers or supervisors so that a least explained why I could not get to speak to one! He also told me that there is, in the front of the phone book, a number for when all else fails of the Corporate Office where I am told there is a “knowledgeable secretary” who may well be able to put me in touch with someone who can produce some results or at least explain where to go from here.

Shortly after the tech left the 611 supervisor in Canada, yep that right in CANADA called, having received that “message” from INDIA , unfortunately it was much the same story but he did promise to have a supervisor from “engineering” call me. A while later the “cable guy” called to say that he had checked my line and found and corrected two faults, (during a period of no rain!) one of which (no bonding on cable shield) had been there for a long while, the other being some wires laying against the side of a terminal box and shorting when things got damp. Thank you “Paul” I can but hope you have finally found the problem but only time will tell. Although the cable tested out “perfect” and was “in very good condition” (wonder why the previous guys blamed it on a poor cable coming up the road?) I was still only able to get 29k thru-put but hey, what’s a couple of “k” when an hour ago it was “0”k!! I do wonder however just exactly how much effort and expertise those previous “telephone repair” and “cable guys” put into REALLY finding the problem, has it been “this guys a whiner just check it and carry on it will be ok tomorrow”. The other part is why did I have to get totally pissed off, spent a couple of hours on the phone, talk to numerous “representatives” , “supervisors” , “repair guys” etc etc before getting a permanent (I hope) fix.

One more thing that I learned was that the Repair guy and the Cable guy are not assigned an area in which they work and thus rarely are dispatched to a second, third or 50th call to a particular problem. In that I cannot recall over the last 5 years of calls seeing the same guy twice this would seem to be true, as an electrician in the “service industry” for years I can say that this is at best counter productive and is probably the worst way to solve technical difficulties and enhance customer satisfaction. One of the many technicians that spoke to me over the years said that “if you need a tutorial on how to NOT run a company then work for Bell for a few years” and also “I don’t go grocery shopping in my Bell uniform any more because I don’t want to be shanghaied by dissatisfied customers”. No further comment required!

Meanwhile if your phone goes out have fun talking to BELL INDIA, I for one will not bother, I now have three numbers to call, the “cable guy”, the Toronto “manager”, and the Corporate Office, and none of them are going to like what I have to say if it goes tilt again. Oh yea, and that “engineering supervisor” still hasn’t called back!

There endith the saga of Rural’s telephone woes. Perhaps!

Canadian Postal Service Charter

2009-09-20T08:33:00.002-04:00

For those that missed it the Government has just established the Canadian Postal Service Charter to describe its expectations regarding Canada Post’s service standards and related activities in providing services in Canada. For rural residents it’s a good news bad news sort of thing, on universal service they say this:-

“Canada Post will maintain a postal system that allows individuals and businesses in Canada to send and receive mail within Canada and between Canada and elsewhere. Canada Post will provide a service for the collection, transmission and delivery of letters, parcels and publications.”

Regarding rural services specifically they say this:-

“The provision of postal services to rural regions of the country is an integral part of Canada Post’s universal service.”

Which does not mean that rural DELIVERY will not be discontinued or reduced but can mean that MOST will have a postal outlet within a 15 minute drive as per this:-

“Canada Post will provide retail postal outlets, including both corporate post offices and private dealer operated outlets which are conveniently located and operated, so that: 98 percent of consumers will have a postal outlet within 15 km; 88% within 5km and 78% within 2.5km.”

Just to put this in perspective with aprox 80% of our population being urban dwellers the removal of ALL rural Post Offices would not substantially change these percentages!
However the good new is:- “The moratorium on the closure of rural post offices is maintained.”

However that statement is modified by this! “ Situations affecting Canada Post personnel (e.g., retirement, illness, death, etc.) or Canada Post infrastructure (e.g., fire or termination of lease, etc.) may, nevertheless, affect the ongoing operation of a post office.”

And then there is this:- “At least one month before deciding to permanently close, move or amalgamate corporate post offices, Canada Post will meet with affected customers and communities to jointly explore options and find practical solutions that address customer concerns.”

Wow, a whole month to try and change their mind that’s real generous!

As I said it’s a good news, bad news kinda thing. The moratorium on the closure of rural post offices is maintained, sort off, maybe, perhaps, and rural delivery is not even mentioned! Not exactly what I was hoping for. (It also seems that as a cost cutting measure the government has done away with spell check on their word processors as there were multiple spelling / typo errors in the PDF document!)

All in all a rather meaningless document so typical of government!

EI & Bill C50

2009-09-17T20:08:00.001-04:00

There has been a lot of discussion about bill C50 that “Harpers Government” has put forward to try (seems like they succeeded) to get enough support in the house to survive for a short while longer. Not being one to believe either the political partys or the press on the details of such a Bill which has been described by some as “lacking “ I actually read the text of it and was not surprised to find that this is indeed a farce. Those who think this has any kind of lasting effect on EI payments or eligibility should Read the actual wording of the bill

To sum it up, as I understand it, if one established a claim in the last 9 months or does so in the next year AND have NOT had a previous claims exceeding 36 weeks of payment in the last 5 years you would receive up to 20 weeks extra payment up to a maximum of 53 weeks. This amount to be reduced gradually depending upon when your claim is established and reduced to zero after Sep 2010. All this provided that you have paid into the system “at least 30% of the maximum annual employee’s premium” over the last 7 to15 years (also on a sliding scale). A person establishing a claim next August would receive 2 to 5 weeks extra depending upon the above criteria for instance.

It all seems fairly reasonable if one views it as a temporary measure but to call it any kind if EI reform is totally misleading. The other question is exactly what that “at least 30% of the maximum annual employee’s premium” means exactly. Is it 30% of the maximum anyone pays, so does it penalize those who have worked steadily part time for low wages? I cannot see what else they would mean, a worker pays an amount based upon his or her income to an upper limit which many of us never reach but it seems if you haven’t reached 30% of that limit you can have been working steadily struggling to make ends meet with a part time job and possibly not be considered equally in need as a full time employee.

There is no doubt that there needs to be some reform to this insurance system, particularly as the job market changes to provide less full time secure jobs and more temporary, part time or contract jobs, but this is NOT reform but just a political ploy to hang on to power.

The whole thing does not extend beyond Sept 11 2010 and so is a temporary measure.