Amid the latest bombings in Amman, the civil war in Iraq, the permanent discord in the Israeli/Palestinian dispute and a host of perhaps lesser yet equally and seemlingly solutionless issues, does the middle east have any relevance in the gobal village? Has the daily menu of dead women, children and the elderly simply become as dull to TV and internet audiences as say a soap drama that has run on too long?
George Bush may be accused of many things, but foresight would not be one of them.
He foresaw that he could somehow save the world and enrich his supporters in the oil and gas industry in one move. Now he foresees that he needs to cozy up to the United Arab Emirates for reasons known only to himself' perhaps it is the simple fact that for all the chaos we see in the middle east it is also home to many businessmen who could run circles around any US business on any given day. For a man who acts out with such purpose on our TV monitors every day, it is clear now (to some it has always been clear) that he has no purpose at all. He is of little use to his own nation and is simply an irritation and an embarrasement to those nations who are forced to feign friendship out of legacy to the United States. Americans today must be counting the weeks and days to his departure from public life and the world stage.
Regretably, once he is gone, his own legacy will be that he spent $3 trillion dollars on removing a single man from power, Saddam Hussein. Economists and even humanists may find this price a trifle rich. And for all of that where exactly is Osama Bin Laden holed up. The safety of the six ports that the Dubai-owned company wishes to acquire is safer than congress thinks as it may well be that Bin Laden through the normal mechanisms available to international entrepreneurs, is a shareholder of P&O. Bush is surrounded by men and women who, one would have thought, have been trained to "think things through". While this may work for some, it is of no significance if the boss sees thinking as an impidement to "mission accomplished."
If Bush had been thinking from the outset he would have, for instance, been a promoter of fuel conservation rather than fuel invasion. The question is not; why did the US elect George Bush? The real question is; why did the Republican Party allow Bush the candidacy? Notwithstanding the difficulties the US has as a nation (now so more than ever) how is it that from battalions of highly educated and skilled men and women they cannot find an individual who can lead with confidence, not arrogance, and kindness, not patronage?
The US and Britain, along with a handful of smaller players, has left the middle east in disaray. The sooner they remove themselves from the middle east theater, the sooner calm will return. There can be little sense in fighting when the goal is pride. What would constitute a victory for the coalition? US style democracy? Just how democractic is democracy in the US? Should we believe that life in the US is somehow more enriching and fulfilling than life in say Europe, South America, Australia? What is it that makes regime after regime in the Whitehouse believe that we should all follow their lifestyle? And if Iraq is an example of the price for this privilege, I'd warrant that the price is simply too high.
The middle east is relevant as partner to the west, but it needs space to determine its own future. The lessons of the past have not been learned; Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine should never have been influenced by Europe, particularly the British. It is too late for the those who have died over the decades, but it will never be too late for the west to remove itself and its archaic ideas from the middle east.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
A BETTER MAPLE RIDGE 2010? And other musings.
A BETTER MAPLE RIDGE 2010?
Public Areas
1 All overhead wiring needs to go below grade (Hydro, Telephone, Cable and ancillary).
2 All street lighting needs to be upgraded throughout the District – current lighting standards are hazardous to old and young as the many deaths on our streets testify. There is not enough light on the street, making it easy for crime and hazardous for foot traffic (given that the district is part of a campaign to make Maple Ridge ‘walkable’ one would think that it would pay more attention to detail such as lighting).
3 Crosswalks need to be properly lit and signposted – this is obvious – it is only a matter of time before the next person is killed on a crosswalk – blame will be put on the driver or the pedestrian whereas the real blame lies with the District for poorly designed crosswalks.
4 General road repairs need to be undertaken all over, and while this being done to some extent, the program needs to be accelerated for the town to be up to snuff for 2010.
5 Shop keepers and landlords on the niche retail strip on the Lougheed need to add hanging baskets, awnings and similar devices to make the downtown shopping area more attractive.
6 Permanent task force hired by the District employed to do nothing more than remove shopping trolleys and sundry unsightly garbage from the streets.
7 The District urgently needs to change its attitude towards financing sidewalks. Over the years a policy of coercing developers into carrying the financial burden of sidewalks has become part of the District’s culture. This needs to change so that public sidewalks and services are constructed in a planned, consistent and contiguous manner and that the financial burden is born by the District/Tax payer.
The Development Community
1 Construction standards in Maple Ridge meet the allowable standards under Building Code in BC and generally comply with Canadian standards. As result new home buyers are not receiving value for their money. “Adequate” simply won’t do in the future. Far above adequate is where architects, developers and builders should be aiming. The current construction boom is having a negative impact on standards in BC – Maple Ridge seems content to follow the herd on this. It is unlikely anything is going change and home buyers should be prepared for lower standards as time progresses. We are seeing smaller livable areas, poorly built (if not hazardously built), using cheaper materials and sold at higher prices. Home buyers are being taken to the cleaners.
2 It may be tempting to think that homes are improving – dollar for dollar we are worse off than ever – overpaying for below standard homes. At the same time neither developers nor builders are making much more than net 10-15% on a home, so there do not appear to be any winners – excluding the lenders of course.
3 The age (beginning in the pioneering era) of combustible construction should be drawing to an end, but on the contrary is accelerating – this needs urgent attention. On a similar note – in the UK for instance, certain groups are trying to encourage similar construction that practiced in Canada. Presumably this is because timber-frame is quick and cheap, thereby reinforcing that buyers are indeed not getting value for money. If developers prefer ‘quick and cheap’ then that is what the buyer is getting; a product that is quick and cheap. This holds little promise for the neighbourhoods built in this way. Local government has to ask itself what these neighbourhoods will look like in 50 years. Interesting that we plan for the future through such devices as the livable regions plan, OCP and so on, but we never ask ourselves ‘how will what I am doing today (as opposed to planning) look in decades to come. Our perspective is narrowed and limited by the fact that we find it hard to extract ourselves from the present when we plan. We respond to our present instinctively. Land owners, developers, realtors, builders, consultants are interested in today’s profits as much as local government is focused on fiscal health. Government competes with companies and individuals for the same pot – often the community suffers as a result.
Public Areas
1 All overhead wiring needs to go below grade (Hydro, Telephone, Cable and ancillary).
2 All street lighting needs to be upgraded throughout the District – current lighting standards are hazardous to old and young as the many deaths on our streets testify. There is not enough light on the street, making it easy for crime and hazardous for foot traffic (given that the district is part of a campaign to make Maple Ridge ‘walkable’ one would think that it would pay more attention to detail such as lighting).
3 Crosswalks need to be properly lit and signposted – this is obvious – it is only a matter of time before the next person is killed on a crosswalk – blame will be put on the driver or the pedestrian whereas the real blame lies with the District for poorly designed crosswalks.
4 General road repairs need to be undertaken all over, and while this being done to some extent, the program needs to be accelerated for the town to be up to snuff for 2010.
5 Shop keepers and landlords on the niche retail strip on the Lougheed need to add hanging baskets, awnings and similar devices to make the downtown shopping area more attractive.
6 Permanent task force hired by the District employed to do nothing more than remove shopping trolleys and sundry unsightly garbage from the streets.
7 The District urgently needs to change its attitude towards financing sidewalks. Over the years a policy of coercing developers into carrying the financial burden of sidewalks has become part of the District’s culture. This needs to change so that public sidewalks and services are constructed in a planned, consistent and contiguous manner and that the financial burden is born by the District/Tax payer.
The Development Community
1 Construction standards in Maple Ridge meet the allowable standards under Building Code in BC and generally comply with Canadian standards. As result new home buyers are not receiving value for their money. “Adequate” simply won’t do in the future. Far above adequate is where architects, developers and builders should be aiming. The current construction boom is having a negative impact on standards in BC – Maple Ridge seems content to follow the herd on this. It is unlikely anything is going change and home buyers should be prepared for lower standards as time progresses. We are seeing smaller livable areas, poorly built (if not hazardously built), using cheaper materials and sold at higher prices. Home buyers are being taken to the cleaners.
2 It may be tempting to think that homes are improving – dollar for dollar we are worse off than ever – overpaying for below standard homes. At the same time neither developers nor builders are making much more than net 10-15% on a home, so there do not appear to be any winners – excluding the lenders of course.
3 The age (beginning in the pioneering era) of combustible construction should be drawing to an end, but on the contrary is accelerating – this needs urgent attention. On a similar note – in the UK for instance, certain groups are trying to encourage similar construction that practiced in Canada. Presumably this is because timber-frame is quick and cheap, thereby reinforcing that buyers are indeed not getting value for money. If developers prefer ‘quick and cheap’ then that is what the buyer is getting; a product that is quick and cheap. This holds little promise for the neighbourhoods built in this way. Local government has to ask itself what these neighbourhoods will look like in 50 years. Interesting that we plan for the future through such devices as the livable regions plan, OCP and so on, but we never ask ourselves ‘how will what I am doing today (as opposed to planning) look in decades to come. Our perspective is narrowed and limited by the fact that we find it hard to extract ourselves from the present when we plan. We respond to our present instinctively. Land owners, developers, realtors, builders, consultants are interested in today’s profits as much as local government is focused on fiscal health. Government competes with companies and individuals for the same pot – often the community suffers as a result.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Radio Haney in South Africa
Radio Haney is currently on assignment (see "having a good time on the beach"). Your correspondent will be back in Haney on January 17 2006 with tales straight out of Africa.
All that we can report to date for sure is that travellers to Cape Town should avoid Frankfurt Airport at all costs - this is not a good place.
Friday, December 09, 2005
The children of Azania
2006 marks the 30th anniversary of one of the saddest days in South Africa’s history. In June and July 1976 the African children of SOWETO, the now well-known township that sprawls south west of Johannesburg, rose up against the Apartheid regime in protest at being forced to learn the Dutch tongue of Afrikaans, a language associated with the repression of the indigenous peoples of South Africa. What followed was the whole-sale slaughter of some the country’s most important treasures, its children.
30 years on, and the slaughter of our children continues unabated; Baghdad, Darfur, Palestine, India, Pakistan, China, the United States, Canada, Europe, the world; no corner of the planet offers safe haven to our children.
Looking back now it seems that moment in SOWETO somehow defined all that is wrong with our species. At the same time that event, carried out in the bleak streets of SOWETO exposed once again the courage which we as humankind are capable of.
“Azania is the name that is used by a broad section of African revolutionaries and progressive forces who support the Azanian Revolution and are working for the overthrow of racist South Africa. Azania means a blackman’s country. ‘South Africa’ on the contrary is the name that was given by white settlers to the southern tip of Africa to consolidate their political, economic and military suppression of the indigenous black population –the owners of the country– Azania.” David Dube, THE RISE OF AZANIA The Fall of South Africa, Daystar Publications Ltd., Lusaka, Zambia 1983
In today’s so-called ‘post-apartheid’ era the majority of South Africans would in all likelihood disagree with David Dube’s reasoning for a name change; and for many practical and economic reasons this probably just as well. Anyone who has changed the something as simple as a company name, will no what it takes, in terms of time and money. Doing the same for a country would be challenging indeed. None the less, to have named a country based simply on its geographical location was a somewhat lazy way out. On study, the name South Africa also reflects uncertainty as to ownership. None of the early settlers thought to call it New Lisbon, or New Rotterdam, New England or New Holland in the way that we see in for instance New Zealand. There is no country known as South America, it is a continent, not a country. Azania therefore, it seems to me, may not be found to have an actual or traceable reason for the being the legitimate name for South Africa, but is a name which impacted sufficiently for me to refer always in the poetic sense to South Africa as ‘Azania’.
So it was that in October 26th in 1976 that the horror of the SOWETO children’s uprising that I decided to for once and for all my Azania. It had become too much for me. Reflecting now on those times it seems that my decision to leave Azania in 1976 may have been the action of a coward or worse, a witness to an unspeakable crime –apartheid– who fled the scene rather than remain to help the victims. Coward, frightened witness or perhaps just an act of protest, I fled nonetheless. With my bags packed I wrote my farewell to Azania, before leaving for Johannesburg airport.
Azania the poem is a reflection, a snap shot of my feelings on the October 26th, 1976. It expresses disappointment and fear, but mostly disappointment. The author could be accused of being under the influence of any one of the mind-bending drugs available at the time; the images are a composite of reality and fantasy and pay no heed to form or sequence. To some readers the poem may be meaningless, to others pointless; a few will get the drift.
AZANIA
Soon to leave blood sobbing shores in sad failure's disgrace
Where the feet of a million virgins` dispair slowly stamps out
The black face staring down from the stars in Shaka's grave
Looking on with stones for eyes and rich deep soil for thought.
Fingers of lethal sweetness curl about the bravery
Strangling by greenfields, murder in full sight by day.
Soon to cast a one last look at gravel paths to heaven
Where the overseer's home above Wynberg's crippled camp hovers
In lonely sacrifice to Humanity for Mankind's sake once more.
See how cities vanish when tears cover them in sin
How nations slide beneath the quicksand of lust.
Waving from the light that takes me away blind with fear
Yet knowing fully all-aware
With thoughts of Azania still roughly hewn in my future.
Azania's arena, where bold as granite faces turn from the reality
Rotting in this country's streets smelling only of faint hope
Like excreta disguised in rose's faces held up to the white goddess.
Filled with departure like bursting pigs we flee to innocence and security,
The illusion no human fails to possess in yet his mildest dreams
We go Azania
We stay Azania
We pray with mouths of seeds that
Never sought the chance to sprout
Nor ever will in this barren debate.
Soon to leave the green and undulating blue sea-sweet mountain
All along a vacuum filled only with the coming of Azania
Racing down through history like an eagle on the prey.
Africa wears its soul in Azania, a man hanged upside down
And loudly tortured by knives, he spills a threatened truth
All over the history hazard and our silly misconceptions.
Though we were doubtless happy landlords in this land a while
It crumbles now in ghetto neglect as we with trembling guilt
Face the committee of black black suffering now breathing in our skin.
Mumbling schoolboy excuses we call out like fading waterfalls for help
Saying 'but I thought, sir` to Azania
In vain, pleading naivety
Soon to leave the shaded drives of ambition's crumbling greedy road
Where our friends like paper thieves hang dead from the silent gallows,
Happy once in ignorance, relieved now of oppressions load.
CA 26/10/76
30 years on, and the slaughter of our children continues unabated; Baghdad, Darfur, Palestine, India, Pakistan, China, the United States, Canada, Europe, the world; no corner of the planet offers safe haven to our children.
Looking back now it seems that moment in SOWETO somehow defined all that is wrong with our species. At the same time that event, carried out in the bleak streets of SOWETO exposed once again the courage which we as humankind are capable of.
“Azania is the name that is used by a broad section of African revolutionaries and progressive forces who support the Azanian Revolution and are working for the overthrow of racist South Africa. Azania means a blackman’s country. ‘South Africa’ on the contrary is the name that was given by white settlers to the southern tip of Africa to consolidate their political, economic and military suppression of the indigenous black population –the owners of the country– Azania.” David Dube, THE RISE OF AZANIA The Fall of South Africa, Daystar Publications Ltd., Lusaka, Zambia 1983
In today’s so-called ‘post-apartheid’ era the majority of South Africans would in all likelihood disagree with David Dube’s reasoning for a name change; and for many practical and economic reasons this probably just as well. Anyone who has changed the something as simple as a company name, will no what it takes, in terms of time and money. Doing the same for a country would be challenging indeed. None the less, to have named a country based simply on its geographical location was a somewhat lazy way out. On study, the name South Africa also reflects uncertainty as to ownership. None of the early settlers thought to call it New Lisbon, or New Rotterdam, New England or New Holland in the way that we see in for instance New Zealand. There is no country known as South America, it is a continent, not a country. Azania therefore, it seems to me, may not be found to have an actual or traceable reason for the being the legitimate name for South Africa, but is a name which impacted sufficiently for me to refer always in the poetic sense to South Africa as ‘Azania’.
So it was that in October 26th in 1976 that the horror of the SOWETO children’s uprising that I decided to for once and for all my Azania. It had become too much for me. Reflecting now on those times it seems that my decision to leave Azania in 1976 may have been the action of a coward or worse, a witness to an unspeakable crime –apartheid– who fled the scene rather than remain to help the victims. Coward, frightened witness or perhaps just an act of protest, I fled nonetheless. With my bags packed I wrote my farewell to Azania, before leaving for Johannesburg airport.
Azania the poem is a reflection, a snap shot of my feelings on the October 26th, 1976. It expresses disappointment and fear, but mostly disappointment. The author could be accused of being under the influence of any one of the mind-bending drugs available at the time; the images are a composite of reality and fantasy and pay no heed to form or sequence. To some readers the poem may be meaningless, to others pointless; a few will get the drift.
AZANIA
Soon to leave blood sobbing shores in sad failure's disgrace
Where the feet of a million virgins` dispair slowly stamps out
The black face staring down from the stars in Shaka's grave
Looking on with stones for eyes and rich deep soil for thought.
Fingers of lethal sweetness curl about the bravery
Strangling by greenfields, murder in full sight by day.
Soon to cast a one last look at gravel paths to heaven
Where the overseer's home above Wynberg's crippled camp hovers
In lonely sacrifice to Humanity for Mankind's sake once more.
See how cities vanish when tears cover them in sin
How nations slide beneath the quicksand of lust.
Waving from the light that takes me away blind with fear
Yet knowing fully all-aware
With thoughts of Azania still roughly hewn in my future.
Azania's arena, where bold as granite faces turn from the reality
Rotting in this country's streets smelling only of faint hope
Like excreta disguised in rose's faces held up to the white goddess.
Filled with departure like bursting pigs we flee to innocence and security,
The illusion no human fails to possess in yet his mildest dreams
We go Azania
We stay Azania
We pray with mouths of seeds that
Never sought the chance to sprout
Nor ever will in this barren debate.
Soon to leave the green and undulating blue sea-sweet mountain
All along a vacuum filled only with the coming of Azania
Racing down through history like an eagle on the prey.
Africa wears its soul in Azania, a man hanged upside down
And loudly tortured by knives, he spills a threatened truth
All over the history hazard and our silly misconceptions.
Though we were doubtless happy landlords in this land a while
It crumbles now in ghetto neglect as we with trembling guilt
Face the committee of black black suffering now breathing in our skin.
Mumbling schoolboy excuses we call out like fading waterfalls for help
Saying 'but I thought, sir` to Azania
In vain, pleading naivety
Soon to leave the shaded drives of ambition's crumbling greedy road
Where our friends like paper thieves hang dead from the silent gallows,
Happy once in ignorance, relieved now of oppressions load.
CA 26/10/76
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Freshly baked one-liners
Somwhere in Maple Ridge, British Columbia
"There once was a girl from Ibiza
Who said that sex
was beneath her."
"Money is the loot of all evil."
"The pun is mightier than the pen."
"Art is the inventory of the soul."
"So, I met this fisherman. I said.......I said, what's your net worth?"
"I had this rabbit. I called him Anthony Hopkins."
"Pantaloon" def. Canadian trouser-wearing duck.
The Houdini Union for Escape Artists - "Untied we Stand."
"It is not slaves who should be abolished, it is their masters."
"Panhandlers are a catalyst for change."
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Canada's Problem is that it has no problems
Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Bloc or Green?
Which of these parties shall I vote for?
And why?
Is there something I don't have that they can provide?
Do I need a home? Nope, got one of those? How about a car? Nope. What about a bigger car? Well, frankly I'd prefer a smaller one; smaller gas bills, lower insurance costs and less maintenance. What about food and clothing then? Well, not really. In fact I had to get rid of some of the clothing that's being cluttering up my home. Food,? No thanks. Anyway, last week the doctor told me to loose weight. How about medicare? As I said, the doctor told me to loose weight. Do you need a job then? Are you kidding me, I'm trying to cut back on work.
So, is there anything I can do for you at all, Mr. Voter? Do your kids need education? No, I think we've got that covered for the moment. Nothing at all then? No. Are you sure?
Well, there is one thing. What's that? Could you just leave me alone for a year or two. That would be nice. Let's have some political quiet time. In fact, go to your room. And don't come out until you can think of something useful to say and, who knows, perhaps even do.
Which of these parties shall I vote for?
And why?
Is there something I don't have that they can provide?
Do I need a home? Nope, got one of those? How about a car? Nope. What about a bigger car? Well, frankly I'd prefer a smaller one; smaller gas bills, lower insurance costs and less maintenance. What about food and clothing then? Well, not really. In fact I had to get rid of some of the clothing that's being cluttering up my home. Food,? No thanks. Anyway, last week the doctor told me to loose weight. How about medicare? As I said, the doctor told me to loose weight. Do you need a job then? Are you kidding me, I'm trying to cut back on work.
So, is there anything I can do for you at all, Mr. Voter? Do your kids need education? No, I think we've got that covered for the moment. Nothing at all then? No. Are you sure?
Well, there is one thing. What's that? Could you just leave me alone for a year or two. That would be nice. Let's have some political quiet time. In fact, go to your room. And don't come out until you can think of something useful to say and, who knows, perhaps even do.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Canadian Federal Elections January 26 2006 - Strike One
Harper, in this humble conservative's opinion, has just made the first mistake of the campaign. I only hope it is not fatal. Only two strikes left. Why do we insist on making it so easy for the Liberals. Economy, economy, economy is the name of the game. Forget the moral window dressing.
Friday, November 25, 2005
A foggy calm settles over Maple Ridge
Almost since the night he was elected, a foggy calm has settled over Mayor Elect Gordon Robson's Maple Ridge. Yeterday, for the first time in days, the fog lifted, as did the mood of the residents of this hamlet on the Fraser. With a population of 73,000 'hamlet' may be too romantic a description.
Just yesterday, November 24th 2005, I received a call from someone outside our community who 'had heard that we had elected a can-do mayor' and that things looked rosy for the development community. Things also look rosy for the addicted community, if the press has it right. And things look rosy for commuters and job seekers too. It seems we may be living in Nirvana. There are reports of travellers spotted in the distance who have heard of this place called Maple Ridge, a modern-day Shangrila, nestled quietly below the northern mountains of the Fraser Vallley on the banks of the serpentine, silt-filled Fraser River.
Less certain are the prospects for an Albion-sited First Pro and Wall-Mart (those evil twins of the retail world). The headlines on the front-page of the NEWS on November 23 say it loud and clear "Don't hold your breath First Pro." Mayor Robson, while publicly unimpressed by the Wall-Mart and cousin First Pro, may privately be turning the prospect of a big box presence in the Albion Flats over in his head. Council will be divided; here's my prediction: For BIG BOX: Daykin, Dueck (for sure); Against BIG BOX King, Speirs (for sure); On the fence: Stewart and Hogarth (not sure). Robson should stay away from the debate if he has any political sense; so far he has shown that when it comes to political sense he may have more than Maple Ridge has ever witnessed in a novice mayor.
The fog has lifted now, replaced by (surprise-surprise) rain. Sunny weather is in the forecast. But that's to be expected in Shangrila.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
What follows putting your money where your mouth is?
It is commonly heard of government critics that if they have so much to say for themselves they should themselves stand for election. Mayor, yes Mayor Gordon Robson has done just that.
He complained and whined for years, suggested that he could do a better job, and was willing to spend an awful lot of money to make his point. It is safe to say that he made his point quite handily on November 19, 2005.
Some will be shocked by his win, some will do back-flips with glee, and some will wait and see. The first and most striking difference between pre-mayoral life and mayoral life that Mr. Robson will be aware of, is that he is no longer a one man show. Whereas he once required only one vote of approval to move forward, he will now be bound by a minimum of of four. It is obvious to many political aficionados that he unlikely to be met favourably by King and Spiers. And he will have to convince the other four members of council if he has particularly strong sentiments on any particular issue. And persuasive as he may be in his private life, or as a citizen, he may find that getting it done the Robson-way in chambers will require skills hitherto latent in his armory of not-to-be-underestimated unlearned talents.
I would expect a calm and measured demeanor from any incumbent. Riotous behaviour from the masses beyond the palace walls in what democracy, by its nature, invites. The chaos of public opinion needs to be countered by maturity and contemplated judgment within the palace court. It remains to be seen whether the next three years will be like partying in a mosh pit at a Green Day concert (poor choice of band, under the circumstances) or a pleasant stroll down the boulevard of sensibility.
Tempting though it is to pre-judge, the best policy by far is to hang on to the public end of the rope and let it out slowly as the statutory term progresses. The masses, riotous and eager as always are keen to line the road to the gallows. For the moment, however, they will need to show some restraint. The same restraint that we expect from Mayor Robson, yes Mayor Robson.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Listen for the thud of gloves hitting the forest floor
The Whonnock all candidates meeting is behind us.
On reflection, the Whonnock affair was pretty tame (probably due to the candidates' fear of upsetting the moderator), but Hammond saw the temperature rising as a de facto curtain raiser for the ECRA meeting held last night, Thursday November 10th, 2005.
As a seasoned moderator - Whonnock was my first - I have some advice for the moderators of the Hammond and ECRA meetings. In future don't waste the public's and candidates' time with long introductions and self-promotion, but for God's sake get on with the business at hand. The ECRA organizers meeting seemed very poorly prepared from almost every angle. When the moderator spends the last five minutes of the evening telling the participants that they only have five minutes left, the whole thing starts to take on the appearance of Monty Python or Fawlty Towers.
With hostilities breaking out all over the place it seems to me that the gloves will be coming off by Monday 14th when the action switches to the next scheduled meeting at Websters Corners. At the last election three years ago I recall that the proceedings were organized by the Robson Gang. If that is true this time around, then Monday night will amount to a Home Game for the Gordster, Gordy, Gord, Gordyflops or Gordzilla, whatever the current title may be. If you think he's been feeling his oats (among other things) in recent times, wait till you see Monday's show. How many goons he has planned for asking questions of the apparent left-wing slate of Hartley, King, Gordon and Challenger (Speirs is not included as he was benched last night) is anyone's guess. I imagine that Richard's-Hackers will come to his aid with another bunch of filched emails and printouts from hijacked internet packets.
Last night I thought that Speirmint was going to drop the gloves on the shrill little fellow from atop Thornhill who wants to save the world from too much Green Zone and the dratted agricultural land that keeps spoiling the aquifer, or something like that, it is often hard to keep track of the logic. This whining wannabe developer's outburst was met with the same incredulity that he discovered ever-present in the crowd at the OCP hearings.
On reflection, the Whonnock affair was pretty tame (probably due to the candidates' fear of upsetting the moderator), but Hammond saw the temperature rising as a de facto curtain raiser for the ECRA meeting held last night, Thursday November 10th, 2005.
As a seasoned moderator - Whonnock was my first - I have some advice for the moderators of the Hammond and ECRA meetings. In future don't waste the public's and candidates' time with long introductions and self-promotion, but for God's sake get on with the business at hand. The ECRA organizers meeting seemed very poorly prepared from almost every angle. When the moderator spends the last five minutes of the evening telling the participants that they only have five minutes left, the whole thing starts to take on the appearance of Monty Python or Fawlty Towers.
With hostilities breaking out all over the place it seems to me that the gloves will be coming off by Monday 14th when the action switches to the next scheduled meeting at Websters Corners. At the last election three years ago I recall that the proceedings were organized by the Robson Gang. If that is true this time around, then Monday night will amount to a Home Game for the Gordster, Gordy, Gord, Gordyflops or Gordzilla, whatever the current title may be. If you think he's been feeling his oats (among other things) in recent times, wait till you see Monday's show. How many goons he has planned for asking questions of the apparent left-wing slate of Hartley, King, Gordon and Challenger (Speirs is not included as he was benched last night) is anyone's guess. I imagine that Richard's-Hackers will come to his aid with another bunch of filched emails and printouts from hijacked internet packets.
Last night I thought that Speirmint was going to drop the gloves on the shrill little fellow from atop Thornhill who wants to save the world from too much Green Zone and the dratted agricultural land that keeps spoiling the aquifer, or something like that, it is often hard to keep track of the logic. This whining wannabe developer's outburst was met with the same incredulity that he discovered ever-present in the crowd at the OCP hearings.
Jaques Richard always seem to follow closely on the heels (the Thornheels) of the pro-development crowd on the hill.
Speaking of the foster guy, it seems he has been fostering more than just children. Rumour has it he is also financed through a series of numbered companies that can be traced back to his old friend at Harvey's Building supplies and that other unsuspecting candidates are receiving a steady stream of $250 donations from a series of numbered companies. Robson is being truthful when he says he does not accept money from numbered companies. On the contrary, he is instead said to be providing funds to well-known companies who in turn fund numbered companies who in turn fund Robsonesque (I thought I'd keep the french theme going) candidates. Faye Isaac is French. So if you are French (or think you are French) and are running for council or Mayor, and if you happen to be receiving cheques for $250 at a time from a nombered compagnie, the chances are that you will one day stand accused of being a Wall-Marting, First-Proing little you know what. Of course, I don't believe a word of it. But there are those that do - many, many Scottish people, for instance, do believe that Robson, far from being supported by Wall-Mart is actually paying Wall-Mart and First Pro to support the Robsonites. Robson is more powerful than Sam Walton - holy smart growth, fire up the bong and call me dopey.
Speaking of the foster guy, it seems he has been fostering more than just children. Rumour has it he is also financed through a series of numbered companies that can be traced back to his old friend at Harvey's Building supplies and that other unsuspecting candidates are receiving a steady stream of $250 donations from a series of numbered companies. Robson is being truthful when he says he does not accept money from numbered companies. On the contrary, he is instead said to be providing funds to well-known companies who in turn fund numbered companies who in turn fund Robsonesque (I thought I'd keep the french theme going) candidates. Faye Isaac is French. So if you are French (or think you are French) and are running for council or Mayor, and if you happen to be receiving cheques for $250 at a time from a nombered compagnie, the chances are that you will one day stand accused of being a Wall-Marting, First-Proing little you know what. Of course, I don't believe a word of it. But there are those that do - many, many Scottish people, for instance, do believe that Robson, far from being supported by Wall-Mart is actually paying Wall-Mart and First Pro to support the Robsonites. Robson is more powerful than Sam Walton - holy smart growth, fire up the bong and call me dopey.
Speaking of which, I hear that Perry has hired the firm of Cheech + Chong as his defence team and assistant fund raisers. Where does this leave those slutty little slate devils recently concocted by the Fearsome-Speirsome - he certainly scared the pants of the moderator last night, who was about to ring the bell for crosschecking. With so many people hanging their hats on the OCP (Overtly Complicated Proposal) it will be interesting to see who the panel of council and mayor will be, sweating it out over weeks' of deliberation at the next OCP public hearings. I won't be voting for Robson as Mayor, but there is part of me who would love to be on the speakers list with him in the hot seat. Mmmmm, relish the thought. The rumour, by the way, that I am Robson's love child, simply isn't true. Yes, my mother was a tight-rope walker in the Ringaling Circus, but she told me categorically that she never clowned around.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
More manure than the ALR can take
Given the truckloads of freshly contrived manure being distributed around Maple Ridge during these weeks leading up to the 2005 municipal elections, is this the right time to be removing agricultural land from our limited ALR, I ask? What with that much mud flying around it is little wonder that our streams are showing signs of contamination. The developers, for just a brief moment, should not be held accountable for the environmental chaos that follows municipal campaigns. Clearly it is muddy thinking that is the cause. Mud and manure emits from, and is delivered to, the candidates in such quantities that were it not for the absorbent qualities of our triple-sheeted electorate we'd all be up that excrement-saturated creek without any idea of where to put the voter's paddle. Who makes all this stuff up?
Morse backed by Wal-Mart? It makes a great story, but seriously undermine's the credibility of the accuser. Frankly, its all getting a little stupid. Hopefully, the candidates are cashing all their 'stupid cheques' now so that when they enter the chamber anew it will be with only smart ideas and wise decisions, with the idiotic innuendos and BS discarded along the campaign trail, hopefully where no further environmental damage can be caused.
Morse backed by Wal-Mart? It makes a great story, but seriously undermine's the credibility of the accuser. Frankly, its all getting a little stupid. Hopefully, the candidates are cashing all their 'stupid cheques' now so that when they enter the chamber anew it will be with only smart ideas and wise decisions, with the idiotic innuendos and BS discarded along the campaign trail, hopefully where no further environmental damage can be caused.
With land use the only real issue it is quite amazing how the candidates expand their powers far beyond what is normally regarded local government influence. It must be the Kryptonite in the lemon ice at Marina's Gelato Parlour - now that will leave a bitter taste in your mouth.
Some of the candidates seem to be fans of Law & Order and having nothing else on their minds, but taking the streets back. Looking at the state of some our streets, I'd be quite happy not to have them back at all. When, for instance, are we going to get some lighting on our streets. Fighting crime with a flashlight is so, well, twentieth century.
The grayness of election month is never kind. Can't we have elections in July or August? Make a party of it. Being forced to choose a Mayor in the cold and rain of a typical Ridge November is not made any more cheerful by the weather; knowing as one does that at least two more miserable Novembers will follow before one can correct the mistake, should any be be made. We have yet to reach that point in political technology where one can walk into chambers with a big white out stick on any Tuesday evening and give it a quick swish around the room, removing those who fail to keep their promises. Trouble with that is we'd clear the room, gallery and all. Keeping promises is just as tough for voters as it is for the candidates.
What I hope for is a Mayor and council who can bring calm to civic life for the next three years; we do not need grandstanding over petty issues. Maturity would be great (says he, that's rich). As Churchill once said: "Everything is important, but nothing is frightfully important." So it is with towns like ours. It is all important, but not important enough to spill your Starbucks over; or move to Pitt Meadows for; or not show up at an all candidates meeting for. Elections are (weather permitting) a lot of fun really; a chance for all us to speak out and show that our communal voice, while not always in harmony, still makes us the unique society that we undoubtedly are. We're fantastic really; lets remind each other of that now an then.
I'm beginning to think we'd be better off just leaving the job of running Maple Ridge to staff. Politicians make for good entertainment and give us something to talk about. In the meantime we need to get on with creating a pleasant place to live. The candidates are not making it any easier.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Gambling with children's future
During the 2005 teachers' job action in Maple Ridge some parents reacted to the suggestion that School District 42 and First Pro had secret plans to turn Kanaka School in the Albion Flats into a 24 hour casino.
SmartGrowth on the Ground traffic calming methods
One way of calming traffic in the future being tested above.......traffic slows to a crawl while motorists figure out the meaning of road signs in Maple Ridge. The "08 kph" and "no kraping" will be particularly effective as will "first hour kraping free"
Climate change
Introduction Earth's climate is a fundamental part of our life support system. It shapes the way we can live on this planet. Yet the way we live, work and play is inadvertently changing the climate.
Human activities release air pollutants, most of them by-products of our use of fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas — to provide mobility, heat, industrial production, and wealth for regions which produce these resources. About 90 per cent of the world's commercially produced energy, and about 70 per cent of Canada's, comes from fossil fuels.
The World Energy Outlook (OECD, 1998) forecasts global energy demand will grow by 65 per cent and CO2 will increase by 70 per cent between 1995 and 2020, unless new policies are put in place. As fossil fuel use continues to rise, the consequences become ever more costly. Greenhouse gases from fuel combustion accumulating in the atmosphere continue to raise global temperatures. The increases are greatest in northern latitudes, including Canada.
The effects of climate change are numerous and while we may have some benefits from warmer temperatures, we will also face a number of costs. A warmer atmosphere is more active, prone to weather extremes, such as floods, droughts and violent storms such as tornadoes and hurricanes. Warmer weather also brings ecological changes, moving species, including insect pests and disease-carrying organisms, further north. Hotter summers produce a variety of stresses and changes in the natural water cycle accompanying climate change will affect farmers, hydroelectric producers, tourist operators and many others.
Canada, along with many other nations, has signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which includes a commitment to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Like most other nations, it has failed to curb pollution increases. This pollution is closely linked to economic development and increased personal consumption of energy, particularly through the growing use of larger motor vehicles.
Moving to more sustainable forms of development will require more efficient use of energy and a shift to sources of energy that have fewer harmful side effects. Greenhouse gases Greenhouse gases act like a one-way mirror in the atmosphere, letting in much of the sun's light but trapping some of the infrared heat radiated by Earth.
For millions of years, natural greenhouse gases have made our planet 33 degrees Celsius warmer than it would otherwise be, and thus able to support life as we know it. Since the mid-1800s, carbon dioxide concentrations (which account for about 75 per cent of the enhanced greenhouse effect caused by human activities) have increased by more than one quarter. Most of that increase was in the past half century.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that if current trends in fossil fuel use are not changed, in this century CO2 levels in the atmosphere will double from those before the industrial revolution causing a rise in global temperatures unprecedented in 10,000 years. Canada's emissions of greenhouse gases Emissions grew by 13 per cent from 1990 to 1997 and continue to rise. By 2010, emissions are projected to be 105 megatonnes (19 per cent) higher than in 1990. By 2020, they are projected to be 203 megatonnes (36 per cent) higher.
The primary sources of these increases are population and economic growth, coupled with low energy prices and a shift to fossil fuels, particularly, natural gas, for electricity generation.
Human activities release air pollutants, most of them by-products of our use of fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas — to provide mobility, heat, industrial production, and wealth for regions which produce these resources. About 90 per cent of the world's commercially produced energy, and about 70 per cent of Canada's, comes from fossil fuels.
The World Energy Outlook (OECD, 1998) forecasts global energy demand will grow by 65 per cent and CO2 will increase by 70 per cent between 1995 and 2020, unless new policies are put in place. As fossil fuel use continues to rise, the consequences become ever more costly. Greenhouse gases from fuel combustion accumulating in the atmosphere continue to raise global temperatures. The increases are greatest in northern latitudes, including Canada.
The effects of climate change are numerous and while we may have some benefits from warmer temperatures, we will also face a number of costs. A warmer atmosphere is more active, prone to weather extremes, such as floods, droughts and violent storms such as tornadoes and hurricanes. Warmer weather also brings ecological changes, moving species, including insect pests and disease-carrying organisms, further north. Hotter summers produce a variety of stresses and changes in the natural water cycle accompanying climate change will affect farmers, hydroelectric producers, tourist operators and many others.
Canada, along with many other nations, has signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which includes a commitment to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Like most other nations, it has failed to curb pollution increases. This pollution is closely linked to economic development and increased personal consumption of energy, particularly through the growing use of larger motor vehicles.
Moving to more sustainable forms of development will require more efficient use of energy and a shift to sources of energy that have fewer harmful side effects. Greenhouse gases Greenhouse gases act like a one-way mirror in the atmosphere, letting in much of the sun's light but trapping some of the infrared heat radiated by Earth.
For millions of years, natural greenhouse gases have made our planet 33 degrees Celsius warmer than it would otherwise be, and thus able to support life as we know it. Since the mid-1800s, carbon dioxide concentrations (which account for about 75 per cent of the enhanced greenhouse effect caused by human activities) have increased by more than one quarter. Most of that increase was in the past half century.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that if current trends in fossil fuel use are not changed, in this century CO2 levels in the atmosphere will double from those before the industrial revolution causing a rise in global temperatures unprecedented in 10,000 years. Canada's emissions of greenhouse gases Emissions grew by 13 per cent from 1990 to 1997 and continue to rise. By 2010, emissions are projected to be 105 megatonnes (19 per cent) higher than in 1990. By 2020, they are projected to be 203 megatonnes (36 per cent) higher.
The primary sources of these increases are population and economic growth, coupled with low energy prices and a shift to fossil fuels, particularly, natural gas, for electricity generation.
Model Principles for Sustainable Communities
Source: Ontario Round Table on Environment and Economy
A sustainable community is one which:
Recognizes that growth occurs within some limits and is ultimately limited by the carrying capacity of the environment
Values cultural diversity
Has respect for other life forms and supports biodiversity
Has shared values amongst the members of the community (promoted through sustainability education)
Employs ecological decision-making (e.g., integration of environmental criteria into all municipal government, business and personal decision-making processes)
Makes decisions and plans in a balanced, open and flexible manner that includes the perspectives from the social, health, economic and environmental sectors of the community
Makes best use of local efforts and resources (nurtures solutions at the local level)
Uses renewable and reliable sources of energy
Minimizes harm to the natural environment
Fosters activities which use materials in continuous cycles.And, as a result, a sustainable community:
Does not compromise the sustainability of other communities (a geographic perspective)
Does not compromise the sustainability of future generations by its activities (a temporal perspective).
Source: Ontario Round Table on Environment and Economy
A sustainable community is one which:
Recognizes that growth occurs within some limits and is ultimately limited by the carrying capacity of the environment
Values cultural diversity
Has respect for other life forms and supports biodiversity
Has shared values amongst the members of the community (promoted through sustainability education)
Employs ecological decision-making (e.g., integration of environmental criteria into all municipal government, business and personal decision-making processes)
Makes decisions and plans in a balanced, open and flexible manner that includes the perspectives from the social, health, economic and environmental sectors of the community
Makes best use of local efforts and resources (nurtures solutions at the local level)
Uses renewable and reliable sources of energy
Minimizes harm to the natural environment
Fosters activities which use materials in continuous cycles.And, as a result, a sustainable community:
Does not compromise the sustainability of other communities (a geographic perspective)
Does not compromise the sustainability of future generations by its activities (a temporal perspective).
Source: Ontario Round Table on Environment and Economy
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Through the moderator's lens
The political actor, his audience and the amateur behavioral scientist
An all candidates meeting for mayoral and council candidates running in the 2005 District of Maple Ridge local elections was held at Whonnock Community Centre on Thursday, November 3rd, 2005 from7:30pm to 10:00pm. This meeting was aimed at providing all the candidates an opportunity to present themselves to the electorate and for the public to ask brief questions on specific issues that concerned them.
This was the first of several all candidates meetings scheduled be held in various areas of Maple Ridge prior to election day on November 19th, 2005. The organizers asked if I would act as the moderator. I explained that I had never done this sort of thing before and as I heard myself speaking these words of modesty I thought to myself hang on, being a virgin moderator makes it all the more exciting. "Sure, let’s have at her," was my final answer.
The role of moderator, albeit in the arena of local Canadian politics, has added new knowledge to my life as a political observer. In the past, as an audience participant and frequent interrogator of the candidates, I found that the subject of my own questions filled my thoughts and it was often hard to concentrate on the questions posed by other participants, let alone follow the answers from the candidates. If one is a newcomer to an area it often becomes hard to follow some of the questions without knowing the history. Maple Ridge, for instance, has a population exceeding 70,000 souls and yet every public gathering is attended by a small band of hard core residents, numbering no more than between 200 and 400 at the most. In one sense, the 70,000 are saying to the few hundred go ahead and mold our future because we are too busy going about our daily affairs, and besides which there is little we can do to influence the affairs of our community, what will be will be. In many other countries this is not the case as seen when thousands not only wish to be heard, but take things into their own hands through mass civil action. Thankfully that is a rare occurrence in Canadian political life, excluding of course job action.
The candidates at an all candidates meeting come mostly prepared for the meeting. Preparation means writing a speech that concisely articulates the key reasons for wishing to be elected. It may also means anticipating certain questions that may be directed at one for historical reasons or perhaps for reasons linked to more contemporary events. In British Columbia we recognize from observation that the meat and potatoes of local government is the determination of land use. Pick any District or City in British Columbia and subject it to time and task study to determine the amount of time devoted to discussion on all matters that could be described as falling under the category of land use and it will come as no surprise to learn that in local politics land is the only issue. All other departments of civic management beat a hasty path to Planning Department in any given district. The reason for this quite simply is that the land provides the cash upon which all other activity is based. Maple Ridge is no different. The entire community relies on property taxes supplemented by hundreds of subsets of income-sources such as all those that fall within fees-for-service. Candidates, knowingly or not, when making their pitch, are first and foremost asking the voter to be allowed to care for or husband and nurture the one asset that keeps a District healthy; land.
There are other many important issues too; community plans, financial plans, transport plans, governance, environmental protection, inter-government relationships, public safety and crime prevention, economic development plans, providing education at every level and all the detail that these major categories imply. Most candidates recognize the need to address each of these issues at some point in their campaign, but will focus on those specific issues that are closest to their personal beliefs (a good idea) or those issues that are most likely to assure them of a successful outcome (a better idea, if getting elected is the goal.)
The difficulty arises when the personal beliefs of the candidate cannot be matched to the issues most likely to win them the required number of votes to win a seat. How does a candidate make himself or herself sound passionate and convincing when speaking publicly about a subject that truthfully is only of passing interest to the speaker? Moreover, how well-equipped are the public in Maple Ridge when it comes to detecting sincerity and conviction? Many of them will provide the answer that they are extremely well-equipped and knowledgeable when it comes to municipal affairs. Certainly the 200 or so participants who attended at Whonnock Community Centre can claim that they know more than most citizens when it come to what's cooking in the Ridge.
The moderator is the one person in the room, along with the timekeeper, who has to follow the words of every question and the words to every answer without loosing focus. For one as distracted as I, this meant an enormous challenge. To the effort of simply following the words one has to add what I can only describe as the RGB-factor. That is to say the red, green blue factor. When speaking, the candidate’s words are coloured much like a photograph, by layers of personal history, external and internal events, time and circumstance, background, upbringing, education, experience, character and personal beliefs. The observer, for his part hears and views of the speaker simultaneously through the lens of his eyes and ears, assembles and analyses the information and responds either inwardly to himself or outwardly through a counter or agreeing statement. It is challenging enough for most of us to focus on a single conversation over short periods. Doing so over a long period deepens the challenge and things get really difficult when we set up public conversations between twenty or thirty people on one side and say 200 or 300 people on the other, as in the case of all candidates meetings.
Another aspect attached to the moderator's lens could be some knowledge of the candidates themselves. This moderator, on this evening in Whonnock, could claim to have some degree of knowledge of each candidate either through private or public discourse. Not wishing to sound in any way corny or patronizing when this moderator looked across at the seated candidates it was with a sense of warmth, brought about perhaps by the knowledge that the candidates for the most part were prepared to offer themselves up for public scrutiny in a quest for bettering our community. The differences of opinion took then and always will, second place to the basic desire to help. So, from the solitary tripod of this lens, what did the moderator see?
Nervousness was tangible in each candidate, moreso in the mayoral candidates than in the council encumbents and hopefuls. It is interesting to observe what passes for outward comaraderie in public and then having to listen to the scuttlebut on the street which paints and entirely different picture of what the candidates think of one another. It is curious too that, once the election has passed, the seven elected ones will be forced to spend three years in civil and polite debate, notwithstanding the drubbing and backstabbing they may have had to endure from another during the campaign. Our capacity for being two-faced and double-dealing is never more evident than in politics. And no, it is not a trait that shows up exclusively on the left, right or down the middle. Duplicity is omnipresent in political life. It also makes the words of politicians hard to follow. And the words of lawyers, journalists, salesmen and so on.
The Maple Ridge 2005 campaign occurs in the same year that the public became engaged in the longest public hearings to ever be devoted to that central and illusive document known as the Official Community Plan ("OCP"). Perhaps more than any other public document the OCP touches the lives of us all and perhaps that is why is has become such a heavily discussed document. Ostensibly the public will have the final word on the OCP and it will go before the new council in 2006 for approval. He who makes sense of the OCP makes sense of Maple Ridge for many years to come.
The candidate speeches could be divided into those that were critical of past actions and those that spoke postively of future actions, normally in the shape of countermands. "I will correct past mistakes." countered by, "What mistakes? Look at all the achievements." The public will decide on November 19 whether mistakes were made and improvements can be found through displacing the existing team with new candidates or perhaps the public will take the view that we are doing OK and lets keep going the way we are. We all know there will be casualites and victories; we just don't know where they will occur.
Through the moderator's lens it seemed that those candidates who personalized their speeches came across less electable than those who simply stuck to the issues. The voter could care less about the travails of the candidate. Oddly, it seems quite often that the voter could less about the triumphs of the candidate. The voter, like the candidate, cares frequently only about himself. You would need a moderator's lens to see this. There is ample evidence however that both the public and the elected officials in this community care greatly for the place where we live. The way we express our care though can be be confusing. Good government should have clarity as its goal. Clear thinking is what this moderator will be looking for over the next two weeks so that a clear decision can be made and a clear future planned.
An all candidates meeting for mayoral and council candidates running in the 2005 District of Maple Ridge local elections was held at Whonnock Community Centre on Thursday, November 3rd, 2005 from7:30pm to 10:00pm. This meeting was aimed at providing all the candidates an opportunity to present themselves to the electorate and for the public to ask brief questions on specific issues that concerned them.
This was the first of several all candidates meetings scheduled be held in various areas of Maple Ridge prior to election day on November 19th, 2005. The organizers asked if I would act as the moderator. I explained that I had never done this sort of thing before and as I heard myself speaking these words of modesty I thought to myself hang on, being a virgin moderator makes it all the more exciting. "Sure, let’s have at her," was my final answer.
The role of moderator, albeit in the arena of local Canadian politics, has added new knowledge to my life as a political observer. In the past, as an audience participant and frequent interrogator of the candidates, I found that the subject of my own questions filled my thoughts and it was often hard to concentrate on the questions posed by other participants, let alone follow the answers from the candidates. If one is a newcomer to an area it often becomes hard to follow some of the questions without knowing the history. Maple Ridge, for instance, has a population exceeding 70,000 souls and yet every public gathering is attended by a small band of hard core residents, numbering no more than between 200 and 400 at the most. In one sense, the 70,000 are saying to the few hundred go ahead and mold our future because we are too busy going about our daily affairs, and besides which there is little we can do to influence the affairs of our community, what will be will be. In many other countries this is not the case as seen when thousands not only wish to be heard, but take things into their own hands through mass civil action. Thankfully that is a rare occurrence in Canadian political life, excluding of course job action.
The candidates at an all candidates meeting come mostly prepared for the meeting. Preparation means writing a speech that concisely articulates the key reasons for wishing to be elected. It may also means anticipating certain questions that may be directed at one for historical reasons or perhaps for reasons linked to more contemporary events. In British Columbia we recognize from observation that the meat and potatoes of local government is the determination of land use. Pick any District or City in British Columbia and subject it to time and task study to determine the amount of time devoted to discussion on all matters that could be described as falling under the category of land use and it will come as no surprise to learn that in local politics land is the only issue. All other departments of civic management beat a hasty path to Planning Department in any given district. The reason for this quite simply is that the land provides the cash upon which all other activity is based. Maple Ridge is no different. The entire community relies on property taxes supplemented by hundreds of subsets of income-sources such as all those that fall within fees-for-service. Candidates, knowingly or not, when making their pitch, are first and foremost asking the voter to be allowed to care for or husband and nurture the one asset that keeps a District healthy; land.
There are other many important issues too; community plans, financial plans, transport plans, governance, environmental protection, inter-government relationships, public safety and crime prevention, economic development plans, providing education at every level and all the detail that these major categories imply. Most candidates recognize the need to address each of these issues at some point in their campaign, but will focus on those specific issues that are closest to their personal beliefs (a good idea) or those issues that are most likely to assure them of a successful outcome (a better idea, if getting elected is the goal.)
The difficulty arises when the personal beliefs of the candidate cannot be matched to the issues most likely to win them the required number of votes to win a seat. How does a candidate make himself or herself sound passionate and convincing when speaking publicly about a subject that truthfully is only of passing interest to the speaker? Moreover, how well-equipped are the public in Maple Ridge when it comes to detecting sincerity and conviction? Many of them will provide the answer that they are extremely well-equipped and knowledgeable when it comes to municipal affairs. Certainly the 200 or so participants who attended at Whonnock Community Centre can claim that they know more than most citizens when it come to what's cooking in the Ridge.
The moderator is the one person in the room, along with the timekeeper, who has to follow the words of every question and the words to every answer without loosing focus. For one as distracted as I, this meant an enormous challenge. To the effort of simply following the words one has to add what I can only describe as the RGB-factor. That is to say the red, green blue factor. When speaking, the candidate’s words are coloured much like a photograph, by layers of personal history, external and internal events, time and circumstance, background, upbringing, education, experience, character and personal beliefs. The observer, for his part hears and views of the speaker simultaneously through the lens of his eyes and ears, assembles and analyses the information and responds either inwardly to himself or outwardly through a counter or agreeing statement. It is challenging enough for most of us to focus on a single conversation over short periods. Doing so over a long period deepens the challenge and things get really difficult when we set up public conversations between twenty or thirty people on one side and say 200 or 300 people on the other, as in the case of all candidates meetings.
Another aspect attached to the moderator's lens could be some knowledge of the candidates themselves. This moderator, on this evening in Whonnock, could claim to have some degree of knowledge of each candidate either through private or public discourse. Not wishing to sound in any way corny or patronizing when this moderator looked across at the seated candidates it was with a sense of warmth, brought about perhaps by the knowledge that the candidates for the most part were prepared to offer themselves up for public scrutiny in a quest for bettering our community. The differences of opinion took then and always will, second place to the basic desire to help. So, from the solitary tripod of this lens, what did the moderator see?
Nervousness was tangible in each candidate, moreso in the mayoral candidates than in the council encumbents and hopefuls. It is interesting to observe what passes for outward comaraderie in public and then having to listen to the scuttlebut on the street which paints and entirely different picture of what the candidates think of one another. It is curious too that, once the election has passed, the seven elected ones will be forced to spend three years in civil and polite debate, notwithstanding the drubbing and backstabbing they may have had to endure from another during the campaign. Our capacity for being two-faced and double-dealing is never more evident than in politics. And no, it is not a trait that shows up exclusively on the left, right or down the middle. Duplicity is omnipresent in political life. It also makes the words of politicians hard to follow. And the words of lawyers, journalists, salesmen and so on.
The Maple Ridge 2005 campaign occurs in the same year that the public became engaged in the longest public hearings to ever be devoted to that central and illusive document known as the Official Community Plan ("OCP"). Perhaps more than any other public document the OCP touches the lives of us all and perhaps that is why is has become such a heavily discussed document. Ostensibly the public will have the final word on the OCP and it will go before the new council in 2006 for approval. He who makes sense of the OCP makes sense of Maple Ridge for many years to come.
The candidate speeches could be divided into those that were critical of past actions and those that spoke postively of future actions, normally in the shape of countermands. "I will correct past mistakes." countered by, "What mistakes? Look at all the achievements." The public will decide on November 19 whether mistakes were made and improvements can be found through displacing the existing team with new candidates or perhaps the public will take the view that we are doing OK and lets keep going the way we are. We all know there will be casualites and victories; we just don't know where they will occur.
Through the moderator's lens it seemed that those candidates who personalized their speeches came across less electable than those who simply stuck to the issues. The voter could care less about the travails of the candidate. Oddly, it seems quite often that the voter could less about the triumphs of the candidate. The voter, like the candidate, cares frequently only about himself. You would need a moderator's lens to see this. There is ample evidence however that both the public and the elected officials in this community care greatly for the place where we live. The way we express our care though can be be confusing. Good government should have clarity as its goal. Clear thinking is what this moderator will be looking for over the next two weeks so that a clear decision can be made and a clear future planned.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
There is work to be done in Zimbabwe
In full view of the world's international community, over many years, the southern African country of Zimbabwe has been allowed to slip into a state easily comparable to the dark world of anarchy depicted in Francis Ford Apocalypse Now.
The film became a metaphorical backdrop for the corruptive madness and folly of war itself for a generation of Americans. In the case of Zimbabwe today, the lives of millions of people in that country is far from metaphorical. The starvation, human abuse, derprivation and death thrust upon the country by Robert Mugabe is real and will eventually come to be recognized as one of history's worst crimes against humanity by a single individual. With so many recent events of similar gruesome indifference, it is beyond belief that the United Nations, along with every unifying, peace keeping and aid agency on the continent of Africa has turned its back on the peoples of Zimbabwe.
The question is: who will take on the mission to terminate the dangerously-lawless and insane Mugabe, who behave now no better than a warlord and self-appointed god and ruling a band of thugs through favouritism and cronyism.
I was recently sent a survey by the association that promotes the United Nations here in Canada. It asks a predictable set of questions all aimed at improving the United Nations and improving Canada's contribution to the United Nations. While surveys such as these give comfort to the administrators of our world agencies they do little to acclerate the urgent attention needed by helpless communities such as we now have in Zimbabwe. It is no exageration to say that in the time it took me to fill out the survey 100 or more Zimbabwean men, women and children died.
My appeal is to Canada to influence the United Nations and Zimbabwe's closest neighbour, the Republic of South Africa, to simply move on the Zimbabwe gangster regime, with force if necessary, to save the man in the street from becoming another corpse on yet another dusty road in Africa.
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