Severance-A-Go-Go.....It's Time To Double Down!

ThereAin'tNoSpamOnUs
Caucus-A-LotVille


Writing on his and Michael Klassen's new Civic group blog-thingy, Smilin' Sammy's most excellent former Chief-of-Bowstaffs, Daniel Fontaine, thinks that the Visionistas are hiding something if they don't release the full details of former City Manager Judy Rogers' severance package, forthwith.

Which is all fine and good.

But Mr. Fontaine's outrage, fauxian or otherwise, pales in comparison to mine.

Why?

Because as a citizen of Vancouver I am really and truly outraged that the severance package of the City's former Chief Financial Officer, Estelle Lo, is tied to a gag order.

Not to mention the fact that Ms. Lo's very leaving/ouster, unlike Ms. Rogers', was kept secret - secret for weeks during the run-up to the civic election just passed.

Weeks that Smilin' Sammy's regime was still kinda/sorta in charge of the city previously known, at least by some (see: KidVancouver, Former), as 'Spamalot'.

****

So how about it Mr. Fontaine......are you ready to call for a full and open severance double-down?

With all the numbers face-up, on the table, and all the strings detached?

In other words:

Let's let Ms. Lo speak!

(and Ms. Rogers too if she so chooses, of course)

OK?

.

RailGate Revival - Let Freedom Reign!

AllTheObfuscationThatFits
BCRailGoneWildVille


So.

The never ending Basi-Virk pre-game ritual briefly started shooting sparks again late last week.

And, according to Mr. T., Bill Tieleman, a lot of the fireworks revolved around 'Freedom'.

'Freedom of Information' that is:

Referring specifically to documents the defence obtained through FOI requests to the premier's office, (Robert Virk's Lawyer Kevin) McCullough made this allegation:

“There was leaking that was un-attributable to Basi and Virk. Did Basi and Virk even leak documents to the lobbyists? That’s a live issue,” McCullough charged.

“The FOI documents show other individuals were doing that,” he continued, without naming anyone in the premier's office.


Obfuscatory leaks?

Coming from the Premier's office?

Designed to manipulate the media and public opinion?

Why, I'm shocked.

Shocked I tell you that even one of those hundreds of very finest-of-the-fine OIC-appointed members of the flack-hackery would ever even consider engaging in such acts!

Or that their paymasters would encourage them to do so.

Oh, wait.

Nevermind.

****

Regardless, how does the government of Mr. Gordon Campbell, a government that is known to have acted in a blatantly obfuscatory manner in the past, plan to deal with this latest truckload of potentially bad news/information that was obtained by the Basi/Virk defense team via a legitimate use of the 'Freedom of Information' act?

Why, by blocking the release of such news and information after doubling-down and invoking the retroactive use of the already used 'Freedom of Information Act, of course.

Brilliant!

Here's Mr. T. again with that part of the story:

....release of the FOI materials - which provincial government lawyer George Copl(e)y said may be opposed on the basis of "cabinet confidence," "solicitor client privilege," "third party financial information," and/or "unreasonable invasion of personal privacy" - all relevant sections of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.


But just in case that doesn't work, Mr. Copley has also decided to make a fuss about the irrelevance of it all:

The hearing also heard examples from Copley of what kind of documents the defence has obtained from the premier's office and how the FOI Act severing of information may be handled.

"This is an email message from Michelle Leamy in the premier's office to several people," Copley told Bennett, referring to Campbell's Director, Executive Operations.

At a later point Copley discussed another email from the premier's office as an example.

"This is from [inaudible name] to Martyn Brown. Section 22 - personal information [would apply] - it attaches a resume and talks about that person. The whole resume is severed," Copley said, referring to Campbell's Chief of Staff.


Now, back in the good old days when Mr. Copley could claim things like 'lawyers' privilege' while hiding behind 'protocols' handed to secretaries working for the man with many hats and get away with it, spouting inanities like those cited above would likely have been enough to sway both the court's and the public's opinion (or at least the great majority of Lotusland's pro-media commentators including those of, apparently, Mr. Norman Spector).

However, this time around gorgeous George might just be in a little trouble on that front.

Why?

Because of the new guy in court, our man Lou.

But a further possible flaw in the process came when Lou Webster, who has been nominated as part of a court protocoal on review the FOIs, explained his role. Webster said he reviews all the documents produced by the government and indicates where the government has removed information he believes may be relevant.

And Webster indicated that the examples Copley gave the court were not typical of the documents he believed should not be severed.

"These documents are a very poor example of what I was opposed to redacting," Webster told Bennett, adding that he believes it will take her about 10 days to review the government and BC Rail documents.


Go ahead....go and read that statement by Mr. Webster, above in red, again.

Isn't it refreshing to read an entire declarative sentence uttered by an officer of the court in this case that is so absolutely free of codswallop?

Maybe now we're finally getting somewhere.

OK?


_____
I think you will all agree that this has been another bit of in-depth reporting by Mr. Tieleman that truly serves the public. Sure will be interesting to have a listen to see if this becomes a topic of discussion between Mr. T. and Mr. Spector on the Goodship Watercarrier's radio show tomorrow/Monday morning @ 10am.
Oh, and just in case you missed it, BC Mary has been all over all kinds of RailGate and RailGate-Related/Relevant happenings recently. Go read her too!


.

The Pan-Canadian Dictatorship.....Week 2

Parliament!!!???
WeDon'tNeedNoStinkin'ParliamentVille


In which a series of little black spots, eighteen of them to be precise, suddenly appeared on the big banana that constitutes Stephen Harper's Make Believe Republic:

"There are 18 vacancies in the 105-seat Senate and Harper will try to fill as many of those slots as quickly as possible in order to put them out of reach of a Liberal-NDP coalition."

After a good stiff drink of some really rancid Kool-Aid that I bought, purely for experimental purposes of course, from my kooky conservative colleague down the hall, I found the voices in my head shouting out the following:

In these most trying of times, can we really blame Our Dear Leader for this most offensive offensive?

After all, like rotting fruit, duplicitous dictatorships masquerading as 'suspended' parliamentary democracies can spoil very, very quickly.

Or put another way, as it was by the conservative Senator from The Albertalands, Bert Brown, on CBC's (beat) 'The House' (with a really big stick) this morning, these eighteen appointments are extremely:

"Time Sensitive"

Ya, Bert.

You bet your life they are time sensitive/rotten to the core, especially given the fact that they may include a whole bunch of moldering, festering spots such as the following as suggested by, first, a real honest to goddess unbiased journalist named Mr. David Akin:

"Michael Fortier won't be getting a call but I'll bet John Reynolds might get a look for one of the 3 BC Senate seats that are open....."


And second, by a journalist that, apparently, is so unabashedly unbiased that he is able to act as a commentator for Macleans while he simultaneously does his best to cram entire bushels of bananas down the country's collective throat at every opportunity, Mr. Stephen Taylor:

Mario Dumont made his exit from Quebec politics this week and may find his return as a senator from Quebec. Dumont has been an ally of the Prime Minister and this would satiate the smaller ADQ elements in Harper’s Quebec machine.


Oh, and just in case you missed the 'Welcome to the Watercarriers' portion of Mr. Taylor's exposition, he also suggests that Mr. Michael Duffy be appointed the newly minted Senator from the great state of Maine......errrrrrr....PEI.

And for your final laugh of the day, inserted intentionally we're sure for it's ability to goose the short attention span of the rest of the herd media, Mr. Taylor also thinks that Captain Kirk would make a fine 4th choice from Quebec.

Which might not be a bad idea, as far as it goes, at least from Mr. Shatner's perspective given that such an appointment would give him a chance to start mixing it up once again with the common people.

Common People like.......

You.

OK?

_____
And, speaking of Maximum John, what ever happened to his efforts to lobby the Dictatorship on behalf of Smilin' Sammy's Codeine Substitution Consortium, or whatever the heckfire it was?
And for those who can't get enough leggo, two gees or not, with their entertainment, please click 'here'. Go ahead, all the smilin' happy people of the dictatorship are doing it.



.

Questions For The New Vancouver City Manager....

ThingsLotuslandiansWantToKnow
RightHereRightNowVille

#1) Ms. Ballem, will you lift the gag order hanging over former Chief Financial Officer Estelle Lo's severance-wrapped head?



____
FABula's Globe piece is now up.....and it has a quite a bit more depth than anything so far, including the rumour that Ms. Rogers was informed of her demise days ago, her purported role in the Great Garbage Strike Conspiracy of 2007, and a statement from the now deposed former city manager wherein she claims to have been a non-partisan (in a completely non-NPAish way, of course)....

.

Judy Rogers Out!

.

Penny Ballem in!

Decided by Vancouver City Council, In Camera, this morning...


(and Suzanne Anton reads the statement?????)


_____
We await FABula's inside scoop, hopefully not melted.
Mike Howell had an inkling, but he didn't quite pull the trigger......
Bob Mackin is the first to get his Gregoriness' statement up (was Ms. Anton spilling the InCameraBeans to CKNW's Marcella Bernardo unauthorized?)
And, as Charlie Smith points out, there is no clear indication that Ms. Rogers was actually fired....Does that mean the severance deal is not bigger than Little Mountain and/or a certain highly creative content consultant's hat size?
And Michael Klassen has more, albeit from a somewhat more Antonesquian POV writing on the new CityCaucus group blog-thingy.
And she who rarely comes across a conspiracy theory she doesn't like regardless its basis in fact and/or lack thereof, Jamie Lee Hamilton, seems to think it's all part of some sort of shadowy 'Leak Protection Program'.
For the record, the full City of Gregoriessness's Press Release penned by the newly-minted flack formerly known as 'The Vancouver Kid' is presented, in full, below......

Mayor and Council Members Announce New City Manager

Mayor Gregor Robertson today announced that Dr. Penny Ballem will join the City of Vancouver as City Manager, taking over from Judy Rogers, who has served as City Manager since 1999.

Robertson said Council’s decision, effective immediately, supports the new Council’s agenda for change at City Hall, and that Rogers is working cooperatively to ensure an orderly and principled transition.

“Judy Rogers has made an enormous contribution to the City of Vancouver over the course of her 20-year career here. She built a talented and dedicated professional team over the years, and she has worked hard to help make Vancouver the great city it is today. I wish her the very best as she moves forward in her career,” Robertson said.

For more information, please contact:
Kevin Quinlan, Executive Assistant to the Mayor
778.995.2264

---

BACKGROUNDER

Biography – Dr. Penny Ballem

Incoming City Manager Dr. Penny Ballem has more than 30 years experience in the public sector in Canada in senior management positions. She has extensive experience in managing large organizations, building relationships across private and public sectors, and collaborating with civic, provincial, and federal levels of government.

Dr. Ballem, who is trained as a clinical hematologist, has served as the Deputy Minister of Health for British Columbia, as well as the Vice-President of Women’s and Family Health at the Children’s and Women’s Health Centre of BC. She currently serves as a Corporate Director for Bentall Capital G.P. Ltd., as well as a senior advisor to RPO Management Consultants.

Dr. Ballem served as the Deputy Minister of Health from 2001-2006. The Ministry of Health is responsible for a $12 Billion budget and oversees a sector serving 4.2 million British Columbians.

As Deputy Minister, Dr. Ballem:

• Served as the lead official for a number of specific national health initiatives led by the Premier of BC, including the National Pharmaceutical Strategy and the Aboriginal Health Strategy
• Co-chaired the Federal/Provincial Territorial Conference of Deputy Ministers of Health
• Chaired the BC Health Leadership Council that brought together on a regular basis the CEOs of the six health authorities
• Oversaw the move to a fully regionalized system (from 52 governing bodies to 6 health authorities) with consolidation of regional service delivery and development of core health service capacity in each region to better serve the public
• Instituted comprehensive annual performance agreements between the Ministry of Health and the Health authorities to direct strategic transformation of the sector and ensure accountability
• Oversaw a major transformation of the Public Drug Plan (Pharmacare) to ensure more equitable access for all British Columbians
• Improved labour relations in the health system with an unprecedented agreement with all labour unions to work on health policy and health workplace issues through the terms of new agreements commencing in March 2006.

Dr. Ballem is the winner of the 2003 Queen’s Jubilee Medal for Public Service, as well as the 2006 British Columbia Provincial Health Officer’s Award for Leadership in Public Health.

Her position as City Manager is effective immediately.

For more information, please contact:
Kevin Quinlan, Executive Assistant to the Mayor
778.995.2264

.

The Hughes Report Revisted....

.

....Glaciers Are Not Enough

LINOTalkIsCheap
DeficitInTheDoingVille.

And if the fact that the government of Gordon Campbell has not made significant progress on any of Mr. Hughes' core recommendations leads to even one tragic outcome for even a single of British Columbia's most vulnerable children, it will be entirely his fault.

Mr Campbell's I mean.

Why?

Because when "The Hughes Report", which was a scathing indictment of Mr. Campbell's previous attempts to privatize/centralize British Columbia's Ministry of Family and Children and everything associated with it (remember Doug Walls?........remember the more than 700 child deaths that were never investigated?), came out almost three years ago, a suddenly seemingly contrite Mr. Campbell promised to implement ALL of it's recommendations.

And so far he and his government have not implemented a single one.

Not one.

How do we know this?

Well, it is because British Columbia's independent children's advocate (ie. the person now in the position that Mr. Campbell visciously and senselessly axed pre-Hughes Report), Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, just told us so:

VICTORIA, B.C. — B.C.'s children's watchdog accused the provincial government of spending more time working on plans to protect vulnerable children than actually implementing programs to protect them.

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond said Thursday the government is moving too slowly when it comes to fulfilling its promise to implement 62 recommendations from an April 2006 report that called for stability in British Columbia's child welfare system.

"Thirty-two months after (the) report, the pace is, frankly, glacial," she said at a press conference. "It's the difference between planning and doing. There's a deficit in the doing."

The above is from an un-bylined, Canadian Press wire service report.

And where, you might be wondering, is the rest of Lotusland's proMedia and puffilisimousPunditry on this story?

Well.........

Where are heck are they?

Exactly?

The silence, as they say, is deafening.

_____
For the record, The Hughes Report in full is here (pdf) and it's core recommendations are here (pdf).
And, just in case you were wondering.....No, the Ledgie Boys and the Watercarrier did not discuss this issue this morning....
And here is the name of a hero that everyone in BC who cares about vulnerable kids in this province should remember - Kathleen Stephany . Ms. Stephany was a true public servant who was thrown under the bus by a somewhat less true/truthier one, Mr. John Les.
And yes, I am expecting the OIC-assisted (frequent BCSC visitors, I'm looking at you) smear machine to crank-up any minute now against Ms. Turpel-Lafond. After all, it's not like they and the red meat faction of Mr. Campbell's caucus have not done so before (remember when she was attacked for having the gall to actually ask for the money required to actually do her job).
For anyone not familiar with Mr. Turpel-Lafond's story, here is a link to Rob McMahon's very good backgrounder/bio that was published in the G.Straight when she was first hired. Clearly, Ms. Turpel-Lafond is made up of much sterner stuff than many of the other very fine folks put in place to provide wet blanket-cover for Mr. Campbell's more ideologically-driven propagammon efforts (see here, if you would like to examine a relevant comparison.
And for those who wish to keep up with this story now and in the future, particularly if the herd really does refuse to follow, I suggest (as ever) that you check in regularly at Mr. Holman's place.


_______
Below is the entire text of Mr. Turpel-Lafond's press release direct from The Representative For Children and Youth's website (just in case it was to, I dunno, get lost in a warehouse or something given that it is currently provided only as a pdf link*). The full report is here (pdf also).

VICTORIA – The need for intensified government commitment to completing all of the Hughes recommendations is even more essential in challenging economic times, B.C.’s Representative for Children and Youth said today.

“We know that the blueprint provided by the Hughes Review recommendations will improve the lives of our most vulnerable children,” said Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond. “In the tough economic times we are entering, the challenges facing struggling families will increase and their fortunes can abruptly change. The bottom line for all of our concerted efforts must be protecting children."

Turpel-Lafond called for more collaboration between government, child-serving agencies and the business community to increase the focus on strengthening supports for children, to ensure that if the economy worsens children will not suffer even more. Her office will also put an enhanced priority on seeking out collaboration, she said.

Continued commitment to completion of the Hughes recommendations is one of the many ways government can improve the social safety net for vulnerable families in uncertain times, she said in releasing her 2008 Progress Report on Implementation of the Hughes Review Recommendations.
This report evaluated 15 recommendations which were assessed in the 2007 Progress Report as not completed.

These 15 recommendations were chosen for evaluation in the 2008 report because the Representative believes them to be at the very core of the essential government work still required to be done. Completion of these specific recommendations would significantly improve and enhance the effectiveness of the Ministry of Children and Family Development in serving B.C.’s vulnerable children and youth.

Of the recommendations examined in the Representative’s 2008 report, none are assessed as complete or fully operational, although one is substantially completed. There is no progress on two of the recommendations, while the others are all in the planning or implementation stage.

“It is concerning to me that the two recommendations that have little or no progress are among the most important in the Hughes Review,” Turpel-Lafond said. They are essential for ensuring basic accountability and ultimately, value-for-money.

Turpel-Lafond’s report also highlights positive progress made in 2008 by the B.C. government on a number of child-focused initiatives. These included endorsement of Jordan’s Principle to ensure a child-first approach in resolving jurisdictional disputes, and new legislation to create a College of Social Workers to enhance professionalism in the field.

Building on these positives with a new level of collaboration is essential because of a heightened level of need the economic downturn will bring.

“We need everyone involved in the child-serving system to set a higher priority on examining performance measures,” Turpel-Lafond said. “The system’s capacity to serve vulnerable children in a time of economic uncertainty will be severely tested. Ensuring that every initiative and every dollar is making a genuine difference in the lives of B.C. children is at the heart of Mr. Hughes’ recommendations. We need to know what is working, and what isn’t.”

The Representative for Children and Youth is an independent Officer of the Legislature, who champions the fundamental rights of vulnerable children and youth, and promotes improvements in the delivery of services to children, youth and their families. The Representative has offices in Victoria, Burnaby, and Prince George.

____
* the fuss is that pdf links can very easily slip through the cracks of the google cache if something is pulled down later.


.

Sometimes A Number Is Just A Number....

......And Sometimes It Is So Much More.

Anyway.

I'm hanging around at Mr. Beer 'N Hockey's place, reading his latest stuff, when I suddenly find myself pounding out a comment about the remnants of my Dad's old 1959 Strat-O-Chief that used to sit in the garage when I was a kid.

Which, of course, got me thinking about Johnny Bucyk.

So I went off to have a look at his numbers.

Mr. Bucyk's I mean.

****

Johnny 'Chief' Bucyk had his best season with the Boston Bruins in 1970/71 (51 goals and 65 assists). It was quite a year for the left winger who had never scored more than 3o goals in any one of his previous fifteen seasons in the NHL.

Which begs the question....

Why?

Why did Bucyk suddenly have such a great year statistically?

Well, the big bad Bruins of yore were a great and dominating team.

But, perhaps even more importantly, they also had the greatest puck distributor, not to mention the greatest player, of all time manning the blueline (and, let's face it, every other line on the ice) at the time.

In fact, what stands out most amongst Robert Gordon Orr's numbers in 1970/71 are not his unbelievable goal (ie. 37) or even his stratospheric assist (ie. 102) totals for a defenseman back when all defensemen were meant to stay at home.

No.

What really stands out is Orr's inconceivable plus/minus total of...... Get this! ........ one hundred and twenty-four.

To the good that is.

Now, to put this in perspective, even Wayne Gretzky, when he was racking up crazy-legged points totals that were almost twice that of Orr's in the go-go '80's, never broke a hundred in the plus/minus category.

Wow!


______
True story.....This year I got a bunch of the young twenty-somethings I teach to tell me who they thought the greatest of all time was.....Turns out that a not inconsiderable number of them thought I was crazy to suggest that Orr was better than, not Gretzky, but.......Crosby!!!! Sheesh.
And when did I ask 'em? Well, when I was lecturing about CD4-positive T-cells, of course.


.

Banks.......What Are They Good For?

.

...Absolutely Nothing!

(say it again!)


Tara Perkins Globe&Mail Dec09/08: Canada's banks, squeezed by tight credit conditions, only passed two-thirds of the central bank's rate cut on to consumers, posing a challenge for Ottawa as the economy withers.

Each of the six largest banks decided Tuesday to lower their prime rate by 50 basis points, to 3.5 per cent, after the Bank of Canada cut its key rate by three-quarters of a percentage point.

The move continues a game of cat and mouse that began in October, when the central bank cut its rate by half a percentage point and the banks only reduced prime by a quarter point. The banks didn't budge until Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced a $25-billion program to buy mortgages from the banks.

So, not only do we bail them out.

But we also let them horde.

OUR money.

Money that would help ALL Canadians if it circulated through the system and loosened up OUR credit markets.

Bastards.


.

I'll Take Two Of What You're Havin'...

TricksMyNot-SoMusicallyInclinedMindHaveTaughtMe
MinorVille

So, last time out I mentioned my new-found fondness for the Drive-By Truckers, which led to a deluge.

Including a couple of lines thrown out into the ionosphere by BigCityLib that sent me wandering down a tangle of picaresque Boolean lanes leading straight to a place inhabited by Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit:




Above is Jason's tune called 'Goddamn Lonely Love'.

Which is a fantastic testament to, as Bruce sometimes likes to call it, The A-Minor Masterpiece'.

Which is a thing I love.

For the melancholy of it all, lonely or otherwise

Because for me memory and melancholia are closely linked.

In a good way.

Like this......

Christmas of grade eight I got the most fantastic present a 13 yr old boy bent on speed could ever want.

A new, shiney-white Baycrest.

Ten speed.

Which really was pretty good for speed.

What it was not so good for, however, was bike tag.

Endless games of it, and other things too, in the Super-Valu parking lot up the street and around the corner from the house where I grew up.

Goddamn, I miss that parking lot.


OK?





_____
And just so you don't think that everything Mr. Isbell and friends does is all weepin', cheatin' and hurtin', check this out.
And just so my Mom doesn't give me too hard a time, I know it was actually a Shop Easy parking lot, but I like the 'sound' of Super-Value better.

.

The Incredible Lightness Of Non-Blogging

WeAreAllZimbabweansNow
CanuckistanmikitaVille(nomore?)

....The following is a response to all those who have left kind comments and sent even kinder E-mails while I've been absent from the Bloggodome for the past few weeks....

Thanks all!

And a thousand apologies for the incredible lightness of writing lately.

I've just been swamped with real life work is all....It's a heavy teaching time and, what's even worse/scarier, we have another lab run by a giant in our field that is suddenly pushing us on a project we've been working on for quite awhile now. Regarding the latter, you have to realize that there is no wild-card victory for ultimately finishing 2nd in the science business, even if you have been the front-runner since Opening Day..... Anyway, those are the two main reasons for my recent silence. Well, that and the fact that I know that if I was to rush headlong into the feverish swamp that Mr. Harper's obfuscatory Zimbabweized nation has become, I might never get out.....

So.

I am now (temporarily) pulling the plug once again and heading back to my bunker to pound the real-work keyboard while listening to more from my newest favourite 'Drive-By-Truckers'....especially the tune called 'Carl Perkins' Cadillac'...

OK?





_____
GWest.....it is truly bizarre that the thing that took me less than 15 seconds to write, especially compared to all that I did on the Vancouver Municipal Election, actually caught the The Hook's not-so-fishy eye....
This year's Christmastime stuff coming soon Bev (working on some audio, and maybe even a little video this time around).....but here are a couple of tidbits to tide you over....little e. got her advent calendar a little late this year (ie. yesterday, Dec 5th) so she got to eat five chocolates all at once, which made her very, very happy indeed....Bigger E will be singing with the Bach Choir at Orpheum tomorrow - can't wait!...
Meanwhile, things are heating up over at Mr. T's and our good friend Mary's (whose site seems to have been under mysterious 'attack' recently.....hmmmmm....) regarding the rumoured return of Railgate's Revenge.
And as for the biggest blogging contest of them all......I'd vote for at least three-of-'em, but I'm really pulling for Bob.
Re: The Zimbabwification of Canada....Montreal Simon, who is someone who really understands both the Central Canadian and the Quebecois perpectives (as well as many others), is all over it...... As for Lotusland and what we would gain (ie. not 'lose' as the VSun would have us believe) if the will of parliament was to, ultimately, prevail? Well, our favorite Green blogger and baseball fanatic Bob Broughton has that story. And just in case you thought the world wasn't watching, there's this.
Re: The Trucker's revisited: This one's for Beer. Here's hoping it helps him (and Sonja) get through another holiday season without our Miss Anne.
And for those who may be wondering, I have used the image at the top of this post before.....it's Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Phil Esposito and Chiko Maki at 'Henri Henri' Chapeaux shop, circa 1965, deep in the land of Mr. Harper's sovereign separtists.


.

Sure Hope You Like Bananas With Your Pierogies....

.

.....Because We Are All Republicans Now

Let the nation splitting (ie. 'Conservative Warroom-Whipped Commercials Blaming The Evil Separatists For Everything') begin!

.

Vancouver Civic Election: Post-Voting Numbers Nugget....

.

.....It's The Density Stoopid!

TheNPAIsDoomed
RedRumpRisingVille


So.

Last night, during the live flogging, I gave CKNW election-coverage moderator-man John McComb a hard time for his repeated utterings of content-challenged rhetoric that were so inane they bordered on the mockumenteric mutterings of a mellifluous mannequin.

And now I'm going back at Mr. McComb again.

This time to revisit his ridiculously naive comment near the end of the night that, upon looking at the Red/Green poll-by-poll results map, it looked like things were pretty much split right down the middle between Gregor Robertson and Peter Ladner.

Now, the 'split-down-the-middle' comment is actually considerably less insightful than the utterings of the titanness of the twitter, Miss604, who made the pithy observation that all those poor people in the NorthEast quadrant went to his Gregorness while the rich folk of the West went for the P-man (whose family's money is) behind Business Vancouver.

What Miss 604 failed to mention, however, was the fact that her own neighbourhood, not to mention pretty much the entire downtown core and all of the west end, went Vision.

And therein lies the real golden nugget of the thing.

Perhaps we should actually have one more look at that poll-by-poll results map before I explain.




OK, OK, OK....I will admit that on first blush, both Mr. McComb and Miss 604 were right.

But the thing to realize is that none of that matters anymore.

Why?

Because there's something missing from that map.

It's right there in front of you, but you cannot see it unless you utilize the theatre of your mind.

And squint while you utter the word.........

"Density..."

*****

What the heckfire am I talking about here?

Well, look at that map, above, again.

Notice Downtown?

Notice all of Kits?

Notice almost all of False Creek?

Notice the burgeoning Main, Kingsway and Knight St. Highrise corridors?

Notice the density in every single one of those neighbourhoods?

And finally......

Notice it all went to Vision.....

ALL of it.

Which makes me wonder how long it will be before the good folks of Red Rump Shaughnessy, Dunbar and Point Grey start demanding wards they can call their own.

Which will be ironic in the extreme.

Not to mention most 'Cremey'.

OK?

_____
Looks like Mr. McComb and Miss 604 had the jump on the venerable Lotuslandian CBC who posted up the following after all was said and done: "the vote split along clean geographic and socio-economic lines, with Vision taking the mayoral vote in East Vancouver and Kitsilano, and the right-of-centre NPA sweeping the more affluent westside neighbourhoods and some polls in South Vancouver....." no mention of the entire downtown or the West End or Coal Harbour, none of which is low on the 'affluent' scale, as for density/numbers, well (gosh, thought that the Cluffmaster Flashish Anti-Insight Factory Workers at the Ceeb had taken the night off - guess I was wrong).....


.

It's A 'Big Green Tent' Landslide In Vancouver

Vision/COPE/Green
GOTVVille

(live blogs #1 and #2 follow on posts immediately below)


Yup.

It's his Gregorness, Mr. Robertson, for Mayor.

Pretty much a clean sweep on Council....only one who didn't make it is VV'er Dhaliwhal (Reimer in!).

Pretty much a clean sweep on Parks Board....only COPEatista Anita Romaniuk didn't make it (Blyth in! yay!; Zlotnik the Park Killer out!!!! yayer!!!!)

Schoolboard has a couple of RedRumpers: Gibson (by a whisker over good guy COPEster Bill Bargeman - really too, too bad) and Denike (ugggggghhhhh!), otherwise another clean sweep.

And those Capital issues....Well, despite the fact that our property taxes (ie. no 'Get Out Of Property Fund Free' card for us), Vancouverites voted overwhelmingly to spend money on infrastructure that everyone (ie. not just the Olympics and/or the million dollar Condo buyers) actually need.

Great night, all in all, if you have a single progressive bone in your body....


______
And as I said at the tail end of Live Flog #2..... Have to wonder if this means it is now safe for Estelle Lo to come back to work, especially if his Gregorness decides to call an 'In Camera' council meeting to discuss 'personnel' matters involving 'Judy! Judy! Judy!'
And while I said it already on the Live Flog, I'll say it again here.....Good on FABula for stopping the spin of Mess'rs Fontaine and Tieleman dead on the not-soGiant98, because Mr. Macomb sure as heckfire wasn't going to do it.
Hi eteba!


.

Vancouver Civic Election Live Flogging Part Deux....

AllTheBlatherThatFits
Lotuslandia

(live flog session #1 is in post directly below....also please understand that I've left this up, unchanged, sloppy drums and all because it was written entirely on the fly with immediate impressions thrown in...in other words, no attempt was made to get to a level of deeper analysis - that will come later )

9:15pm: Geller really dropping off the bottom of council....Is Anton getting an alphabetical save?.....No Funcouver is alive and well in NPA Marriot Ballroom.....FABula caught blogging on not-soGiant98....

9:20pm: Whoops, I was off last time...Geller back in Capri pants out....you want up to date numbers - they're here. Interestingly, there is quite an East v. West split.....looks like this election is bring back the old class warfare swords (that's one thing Smilin' Sammy actually did right last time when he got folks to sheath 'em)..... still a lot of Southside polls to come in...

9:25pm: I'm really proud of my fellow Vancouver citizens.....capital questions, all three, are way, way, way up 3:1....poor fuzzy Senator DaVinci....he can't figure out where the polls are coming from.....if he looked at the map he would see that Ladner has pretty much already shot his Westside wad.....Tieleman catches up to us bloggers in the FeverSwamps - mentions the East vs. West Split in the map (with a slight North South tinge)....It's actually quite striking how polarized it is....Uggggghhhhhhh....Zlotnik is almost back in Parks Board race - hope the wad really has been shot....Senator daVinci does make one important point - all the Twittering going on is coming from Visionista kids, not NPA sad-sacks...

9:28pm: Some of the Southsides are now coming in.....looks to be kinda NPAish....so they may recoup a little...Top kinda/sorta independent councillor at the moment - Chris Shaw of WorkLessParty (and anti-Olympic advocate).... Ellen Woodsworth is not there - not sure there are enough strong Vision polls left to get her back up above the bar....Tieleman starting to spin already - moving his Gregorness towards the middle.....

9:30pm: Think Meggs might be in a bit of trouble, near the bottom of the pack with a lot of Red states still to come in (and Meggs as the union guy may have a real problem there.....FABula is the dissenting punditocratic voice - says COPE will survive.....incredible how naive (stoopid?) many of the proMedia commentators are.....good on FABula for standing on her ground and giving us the real deal (really dig that she doesn't grind her own POV axe)....FABula now making the BigTent argument....

9:31pm: Interesting split on Schoolboard...somehow Denike is still there - sheesh!.....FABula is actually now starting to run the notsoGiant98 show by asking folks to voice their expertise....brings up the Millennium 'default' issue...Macomb knows nothing....Frances says she has the 'numbered documents'....Raymond Louie, despite the Globa-TV ambush is kickin' butt for Council - Macomb wants to know if Millennium is a big issue for him (is the man stoopid? - has he been paying attention?)

9:35pm: .... Interestingly, the only Red States left are deep Point Grey....Will those good folks remember that Mr. Zlotnik ripped the heart out of the Park in their backyard?.....I think Meggs is now safe....he's 9th....Capri pants is 11th (how was that Springsteen concert anyway Kimmy?) but 2000 votes behind....Flipside (and it's too bad) Woodsworth will not get back...

9:43pm: ....With a lot of Southside polls still to come, will be interesting to see how much Dhaliwal (Vision) and Singh (NPA) can get back because they are both well behind (think they may have cancelled each other out).....Stephen Quinn wants to know if his Gregorness won because of his looks.....How about the VV GOTV effort oh MightyQuinnish one...HeadGirl says the NPA thing was a 'TEAM' is she going to run with Nancy C. next time out....sheesh....go get yourself some Creme.....

9:47pm: .....SouthEast corner is going outlier Red....things could really tighten here....not many Green States left....Can the punditrocracy not see this?....Capri pants on not-soGiant98.....ha!.....she knows nothing about polls...everybody loved me!.....

9:50pm: OK....now more putative GreenStates left....HERE COMES WOODSWORTH ON THE OUTSIDE!!!!!!....Bye-Bye Geller.....Same for Zlotnik - and good riddance!!! Only Anton, with her alphabetical-assist is left for the Red-Rump party..... Making fun for Woodsworth's desire to decrease transit ticket prices....and how much laughing punditry is the Olympics going to cost us, exactly?

9:52pm: Fontaine is right....it's a retroVote....There is diagonal line across the City although the green goes way West through Kits.... Wonder how many votes Eby would have gotten?

9:53pm: Only 10 polls left....Betty K in third....where is 'James' Green tonight?.... Re: the South Asian vote and why they can't elect a (non-Ward) candidate, FABula hits 'em with facts again - they've only got 30K votes so can't make the City-Wide nut, which I think (with all my heart and head) is just plain nuts (thanks for that one too Shammy!).....

9:55pm: Woodsworth and Geller neck-and-neck in the backstretch.....Capri pants fading.....

9:57pm: M Paulsen and Senator daVinci get into an interesting (and honest) conversation on campaign spending; head girl says little or nothing except for a clipped 'I agree with that', although I'm not exactly sure what she was agreeing to (she doesn't agree with rolling reporting however).....

9:58pm: Hey! An old friend and compatriot of mine (and a lover of Pacific Spirit Park, take that Private Golf Course lovers!), Maria Harris, has just been elected representative for Electoral Area 'A'.......

9:59pm: Only one for sure Red State left with at least 5 Green States.....I'm calling Woodsworth in, Geller out.....Heck I'll even take short odds on it.....

10:00pm: Yup.....Woodsworth is pulling away from Geller now....Zlotnik now two out!....It's a Landslide....talk about the GOTV effort now somebody....pleasssssseeeee!!! .......Anton says we are all dopes because we didn't elect Geller, has no idea why her party got smoked....figures she got elected because she has something to do with Astroturf fields, or some such thing....Quinn says she made it because of 'hard work' and signage, think he's slyly referring to the alphabetical-assist....

10:02pm: Last remaining RedRump party member Ian Robertson is now in danger of dropping off the bottom of ParksBoard slate (kinda sorry about that because he's actually pretty good)....Sarah Blyth is way, way, way in!

10:05pm: Still SouthVan votes to come and Dhaliwal is charging, hard.... he could pass Woodsworth, or even Meggs....this could be interesting because the next above, last remaining RedRumpist, Anton, is too far up....

10:08pm: Only three polls left....two in SouthVan..... Dhaliwhal is only 9oo votes behind Woodsworth....I think he could do it....and then the folks screaming about buses coming to big tent nomination votes will just have to shut the heckfire up....

10:12pm: .....Anita Romaniuk only 500 behind Ian Robertson Parks Board....three green states are all that's left...will she make it?....His Gregorness is on stage, sounds a little Gordo-like (just in timber, no hate mail please Visionistas!)...

10:15pm:.....Just one poll left...it's all done.....Woodworth is in - Dhaliwal will just fall just short...RedRumpers Left are: Ian Robertson Parks....Anton with alphabetical-assist is in on council....Schoolboard has Denike (blechhhh!) and Gibson....

10:17pm .....His Gregorness gives kudos to Shammy.....gives shout out to Greens (one on Parks - Stuart Mackinnon ) and COPEatistas for helping to erect the BigTent.....damn....wish Eby was there....

10:22pm.....Just noticed COPEatista Bargeman is only 16 votes behind with one single green State left....he could overtake RedRumper Gibson....


10: 25pm:.....Hmmmmm.....wonder if this means it is now safe for Estelle Lo to come back to town?....Could there be an 'In Camera' personnel matter meeting coming?




.

Vancouver Civic Election Live Flogging....

AllTheBlatherThatFits
Lotuslandia

_______

Post-flogging update: please understand that I've left this up, unchanged, sloppy drums and all, because it was written entirely on the fly with immediate impressions thrown in...in other words, no attempt was made to get to a level of deeper analysis - that will come later )
_________

7:36pm: I'm hoping those capital plan items on the backside of the ballot make it, but given that it is going to take a year-over-year property tax increase, filling those 'yes' ovals was just one more reminder of how much we could use an extra hundred million dollars or three....

7:41pm: Looks like turnout will be the kingmaker this time around.....By comparison North v. South may not be the big factor it was last time given that the ethnic vote may split.

7:46pm: I've got my dueling banjos dilemna beat....Ceeb with the Mighty Quinn and 'The Hooks' Monte Paulsen on the transistor.....(not-so)Giant98 with Mr. T and FABula on-line with headphones slightly askew so that I can flip back and forth with ease and now knob twiddling....Let's get rockin'!....

7:50pm: Party locations....Vision at Hotel Vancouver......NPA at Marriot Renn. on W. Hastings (you can run back and forth between 'em!)....COPE at home base E. Brdway.... (courtesy AmFAB).....

7:51pm: Still nothing up on the VSun 'Ticker' Blog.....Have I mentioned recently that CanWest is doomed?.....CTV-BC has a pretty good looking province-wide results page up....will be interesting to see if it turns out to be more than just a pretty face....

7:54pm: AmFABula is telling us that the campaigns say Vision will win...turnout makes everybody wonder if it will be big....and how much slate breaking occurred (which could prove problematic for COPE)....

7:59pm: There goes Randy's Vinyl Tap on the Ceeb.......Bring on the Mighty Quinn.....

8:01pm: Polls closed.....Now I can say it....I was a Slate-Breaker....but mine went the other way.....ie. some Visioners didn't make it (not COPE/Greens).....

8:05pm....CBC calls Belcarra!......(everybody acclaimed in that hotbed of participatory democracy).....Senator from daVinci arrives from viewing not-yet finished SE False Creek Condo... says it could go either way.....

8:10pm: Screw all this talk about 'Election Fatigue'.....I think we should be forced to vote once a month....fifteen minutes of paying attention every fourth Saturday might do us good....

8:13pm: notsoGiant98 is 10 min. behind Ceeb, finally called Belcarra!

8:17pm: Now everybody's talking about how the Boondoggle is only a 'potential' loan.....On notsoGiant98 Tieleman and Fontaine agreeing on the Boondoggle (Sammy's Revenge!)...FABula actually weighs in with real numbers - says boondoggle didn't make that much difference....

8:21pm: Ceeb's Mighty Quinn makes fun of NPA.....Apparently the Head Girl, Jennifer Clarke (is she shinin' her candidate's shoes?) frowns....All this idiot talk about 'why is Ladner wearing the boondoggle business?' is really stoopid..complex negotiations my derriere....However, I do agree that Ladner may have been hamstrung by the 'drift-away' factor after he destroyed Shammy.....

8:27pm: Folks staying away from NPA party in, surprise!, droves...24 hrs blog has a decent line-up with AGT, The IChing King and IrwinLoy.....McCome on notsoGiant describes FABula as a VanSun columnist (ha! tell us Frances, tell us.......why?)..... oh, and I have I mentioned recently that CanWest is doomed.....

8:32pm: ....VSun blog calling for a massive victory for his Gregorness...also have Cadman ahead of Anton (yay!).....

8:39pm:......An entire pack of Halsey-Brandts are running in Richmond....none in running....Best moniker of night so far...'Sweet Lou' Sikora in CoqTown courtesy Mr. Tieleman....Pretty face results page on CTV website is useless...Corrigan crushing in Burnaby....Watts up 10:1 in Sliverville....

8:47pm: Re: Turnout....without even saying it out loud FABula makes the case for wards to...

8:52pm: Robertson up 2:1 on Ladner.....early results are councillor sweep Anton just off the slate but the polls are Eastside ....although I don't think I agree with Daniel Fontaine that there will be huge Eastside to Westside drop-off this time....

8:57pm: All pundits laughing at Betty K...just ahead of NewGardenParty....Anton back in top ten...Andrea Reimer near top of the pops....Looks like Dhaliwal might fall off Vision wagon....Geller, the most reasonable of the NPA'ers in my opinion is way behind....

9:00pm: BEST NEWS OF NIGT SO FAR!!!!!! Parks Board has Sarah Blyth in and Marty Zlotnik way, way out (although this is one that could have a big East West swing)....

9:05pm: Ceeb's Susan Macnamee has Anton in the Vision camp.....MightyQuinn corrects her....Meggs is currently in...Pol successfully making transition to politician....?

9:10pm: Hello Visionistas in the Ballroom! (got an off-line message of PG on some screens).....feel free to give us blow-by-blow in the comments.....

9:12pm: opening Live Flogging post #2 upstairs....





.