Get rid of the Provinces

Imagine how much more effective our money distribution and how localized our needs if only municipal governments collected our taxes and we had sustainable, self-sufficient communities?

When is one of our federal government parties going to put electoral reform into action and get the balls rolling so that real change can take place in the 21st century? We need complete renewal with regards to how our cities, communities, country and world is being governed. It seems the criminal element has found a way to keep themselves in power. Who can we lobby for such changes or do we need yet another political party?

We don't need this

We don't need this. We're a have province, we can take care of ourselves. I don't want any charity from Alberta or Ontario...

I know the Quebecers are happy to take handouts, but we in BC, are not!!

4Cryinoutloud, I totally disagree. The GVRD should be merged with one mayor, one council and a few focus groups.

Too much government = too much tax!

Get rid of Ottawa

4Cryinoutloud,

This is not a cry for a 'federal' only government.

This is a desire to keep the power and the money closer to home - a city state.

The way to achieve this is to take away the TAX-AND-SPEND power of Ottawa, the power to take our money, then spend it to convince us how 'nice' or 'good' they are.

razzberry

Fire the lot of MP's!

Tell Ottawa to go away!

Only ~ and I MEAN ONLY ~ VOTE FOR INDEPENDANT CANDIDATES. This is the means to the aim of 'taking back the power'.

Power

"A Society that is in its higher circles and middle levels widely believed to be a network of smart rackets does not produce men with an inner moral sense; a society
that is merely expedient does not produce men of conscience. A society that narrows the meaning of "success" to the big money and in its terms condemns failure as
the chief vice, raising money to the plane of absolute value, will produce the sharp operator and the shady deal. Blessed are the cynical, for only they have what it
takes to succeed." --- The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills

Mills

He's a favourite of mine bob the cat. The Power Elite has a proud spot on my book shelves.

Amazing that the book was published in 1956 and yet it's as applicable (if not more so) today as it was then.

Mills died in '62 - very young in fact - leaving a great body of fine work behind.

Everybody calls him a Marxist, not that there's anything wrong with that, but he actually believed in social democracy.

Too bad more of our politicians these days don't. Instead, like the variety in Victoria, they prefer to spend their time working on ways to make sure that their larceny never sees the light of day.

The 3rd reading of Bill 6 was just the latest installment of the Campbell betrayal.

are we self sufficient?

Let us remember that even if we have 3 levels of government, there is only one level of taxpayers......... it all comes out of your pocket!

so let us get what we deserve, eh?

GWest

yes ..sadly, C.W. Mills left us far too soon.

4Cryinoutloud

The minicipalities should be the main collecters, as well the most important come voting time. Sadly, it is the opposite. Municpal governments are just about restricted to building permits and property taxes, and voting turnout is around the 20% mark.

Maybe alive is right: we ARE getting what we deserve.

PS Can you imagine the feds reforming the electoral act and doing themselves out of all that cash? And being "at the mercy" of the municpalities.............?

Rick W

I can't imagine it, but in some ways - as this country becomes more and more urbanized - it may actually happen without Mr. Harper and his ilk realizing it.

If one or two urban agglomerations like Toronto or Vancouver decided to take some collective action the Federal and Provincial governments would be sorely pressed to counter it.

A tax revolt by 20 people is meaningless and a waste of time. A tax revolt by a few million is quite another thing.

Perhaps this is an area that requires some serious study. I think Ken Livingston has actually done something similar (though not specifically in the tax withholding area) in some of his dealings with Westminster

Where are the poor in Canada?

The money numbers related to this story are here:

http://www.fin.gc.ca/FEDPROV/eqpe.html

There's a link at the bottom of the page to the Total Transfers.

A - very - Happy St. Patrick's

I guess you, West or alias, will be writing to The Globe to straighten out John Doyle on his report today, from his home-country the rich and happy Ireland. Apartments in Dublin priced at $1,400 sq foot, makes Vancouver seem cheap. Dual-tier healthcare costs money and nobody is complaining.

The general concensus is that a lowering of the corporate tax rate, corporate subsidies and EU transfers, that went towards education and infrastructure, are the causes that now poistion the Irish as the second richest people in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Tiger

Let's raise a glass to the happy and successful Irish and let us take a look at them too so that we can learn how to replicate their good fortune.

Poll: Tories have Peaked?

A new Ipsos Reid poll, shows Cons down, and Libs up since a prior poll. A number of recent polls have shown the Cons to have pulled ahead of the Libs. This latest one suggests the Harpies may have peaked already, and are now starting to fade.
The article's spin-thesis that a (hypothetically) wildly popular budget Monday could catapult Cons to a majority, sounds all very dubious to me.
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=6793d814-f0ad-4b97-a8e3-69e4046ffff5&k=13180
The article's lurid title belies most of the actual #s from the poll!

"...the worst news for the Tories in the poll is the Liberal lead in coastline provinces, jumping up 10 points to 35 per cent in British Columbia, and eight points to 47 per cent in Atlantic Canada. The Tories, meanwhile, are down four points to 34 per cent support in B.C. and nine points in Atlantic Canada to 39 per cent.
The NDP holds 20 per cent in B.C. and 11 per cent in Atlantic Canada."

A new Strategic Counsel

A new Strategic Counsel (Alan Gregg) poll also suggests the Libs have stopped losing support to the Cons.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070315/counsel_poll_070315/20070315?hub=TopStories

It does note that the Cons are gaining in Que., at the expense of the Bloc.

If current #s hold, we'd see another Con minority gov't elected.

-Last election, I noticed polls by the firm SES turned out to be the most accurate, and
the co. did not try to spin the #s in editorial content or interviews, the way
Alan Gregg,and Darrel Bricker have been known to do. I'll be waiting for SES to weigh in

Tax Revolt, mmm

Would a tax revolt by citizens of the Cities work? Maybe. Would those Cities then still support the Federal Equalization Programme? If Toronto, Edmonton or Calgary bailed out the Programme would cease. Together Alberta and Ontario send more than $11 billion to the other provinces each year.

Canada would have a serious constitutional crisis. It would be most interesting.

Equalization payments constitute 8% of the total Quebec Government budget. That's a big chunk. Other provinces are less reliant due to smaller populations or, as in the case of BC, neither really rich nor really poor, so get very little, and sometimes nothing from the programme. Since the Cities are increasingly proportionally larger they should have a greater say in taxes in general. Why should the Cities have to beg Ottawa for the return of Federal gasoline taxes, and transit funding?

realisticman

I don't think I ever said Ireland wasn't successful - In fact it was among the countries on Table A4 that I pointed out to you the other night with better results than Canada. I said that someone I know with intimate knowledge of the place has reported that there are many problems there too. Remember?

I don't care where John Doyle is coming from but I know, nice fella that he is, he's no economist. There was nothing in what I wrote the other night that I'd care to reconsider. If Canada could fit inside Vancouver Island and had a population of 4,062,235 folks living within a few hours by freighter of the European Union you might have a point but I doubt it.

Was the data on federal equalization transfers supposed to actually mean something or was that just a lead in to another opportunity for some typical western ‘Quebec bashing’?

And why do I think it’s probably the latter?

I wish the feds would actually send us a bit more money for something besides the Olympics and maybe we could do something about the fact that this province has the highest rate of Child Poverty in the whole country. And it’s getting worse.

Perhaps we could have a revolt over that. Moreover, any time you're looking for me, just ask for G West. I thought we'd covered that.

I didn't take you for as dishonest an interlocutor as most of the so-called conservatives here.

Did you ever get to see Barry's house or not?

I think civilized people have lives outside of this virtual existence here at Tyee.

I know I do.

4%

Well, you did say that you think that EU transfers probably had more to do with Ireland's success than the lowering of taxes. Yet, as I see, and I'm only pointing out, Quebec Equalization Payments amount to roughly 8% of the Quebec Government's annual budget ($5.5 billion in a $60 billion budget). Ireland, by comparison, receives around 4% of it's budget from EU transfers.

Eire

The reason I mentioned Ireland was because you mentioned it. Saying that an acquaintance suggested that the bloom might be off a bit. All data I checked, and the Globe article today, suggests otherwise.

The reason you think I'm bashing Quebec is because I mentioned it. It's impossible to refer to Equalization in Canada without considering Quebec because their population is so great, they end up receiving just about half of the total distributed and it accounts for a huge proportion of their budget.

You further suggested that the 4% Ireland receives from the EU might be the reason that they are doing so well financially. I merely pointed out, or wondered that if Ireland can eliminate unemployment and gain a standard of living that is now 2nd in the World, then why can't Quebec with 8% of its budget coming in from Ontario and Alberta.

It's clear to me from an objective point of view that the reason Ireland is doing so well is lower corporate taxes, corporate subsidies (which attracted DELL, Microsoft, etc.) as well as EU subsidies which increased spending on education and infrastructure, like our Gateway project.

And, if you like, if you say BC has the highest child-poverty in Canada, then why doesn't BC get Equalization money? Are poor children not part of the funding formula equation?

With setting the stage for Ireland's success

[And, parenthetically, I'd hasten to add that my idea of success doesn't really subsume that kind of ridiculous real estate values anyway - but of course you know that.]

In pretty much the same way, mutatis mutandis, that Western Canada relied for an awfully long time upon the transfers of money, goods and people from the Maritimes, Lower Canada and Upper Canada.

Western complainers tend to have very short memories and you do too.

We've been through all this before.

I believe in and love this whole country - the fact it happens to be split into some rather arbitrary administrative units to the contrary.

You, and most other nominally narrow-minded Westerners seem to think our current success is sui generis] . I know it's not.

Your point, is, unfortunately - and again in my opinion, a nonsensical non sequitur.

If my brothers and sisters in Quebec need our help because the past 30-odd years have been good for the business exploiters in western Canada (relative to the business exploiters in Central Canada) I'd say a few appropriate transfers are a great idea and I'm happy to help out.

That's exactly how I feel about family too.

I'm sorry you can't muster up a similar degree of empathy for the rest of the Canadian family. Even your hero Mr. Harper seems to think transfers to Quebec are a great idea now that he's in power. Funny innit? Even if they go to pay for that hated child care scheme. What a bloody phony.

Happy St Patrick's Day btw.
And, you still haven't answered my question.

Well first of all - you start by

shipping most of your poverty stricken and starving off to the bloody new world for a start so they can be part of an extended Colonial exercise of stealing someone else's homeland. Remember that?

Among which Irish were several of my relatives. There's more damn Irish folks drinking beer in New York State today than there are in Ireland and you know it. Same thing's true of Massachusetts. We all stand on someone else's grave - the question is how lightly do we tread.

As for success, I wish the Irish well - but I don't think reducing corporate taxes had much to do with the deal without the subsidies that Ireland got when it joined the EU. I notice Bono has now transhipped his enterprises to Holland...LOL

Even so, unlike the partnerships negotiated under NAFTA - especially for the Mexicans - the help from Continental Europe and the UK wasn't quite so fickle as the Maquiladora millionaires were along the Rio Grande.

Lowering Corporate takes and eliminating capitals gains taxes will make Canada - which was a relatively egalitarian place after the war and until the mid 70s - a meaner and more selfish, and far more hateful place than it needs to be. And it’s pretty bad now. You might want to check some of flattax’s comments about immigrant farm workers on the ‘Double Standard’ story just above here.

I’m sick of greed and selfishness and just plain hatefulness of the attitudes of many of my fellow Canadians. I’m not really sure where you sit on this realisticman, but if you think for a minute that there is any evidence that lowering taxes on corporate earnings any further is likely to help here in Canada – well, I don’t know what else to say but I think the United States and the way it treats its people is no model and a pretty clear indication that we’re going the WRONG way – and far too fast. The situation between rich and poor there is many times worse than it is in the Great White North, don't y'know.

Moreover, we all suffer for it. You seem to think more of the same is the right prescription.

I think we've had rather too much of that medicine now. I don't like the selfish sour place it's turning us into.

Compassion

I submit evidence.

Ireland, you say, has the EU market next door. Canada has the US market next door.

I do suggest that emulating the Irish tax structure, I never said copy the USA's, could, perhaps, be good for Canada too.

Canada is doing well and lower corporate and individual taxation could maybe encourage investments, jobs and productivity. At the same time Canada can maintain it's compassionate social structure. Although, I am tempted to consider that when taxes are lower people are encouraged to be more productive and jobs more plentiful. I am of the opinion that people are happier and better contented when working rather than when receiving government hand-outs. I therefore also believe that artificially maintaining industries and even communities with tax derived or deficit financed payments, after their productivity has lapsed is counter productive to contentment, familial happiness, general good health and well being.

(Off subject note: Been too busy to go down Dunbar).

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:E0wxJioYCZoJ:www.saudigazette.com.sa/index2.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26do_pdf%3D1%26id%3D17950+come+back+home+to+ireland&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=firefox-a

GWest .thought you`d dig this

The image on my profile is of Fionn Mac Cumhaill, otherwise known as Finn McCool in anglicised Irish. Fionn is Irish for “to discover”. Fionn was the greatest of the mythological Celtic heroes and leader of the Fianna, the elite warrior band that guarded the High King of Ireland.

The young Fionn met the poet Finnegas on the banks of the river Boyne and studied under him. Finnegas had spent seven years trying to catch the salmon of knowledge, which lived in a pool on the Boyne, knowing that whoever ate the salmon would gain all the knowledge in the world.

Eventually he caught it, and told the boy to cook it for him. While cooking it Fionn burned his thumb, and instinctively put his thumb in his mouth, swallowing a piece of the salmon's skin. This imbued him with the salmon's wisdom.

Accounts of Fionn's death vary and according to the most popular account, he is not dead at all, rather, he sleeps in a cave below Dublin, to awake and defend Ireland in the hour of her greatest need.

Love it btc

Btc - Have you ever read 'Angela's Ashes'?

Realisticman.

If I felt that the Irish strategy were possible - vis a vis our neighbour - and we could find a way to actually create a manufacturing base that would employ the kind of educated populace (on a comparable scale with Ireland's) I might just possibly agree.

But only if I were a lot more familiar with the situation than I am now. I’m actually a lot more familiar – and impressed – with Scandinavia, and I think those nations have far more similarities to this country than Ireland does.

But right now the government of this land and especially the provincial governments in both BC and Alberta are busy trying to destroy the industrial base of this country because it happens to be located in Central Canada - or haven't you noticed.

I know exactly what selling out our future to the crooks who run businesses and industry in this country is all about because I've worked for them. I know exactly how they make the kinds of profits they are reporting (often falsely) and - worse - I know that it isn't doing a damn thing for the people who need the help. From the guy who runs the corner store and feeds his family with stuff expensed from his business to the executive who cheats on his expense account and puts the shiv into every professional consultant he ever dealt with – to the professional who charges for inspection services he performs half-heartedly or not at all (and that’s just in the construction industry).

In fact the current method it isn't doing anything positive for 80% of the families in this country - not just those with no jobs or prospects. And for the 20% who do make gains – well you said you read the report – you know what I’m talking about.

It's time to take some different medicine - I'm not surprised you don't like it because you might find it's a little sour. I expect I will too - but if it cures what's ailing a society I'd take and take it willingly.

Because I know I'm no more worthy of my life style than anyone else.

I wish there were someone other that Stephen Harper around to defend Canada in her time of need bob the cat.

All I want is equity. Every dollar earned - no matter how - is a dollar that's available for taxation. Period. If you've studied where most investment goes in this country and in the States you know perfectly well it isn't going into production - it's going into speculation – in an attempt to build passive streams of income. We shouldn’t be passive – it’s a sign of death.

I've been busy too.

Ashes

No G,
Haven`t read it...see the film is on T.V. tonight.
Good read?

our of need

I guess we don`t really have any mythological heroes eh G?
Maybe we could borrow Fion McCumhaill or Beowulf or ..??

St. Patrick

Happy St. Patricks day! Maybe we could borrow him?

I was watchin' the game bob

Very good read. Story of a young fella named Frank McCourt born in Brooklyn to Irish Parents who then take the family back to Ireland during the Depression where he grows up in appalling and pathetic squalor.

Here's a wee bit from just the very beginning of the book:

He's since written a couple more books of memoir- one called 'Tis - a memoir and the third I think called Teacher Man (which I haven't read) but nothing quite the equal of his first. The film's not bad either. His brother Malachy also penned a bit of thing he called A Monk Swimming among other things.

McCourt spent his career teaching in New York Public Schools - I wonder if he'd have met murdock's list of requirements?

Didn't publish a thing 'til he was retired by the way.

There's sumpin' t tink about eh?

In the author's picture on the dust cover he looks a bit of a leprechaun - I'd be pleased enough to borrow McCourt himself - he sounds like the kind of ‘hero’ I’d identify with.

interview

heard a long interview with McCourt on C.B.C
promoting his "Teacher" book..yup he`d be a good one to borrow...do you remember Brian Moore? I read a couple of his.. He lived in Montreal for awhile and wrote a good one on the F.L.Q. LaPorte/Cross hostage takings..
I guess the `nucks are for real..I like that kind of team..I like Minnesota too..both have Quebecois coaches..the Plains of Abraham gets all the play but don`t know if a lot of Anglo Canadians know the French then fought a guerilla war and eventually took Quebec back.
The arrival of a very serious British fleet
and they decided to pack `er in rather than wreck the place.

Good point bob

Brian Moore's another favourite of mine. Remember The Luck of Ginger Coffee? Wasn't a bad film either..

I've just been watching Angela's Ashes on the Teevee.
It's better than I remembered....have you checked it out?

The Canucks do seem to be real and I like Alain Vigneault too. He has such a nice self-deprecating air about him. Seems to actually answer questions too - unlike Crawford who just did that same stock speech every night...

Bear on the back porch

Just had to scare off a big (wet) black bear off the back porch...he`d been last night
opened the freezer..took spanakapita..he must be a vegetarian..left a lot of other stuff...anyway he`s baaaaack....I screamed and hollered cranked up C.B.C. on the radio, opened the door and he waddled off down the stairs...looks like he`s going to be a regular. I`ll have to make some tapes of Rex Murphy.
Last summer the wife was watering the plants in the morning..heard a loud "Whoof"
and there was Bruno..he seemed to realize she didn`t see him and was warning her unless she strayed too close?
They sure smell when they`re wet. We seem to have an animal throughfare/trail
here...`coons, deer, bear..civet cats, black and grey squirrels, Douglas squirrels, flying squirrels, bats, coyotes and even a mama cougar was hanging out in the back..
Lots of signs up in the neighbourhood..have you seen "fluffy" and the like..pet cats going missing.

Yep Rex would do the trick all right

Dunno about Robert Carlyle as McCourt's da though. Other than that...so far so good.

Damn smelly bears eh! But a bears gotta do what a bears gotta do.

The other day there was a Cooper's hawk on the fence just outside my window for what must have been a half hour...maybe the animals are finally re-asserting their dominance.

Show's back on...gotta go

he keeps coming back

He was just back again..getting braver I think hes a 2 year old..looks pretty young..tho big...My wife was yelling at him "Go away!" Bad! "Go Away!"..he`d gotten the freezer open and was checkin out the stuff..I did the radio thing again but he was slower to react this time..had a hangdog look like he wanted to get acquainted..I had to do the make yourself look big thing...if I call the "authorities" they`ll shoot him...I couldn`t handle that...any ideas?

what we`ll probably do

We`ll probably just go to bed and he can take whatever..
I suggested to the wife.."maybe we should toss him some honey "
She says"What happens when we run out of honey"
think I`ll go to bed.
...what if he comes in the house...G I`ll trade your coopers for my smelly bear anyday.

Geez

What about a camera flash - might scare the bugger off.

I think honey may not be the best idea...you're gonna have to lock the freezer, that's for sure.

And maybe get a bigger cat.

Elliot and snert are hanging around

that other thread - the double standard one - Maybe you could send the bear there to scare them off! LOL
g'nite

bob the cat

I don't know much about bears but maybe try getting a recording of the sounds of a bear fight. If he's as young as you think he might just head for the hills. If not try hip hop or rap music lol.

rap would work

BP
The rap would work! He came back last night..took a loaf of bread..you know these things (bears) wouldn`t take much to tame. They have a lot of dog like qualities..whaddaya think..tame `em up..take him for walks along the West Van seawall or sashay down Robson Street. Get him shampooed of course.

Know your enemy

It is misdirected to think that average taxpaying Canadians in other parts of our country are the enemy, when it is really our politicians and local news media who should suffer the brunt of regionalistic anger.

I can't ever remember hearing my friends from the east criticize western citizens the way we criticize average citizens in the east. I have however heard easterners wonder why we continue to elect, and re-elect such unsophisticated fools.

Westerners can't bitch and moan that easterners are too aggressive, and then bitch and moan that we aren't treated fairly. Who ever said anything in life or death is fair?

I'm not suggesting that eastern politicians are better human beings. In fact the exact opposite is true in that they are more Americanized, which to a certain extent is a good thing in a politician. You get what you negotiate, not what you deserve.

BC needs to elect better politicians who know how to socialize and negotiate more effectively with politicians in Quebec, Ontario, and California. Gordon Campbell's handlers should force him to watch Schwarzenneger intimidate and manipulate Lou Ferrigno in "Pumping Iron," before they allow him back into the gym with the Governator.

If BC wants respect we have to adopt a more balanced national and global perspective, which means we have to leave insularity behind along with drinking and driving, and smoking in public spaces. People notice when you lead, but not when you follow. Timing is everything. BC must become more proactive, and anticipate where they want to be in 5 or 10 years, instead of constantly putting out fires and chasing our tales.

How Vancouverites handled preparations for 2010 is a perfect example. Based on what we see happening here today you'd think it was the first time an Olympic event has ever been staged anywhere in the world. How stupid can BC be to let the big bad IOC wolf huff and puff, instead of hooking it up to a sled and have it pull us around the world. Now that it blew our SRO house down we want to kill it instead of master and capitalize on it. It's only an opportunity if you make it one.

If westerners want to be treated as adults, they have to start electing politicians who act like adults - at least that's what my parents told me.

To suggest that BC is a "have" province is a bit presumptuous. When we can claim positive growth longer than we suffered negative growth you can make the "have" statement, but doing so a second before indicates you lack national perspective.

You have to know yourself before you can fix yourself.

Excellent observations Maurice.

part of the problem is that BC (and maybe even more so Alberta) breeds politicians - all stripes – who spend way too much time working on how best to get it over on their opposite numbers than they do finding ways to actually analyze and solve the real problems of real people who, all across this wonderful land, are pretty much the same.

Spend a few hours in an airport in any part of this country and open your ears and eyes.

Long past time we all grew up. We now have Gary Lunn touting Algae farms as the latest 'saviour' of the Tar Sands economy of our neighbouring province - it isn't just the Olympics that bring out the crazies is it?

Bears on the porch

It's always nice to feel so in tune with your natural surroundings that the bears are comfortable with you, but...

Please don't let him get too close. They aren't overly bright, and don't understand the consequences or the authorities.

One suggestion; Go to a bulk store and get a few kilos of cayenne pepper. Spread it liberally over the garbage or freezer or whatever is attracting him. Fill a balloon with a couple of ounces (use a funnel) Then blow it up with a pump. If you try with your mouth, you will see first hand why this can be effective. Smear a little sardine oil or something on the outside and hang it against a nice hard wall near the freezer. Locking the freezer won't help by itself, since bears are so good at disassembling things they think have food in them. In fact, if the bear gets to the food before he gets peppered, it won't work at all.

The object is to discourage him before he figures out what rich grazing there is there.

Bears can be good neighbours, if you watch out and learn about them. Do try to be a good neighbour to them too. Otherwise, they will be the ones who will suffer for it.

Another suggestion. One yappy dog may or may not discourage a bear. I've never seen one stay to face two yappy dogs. They don't seem able to process two threats at once. They tend to retreat out of uncertainty. Or so it seems, anyway.

Bears are top in their own world. They have little fear since they have no real enemies, except of course the authorities and people with their freezers on the porch.

Bears again

I also have had some luck with electric fences. You can get them at Buckerfields for a couple of hundred bucks. They run on car batteries for several weeks and there are also solar chargers that work indefinately. Use horse tape rather than that orange string. Make it five or six strand rather that the standard three. Once again, it seems to help if you smear some smelly but non rewarding oil on the strands so the bears will put their noses or tongues right on it. They won't feel the fence if they don't, since they have a lot of non conductive hair.

Maybe try wrapping your whole porch with it. You can put up signs to warn the odd friend or bible salesman who might stop by, since by and large few bears ever learn to read.

Or not.

Side benefits too ...

That's wonderful bailey.

Bob the cat, your problems are over. The bear's are just beginning.

LOL

Meant to add

Politicians are usually too self-absorbed to read anyway...so where's the harm

Bailey..good advice

Thanks Bailey..I`m leaning to the pepper option you described.

I`m trying to be neighbourly with the big guy
and not get too close...I `m respecting his space but he`s gotta reciprocate.. calling the authorities isn`t an option. My yappy dog died awhile back..gonna have to get another.
Thanks for the tips.

The book and bear review ...

Bailey, G: Best fun in ages. Lovely reading about bears. One time in the precious long-ago, I discovered 2 sets of bear handprints on a living room window. Two handprints up high, big. Two down low, small. And nose-prints too.

Wished I had seen mama bear and her cub looking into my house. I wondered what they thought of it. Made me smile, whenever I looked at those prints. Didn't wash that window for a couple of years.

Just wanted to add a wonderful book title to the list of Irish Canadian authors. John Doyle wrote A great feast of light: Growing up Irish in the TV age. It gave me the same happy feeling as did those handprints, right from the photo of a little boy on the dust-cover.

It comes across, at first, as an autobiography which is full of gentle smiles and elegant English ... then it becomes clear that it's modern Irish political history ... and finally, you know exactly why John Doyle came to Canada and became the must-read Globe and Mail's TV columnist.

5 stars, for the book ... also for the bears. And hey, for you guys too.

Bob the Cat ... sorry!

Those are your bears ... so 5 stars to you too.

This story is only getting started, I hope.

3 cubs

Mary
really loved that story of the bears on the sill...whose sleeping in my bed?

Last year three very roly-poly cubs tumbled out of the brush onto my front driveway..followed by mama bear..they were kind of gamboling down the drive with mama keeping a close eye on them ..she seemed to glance up at us with a very proud look
(my imaginings probably)..and they all sauntered off ..the cubs were really furry balls and really horsin` around

I suspect this guy I`ve got now might be one of them.

A couple of autumns ago I`d left a box of freshly picked plums on the same back porch
..heard my terrier yapping in the kitchen..investigating I discover this HUGE black Bear (this has to be papa bear) sitting comfortably on his rear... legs splayed out ..balancing the plum box with one paw and very deftly scooping out the plums with the other paw..I`d never realized how dextrous these critters can be..he hadn`t dropped nary a plum. Dexter my terrier was really getting worked up..yapping through the glass sliding door..Bruno was right there! Finally Bruno tired of the yapping looked up at the dog and gave a swat with this huge paw in the dogs direction...he never hit the glass door..just a warning shot...awww shaddup
I wondered what would happen if I opened the door? Would Dexter (jack russell) go for him? I decided to lock dexter up in an adjoining room. I then cranked the radio which is near the door up in volume and cracked open the door and began to yell loudly...he lifted his huge head and was trying to process the noise I guess..whatever it wasn`t working! I then raised my voice a couple of octaves and sounded quite nutty I would imagine..making weird otherworldly sounds..almost a sorrowful wail..for him and for me and our situation here... this really got him.. he scrambled to his feet and began to lumber down the stairs (I don`t know how they held him up)..at the bottom of the stairs very near is a little bridge over a small creek that leads to the woods. He stopped on the bridge and looked back..I think he recognized the wail (my imaginings)..and he ambled off.
Looking at the plum box..there was (no word of a lie) one plum left.
And thats my Bear story.

Wonderful story

And I like bruno's pictures too - so glad he's back.

you`ve probably seen most of brunos stuff

already

last word on bears

I dunno if these critters are so dumb..he now visits unseen..and very quietly..another loaf of bread this evening..right under our noses
..we`ve decided..this freezer is now pretty thrashed..we`ve had it 20 years..we`ll get a new one..more energy efficient..keep it indoors...a human raided it once when we kept it in the carport..took pies..a turkey..and some frozen cookies..mixture of chocolate chip and oatmeal and raisin...Bruno is pretty light fingered in comparison.

Bear with me ...

bob the cat, this thread has been the happiest Tyee reading in a long, long time.

If you have any more bear stories -- or cougar, lynx, wolf, or coyote stories -- don't hold back, eh?

I have a wolf story ... it happened in the woods of north-central B.C. on a quiet trail, me walking my dogs: a lively young Boxer and an elderly dignified little mongrel.

We were about a mile out into the forest when the sky was split by an immense (and very close) wolf howl. I tell ya, when you're that close, something within you really responds to the wild message. You really straighten up and pay attention.

I knew that wolves wouldn't harm humans. But I wasn't at all sure about the dogs. So we changed course and headed back.

It was funny, the way the dogs reacted. They both stopped racing back and forth with their noses to the ground and took to marching along very, very quietly, staying close to my side, not looking to right nor left, as we re-traced that mile of trail.

Guess I was a little bit worried, but began to relax as we came to the first clearing. Then came the really wild bit ... just as we were leaving the forest behind, the sky split again with that thrilling wolf howl clearly telling us that the wolf had paced on a parallel track with us, all that way back.

I never saw the wolf. And have no way to judge, but he must've been mature and big to have had a voice like that. I'll never forget it. Beautiful.

howlin`

That must have awakened something original, fundamental in the dogs and yourself eh Mary.
Sounds like a great memory to have...a kind of keepsake... a gift. I`ve never heard a wolf howl in the wild but coyotes have started up in the wee hours here a couple of times. The sound certainly makes one awaken quickly and the senses come alive...yes slumbering primordial senses suddenly awakened Eyes wide open ;-) Whoa.. Mama bring my quiver..
There is a wolf pack moved back into the upper Squamish fairly recently but I haven`t heard or seen them.
I have a cougar experience to relate.
About five or six years ago .. one late afternoon I heard a unique baying sound ..sounded like bloodhounds coming from the back 40 here...I live adjacent a ravine with about 5 acres of woods. My dog who was usually right in on any action ( Jack Russell.. actually attacked a large pit bull once but thats another story) was strangely subdued and wouldn`t leave the back porch.
My number two son went to investigate the baying sound and in a few minutes was back excitedly saying " Theres a cougar back there and the conservation guys have treed it." I`d never seen a cougar in the wild so I headed outback...not far into the ravine I saw the blue uniforms and then the dogs..cougarhounds..like a small bloodhound, black and tan colouring. Beautiful dogs with that pedigree look..(sort of like West Van people) :-0 There... stretched out in the now dried up creek bed under a large Fir tree was a large and absolutely beautiful female..she was unconscious but breathing..they had brought her down with a tranquilizer dart. All of us... conservation guys.. my son and I (my dog wouldn`t come along..strange for him)
stood in a quiet awe at the beauty of this creature. The Cougarhounds didn`t go near the downed cat..their job was over. The Three officers were well armed..they were nice guys..one of them was a real hunter. His adrenaline was up and all his senses were maxed out..nostrils flaring..ears listening ..the way he moved.. the way he held his weapon..efficiently and quietly.. his eyes had a real "shine" ..he was the hunter for sure.. while the rest of us talked..he sniffed and scanned the woods.. much of the Apache about this guy. he reminded me of encountering an older First Nations man back in the late fifties in the woods near Squamish..he was accompanied by a couple of young boys around 12 years old. He had long grey hair with a headband..and was very heavyset..he moved so gracefully through the brush...he said nothing but sat down under a tree near us.. the two boys sat very close two him.. My friend and I were about 15 and in dire need of mentoring..there was a small stram and pond with a log traversing the pond. My friend and I did the Robin Hood Little John thing ..standing on the log and trying to push the other off and into the water...we were showing off to him..he knew it of course. He would laugh! Slap his knee and the warmest laugh you`ve ever heard would flutter through the woods..we ended up both going in the water ..when we`d gathered ourselves and looked up..they were gone. And yet I`ve remembered that laughter..so warm genuine and affectionate all these years. He was a man of power. Back to the conservation guys.. The other two were regular guys...one guy chuckling said "If people only knew how often they are close
to these critters."
I could see what he meant..the fur of the cougar almost matched exactly the colour of the bark on the Fir Tree. This cat was big and had a beautiful coat and was obviously lactating. They suspected a litter nearby and were going to search for it. A lot of large Rocky rip rap adjoined the ravine and
there were numerous cave like openings for possibly raising a litter.
She had been nabbing pet cats from a close-by subdivision and made the mistake of grabbing one in broad daylight..was spotted and the conservation guys called. Oh mama you blew it. Feeding a litter makes you hungry..take chances you wouldn`t have otherwise.
I asked what they would do with her now..they said " Oh we`ll probably release her in the Coquihalla area"
Do you remember that cougar attack ..was it near Princeton a few years back? The unfortunate woman on the horse who saved her kids and fought the cougar and lost her life. That was a transplanted cat. Apparently when you move them into another area they have a difficult time with the resident creatures and the old territorial imperative. They become desperate and are mostly likely to hunt and attack people.
Black Bears as well.

Up a tree

OK, here's a bear story from my memory.

I was living on Green Lake in among a small group of houses. The park was just across the river. There were several people living there, and several had dogs. One summer Sunday afternoon a friend and I were sitting on the porch listening to a couple of dogs yapping in the woods. The dogs had recently taken to unsuccessfully harassing a porcupine in there, who I must say at that juncture in their relationship was way ahead on points.

Not terribly bright dogs. We just assumed they had renewed their learning experience and we would soon be pulling quills out of their stupid noses yet again.

However...instead of that we were surprized to see a big black bear come running into the yard and shinny up a big Douglas fir about 75 feet, followed not too closely by these two dogs, who looked inordinately pleased with themselves.

They barked up that tree at the bear for a while while we watched them. When we didn't make a fuss they came over to the porch and glared at us, as if to say 'how can you not be impressed with us?'

While they were doing that, the bear shinneyed back down and buggered off back into the bush. But the dogs never noticed he was gone.

They kept barking up that tree all day long at a bear who wasn't there, and looking for all the world like somebody who had just won the biggest prize at the fair.

Nobody had the heart to point out their error to them.

Stories as soul-food stuff, Bob the Cat & Bailey

Bob, you mention that your Jack Russell dog didn't seem interested in the coyote chorus.

I've noticed, as when Walking With the Wolf, that dogs can switch off. That day, they had somehow convinced themselves that there was absolutely no danger to them (there was, especially to the smaller dog who could've been eaten like a chocolate bar). They'd have won blue ribbons for heeling, if they'd been tested on the mile home -- probably they knew the wolf was pacing with us, but I didn't know it until that final howl.

With your bear, Bailey, it really seems as if wild creatures have a sense of humour. In fact, lots of senses.

I remember once when the lead cow in our herd of beef cattle came to the house one frosty morning, unmistakably bellowing for help. My husband went out and she led him into a grove of trees where a big healthy (unexpected) newborn calf was struggling against the -20C cold; the calf's legs were already frozen. We carried the calf back to the house and did our best to save it, the poor thing whimpering in pain, to no avail.

The amazing thing was that mother (without being able to see in) had stood at a spot outside which was the closest to where her calf was lying inside the house. Even though she couldn't see it. But when we lost the battle and the calf stopped breathing, within 10 seconds, she swung around and walked despondently back to the grove of trees alone. Talk about body english.

Happier births, we'd often have these free range cattle bring their newborns to the ranch house door and call for us. We'd rush out and give loud and lavish praise, the calf looking bewildered, the Mom very pleased ... and then, satisfied, they'd return to the herd. Can't tell me they weren't introducing us to the newest member of the family. Just like a christening.

In a free setting, they are knowing, sentient, dignified beings. I once fired a ranch hand for not treating the cows with respect. No kidding.

I still have a hard time choking down beef.

Sorry ...

Your pooch was allergic to cougars, not coyotes. Same reaction, I think: he just didn't want to go there.

threadbear

Bailey:
I guess thats where "barking up the wrong tree" comes from.

OH CANADA HOMELESS IN OUR NATIVE LAND

Victoria has a secret and shes keeping it to herself when it comes to the housing bubble as many are anxious when the housing bubble will break well not anytime soon with Canada doubling up on its immigration in the last five years ensuring many citizens face eviction so immigrants can take their place in Canada's hot spot. And those billions from the world bank to ensure poverty is spread around and Canadian citizens are forced to give up their homes and dignity so immigrantion can fuel the great greed machine. And those billions well those are to buy things from their rich new American friends. And that million yeh sent for immigrants to adapt to their new homes isn't cutting it because Harper women are dropping like flies here in bc and yet nothing. You got my vote. Not!

Oh Canada Homeless .........

Oh how can this be well thanks to British Columbia's middle class munskins and their complaincy many of them could very well find themselves homeless financed to the hilt and all it would take is an increase in interest rates to help it along the way but don't count on anyone coming to your rescue because hey they have their tax breaks ensuring you go homeless.

Albertians bought homes during boom times who were financed to the max and all it took was an increase in those interest rates to humble the lot and make them homeless and there sure were alot of them. Calgary says stay away unless you have a home you can go to.

No Offense Immigrants

but im kind of getting sick of Canada always contributing to help other countries and people in other countries, when really it hasnt at all helped the people that are native to this land, and by native i dont mean descendants of european settlers, i mean first nations people. a lot of the first nations communities suffer from poverty thats about as equal to those in africa or other under developed countries. i mean no offense, but before canada becomes more of everybodys personal bitch, it needs to own up to its responsibility to canada's own people before going and telling a bunch of immigrants its safe to come to canada and crowd even more the already over-crowded cities.