Report Slams Run-up to Olympics
Coalition cites broken pledges on housing, green goals.
Vancouver bus stop. Photo by Elaine Briere.
A watchdog group has issued Vancouver Olympic organizers a grade of D- for nearly failing to keep their commitments to protect housing, the environment, and civil liberties.
In a report released this morning, the Impact of the Olympics on Community Coalition has accused the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) and its governmental partners of ignoring their commitments to build affordable housing, applying constitutionally questionable legal tactics against protestors, intimidating its opponents, financial mismanagement and excessive secrecy. The 32-page report card even raises questions of complicity in hastening the death of an ill, elderly woman.
The community coalition, or IOCC, graded VANOC, the City of Vancouver, and the Province of British Columbia -- described in the report as "The Parties" -- on progress against their own promises. Most of those promises are found in three documents: The 2003 Bid Book, The Inner City Inclusive Statement (see sidebar, at right) and The Multi-Party Agreement, which provides guarantees by Premier Gordon Campbell and Her Majesty the Queen that all "commitments made, either in writing or orally... shall be binding on Vancouver."
"We are not against the Olympics," IOCC chair Rob VanWynsberghe told a local press scrum on Monday. "The D- means that there's still time to meet the commitments."
Donna Wilson, an executive vice president at VANOC, responded to the IOCC report in an afternoon teleconference.
"We will consider the findings of this report against the work we are already doing," Wilson said. "If the findings are accurate or fair, we'll consider them."
Wilson added that VANOC would release its business plan on May 7, and would release a report on its progress toward its sustainability commitments in June. She said those reports would demonstrate VANOC's commitments to sustainability and social inclusion.
VANOC's promises
The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games' (VANOC) mission "is to touch the soul of the nation and inspire the world by creating... lasting legacies."
Among those legacies is a commitment "to help renew and revitalize Vancouver's inner-city neighbourhoods."
VANOC's 2010 Winter Games Inner-City Inclusive Commitment Statement lists 37 goals and objectives ranging from environmental protection to neighbourliness.
Among those commitments are five that relate to housing:
- Protect rental housing stock.
- Provide alternative forms of temporary accommodation for Winter Games visitors and workers.
- Ensure people are not made homeless as a result of the Winter Games.
- Ensure residents are not involuntarily displaced, evicted or face unreasonable increases in rent due to the Winter Games.
- Provide an affordable housing legacy and start planning now.
Among the commitments that relate to civil liberties:
- Provide for lawful, democratic protest that is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
- Ensure all inner-city residents' continued access to public spaces before, during and after the Games and provide adequate notice of any restrictions of the use of public space/facilities and prominently display alternate routes and facilities.
- Maintain the current level of public safety and security in inner-city neighbourhoods during the Winter Games.
- Commit to a timely public consultation that is accessible to inner-city neighbourhoods, before any security legislation or regulations are finalized, subject to lawful and legitimate confidentiality requirements.
Among the commitments that relate to financial guarantees:
- Provide adequate funds to maintain and operate the new or upgraded public recreational facilities after the Games to maximize the number of facilities available to inner-city residents.
- Provide disclosure of all financial aspects of the Games, including expenditures and revenues, in the bidding and organizing phase of the Games.
- Commit to a comprehensive annual financial audit.
Source: 2010 Winter Games Inner-City Inclusive Commitment Statement.
The IOCC plans to issue follow-up reports every six months between now and the 2010 Games, and warns that "if the Parties continue at the current pace in their attempts to realize the Commitment statements, the ultimate grade given to the Parties will be a failing grade."
No housing being built
The report accuses "The Parties" of failing to meet their commitments to provide affordable housing and prevent homelessness. (See promises, at right.)
Construction is well underway on Olympic venues such as the Richmond Oval, the UBC Winter Sports Centre, and the snowboard facility at Cypress Mountain. In striking contrast, notes the IOCC report, "No major construction of low-income housing has commenced."
"Vancouver is following historical patterns of Games-related evictions," the report card states. For example, the bid for the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Games promised to create 2,500 new units of affordable housing; only 150 were built. Likewise, the bid for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games promised to protect housing; but Human Rights Watch now reports that Chinese officials have carried out more than 100,000 evictions.
The IOCC report card finds "promised housing is being cut, as was seen in Southeast False Creek where dedicated middle-income housing at the Athletes' Village was eliminated." And the IOCC conservatively counts more than 800 SRO units lost in the Downtown Eastside since June 2003, plus and additional 541 units in 22 hotels are at risk of imminent closure due to their purchase by developers.
"A number of residents have been forcibly evicted or faced eviction attempts," the report card states. "At the Golden Crown Hotel, the owner told Global Television News that he was evicting tenants to make room for Olympics workers and other construction workers."
"This loss of housing has undeniably resulted in displacement," the report card states. Homelessness has doubled since Vancouver secured the Olympics, and experts predict that between 4,000 and 10,000 homeless Canadians will be haunting Greater Vancouver's streets by the time the opening ceremonies commence in 2010.
Other construction related to the Olympics is on pace for completion despite overruns. For example, the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, its cost now estimated at $800 million, will house the world press corps just blocks from downtown eastside neighbourhood where most of the city’s homeless are concentrated.
"Given the realities of government timelines and the construction market in Vancouver, the [IOCC report] authors would like to suggest to the Parties that if they wish to open new affordable housing before 2010, they must start immediately."
Homelessness report ignored
VANOC has "ignored" its own housing report, says the IOCC.
An ad-hoc group called the Inner-City Inclusive Housing Table was organized at VANOC's behest in mid-2007. The table included corporations, not-for-profits and representatives of all three levels of government. In March of this year, they released a comprehensive report that offered more than 20 unanimous recommendations intended to guide VANOC and the host governments in meeting their commitments to protect and enhance low-income housing.
The Inner-City Inclusive Housing Table report calls for the construction of 3,200 units of new social housing, the acquisition (or rental) of an additional 800 units, and the conversion of hundreds of units of athlete and worker housing into low-income housing after the games. The housing table report warned VANOC not to delay: "...unless this issue is tackled quickly through a focused program as set out in the report, the problem will become larger, more visible, and increasingly difficult to solve."
But the report has been left to gather dust, claims the IOCC.
"Despite the significance of the [housing table] report," the IOCC report card states, "no press releases on the subject have been issued by any government member of the committee. VANOC has not posted a link to the report on their website, despite the fact that they are the body responsible for the report itself. No level of government has publicly commented on the report, nor have any political leaders indicated their position on the recommendations contained therein."
(The report can be downloaded here, from the City of Vancouver's Housing Centre.)
"Did VANOC and the three levels of government spend all this time and money creating this unique report just to sit on it?" asked David Eby, an attorney at Pivot Legal Society, which helped edit the IOCC report. "It's starting to feel like they got us all together just to check that bid commitment off their list of things to do."
"It's not our report to respond to," replied Wilson, who added there was no money to build housing in VANOC's budget. "We have to work with our partners: the province, Vancouver, the federal government." Nonetheless, Wilson said VANOC would respond to the Housing Table report in June.
"Homelessness is a serious issue," Wilson added. "We do take it seriously. That's why we convened the table."
'World is watching'
The report card notes that environmental protection is a "surprisingly new concept" within the Olympic movement, which did not add the environment to its charter until 1994. Vancouver, which won its bid in July 2003, became the first host city bound to promises of environmental sustainability.
"The world is watching Vancouver in its ability to set impressive environmental precedents for future host cities and Games," the IOCC notes.
What the world has seen thus far is a fight over freeways. Like most winter Olympiads, the 2010 Winter Games will be spread over a large territory. One of VANOC's principal challenges will be to provide sustainable transportation between venues that span the 120-kilometres from Richmond to Whistler. Despite the availability of rail lines and other alternatives throughout the region, the IOCC report card states that VANOC and the province have demonstrated a preference for "less-sustainable methods of transportation, despite bid promises to ensure sustainability."
The bitter battle over the demolition of Eagleridge Bluffs in West Vancouver is offered as an illustration. "The Federal government requested that the Province not proceed with the proposal," the IOCC notes. "This request was echoed by the GVRD, the councils of West Vancouver and North Vancouver, citizens, and the Province's own Ministry of Water, Land and Air protection."
Yet the Province pressed ahead with a four-lane highway through the area. "Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon, repeatedly stated that the highway was the 'only option' and that requests [for] modes of transportation with a lower environmental impact, would not be considered."
The IOCC report card finds that other sustainability commitments -- such as the zero waste management strategy and green building design -- have received insufficient resources. Still other promises have yet to be addressed at all; these include a liquid waste strategy, hydrogen fuel infrastructure installation plans, and greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies.
The report also notes that the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment has expressed concern about Nordic ski trails being developed in the previously pristine Callaghan Valley. The mayor and council of Whistler have requested that VANOC heed the B.C. Ministry of Environment's advice to study the remote Callaghan Valley first, and build the new trails in locations that will minimize impact on habitat.
"We are quite shocked and surprised that the request is being ignored," Joe Foy of the Western Canadian Wilderness Committee said on Monday. "It's not what we were promised. We were promised that this Olympics would focus on protecting and enhancing natural ecosystems."
'Unduly punitive' injunctions
"Olympic-related curtailments in civil liberties have been occurring for the last year," states the IOCC report, warning that "...the situation will likely only intensify as time goes on."
Among the half-dozen assaults against civil liberties raised by the IOCC was the stifling effect of civil injunctions followed by criminal contempt of court charges. The report explains how the province used these legal maneuvers as something like a pincer movement against the protestors encamped at Eagleridge Bluffs.
First, the province encouraged a private party (in this case, the construction firm hired to build the highway) to seek a civil injunction against the protestors. Police were then brought in, and criminal sanctions imposed -- not for the act of nonviolent protest -- but for violating a civil court order.
"The use of court injunctions and charges of criminal contempt to respond to civil disobedience... is a distinct policy choice which is unduly punitive, minimizes access to procedural rights for protesters, and has distinct implications for the bid book Commitments," states the IOCC.
"Civil injunctions artificially set up protesters' actions as a challenge to the authority of the Court, rather than a challenge to the party that is the target of the protest."
The IOCC report explains, "In contempt proceedings, the judge need only establish that the accused violated an order of the court," whereas in a criminal prosecution, "the law requires a mens rea or 'guilty mind' requirement." The IOCC report warns that in other instances, the Supreme Court of Canada found it unconstitutional to combine civil offences with the threat of imprisonment.
"The use of injunctions is particularly troubling because it is a crafty way in a democracy to impose severe sanctions on people who speak out," said local attorney Cameron Ward. "Canada, unlike some other Olympic host nations, is supposed to be a free country, a place where citizens have the constitutionally guaranteed right to peaceful protest, and to express themselves without fear of police response."
"There are many other options available to VANOC and the bid book partners for dealing with non-violent civil disobedience," the IOCC claims. These include charges under the Criminal Code, provincial trespassing tickets, or physical removal of alleged trespassers through "Breach of the Peace" arrests.
The IOCC report notes that one of the three protestors jailed in the wake of the Eagleridge protests died shortly after her release. Harriet Nahanee served nine days of a 14-day term and subsequently died from pneumonia complicated by undiagnosed lung cancer. The report notes that the 71-year-old's "stint in jail may have contributed to or accelerated her death."
'Criminalization and marginalization'
Another breach of civil liberties noted in the report is the apparent attempt by Vancouver Police to frame an outspoken critic of the games for a crime.
The facts of the case are these: On March 6, 2007, an official Olympic flag was stolen from Vancouver city hall. The following day an organization calling itself the Native Warrior Society claimed responsibility for stealing the flag, and distributed a photograph of masked men posing with their purloined prize.
Three weeks later, the Vancouver Police Department raided offices of the Downtown Eastside Residents' Association (DERA) at 11 o'clock at night. No flag was found. The police later explained they were acting on "a tip," but refused to provide its source. A week later, the pro-Olympic city councillors overturned a staff recommendation and abruptly terminated grant money allocated to DERA.
DERA insists it has no connection to either the Native Warriors or the flag incident. But DERA and its allies have been strident critics of the 2010 Winter Games. The IOCC report states, "the combination of these incidents points to a worrying trend of criminalization and marginalization of inner-city advocates in the lead-up to the Games."
Similarly, the IOCC report calls on the city to withdraw Mayor Sam Sullivan's controversial "Project Civil City," an initiative that seeks to spend $1 million of Olympic Legacy funds to police against nuisance crimes. "The authors are concerned that the Project Civil City initiative is designed expressly for the purpose of limiting the poorest and most marginalized inner-city residents' access to public spaces in Vancouver during the Games."
VANOC meets in secret, keeps no minutes
The IOCC report card notes that VANOC itself is a corporation established by three governments (the city, the province, and Canada), each of which are subject to various accountability mechanisms, such as the provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Financial Information Act, and the Financial Disclosure Act.
"Despite the fact that their constituting bodies are subject to all of these pieces of protective legislation, neither 2010 Legacies Now or VANOC are subject to this accountability legislation," the report card states.
"VANOC holds board meetings that are closed to the public, and of which no minutes are kept." The report notes that this is exceptional, even by the scandal-prone standards of other Olympic organizations. "Previous Olympic Committees have held open board meetings without jeopardizing the success or profitability of the Games."
"The complete lack of transparency is simply unacceptable," Darrell Evans of the Campaign for Open Government told the press. "It's far below national and international standards, in fact, it's lower than Third World standards."
Wilson did not comment on questions related to the VANOC board, except to confirm that next week's meeting would be closed to the public.
In another issue of public accountability, the IOCC calls on the publicly owned Insurance Corporation of British Columbia to withdraw its corporate sponsorship of the 2010 Games, noting that "the cost of the $15 million ICBC sponsorship is borne directly by taxpayers."
Reports to follow every six months
The weakest section of the IOCC report is that devoted to finance, which does not substantiate its claim of "well-grounded concerns that the public budgets for the Olympic Winter Games are inaccurate and that the business practices of the Parties may expose tax payers to cost overruns." The report card is silent on questions of cost overruns at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre and Translinks' Richmond-Airport-Vancouver Skytrain line.
The report also is silent on VANOC's commitments to First Nations, inner-city employment and impacts on small business. The IOCC blames its lack of staff for these omissions, and promises to address them in future reports, due every six months.
Members of the IOCC include: B.C. Persons With Aids Society, Better Environmentally Sound Transportation, British Columbia and Yukon Territory Building & Construction Trades Council, Civil Society Development Project, Institute of Health Promotion Research, Pivot Legal Society, Richmond Poverty Response Committee, Society Promoting Environmental Conservation, Southeast False Creek Working Group, Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre, Think City Society, and the Vancouver and District Labour Council.
Related Tyee stories:
- Province Snaps Up Poverty Hotels
Plan to protect housing catches insiders off guard. - SRO Hotel Evictions Mount
Critics see trend tied to Olympics, gentrification. - Erasing Vancouver's Olympic Image
NPA moves undercut values that won us the bid.
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
- Shadow Workers of the World, Revolt!
- 'The Kids Are All Right'
- 'Leave Your Shoes On'
- Glaciers, BC Hydro's Melting 'Batteries'
- Frankie Rose Makes Life Tougher for Journalists
- Too Much Energy Used to Mine, Move Bitumen Says BC Firm
- Could SOPA Pervade Canadian Copyright Law?
- Would You Buy a Used Car from These Libs?
- Economist Calls Gateway Pipeline an Inflationary 'Threat'
- Who Pays Huge Power Bills for Clark's Gas Plants?
- Shadow Workers of the World, Revolt!
- Economist Calls Gateway Pipeline an Inflationary 'Threat'
- Bill Rees' Last Lecture
- Eleven Oily Questions for Every MP
- Too Much Energy Used to Mine, Move Bitumen Says BC Firm
- Is Canada Ignoring Signs of a Coming Economic Collapse?
- How First Nations Are Gearing Up for Legal Battle Against Gateway
- Harper in China
- Bruce Carson Scandal Greased by Harper's Oil Sands Agenda
- BC Child Care Advocates in Geneva to Complain to UN
- How First Nations Are Gearing Up for Legal Battle Against Gateway
- Make It the Canadian Webcasting Corporation
- Harper in China
- Shadow Workers of the World, Revolt!
- Expert on Healthy Democracy Takes BC's Pulse
- Remembering Lloyd Dykk's Wit, Generosity and Superb Prose
- When the Prize Is a Chance to Toil on BC's Farms
- Three Ryan Gosling Pickup Techniques that Don't Work in Real Life
- BC, You Love You
- Tweet Us What You Read Today
47
Login or register to post comments
Sara Ross
4 years ago
Full Report Available OnLine
If interested, the full report is available online at
www.olympicsforall.blogspot.com/
Working Memory
4 years ago
Bark lacks bite
A watchdog by definition is supposed to raise the alarm and keep the intruder at bay upon the first signs of trouble and until its owner arrives.
It is inaccurate to call the IOCC a watchdog.
The information in their recent report and Monte's story here is old news, except for a few details regarding numbers.
While the IOCC and almost everyone else are working up reports and talking about it, the IOCC is charging ahead as planned.
Everything you read here has occurred in almost every single Olympic region in the free world. This information should have been "acted upon" at least two years ago but everyone was, and still is, trying to figure out how they can work with VANOC to make money. Good luck.
All of the information here has been published in a number of areas over the last few years, and especially in my blog and book.
Our Olympic region has to realize that we are in competition with VANOC. They are not our buddies or our enemy. They are an entertainment promotion company interested in managing the Games respective of "their agenda," and they have no responsibility to represent the community. Get over it and learn to leverage it. Take a page from Sydney Australia to see how they kept their local Olympic committee under control. If you want a hint read this month's (May 2007) BC Business magazine to see what I wrote about Squamish Billboards.
Olympic organizations work hard to foster an oligopoly by bringing local news media under their wing. Local news media are already making a fortune off the back of our community simply by encouraging Olympic frenzy that spikes real estate values and by also creates controversy regarding "violent anti-Olympic protest."
The watchdog BIG BARK! today is that VANOC will eventually announce that they will "partner" with one of our local newspapers by making them an Olympic sponsor. That's what you should be concerned about, not this stale water under the bridge.
If you want a better understanding of all of this distraction go to OlyBLOG.com or read Leverage Olympic Momentum. It's available at Duthies or Chapters.
Maurice Cardinal
Editor: OlyBLOG.com
Author: Leverage Olympic Momentum
P.S. I'm sorry if this message sounds like a plug, but I refuse to create a false Tyee ID just to share what many of us "in the know" have been talking about for years.
secondlook
4 years ago
Stench from Callaghan Valley, Vanoc Nordic facilities
. . . . I understand that there is a RCMP Commercial Crime file that was halted suddenly, in June 2003 re: allegations of senior crown land bureaucrats' misconduct & DIRECTLY involved with Vanoc & the Callaghan Valley Nordic facilities, at hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars just before the Prague Bid selection?
Working Memory
4 years ago
Learn from history
Monte, the IOCC is not a newly formed organization as you indicate at the beginning of your article, although I can understand why you would think so.
A watchdog is supposed to bark constantly and loud enough to hear.
Here's a link that describes part of their history.
http://www.olyblog.com/f/06/IOCCF02012006.shtml
spanky
4 years ago
vancouver is junk
vancouver will become a truly crap city in the next ten years, this is just the start.
MyBrainIsOnFire
4 years ago
yo straight up
good one - let's see how this fits in the canwest ctv nexus...
pender paul
4 years ago
rip-off of olympic proportion
While I have nothing against the younger set of well-heeled athletes playing in the snow, I do object most strenuously to my tax dollars funding their activities. The Olympics, be they summer or winter, are nothing more than a vehicle to allow for the massive transfer of public money into private hands. Let people skate, ski or whatever, but they should foot the bills themselves. We need public housing, public health, public education, public transportation, etc. but the cookie jar is empty because of the Olympic nonsense. And the Olympics will not bring prosperity to the province--no games ever has--just debt and a widening of the divide between the haves and the have-nots. Every time I see that fatuous oaf of a premier extolling the virtues of the games I want to barf. What continues to amaze me is how many sheep want to graze in his pasture.
JIm
4 years ago
Quote:The 32-page report
You know a report is overtly biased when they include propaganda like that.
Maybe 50 years of smoking contributed to that. Maybe refusing any other punishment than jail led her to being in jail for 14 days. Maybe an undiagnosed case of cancer caused her death. But no the Olympics killed her.
I'm surprised the Olympics weren't blamed for the South East Asian Tsunami and the Iraq war.
When in doubt, blame the Olympics. The Olympics are a left wingers dream. Now you have something to blame everything on and rally around. It’s kind of like the South Park movie, but instead of blame Canada, it’s Blame the Olympics.
No matter what Vanoc did they would have got a failing grade. The IOCC is made up of a collection of the usual suspects that gave a rather predictable report. Not much news here.
DPL
4 years ago
I lisyened to the minister
I lisyened to the minister resonsible , in the house today. He kept telling us it's those nasypeople on the other side of the house who won't say if they support the olympics or not. Questions about lack of oppeness got another ramble about those awful folks. VANOC is a federal baord so is not subject to FOI and on and on. The biggest joke was the guy telling us that every thingk will be within the 600 million so there. Stand by for the fall out as we pay for the overruns, while some friendly companies get rich. The easy way to make the 600 million is to distance a lot of the costs and this bunch is doing that in spades.
fark14
4 years ago
How much can be attributed to the Olympics?
As a resident of a small community in the interior, I've been watching housing demand and prices skyrocket in most BC and Alberta cities. Even in small communities this is becoming an issue, especially if there is a resort development nearby. How can people afford a place to live on smaller incomes? It is a provincial problem.
We have to address this issue of fair-priced housing (housing costs based on the incomes of those working in the community), but to place the loss of low-income housing on the shoulders of VANOC and the Olympics alone is ignoring the bigger picture.
I guess for these coalitions of social groups, the Olympics provide a stage for discussion (when else do social issues get top story on the news?), but in a few short years from now the Olympics will be over and the same issues will exist.
We need a broader discussion which identifies increasing housing costs as a systemic problem throughout the province -- not just one created by the Olympics.
realisticman
4 years ago
I say spend MORE!
The last thing the drug addled and the booze drenched want is to hob-nob with a group of wealthy international sports enthusiasts. They'd have nothing in common. Nothing to discuss. The former have made it perfectly clear that they are not interested in the spectacle, so I say spend more and make damn sure that they stay apart.
bpither1
4 years ago
Collusion?
We are chemically addicted to bread and circuses although at least the Romans subsidised the former. As for circuses we allow the entertainers great wads of cash. In the referendum I voted against the Olympic bid despite all the assurances there would be no repeat performance of Expo 86 and the mass evictions in the downtown eastside. In the meantime our corporate backers reward the Liberals for their enthusiastic support. For those who think this just a tiresome conspiracy think again. Two years ago I was at the Oakridge shopping centre Bell Mobility desk and after engaging the attendant for a half hour of my usual grinding for a better deal he said, "Are you a member of the Liberal Party?" and then pulled out an information sheet from his database which is NOT generally available to the public - offering the most generous cellphone plan I have ever seen for 19 bucks. I have a copy if someone can tell me how to post it online for all to see. They offer a good deal for BCAA members as well but the Liberal plan takes the cake!
G West
4 years ago
bpither1
Please contact me:
Discretion guaranteed.
That's the kind of nuisance crime which deserves a much wider airing.
gw
Gary
4 years ago
bpither1
If you actually have a copy of this form get it to G West. And while your at it get a copy to the leader of the opposition. And if anyone else is even remotely close to a Bell Mobility Kiosk go in and get one yourself. Just one may not be enough.
If this proves out we finally have a link in writing of favouritism to the Liberals.
BruceW
4 years ago
And you didn't see this coming?
The only justification for the Games I've heard out of Victoria is that this event "will put us on the map."
Why we'd want to be on the map is beyond me. Indeed, it ought to be clear by now that perpetual economic growth is downright dangerous to us as a society.
Maybe 2,000 years ago, physical prowess in sport has some value as a social attribute; today, it's purely for entertainment. And we can always entertain ourselves watching our forests disappear and our water supply evaporate.
But what can you expect from an organization whose symbol is the eternal burning of fossil fuel?
Elliot
4 years ago
wow! what a surprise! a
wow! what a surprise! a group of anti-olympians write a report slamming the olympics. nice job. great stuff.
G West
4 years ago
Much appreciated Elliot
Thanks so much for your unqualified support for the cause. We'll have a sign all ready for you at the next demonstration. Together we can send this aberration back where it belongs along with the Campbell Liberals.
Great to have you aboard.
Elliot
4 years ago
i'd like my sign to say;
i'd like my sign to say; "stop everything and go and live in a hole somewhere with the rest of the lefty freaks". can you swing that gwest/alcibiades/?/?/?
G West
4 years ago
Nope
I've already ordered yours, it'll have your words and signature on it, just like this:
Great, Elliot
Thanks so much dude
realisticman
4 years ago
I want one, I want one...
I want mine to read;
"Nothing Like a Good Snow Job"
Elliot
4 years ago
so clever
so clever gwest/alcibiades/?/?/? noticed you're still hanging out here 24/7. still in search of that elusive life?
G West
4 years ago
Thanks again El
Always with the compliments.
R/Man:
After seeing the business plan this morning I think I agree with you.
This is going to be a real mess.
Working Memory
4 years ago
bpiter1
Post it on NowPublic.com
http://nowpublic.com/
Fii
4 years ago
Yeah... I saw it coming. I
Yeah... I saw it coming. I voted no.
I do my part. This lefty freak brings up the topic quite often in my ESL classes... I get the students thinking about the pros and cons of something like the Olympic games. I want them to go back to their countries (Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela) and tell others that we're actually not that rich, that we have a huge gap between rich and poor here, too; that we have an elite class who takes advantage of the rest of society.
That it isn't just in the barrios of Mexico where you'll see destitute people. The Olympic organizers can tout Vancouver as the "best place to be" and a wonderful place to visit and yadi yadi all they want; it's people like me who are getting the true word out, and my students are my messengers.
Shame on Vancouver.
secondlook
4 years ago
The head table at the Vanoc Business Plan says it all . . .
We just about choked seeing the 'circle' seated at the table announcing the Business Plan tonight - P-L-E-A-S-E.
There sat Peter Brown the perpetual bag-man for this group that has operated under various political labels - same old, same old - with his pal, Chairman Poole. The words:
Quote:
Kind of sums up what the agenda of the Olympics is all about, don't you think folks? - no sports on this private agenda; an agenda that is guaranteed to run British Columbians into financial ruin while lining the pockets of 'the club". The Olympics has lost its meaning - the Gold was stolen - on the backs of the athletes.
Now if only that Referendum had been VALID & PROVINCE WIDE - we would not be in this mess today. If only more people had spoken up earlier on.
What is going on within Vanoc & this Govt. is WRONG.
Just for the record: Like many of you, I am no left wing radical. I am a well educated, business person, blended with a heavy dose of social conscience. I actually believe in a democracy which we do not have in British Columbia, right now.
I cringe at seeing how ethics have been flushed away by a small circle' with their hands on the reigns of our Provinces assetswhile our social structure sinks into tatters. I am sick of seeing the ethically challenged in control of our Province. Something has to give.
Vanoc & the Raid on the Leg are not far apart - same old people at the controls.
Good for you Fii. I hope other people do their part, too.
Haywood Broun, 1940s Editor
realisticman
4 years ago
Do they laugh at you, Fii?
As, I guess, you don't know Fii, the Income Gap worldwide is measured on the Gini Index and if you'd just take the trouble to check you would see that your students from Korea, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico and Taiwan all come from countries that have have a greater gap than Canada. Only those from Japan can say that the gap is smaller.
As a teacher you should learn the value of research and be concerned that what you teach is at least accurate! Your comments are only incorrect ideological opinions. Please, stop making a fool of yourself in such an ignorant and patronizing way front of guests to our country.
G West
4 years ago
R/Man
I think you need to read Fii's post again my friend. The implication of what she's saying is that the 'image' of Canada is that we have a fair and equitable society here.
She's pointing out to those folks that it just ain't true. And she’s absolutely correct.
I think calling someone else a fool for pointing out how badly things have gone wrong in this country since the mid-70s is ignorant or patronizing. I think it is contingent upon anyone with affection for the truth to recognize the absolute accuracy of what Fii has written - and what she's teaching her students.
You, sir, are out of line.
realisticman
4 years ago
Teacher's Back
We do have an equitable society by all world measures. You, sir are out of line. Fii is slandering Canada spouting erroneous ideology.
How do you know Fii's female? Do you have access to data that tells you this?
G West
4 years ago
No we don't Realisticman
And it's getting worse by the year.
All carefully researched and documented in the many references supplied earlier, ad infinitum.
None of which, as per usual, you seem to have taken the time to read.
We have a far less equitable society now than we had a generation ago by OUR OWN STANDARDS - without ever having to refer to certain well known international benchmarks.
How do I know Fii is female?
Because she's been quite open about it.
If you took the time to actually read and comprehend what people write here you wouldn't have to ask.
You might want to try actually reading and understanding some of this material instead of pining for a re-creation of Maggie Thatcher's Britain in this green and pleasant land.
Oh, and btw, it was the terms you used to address Fii that I thought were out of line; you're perfectly free to continue to believe Fraser Institute nonsense if you like.
realisticman
4 years ago
Oh Please
My data is from various international organizations and you know that.
G West
4 years ago
And I know how wrong you are in your analysis of them
Do they compare the equity of Canada with countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark?
You totally miss the point, in my opinion, and selectively believe what it is, I suspect, in your 'personal' best interest to believe. Despite your own testimony of the ‘cost’ this current nonsense is imposing on people you profess to care for and respect.
The empirical evidence is unequivocal: Canada is a far less fair and equitable place now than it was a generation ago. The people who say things are better than ever ignore the actual conditions which prove this beyond a doubt.
Fii was simply pointing out to her students that the kind of compromised nonsense the Liberal government spends millions of dollars spouting is not reflective of the facts.
British Columbia as the 'best' place in the world is not only nonsense; it's an insult to the intelligence.
Thank goodness there are teachers like Fii around to counteract the kind of purblind lies I hear and read coming out of governments in both Ottawa and Victoria in an endless stream.
If you've been paying any attention to the Major inquiry in Ottawa, you should begin to see exactly how much information is being held back and has been held back to protect politicians and their enablers...even when it involves the deaths of several hundred human beings.
Wake up! It’s exactly what’s going on here in BC too. When a highly placed political appointee like Ken Dobell can suggest that he’s acting in the public interest when he avoids, subverts and frustrates the FOI rules in place – and when his boss can call him a great public servant all the same – we are in a very, very bad place.
Time to wake up. I could easily exceed the 3000 characters limit on this and related matters without even trying. But really, what’s the point? If you can’t see what’s going on around you I can’t help you and you’re not worth any more of my time.
realisticman
4 years ago
Do they?
Of course they do. As you West well know Canada rates well under all parameters, except yours perhaps. Here's one from the UN, United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report 2006. The UN, that bastion of neo-con conspirators, I guess you'd say. Not as you fear one from the local Fraser Institute.
The UN research shows that Canada has now a higher ranking than Denmark. I do hope that this cheers you up and doesn't cause you to dismiss the report out of hand. Ireland has also jumped up above Sweden, I guess since they reduced taxes and got everyone working.
No question that we live in one of the best places in the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index
G West
4 years ago
We live in a good place
A good place that is rapidly becoming more of a have/have not dichotomy, a reality which you continually ignore and belittle as evidenced in the way you responded to what Fii was very clearly addressing.
You and the system you support and apologize for is wrecking the place and turning it into a society where medical care, education and equal opportunities are not being afforded in anything like an equitable fashion. You want to get ahead in today’s Canadian economy? Choose your parents wisely because if you haven’t got some friends or some money behind you it’s not going to happen. I know students – in areas like hospitality and food services – who have borrowed tens of thousands of dollars to get the kind of training they WERE TOLD they needed and who cannot now live and pay off their student debt on what they’re paid for more than full time work.
I know dozens of very clever academics who cannot get tenure track positions although we now permit and encourage academics who are over 65 to keep on working rather than to retire.
I know the kinds of corners – ethical and legal corners that are being taken by virtually everyone I know in the business community. These are NOT good times.
I thin you know all that perfectly well - just as you know it's the main concern in our debate.
The fact of the matter is, you're not prepared to contend with the implications of the situation HERE let alone deal with what has been achieved in other societies during the period that we've been going downhill.
As long as the third largest metropolitan area in the country has housing that isn't affordable by the vast majority of the people who want to live there when - 30 years ago - that was NOT the case, then you don't have a leg to stand on and, I'd suggest you know that but choose to ignore it. And that's just the Lower Mainland.
As I've told you numerous times before, the Irish comparison is irrelevant. Return the millions of Irish who were forced to leave the island for 250 years (or starve) and plunk them and their offspring back on the Emerald Isle and then we'll talk. Factor out the socialist help that Ireland got from the EU and then we’ll talk. Convert the Irish society into something even remotely like the multi-cultural agglomeration we have here and then we’ll talk. Until then, let’s agree to leave the Irish out of the discussion.
G West
4 years ago
I told you it would take more than 3000 characters
Here's the rest of it - now that I've totally wasted my lunch hour:
People come here for a better life and we've stopped delivering it to anyone but the friends and corporate enablers of BC Liberals. People who’ve been here all along, the First Nations, have the very worst of it.
All this shames my country and its proud traditions - which you seem to know absolutely nothing about, by they way. When you're not insulting women, teachers, workers and single mothers; people who need and can't afford daycare and folks who recognize that the Olympics are a waste of public resources, you spout a kind or rosy vision about how good things are.
I think you're smarter than that and you're indulging in guilty wishful thinking.
As I said, time to wake up, we don't need any more Maggie Thatcher here - she's too much with us already in the person of our Premier and the Prime Minister. It’s a false failed vision and it will very soon be patently obvious to all.
No wonder you always want to change the subject.
Bread and circuses were always the thing for decadent societies on the way down - we and OUR Olympics are just the latest version.
Colin
4 years ago
Who pays security costs?
Didn’t get a chance to look at the report, where did they break down security cost and who pays?
The federal government is already incurring extra costs at the regulatory end.
G West
4 years ago
Security costs
Just one of very many really good questions.
http://www.vancouver2010.com/resources/PDFs/07_05_08_VANOC_Business_Plan_EN_e_VANOCbudget.pdf
See for yourself - this is the absolute worst excuse for a business plan I've ever seen - I think they must have gotten a former Enron executive to create it.
There is absolutely no sense that it's built on any 'real' numbers and it's not just 'security' that is the problem.
Add to this the 'contingency' fund boondoggle and you'll see why everyone should be concerned.
I expect the security bills (RCMPolice, the military etc.) will be part of the Federal Govt contribution - just as the free rent for BC Place will be booked as a cost from Victoria's point of view.
Fii
4 years ago
How does GWest know I'm female??
Haha.... that was hysterical. Are you knew around here or what, Realisticman?
I didn't say I was comparing Canada to Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan, etc. To answer your question "Do they laugh at you, Fi?", let me tell you the #1 question asked by Vancouver's ESL students- and I've been teaching them on and off for 5 and a half years now:
'Why are there so many homeless people in such a rich country?'
And you know what, R-man, I used to feel ashamed and stumped as to how to answer that question; I used to want to tell them that it wasn't really that bad (yeah- compared to their countries), that their OWN EYES were fooling them; I used to get really defensive like you are being on this thread. Then the years passed and I started to see what was happening here in Vancouver. Now I try to help them understand HOW a "rich" country like ours can have such problems.
"Fii is slandering Canada spouting erroneous ideology."- they have eyes in their heads, R-man. They aren't walking around here with blindfolds on.
You know what I might do, coming to think of it, and I'll be sure to dedicate the event to you, R-man- is buy a copy of "Five Ring Circus" for the viewing pleasure of my more advanced students; then we'll have an open discussion. I'll get back to you with the results!
G West
4 years ago
Security costs Colin - YOU DO.
The Operating budget doesn't include $580 million from taxpayers for venue construction, to cover the cost of the bureaucracies created by federal, provincial and municipal governments to oversee their investments in the Games, nor does it include the costs of security, which is being arranged by an integrated unit headed by the RCMP.
Any other questions Colin?
hat-tip Fii :-D
Elliot
4 years ago
'Here's the rest of it - now
'Here's the rest of it - now that I've totally wasted my lunch hour:' evidence of gwest pretending he has a job. LOL!!!
zalm
4 years ago
...pretending he has
...pretending he has something to contribute. Buzz off, little turd-fly.
R-man, There are things that are good about Canada, but most of what the Liveability Index considers good such as educational opportunities, health care benefits, lifespan and corruption in civil institutions, are not things that IAMC or Capitalism care much for, and I'm not so sure you think they're so great either, based on some of your past comments.
I prefer to look at OECD statistics - they are the most detailed, and they largely compare apples with apples - that is, 1st and 2nd world countries with values and systems of law and government that are similar to each other.
By OECD statistics, we don't look very good. Productivity is measure two ways - GDP per hour worked, and we come off 21st out of 30 behind Poland and Sweden, and well below the OECD average; and "multi-factor", which includes environmental and social statistics, and we still come off 11th out of 19, behind Greece, Finland and France.
Our average unemployment rate is 20th out of 30, and well above the OECD average.
In our best year ever, we show employment growth of 0.6% annually, but that is only 7th out of 30, behind such perennial dogs at Greece, Italy, Spain, New Zealand etc. who have doubled or even tripled our growth. And yet our hours worked per person per year, at 1737, is greater by more than 100 than most of those same countries. In other words, we try to work longer hours in order to be 1/2 to 1/3 as productive as they are.
(cont'd)
zalm
4 years ago
R'man cont'd
We spend the second most per student on education at all levels up to university (behind the US), and have the highest level of computer use by students, and yet have the 11th highest level of education attainment, and only score 6th out of 30 on Math, and 5th on reading and science. In some areas, we are behind Russia and Hungary, to say nothing of western nations. But we spend only the 15th most (public plus private) on education in aggregate, which means, we spend more per student, but accept fewer students for education than most other coutries. Not very effective.
We are 26th out of 31 on social spending, and spend only half as much as the OECD average, just above Turkey and Mexico. Yet we are taxed 21st out of 30 and onlooy 4% less than the OECD average, meaning our taxes are not going to social spending, but instead to business subsidies. Yet our violent crime rate is 3rd highest in the OECD, and our spending on corrections 4th highest.
Our aid to foreign development is only 0.34% of GDP, 16th best in the OECD, and only 1/3 of what other countries such as Norway, Sweden and Luxembourg and others give.
One thing we can be proud of - our waste generates is much lower than you'd expect for such a wealthy country. We generate 380 kg poer person per year, about 65% of the OECD average and 7th best. It is also just barely half of the US aveage of 760 kg per person per year.
So all, in all, we still tax ourselves reasonably highly, but we don't spend very much on social services, the education we pay for is as much private as it is public, yet produces only mediocre results considering the inputs; we have large disparities in income, high crime, lower opportunity and mediocre productivity.
But at least we don't pollute too much....
zalm
4 years ago
Hmmmm...
First line of the first comment was for Elliott, not R-man. But I'm sure Elliott the Iddiott figured it out already....
Working Memory
4 years ago
Fii & ESL students
Introduce your students to a book called "Leverage Olympic Momentum." (I wrote it)
It is specific to how the 2010 Olympics impact our Vancouver and Whistler communities.
It's an easy read that clarifies much of the misinformation disseminated by mainstream news media and Olympic organizations.
Check out OlyBLOG.com too.
secondlook
4 years ago
cont.: Head table at Vanoc Business Plan . . .
secondlook
I'd missed him on tv but on the front page of "Metro" there sat none other than Dobell' beside Poole looking every inch an honourary member of this Rogue's Gallery.
Let us not forget Poole's President of Concert Properties: David Podmore nicely slid on the slime into replacing Dobell as Chairman of the white elephant Convention Centre combined now with another crown corp. Oh gee, wasn't Podmore heading up the Yes side of the Bid? Didn't he serve quietly in charge of all venues during the Bid stage?
Round & round we go. The Olympic Bid process is no more inclusive of British Columbians' interests or the athletes, than any of the old boys clubs are. Conflicts of interest riddled with huge vested interests truly makes for a cesspool.
I repeat:
G West
4 years ago
Failure of trickle down - more evidence
Excerpted from yesterday's Globe & Mail:
Child health
Canada slipping on Children's Index
Canada's economic indicators have been getting stronger, social indicators have not
By Pat Hewitt
Toronto -- A new report from an international charity shows Canada is plunging on a scale assessing the outlook for children in countries around the world.
The report from Save the Children, based in London, has Canada dropping over the past year to 25th place from fifth on the Children's Index.
The humanitarian group's index ranks 140 countries on measures such as children's mortality under the age of five, enrolment in day care, nursery school and secondary school.
The United Kingdom is ranked 21st, the United States at No. 30.
"I think we are slipping," said David Morely, president and chief executive officer of Save the Children in Canada.
"We have been cutting back on our social programs and we start to see that happening."
Mr. Morely said that while Canada's economic indicators have been getting stronger, social indicators have not.
"I think if we're going to have a discussion in the country, perhaps it should be about what are the indicators that are going to drive us.
"Is it going to be economic or going to be social? Or how do we get a mix of the two so that we can move forward as a society?"
He said the main reason for Canada's drop can be attributed to the fact that it lags far behind the Europeans in early-childhood education.
(snip)
Canada spends 0.25 per cent of its gross domestic product on early childhood programs while other developed countries spend up to 2 per cent.
Iraq is ranked worst in the report, which used data from 1990-2005, because it has made the least progress toward improving child survival rates. One in eight Iraqi children died of disease or violence before reaching their fifth birthday.
(snip)
In Canada, the report suggests six out of 1,000 children won't reach their fifth birthday. That's up from five out of 1,000 in a report issued at the same time last year.
(snip)
While he didn't provide figures, Mr. Morely said there are higher mortality rates among first-nations children.
(snip)
Factors contributing to children dying young in industrialized countries, the report found, include single parenthood, low levels of maternal education, teenage motherhood, substandard housing, large family size and parental drug or alcohol addiction. And death rates are higher for male children.
(snip)
All emphases mine
Just for you R/Man
zalm
4 years ago
So mucc for the Globe & Mail
The OECD's Composite Leading Indicators oif economica performance which give data back to 1997 show that Canada's economic activity, although modestly succesful right now, is headed down, along with many others.
It also shows that Canada has not been very successful in the past ten years economicaly speaking - it has been behind almost all Asian countries, and substantially behind India, Brazil, Russia, Italy and Ireland, and is only marginally ahead of the OECD average.
Not very good performance, I'd say. C-minus on economic activity, and F on social concerns. Pretty piss-poor performance. Blame the federal Libs all you want, but Harper's Cons have done nothing to change this.
Judge for yourself.
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/41/38552719.pdf
zalm
4 years ago
Vaughn Palmer's best line....
...from Saturday's column, regarding Campbell's bullshit comment that "these games will pay for themselves,
These Games can no more pay for themselves than a man can have a baby.