What will Canada's next Leader do to Make Poverty History?

Hello,

All the federal party leaders except Stephen Harper have gone “on the record” answering questions on video about what they would do to tackle global, domestic and Aboriginal poverty.

Check out what the leaders of the Bloc, Greens, Liberals and NDP would do about poverty if elected. And make sure to ask Stephen Harper what he would do, because he won’t tell us.

In these short video clips, Stéphane Dion, Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton and Elizabeth May talk about their support for Make Poverty History goals and answer specific questions about reaching the target of giving point seven percent of our income for foreign aid, a national plan to end poverty in Canada and what they would do to narrow the living standards gap between Aboriginal people and the rest of Canada.

Once you have seen the videos, send a message to Stephen Harper asking him to say what he will do to make poverty history. We believe that before Canadians go to the polls they should know what all the party leaders would do to end poverty so that they can make an informed decision about which party is best able to help make poverty history.

Maybe you can get Mr. Harper to go ‘on the record’ with his plans to fight poverty.

Many thanks,

Gerry Barr
Chair
Make Poverty History

PS: Check out our election site for more ways to get involved.

Vancouver City Politics: Good for COPE, Good for Vancouver

I’ve recovered sufficiently from the marathon nomination conference for the COPE slate for Vancouver city council, school board and parks board. It was a grueling three and a half hours of voting, party business and chit chat.

It took 3 ballots to get to the two COPE candidates for city council out of these candidates:

Nominations started with 322 registered voters and by resolution, the winning candidate had to have 161 + 1 (50% of r. voters + 1).

David Cadman 1st Ballot(161) 2nd Ballot (211)-Wins 1st spot
Tim Louis (157) (141) (131)
Ellen Woodsworth (126) (136) (137)– Wins 2nd spot
Meena Wong (118) 2nd Ballot - Meena steps down.
Terry Martin (82) 2nd Ballot - Terry dropped off.

This was a nerve wracking and surprising contest. Talking to different people many were surprised and dismayed with Tim Louis coming out ahead on the first vote. He had a good team campaigning for him and got a lot of support. Inevitably the talk turns to “strategic voting” with people trying to figure out how best to cast a vote depending on how things could split.

The Grace under Pressure Award goes to Meena Wong, hands down. When she stepped down and took herself out of the race it had to be a tough decision and an interesting thing to analyze. With Terry Martin dropping off and Meena stepping out, Ellen Woodsworth only picked up another 10 votes, from the 200 cast for the former two candidates.

And as a shout out to Meena, everyone in that room knows you have only just begun to rock and roll and you will have the support of many as you head forward.

The essential ingredient of politics is timing.
~ Pierre Trudeau

In the 3rd ballot, 271 voted, 3 ballots were spoiled and so out of 268, the race was very close, with Ellen only winning by 6 votes (needing 135 to win). Someone called for a re-count, but that was vetoed.

There were many who were happy that the 2 COPE city council candidates will be David Cadman and Ellen Woodsworth. They both have a lot of experience at city council and I think they will be excellent people to represent Vancouver. They are both people who are consensus builders and will be able to work constructively with the candidates who are elected from the other parties. With Vision Vancouver, COPE and the Greens united the NPA stands very little chance and I think they know that.

I know there were some very heavy hearts from the Tim Louis camp, who fought strong and well. There may be some disillusionment and anger, but I hope those will fade and all of the left can continue to talk and work together, like we always have.

Vancouver and its’ citizens and our visitors need all of our energy, knowledge, expertise and commitment in the days to come. This is the time to come together and not let political spats in the family get in the way of the politics we need to play outside of the house. We all have an election to win on November 15th 2008.

Politics is about winning. If you don't win, you don't get to put your principles into practice. Therefore, find a way to win, or sit the battle out.
David Horowitz
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Parks Board nominees:
(2 COPE spots)
John Irwin, who withdrew his name because he and his partner are expecting twins, congrats to them.

Anita Romaniuk & Loretta Woodcock won by acclamation, which is great since both have lots of experience on Parks Board and are really good representatives for various stakeholders.

School Board nominees:
(5 COPE spots)
1st Ballot
Alvin Singh (242)
Bill Bargeman (246)
Jane Bouey (263)
Alan Wong (265)
Al Blakey (268)
Imitaz Popat (142)

Another All Candidates Forum - October 6th

This is a fresh new idea for a candidates’ forum in the Vancouver Kingsway riding. You are invited to this unique evening to have a face-to-face dialogue with your community and the candidates.

Take a seat and participate in the facilitated roundtable discussion and express your views on social issues concerning your community.

Confirmed candidates:

Wendy Yuan - Liberal Party
Don Davies - New Democratic Party
Doug Warkentin - Green Party

Date and Time: Monday, October 6, 2008 at 7:00pm to 9:30pm.

Location: Polish Community Centre
(4015 Fraser Street – Corner of Fraser and 24th Avenue)

This pilot forum is co-hosted by the following:

·Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC BC)
·Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies (AMSSA)
·First Call: BC Children and Youth Advocacy Coalition
·Get Your Vote On
·Lower Mainland Affordable Housing Network
·West Coast Leaf

Conservatives Shut Down Free Speech, Communications & Voice

You know, it’s really pissing me off how Stephen Harper and his Conservative backroomers are putting a gag on Conservative candidates from speaking to the media. This is two cases in the last week, that we know about. First it was Dona Cadman, Chuck Cadman’s widow, who is running as a Conservative in Surrey-North, being blocked from being asked question from media IN HER OWN RIDING??? Actually, the Conservatives “initially laughed off in apparent disbelief that the media would even bother asking.”

Yes, how silly of the media and the constituents of the Surrey-North riding to ask questions of a Conservative candidate who is running in their riding? Who is the idiot in this scenario again?

Not to be outdone, Pablito Carlo notes: “The Straight wasn’t able to get a comment from Conservative candidate Salomon Rayek. In a phone conversation on September 19, one of his staff members said the Mexican-born politician “isn’t available for media interviews at this point”.
So, Harper and the party elite have silenced and gagged their candidates – DURING AN ELECTION!!! What the hell is going to happen if they get in? Is this what Canadians can expect from a government run by Stephen Harper and the Conservatives: constituency representatives and Members of Parliament who don’t speak to members of their ridings, or the local media?

Frankly, I think that is EXACTLY what we will get if Stephen Harper gets in again. And it isn’t for this alone. He is running on a long record of shutting down dissent, free speech and muzzling people WE want to hear from. He has put up barriers to transparency of his decisions and government, and limiting access to civil and human rights for Canadians.

These are just a few of the things he’s done, ask yourself what more can we expect if he gets in again and the heavens forbid, with a majority Canadian government:

He fired the Health Canada Warriors of Truth & Safety

Health Canada fires 3 scientists
Last Updated: Thursday, July 15, 2004 | CBC News

Health Canada has fired three scientists who criticized the department's drug approval policies.

Shiv Chopra, Margaret Haydon and Gerard Lambert received letters of termination on Wednesday, said Steve Hindle, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service.

They criticized Monsanto's bovine growth hormone, which led to a Senate inquiry and a decision not to approve the drug. They also questioned carbadox, a drug used in pigs, and Baytril, which was used to promote growth in cows and chickens.

Haydon called a 2001 Canadian ban on Brazilian beef a political decision, and Chopra criticized former health minister Allan Rock for stockpiling antibiotics during the post-Sept. 11 anthrax scare.

Prior to the May 2003 discovery of mad cow in Canada, both Hayton and Chopra also warned measures to prevent the disease were inadequate. They had called for a ban on the use of animal parts in feed.

The scientists' actions were applauded by NDP MP Pat Martin, who called the three "heroes."

"If the government has signalled the way they feel about whistleblowing by firing these three prominent whistleblowers, it doesn't bode well for the future of meaningful legislation...this is a huge step backward," added Martin.
Hindle agrees that this action sets a bad precedent saying, "it will cause other public service employees, who have legitimate concerns, to keep those concerns to themselves."

Whistleblower scientists to fight government firing
Last Updated: Thursday, July 15, 2004 | 9:37 PM ET
CBC News

Boy, we sure wouldn't want too many people looking out for public safety now would we? In light of the listeriosis outbreak serious questions have to be asked about how Stephen Harper & his Conservatives views on less regulation, or rather, more regulation from industries will protect us.

He cancelled funding to the Court Challenges program

The Court Challenges Program (CCP) provided funding to help minority, women's and other disadvantaged groups so they could launch "test court cases" challenging laws that may violate equality rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The program was ended by the current Conservative government in 2006.

Coalition Fights to Bring Back Court Challenges about an upcoming Federal Court case against the federal government’s decision to eliminate funding for the Court Challenges Program back in 2006.

He cancelled funding to many women’s advocacy organizations telling Canadians

Conservative Cancellation of Funding to the National Association of Women and the Law - Senator Larry Campbell’s Weblog

…this Conservative government is absent in their responsibility to protect the rights of women in Canada. Truth be told, through their ideological prejudice the Conservatives are deliberately targeting and cancelling programs that protect the rights of Canadians and promote gender equality in our country.In the most recent example of this, the Conservatives cancelled funding for the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL).

Reason #37 - Status of Women slashed of Fifty-two important reasons to drive out Harper's Tories

Status of Women Canada (SWC) was the only government arm to address gender inequalities at a cross-Canada level, financing research and policy development through advocacy. When Stephen Harper made his first billion dollars in cuts, the operating budget of Status of Women Canada was slashed by $5 million, or 40 percent. The Conservatives also announced that the SWC Women's Program will only finance direct, local initiatives, and barred funding for projects that include advocacy for equality. According to the Canadian Feminist Alliance For International Action: "The current terms and conditions aim to provide `direct' and `local' assistance. This is very much based on a charity model which ignores the systemic issues behind the problem at hand. Instead of providing analysis and aiming for legal change the current approach privileges a case by case basis, almost as if women's poverty and violence against women were exceptions, aberrations to the norm. This approach is not meant to result in any significant change and does not challenge the status quo."

Stephen Harper's Conservative's attacked and fired Linda Keen, President of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, when she ordered the Chalk River nuclear reactor to shut down because it posed a safety risk.

What’s the stench around this, oh it’s Tony Clement again. And Gary Lunn trying to attack and discredit Keen when she was doing HER JOB. When intimidation didn’t work for Lunn, the Conservatives fired Keen the night before she was due to testify at a House of Commons natural resources committee.

The commission ordered the reactor to close on Nov. 18 over safety concerns about the emergency power system not being connected to cooling pumps, as required to prevent a meltdown during disasters such as earthquakes.

Liberal MP David McGuinty accused the Conservatives of U.S. Republican-style tactics by dismissing Keen in the "dark of night," just hours before she was due to testify before the Commons committee.

A ministerial directive on Dec. 10 ordered the CNSC to reopen the site. The agency refused, insisting a backup safety system be installed to prevent the risk of a meltdown during an earthquake or other disaster.

On Dec. 11, an emergency measure passed through the House of Commons overturned the watchdog's decision, and the reactor was restarted for a 120-day run on Dec. 16.

Embattled fired bureaucrat fires back in nuclear dispute
Juliet O'Neill, Canwest News Service
Published: Tuesday, January 29, 2008

OTTAWA - Health Minister Tony Clement belittled Linda Keen's concern for nuclear safety Tuesday, within an hour of the fired nuclear watchdog saying a reactor shut for an upgrade in November posed a safety risk 1,000 times greater than the international standard.

Keen testified the 50-year-old reactor would not be licensable today by any nuclear regulator anywhere in the world and the extension of a routine maintenance shutdown in November to install two backup pumps was aimed at heightening safety standards which, for a nuclear facility, should be the same as for a space shuttle or a jumbo jet.

Keen accused Lunn of "stepping over the line" by calling her at home on a Saturday afternoon to direct her to get the reactor reopened and told how taken aback she was to be fired late at night, after 10 p.m., on the eve of her scheduled testimony to the committee.

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Hear for yourself a little of what our sitting Prime Minister has to say about Conservative party players and their “overtures” to Chuck Cadman (RIP Big Guy). Hard to say whether the tape is real, or if it’s been doctored. I have to say though that I believe, as voters, it is in the public’s interest and we have a right to have a few questions answered:

· Where this matter stands before the court from both Mr. Harper’s and Mr. Dion’s camps?
· How much has it all cost Canadian taxpayers so far?
· While we’re on it, how much money is it costing taxpayers for the RCMP to be acting as bodyguards to candidates in their own ridings, or elsewhere?

Rick Mercer video - Stephen Harper/Chuck Cadman

Tories use RCMP to block media from talking to candidate Cadman
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 | 12:40 PM ET
The Canadian Press

Excerpts:
The Conservatives called on the RCMP Tuesday night to block reporters from speaking with B.C. candidate Dona Cadman, in a scene reminiscent of the last election when they stashed a local candidate in a restaurant kitchen.

Cadman, a candidate in Surrey-North, has fallen silent since alleging months ago that her dying husband was offered a lucrative life-insurance policy to side with the Tories in a 2005 confidence vote.

A dispute over exactly what kind of deal the Tories tried to strike with the late Chuck Cadman now lies at the heart of a legal battle between Stephen Harper and the Liberal party.

Reporters following the prime minister's national tour asked to interview Dona Cadman after a campaign rally in Surrey — a request that Harper aides initially laughed off in apparent disbelief that the media would even bother asking.

"We have media availabilities every morning in which journalists can ask questions of the prime minister," Teneycke said. "We have events every day in our war room, generally with members of cabinet."

Harper recently won an adjournment putting off a hearing that had been scheduled on the affair, and he's still seeking an injunction to keep the tape out of Liberal hands in the longer term.

Harper also launched a $3.5-million defamation suit last March against the Liberal party, which had used media reports about the tape to accuse the prime minister of "immoral," "illegal" and "unethical" behaviour.

The prime minister says the 2005 tape, in which he discussed the party's overtures to Chuck Cadman, was doctored by the journalist who conducted the interview.

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Vancouver Kingsway candidates dance with the ethnic vote
By Carlito Pablo. September 24, 2008. The Georgia Straight.

Excerpt:

On a recent Saturday morning, the NDP candidate for Vancouver Kingsway, Don Davies, sparred with Liberal candidate Wendy Yuan on a Vietnamese radio talk show.
In the evening that same day, Davies went to a dinner and dance event at the St. Patrick Recreational Hall on Main Street, upon the invitation of one of his Filipino-Canadian supporters. At one point, the Teamsters lawyer danced with Leony Cajigas, a nurse from the Philippines.

The next day, Davies was scheduled to attend a dim sum party, this time to court Chinese-Canadian voters.

“There are over 60 languages spoken in Vancouver Kingsway,” Davies told the Straight.
Of the riding’s 119,815 residents, 42,130 have English as a mother tongue only, according to the 2006 census. Moreover, the riding has a visible-minority population of 81,385, of whom people of Chinese descent number 47,605, and those of Filipino origin 11,930.

“I really respect and appreciate and like the multicultural fabric of our riding,” Davies said. “That’s why I live in Kingsway. I’m the only candidate who lives here with roots here.”

Yuan, who came to Canada in 1984, has her own story to tell.

“I came to this country just like most immigrants with $50 in their pockets and a dream,” Yuan told the Straight. “I came with limited means but through hard work, I got recognized and became a successful businesswoman. I understand what immigrants have to go through to reach what they want.”

Once an NDP bailiwick, Vancouver Kingsway has gone Liberal in recent elections. Its current MP, David Emerson, was elected a Liberal but crossed the floor to the Conservative side days after the 2006 vote.

Doug Warkentin, who is running for the Green Party of Canada in Vancouver Kingsway, acknowledged that the ethnic vote has been traditionally one of the areas that his party has a hard time cracking into.

A resident for the past three years in the riding, Warkentin, an engineer, hopes that his personal connections to small business owners that are mostly of immigrant extraction could win him a number of votes.

“Beyond that, just being the Green party candidate, I think anyone who’s interested in the future of Canada, it’s in their interest to support the kind of things that were supporting as well,” Warkentin told the Straight.

The Straight wasn’t able to get a comment from Conservative candidate Salomon Rayek. In a phone conversation on September 19, one of his staff members said the Mexican-born politician “isn’t available for media interviews at this point”.

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Canadians face a tough choice on October 14th 2008, but what is one of my mantras for voting is that a party and its’ leaders stand (and fall) by their reputation and history of ACTION in the community and how they represent the interests of citizens and protect our collective rights.

Over the past few years with a Stephen Harper minority Conservative government, many Canadians have experienced the sharp end of the stick and a poke in the eye, especially if you’ve tried to alert the public to safety risks. And as soon as they could, the Conservatives put limits and barriers on Canadian’s equality, civil and human rights and access to justice by using their power to cut funds to many important government programs. And they go to extraordinary lengths to silence those working for our safety. A particularly important thing to highlight is that in this election, we are seeing the Conservatives transform the RCMP, Canadian’s public police service, into little more than bodyguards in the pocket of the Conservatives. We are going down a very dark road, alone at night, when our national police services are being used by Stephen Harper to shield Conservative candidates from reporters and citizens like they are hired help keeping the paparazzi away. Citizens have a right to ask questions of candidates and if they don’t have that right during an election, then those candidates don’t have a right to be elected. Stephen Harper’s vicious, controlling and totalitarian nature has been apparent throughout his tenure as Prime Minister and is being played out right before our eyes during this election. No fuzzy sweaters or forced cheery smiles can hide the truth about his nature, his leadership style and the threat he poses to the continued civil and human rights of all but a few.

Actions speak louder than words. Please remember that when you head to the polls on October 14th 2008.

Ready, Set, Go: All Candidates Forum Confirmed

Date: Tuesday, October 7th 2008

Time: 7pm

Location: Collingwood Neighbourhood House
5288 Joyce (@ Euclid, just down from the Skytrain station).

Looking forward to hearing from the candidates and seeing them in action and I hope
we can ensure a good turnout.

What is Crime All About: Do our Political Leaders even Know?

Ah, crime, the easy favourite for political leaders and parties to make empty, uninformed promises for fixes. In my life and work, I’ve probably met more criminals than most people would ever hope to meet in a lifetime. I’ve learned some things about criminals and why they choose crime as a career path. It might be difficult to think of it as such, crime as a career path, but in many respects that is what it is. For some, they are raised in criminal families, or those, who espouse and socialize their offspring to naturalize anti-social values and criminal behaviours. For many of these families, this is simply survival, pure and simple.

The hidden issues behind crime are what get ignored by the politicians, who sell a “Get Tough on Crime” ethos which is really just inadequate, shame-based and ineffective and panders to middle class fear. Meanwhile, the real issues of crime go unmentioned, until now of course. These are the real issues behind crime:

Abuse and neglect of children – I have yet to meet a criminal, child, youth or adult who did not have an indescribably horrific history and background of abuse and/or depravation. We’re talking abuse in every possible way – physical, mental, emotional and sexual – girls and boys.

Neglect – deprivation of the most basic necessities of material, emotional and psychological life. If most citizens were to read the forensic assessments of some of the children before the courts, they would understand the difficult lives most criminals start out this world in.

Mental health & Psychiatric Disorders – When children are abused and neglected they experience long-term mental, emotional and psychological damage, only instead of most receiving timely assessment and counseling they get labeled with ADHD, opposition-defiant disorder, and a host of other things. They don’t get labeled as victims and survivors. These kids are often stigmatized and rejected in school and community. Then they come to internalize themselves as unworthy, as outside the norm of their peers. People wonder why the Downtown Eastside exists, well, one reason is that no matter who you are, what you are, or what you do, you will find a community of belonging, which is often more than you can find anywhere in the rest of the world.

Canada now has a Mental Health Commission. Part of their role is to create a national strategy. As the Commission points out on its’ website, Canada was the only G8 nation that did not have a national strategy to address mental illness. So far, they’ve got lots of reports and have made public appearances, with little to show in that way of a strategy. Canadians deserve better and some real action.

Here in BC, one thing we can take pride in is that we created the first Child & Youth Mental Health Plan in Canada

This is an example of best practices and improving outcomes:

Parent resource centre targets troubled youth
Cheryl Rossi, Vancouver Courier. Published: Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Poverty – No-one will ever be able to claim that being poor is always the impetus for engaging in criminal behaviour. However, one man I knew told me his first criminal acts began when, at age 8 years old, he began breaking into houses to steal food. As an adult, he has a long history of crime and addiction, which started as a child whose strength to survive was so strong he had to steal food to eat, in a country where he was surrounded by wealth that denied him the basic necessities of life.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders & other Developmental Disabilities – Canada has a shameful and negligent history and a profound failure of leadership to address the holistic needs of boys and girls with FASD and other DD’s. There is a saying amongst those working with and parenting FASD populations – “the boys get locked up, the girls get knocked up.”

Have you ever seen a newborn baby kicking heroin, or crack cocaine? I have. More than one or two. If the first thing you have to do when you come into this world is detox from dope, your life will ALWAYS be an uphill climb. If your government (federal and provincial) fails to provide you the support you need for your invariable special needs and developmental disabilities, your options in life are significantly reduced. Last time I checked, you don’t need a university degree to sell crack.

If politicians want to make a difference on youth AND adult crime then they better fund and create a national strategy for addressing FASD and other Developmental Disabilities and not leave it up to the provinces to take leadership on this.

Addictions & Residential Treatment – Again, no national leadership and patchwork provincial addiction systems and a lack of treatment beds specifically for youth. The younger you are addicted and entering the anti-social lifestyle associated with addiction & crime, the worse your health, the lower your life expectancy, and often, the more chronic and prolific offending takes place to feed the monkey.

I’ve known a few of those so-called “prolific” or chronic offenders. Their need for dope and the high of crime is insatiable. Even when they go to prison for longer stretches (where they don’t have access to any rehabilitation programs), detox off dope, they are back to the life within a short span of time. Usually they’re released from prison with the clothes on their back, if they’re lucky they get onto welfare before they’re out (most of the time not), no housing and few supports in the community. It isn’t rocket science why they get back into crime again.

Labour, Vocational Training & Apprenticeship Programs – Again, something that falls to the provinces, but the federal government takes very little leadership on this, although headlines across the country are already screeching at us about the current labour market recruitment & retention problems.

It’s all well and good for middle class kids going into the trades. But, it takes some effort to convince a kid who grew up in abject poverty, has no education, maybe doesn’t even speak, or write, English to be employable, who can make the same amount of money, or more, selling crack, meth and heroin and driving a Hummer.

Canadian economy crippled by skilled labour shortage
Eric Beauchesne, Canwest News Service
Published: Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Support Services & ESL classes for Immigrant Children & Youth – It is no coincidence some immigrant youth fall into criminal lifestyles. In many respects, their options are for employment are limited. There was an excellent story in a recent issue of the Vancouver Courier that outlined the issue very well. It told the story of young Vietnamese refugee who came to Vancouver, who was illiterate in both his native language, and English. With the pressures on him to work and support himself here (in one of the most expensive cities in North America) and send money home to his family, school and literacy, by virtue of survival had to become a secondary thing. His employment and career options are limited as a result.

Canada’s statistics on literacy rates are staggering for a nation that requires an abundance of “skilled and knowledge workers” for our countries’ future survival. I don’t see one iota of attention being paid to issues of literacy, access to education and ESL education by the party leaders in this election.

"More than 40% of working age people in British Columbia have a hard time with the everyday demands of reading, writing and using numbers. This means they may have trouble finding and keeping jobs. It means they may not be able to get the information they need to protect their health, safety or legal rights. And it means they may be unable to read to their children". (Literacy BC)

"Close to 33% of employers reported training problems because some of their staff were functionally illiterate". (ABC CANADA)

Continuum of Housing Options & Transitional Supports for Youth – In a province such as BC, where the provincial government is set on privatizing and devolving the child protection system, youth aren’t just falling into cracks, they are being swallowed up whole by crevasses where social services and the government used to exist to provide them supports, such as housing, and life skills as they transition into adulthood. It would be lovely and put a smile on all of our faces if all youth got launched into the world from well appointed and nurturing nests, with parents who are there to catch them when they fall. That isn’t the case for a very problematic minority, who become all of society’s problem when they are forced out, or dumped out onto the street before, or after the age of majority.

The Representative of Children & Youth, Mary-Ellen Turpel-Lafond reported that in BC, more youth from foster care “graduate” to prison, than actually graduate from high school. That is a failure of all levels of government, because a statistic like that can be replicated in every province. The outcomes of children & youth from care, a most vulnerable population, are well known and established in the research. Yet at a national level, since the Honourable Senator Landon Pearson, no-one stands as a National Champion and Advocate for Children & Youth. That is an international embarrassment for Canada, a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

BTW, Stephen Harper might want to peruse the UNCRC before making all of his “get tough on youth crime” proclamations. His anachronistic and ridiculous campaign promises fly in the face of more progressive and intelligent responses to issues of youth crime.

Youth Crime Prevention – I’d like to know the total Canadian dollars the Conservative government has invested in Youth Crime Prevention initiatives and programs since they became the minority government? I am underwhelmed when I look at the GOV page for youth crime prevention and the meagre findings that turned up when I searched. I strongly suspect that it isn’t enough, especially for Aboriginal youth, who continue to be over-represented in every aspect of the legal system, whether that is arrest, charge and incarceration rates.

I remember one particular immigration mentoring program that went under in Metro Vancouver, losing their government funding and it was just so maddening to think how short-sighted governments can be sometimes in helping youth settle in with peers who can help them find a positive path.

Good Youth Crime Protection programming includes gang prevention activities. But education only goes so far, real efforts and dollars have to go into increasing opportunities and supports to vulnerable youth.

Implications on the UN Convention for Crime Prevention

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So, after all of this, if doing the right thing still isn’t enough to convince our leaders, maybe appealing to our collective self-interest is:

Meet Carl, he’s an 19 year old kid, he was taken away from his alcoholic, neglectful parents when he was around four years old. One of the only things he has pride about is that he used to be the protector of his younger siblings when the parties happened, but no-one was there to protect him. He was abused and neglected in every way a human being can be violated.

The government sends him to the United States, where he stays in a foster home for most of a decade, with no contact with any natural family. He's also abused and neglected there. He’s kept at home, he’s also been taught how to shoot and collect guns, and begins to do break-ins with his other foster siblings, mostly for food. He’s hustled out of the country after he shoots and kills a cow and some other animals and causes some other problems. He has little to no education, is barely literate and unsocialized.

He’s back here in Canada and he is before the courts on a violent crime, it’s just a series of offenses, escalating over time, as his world is crushed over and over and he has NOWHERE and NO-ONE he belongs with, or to. His family can’t cope with him, especially after he assaults one of his relatives. He’s dabbling in pot and trying to stay off alcohol, he knows what it does to him, but it also makes the pain go away, for a little while anyways. He’s also managed to collect some knives. He pulls a kidnapping, while on probation, so he goes away again. He’s still only 16. He drifts to another town. Commits an armed robbery and another kidnapping, more time, now he’s doing adult time. Bigger tricks of the trade, meaner and rougher in-mates and more abuse.

No family, no community, no job, no income, no home, can’t read or write, he’s got addictions, has years of committing violent and sex offenses and mountains of disabilities, special needs and mental health issues no-one has ever been able to help him with.

He is getting released into your community after his time is up. What do you think is waiting for him? Is this the kind of Canada we want for Carl, or ourselves? It isn’t what I want. Carl isn’t theoretical. He was a living, breathing child-man who was thrown away by our society, but he meant something to me. And so do all of the other Carl’s and Carla’s out there.

This time around, we need to choose a better government, one that will seriously commit to helping the Carl and Carla’s in our country. That is the kind of Canada we should strive to be.

Mark Your Calendar for the All Candidates Forum

All Candidates Forum
When:Mon Oct 6 7:30pm–9pm

Where: TBA (Please check back closer to the time)

Description

The purpose of this forum is to provide a space for the candidates to engage in conversations on specific social issues in the areas of Child poverty and Child care, Poverty reduction, and Housing, Women’s issues, and Immigration issues.

The Candidates Forum will consist of four parts: Roundtable discussions, Candidates report back, Questions from the floor, and Candidates summary remarks.

This forum is an alternative to the traditional format because we see the value in allowing candidates to hear from their voters the concerns in the community.

We've sent an e-mail to the candidates campaigns to find out more information, check back for updates.

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Not sure if everyone is aware of Riding Talk for Vancouver-Kingsway on CBC's Election blog. I'd certainly like to see more of a dialgue on there about the issues impacting our riding.

The Real Top Issues Facing Canadians - Part 3: Canadian Economy & Quality of Life

Economic Security

You’d have to be living under a rock to not be aware that the global economy recently took a nosedive of such significance it’s only reference points were the Great Depression and 9/11. I can’t even remotely pretend to be an economics expert or discuss at length the myriad reasons for this but what I do know is that many of us have been led down a garden path that has led to many living far beyond their means in an effort to (falsely) boost our quality of life.

The United States and whatever shadowy folks that have been “drunk at the wheel” and steering our large and close neighbour straight into the rocks. A large part of that was the false economy created by offering to finance housing loans to people who simply could never qualify to buy homes they could never really afford. It’s beyond me to go into the reasons for this unfettered gluttony and the “movin’ on up” mentality of the folks who bought in, but the sub-prime lending crisis has essentially bankrupted the U.S. and has dragged all of the other international banks who bought into it, thus bringing the entire global economy to its knees.

How does this affect Canadians?

We can’t claim to have the same kind of sub-prime lending crisis, but a little of that has rubbed on us in the form of no money down mortgages and First Time Home Buyer programs through Canadian Mortgage & Housing Corporation have enabled borrowers with no money down to get into the real estate market, when they probably shouldn’t have. As a renter, I can understand the impetus to become a “landowner,” paying others’ mortgages is annoying, unproductive in raising the bar of my quality of life and helping me plan for the future security for my family.

An additional issue is that the unfettered real estate market has seen the price of all manner of homes rise to a ridiculously inflated level. In Vancouver Kingsway we’ve seen this, with basic, not even attractive homes are going for $700,000 or more. And people are still buying these homes and in some cases, these people are spending more than 70% of their total income on mortgages.

Then there are those 25-year and longer mortgages, what some refer to as Freedom 95. This is something our political leaders really need to pay attention to. The 2008 Homeless count here in Metro Vancouver found that the fastest growing population of homeless were senior citizens. That is alarming and in my opinion, a disgrace for all levels of governments to allow this to happen to our Elders.

Fundamentally, as much as the CMHC & the Conservative federal government wants to spin this issue, they are not investing enough money in affordable housing for Canadians. CMHC is running a dramatic surplus, some say about $2 billion. That is unacceptable when so many people are insecurely housed, or not housed at all. I want to know when my Canada decided that only certain people deserved to have housing and quality of life? This is rhetorical, I know when this started, but this is one of the things I find most shameful about the neo-conservativism of successive Canadian governments since the 80’s. It’s also short-sighted and frankly stupid public policy to have withdrawn federal investments in housing to the provinces. I just have this picture in my mind of people sitting at the top of a big pile of money while the homeless and insecurely housed die beneath them. I don’t want to live in a Canada like that.

Nearly 30 per cent close to retirement think income won't be adequate: StatsCan
Published: Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Canadian Press: Lauren La Rose, THE CANADIAN PRESS

In the Vancouver-Kingsway riding, housing affordability and security are pressing issues. Statistics Canada reports modest family incomes for most of us, well beyond the price of the average mortgage. With a 0.1% vacancy rate in BC, we’re all one pay cheque away from a missed mortgage, or rent payment and losing our housing, it’s that easy and simple. Most people don't realize how close they are to the street because we've been filling our pockets with fools gold and grabbing a slice of a quality of life that isn't sustainable on our real incomes.

Mortgage crisis may be looming for Canada
Homebuyers advised to save down payments, accept smaller starter homes.

Ray Turchansky, Canwest News Service. National Post.
Published: Tuesday, July 22, 2008

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Food Security

It is a well-established fact, one that the United Nations acknowledges, that there is a global food crisis, that will continue to grow more dire due to a number of public policy decisions and actions of those in power, both in Canada and elsewhere.

Food Security is one of the major issues facing many Canadians these days. You would not know that if you were looking at the federal leaders in this election. This issue does not rate anywhere in any of their platforms, but it ranks pretty high for many of citizens with climbing costs of basic food stuff. I don’t know about you, but the ever-increasing prices of food at the grocery store have definitely had an impact on how we shop for food and necessities. We simply can't afford many of the items we used to and have to use our limited funds more wisely. This includes cutting back on meals spent in restaurants in the community, impacting small local businesses too.

Food Banks, which were supposed to be a temporary solution, have become institutionalized and are on the frontlines of socio-economic trends impacting families. Food banks have seen new faces and a changing demographic requiring their support – the working poor who no longer have access to adequate and nutritious food for themselves and their children, in spite of being employed.

Some organizations, such as our very own Collingwood Neighbourhood House realize the issue of Food Security weighs heavily on many of our citizens and have taken leadership in creating the Renfrew Collingwood Food Security Institute, which offers community kitchens, gardens and other community food initiatives. They can be contacted @ foodsecurity@cnh.bc.ca or 604-435-0323 ext: 237; for more information

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BC leads the country in child poverty rates for five years in a row!!!

On November 24th 1989, all members of the House of Commons vowed to end child poverty by 2000. What have we seen, increased poverty, marginalization and barriers for many Canadian children in reaching their full potential.

Our Vancouver-Kingsway riding has a very high rate of immigrant families, single parent families, Aboriginal families and those with lower socio-economic status. Some of these families live in complete poverty and have no choice but to raise their children without everything that they need for success. In 2007, the United Nations ranked Canada a dismal 12th out of 21 countries Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Development in Rich Countries.

Family Poverty Rates in BC for 2005 (by family type)

Campaign 2000 has released the 2007 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty, revealing that 18 years after the 1989 all-party resolution of the House of Commons, the child poverty rate is exactly the same. Despite a growing economy, a soaring dollar and low unemployment, Statistics Canada data show:

·788,000 children – 11.7% - live in poverty
·A job alone is not enough. 41% of low-income children live in families where at least one parent works full-time all year, and the family still lives in poverty.
·The risk of living in poverty is not the same for all children. Poverty hits children in racialized, First Nations and recent immigrant communities much more often.

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I want our political leaders to understand that all Canadian children deserve the best opportunities for health, education and economic security. They are here now, this is their human rights and they are the future of Canada. This doesn’t take just words, but action. Child poverty can be eradicated in a wealthy nation such as Canada. It takes political commitment and will to make this happen.

Campaign 2000 urges all federal parties to set minimum targets of a 25% reduction in child poverty rate over the next five years, and a 50% reduction over 10 years. They are also calling for a national poverty reduction strategy.

Will it be Heat & Gas, or Housing & Food?

This is a question that many citizens of the United Kingdom have been faced with increasingly as their nation went down the path of deregulation and privatization, a situation that we here in BC are rapidly coming to. They’ve actually coined a new term to describe it: fuel poverty. Many of the working poor, seniors, persons with disabilities and other regular folks are rapidly coming to find themselves faced with the choice, food & housing, or heat and electricity? And it isn’t out of line to say that the record-breaking profits of the multi-national power companies in Britain are making those off the backs of citizens, who are begging for relief from their corporate overlords.

“The combined profits of the big six energy companies last year were more than double those in 2006, rising from £2.07 billion in 2006 to £4.3 billion in 2007.”

If the cost of housing wasn’t enough. Our provincial government, under Premier Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals, has allowed our Crown agencies, BC Hydro and Terasen Gas to de-regulate and privatize power, gas and electricity. The government’s appointees on the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) have also allowed BC Hydro and Terasen Gas to raise the costs of heat, water and electricity beyond what many can afford. Now, much of our water, hydro power and electricity are being sent to the United States and many of us find it more and more difficult to afford basic necessities of heat, water and electricity.

The BC government also introduced a carbon tax, which not only is applied to gas, which is used for transportation, but this tax will also be applied to every gigajoule of gas that we have to purchase from Terasen and other companies. This will make a phenomenal hit on citizens in rural areas, who have no choice about their transportation and the heat they need for their homes and families.

Already, many citizens, including seniors, people with disabilities, immigrants and individuals and families who live at, or below the poverty level have to choose between food and heat and electricity. And winter hasn’t even come yet. From what we have already experienced, it is predicted, that we will have a very cold winter this year. While these kind of decisions are made at a provincial level, I’m looking to our federal leaders to take some leadership here and get tough on provinces that are gouging their citizens and creating more economic insecurity and detrimentally impacting citizens quality of life. It is no mistake that the middle class is shrinking and sliding into lower socio-economic classes, while the rich are getting richer and the number of hands that hold the wealth of our nation becomes smaller and smaller. That is not smart, nor just socio-economic policy for Canadians.

Blowing Smoke Where?

Okay, I have to jump into this whole shadow story that is popping up about the NDP candidates who’ve been taken down due to their histories for, horror of horrors…
SMOKING POT.

Get real people, bunch of hypocrites. If political candidates are now going to be vetted and “weeded out” for smoking pot, or being involved in the marijuana decriminalization and legalization movements, then that pretty much rules out at least three generations of candidates:

Baby boomers - Hello, remember, “tune in, turn on, drop out” and that was about more than toking, my friends in weed. And y’all know most of you did much more than inhale.

Baby boomers still lead other U.S. age groups in drug abuse
Use dips among adolescents, survey finds
By KEVIN FREKING. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. September 3, 2008.

Drug use increased among the 50-59 age group as more baby boomers joined that category. Their past month drug use rose from 4.3 percent in 2006 to 5 percent in 2007.

"The baby boomers have much higher rates of self-destructive behavior than any parallel age group we have data from," said John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Walters, 55, is a boomer himself.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, being released Thursday by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is based on interviews with about 67,500 people.

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Sensible words from Vancouver’s own Senator Larry Campbell on his blog:

Once again, rather than being an advocate for the use of marijuana, and I am simply a believer in the fact that personal choice and proper parenting should be the parameters for a substance that is clearly less harmful than alcohol, which is of course legal and easily accessible.

According to recent crime statistics, it is estimated that the federal and provincial governments spend between $300 million and $500 million a year enforcing the law against simple possession of cannabis. Now maybe Canadians have become used to hearing about such amounts of money, but I know that a lot of communities, particularly those where our Aboriginal peoples reside, could make much better use of such funds.

Senator Larry Campbell in the Province:

"If we're going to call people who have smoked pot criminals, half the country would be criminals," Campbell, a former Vancouver mayor, coroner and RCMP drug cop, said yesterday. "We don't see marijuana users going around beating and robbing people. They don't fit the criminal profile but there's a criminal stigma attached that means people can't get into the States." (or now run in elections)

Generation X - I don’t care where you’ve grown up in this great land of ours, more than half of all Gen X’s, quite likely a majority of voters, have either indulged at some point, or regularly and guess what, they are regular tax paying citizens, stand up people.

Generation Y - This is a generation that has such liberal views of marijuana use and are so bold as to move their vices to a new level by posting pictures, videos and comments on Youtube, Facebook and MySpace that they will be lucky if anyone from this generation will EVER be accepted for candidacy of any party, except for one with names like the Sex Party, or the Party More Work Less Party.

I can’t believe the “Evil Demon Weed” propaganda machine that has led to resignations of some decent and quite likely excellent candidates. And this smacks of the right-wing, fundamentalist anti-drug ethos of the Conservatives, a party made by white men, for white men, funded by white men. Wonder how many of those folks have indulged in the old green? How many have downed more than a healthy amount of alcohol? Or, have full blown alcoholism? Been caught drinking & driving? A ever-climbing number of Conservatives have sure been known to have some pretty poor judgment in quite a few other areas: Maxime Bernier. Gerry Ritz. David Emerson. Tony Clements. Chris Reid.

This stuff is piggy-backing on the international embarrassment that is Tony Clements, Conservative Minister of Health, traveling around the world, humiliating himself and Canada refuting the solid research results and success of Insite as part of the harm reduction strategy for IV drug use and addictions. Yes, Mr. Clements, with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a law degree seems to think he is eminently more qualified than the researchers and doctors who have studied Insite and published articles in the leading peer reviewed medical journals on the planet. A quote directly from the horse’s …

That’s why, to me, Insite is an abomination…

Now, for some real outcomes about Insite:

Insite has been subject to rigorous, independent third party research and evaluation by the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, recognized as one of the world’s leading research organizations.

The Centre’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, the British Medical Journal, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and The Lancet.

Results include:
·Insite is leading to increased uptake into detoxification programs and addiction treatment. (New England Journal of Medicine)
·Insite has not led to an increase in drug-related crime, rates of arrest for drug trafficking, assaults and robbery were similar after the facility’s opening, and rates of vehicle break-ins/theft declined significantly. (Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy)
·Insite has reduced the number of people injecting in public and the amount of injection-related litter in the downtown eastside. (Canadian Medical Association Journal)
·Insite is attracting the highest-risk users – those more likely to be vulnerable to HIV infection and overdose, and who were contributing to problems of public drug use and unsafe syringe disposal. (American Journal of Preventive Medicine)
·Insite has reduced overall rates of needle sharing in the community, and among those who used the supervised injection site for some, most or all of their injections, 70% were less likely to report syringe sharing. (The Lancet)
·Insite is preventing overdose deaths and reducing hospital visits (The International Journal of Drug Policy)

Vancouver's supervised injection site celebrates fifth anniversary
Cheryl Chan, The Province. Published: Sunday, September 21, 2008

Despite research that shows Insite works, the federal government has refused to support it, say members of PHS Community Services, which runs the facility along with Vancouver Coastal Health.

"Old arguments against Insite just don't stand up against real research," executive director Liz Evans told The Province.

We sure wouldn't want those "junkies" as the Conservatives called some of the citizens of the Downtown Eastside having more opportunities to reduce harm to themselves, the community and boosting their chances of getting into treatment. Why that would just be too clever and humane. And what exactly is it the Conservatives have planned for all those "junkies?"

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Another NDP candidate quits in B.C.

Vancouver-Quadra candidate Kirk Tousaw, a civil liberties lawyer and former campaign manager for the B.C. Marijuana Party, resigned Friday afternoon.

Tousaw has been a long-time advocate for the legalization of marijuana and once appeared on Pot TV, a website run by party leader Marc Emery. He is also chair of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association's drug policy committee.

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Boy, we sure wouldn’t want someone clever, educated and committed to civil and human rights like Mr. Tousaw to represent Canadians, eh? Absolutely not when Deborah Meredith, a scary right-wing Conservative who would represent the constituents so much better:

A Vancouver Quadra voter wrote Conservative candidate Deborah Meredith to express her concern about Ms Meredith's refusal to meet with Medicare For Autism Now representatives DURING the election campaign. This was apparently Meredith's reply:

"What I said is that if I am elected I will meet with you. If not, it is a waste of time for both of us. Make sure what you put on your website is accurate please. Deborah"

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So, lets get real people. I think we can see the Conservatives are running scared and grasping at straw men, look at the shallow gene pool they are working with.

I hold the NDP responsible for this mess too. Why can’t the left just stop pandering to everyone. Regular every day people, many of whom either smoke pot, know people who smoke pot, or who don’t care what substances other adults choose to put in their bodies will respect you and your party more if you stand up straight and tell people, we believe in sensible reform of drug laws so regular citizens are not criminalized for smoking a plant.

Tell the people, Jack, that if Stephen Harper gets in again, he and his party have big plans to start handing out contracts to build lots of private prisons. You know how in the United States the prison industrial complex has been created and more American black men are in prison than colleges. Guess what, that kind of “law and order” plan is right up on the top of Harper and the Conservatives list in their "Get Tough on Crime" platform. I hope all the people who vote for them remember that when their precious little Conservative offspring are getting scooped up and jailed for smoking a blunt and have a permanent criminal record.

Layton denies striking deal with pot party
EDMONTON - NDP Leader Jack Layton's biggest political headache on the campaign trail Saturday wasn't Stephen Harper or Stephane Dion. It was some angry pot-smoking activists who felt they'd been burned. Full Story

May stands firm on legalizing pot
John Colebourn, The Province. Published: Sunday, September 21, 2008

Green Party leader Elizabeth May said last night her party stands firm on its position toward the legalization of pot.

May, in a taping for a segment of The Daily Weekend Edition with host Todd Cantelon on the faith network's Vision TV, said the Green Party would like to see organized crime put out of business by the legalization of pot. "We should face the reality that we are losing the battle against substances like marijuana," she told a pre-selected audience last night. "We would deal a real blow to organized crime."

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More from the campaign trail this week:

Chris Reid, who was challenging Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae in Toronto Centre, resigned after blog postings emerged in which he criticized passengers on a Prairie bus this summer for not intervening to stop the beheading of a fellow passenger. Reid also blasted the CBC for a "far left-wing bias," among other extreme views.

In an Aug. 10 posting, Reid opined of the bus tragedy: "This is where socialism as (sic) gotten us folks, a castrated effeminate population."

Toronto Tory candidate quits over blog postings
Mike Blanchfield, Canwest News Service
Published: Sunday, September 21, 2008

Right-wing ideology penetrating the Canadian psyche? Don't count on it
Janet Bagnall, Montreal Gazette
Published: Sunday, September 21, 2008

"But the thing I look at most noticeably is when I was first involved in politics we were fighting about the basic precepts of 'getting taxes down' and 'living within a budget' and I think there's been a tremendous change in that." This is almost delusional. Canadians were never in favour of out-of-control spending and living with crippling debt. And proof is thin that the Conservatives are more fiscally responsible than other governments.

Under Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty the $13-billion surplus the Conservatives inherited from the Liberal government more than two years ago is nearly gone.

Last month, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation blasted Harper's government for its tax cuts and 11-per-cent spending surge that outpaced revenues by a factor of three.

Meet the Candidates Part 3: Wendy Yuan – Liberal Party of Canada

Wendy Yuan – Liberal Party of Canada

Who is Wendy Yuan: Her official bio can be found here.

She is President and CEO of Bradley Pacific Enterprises located in the Vancouver South riding, where Ujjal Dosanjh is the candidate for the Liberal party of Canada.

Ms. Yuan has volunteered with a number of non-profit organizations and has served on the several community boards and has been a real party player in the Liberal Party.
Clearly Ms. Yuan has a lot of business and community board experience, and a decent education background. But and this is a BIG but … there is nothing on her candidate page that indicates she has ever lived in, or worked in the Vancouver-Kingsway riding.

NDP candidate Don Davies reported yesterday that she lives in Richmond and has not denied his repeated claims that she does not live in the riding:

Davies said that although Wendy Yuan, a long-time resident of Richmond, last year claimed that it’s not important for an MP to live in the riding, the Yuan campaign office now says she is a resident of Vancouver Kingsway.

According to land title records as of February 1, 2008, Ms Yuan and her husband are the registered owners of a home in Richmond. Documents further show that Ms Yuan re-mortgaged this property in April, 2007. As of February 6, 2008, there is no record that they own a home in Vancouver.

“We also searched on-line telephone and address directories. We can find no record of any residence attributed to Ms Yuan in the riding,” said Davies.

An anonymous comment on Politics Respun entitled Wendy Yuan: The Next David Emerson for Vancouver-Kingsway and some follow up by Don Davies state that she's perhaps renting a place in the V-K riding.

I’m not really familiar with the kind of income Ms. Yuan makes as President and CEO of Bradley, but it doesn’t add up that someone of that stature and income level and status would be living in the rather run down and sometimes downright scary area of Joyce Skytrain Station. When things don’t make sense, there is some other answer. The one that comes to mind is that for appearance’s sake, Ms. Yuan and her HQ Liberal handlers rented Ms. Yuan an apartment when it was decided she would be parachuted in because she is…..CHINESE. That kind of pandering and political manuevering to “win” the “ethnic vote” in V-K is offensive, insulting and a joke being played on voters who’ve had enough of these kind of tactics. It does not lend credibility to the Liberal Party of Canada being any different than it always has been.

In her own words from 2007

Yuan, a businesswoman who lives in Richmond, noted that Emerson was not a resident of Vancouver Kingsway, and neither were two former MPs in the riding, namely, Sophia Leung of the Liberals and Ian Waddell of the NDP.

“In history, nobody really lived in that riding,” Yuan said. “The criteria for a good MP is not where he or she lives.”

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I couldn’t disagree with Ms. Yuan more. Vancouver-Kingsway does not any more “parachute candidates.” These are candidates who parties strategically place because they perhaps fit a demographic of voters, or somehow “fit” the riding.

Wasn’t David Emerson enough of an example to all of us in this riding about what can happen when someone’s heart and life isn’t really in our community? You would be hard pressed to find anyone who Emerson represented in this riding and he became infamous for failing to meet with constituents. That is a betrayal of all of us and we don’t need a repeat with Ms. Yuan.

And more interesting bits are below:

In 2004, Yuan stepped aside to allow David Emerson , to run as a Liberal in Vancouver Kingsway. Here’s an interesting little e-mail controversy that came up during 2006 nominations for the Liberal riding candidate where it is alleged that Wendy Yuan's campaign manager. allies and insiders may have had something to do with changing the addresses of registered party members so people would be ineligible to vote in the riding nomination contest against Mason Loh. In the end, it didn’t matter since Emerson elbowed everyone else when he was placed in the riding by the Liberals and we all know how that went. More about how the big guns from Liberals HQ denied Loh's appeal.

Wendy Yuan denied she knew any of this. She continued to stress that her campaign was clean and she's done nothing against the book. Since Loh has already filed an appeal, she wouldn't comment on the matter.

The Loh's camp claimed that at least 20 other addresses were changed at the last minute, almost all of them were Loh's supporters.

Premature nomination syndrome?
Sean Holman, May 23, 2006. Public Eye Online.

Earlier, we reported Wendy Yuan would be running for the federal Liberal nomination in Vancouver-Kingsway - the riding presently occupied by turncoat cabinet minister David Emerson.

In an interview with Public Eye, her campaign chair Mike Hillman explained Ms. Yuan's early start this way: "It's my understanding that Bill Graham, as our leader, is anxious to make sure whoever becomes our leader in December has a party organization and structure that is prepared (for an election).

Mr. Hillman also responded to questions as to whether being Ms. Yuan's campaign chair was in conflict with his role as the Liberal's national vice-president - one of the party's senior elected officials. Explained Mr. Hillman, "I don't see it as a conflict. The process around the machinery of elections rests with the leader and with his campaign team. I'm not a member of that.

Contact Wendy, or her team:

Email:wendyy@starwell.com

Riding President: Ivan Curman
Phone: (604) 879-8915

Provincial/Territorial Association:
Liberal Party of Canada in British Columbia
460 - 580 Hornby St.
Vancouver, BC V6C 3B6

Vancouver City Politics: Lessons in Democracy for All of Us

Political campaigns are designedly made into emotional orgies which endeavor to distract attention from the real issues involved, and they actually paralyze what slight powers of cerebration man can normally muster.
Author: James Harvey Robinson

September 15th 2008

News from the COPE Policy Conference & Candidacy meeting

It was a long, arduous day, with many windbags and much hot air. But success of a sort was achieved, as it can only be described about what happens at COPE meetings.
It's not a newsflash, there are "factions" in COPE and frankly, sometimes I wonder why I continue to be a member and actually attend the long boring meetings, in aging community centres and organizations in need of some TLC.

But, as annoyed, tired, warm and bored as I get sometimes, what always reminds me of why I stick around is that as hard as the process and the spectacle it is sometimes (think "train wreck") this is participatory democracy and civic engagement and for that I am grateful. Unlike most other parties, COPE tries as hard as it can to include people and their opinions, sometimes perhaps to a fault. But it does so with great vigour. At a COPE meeting, everyone has a right to be heard and state their point and perspective. But thank the political gods there is such a thing as "calling the question."

Most other political parties, organizations and even corporate and other boards have the final say stop with the elected executive. Until you become part of boards, what happens at the executive level is so little understood by most of us, the manuevering and politicking. In COPE, the executive does not have that kind of authority, the membership hears recommendations from all sides and the entire membership has a chance to vote on adopting policies and recommendations, like what happened today.

And make no mistake, other than a small and very vocal group, that did a great job of usurping the floor, and spinning their argument, with empassioned pleas from both sides, the membership in attendance in the afternoon was substantially in support of an agreement and terms negotiated by the negotiating committee for a collaboration between COPE, Vision Vancouver & the Green Party. And that is:

1) COPE, Vision, and the Green Party have agreed to run less than a full slate of candidates for each level. The breakdown is as follows:

a. Mayor: Gregor Robertson
b. Council: 8 (Vision), 2 (COPE)
c. School Board: 5 (COPE), 4 (Vision)
d. Park Board: 4 (Vision), 2 (COPE), 1 (Green Party)

COPE agreed to run two COPE candidates for city council. That will be an interesting battle, with David Cadman, of course, Ellen Woodsworth, a capable former city councillor and Meena Wong, a well connected and respected candidate who Vancouver would find itself fortunate to have sitting at the council table as well. The COPE candidates will all have something excellent to offer.

Like many parties, COPE has a core group of people who do most of the work, often with little recognition. But what is different than other parties, is that COPE works on a shoestring budget. That's one of the motivations for this agreement, the meagre funds from the left, which are tiny compared to the deep pockets of the developers and other corporate business folks, are more likely to be spread around a teensy bit more for the municipal election.

One interesting point discussed, but not adequately, was whether Vision Vancouver is going to contribute some sort of financial arrangement for the debt COPE racked up getting Larry Campbell and the other bunch elected? Later on, COPE watched them ride off into the sunset, leaving COPE with less than empty coffers. I know everyone would like to just brush that one under the carpet, but it's always spoken to me about principles and character. But, as they say, "politics is a blood sport." And, challenging times call for pragmatic compromises to stay in the game.

As much as people get lost in the left-right rhetoric at the end of the day, COPE members, including their candidates and elected representatives take their right and oppportunity for civic and electoral participation in creating policies that aim to benefit the city of Vancouver, its citizens and the communities we're all part of very seriously. COPE is a thoughtful, rambunctious and always thought-provoking dialogue and a reminder that democracy exists and why it is worth fighting for and other parties could learn a lesson from the party and its' membership.

Now, the mind begins to wonder, who might this mysterious Green Party candidate be for Parks Board? A curious little birdy wonders if it will be none other than Stuart McKinnon? I guess time will tell and much more is to come. It's shaping up to be one of the most interesting Vancouver city elections in years and we're looking forward to it.

In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but in its effects.
J. W. Fulbright

The Real Top Issues Facing Canadians Part 2: Housing Security & Homelessness

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

Article 25
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

The human right to adequate housing

As defined by the first Special Rapporteur, “the human right to adequate housing is the right of every woman, man, youth and child to gain and sustain a safe and secure home and community in which to live in peace and dignity”.

This definition is in line with the core elements of the right to adequate housing as defined by General Comment No. 4 of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the body in charge of monitoring the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the States which are party to it).

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In a city where the municipal government, under the NPA, has allowed unfettered development of real estate, the cost of housing has grown far beyond what most individuals and families can afford without cutting into their food budgets. With a vacancy rate of less than 1%, many of us are forced to live in substandard housing and are faced with housing insecurity.

Some Aboriginal, immigrant and low income families live in third world conditions in Canada. I have been inside some of the homes that families living in poverty are forced to live in, it is shocking that people can be expected to live in these conditions and raise their children in them. Many families come to Canada wanting a better life for their children. They are not prepared for what awaits them and it is not right for all levels of government to allow these substandard conditions to continue for anyone.

Why is there a housing crisis?

The federal government of the past cancelled funding affordable housing to the provinces. Some provinces, such as BC continued to fund housing, but most do not now.
Now, there is a severe lack of affordable housing and municipal and provincial governments do not place obligations on real estate developers to fund and build social and low income housing as part of their developments, or those governments downgrade the expectations on developers.

Housing “booms” in BC have allowed unfettered development, increased density, buying on speculation and out of country ownership and sales have dramatically driven the price of basic housing stock up in BC. This is not a sustainable for our province. For most individuals and families in the Metro Vancouver region, owning a home, even a condo is beyond their economic ability and reality. Governments who receive political contributions from developers, business and construction industry players prevent reasonable and commonsense limits being placed on the price of housing. Many citizens and families are simply one pay cheque away from homelessness now.

Areas that used to offer affordable, working class and low income housing have been taken over, developed and “gentrified,” pushing renters out of the area and even out of the city. This isn’t just Vancouver, this is all across Canada.

These are other main reasons:
· Unavailability of employment opportunities (that provide sufficient incomes to afford housing)
· Poverty, caused by many factors including unemployment and underemployment
· Lack of affordable healthcare
· Substance abuse and unavailability or lack of needed services
· Mental illness and unavailability or lack of needed services
· Domestic violence
· Prison release and re-entry into society
· Natural disaster
· Forced eviction
· Depletion of the supply of rental housing
· A fragmented infrastructure support system
· Personal vulnerabilities stemming from lack of adequate education and vocational training, and the handicaps experienced by people with physical, mental health and substance abuse disabilities.
· Immigration, employment and income issues

Why Did Homelessness Become So Bad?

The deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill was a huge reason so many people became homeless. Governments wanted to close large institutions, talking a good game about community “inclusion” of the mentally ill and handicapped individuals. Really, institutions were too expensive and governments did not dramatically increase low income and affordable supportive housing, so when people who required support services to live functional and safe lives were pushed out of institutional care, many ended up as street homeless. Once on the street, these citizens became easy victims for drug dealers and others who enjoy victimizing others.

When people become homeless, they often become de-socialized and for those who already had mental handicaps and psychiatric illness, exposed to the daily trauma of homelessness and violence that is often part of the street world, every day is one of survival and insanity. No-one should EVER have to live like this is a wealthy nation like Canada and this is a matter of leadership, political will, policy and commitment, or lack thereof.

Miloon Kothari, the UN Special Rapporteur for Housing, visited Canada in October 2007 on a fact-finding mission to look at the issues of homelessness, Aboriginal housing issues, women's housing issues and the impact of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Mr. Kothari granted this interview during his recent visit.

He was shocked and taken aback by what he saw in Vancouver. This was what he said:

There is a deep homelessness problem here. I must say I was taken aback by the scale of the crisis here in the Downtown Eastside.

It's glaringly apparent in Vancouver that for quite some time... successive governments have failed to create the housing that is necessary. You have a legacy of misguided government policy that has led to this massive crisis in housing and homelessness. … It is striking that a few blocks from million-dollar condominiums, that there is such immense poverty.

I would say that the part that is the most disturbing, and the scale is astounding, is the issue of forced evictions.... what we see is an astronomical rise in development and market-driven evictions.

Up to 15,500 Homeless: Report
Tally of BC homeless by health profs far higher than housing minister's.
By Andrew MacLeod. Published: January 31, 2008. TheTyee.ca

In B.C. there may be as many as 15,500 adults with severe addictions or mental illness who are homeless, says the 149-page report, Housing and Support for Adults with Severe Addictions and/or Mental Illness in British Columbia.

The report says some 130,000 adults in B.C. have severe addictions and/or mental illnesses. About 39,000 are "inadequately housed," meaning they meet the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation's definition of being in "core housing need." Of those, about 26,500 don't have enough support to help them stay in their home.

Somewhere between 8,000 and 15,500 are what the report calls "absolutely homeless," meaning they are living on the streets, couch surfing or otherwise without shelter.

******
The Metro Vancouver Homeless Count in March 2008 found 2,592 homeless citizens on the street and in shelters in a 24 hour period. These were only the people found. There are many, many more who are not included in the counts. These include youth and adults who “couch surf,” individuals who live in hotels, people who are transiently housed, live in areas that aren’t included in the count, and those who are homeless for other reasons, such as eviction.

Read Pivot Legal Society’s submission to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, where they recently reported that since 2005 street homelessness in Vancouver has increased by 39%.

· BC Housing statistics state that there were 40,000 incidents in a nine month period where citizens were turned away from shelters where they were seeking an emergency bed.

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What do the Leaders and Parties have to say about Homelessness & Housing?

It is symbolic of the Conservative government’s commitment to homelessness that when we go to the “Homelessness” link on the Canada’s Human Resource and Social Development page that nothing actually comes up. Over the course of the Conservatives time as the leaders of our country, they have invested very little in housing and homelessness. They don’t even identify this as a top issue facing Canadians as we can see on their Key Issues website heading into this election. This just proves how out of touch Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are about the real issues facing Canadians.

After perusing the Liberal Party website, although they discuss the issues of housing and homelessness, this is not included in their election platform and they have no policy explaining what leadership their party will take to improve the plight of Canadians faced with housing insecurity and homelessness and funding affordable housing for citizens.

Both the Liberal and Conservative governments of Canada either created, or have allowed these conditions of homelessness and housing insecurity to flourish and have shown no leadership and no commitment to change these conditions.

The Green Party of Canada, while not ignoring the issue of homelessness and housing does not make it one of their key platform, or policy issues as we can see on it’s Issues page.

Jack Layton, the leader of the federal New Democratic Party has written Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis. The NDP is the only major party that highlights housing and homelessness as a key election issue facing Canadians.

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Other links

Homelessness in Canada

Homeless in Canada - Resources

Homeless Nation

Growing Home - Housing and Homelessness in Canada – Conference in Calgary, Alberta from February 18th to 20th 2009.

The Homeless Individuals and Families Information System HIFIS Initiative that created an electronic records management system to collect information about the population using shelters while assisting in daily operations such as booking-in and out clients, and reporting on shelter use.

Federal Election Advocacy Kits: Child, Youth & Family Issues

Federal Election Kit from First Call

First Call has produced an election kit to support community members in getting children, youth and families on the federal agenda. Organized around First Call's Four Keys to Success for Children and Youth, the election kit:

• identifies ways that advocates can engage with candidates and learn more about issues that are important to their community;

• provides facts about child and youth issues and why they are important;

• describes the federal government's responsibilities to children, youth and families;

• offers sample questions that can be asked at all candidates meetings, in the media, or via e-mail correspondence with candidates.

Given the results of the August 29 poll by Angus Reid and the Toronto Star naming poverty as the fourth most important issue identified by Canadians in determining which party to vote for in the next federal election, it is our hope that the community will have the ear of candidates when voicing concerns over the stubborn persistence of child and family poverty in Canada and BC in particular.

First Call would like to see children and youth high on the agenda of all federal parties, and encourages community members, parents and advocates to communicate their concerns to their candidates for Parliament and federal party leaders.

Visit www.firstcallbc.org to download the 2008 Federal Election Kit, background materials and resources from First Call and other organizations.

Meet the Candidates Part 2: Salomon Rayek – Conservative Party of Canada

Meet the Candidates Part 2: Salomon Rayek – Conservative Party of Canada

Unfortunately, there is no contact information on the Conservative party website for Mr. Rayek. And, just this week, our household received a gigantic and very expensive brochure for David Emerson, entitled: David Emerson, MP Vancouver Kingsway: Strong Leadership: A Better Canada. I wonder if the Conservatives are aiming to confuse voters as to who is actually running in the riding?

Who is Salomon Rayek: An immigrant who came to Canada from Mexico with his wife and two sons. He’s an entrepreneur and small business owner. He’s also a family man, who tells potential voters his young son was born and raised in V-K riding and that the family is part of the community. It doesn’t appear as though he and his family live in the riding though, or have anything much to do with it at this point, so it's difficult to know how and to what extent they are "part of the community."

Rayek became President of the Delta-Richmond East Conservative Riding Association and his party affiliations with that riding go back to at least 2006, when he was a director on the board and was the Richmond Electoral district Association (EDA) liaison. This is quite confusing, when did Rayek's interest spark for the Vancouver-Kingsway riding?

Rayek’s business, where he is President of WeeStep Enterprises Ltd, is located in Richmond as well. He and his family apparently have a condo in Richmond. Sean Holman of Public Eye Online (see below for story) found Mr. Rayek had a bit of a problem with the annual general meeting of his townhouse building being conducted in Cantonese and spoke to the Richmond News about it, stating:

"I've been in Canada for about 10 years, and I have never felt so discriminated against. I was really upset by the situation."

It is hard to tell at this point if Rayek has any connections in the Vancouver-Kingsway riding at all, other than being a Conservative that is? Apparently he also made an unsuccessful attempt to be elected as the Conservative candidate running in the Burnaby-Douglas riding as well. Mr. Rayek gets around. For someone who clearly is interested in politics, his judgment in speaking with the media about language and communication issues with his Chinese neighbours of the strata council might be questionable, since the riding of Vancouver-Kingsway has a substantial number of Chinese candidates.

I think it’s fair for voters to ask what does Mr. Rayek know about the Vancouver-Kingsway riding, the issues, needs and concerns of the voters and citizens here?We will be asking him and all of the candidates that question and others in the near future.

Apparently Mr. Rayek is quite the letter writer on a wide range of issues including the Tsawwasen Final Agreement, Insite and complaints about other party members’ communications with their constituents.

Residents of Burnaby got some of his vitriol when he wrote about Insite, stating: that injection site supporters aim to "legalize hard drugs and get rid of law enforcement."

Re: Take ideology out of decisions, Burnaby NOW, May 7, and Opposition is not just 'ideology', Burnaby NOW, May 10.

I wasn’t aware the large contingent of professionals working in the area of addictions, health, mental health and the other professions actually working with this high-risk population were advocating for legalization and an end of policing. I think voters in this very large riding will want to strongly consider the kind of tolerance our next elected representative will have for both people living and dealing with addictions, their families and those working with them in this riding. Mr. Rayek's ignorance and extremity of perspective and judgment about a wide range of people working in this area of health practice is frightening and goes against the well established research and real world outcomes for the individuals who use the site.

Contact: Salomon Rayek Campaign
#120 - 4395 Fraser St
Vancouver, BC,
V65V 4G4
Phone: 604 - 454 - 9001
salomon@salomonrayek.ca

The Platform: Conservative Party Key Issues

Key Issues - Sovereignty, Leadership, Environment, Health Care, Lower Taxes, Child Care, Tackling Crime, Accountability

Conservative Candidates

Language barriers

Conservative candidate Salomon Rayek wants to represent the riding of Vancouver-Kingsway, where - according to the 2001 census - 41.8 percent of the population is Chinese. So those voters may be interested to know that, just last year, Mr. Rayek sounded off in the Richmond News when his strata council conducted its annual general meeting in Cantonese. At the time, Nelson Bennett reported a majority of the townhouse owners spoke Cantonese. And the meeting was translated into English. But one of the owners, according to Mr. Bennett, suspected much was lost in translation. And Mr. Rayek, another owner, was quoted as saying, "Definitely we feel that we lost more than half the meeting. I don't have anything against Chinese. But when I feel discriminated against, as a minority by being singled out - because that's the way I feel - something is wrong." Indeed, Mr. Rayek added, "I've been in Canada for about 10 years, and I have never felt so discriminated against. I was really upset by the situation." Mr. Rayek hasn't responded to a request for comment placed this morning.

The following is a complete copy of Mr. Bennett's June 29, 2007 article.

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Don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel Mr. Harper, the man who is the Prime Minister of Canada:

"You’ve got to remember that west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from eastern Canada: people who live in ghettoes and who are not integrated into western Canadian society."

- Stephen Harper, The Report newsmagazine, January 22, 2001.

Scandalpedia: the free encyclopedia of Conservative scandals

The Conservative Rats are Jumping Ship!!
September 5, 2008

Emerson, Hearn, Solberg won't run in next election

CBC News. September 4, 2008.