What has seemed like the summer that would never end, is coming to a close as the last days of August loom before me.
I’ll be honest. I don’t want these days here to end. They’ve been challenging, relaxing, inspiring and rejuvenating.
Nelson says it so well…that is exactly how I feel. I’m writing copiously. Not looking at clocks. To be honest some days I don’t even know what day, or date it is. We eat when hungry. Sleep when tired. Play in between. I just realized I’ve been nearly vegetarian for over a week. There’s something very strangely wonderful about this place….lol.
But in between all this I keep tabs here and there where I can and a few items need your attention.
- Fort St. John food banks need help: We all know that the summer months are tough months for food banks. People are on holiday, enjoying a break, everyone is tapped out from summer vacation and well.. to be honest most people don’t think about those down on their luck during the summer.But in a resource driven town like Fort St. John, it’s reached a breaking point as local food banks and services are inundated with people in need.Considering how people stepped up in Metro Vancouver to help those of Fort Mac during the fires, I think it’s the right thing to do to step up and help our own here in BC north of us. After all,northern and interior BC sustained all of us for many years via forestry and resources. Time to return the favour for those families needing some assistance.
I urge anyone who can, to please make a small donation via these two links,or if there are any food suppliers out there willing to ship some items up, that would be great too. I know you are out there. 🙂 To donate to the Salvation Army food bank, head to this link and scroll down to designate Fort St.John as the unit to apply the donation to. http://www.salvationarmy.ca/donate-now/
And, you can donate online to the Fort St. John Womens Resource Society that assists women and children, and has a food bank as well. http://www.fsjwrs.ca/
To me, this matters. Every dollar or donation helps. So if you can, please do. If we can take care of people in Alberta, we can take care of the people here in BC’s north too.
- Site C legal challenge federal court date approaches… Although I must point out it is September 12th, not the 14th as in this article. It was moved up by two days and perhaps not so ironically, that made it hard for people who had booked the 14th, to rebook the 12th at an affordable rate.Dozens of Treaty 8 members are planning a caravan across Canada to connect with people along the way to the court hearing. And they need help to reach their goal. Lead Now is processing donations for them via online donations and there is a cheque option. Considering the recent Enbridge ruling that many say sets a new precedent for mega projects involving First Nations rights, this is one court hearing to pay attention to no matter where you are. And while you are at it, you have until August 31st to sign the official parliamentary E-petition on Site C, here: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-324
Disability bus pass debacle and raise the rates rallies set! Food or Bus Pass? That’s not a choice people with disabilities should have to make.
- Victoria: Thursday September 1st, 12pm to 1 pm at 908 Pandora street, Ministry of Social Development
- Vancouver: Thursday September 1st, 11am to 12pm at Commercial Broadway Skytrain Station
- Nanaimo: Wednesday August 31st, 11 am to 1 pm, corner of Wallace and Campbell
And of course BC Hydro would be before the BC Utilities Commission during summer vacation on two tier billing… something that really impacts customers who rely entirely on Hydro for power and heat. A big thank you to Dave for bringing this in the comments section of my last post:
“You only have till Sept. 2 to comment to the BC Utilities Commission on proposed tier 2 electrical rate increases, which in effect shift the burden from industry to residences to pay for needless site c expansion and independent power producers.
There have only been about 200 comments submitted so far from the thousands of customers affected. 30,000 customers per year are disconnected compared to 6,000 a few years ago.
There has been a virtual news blackout on this opportunity to comment on the financial burden this places on middle and low income families.
The only allowable comment form which you are instructed to fill out and submit does not download for the majority of computer users and even after being told about this, still the Commission has not corrected it.
http://www.bcuc.com/Documents/Proceedings/2016/DOC_46920_A-14_Public-Consultation-Process.pdf
We really should take the time to submit our comments or the Commission will report to their masters that there is really no opposition to the increasing subsidy provided by us, the residential taxpayers, to the Murray Edwards of Mt. Polley Mine Disaster and his ilk, since they can now defer their utility bills, pay very minimal corporate tax and pathetic royalties.”
That this is not front page for people to respond to, with such limited time, is a joke. I strongly urge you to share this with everyone you know who may be impacted,particularly seniors and those on limited incomes who will not be able to bear the burden and may not be able to access or submit comment.
One might actually come to the conclusion they didn’t really want you to comment on something that impacts you greatly,considering the rate increases to come.
Westcoast Views with Laila Yuile 
You are on Island time now. Throw away the clock. Soon, you will be able to ascertain the time by the light of the sun (or moon). You have arrived. Welcome.
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Don’t forget your umbrella for the PNE Parade!
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People are forced to use food banks because the welfare/disability rates are much to low. The “raise” the B.C. Lieberals gave the disabled is an insult. while the mining companies still haven’t paid up their billion and Christy continues to give away tax dollars, she says the government can’t afford to increase the rates to feed and shelter people and that includes the children of this province. B.C. still has the highest rate of child poverty in the country. Christy must be so proud???? while she jets around the province/world, the disabled won’t be able to get to appointments or anywhere else that might make their life a tad more enjoyable. However, it is the voters of this province who have made this possible. Until we remove Christy Clark and her cabal from office, the voters of this province are just as responsible as she is for child poverty, the poverty the disabled live in and the need for food banks. So if any one is feeling a bit guilty, they might want to donate to the food banks in need.
In a province which according to Christy and her lap dogs the main stream media all is well in this province and the economy is just growing so well. if this is all true, then why the need for all these food banks? Well again, Christy Clark has contributed to the problem because B.C. has one of the lowest min. wages in the country. In a province where we are allegedly doing so well certainly an increase in the min. won’t send the province spiralling into a depression. Of course I’m sure the Fraser Inst. will argue differently,.
Happy to read you are enjoying Vancouver Island. its easy to get around, as long as you have a care or bike. its not over crowded, yet and the scenery is fabulous. We really ought to stop writing about how wonderful it is over here or there could be even more from the GVRD making the move.
If they don’t get that raise in electrical rates, how will they pay for Site C. Its not like B.C. Hydro is going to be able to go to the open market much longer for money. Oh, right Christy can always issue more Panda Bonds or sell B.C. Hydro to Communist China interests………then they can build the dam and export the water from the dam. The dam has never been about electricity. Its all about the water. Once the debt at B.C. Hydro is sufficient enough, Chrsity will start selling B.C. water to foreign interests, just watch. the people of the province will even support it because of the $100B debt Hydro carries. Then when we head into a drought, we will be out of luck, just as some places in Ontario and the U.S.A. are. Once the selling of water starts under these trade agreements it can’t be ended. We need to be very careful
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What can I say? Even if there is natural gas available where we live, the cost of switching from hydro to gas will just be another burden once BC Hydro and Fortis up the NG rates and the BC Liberals add the additional tax.
The only way we’re going to beat these leeches is to go off the power AND gas grid, install solar panels and/or wind turbine with geothermal assist. The cost could be mitigated if whole communities got involved.
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To take the profit out of B.C Hydro by not heating with electricity will simply increase the rates on what we do have to use. of course using wind power is easy, just set up a little turbine on the roof. There are new ones which aren’t that tall. Switching from Hydro to Fortis is like jumping from the fire to the frying pan. It might be interesting to see how oil would work. it used to work just fine, until gas came along and it was sold as a cheaper alternative. That is how they got us. Now not so much. they used to produce oil furnaces which were incredibly efficient, so much so, that even with lower gas rates, oil was still cheaper. When they started with gas back in the 1950s, it was cheap and it was part of B.C. Electric/Hydro. Then along came Fortis and it all changed. We also got the B.C. Lieberals who seem to think B.C. Hydro is their toy to make money with and stash old friends.
This is not going to end well for the B.C. Hydro or the taxpayers of B.C. if the B.C. Lieberals continue to run this province.
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As some know, I have been off the grid (electricity, gas, water, sewer, roads) for over a decade. No subsidies. Full-tilt retail level investment/expense. No tax breaks. no incentives, no government whatsoever. My life is good. I have appliances. Watch Netflix. I have power and it never goes down (unless I shut it off to do some maintenance). I do not need Hydro. Nor Fortis. NOR the Liberals, for that matter. And I am no techie. Hell, I am barely handy and the emphasis is heavily on barely. YOU can do it. You can much more easily do it now with solar panels at $1.00 a watt rather than $5.00 a watt when I started. It will pay for itself sooner than you think. Biggest weak link? Batteries. Storing the juice you make is hellishly expensive. For city dwellers a buy-back feed is good enough so long as you have some storage. But the rest of the system is good, simple, reliable and does not require flooding the Peace River Valley. Unless you live on the top of Grouse Mt, fuggedabout wind. Go solar.
The point: don’t feed the beast. It will drain you. Get out. Get off. Get away. Get yo’self free of those parasites.
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For anyone who still wants to submit a comment to BCUC, this letter pretty much covers all the bases, yet still remains much more restrained and civil than I could manage.
Click to access DOC_47249_E-207_Midgley_Letter-of-comment_Redacted.pdf
Everyone’s cynicism is likely quite justified and the BCUC has likely become another captured and castrated servant of the BC Liberal Party, but if the Commission was flooded with critical letters such as this and they do nothing to correct the situation, it might become a wedge issue to kick these world class quislings to the curb. My belief is that the deadline to submit comments should be 30 days after their website actually provides one with a form that is breathlessly easy to complete and submit, Sorry to beat this one issue to death but in their scandal a week performance, it’s incredibly difficult to hold their feet to the fire what with all the paid journalist lackies providing endless foot massages.
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