Opinion The Tyee - Christy Clark proposes audit

Premier Cristy Clark has called for an audit of Translink. However the major problems that exist do not seem to be her concern. Translink was originally set up under the South Coast BC Transit Authority Act – Translink with the aim of getting people out of their cars and into transit. With respect, Clark’s proposed audit is not a public audit? What is needed extends beyond the Act to the government itself. The present Liberal government are the inheritors of the mistakes made by former Premier Campbell. The wrongs include a number of selling off government corporations and/or assets to the private sector. The present liberal government had the opportunity to right the wrongs of the previous administration. Of interest is Translink. It is time to right the wrongs of Liberal government’s inept handling of Translink. Instead of righting the wrongs the Clark government has adopted the format of the act made under former Premier Campbell’s rule. It is time to stop the advance of Translink to the private sector, begun under former Premier Campbell as was done with the ferries. The present Campbell appointed Board instead of making changes designed to get people out of their cars and into public transit have made improvements which encourage the use of cars. Their improvements have also increased the tax burden on the general public including car drivers. It avoids taxation of the real benefactors of public transit, business and other aspects of the private world that presently pay little or nothing toward transit in the form of taxation. What is needed is clear. Two things are imperative. First return Translink Board to elected Mayors plus a limited number of others. Second, make all services and companies in Translink and Coast Mountain Bus companies the same, not contracted. John & Elizabeth Beeching, Two HandyDART users at betjohn@shaw.ca

TELUS, mobility, internet, telephone, tv, support, music, entertainment

WE NEED A COMPLETE AND PUBLIC AUDIT OF TRANSLINK AND HandyDART!

Translink was intended to get people out of their cars and into public transit, Not an exact quote see Auditor General's 1941 audit of Translink.

Since then the Translink Board has been taken out of the public domain and placed into the private one. In 1941 the Translink Board was comprised of Mayors and other named members. Under premiership of Campbell they moved to a advisory group with no powers. Since Mayors are elected officials, public went down the tube. Government appointed a board made up of professionals. So Translink moved into the private domain.

With elections in 2013 it is time NOW to start a "Right the wrongs campaign." Let's start with Translink - restore the Translink Board to Mayors and remove "contracted service" from any companies that are contracted like HandyDART placing them as companies like all other companies in Translink. It would improve for both users and companies.

World system 21st century

It's the System!
"A global economic system erected on inhuman and predatory values, where few possess more wealth than the billions of hungary put together, will end but the end will be painful and bloody. It is a system in which the elite thrives on war and widespread human misery, on death and destruction by design. As Einstein said, " I do not know how the Third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth — sticks and stones!" Prof. Mujahid Kamran. www.globalresearch.ca.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25160

Tim Buck - Mr Communism - CBC

To view this video clip clik on -
http://archives.cbc.ca/politics/parties_leaders/clips/17074/

"American Justice": [....]Extrajudicial executions are unlawful

"Targeted executions violate well-established principles of international law.

[....] Extrajudicial executions are unlawful, even in armed conflict, In a 1998 report the United Nations Special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions noted that 'extrajudicial executions can never be justified under any circumstances, not even in time of war.' The U.N. General Assembly and Human Rights Commission, as well as Amnesty International, have all condemned extrajudicial executions.

[The WW II victory in 1945] After the Holocaust, Winston Churchill wanted to execute the Nazi leaders without trials. But the U.S. goveernment oppose the extrajudicial execution of the Nazi officials who commited genocide against millions of people." [The result was the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal.]
Prof. Marjorie Cohn article "American Justice."
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24703

the crem de la crem

From Sympatico.ca – Best paid CEO's in Canada Through the worst years of the recent recession, many of those at the top of the corporate ladder were unaffected. In fact, many of the highest paid CEOs saw increases in their compensation packages. And just how rich were those paycheques? Check out the list of Canada’s top paid CEOs.

If you go to www.sympatico.ca and type in "best paid CEO's in Canada" you will see such figures as high as over 13 million dollars. The CEO of Shaw got a 40% increase in salary. When did you get an increase of 40% in your income? Image removed. From John Beeching Honorary Chair Canadians for Peace and Socialism CPS Does Harper’s proposal to give tax breaks include the CEO? It’s all based on the misconception that is promoted by such groups as those who support the economic “trickle down theory”. That theory is based on the untruth that the more money that goes to the top echelons the more people they will hire. The facts on examination prove that just the opposite is true. Check out Linda McQuaid’s article in the Toronto Star on that subject. She writes a regular Tuesday column and said something like the gap between the rich and poor is not only increasing, but so are the numbers of the poor. For More of the Same – For more of the same, Vote Steven Harper’s Conservative team. He is Robin Hood’s evil brother they call Robbing Hood, He takes from the poor and gives to the rich! And more - a lot worse in the future if elected.

Here is a link to the Peace Arch Demonstration in support of the US workers in danger of loosing their right to bargain. We think a Harper government with a majority could do the same here. He has passed enough draconian laws. Time to win back true democracy.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=demonstration+Peace+Arch+Park+Saturday+April+2%2C+2011&aq=f

C?NIBC

Conservative? Not In My BC - C?NIMBC

OPEN LETTER from a Canadian veteran of World War Two

It is not my intent to lecture or preach; however the upcoming federal elections to me will determine Canada’s future. As an 89 year old octogenarian and a WW II veteran I do have some experience that qualifies me to put in my two cents worth in the public debate. Now the election has been announced in the media.

That brings me to a most important point. I have noticed that conversations overheard and that we have participated in reveal a puzzling fact. Not all, but a lot of what I hear is almost verbatim from articles one sees in major papers or hears and see on TV. They do not seem to be the ideas and thoughts of the individual who said them. It is an indication of why the media plays such an important role in elections. They mould public opinion. Worse their corporate owners use them to successfully brainwash the general public into support for the status quo.

We live in an electronic age. The Internet has opened the door to an information source unheard of before. We have virtually instantaneous world news as a part of it. Broadcasts are now streamed etc., on the Internet, for whoever wishes to view and hear them. A far cry from when we listed to my uncle’s crystal radio when I was young. Crystal radio, you know with a “cats whisker to tune it, look it up in the library or on the net. You can with some difficulty find sources of information from both sides of any issue. For our futures sake please, before you make up your mind and vote do so.

It might be a good idea to recall the history of 1933 – 1939 Germany that led to WW II. There is an amazing similarity between then and now. It is said history does not repeat itself. I believe that history passes through time like a spiral and at some time when conditions are the same or close it does. Those who do not remember the past are sometimes doomed to relive it. Perhaps the words of Pastor Niemöller would help, (It is not his original, which is hard to find

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
The they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Since the new conservative party was formed with its roots in reform party and since it came to power and became the government of Canada the first two sentences have come into being. Harper is using the NDP to misrepresent to Canadians as socialist and something to fear especially for a coalition. Canadian Unions are under attack. Harper has reversed Canada’s former role regarding world peace and has now tied our foreign policy to that of the US – Israeli axis of evil. He has increased expenditures for the defence of Canada. A closer examination will reveal it is to enhance Canada’s role in NATO and for the North American defence (sic) USA. Government has concentrated its spending for war not peace. As a result Medicare, all aspects, is increasingly privatized. Housing for low-income results in people living on the streets. One of the biggest shames to Canada is the growth of food banks and soup kitchens. The trickle down theory that the more money made at the top the more employment there will be is not working – just the reverse, our unemployment is growing. What the government created is on the lower income bracket.

Well, as the song says “these are a few of my favourite things,” but they will perhaps suffice to whet you appetite to learn more before you vote. If Harper is re-elected, even as another minority government, we are in for more of the same and perhaps much worse!

John Beeching
4715 Lanark Street
Vancouver, BC V5N 3R9