Best of the Season to you and your Family

Mayor Darrell Mussatto  Councillors: Holly Back  Don Bell  Pam Bookham  Linda Buchanan  Rod  Clark Craig Keating   Mayor Richard Walton  Councillors: Roger Bassam  Mathew Bond  Jim Hanson  Robin Hicks  Doug MacKay-Dunn  Lisa Muri   MLA Ralph Sultan  MLA Jane Thornthwaite  MP Terry Beech  MP Jonathan Wilkinson

A very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2016 to all of you who work so hard and have committed to serving and leading in the great community of North Vancouver. Last, but not least thank you to all who blog here who help to keep the discussion going.
                                                     

Lynn Valley Mall Re-development is around the corner

 According to a local realtor's November Newsletter, the sales office where the floor plans can be pre-viewed for Building F (the old Library site) and Building E will be opening in January 2016. The sales office will be located where the Loonie Store used to be across from CIBC. One of the amenities the project will boast is Geothermal heat.

This project certainly had its controversy during public hearing stage. The originally rumoured planned structures were as high as 26 or more stories and ended up being paired down about 10. District council seemed to listen to the public opposition in Lynn Valley which was quite strong with many residents feeling the project was out of character with the neigbourhood. A website, Stophighrises in Lynn Valley was created in opposition to the project. At the other end of the rink was the Lynn Valley Community Association who seem to rally very strongly in favour of this development siting a 'dying Mall' that needed rejuvenation.  

No Further Comment Needed

I gloat. I sing the praises of Justin Trudeau, even if I didn't vote for him.

So long Andrew. So long Mike. Don't let the door hit you in the butt!

I do have to say that Trudeau's speech impressed me greatly. So much hope, and so much pride for our country.  A pride, and a hopefullness that has been sorely lacking for too many years.

Little’s attack on former judge Baird-Ellan’s record is “Small” Minded

Mike Little and the Conservatives have created an attack website against NDP candidates Carol Baird-Ellan’s record as a Provincial Court Judge.           Huffington Post Article

It is interesting that by launching the attack website, Mike Little is clearly following the lead of Stephen Harper in attacking the Judiciary (Harper attacked Canada’s Chief Justice after Harper attempted to make an unconstitutional appointment of Justice Nadon to the Supreme Court bench). The Conservatives have a history of knowingly (and against the advice of their own lawyers) passing unconstitutional laws for strictly ideological reasons, only to then waste millions of taxpayers’ dollars unsuccessfully fighting about those laws in the Courts and then blame the Judiciary.

The website lists one line summaries of three of the former judge’s sentencing cases then invites the viewer to push a button that says “that’s unfair”. The website does not give the viewer the option of agreeing with the sentence imposed

The website does not provide any context of the decisions; such as the prosecutor’s sentencing position, the amount of time the accused had already spent in custody prior to sentencing nor any legal precedents the judge was required to follow. The website also mistakenly states that Carol Baird-Ellan was a judge for only five years when in fact she was a provincial court judge for 19 years (during five of which she was the first female chief judge of the provincial court in BC).

Furthermore, Judges, even retired Judges are prohibited from talking about their cases (which I am sure the Conservative campaign team would be well aware of).

I have been a criminal lawyer for 30 years, and have appeared before the former Judge on many occasions. During her career on the bench she had a reputation with both the Crown and the Defence as being a fair judge with a common sense approach to the law. This is no doubt why she was appointed Chief Judge in 2000.

The attack by Mike Little is completely ill informed and “small” minded. It is the kind of knee jerk response to the justice system that people, who have never set foot in a courtroom and watched what judges do, often flout. We should expect more from someone wanting to be a member of parliament.


David Fai

Rigging the Federal Election

This from Walt McGinnis on the Federal Election.

In my previous article I pointed out that the facts seem to indicate that the NDP and the Conservatives are collaborating in the federal election while under the direction of Brad Lavinge and his public relations firm Hill and Knowlton. The provincial election in British Columbia in 2013, in which it appears the NDP threw the victory to the Liberals, is of much interest because the same NDP campaign operatives in BC are now working on the Federal NDP campaign.

There are several similarities in the Federal NDP campaign to what happened in BC. The NDP have gone from strong leaders in the polls to trailing in third place. This looks a lot like the slide the pollsters reported that the NDP took in BC except the Federal pollsters appear to be letting the NDP down more easily. As in BC it is highly questionable the NDP ever had that lead. Read more ...

                           www.powertothepeople.ca                      
                          

Countdown to Election Day on Monday, October 19th is on

According to PlaceSpeak, 'a location-based community consultation platform', 3.6 million Canadians have voted in the advance polls - a 70% increase from 2011. What are the issues that matter in this election? From affordable housing to the environment, "hundreds of people have participated in their discussions." They offer a poll for the federal election.
https://www.placespeak.com/en/  

Niqab Debate is a Racist Red Herring!

I am amazed at how gullible people are to accept politician’s deceit. Those who claim that wearing the Niqab at citizenship swearing in ceremonies poses some sort of risk to “national security” or a risk that the wrong person will be sworn in are either completely ignorant of how the process of becoming a citizen works or are simply racist . I suspect the latter.

The process of becoming a Canadian citizen is a long one where the identity of the applicant is well established long before the swearing in ceremony. It’s not like going the liquor store where you establish your ID at point of purchase. It’s similar to going to a ceremony to accept your degree after spending 4 years at University.

As much as I personally find the Niqab to be an abhorrent symbol of a culture that does not respect or value women I just as strongly believe that one of the reasons for becoming a Canadian citizen is to enjoy the rights and freedoms protected by our Charter of Rights. In particular ;“freedom of conscience and religion”. In other words women wearing a Niqab should have every right to do so. It is interesting that a traditional Roman Catholic Nun’s “habit” covers most of her body and much of the face yet no one is arguing that a nun should remove her habit to be “sworn in”.

This is a transparent and racist use by the Harper government of what is really a non-issue/red herring to motivate anti-Muslim vote in Quebec. Clearly the Harper government doesn’t respect the rights and freedoms protected by our constitution. As a matter of fact, in 2012, when our Charter turned 30 years old the Harper government chose not to celebrate. They did however celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the war of 1812!

What has happened to an open and tolerant Canada? Can we really take another four years of this?

David Fai

North Vancouver, BC

Links added to all the Candidates in North Vancouver and North Burnaby Seymour

Websites to the candidates for the major parties in the October 19th Federal General Election may be found at the top of the political links.

There is a list of 'All-candidates meetings' on page A11 of the Sunday, September 27 issue of the North Shore News.

For those of you who may not know there is a 'Digital-Edition' link of the North Shore News at the top left section of the Main Page of the North Shore News

Little and Saxton MIA

I'd love to hear impressions by anyone else who attended tonight's All Candidates But Two debate at the Lonsdale United Church.

I'll say up front that it was appalling and cowardly that neither Conservative candidate could be bothered to drop by. Shame on them.

My take: both Lynne Quarmby and Claire Martin impressed me greatly with their intelligence, enthusiasm, and obvious knowledge.  The crowd liked them too.

The Liberals in attendance, Jonathan Wilkinson and Terry Beech left me cold; more or less just reciting talking points and waffling at any time when they were put on the spot.  Really, they felt like the kind of party hacks that I just never vote for.

The NDP was represented by Carleen Thomas and Carol Baird Ellan, both obviously very smart, with different but very interesting backgrounds, but again, not my cup of tea. Ellan seemed very negative, and Thomas felt inexperienced and not entirely well prepared.

Federal Election All-candidates meetings

BROKE (Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion) will host an all-candidates meeting for the North-Burnaby-Seymour riding on Tuesday, September 15, 7-9 p.m.at Capital Hill Community Hall, 361 South Howard Ave., Burnaby. 604- 872- 7326

CAPILANO STUDENTS' UNION will host a federal all-candidates forum on Thursday, Oct. 1, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 pm at Capilano University, CSU Library Lounge, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver.

No need for ‘nose-holding’ with Greens

The following is a letter to the Editor taken from the Vancouver Sun's website, written by one of our esteemed authors here on the blog, and is slated for publication tomorrow.

It strikes me that the Green platform is what the NDP would have offered 30 years ago, and the Liberals 50.

Now the big three are pretty much indistinguishable — all business, all tax cuts, all free trade, and all about what government can’t do.

I grew up in a time when people were genuinely proud of this country and its accomplishments, and believed that our goal as a nation was to build a better life for all people, not just for the rich.

That meant social safety nets that treated people with respect and compassion, a belief that an educated population benefited all of us, and an understanding that the rights and dignity of individuals were more important than profits.

The Green platform and its candidates offer, for the first time in decades, an opportunity for me to vote for something instead of holding my nose and choosing the lesser of three evils.

BARRY RUEGER

North Vancouver

North Shore mountain bikers airing their dirty laundry…

It’s basically all about who “owns” all those non-sanctioned/illegal MTB trails that have been proliferating like legendary unfixed rabbits on the North Shore for the past umpteen years. 

It’s about what happens when an over-entitled self-interest group gets far too much undeserved political clout, support and funding than they deserve,  that they feel they have the right to lord it over others, both inside and outside of the MTB community. Rewards like this will not do much to change the inherent scofflaw behaviour of these mountain bikers.

It's litigious! After all, the mountain biking community has decided to air its dirty laundry on a very public mountain biking website forum, making it fair game for anyone. Here are the juicy bits… (just the “tip of the proverbial iceberg”)

North Shore Mountain Biking Forums (http://bb.nsmb.com/index.php)

-   The Shore (http://bb.nsmb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3)

-   -   Dear Woodro Part 3 (http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=162654)

Update: The above post thread has since been removed from the NSMB.com forum. In its place, you can view the newer thread post on this "topic"...
http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=162719

"Summary: Mark Wood retains a lawyer. Accuses me (Lee Lau) of defamation. Does this during the NSMBA - North Shore Mountain Bike Association August cooling-off period. Just more examples of how much Mark Wood respects his employers wishes..."

--------------------------------------------

Call it karma, if you wish...

But, the air must be taken out of the tires of these over-entitled mountain bikers, and for this sport to be better regulated, properly contained, and diligently managed.

Our public land managers can’t trust "the mice to guard the cheese". It has become a failed “experiment” that also endangers non-MTB forest users on the North Shore. This past long weekend:
War in the Woods! (http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=162697) 

How much more has to happen before our politicians stop being so complacent and adulating about this MTB wreckreation inside our public forests and park land?  Comments, anyone?