In the last week MSP premiums suddenly weren't being increased, and Christy announced a rather vague promise to build 2900 units of rental housing, at a cost of a cool half a billion.
At this point it even seems possible that she'll promise to give disabled people back their bus passes, and raise welfare rates to something approaching a livable level.
Meanwhile the NDP... um....
And the Greens are busy debating whether or not the Israeli government is good or bad.
The question today though, is "What does the North Shore need from whatever government is formed after the next election?
I'm partial to driving stake through the heart of that monster that is Translink, and just funding transit properly. And killing off MSP premiums entirely, like most of the country. And writing off student debt, like in Newfoundland.
But that's just my dream.
What's yours?
69 comments:
Interesting post Barry. When you say 'just funding transit properly' what would that look like?
Barry's dream:
just funding transit properly. = More money paid by taxpayers
And killing off MSP premiums entirely = switch from paying MSP premiums to adding it to income tax payable like the rest of the country
And writing off student debt, like in Newfoundland. - "Write off = don't repay money borrowed to pay for education. This means money repaid by taxpayers.
Barry's dream is for taxes to increase.
My dream does not include higher taxes.
There's no free ride. Someone pays.
Ok well as far as transit goes right NOW it's paid for by:
1. People who drive cars ( gas is 1.28 a litre today and would be 1.11 without the translink levy. 17 cents per litre.) If you drive an average 20000 km per year and get a decent 10 litres per hundred fuel economy, it costs you .17 x (20000/10) = $340 per year.
2. People who use electricity. There's a levy on your electric bill.
3. People who pay property tax directly. My case $275.
4. Parking tax.
5. People who pay bus and seabus and translink fares. (Transit users).
It's around $700 per year give or take.
Now they want to build a half a BILLION worth of new trains and stuff so clearly that number will rise if Barry's idea comes to pass.
I just wondered who Barry thinks ought to pay more and maybe how much more.
Soon, you'll be paying 'mobility' charges like tolls and evil road pricing. ( You rent your road use by the hour despite having paid for the roads and bridges for the last 40 years).
Of course that will not ever be enough because nowhere in the world does public transit pay for itself except on very heavy commuter routes for a few hours per day.
Our public transit is the same.
For the surplus...
1) More Mental Health funding
2) More funding for the Courts, long waiting times are unjust.
3) Pay down debt, get back to a pre-2008 debt load
On the policy side...
1) Get rid of Corporate/Union donations for political parties and partially fund political parties with a per vote subsidy
2) Make it illegal to raid Crown Corps
3) Tax corporations heavily for holding unused licenses and properties, lower corporate tax to offset
4) Ban corporations from owning single family residentially zoned property
5) ... out of time too busy at work today.
Not to threadjack, but since the owner of Grouse Mountain is an insider with the BC Liberals maybe it is relevant...
I look forward to seeing the Grouse Mountain sold, then we will have an assessment of its true value and it can be taxed properly... hahaha.
Right now, get this, Grouse mountain is valued for tax purposes at just over 10 million dollars. Which means it pays the property taxes of about 20 normal houses... it is 1200 acres, brings in probably 30 million in revenue each year, and pays about $30,000 in taxes so ~0.1% goes back into the community to cover all of the fire fighting, north shore rescue, roads, and government services. Every other Commercial class business is subsidizing Grouse Mountain heavily.
Grouse Mountain is valued at the same amount as the Seymour Golf Club. Both are zoned as "recreation and parkland." Grouse will be sold and redeveloped, likely with condos and townhouses at the base.
It is time for tax reform in BC, including land speculation being highly taxed. In addition, large deficits should be run in order to provide social services etc. There would be no need for deficits if a wealth tax was introduced - say 1% per year on all assets in excess of $1 million. No one who holds assets of $1 million actually worked for them, so lets tax them!
Commies now heard from. Large deficits are piles of fun to run up but paying them down not so much.
Here is what the "run up a deficit people" don't understand (or don't care).
A deficit is money the government borrows.
The money must be repaid.
Countries that don't repay their deficit go bankrupt and all the "free" services disappear.
Borrowed money attracts interest that compounds.
When the country pays back the borrowed money plus interest they do so from government revenues.
Government revenues are generally composed of various taxes imposed on businesses, industries and the common people.
Unless we have a very robust business and industrial tax base the government will raise taxes on the people in order to meet expenditure requirements.
Expenditure requirements include the payments on debt.
When the government raises taxes on the people they have less money left over for their own needs.
Running large deficits results in short term gain for long term pain.
The adults in the room that remember paying down our deficit 20 years ago will remember income taxes going up to pay it down.
There is no free lunch.
Of course there's no free lunch. We pay for services through taxes or, if our taxes are insufficient to sufficiently fund those services, we still pay through various service fees and extra charges. One solution is to actually reduce services, but that is usually followed by a huge din from the very people who complain about paying taxes. "I don't want to pay taxes but don't you dare touch my services"! Is there waste? Sure, and we need to deal with that but we also need to properly fund those things which are important to us. For me those things are education (I don't have kids but am glad to support a public education system), public health care from cradle to grave, robust infrastructure, social safety net and healthy environment to name a few.
You are totally correct. Reduction of services is a viable option. Try to take away something that people have come to expect and watch the outcry.
The expectation of the majority is "enhanced" services (enhanced means more public funding hence higher taxation).
I like this 'no free lunch' thing.
We need to work at things we can trade for things we dont make like MRI machines and computer processors and food in the winter.
But, then, what do we trade in BC anymore? Do we have a healthy, leading edge forest industry? Do we actually open any mines or just 'explore' so we can tout a mining stock? Well we do make aluminum and that's cuz we have hydro power.
It seems, though, that the Green cadre are opposed to our doing anything at all that scuffs the dirt or floats a boat. I really would love to know what they think we are going to trade for food in winter, etc.
So that half a billion Translink plan will need to buy a lot things we dont make. What are we going to pay with when Ecojustice and the FN industry delay and obstruct all pipelines, all logging, pulp mills, and so on.
As the anon said 'no free lunch'.
Borrow today for services that seniors require and pay it back later from taxes on asset sales and/or asset transfers from the seniors/baby boomers to the millennials. It is actually simple for those people who understand finance. I am neither a senior or millennial so I have no skin in the game. I am just providing some sanity and objectivity in the discussion.
This approach allows the baby boomers to monetize their extensive real estate holdings without having to dispose of them, and allows them to continuing living in the homes as long as possible.
Does anyone really think that a 30-year-old who inherits mom's $2 million home in 6 years actually worked for the $2 million? That would be lunacy. We allow a reasonable $1 million estate asset transfer exemption and then tax the remaining $1 million as a form of capital gain with 50% of it brought into income at the child's marginal tax rate. This approach is very similar to what happens to financial assets when a parent passes and leaves the assets to children.
Private principle residence outside of Metro Vancouver divided by numerous surviving inheriting children = bean all.
I'm with Anon 12:21. Ramp up employment to increase the corporate and personal income tax revenue back to government through resource industry expansion. Use those revenues to pay for public services without rampant government borrowing.
Hopefully electoral reform will require that MLAs and municipal councilors disclose if they hold offshore bank accounts and the sources of funding for those accounts.
Court records show that Ms. Lisa Muri, Councillor in the DNV, went in front of the Supreme Court of BC to block disclosure of a bank account she held. What could be the possible legitimate reason?
Simply holding an offshore account is in NO WAY evidence of any wrong doing despite the extensive use of such accounts by developers such as Larco Investments who have no real assets outside North America.
However one has to wonder who elected officials earning $40,000 a year can afford $2 million homes and two cars etc.
Oversight now will at least given the next generation of elected officials pause to act compliant with rules and be somewhat beyond reproach.
"What could be the possible legitimate reason?"... How about 'its none of your damn business'. In a free society that should be enough.
"However one has to wonder who elected officials earning $40,000 a year can afford $2 million homes and two cars etc." No need to wonder, that house, or at least the equity that led to that house, has grown from owning very affordable properties 35 years ago. But you are correct, we don't pay politicians enough now to live here now, so only independently wealthy, or retired people can even run for political office.
Councillor Bond is the first elected official to publicly say he can't afford to stay, but he won't be the last. I don't know all of the elected officials and their families but of the ones I do know, the only one with adult children who have been able to stay is Councillor Hicks. The Mayors kids left, Councillor Mackay-Dunn's have left (and so has he), former Councillor Nixon's have gone (and so has he). I'm certainly not saying we have a responsibility to keep their families here, but it is indicative of a wage gap, when our leading families have to leave the community to keep their families together.
The current council has two years until the next election, they should end this fable that political office is public service not worthy of competitive compensation, and they should make the Mayor one of the top paid positions instead of paying him about what a fire fighter makes, and jack up the councillors to 70% of what the Mayor makes.
Thanks Anon 3:09. I am generally against tax increases in excess of the CPI annual increase - especially union salaries and benefits which are generally higher than the private sector at the moment. Prefer expenditure reductions in non-essential services.
However, you make a pretty good point. It would be worth a $10 per household tax increase to kick up the compensation for Mayor and Council.
I would support a significant pay increase for the POSITION of Mayor and Councilor but not an increase for the ones presently keeping the benches warm. It is the norm across Canada for children to leave home for a variety of reasons, particularly to find work. I am not aware of any gospel stating the local councilors' prodigy have a sacrosanct right to employment or homes in the community in which their parent's hold office. If you knew Councilor Bond's background you would know that at one time he could indeed afford to own a home on the North Shore, but decisions made years ago to move to Maple Ridge and then to sell off a home at the bottom of the market in 2009 to finance continuing education at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo is why Bond does not today own a home. While millennials cannot afford to live in an owned home on the North Shore or perhaps even in the lower mainland today, Bond's particular circumstances are unrelated to that demographic's financial profile and he certainly does not speak for those good people.
The current council has two years until the next election, they should end this fable that political office is public service not worthy of competitive compensation, and they should make the Mayor one of the top paid positions instead of paying him about what a fire fighter makes, and jack up the councillors to 70% of what the Mayor makes.
With due respect to our local elected officials, some of whom are more than very good, there's no indication whatsoever that the size of compensation is related to the quality of the candidates.
Then again that's arguably true in the private sector too.
Neither of my kids can afford to buy homes on the N. Shore and that is a product of global real estate investors - not local councils.
Having said that I would be happy to increase compensation to mayor and council. The hours they put in compared to the pay is disproportionate.
Indeed the hours they work are disproportionate to compensation, but not their skills or knowledge.
For instance CNV Mayor Mussatto likely cannot read a three-sentence paragraph, a simple financial statement or event the Community Charter. He probably works a 50-hour week trying to understand what FSR means. But does not mean he is worth his salary. Far from it. DNV Councillor Lisa Muri did not even graduate high school, dropping out at Grade 10. Senior staff are no different. CNV CAO Ken Tollstom has been seen wearing a name tag so he does not forget who he is, and DNV Clerk James Gordon often forgets that his glasses are on the top of his head as he fumbles around trying to read Robert's Rules. CNV Councillor Keating often refers to his council members as "the honourable member from..." DNV Mayor Richard Walton sometimes has to remind Councilor Robin Hicks what building he is in.
It is all a modern version of the Keystone Cops or the Gaston & Alphonse Show.
I mean they actually have little clocks to remind them of the time. Remember some of these council members have been sitting for 20 years and they still cannot figure out 3 minutes LOL. My dog could calculate 3 minutes when he was 6 months old LOL
God bless them, they know not what they do. It is truly a wonder how the development shills keep a straight face in the room :-)
Oh shush. At least they haven't decided to ban natural gas.
Everything is relative, right?
I see Trollbert is back.
I never suggested better compensation will rule out nutcases, lazy people, or even unqualified people, that is up to us as the voters to fix, but competitive wages do tend to reduce corruption. If our political leaders are properly compensated, then they are less likely to be tempted by developer favors, and more likely to be concerned about losing their job.
I think the current council should surreptitiously hire an HR firm to do a Job Evaluation for the three North Shore Councils, and use that info to set council wages for the next two terms (eight years).
"Competitive wages reduce corruption since political leaders will be less likely to be tempted by developer favours." What a remarkable statement.
In my world corruption is limited by ethics and morality not by largess to elected officials and public servants.
No HR firm in history hired by the MUSH sector (Municipalities Universities, Schools and Hospitals) has ever failed to advise that their client is wholly underpaid. Consultants are hired to say "independently" what the client wants said. The only people who argue differently work in the public sector. Ever read what the transportation consultants like Dung & Associates write in development applications? Its as if Bugs Bunny did the analysis.
District Compensation from 2015 can be found on page 28.
Basically, Council gets $27,700 in taxable income (wages), plus $14,000 in lieu of receipted expenses. No other benefits like health, dental, pension etc. The 'expense' heading on the report is for travel and conferences. Other expenses like coffee with constituents etc is paid out of pocket and is not receiptable. If a councilor meets with a developer, it is illegal for the developer to buy lunch for them, and it is against the policy for the Councillor to bill the lunch/coffee so they end up buying the developer lunch or coffee out of pocket, just so they have somewhere to meet... but then the developer can make contributions to their campaigns legally. So a developer can give you $5,000 at election time and it is OK, but for them to buy a coffee for you it is illegal and assumed that you are corrupt. Nice.
The Mayor gets ~$65,500 in regular taxable wages and $33,000 as an expense account. No benefits.
A fourth year fire fighter makes $84,000 plus $25,000 in benefits including health, dental, clothing, fitness, vacation, and a super awesome defined benefit indexed pension plan. Total compensation... more than the Mayor.
Good try,
Councillors earn $42,000 a year of which 1/3 is tax free. That is a before tax income of close to $48,000. Not bad considering the 20 hour work week, the three weeks off at Christmas, and the 6-week break during this past summer. The Mayor earns over $100,000 per year. Additional income is earned from SOME other boards and commissions etc. For instance Walton earns money from sitting on the Translink Mayors' Council and holding a seat at Metro. All of council receives tax free food at ALL meetings etc. That food alone far exceeds money spent on coffee with constituents.
At no time should a developer or any party be buying food or coffee for a council member. Such occasions must be considered as gifts and be reported. Similarly no member of council should be gifting a developer. If they break bread together they should pay their own bills. No need for dinner at Moxies. The Swiss Chalet is not far away.
The issue of fire and rescue services pay is very contentious these days.Best not try to draw comparisons. Clear evidence exists that firefighters are earning at least 30% more than a comparable job in the private sector as the CAO of the DNV has been arguing during contract negotiations for 4 years. Closed special meetings are not as closed as you might think.
"In my world corruption is limited by ethics and morality not by largess to elected officials and public servants."
Yes, of course we rightly expect our politicians to be guided by extremely high ethical and moral standards, but when we set the stage for them to get behind on their mortgages, we make ourselves vulnerable to corruption. Same goes for a police officer, look around the world (especially your favorite Mexico), when you underpay, you get corruption. You can be mad at it, but don't be surprised by it.
Oh for heaven's sakes, then one must assume everyone working at McDonald's or WalMart is corrupt.
Oh my goodness... the free food benefit again? Fine get rid of the dinners, but start the meetings an hour later so councilors can grab dinner ahead of time. Keep in mind the staff and Mayor have been at City Hall since 8am that day. So in-camera meetings would start at 6pm and public meetings would go from 8pm to 11pm... happy?
McDonald's staff and Walmart staff are not responsible for a $130 million dollar budget. Nice try.
And yes, McDonald's staff and Walmart staff are notorious for skimming.
What a mean thing to write,
I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. Google "Wal-Mart Employee Theft" and set your search results to last seven days only... you will see dozens of news articles from the last week about employees being fired.
Let me get this right:
1. Elected officials on the North Shore should be better paid so that they stop taking bribes from developers. Higher pay should not be open to public input.
2. Elected officials in the City of North Vancouver (about the size of Stanley Park) have substantive travel expenses related to meeting with constituents.
3. Municipal staff who work overtime should not be taxed on their meal benefits despite that for every overtime hour worked past 37.5 hours in a week, the hour is taken as time off later in the year. (Dave Stuart earns $300,000 a year. Please find me one private sector employee in Canada earning $300,000 a year who works 37.5 hours a week).
4. Police officers should be better paid so they avoid corruption. In the United States higher rates of pay would prevent police from murdering unarmed people of colour.
5. To conclude with a Trumpism, "Police etc in Mexico who are not well paid are corrupt, the remaining Mexicans are rapists and drug dealers.?
One cannot make this stuff up.
I see you are putting on a clinic on extrapolation. You must be using this as a checklist. Absurd Extrapolation...Check.
You should pay competitive wages because you should. Private sector is not a fair comparison entirely, but if you have Private sector company the CEO makes a lot more than the Mayor, and trust me on this one, the CEO makes more than an average wage at that organization and so does the board of governors.
The CAO does not work a 37.5hr week and does not bank time as you suggest. Again, nice try.
Are you suggesting that Police officers in the states are paid off to shoot black people? Two can play at that lame game.
The proper comparison is the CEO of a private company to the CAO of a municipality, and the Chair of the Board of Directors to a Mayor.
The average CEO in Canada of publicly listed companies on the TSX earns just over $300,000 comparable to the CAO of the DNV. BUT the average size of the largest 500 publicly listed company is FAR larger than the operations of the DNV - $3.76 billion in revenues annually, that is 20-times the size of the DNV. Some of these companies operate in over 50 countries of the world.
The average Board Chair of a Canada earns about $125,000 identical to what the mayor earns from his mayor's salary, his Metro salary and his Translink salary. But again we have Board Chairs providing oversight to global companies.
This is where the problem lies. Many if not all municipal senior staff, councilors etc live in very small defined worlds, often spending their entire lives in the same neighborhoods or at least the same municipality. It is ridiculous to compare their compensation to private sector senior executives and boards where the officers hold advanced education, decades upon decades of experience across the country maybe across the world and are at least bilingual if not multi-lingual.
Regarding salaries of DNV Councilors.
At all times there must be a Deputy Mayor. As a result, at the beginning of the year, the Deputy Mayor schedule is allocated among the 6 councilors at the rate of 2 months apiece. While acting as Deputy Mayor and even if the Mayor is in residence, a councilor earns another $4,000 per year.
So actual compensation for a DNV Councillor is the equivalent of $52,000 a year. Given some Councilors have full time day jobs, $52,000 per year is mighty steep for a part time job.
How many hours a week does a councillor put in doing municipal business or preparation for municipal business? Does anyone know?
The agenda packages are anywhere from 100 pages to 300 pages, a lot of it is repeat material so some can be skimmed, but anytime you are dealing with new business you just have to get through it. Some issues require you to meet with staff prior to the council meeting, so prep for the council meeting can be anywhere from 3 hours to 10 hours + Staff meetings. Meetings of council are typically Mondays from 5pm through 9 or 10. 4-5hours, some weeks there are meetings on Tuesdays including public hearings etc. Plus, committee work, most council members are on several committees, including Metro Vancouver work, and some of those committees have sub-committees so it will take whatever time you give it. Then there is meeting with constituents and staff on non-agenda issues, and the fun stuff like community events on weekends or evenings. So all in all, at this time of year expect it to take 30+ hours a week, but it slows down in December, then ramps up again for budget consultations, then slows down to probably 15 hours a week for April, then ramps back up to 30+ for June July, for the annual railroading of council on big projects, and back down to community events and committees only for August.
So, lets average 15 hrs per week and 30 hrs per week, giving us 22.5 hrs/week per year. That's 1170 Hrs over 52 weeks.
$52,000/1170 = $44.44/hr. Seems like a reasonable rate of renumeration to me.
It is reasonable for new councilors. The issue is similar to the "prep time" for teachers. In their early career there is considerable prep time. But certain subjects like math, history, geography etc change little if at all during a career. The same can be said for agenda packages. The agenda packages are much too long and include a massive amount of filler including useless consultant's reports and boilerplate legal documents which are best skipped since no one ever amends them anyway. Development applications are likely the most useless documents I have read in my life. Reams and reams of technical drawings all included to obfuscate from the meaty issues such as affordability, density, infrastructure needs, CACs, DCCs etc. Community time is not really work time, it is electioneering time, so should it be counted? Committee time is a wild card. It would be nice if councilors had a window for "office hours" where constituents could meet with them.
So, experienced teachers should be paid less?
Maybe they shouldn't be paid less but they WILL be if..
We BAN NATURAL GAS!!!
What's that got to do with it? We're not a resource extraction community. Additionally, the only NG being banned is the fossil fuel variety. Renewable gases aren't being banned per the CoV clarification at the beginning of the week.
Experienced teachers should not be paid less, they should not be paid for prep time. Instead they should have other assigned responsibilities based on the assumption they are experienced.
Why on earth would prep time be unpaid? Would ask the same of a chef? Sorry, you don't gat paid for prepping vegetables and other ingredients. Nope, shopping for ingredients is on your dime!
What kind of job do you have that allows you to be so blind to the tasks that others perform?
For councilors to have office hours, they would need to have offices. District Hall has a windowless room with a couple of couches and a 1990's era computer, for the council. It is not very conducive to meetings with the public.
I like the idea of Councilors having a regular availability, but for the most part they can be reached by phone and email, or can meet for coffee in your neighborhood.
Trollbert prefers regular office hours so he can surprise'm. I suspect the councilors are not very quick to return his calls.
A windowless room with a 1990s style computer is precisely what I would provide to councilors if they DID NOT want meetings with the public. I would also make sure the lights don't work. If you want the plumbing inspector to check on the plumbing that might not pass muster, you do not arrange a meeting a high noon on a sunny day. You pick the coldest, most miserable day of the year. You meet at night. You make sure the power is off. And you have only one flashlight which doesn't work well. Anyone who has worked for a general contractor would know these tricks :-).
You can get one over on some people. I assure you that you won't get one over on me.
There are plenty of meeting rooms available, but none that are conducive to six councilors hanging out waiting for Trollbert to amaze them with his math like skills and verbal abuse.
Anyone who disagrees with municipal hall regarding land use on Fromme Mountain is now called a trail Nazi. And anyone who has the ability to analyze a financial statement is called Trollbert.
I wonder what type of label municipal hall places on members of the GLBTQ community (fudge packer or carpet cruncher) or the Mexican Latins community (Miss Housekeeping?). Are members of the North Shore Persian community labelled terrorists?
Why does a poster on this blog have such hatred in his heart. A hatred for the generation older than he, a hatred for people different than he etc. How did someone with all the benefits of our great country extended to him, learn to hate so many people with views different than his?
??
There is only one Trollbert. He excels at lashing out at people with vulgarity and then when someone has the audacity to attack back he sheds crocodile tears and makes ridiculous statements about being a victim.
Today he posted "I wonder what type of label municipal hall places on members of the GLBTQ community (fudge packer or carpet cruncher) or the Mexican Latins community (Miss Housekeeping?). Are members of the North Shore Persian community labelled terrorists?"
Note that he mused about the awful things that District Hall may be doing, even though it hasn't, and he says some awful things and tries to make it seem like someone other than him self has suggested these things. It is his formula for chaotic argumentation. Like Trump he needs a full time fact-checker dogging him wherever he leaves a slimy trail.
Trollbert you are a two page book, very easy to read from cover to cover. No hate here, just compassion for your victims.
For our amusement why don't your "vitriolic" emails sent to the Mayor and Councillor Bond?
They are referred to in the judges findings in your recently tossed legal case. The Vancouver Sun said the judge described your emails to the Mayor as “vitriolic” correspondence which included "innuendo and threats", but they weren't pertinent to the case at hand. Is that your modus operandi?
"Councillor Bond watched as Councillor Hicks drew a homophobic caricature in council chambers and shared it with Councillor Bassam as CAO Stuart looked on in abject horror." That is quite a specific accusation, leaving me to ask How did you become aware that a 'homophobic caricature' was created and shared? Did one of the people tell that one was created? Did you see it? Or are you just assuming that they must have done it based on your interpretation of their glances and faces?
Unless one of the potential witnesses reported it to you, then you don't have much to go on.
I don't know what you mean by "Councillor Bond watched", his seat is across the room and would have no vantage point to watch something on Councillor Hicks' paperwork.
"Then Bond labeled DNV residents trail Nazis"... How did he do that? Is it on the video tape somewhere? Let me know which meeting and which item they were discussing and I will link to it right here.
Oh not here. Oh no. The damning evidence will have much greater impact presented at all candidates meeting during the next municipal elections. There will likely be 7 of those meetings. There are already 5 volunteers lined up to attend each meeting to sequentially present information of value to the municipality. The information is drawn from land title documents proving home ownership, content on blogs, content on commercial web sites, photographs, newspaper reports from years back, and sworn statements. We are presently working on getting copies of cheques made out to certain people over recent years and proof of cash distributed to others (this one is challenging and relies on voluntary agreement by other parties mind you). We also have a series of very interesting photographs from the period 2008-2014, and a most fascinating one from 2002. Postcards will be hand delivered listing some of the information, all of it absolutely true. We will leave the electorate to connect any remaining dots and form their own conclusions. :-) No one would dream of obstructing the electoral process would they? Of course not.
Seems like a tall order when you couldn't get enough electors to agree with your lawsuit.
For your viewing pleasure:
1.NVC Editorial Comic Relief
2.NVC Editorial Comic Relief
3.NVC Editorial Comic Relief
And the coupe de grace - 4.NVC Editorial Comic Relief
Oh my word those 4 opinion pieces....Trollbert is not alone. His criticism is accurate and shared by others. How did Bond get away with it? Are the North Shore constabulary not interested in hate crimes?
Holy crap! Whose that 'Stache person? I've never seen so much misinformation and delusional bull in ages.
The RCMP would rather go around arresting hikers who upset mountain bikers than arrest bikers who bite hikers. If you want to hear misinformation and delusional bull, talk to the mountain biking community. NVan district is the great enabler. The NS constabulary is not far behind. Lol!
While words may be an opinion, and even exaggerated, but the photos are clear. One shows Bond carrying an ax and apparently acting in a threatening way to a hiker who questioned what he was doing on the Fromme Mountain trails possibly causing environmental damage. Another photo shows swastikas drawn on the location of people's homes presumably with the tacit approval of MrBond.
Certainly it seems from the number of people approving of the opinion pieces Councillor Bond (and likely Mayor Richard Walton) have lost the moral authority to govern or any authority for that matter. It is best they step down immediately. If the North Shore RCMP have failed to investigate Bond and Walton, then it is time to appoint a special prosecutor to handle the matter. That appointment is a provincial decision. So perhaps the electorate should contact Jane Thronthwaite @ 604-983-9842 or jane.thornthwaite.mla@leg.bc.ca and Noami Yamamoto @ 604-981-0033 or naomi.yamamotto.mla@leg.bc.ca and request a prosecutor be appointed. This matter should be raised during the coming Provincial election. We cannot have thugs and anti-Semites sitting in council seats.
There is also rumor that, despite the court decision, Mayor Richard Walton is under some type of investigation by the Certified Professional Accountants of BC regarding his involvement in not property reporting on irregularities in the approval of the $100,000 from the DNV to the NSMBA, a so-called Council approval, but for which no documentation of any type exists. You can find out more from Walton richard_walton@dnv.org, 604-990-2208 (office) or cell 604-240-7721.
Nine people have supported the last post by Stache. A person can only vote once. So Trolbert is now joined by 8 others. One more makes 10 and Bond faces a new petition in court. His days as a DNV Councillor are clearly numbered. I think Maple Ridge is calling. And he can afford a house there. Good judgement at the very least would compel his departure from the DNV.
"There is also rumor that"... Don't be coy, own it.
Any time a complaint is received by the CPABC it becomes a matter between the CPABC and the member. No one owns a complaint, if it even exists, other than the CPABC and Walton. It is up to Walton to either own it or state emphatically there is no matter under review.
He phone numbers and email address are listed for exactly that purpose.
The bigger question is whether will man up and step down, saving the taxpayer from covering his costs for a second petition to expel him from DNV Council. I expect him to man up. He is actually a good guy who showed very poor judgment. He has time to start over elsewhere.
Trolbert says he will run as an independent in North Vancouver-Seymour in the May 9, 2017 provincial election on a platform of municipal reform and transportation improvement. So like Trolbert to create a controversy where none exists. Except for occasional rush hour congestion on the Second Narrow's Bridge there are no transportation issues on the North Shore. What municipal reform? This province's municipalities are the best run in the country with dedicated but underpaid stewards at the helm.
I hear some very nice mountainbikers are harassing people, in Teflon Bond's ill-deserved defense. Heil!
You hear? How about pointing to actual facts. You sound like that idiot Trump when all you can say is "I hear".
And who the hell is Trollbert? Who's this Stache, car actor? If either of them are planning a run in politics, I want to know who these jokers are so that I can help campaign against them.
We are all Trolbert.
No no, Trollbert is Hazen S. Colbert. He ran for DNV Council in the last municipal election.
And Who is Stache?
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