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?

Should cyclists be licensed and pay insurance just like other users of our roadways?

I have posted this topic as it seemed there was some call for it based on the aberration of the previous ' Bike Lift' post. Perhaps the previous post had exhausted most of the ideas, opinions, points of views on bike insurance vs. no bike insurance, but something tells me there might be more!

I randomly picked the below YouTube Video on the one road rule of STOPPING. It is in Golden Gate Park, California, but the issue is of course relevant to the streets of North Vancouver and all roads everywhere.

STOP means STOP!