Tuesday, February 09, 2010

It's the economy (Tuesday, February 9, 2010) 

The Greeks found interesting ways to spend their money to get to the brink, there's a new leader on the export board and a British banker barks at Barack, some of the items from the Tuesday news files.

Globe and Mail-- EU believed poised to back Greece
Globe and Mail-- BHP gives cautious outlook
Globe and Mail-- Venezuela's Hugo Chavez declares energy crisis
National Post-- Bernanke to outline plans although hearing postponed due to storm
National Post-- Greece's creative accounting courtesy Goldman Sachs
National Post-- Google launches Google Buzz
Vancouver Sun-- CHC Helicopters part of billion-dollar U.K. SAR bid
Vancouver Sun-- Throne Speech offers tax breaks, more preschool options and cheaper housing
New York Times-- Europeans Discuss Aid for Greek Debt
New York Times-- New European Leadership Faces Economic Hurdles
New York Times-- China Overtakes Germany as Top Exporter
USA Today-- Paulson, Buffett agree: U.S. may profit from bank bailout
USA Today-- Europe searches for way out of debt crisis
Guardian UK online-- Barclays' John Varley: 'Obama reforms won't prevent banking crisis'
Guardian UK online-- The euro's darkest hour
Guardian UK online-- Scrap UK's wind farm plans, says Gazprom boss
Times online-- Britain's trade deficit widens unexpectedly
Times online-- Hector Sants to stand down as chief of City watchdog FSA
Telegraph UK online-- Britain's everlasting deficit
Telegraph UK online-- Warren Buffett's 'Baby Berks' arrive for the masses
Telegraph UK online-- Who in their right mind will bail out the poor relations of Europe?
Melbourne Herald Sun-- Alumina takes price battering
Melbourne Herald Sun-- Woodside pick spot for LNG hub
Brisbane Times-- Rocky start for the great deal of China
Brisbane Times-- Qatar? Be warned
Sydney Daily Telegraph-- Back down on $5m misconduct penalty
Sydney Daily Telegraph-- Toyota's credit rating is being threatened
People's Daily-- Analysts say China should not yield to Obama's hardline on yuan
People's Daily-- China mounts fight on fake invoice fraud
China Daily online-- Ma: Pact with mainland to raise Taiwan's competitiveness
China Daily online-- Chinese investors turn to Dubai
Times of India-- Domestic car sales jump 32%, bikes up 44% in January

// posted by KP @ 10:52 PM
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Kitimat faces many hard decisions in the face of shocking population decline forecast 


“Municipal services are driven by your ability to pay and by the population you serve,” he explained. “A town of 2,000 people will have a different complement of municipal services than a town of 15-, 20,000. That’s obvious.” -- Part of a briefing to Kitimat City council as the city comes to terms with the state of its economic health.

As the realities of the Eurocan closure hit home in Kitimat, that city's council has had to face some cold statistics over their future, that of the potential decline of the city's population by 4,000 residents.

That was the scenario presented to council, as city staff provided an apparent worst case scenario of population decline created by the Eurocan closure and the planned modernization of the Alcan smelter in the city.

Looking at the potential number of unemployed Kitimat residents, it's estimated that with Eurcan's closure some 500 residents will be out of work both from the mill and the spin off jobs associated to it, once the Alcan modernization project takes place another 500 residents are expected to be removed from the rolls of the employed, as serious a change in economic fortunes as the city has seen in a long time.

If the numbers predicted come to pass, Kitimat's population would reverse back to around 5,000 residents, levels not seen since 1954.

With that prospect to contemplate, Kitimat council will have to work out how to provide services for a city of 5,000 as opposed to what they provided for one that at one time neared 15,000 and had one time hopes to reach at least 20,000.

District manager Trafford Hall delivered the sobering news to Kitimat's council on January 29th, offering up the prospect of hard decisions to come by that city as it tries to determine how best to serve its residents with a population in exodus and a thinly stretched tax base to remain.

The full review of the numbers was provided by Kitimat's Northern Sentinel, (read it here) it makes for an interesting read on how sudden economic reversal can quickly change the dynamic of a community, something that Prince Rupert is more than familiar with.

Kitimat's forced deliberations on the future of service delivery could offer much instruction for other communities in the Northwest, as they too struggle with a declining population, crumbling infrastructure and the need to retrench financially.

// posted by KP @ 8:53 AM
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False alarms, false flags and fanciful imaginations 


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As Vancouver prepares for its Olympic debut on Friday, the anticipation of the start of the latest Olympiad seems to be feeding the anxieties of some and the imaginations of others.

The Canadian military confirmed this weekend that on January 31st it scrambled to CF18 jets to investigate a possible incursion of Olympic air space near Vancouver, an operation that resulted in Vancouver airport being closed to take offs and landings for twenty minutes.

And while the Canadian military was up in the air checking out the suspicious, back down on earth, tethered to computers, there was chatter of many more potential alarms.

CKNW radio has a report on the buzzing along the crossing wires of the Internet, which has any number of would be CSIS operatives (or perhaps persons of interest to) offering up claims of what they call false flag attacks planned on Vancouver for the start of the games.

Indeed, type in "false flag operations in Vancouver" in a google search engine and enough dire scenarios come forward to keep a Tom Clancy printing press running 24/7.

Head over to YouTube and you get some audio visual aids that purport to back up the worst case scenarios of those who could find work on the staff of 24 compiling the latest of threats for Jack Bauer to deal with.

Judging by the report, they seem to make up a cross section of over zealous X File fan devotees and/or would be Glen Beck followers who seem to see conspiracy on every street corner and the decline of our civilization as being just around a corner.

If you have followed the advertising campaign on CTV/TSN et al the theme of these games for Canadians is "I Believe", somehow we think that a few of us have gotten their wires crossed on that theme.

// posted by KP @ 7:24 AM
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Of mandates and money at City council 


“We are here to operate a City and the City is in financial difficulty. We need to look at roads, water and sewer and ensure that they are operating. That is our mandate and that needs to be first and foremost…I don’t think, at this time, our community can afford it,” added Bedard. A quote from a report by the Northern View’s Shaun Thomas, outlining some of the debate of council and Councillor Bedard's thoughts of Monday night regarding the proposed rebate on rent for the All Native Basketball Tournament.

The Northern View has provided us with our first look at the enthusiastic debate over a request from the All Native Basketball Tournament for a reduction in rent on the Civic Centre for this year’s tournament. A decision which offered conditional approval by the end of council's conclave.

The discussion in council Monday regarding funding, brings back some memories of a past council deliberation of a year ago, which found the city exploring other forms of assistance and support for a local organization.

It was just a little over a year ago that Councillor Bedard was speaking passionately in council, seeking a flow through arrangement with the city for the organization that she is Executive Director of, the Hecate Strait Employment Development Society.

Outlining for council how a partnership with the City would access funding for that organization, the city according to the briefing notes added to the agenda of council on January 12th 2009 (pages 27 and 28) was to provide administrative support towards that end.

That request required two separate introductions in council, the first on the 12th of January 2009, which was withdrawn pending further comment from staff and then the re-introduction of the motion on the 26th of January 2009, where the resolution was listed as carried in the minutes of that council meeting.

The two situations and requests for assistance of course are not the same, one is for what in effect is a cash donation to be put towards rent on an event that provides a fair amount of revenue to local businesses, and attracts hundreds if not thousands of visitors to the city on an annual basis.

As for that request of January of 2009, beyond the raised eyebrows of more than a few in town over the perceived alliance between the city and a local employment service, we imagine that like today, financially things weren’t much better a year ago than they are at the moment.

We’re not sure what that administrative support for the co sponsorship evolved to, or how much in the end that project cost the city if anything, nor do we know if the city recouped any of its investment of support services towards that project, or if that assistance translated into the successful accessing of funds for Hecate Strait.

But aside from any financial updates on that partnership, the question that comes to mind, considering the tone of debate on the ANBT request in council chambers on Monday is, did the Hecate Strait partnership request of last year meet the same parameters of this declared mandate of fiscal sensibilities as described in council on Monday night?

If council is going to declare standards for mandates, it might be helpful to explain what does and doesn’t qualify for city support, in whatever form that support may come and what that support should or should not consist of.


// posted by KP @ 1:38 AM
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And the flame goes out as the games come to a close 


The convoy of buses began the trek eastbound shortly after the noon hour on Sunday, inside many tired, but enthusiastic participants in Prince Rupert's BC Northern Winter Games.

As they settled in for the long journey to their hometowns, many would be bringing back medals of different colour but all would be sharing memories of a fast paced but enjoyable two and a half days on the North Coast.

For organizers it all probably went by so quickly, all that planning, the scramble to secure billets, volunteers and supplies came down to just over 60 hours of actual activities, but as they look back on their efforts they can take time to allow themselves a job well done.

Congratulations and thanks are due to the countless volunteers who gave up of their time and or their homes to ensure that the event went smoothly and that the welcome was warm.

By all accounts the weekend was a terrific success, the visitors thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the competitions were riveting some filled with much drama others with the discipline of a sport.

We've uncovered a number of reviews of the weekend past some on video, some articles of note from the local media. Take a few minutes and review the days of the BC Northern Winter Games.


Northern View-- Local medalists from the Prince Rupert 2010 Northern BC Winter Games
Northern View-- North Coast leading medal count at Prince Rupert 2010 Northern BC Winter Games
Terrace Standard-- Golden Games
Terrace Standard-- Northern Games set to begin

From CFTK News, Sahar Nassimdoost provided a number of video reports on the weekend's activities.
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// posted by KP @ 12:14 AM
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Monday, February 08, 2010

It's the economy (Monday, February 8, 2010) 

Rolling back the realtor's rules, Psst, wanna buy a bridge and you too can own a piece of the New York Rangers, some of the items from Monday's reviews.

Globe and Mail-- The making of a housing bubble
Globe and Mail-- Bay Street over Wall Street: Safer – and better pay
Globe and Mail-- MLS challenge could change the way houses are sold
National Post-- Olympics make for market winners
National Post-- Competition watchdog says realtor rules limit choice
National Post-- Ottawa mulls buying Windsor-Detroit Ambassador Bridge
Vancouver Sun-- Hydro offers a glimpse of the future with appliances controlled remotely through the Internet
Vancouver Sun-- Canadian potash producers reach deal in China
New York Times-- Toyota Details Recall of 2010 Prius for Brake Problems
New York Times-- The Enforcers
New York Times-- China Lists $9.6 Billion in Shares of U.S. Companies
USA Today-- American Airlines to charge $8 for blankets, when available
USA Today-- Spinoff lets investors buy a stake in N.Y. Knicks, Rangers
Guardian UK online-- Mervyn King goes dog sledding but all avoid seal meat at G7 summit in Canada Guardian UK online-- Ireland's suffering offers a glimpse of Britain's future under the Tories
Guardian UK online-- Cost of insuring European national debts hits new high
Times online-- Greek unions threaten austerity moves
Times online-- Sterling falls on fears of eurozone strife
Telegraph UK online-- Greek crisis intensifies as Joe Stiglitz calls for Europe to 'teach the speculators a lesson'
Telegraph UK online-- Ex-Fed chairman Alan Greenspan says he's 'very concerned' over fall in stock markets
Telegraph UK online-- The UK mustn't be STUPID
Melbourne Herald Sun-- Insider gets BHP iron ore job
Melbourne Herald Sun-- Avoca gold for healhty profit rise
Brisbane Times-- Celebrity daze: CEOs are not stars of sport or screen, they're just overpaid employees
Brisbane Times-- Bullying fines deliver a stern message
Sydney Daily Telegraph-- JB Hi-Fi announces record half year profit, flags change of CEO
Sydney Daily Telegraph-- Glenn Wheatley tells court his lawyer advised him to send money off shore to avoid paying tax
People's Daily-- Think tank: Chinese economy to rise 10% in 2010
People's Daily-- China approves Gansu coal mining plan
China Daily online-- China launches three models of LNG vessels
China Daily online-- China, Vietnam to set up new trade zone
Times of India-- Economy to grow at 7.2%, says CSO
Times of India-- Average income of Indians to rise to Rs 43,749 this fiscal

// posted by KP @ 11:50 PM
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Podunk Below the Masthead (Monday, February 8, 2010) 

Northern BC Games reviews, a quiet get together with the MP and council has enthusiastic debate over ANBT rent break, some of the items of note for the Monday news review.

Daily News, front page, headline story
AN IMPRESSIVE SHOWING AT THE NORTHERN B. C. WINTER GAMES-- The Daily News provides two and a half pages of review of the weekends activities, with a full sports page dedicated to the games, a photo page with some of the images from the weekend and a front page article which outlined the success of the games for local athletes.

Nathan Cullen held a small gathering of local residents taking in the discussion of his second annual economic forum. 20 participants sat down with the Skeena-Bulkley Valley, NDP MP, as he hosted the forum which examined ways to fix the local economy, among the concerns expressed during the session were a fear of a further exodus of university aged people, the litany of missed opportunities for the North coast and the perceived ineffectiveness of senior government programs to develop local infrastructure.

The Daily provides some further background on last weeks announcement of the proposed wood pellet plant for Terrace, one of the few signs of economic growth in the region in recent months. CFTK TV 7 News had the first report on the announcement posted to their website last Thursday.

The Sports section featured a review of a variety of sports from the weekend of action at the BC Northern Winter Games.

(Archive for Daily News Articles for February 8, 2010 to be provided upon posting to Daily News website)

The Northern View
After lengthy debate, City of Prince Rupert providing a conditional grant to All Native Basketball Tournament -- The Northern View once again makes good use of its website, with the first comprehensive report on Monday night's city council meeting where the seemingly controversial topic of a rent reduction for the All Native Basketball tournament was discussed and approved with conditions (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
No new items posted to the CFTK website for Monday


CBC News, Northern British Columbia, Daybreak North
Taking on the HST -- The CBC reintroduces its multi media aspect of their website with a report on the northern organizer for the Fight HST group (listen to report here)

Daily News, front page headline story
An Impressive showing at the B. C. Northern Winter Games
(article to be provided upon posting on Daily News website)

// posted by KP @ 11:39 PM
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But, but , when could we go to the bathroom? 




For all those gathered around the television set, Sunday's Super Bowl had many sub plots during the marathon television extravaganza.

Would the Colts ever get the ball back into Peyton Manning's hands (as things turned out rarely), would the Saints manage to bring the biggest Mardi Gras trinket back to New Orleans in time for the party (they did). Would Pete Townshend or Roger Daltrey need oxygen or a defib machine before the end of their set (they didn't) and how did they get Dave, Jay and Oprah onto the same set (ah but we know, see later)

Super Bowl Sunday provided a full afternoon of entertainment leading up the a first time victory by the New Orleans Saints, a hard earned championship that probably had everyone (well outside of the Greater Indianapolis area) feeling pretty good for the Crescent city as they rooted along with each point appearing on the scoreboard.

The game provided much in the way of thrills, a stellar game plan put together by the Saints coaching staff saw the offense keep the Colts marquee player Peyton Manning off the field for a good portion of the second and third quarters, when he was on the field an untimely interception proved to be the game breaker for the Saints.


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By games end Drew Brees would be the MVP, Bourbon Street was rocking and if New Orleans had delayed their municipal elections by but one week we suspect Brees would probably have been the write in candidate for Mayor of that city as well.

The half time show provided those closing in on their sunset years with a chance to relive the sixties with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, helped out by Ringo Starr's young lad on the drums. They provided a fast paced set of tunes, reviving some of the most memorable of moments from The Who songbook, those to young to remember the sixties instead were probably going hey, is CSI on now!

It was an energetic break, highlighted by a remarkable visual display of flashing lights, laser beams, smoke and flash pots, perhaps helping to distract from the fact that the two main performers weren't moving around as much as they once were known to do.



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But, as usual on a Super Bowl Sunday, away from the action on the field and the hype of the stage show at the half it was the stuff that filled the rest of the time that will have many talking this morning.

Super Bowl Sunday provides a five hour window of advertising that pits some of the most creative ads of the year up against each making for the most anticipated focus group that Madison Avenue has. In most years, depending on the outcome of the game and how it played out, the ads become the story, the most memorable event of the day's broadcast.

Perhaps not this year however, the Saints with their back story of carrying the hopes and dreams of their city on their shoulders into the game will most likely dominate the discussion now.

Still, there was much to watch and debate from the onslaught of advertising.

The always entertaining Bud Light commercials, the collapse of the Montgomery Burns financial empire, Betty White playing some smash mouth football and a promo spot for CBS's late night programming featured Oprah trying to work her peace keeping magic on Dave and Jay were some of the highlights of a full roster of ads.

While the New York Times suggests that this was not the advertising industries best effort ever, there were still some worthwhile thirty second comedies or dramas to keep us close to the television set.

USA Today has once again provided a recap of all of Sunday's merchandising vignettes, as well as the chance to vote on which one had the most impact on the viewers of the broadcast.
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For those that can't remember, or had to answer nature's call at a most inopportune time. The full review can be found here.



// posted by KP @ 7:59 AM
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Fraser Institute rankings stir the debate for another year! 


Having given the member papers of Black Press (including the Northern View) a sneak preview of their findings from this years survey into education. The Fraser Institute released their numbers to wider circulation Friday, posting their report on the Institutes website.

The Northern View was the first to offer up the details of the Institutes research as it pertained to schools of the North coast, a snapshot of the figures and some feedback from local educators, administrators and school board officials.

This year's report finds Annunciation as the lead school in the region, receiving an overall rating of 7.8 out of ten, up slightly from the 7.6 of 2008, marking its best rating in the last five years. Overall that placed it at number 133 in the province.

Westview was next of the local schools with an overall placement of 5.6, down slightly from 2008's 5.8, they were ranked number 485 in the province.

Pineridge was rated at 5.3 up significantly from 2008 when it was rated at 3.4, they appear at the number 552 spot overall.

Conrad School moved up in the rankings as well, claiming an overall rating of 4.3, compared to the 2.7 of 2008, the Conrad score placed it in the716 place overall.

Lax Keen struggled in this years ratings dropping to 2.7 from last years 4.7, moving it to 727 in the province.

And Roosevelt Community School did not register well with the Fraser Institute as their score was tabulated as 0.5, down from 1.3 in 2008. Overall at 875 that would make the school one of the lowest in the ranking system, with only Prince George's Carney Hill below it.

Port Edward School did not appear in the rankings provided by the Fraser Institute.

Regionally the Coast Mountain District featured two Independent Schools at the top of their rankings with Veritas receiving a rating of 8.1 and Centennial Christian listed at 7.4, this was the first year that Centennial Christian was rated.

St. Anthony's in Kitimat received a rating of 6.5, the highest ranking of a public school in Coast Mountain was Nechako at 5.7.

On Haida Gwaii only Sk’aadgaa Naay was listed, receiving a ranking of 4.7.

The numbers were tabulated according to scores on testing of Grade 4 and 7 students across the province, using the controversial Fundamental Skills Assessment Tests as their baseline model.

The stark utilization of numbers however, as has been pointed many times in the past since these findings have been published, don't take into account some of the many other factors that could go into a learning experience in a particular school.

When one looks at the first twenty schools on their list the majority of them belong to private or Independent schools, most of which are based in Metropolitan Vancouver or Victoria, schools which are able to provide a much wider educational experience due to their tuition process and the pool of students from which they choose to accept.

On a socio- economic basis, we would hazard a guess that the students that attend Stratford Hall, Gleneagles or Maple Ridge Christian to name but a few, did not go to school hungry unless by choice. More than likely those students don't have serious home life issues that could affect their learning curve, and perhaps they have access to such study aids as updated text books, computer and science labs and other accessories that financially strapped public schools don't have. We doubt if they have to wonder from year to year if their school will remain open, or if they'll have to be shipped off as though to be warehoused, due to declining funding options.

And that's where these Report cards fail to provide a genuine picture of education on a student by student basis, if anything it provides a glaring example of the inequities that students can face when measured under significantly different learning situations. Providing a snap shot of a province with very serious divisions both geographically, economically and indeed by its approach to education infrastructure and process.

In the preamble to their presentation, the Fraser Institute suggests that these findings will assist parents in choosing the best possible educational institution for their children, another example of the split that exists in this province when it comes to educational options.

While it may be useful in the Lower mainland or Greater Victoria area to go shopping for a school, such a luxury doesn't exist in many rural school districts like School District 52. While there is an Independent School in Annunciation, it is limited by it's ability to take in students to fit its space, even if parents in an economically depressed region had the cash on hand to pay the tuition. On the public side, the continuing quest for consolidation of schools means that parents have less and less options regardless of the Fraser Institutes ranking.

For instance in Prince Rupert, in the last two years of this report's publication, School District 52 has closed two elementary schools, changing the educational dynamic of those students as they change schools and adjust to a new environment. That process of change will continue next year, as the School District examines which if not all of the three elementary schools that are up for discussion will be closed, as well as the closure of a high school and introduction of a middle school system .

It's that kind of uncertainty played out across the province, that students, teachers, administrators and parents cope with on a year to year basis. One that doesn't seem conducive to a rising tide of academic success as per the Fraser Institute's ambitious agenda.

This is why many suggest that the Institutes bias towards private schools shows through in their findings, by not accepting or accounting for the reality of school board decisions in many communities that have a very real impact on their students.

The province of British Columbia continues to add stresses to its educational system in the way of funding directives and consolidation of schools owing to declining enrollment. But by that funding gap, they create the atmosphere aided by studies such as the Fraser Institutes, where parents seem to be pointed towards the direction of private education if they are to believe the Institutes accounting process that suggests those schools are better educators.

While that sketch is outlined through these numbers, those schools that struggle to educate children across the province on a daily basis, get beaten down by flawed comparisons to schools that may as well be on Mars as for the relevance to the challenges they face by comparison.

Would not a more directed approach to funding, provide for more opportunity for success? Every year the findings seem to be the same, yet school districts continue to try and cope with funding limitations and ministry directives that seem to be providing the fuel for the Fraser Institutes observations.

If the province wishes to make their public schools reach those levels that grace the top twenty of the list, then invest the required capital both in education and social programs to ensure the playing field is a more level one.

Until the province accepts that it has dropped the ball on education and develops a comprehensive plan to make sure that the public schools have all the tools required to the job, the only thing that these studies from the Fraser Institute seem to succeed in doing is highlight the disadvantage that the Government of British Columbia is putting the education of a good portion of its children in.

The full Fraser Institute study can be accessed from their website found here.

Thursday's Daily News provided an article on a study from a different perspective than that of the Fraser Institute, with a study from the Human Early Learning Partnership which examined the effects of neighbourhood poverty at early childhood and early adolescence and the impact that it had on Grade 7 testing. Well worth a read for a bit of balance from the avalanche no numbers crunched in the Fraser Institute report.

On Friday, we posted an item about the release of those early numbers to Black Press ( found locally in the Northern View), part of that post provided a well thought out editorial from Chuck Bennett as published in one of those Black Press papers, the Golden Star.

After you digest all the numbers and read the various rationales behind the Fraser Institutes compilation for 2010, it is worth reading Mr. Bennett's editorial. He provides a reasoned and well thought out examination of these Reports and puts into perspective the impact that they have on schools, teachers and students.

We'll leave his examination of this years efforts from the Fraser Institute as the final word.


// posted by KP @ 12:41 AM
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NaiKun's president is ready for his close up 


Paul Taylor, the President and CEO of NaiKun wind energy will be taking his tale of progress on the much anticipated off shore wind power project to the world of business television on Tuesday.

In a press release as part of their quarterly update to investors, Taylor advised those with an interest in the project that he will be appearing on the Business News Network Tuesday morning at 7:50 AM Pacific Time, with plans to provide a status report on the project and what moves may come next with it. For those inclined to channel surf for it, BNN is available on Satellite channel 504 on Shaw Direct, 508 on Bell ExpressVu and on CityWest's Digital Channel 73.

In the report, Taylor provided a thumbnail sketch of the steps so far in the pursuit of wind power on the North coast, including their bid to be one of BC Hydro's Clean Power Call providers, a decision of which has now been delayed until March 31st at the request of the Hydro Corporation. At that time it is anticipated that contract awards will be announced, a move which could provide a major boost to the expectations of Nai Kun's plans for the Northwest.

The company touches on their recent status as having received an Environmental Assessment Certificate, a status which they suggest puts them ahead of a good number of the 47 other Clean Power Call participants in the province.

The pending partnership with the Haida was also addressed, a joint venture which would see the Haida Nation take on a 40 per cent ownership stake in the project. However, the Haida's participation has yet to be voted on by nation members, with a number of public meetings still to be held before that plan moves forward.

All of their efforts are to position themselves to be awarded an Electricity Purchase Agreement from BC Hydro, a key element to the project which would move the project ahead in its progress.

Once they have that step in place, NaiKun Wind says it would then move quickly to finalize arrangements with project co-owners, sign supplier agreements, finalize project permits and procure project financing.

While they wait for the various pieces of their project to come together, the best approach it seems is a public relations press, which seems to be well underway with press releases and television appearances to help get the NaiKun message out to the public and we suspect more importantly to the investors.

// posted by KP @ 12:04 AM
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Sunday, February 07, 2010

It's the economy (Weekend Edition February 6 & 7, 2010) 

A retirement plan that glitters, Krugman strives to save America and will Greece begin a domino of debt, some of the items of the weekends financial reviews.

Globe and Mail-- Toyota poised to take action on Prius
Globe and Mail-- G7 reaffirms commitment to bank reform
Globe and Mail-- Big Six banks urge Ottawa to tighten mortgage rules
National Post-- Arctic G7 meeting ends with a whimper
National Post-- Has gold earned its place in RRSPs?
National Post-- If the IPCC were Toyota
New York Times-- European Central Bank in a Squeeze
New York Times-- In Super Bowl Commercials, the Nostalgia Bowl
New York Times-- America Is Not Yet Lost
USA Today-- More consumers just say no to credit cards
USA Today-- 2010 USA TODAY Ad MeterSM tracks Super Bowl XLIV ads
USA Today-- Long-term unemployed still wait for recovery to arrive
Guardian UK online-- Branson warns that oil crunch is coming within five years
Guardian UK online-- Industry and unions in Ireland join forces to oppose budget cuts
Guardian UK online-- The wider financial impact of southern Europe's Pigs
Times online UK-- BP faces protest over oil sands development
Times online UK-- Sharpening the knives to avoid a Greek tragedy
Telegraph UK-- Gordon Brown to attend crisis talks over Greece
Telegraph UK-- Greek Ouzo crisis escalates into global margin call as confidence ebbs
Telegraph UK -- Wrong time for Tories to start wobbling over spending cuts
Melbourne Herald Sun-- Sharing pain may be of little gain
Melbourne Herald Sun-- Bank shield removed
Brisbane Times-- Marching to a different drum
Brisbane Times-- Game on in wealth management
Sydney Daily Herald-- Government's switched on energy move
Sydney Daily Herald-- Banker Sung Kyu Chung 'stole $7m for sex with prostitutes'
People's Daily-- China's fiscal revenue rises 55.8% in Dec.
People's Daily-- China to levy anti-dumping duties on U.S. chicken
China Daily -- Chinese vice premier stresses economic structure adjustment
China Daily -- Rio Tinto gets new chief in China
Times of India-- Worst is over, food prices will be stabilized soon: PM
Times of India-- Economy to grow by 7.5% in 2009-10: PM

// posted by KP @ 10:34 PM
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Saturday, February 06, 2010

Let the competition begin! 


Prince Rupert, your games are on!

Friday night featured the opening ceremonies of the Northern BC Winter Games as Prince Rupert welcomed participating athletes, officials and family members from across the region. The celebration of sport and friendship was underway shortly after 7 pm with a march in of participants, followed by some entertainment and speeches from a number of officials who offered their thanks for the competitors arrival and best wishes for a successful games.

24 hours earlier on Thursday night provided quite the scene for Rupert with the kind of traffic jams that make Vancouver famous, while buses arrived at staggered times through the evening, the congestion still managed to create a bit of grid lock in the parking lot of the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre, however once things got flowing, events proceeded rather smoothly through the arrival evening, with most of the accreditation and reception duties taken care of by 10 pm.

Friday featured the first full day of competition at a variety of venues around the city, providing a jam packed schedule of events open to the public from pee wee hockey and high calibre basketball, to archery, karate, curling and a wide cross section of sports available for your enjoyment.
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The competition and events continue on Saturday and Sunday, with the closing ceremonies anticipated for 11:30 on Sunday morning, with the buses rolling out of town shortly after the noon hour.

The beehive of activity found on Friday must have been a rewarding sight for the organizing committee and its battalion of volunteers who have pulled together an event that seems to be fulfilling it's motto of "Where Fun Reigns".

You can check out the Games website for details on what events are on the schedule for Saturday and Sunday, as well there is a facebook page dedicated to the games providing information on the events and the opportunity to provide some feedback on the event.

Congratulations to all involved in bringing the event to its successful launch on Friday night, a frantic 36 hours is ahead, but judging by the high quality of some of the events it's surely going to be an enjoyable 36 hours.


// posted by KP @ 1:49 AM
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Podunk Below the Masthead (Friday, February 5, 2010) 

Remembering a tragic fire of twenty years ago, slivers of information about Watson Island and the BC Northern Winter Games kick off, some of the items of note for the Friday news cycle.

Daily News, front page, headline story
A LITTLE TOUCH OF FRANCE COMES TO PRINCE RUPERT -- It's an interesting choice for their marquee story in the Friday paper, while the Northern BC Winter Games cranked up the activities on Friday, they were relegated to but a small sidebar item on the front page. Instead of a comprehensive report on the kick off to the games that Prince Rupert is hosting (something that locals might have expected to see), the front page, headline story featured a look at a culinary happening at the Crest Hotel as the hotel celebrates "A Taste of France".

Mayor Jack Mussallem breaks his silence (well sort of) on the ongoing issues surrounding the latest developments in the Watson island situation. Providing some information on the circumstances of a civil suit initiated by the former owner Sun Wave, however, those looking for a detailed review of that suit will be disappointed, His worship fell back on the standard line of no comment on many of the aspects of possible court activity.

Friday's paper provides a look at a cold case file of twenty years ago, as Patty Rochon the daughter of Helga Rochon continues to seek out answers to what happened in the Brooksbank building of February 5th of 1990. Twenty years ago a tragic fire at that downtown location, cost her mother her life along with her sisters Sherri and Pauline and a niece Kimberlee. The Brooksbank fire was one of Prince Rupert's hardest to fight fires and most memorable fires, one which still haunts the community to this day, never solved as a murder by arson, it remains on RCMP files, awaiting more information and day hopefully closure for Ms. Rochon.

Basketball is the featured item in the Friday sports section as the Junior and Grade 8 high school action of the week is reviewed.

(Archive for Daily News Articles for February 5, 2010 )

The Northern View
Sun Wave takes City of Prince Rupert to court over right to equipment at Watson Island -- The Northern View offers up some background on Sun Wave Forest Products move to litigation over issues surrounding Watson Island (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
2010 Northern BC Winter Games Begin! -- CFTK News offers up some early developments from the Northern BC Winter Games as the competitors arrive in Prince Rupert and head out for their first day of events (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
Shames Reduces Operations -- Local ski fans have one less day to work with until spring break, as Shames Mountain reduces its days of operation, closing the hill on Wednesday's owing to a lower than average snowfall and a poor economy (see article here)

Queen Charlotte Islands Observer
Airline in for the summer-- Hawkair announces a summer romance with Haida Gwaii, with planned regular service (with the exception of Wednesdays and Sundays) to the Islands for summer months (see article here)
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CBC News, Northern British Columbia, Daybreak North
The return of local content on the CBC website continues to experience delays as technical woes appear to be continuing. The CBC has once again revised their start up date for the new service, advising that the site will launch "shortly"

Daily News, front page headline story
A little touch of France comes to Prince Rupert
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Friday, February 5, 2010

A little Parisian culinary light on North Coast nights sounds like a
good idea.

That’s what the Crest Hotel executive chef Willy Beaudry hopes to prove over the next 24 days as he adds a bit of French flare to his already varied menu.

With help from Parisian chef Domnique Dien, Beaudry will provide “A Taste of France” featuring lunch and dinner menus co-created by chefs Beaudry and Dien, showcasing French dishes and desserts, along with French music playing in the background and a selection of wines to compliment the meal and create an atmosphere right out of Paris.

For Beaudry, this is an excellent opportunity to prove to local diners that Prince Rupert can very well provide the type of dining experience that some may believe to be reserved for the beau monde of big city life.

“This is what we are trying to do with these ‘tastes of’ months. We want local diners to have a variety of experiences when they dine out in Prince Rupert,” explained Beaudry. “That’s why Dominque is here this week.”

Scooping Dien for the week was a culinary coup. The man has a pedigree some chefs can only dream of. And on February 4 and 5 he will be preparing French specialties for guests at the Crest Hotel.

Dien spent years preparing French cuisine at famous restaurants such as Maxims de Paris and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and at restaurants at the Four Seasons, and Sutton Place Hotel groups. His expertise in the kitchen also provided Dien with the opportunity to serve as the chef for the Shah, or King, of Iran and his visiting dignitaries.

Dien has brought that experience and earned knowledge to the North Coast so that the team at the Crest can learn from his gifted discoveries.

One thing Dien has already discovered, from two decades of working in Canada, is that while the country does not have the same kind of history of cooking, it is developing quickly into a passionate and quality nation of cuisine.

Dien arrived in the Great White North in the 1980s as a bushy-eyed 20-year old. Having already worked in a variety of signature restaurants in Paris, he had no idea what to expect. A lot of chefs were coming to Canada from Europe at that time, with most hotel kitchens featuring a staff ratio of 90 per cent European and 10 per cent Canadian.

That’s changed, and some of that can be attributed to the arrival of big name, Canadian-bred chefs such as Rob Feenie – the Iron Chef.

“The biggest difference between Canada and France is the long term commitment. In France we begin cooking at a young age and so the love for cooking is not simply a profession as it is here. People here don’t really decide they want to cook until they are much older, into their 20s. But saying that, the passion in B.C. has changed. The quality is getting closer,” said Dien.

One of the most important messages both Beaudry and Dien wanted locals to understand is, the type of dining experience that they are cooking up does not require diners to break the bank.

Among the many delectable meals are salade de canard tiede (warm duck salad), moules a la crème (French island mussels), bouef bourguignon, cote de veau grille (grilled fresh veal) and ravioli homard (lobster ravioli). And a reasonable price won’t upset the quality.

“It’s important that people realize that they don’t need to get a mortgage to have a special dining experience,’ said Dien.

// posted by KP @ 1:05 AM
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Friday, February 05, 2010

The Fraser Institute picks its messenger 


The Fraser Institute released its always controversial elementary school rankings to the public on Friday, a listing of 876 schools based on the results of the Foundation Skills Assessment tests conducted on an annual basis.

We'll explore the results in a post later this weekend, after we've had a chance to look over all the data, but what we did find of interest is the "sneak preview" or "exclusive" granted to an apparently favoured media outlet in the province.

As we noted on the blog on Tuesday, the Northern View posted the first early returns on the Fraser Institutes numbers this year, an article featuring some of the details on how local schools fared, flagged as an exclusive and posted to the publications web site.

As it turns out, the Fraser Institute provided many such exclusives to member papers of Black Press, a collective of community papers across the province, of which the Northern View belongs.

The early release to Black Press of specific elements of the report, was something that was noticed by the larger papers in the province, with the Vancouver Sun's Janet Steffenhagen outlining some of the fallout from that release on her always interesting to read Report Card blog.

As she predicted in her blog item, the report has been released in full as of Friday, making it now available for a comprehensive review and examination of the findings and how they may impact on education across the province.

Why Black Press was favoured with that sneak preview is a curiosity, perhaps the Fraser Institute fancies them to be fellow travellers in their cause, or soul mates in philosophy, but if so, they perhaps have mis-understood that relationship.

While the researchers and executives of the institute may find common ground with individual publishers and investors in the chain, down in the trenches of journalism it seems that the story wasn't going to be turned into just a PR exercise.

Locally, Shaun Thomas provided some balance on the Prince Rupert findings by providing feedback from local School District 52 officials and representatives of the PRDTA. School Board chair Tina Last offered up an opinion of a desire to not have the school board caught in the middle of the ongoing controversy over the tests. Understandable perhaps what with more than enough to keep them occupied this spring, the school board is hesitant to get drawn into the emotional debate over the tests, though some might suggest that such things very well may be their mandate.

Of even more interest however than the local reaction, has been an editorial which appeared in the Golden Star, provided by the publisher of publications for the Kootenays, Chuck Bennett, who provided the following as part of his reasoned and informative preamble to the Fraser Institute's gift:

Usually these results would be first released in the Vancouver Sun and Province, but this year the Fraser Institute approached The Golden Star’s parent company Black Press about getting the exclusive rights to run these report cards before any other media in the province. I was initially opposed to the offer because I believe these “report cards” are really nothing more than fodder for this province’s over-zealous right wing.

"I still believe that.
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Clearly the Fraser Institute was wrong if they thought that by approaching the community newspapers of the province they were going to get a head start and maybe a free ride on the pushing their agenda, without any push back.
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Rather than providing the findings with a tug of a forelock and published without balance, those papers, or at least the ones that Mr. Bennett has control over offered up a refreshing examination of the reports and how they are viewed.

Mr. Bennett's full editorial from the Golden Star can be found here, but if nothing else a pair of closing paragraphs from it perhaps provides the most lucid examination of how these rankings can affect education in local communities and more importantly, what they don't seem to address when it comes to what should be celebrated in education in the province.
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"The negative impact of these reports should also not be undermined. Because of its flaws, this report casts what are likely very good schools, and ultimately very good teachers, in a bad light. For example, schools in very poor communities are compared with schools in wealthy communities, and while the schools may be equal in size, that is where the equality ends. There might be wonderful things happening in the poorer school, but that day’s biggest challenge might be maintaining a breakfast program so that students learn on a full stomach.
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"Another reason is because I hope it leads to positive and important discussions between parents and their child’s teachers and the school’s administration. I hope that by presenting both sides of this issue, parents will take the time to find out more about their child’s education and the many successes that are happening within our schools, and I truly believe the successes far outweigh the failures. Ultimately, that might be the best report card any school could get."
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Bravo to Mr. Bennett, who clearly understands the role of the media in our communities, not as cheerleaders or agents of spin, but as a valuable service that should be dedicated to providing all sides of a story, examining the issues that are of the most importance to a community and speaking out on them when required.

He more than fulfilled that mandate with his handling of the "sneak previews" of this week.

// posted by KP @ 11:49 PM
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Googles of February 2010 

From the Podunkian inbox to an archive on the blog, from February, here are the items of note we found with the simple mention of Prince Rupert.

February 5-- Sun Wave takes City of Prince Rupert to court over right to equipment at Watson Island
February 5-- Airline in for the summer
February 4-- 2010 Northern BC Winter Games Begin!
February 4-- NaiKun Wind: Quarterly Shareholder Update
February 3-- Relive Olympic Torch Relay New Aiyansh, Kitsumkalum
February 3-- Better understanding the value of the sport fishing industry
February 3-- Swim results
February 3-- Prince Rupert Prepares for Northern Winter Games
February 3-- Olympic Flame Wows Northwest Residents
February 3-- New totem pole is nearing completion
February 3-- Prince Rupert hopes Games herald better times
February 3-- Torch visits towns hit by changing B.C. economy

// posted by KP @ 11:15 PM
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It's the economy (February 5, 2010) 

Debt load of nations making stock markets nervous, seeking a Gold Medal in Olympic beer selling and is Portugal the next economic domino, some of the items of note for Friday.

Globe and Mail-- Toyota: Too big, too fast
Globe and Mail-- Canada is rising
Globe and Mail-- Recovery teeters as debt threat spreads
National Post-- Eurozone woes add urgency to Iqaluit G7
National Post-- Mont Tremblant not for sale, Intrawest says
National Post-- Has Microsoft become clumsy, dysfunctional and uncreative?
Vancouver Sun-- Take a tour of the Erickson
Vancouver Sun-- Microbreweries duking it out with the giants in hop-sided Olympics beer war
New York Times-- Debt Problems Chip Away at Fortress Europe
New York Times-- Fiscal Scare Tactics
New York Times-- Toyota’s Chief Steps Forward to Apologize
USA Today-- Questions and answers on Europe's debt crisis
USA Today-- Portugal defeats austerity measures
USA Today-- Toyota president apologizes, will head quality committee
Guardian UK online-- Spain seeks to calm fears it is 'next Greece' as European markets plunge
Guardian UK online-- Jitters in Cameron camp as economy threatens to derail Tory bandwagon
Guardian UK online-- It's still the economy, stupid
Times Online UK-- Time will tell whether the Bank is right to be cautious
Times Online UK-- Greeks don’t care for cuts
Telegraph UK online-- Eurozone 'pigs' are leading us all to slaughter
Telegraph UK online-- Britain in line for blistering economic recovery, OECD indicator suggests
Telegraph UK online-- Bank calls time on quantitative easing
Melbourne Herald Sun-- Harvey Norman sales recover
Melbourne Herald Sun-- Treasurer Wayne Swan welcomes stronger Reserve Bank of Australia forecasts
Brisbane Times-- Week of non-surprises leaves no one gasping for breath
Brisbane Times-- Rational valuation is the elephant in the room
Sydney Daily Telegraph-- Miranda Kerr's banker fan David Kiely to keep job
Sydney Daily Telegraph-- Reserve Bank modestly lifts inflation forecasts, sees further rate rises
People's Daily on line-- Central emergency reserve systems successfully handle unexpected events
People's Daily on line-- Hu's transformation call signals confidence in recovery
China Daily-- Chinese shares fall to three-month low - Fri
China Daily-- Rio Tinto hires new China boss to improve ties
Times of India-- India may mull Shariah banking
Times of India-- ‘Indian economy set to grow at 8.5% in 2010-11’

// posted by KP @ 3:59 PM
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Podunk Below the Masthead (Thursday, February 4, 2010) 

Child poverty and educational issues are the focus of a new study, some more background on the latest twist at Watson Island and Northwest Mayors recently took their concerns on the economy to Victoria, some of the items of note for the Thursday news files.

Daily News, front page, headline story
STUDY ON CHILD LEARNING LINKS ABILITIES TO LOCAL PROSPERITY-- A new study published by the Human Early Learning Partnership, has examined the co relation between students who have lived in areas of high poverty in their formative years, and how that can factor in to reduced scores on standard tests by Grade 7 regardless of where they live.

The study which carries the title "Early experiences matter: Lasting effect of concentrated disadvantage on children's language and cognitive outcomes" seems timed to arrive at the same time as the controversial Fraser Institute rankings of schools. Those controversial rankings raise the ire of educators and some parents on an annual basis, with the study from Early Learning Partnership perhaps we're seeing a bit of a push back towards the focus of the Fraser Institute's findings.

The Daily News catches up with all the chatter on line and in coffee shops this week, as it provides some background on the recent court filing by Sun Wave Forest Products as they challenge some of the recent moves by the City of Prince Rupert in the ongoing process of the selling of the Watson Island industrial site. As we outlined on the blog on Wednesday, Sun Wave filed the second of two civil claims on February first, adding yet another level of mystery in the seemingly never ending process of removing Watson Island from the city's depleted bankroll.

Plans are in place to bring back the COPs program for the city, with a spike in break and enters and vandalism of late in the downtown core area, there has been much demand for something to be done. So with that in mind, an introductory meeting to rebuild the program is planned for Tuesday, February 9 at 7:30, taking place in the Community Policing office at City Hall.

The Sports section features a look at recent Senior boys basketball with a review of the final Boys Basketball showcase hosted by PRSS on Wednesday night. The weekly look at the UFC is also featured in Thursday's edition of the paper.

(Archive for Daily News Articles for February 4, 2010 )

The Northern View
No new local items were posted to the Northern View website for Thursday.

CFTK TV 7 News
Plans Proceed for Wood Pellet Plant in Terrace -- Some positive news for Terrace's hard hit forest sector as General Biofuels Canada has moved forward with its plans to develop a wood pellet plant for that northwest city. The company has already secured letters of intent from potential customers in Asia and Europe and hopes to have the plant operational by next year (see article here)

Queen Charlotte Islands Observer
Port's mayor, three others ask for help on the economy -- A delegation of Northwest Mayors presented their concerns on the economic state of the northwest when they met with the government's northern MLAs and to the NDP rural caucus, the Observer outlined some of the concerns that the brought forward during their visit (see article here)

CBC News, Northern British Columbia, Daybreak North
The return of local content on the CBC website continues to experience delays as technical woes appear to be continuing. The CBC has once again revised their start up date for the new service, advising that the site will launch "shortly"

Daily News, front page headline story
Study on child learning links abilities to local prosperity
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Thursday, February 4, 2010

Your child’s learning outcomes may have a lot to do with how much money not only you make, but also what your neighbours earn.

A new study published by the Human Early Learning Partnership is connecting neighbourhood wealth and learning outcomes.

And while the finding might not give a final stamp of approval to preconceived notions that children are simply products of their environment, it does at least lend credence to the notion and that an earlier recognition and commitment to change could mitigate the way a neighbourhood harms educational outcomes.
The study titled “Early experiences matter: Lasting effect of concentrated disadvantage on children’s language and cognitive outcomes,” published last week in the journal Health & Place, finds children who live in neighbourhoods with higher rates of poverty show reduced scores on standardized tests seven years later – regardless of the child’s place of residence in Grade 7.

The study is the first of its kind to compare the relative effects of neighbourhood poverty at early childhood and early adolescence.

“Our findings suggest that it’s not necessarily where children live later in life that matters for understanding literacy in early adolescence – it’s where they lived years earlier,” says lead researcher Jennifer Lloyd, HELP researcher. “Children’s reading comprehension may be set on a negative course early in life if children and their families are living in resource-deprived places.”

Poverty does not mean immobility. In fact, the report claims that higher rates of residential mobility are associated with poverty, unemployment, family disruption and single parenting. but that those first few experiences in a neighbourhood before turning five tend to stick with a child, regardless of where they live after.
The implications could be significant for Prince Rupert and other economically struggling northern communities.
According to statistics released by School District 52 Superintendent Lynn Hauptman in December, Prince Rupert’s kindergarten students appear to be falling behind when it comes to their readiness for school.
Since the 2006-2007 school year, both basic skills and phonological skills have declined significantly in the first half of the year, leaving educators wondering why.

Theories have abounded, but there is no concrete explanation as to why only 30 per cent of five-year olds last year met education standards for basic skills compared to 66 per cent two years before.

One theory is the cost of economic disadvantage. People who live in poverty have a harder time providing the kinds of educational opportunities that are provided to children of wealthier backgrounds.

Prince Rupert has the highest level of vulnerable children in the province (based on physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication skills and general knowledge), and the rate has been increasing over the past three years. If there is recognition of the way a community’s economic strength affects a child’s ability to read, then perhaps there is a way to mitigate the disparity between educational outcomes of wealthy and poor kids.

The report suggests the sooner that recognition comes from parents, neighbours and policy makers, the better a child’s educational chances.

“The neighbourhood-level findings are still predicting worse scores seven years later and that’s over and above what we know about the individual children,” said the study’s author, Jennifer Lloyd.

The study could not have come at a better time for locals who have opposed the results. The Fraser Institute leaked its annual report to Black Press, publishers of the Northern View, yesterday, but the results probably won’t shock the community.

In the report, Annunciation School led the way in Prince Rupert with a ranking of 133 out of 876, a significant improvement from it’s five-year ranking of 316th. Westview was next, ranked 485th, followed by Pineridge at 552nd, and Conrad at 716th.

Two Prince Rupert schools, Lax Kxeen and Roosevelt, finished in the bottom 50 with rankings of 846th and 875th respectively - placing Roosevelt second to last in the province.

In Prince Rupert, the South/Ferry neighbourhood that includes much of the local stock of BC Housing residences, is considered one of the most vulnerable blocks in the province. Students attend Pineridge Elementary, Ecole Westview and Roosevelt Elementary, but it is Roosevelt that has had to fight the reputation of being one of the B.C.’s worst performing elementary schools based on Foundation Skills Assessment results. Parents and teachers of Roosevelt have long argued that the school itself is not necessarily underperforming, but that the amount of vulnerable children who attend that school is much higher than the provincial average and this skews the FSA results.

In response, and in conjunction with Success by Six, it is Roosevelt that provides a unique program that acknowledges the challenges South/Ferry faces.

The PACES Hub at Roosevelt encourages parents to drop in for free and improve their reading competency, while at the same time feeling supported as they receive information on how to provide positive behaviour models for home. According to program director Emily Mlieszcko, there are about 200 parents who make use of the program each month.

Mlieszcko said they are starting to see direct benefits from the program in the surrounding community.
“It’s really starting to turn around. The parents are way more engaged in what the children are doing at a young age, and also the parents’ competencies are increasing, too, because they are asking for more support on things they don’t know,” explained Mlieszcko.

Among the subjects they are asking to be educated on is financial literacy. Parents want to know how they can use every dollar to the best of their ability.

“When they can do that, their children are happier because they are able to support their children for a longer time throughout their paycheck periods,” Mlieszcko added.

Jennifer White, one of the Hub’s 200, knows what has to be overcome if she is to give her daughter every opportunity for a full education in Prince Rupert. Before joining the program, she says she was unable to read to her children and felt her illiteracy was holding her children back from receiving a full education. It was also hurting how she related to them.

“The separation between myself and my children in education had definitely become an extra barrier,” said White.

White, 24, lives in the Roosevelt Elementary School catchments area, which is one of the city’s toughest, least economically vibrant neighbourhoods. She knows that she will have to do more with less if those opportunities are going to open up.

With her daughter entering kindergarten, and not speaking very much, White felt that the Hub could improve her child’s communication skills. But it turned out that the Hub was working for her, as well.

White has become more involved in her daughter’s education, and has taken a more active role in her daughter’s life, which she attributes to her time spent in the program. With that increase, explained White, her daughter had changed for the better.

“It is wonderful working and watching her grow. It makes me absolutely happy,’ said White. “She wasn’t really talking and used to only spit out one word sentences, and couldn’t socialize. Now, she loves to socialize.”
But it isn’t just parents that Lloyd’s study hopes to encourage toward an increased positive involvement. She said because it is the neighbourhood factors – external factors – that are shown to influence how a child learns, it was important that the community becomes a positive place for education.

“Kids are influenced, not only by their own individual traits and characteristics, but obviously also by the parents, by community members, educators, by community resources and a whole milieu of influences that will impact a child. Having a a large network around you that are all working together to help you thrive is crucial for a child to do well in life. It does not just come down to parents,’ said Lloyd.

And where a community has a higher level of involvement in each other’s lives, there is a support network for children to fall back on both socially and academically. For instance, where there are higher levels of aboriginal concentration, aboriginal children learn at a faster pace. And the thinking is, said Lloyd, it takes a village to raise a child. That seems to be more based on the involvement of friends and family in each other’s lives and less than it being an ethnic result.

“The predominate school of thought there, and it is not something that is specific to Aboriginal kids – you could do that with Chinese kids, German kids or whoever – the thought is that when you are around people who share your world views and your cultural values – and can look out for one another to build a healthy community – then that can have beneficial effect for learning development,” said Lloyd.

The question now is whether or not PACES will continue on in its current neighbourhood. It is one of Success by Six’s programs, but Roosevelt faces closure along with Westview and Port Edward Elementary. Roosevelt has serious infrastructural upgrades that would be very costly for the school district to fix. For now, the future of the PACES program is cloudy.

Diane Hopkins runs the day–to-day operations of the program and hopes it continues. Sitting down as children play noisily around her, Hopkins said she believes that the program is important for the South/Ferry area.

“In a sense, this program teaches parents that it is not the money that helps education, it is the people,” said Hopkins.

Down the hall from Hopkins is Charlie Carlick’s office. Carlick is Roosevelt’s Childcare worker and has been involved with children’s early education in Metlaklatla and Prince Rupert for some time. The success he’s seen when neighbourhoods are stable and residents are encouraged to be involved in a child’s education astounds him. That’s why he is fighting to save Roosevelt from closure. He does not want PACES removed from the area.

“It’s important because education is a big part of our economics. If we are going to develop, we need to educate our people. The more education we have in Prince Rupert, the better off our city will be.”

// posted by KP @ 3:09 PM
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You say you want a referendum, well we all wanna change the tax... 




The return of Bill Vander Zalm to the province's political scene took another step today, as Gordon Campbell's worst nightmare found favour from Elections BC and can now move forward on his plans to over turn the proposed HST in British Columbia.

Like a boy with his Lego set, the former Premier plans on building up support block by block across the province, as he and his fellow axe the tax coalition members fan out to sign up names in a petition to force the issue back to the Liberal government.

Chief Electoral Officer, Harry Neufeld, granted approval for Vander Zalm’s initiative petition application on Thursday, a move that will see the former Premier begin his quest on April 6th. A process that will have him seeking to collect enough names within ninety days, compiling the signatures of at least 10 per cent of the registered voters in each of the province's 85 electoral districts. As a condition for the petition to be accepted as valid, those who sign it must have been registered to vote on the date the petition was issued.

If his initiative is successful, it would set in motion the process that could bring an end to the agreement between the federal government and B.C. to establish the HST and reinstate the PST with the same exemptions as were in effect as of June 30, 2010.

And while the emotions of the stop the tax movement may get pretty heady in the short term, history dictates that initiatives of this type don't have much success.

Since the initiative process was approved and came into effect in 1995, initiative petitions haven't fared very well, three failed to gain the required amount of signatures, one was withdrawn and two were never submitted into the process.

What remains to be seen this time around is if this cause is one that will motivate the population to ally themselves to the former Premier, or if much of that original anger over the tax has dissipated into a sense of acceptance, leaving this one as a battle that won't in the end be fought.
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Victoria Times Colonist-- Former Premier Bill Vander Zalm gets official nod to try to kill the HST
Globe and Mail-- Bill Vander Zalm approved to fight HST
CBC News-- Former B.C. premier's anti-HST petition gets go-ahead
BC Local News-- Vander Zalm-led petition to drive out HST gets green light

// posted by KP @ 12:43 AM
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Thursday, February 04, 2010

Requesting a course change from Chairman Hahn 


Gary Coons, the MLA for the North coast has added his office to the list of local officials and residents seeking to change the mind of BC Ferries CEO and President David Hahn, who last November appeared in Prince Rupert to outline his plans to introduce the Tsawwassen to Prince Rupert route to the BC Ferries travel itinerary in the summer of 2011.
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An appearance in Prince Rupert which CFTK documented in a news item from December, providing some background on Mr. Hahn's appearance and some of the discussion that flowed from it.
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With the local reaction to the Chairman's plans less than enthusiastic and potential jobs and revenue at stake for the various communities of the Northwest, Bulkley Valley and Central Interior, the MLA who has been a long time advocate for ferry service on the North coast took to his word processor to offer up his thoughts.

Following the lead of Prince Rupert City council and Tourism Prince Rupert, in sending his own correspondence to Liberal Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Shirley Bond, seeking her help in changing Mr. Hahns direction of sail on this initiative.

Among some of the concerns from the MLA is the potential loss of some 100 full time casual jobs and 40 student employment opportunities, as well as the unknown number of full time positions that could be affected by a change of the point of assembly for the vessel to Tsawwassen from Prince Rupert.

The drastic reduction of sailings out of Prince Rupert is another concern for Coons, who suggests that those substantial reductions planned would have a tourism impact from Haida Gwaii to Prince Rupert and along the Yellowhead highway to Prince George.

City Council offered up their own letter to the Minister back in January outlining much of the same items that concern the MLA, their efforts became focused on the challenge after David Hahn's appearance in November created a rather vociferous backlash in the community.

His November chat was met with lukewarm interest from the audience in attendance, and included some rather harsh words from Councillor Gordon-Payne who expressed her frustration with the way that BC Ferries handled their session, and the total disregard for the people who spoke that BC Ferries seemed to exhibit back in that November.
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Considering the frequent hands off approach that the Liberal government has had with matters regarding BC Ferries, it's not known what impact the letter writing campaign will have on Minister Bond or the Premier.

Still if Mr. Hahn is paying attention, he will quickly come to the realization that his planned refinements to the travel schedules for the North coast aren't gaining much favour from the target audience.

The proposed Tsawwassen to Prince Rupert run is proving to be about as popular as one of the infamous breakfast specials from the bad old days of BC Ferries cuisine.

It's proving to have little appeal and seems to be rather hard to digest.

// posted by KP @ 11:51 PM
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Prince Rupert Business line owners could pay more to CityWest in March 


Prince Rupert's beleaguered business class can add on one more expense this spring, as CityWest announces pending increases to their business line services effective in March.

In a release posted to their website, the city owned telecommunications company outlined its application to the CRTC to increase rates from $37.88 per month to $42.88, explaining that the company has not increased the business line rate in Prince Rupert since June of 2007. (see application from CRTC website here)

By way of further background on their request CityWest provided on their website a comparison between Terrace and Prince Rupert business line costs, which shows the cost in Terrace currently is at $74.61 per month, which as they state is still significantly higher than the new proposed rate change.

If approved by the CRTC, the new rates would include such services as Individual Business Lines, Business Fax Lines, Business Digby Lines, Business 800 Service Lines, Off Premise Business Lines and Payphones.

In addition to those increases, CityWest also intends to seek approval for increases to the data line rates from $42.05 per month to $45.45 per month.

Also on the website, and something that we're sure won't escape the eyes of local business operators is the review of the recent expansion of services in Kitimat, the completion of the fibre optic link to that city and the recent purchase of a new office building to serve that city.

Local businesses in Rupert may wonder perhaps just how much of their monthly contributions to the CityWest coffers is being used in the ambitious expansion plans, all while local users find the cost of their existing services is on the increase, reducing that locally owned advantage with every requested increase.

The rate increase request comes shortly after CityWest outlined for a Chamber of Commerce audience how they believed that 2010 was on track to be the best year on record, a success story that those paying the increased rate load may now have a few questions about.

We wonder if during that good news discussion if they advanced the proposed rate structure to that group back in January, especially since they made their request to the CRTC five days after the Chamber of Commerce discussion time.

On the Citywest website is the statement of Consumer Rights, including a link to a document from the CRTC outlining those rights of customers. Included in the reading is an item from page thirteen which advises that customers have the right to express their comments and concerns and the right to participate in CRTC proceedings.

Locals who may wish to take advantage of those rights and comment on the proposed rate increases can contact the CRTC through their website, with an online submission form to offer their thoughts on.

// posted by KP @ 11:16 PM
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It's the economy (February 4, 2010) 

Canada can prepare to sell in America, revealing the mystery men of the financial crisis and a new package for 57 varieties some of the items of note for Thursday.

Globe and Mail-- Financial system fix at G7 tested by competing national interests
Globe and Mail-- Europe's debt crisis threat to recovery
Globe and Mail-- Canadian companies poised to win exemption from Buy American
National Post-- Iqaluit G7 preview: debates about relevance, financial reform
National Post-- Buy American exemption reached
National Post-- Lost productivity could cost each Canadian $30,000: Carney
Vancouver Sun-- Tolko president Al Thorlakson steps down
New York Times-- Investors Fear Europe’s Woes May Extend Global Slump
New York Times-- Cuomo Sues Bank of America, Even as It Settles With S.E.C.
New York Times-- Mystery Men of the Financial Crisis
USA Today-- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway no longer rated AAA
USA Today-- Heinz revamps ketchup packets
USA Today-- Stocks tumble on worries about jobs, European debt
Guardian UK online-- Bank of England halts quantitative easing
Guardian UK online-- British Gas cuts gas prices by 7%
Guardian UK online-- Markets fall on widening deficit fears and rising US unemployment
Times Online UK-- Shell to cut 1,000 jobs and close six refineries
Times Online UK-- Revived but on life-support
Telegraph UK online-- Toyota is the latest embarrassment for Japan
Telegraph UK online-- Fears of 'Lehman-style' tsunami as crisis hits Spain and Portugal
Telegraph UK online-- How long before the lights go out?
Melbourne Herald Sun-- Asciano signs big haulage deal
Melbourne Herald Sun-- Mixed retail and building results
Brisbane Times-- Relish a revival of abundance, beware snakes
Brisbane Times-- Hanging out with bad company
Sydney Daily Telegraph-- $17m on failed tender not a waste
Sydney Daily Telegraph-- 'Down Under' ripped off Kookaburra tune - Judge
People's Daily on line-- Soros: China seen as a motor of global economy
People's Daily on line-- China's first lottery hotel starts construction in Hainan
China Daily-- Faster economic adjustment 'brooks no delay': Hu
China Daily-- China-Africa economic co-op committee founded
Times of India-- Get set to pay more for petrol, diesel
Times of India-- No real gain from extended trade hrs

// posted by KP @ 10:28 PM
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Mr. Stewart enters the Lions den 

The champion of late night satire entered the lair of the right on Wednesday night, as Jon Stewart host and creative force behind The Daily Show went up toe to toe with the Fox News icon Bill O'Reilly on the O'Reilly factor.

It provided for an entertaining exchange of Liberal and Conservative points, with Stewart clearly relishing his trip into the famed O'Reilly "No Spin Zone", among some of the classic zingers that Mr. Stewart snuck into the Fox environment was a shot at the tendencies of Fox to act as some kind of shadow government.

As well as offering praise for O'Reilly as the voice of sanity at Fox (delivered with perfect comedic timing and adding the caveat of it being akin to being the skinniest kid at Fat farm), he highlighted the sense of panic that Fox News seems to thrive on in their daily News presentations.

Overall we're not sure if the folks at Fox caught all the incoming shots that were put out across their cable and satellite links, and even O'Reilly had problems coming up with a term to describe fellow Conservative gabfest host Glen Beck, but we imagine that the entire staff on the set on Wednesday had to be deprogrammed afterwards, lest any of Mr. Stewarts Liberal agenda managed to settle into their brains.

You can view the fast paced discussion thanks to the wonders of You Tube, the second of the two clips below also include Dennis Miller's interpretation of the O'Reilly/Stewart exchanges and a rather strange little session with a body language analyst who examined their body movements during the session.
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There's more of Mr. Stewart on the O'Reilly show on Thursday, clearly having a Liberal commentator must be a ratings winner for the folks at Fox, since they seem to enjoy featuring the O'Reilly/Stewart exchanges, we'll include Thursday's show later in this spot should it appear on YouTube as well.
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Part two of the Stewart/O'Reilly debates, aired Thursday, February 4, 2010.
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// posted by KP @ 11:05 AM
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Podunk Below the Masthead Archives February 2010 

Our archive of the daily findings from Prince Rupert's various media sources, from the Daily News, Northern View, CBC and CFTK News, we outline the main stories of the day for the month of February 2010.

February 3, 2010-- More on the torch relay, questions on class sizes in BC and Kitimat's council aren't all on the same song sheet, some of the items for Wednesday's news gathering. (see post here)

February 2, 2010-- Celebrating the Olympics Prince Rupert style, an advance look at the upcoming Fraser Institute school rankings and the SPCA is in danger of closing, some of the items of interest for Tuesday's news cycle. (see post here)

February 1, 2010-- The Olympic torch arrives in Prince Rupert, the Prime Minister's secretary is about to get a lot of mail and word of another closed meeting a city hall about the fate of Watson Island, some of the items of note in Monday's news files. (see post here)

// posted by KP @ 10:31 AM
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School District school closure consultations continue through February and March 


School District 52 continues its process of consultations this month, as they provide forums for parents at Westview, Port Edward School and Roosevelt Park School to share their thoughts on the potential closure of any or all of the three schools effective August 31, 2011.

With the School District seemingly dedicated to its plan to merge the two high schools at Charles Hays Secondary and create a middle school at the current PRSS site, the existing elementary schools could see both their grade six and seven classes relocated to the planned new school as part of a grade reconfiguration.

It's a move that combined with declining enrollment, increases the chances that more changes will be in store for the elementary system and the district's schools. All points that no doubt will be covered in these consultations.

Westview parents had their open forum on Wednesday night.
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Port Eward parents will meet at their school tonight from 6:30 to 9:00 pm while Roosevelt Park parents have a bit more time to prepare their presentations with their session not planned until Tuesday, March 2nd from 630 to 9 pm, all sessions are planned for the respective schools gymnasiums.

The School District has included its power point presentation on its website to outline some of the talking points for the planned information sessions.

Public presentations are to be made by prior request, with four 1o minute presentation time slots available per meeting, parents can also provide a written submission on the proposed closures outlining their thoughts and concerns on what promises to be a very controversial bit of decision making for the School District's trustees.

Full details on the process for commentary can be found on the School District website.



// posted by KP @ 12:37 AM
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Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Podunk Below the Masthead (Wednesday, February 3. 2010) 

More on the torch relay, questions on class sizes in BC and Kitimat's council aren't all on the same song sheet, some of the items for Wednesday's news gathering.

Daily News, front page, headline story
OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY CELEBRATION - PRINCE RUPERT STYLE -- Further coverage of Monday's the Olympic torch relay's arrival in the city and the festive atmosphere that evolved in the downtown area as part of the civic celebration.

Dueling press releases leave British Columbians confused as to how class sizes are being determined and what effect that those class sizes are having on the students of the province. The Daily News examined those numbers and reported on the class size situation in the city, which at the moment has six classes of more than 30 students within School District 52.

The enforcement phase of new fines for operating vehicles while talking on cell phone or operating an electronic device was examined in Wednesday's paper. As we outlined on the blog on Sunday, the grace period came to an end at the end of January and police officers will now be watching for and writing tickets when they see motorists disobeying the new regulations.

Hockey is featured in Wednesday's edition with a review of the past weekends Guns and Hoses game and a look at the efforts of the Pee Wee rep team in weekend competition.

(Archive for Daily News Articles for February 3, 2010 )

The Northern View
No new items posted to the Northern View website for Wednesday.

CFTK TV 7 News
Prince Rupert Prepares for Northern Winter Games --The start of the Northern BC Winter Games are less than a day away and CFTK TV 7 provided some background on the final preparations to welcome the participants on Thursday evening (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
Kitimat council too rowdy? -- Public rifts at Kitimat city council sessions have Mayor Joanne Monaghan expressing concerns that the current tensions may impact on the city's approach to dealing with its current economic problems (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
Sahar Nassimdoost's video report on the Olympic torch celebrations in Prince Rupert on Monday.
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CBC News, Northern British Columbia, Daybreak North
The return of local content on the CBC website continues to experience delays as technical woes appear to be continuing. The CBC has once again revised their start up date for the new service, advising that the site will launch "shortly"

Daily News, front page headline story
Olympic Torch relay celebration - Prince Rupert style
By Monica Lamb-Yorski
The Daily News
Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay rolled into Prince Rupert on a gorgeous sunny day.

“I’m really happy about how things went,” said the city’s recreation director Michael Curnes who was part of the local task force organizing the event.

“The weather was amazing. VANOC told us we were very organized considering we had the most complicated show.”

The local Special Events Society had a contract to help City crews handle the logistics and 25 local volunteers worked with VANOC doing everything right down the mascots, explained Curnes.

MC Richard Thompson, formerly of Prince Rupert, told the crowd the local torch task force intended to put the Seafest Parade on the stage and in many ways they succeeded. While there weren’t any floats, there was a plethora of entertainers from varying cultural backgrounds. The colourful backdrop of the travelling stage made the costumes and regalia look stunning.

Dancers from Haida, Nisga’a, Tsimshian, Punjabi and Portuguese background, along with students from Spectrum City Dance, took turns sharing their talents.

Singers Kimberly Truong, Tom & Kate, The Mermaid Café, Sall Gibson, the Sweet Adelines Pacific Mist Chorus and Prince Rupert Community Choir were also all part of the line up.

A trio of drummers sponsored by Coke and a performance painter sponsored by RBC were featured and afterwards RBC donated the painting to the City’s recreation centre and announced they were donating $2,500 to the Friendship House.

From the opening welcome by Hereditary Chief James Bryant to the singing of Happy Birthday marking Prince Rupert’s upcoming centennial on March 10 sung by Danielle Dalton, MLA Gary Coons, MP Nathan Cullen, Mayor Jack Mussallem and Karin Ljungh, it was a full evening.

Chris Cain, regional programming manager for CityWest, was on the roof of City Hall filming the entire event and estimated there were over 1,500 people lining Third Avenue.

He confirmed Tuesday evening that the torch celebration will be broadcast on Channel 10 Wednesday and Thursday at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Curnes said all of the performers will receive a CD of the recording and that the dance groups were each given an honourarium to use toward costumes.

Four sets of bleachers were purchased for the event and used in conjunction with three that already belonged to the recreation department. “We are able to keep those and use them around the ball parks,” said Curnes.
Prince Rupert’s torchbearer, Charlotte Rowse, emerged from an initial list of 54 names generated by the torch task force.

To narrow the list down to a top three, Curnes said the task force extended the decision making to mayor and council.

“We had to submit three names to VANOC in order of preference and we had to contact all three to let them know there was a chance they’d be carrying the torch.”

Six weeks ago, Rowse received confirmation that she would be the one.

The party in Prince Rupert marked the 95th day of the relay and the final countdown to the 2010 Olympic Games which begin on Feb. 12.

// posted by KP @ 11:41 PM
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It's the economy (February 3, 2010) 

Signs of economic turmoil? On the menu today: flipper pie and caribou casserole and not quite what we had in mind in asset appreciations, some of the items of note for Wednesday.

Globe and Mail-- U.S. headed for another bubble: TARP watchdog
Globe and Mail-- Don't drive recalled Toyotas: U.S.
Globe and Mail-- Major potash exporter raises spot price
National Post-- Are we back in the 1970s?
National Post-- Potash Corp shares gain as BPC raises potash prices
National Post-- Spain could cause nightmare for EU
Vancouver Sun-- B.C. boosts film production tax credits
Vancouver Sun-- B.C.'s tech sector betting on 2010 recovery: survey
New York Times-- E.U. Warns of Tough Supervision of Greece’s Budget
New York Times-- Transportation Chief Hastily Backtracks on ‘Stop Driving It’
New York Times-- Bernanke Takes Oath at Fed, Quietly
USA Today-- Toyota pedal fixes underway, but new crises emerge
USA Today-- Bernanke voices economic concerns as he's sworn in
USA Today-- Movie Gallery files bankruptcy protection again
Guardian UK online-- Service sector slows prompting double-dip recession fear
Guardian UK online-- Ofgem: UK cannot trust energy companies to keep the lights on
Guardian UK online-- European commission dictates 'intense' scrutiny of Greek spending cuts
Guardian UK online-- Finance ministers promised a meal of seal at G7 summit in Iqaluit
Times Online UK-- Europe takes legal action over Greece's debt data
Times Online UK-- Britain must take a cold, hard look at itself
Telegraph UK online-- Tories will need emergency Budget for Britain to avoid the risk of a Greek mess
Telegraph UK online-- Greece under EU protectorate as funds shift fire to Portugal
Telegraph UK online-- US commodities market under attack
Melbourne Herald Sun-- Akron collapse delivers $18m hit for ANZ
Melbourne Herald Sun-- A pause, but rates will go higher
Brisbane Times-- Banker busted appraising model's assets
Brisbane Times-- Oiling those squeaky wheels of government
Sydney Daily Telegraph-- Failed broadband tender cost $30m
Sydney Daily Telegraph-- What a degree's really worth in earnings
People's Daily on line-- What's next for China's monetary policy?
People's Daily on line-- China to focus on a stable exit strategy in 2010: economist
China Daily-- China should increase social spending - OECD report
China Daily-- China firms continue global hunt for lucrative commodities
Times of India-- ‘It’s a myth that only leaders know things’
Times of India-- Biyani opens community shops

// posted by KP @ 9:49 PM
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Sun Wave and the City head back to court!! 


The latest twist in the Watson Island show seems to be that of adding the prospect of a trip back to the court room for the City of Prince Rupert.

This as SunWave Forest Products filed a civil claim in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver on Monday, with the City of Prince Rupert listed as the other participant in the legal proceedings.

The discovery of the Sun Wave move (through a search of court listings on the Internet of all places) comes as the Prince Rupert council met in closed session last night, in the latest of closed to the public discussion sessions over the progress of the sale of the Watson Island industrial lands.

It's of interest to note that this is not the first time this year that Sun Wave has filed a claim in court, with a previous one filed against the City of Prince Rupert on January 19th, of which the city's residents have heard nothing of from their elected leaders. It was the first time that Sun Wave took an issue to the legal process since 2008, so one would imagine that the current moves in place to sell the site has provided the motivation for Sun Wave to seek legal opinions.

With a new month and apparently a new court filing, we are left to wonder just what kind of impact these court proceedings have had so far on any potential sale of the site, leaving Prince Rupert to continue paying those maintenance fees (last estimated at close to 100,000 per month) on into the foreseeable future and now adding the bonus feature of billable legal hours to come .

Beyond the growing expense of ownership of the site for now, the biggest concern for taxpayers and residents alike is the lack of information coming forward from our elected officials and the city's upper management.

A cone of silence seems to have descended on city hall in this matter, with the city citing matters of confidentiality and negotiating requirements and now we imagine legal concerns to be added to the quest for silence on the issue.

First it was the refusal to confirm the identity of many of the potential investors or what they had to offer and now its the surprising news that the former owner still is seeking a day in court, for what we don't know. Add on the numerous closed door sessions in the last few months on this issue and it's no wonder the locals are beginning to get a little concerned about where things stand.

Surely the time has come for the city to provide a bit of clarity for its residents as to where we are at the moment and what the future holds both in regard to the proposals received and now the new legal intercessions. Clearly it's time for a little of that much discussed transparency on this issue and the opportunity is at hand for the Mayor and his council to provide a long overdue update on the file.

A good start might be to spring for the six dollars that the court registry asks for to learn more details on the recent claim in court by Sun Wave. It would be helpful to post all of this information regarding the Sun Wave process on the City's website, making it a useful information conduit for the folks that have the biggest investment in all of this.

When the bidding process came to a close in December, it was thought that the Watson Island situation was going to be handled as expeditiously as possible, now into February it continues to meander along a path that seems more of a boondoggle than anything else.

Honestly, the city's residents shouldn't be finding out about surprise developments like court filings and such by making internet searches, we deserve a bit more for our tax dollars than some version of the city knows best, or a pat on the head and the suggestion that all will turn out fine.

The ongoing silence by the Mayor and council is doing little to inspire confidence in their abilities to bring this process to a successful conclusion, a little conversation and some factual information might go a long way to reassuring us that things haven't gone completely off the rails and that our dwindling tax dollars are being protected.
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Update: 10 pm February 3, some interesting documentation has been provided for Podunkians to ponder over on hackingthemainframe, a civic minded Podunkian has ponied up some spending money to access the various legal filings on the Watson Island file.

It all makes for some fine bedtime reading and material that should serve as grist for the discussion sessions for the next little while at better coffee shops and beverage lounges around town. Who knows we may even hear word of this little legal dust up in some of our other media outlets around the city! Though they're clearly a little behind the news curve of more than a few folks in town.

// posted by KP @ 9:29 AM
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Podunk Below the Masthead (Tuesday, February 2, 2010) 

Celebrating the Olympics Prince Rupert style, an advance look at the upcoming Fraser Institute school rankings and the SPCA is in danger of closing, some of the items of interest for Tuesday's news cycle.

Daily News, front page, headline story
OLYMPIC TORCH ARRIVES IN PRINCE RUPERT -- A review of Monday nights downtown festivities surrounding the arrival of the Olympic torch in the city was the featured item in the Tuesday Daily News, Monica Lamb-Yorski covered the street scene and the arrival of long time resident Charlotte Rowse with the flame at City Hall, while George T. Baker relayed the thoughts of some Rupertites as they awaited the arrival of the relay on downtown streets.

Prince Rupert's Centennial celebrations in March will break out in song as "The Dream Lives On" a locally created musical receives 5,000 dollars in additional funding to help put on the celebration in song. As well as the musical some of the other artistically inclined events set for next month were profiled.

Bill Helin a Tsimshian wood carver's creation, a 12 metre canoe carved in 1994 will be on display in a prominent location in Vancouver during the upcoming Olympics, "The Raven's song" will be on display at the Pan Pacific Hotel, part of an Aboriginal cultural home for the Olympics.

(Archive for Daily News Articles for February 2, 2010 )

The Northern View
SPCA shelter in danger of closing -- With a projected loss of 110,000 dollars this year, the city's local animal shelter is in danger of closing its doors. The latest developments in the funding situation for the SPCA is outlined on the Northern View website (see article here)

The Northern View
Exclusive: Fraser Institute Elementary Report Card scores -- The Northern View gets the first glimpse this year of the findings of the Fraser Institute with its annual elementary school rankings, the controversial listing of how schools in Prince Rupert compare with those of other parts of the province.

The rankings have not even posted on the Fraser Institute website yet, so it is a fairly interesting scoop on the annual controversy that the local weekly introduces into the debate over education.

This year according to the Northern View's review, Annunciation moves up to 133rd spot out of 876 schools listed, with Westview was next, ranked 485th, followed by Pineridge at 552nd, and Conrad at 716th. Two Prince Rupert schools, Lax Kxeen and Roosevelt, finished in the bottom 50 with rankings of 846th and 875th respectively a placement which puts Roosevelt second to last in the province. The article also examines the impact that such rankings has on the community and what the local school district thinks of the ranking system in place at the Institute (see article here)

The Northern View
Theft, a fight and drug possession amongst calls to RCMP -- The weekly report from the RCMP detachment outlines a number of the more interesting of calls attended to by local members of the constabulary in the last seven days (see article here)

The Northern View
ANT seeking City support -- Some background on the All Native Basketball Tournament's request for a break on the rent for this years tournament, with ANT organizers seeking a flat rate rent of 10,000 dollars, a fifty per cent reduction from the going rate of 20,000 dollars (see article here)

The Northern View
New totem pole is nearing completion -- Northwest Community college will be the home of a new totem pole in the community, created by master carver Henry Green, the pole was commissioned by the college for the downtown campus it is expected to be raised into place by Seafest in June, until then it will be on display though the location for its debut has yet to be determined. (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
There was no updated news provided on the CFTK website for Tuesday.

CBC News Northern British Columbia, Daybreak North
The return of local content on the CBC website continues to experience delays as technical woes appear to be continuing. The CBC has once again revised their start up date for the new service, advising that the site will launch "shortly".

Daily News, front page, headline story
Olympic torch arrives in Prince Rupert
By Monica Lamb-Yorski
The Daily News
Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Last night 85-year-old Charlotte Rowse stepped out of her realm as a Civic Pride champion and was revealed as Prince Rupert’s mystery Olympic torchbearer.

Holding the torch high, dressed in the 2010 Olympic torchbearer’s issued outfit, she made her way from Sixth Street along Third Avenue to the stage outside of City Hall to loud cheers from the people lining the street.

As she stood on the stage after lighting the cauldron, she heard praise of her efforts in Prince Rupert.

Rowse organizes community garbage cleanups, planters for the downtown and Cow Bay, finds funding for the school banner project each year, has accompanied many choirs and is active in the local Rotary Community Choir.

In earlier days she helped fundraise to build the Mount Hays Ski Hill and taught children how to ski. This past November Rowse’s efforts were recognized when she was the recipient of a Civic Appreciation Award by the City of Prince Rupert.

When it was her turn to speak, Rowse said Prince Rupert is a great place to live and a great place to raise kids. “I still don’t think I should be here,” she said as she waved the torch.

Anyone looking down would have noticed Rowse was wearing her trademark - a pair of red shoes. “I bought those in Spain,” she said afterwards, “It was before I knew I had been chosen to be Prince Rupert’s torch carrier.”

Once described as a “little old lady” after she made a plea at City Hall for funding for planters, Rowse’s reputation is anything but. She skis regularly and is always out walking.

“I’m the secret,” Rowse laughed as people came up to congratulate her. She admitted she knew months ago and had to keep it quiet. She only told her husband Dennis, but her son Judd knew because he was also in the running to be the torchbearer.

“She beat me out,“ Judd said chuckling as he arrived to congratulate his mom after taking photographs from the top of City Hall. “Mom has a little more community spirit than I have. I’ll have to pick up more garbage, a lot more garbage, and I might have to teach some kids something.”

Rowse stands 5 ft. 2 inches so the onus was on her to hold the torch up high for people to see as she did her leg of the relay.

“Was it heavy mom?” Judd asked.

“It was heavy, but I did okay,“ Rowse replied, adding that she had practiced a few times walking around the house with a milk jug held up high, yet eventually gave up the routine, confident that she would be okay to carry the torch.

People walking by, congratulating Rowse, said they had a hunch she had been picked to carry the torch.
“You’re a celebrity,” one woman said, giving her a hug.

Two other torchbearers from Prince Rupert were 17-year-old competitive swimmer and Nisga’a dancer Justin Barton, who ran the first leg, and retiring city engineer Bob Thompson who ran the second stretch.

Barton wore his running suit and held his torch, but donned a traditional headpiece to join the Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a dancers when it was their turn to perform. He proudly danced at centre stage.

Thompson lingered near the stage with three other torchbearers - Sally from North Vancouver and Mike and Linda from Vancouver. And all four were smiling. It was the first time the three from out of town had been in Prince Rupert.

Linda and Mike arrived on Saturday. “Prince Rupert is very friendly and you have great coffee,” said Linda with a smile.

Describing his leg with the torch as “great” and “fantastic”, Thompson said once he reached Sixth Avenue there were people lined along the streets. He had only learned a few days before that he had been picked so it was all a big surprise.

// posted by KP @ 6:32 AM
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