#IdleNoMore

It's tricky: mobilizing masses of people while presenting a consistent message and without causing disruption that could hurt your cause.

The growing Idle No More movement, a product of building frustration among First Nations peoples, is attempting to navigate those conundrums as it executes something resembling a controlled explosion on the national scene. The match that ignited this movement was Bill C 45, the Federal Government's omnibus budget bill that alters parts of the Indian Act and reduces protections for many Canadian waterways. This, along with other recent government legislation, didn't sit well with some native Canadians:

"These colonial forms of legislation that the government expects to unilaterally impose on us has brought us together, to stand together" - Jessica Gordon

They decided that enough was enough and it was time to mobilize.

But how? Just the term "omnibus budget bill" is enough to make people fall asleep. By writing that in this blog post I instantly lost 35 readers. How do you draw people's attention to something like that?

After the initial National Day of Action failed to garner much press; Rallies, flash mobs, hunger strikes and blockades continued to spring up across the nation and the media is taking notice.

With the spot light comes the challenges:

1) a cohesive message: As the Occupy movement grew, different factions in different cities had different objectives, and the message got watered down until most people saw the occupiers as nothing more than a bunch of illegal campers with too much time on their hands.

Idle No More has to maintain a consistent message. Is it a protest against bill C 45, is it about Attawapiskat, or is it a more general thing about indigenous sovereignty and an equal partnership with the Government of Canada, or is it something else? We can see on the news that there are protests, but we don't get a lot of insight into what it's about. They have to keep hammering home their intended message so that it filters through the 120 second news segments on TV and into the skulls of nimrods like me who wait to get fed what they need to know by the mainstream media.

The danger is that different aboriginal leaders will say different things, thus confusing the public and muddling the message. Worse, some may decide to capatalize on the "Idle No More" name recognition to promote their own causes. This will lead Idle down the Occupy path to oblivion, leaving the honest protesters as nothing more than angry Indians marching against who-knows-what in the eyes of many. This is to be avoided.

Already, though, it's happening: today in Winnipeg the Sagkeeng First Nation organized a rally at the Manitoba Hydro building to draw attention to the continued displacement of people in their community by last year's flooding. This is counter-productive. It may be a worthy topic, but it comes at the expense of the Idle movement.

2) keeping the public on your side: It may be tempting to cause disruption because a blockade or other such thing is very effective at getting people's attention, but this too should be avoided. Not all attention is good attention. Sympathy and support for your cause will quickly vanish if you piss people off.

There was a separate event at the Winnipeg airport today that partially blocked traffic. As somebody who recently missed a flight, I can tell you that people who are rushing to catch a plane are not going to be very receptive to anything that gets in their way. Apparently this was not an *official* Idle event, but only in support of it. Most people will not make that distinction. If you want to show support for Idle No More, why don't you show up at an actual Idle No More event instead?

3) supress the lunatics: All public statements by a corporation are tightly controlled by a dedicated PR department. The First Nations do not have such a luxury. There is a Grand Chief, and there are provincial representatives that have a voice, and there are also hundreds of band Chiefs across the country, as well as many other activists and voices. Naturally some are more intelligent than others.

While we have heard some very thoughtful statements from people like Pamela Palmater and Winnipg's own youthful activist phenom Michael Redhead Champage, we also have this guy in the car: http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=832466

“ We ARE the representative! We ARE the example for the world!”

For this to be successful, people need to hear the reasonable and rational voices, and not that guy in the car or, God forbid, a grand standing buffoon like Terry Nelson.

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Alas, I fear these challenges may be too great. The Canadian First Nations are too diverse and loosely knit. It is unlikely that the message can be controlled in the way that it needs to be, and the movement may be undermined by the selfish or misguided acts of those who try to grab the spot light with their own independent protests in the name of Idle No More.

Recommended reading: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/wab-kinew/idle-no-more-canada_b_2316098.html

City financing: thoughts from the peanut gallery

I am going to tread on other peoples' turf here. There are other pundits who are more knowledgeable about City financing than myself, like this guy and this guy. However I am still compelled to chime in because I don't believe this pony has been flogged quite enough. We have been hearing and reading about "new deals" and calls for a share of the PST and whatnot for years, but the whining from the Mayor for more money continues, and is sure to continue as long as the City of Winnipeg is dependent upon the province for funding.

Incidentally, I was just watching feeding time on the falcon cam, and it struck me that it very much resembles the relationship between Sam Katz and the Provincial government.

Yes, we could cut a new deal for a share of the PST or some other revenue stream from the province, but wouldn't it be better if the City wasn't dependant on the province at all? When any organization is responsible for funding itself it tends to be more responsible with its money. This is true with people and this is true with governments. You need look no further than our provincial government and it's free spending ways as evidence of that.

How would you like it if the City could fund itself AND decrease property taxes? While the City of Winnipeg is squawking and begging for Mother Broadway to tear off hunks of it's revenue and stuff it down it's gullet (okay, maybe the falcon metaphor isn't great), the City is collecting close to half a billion dollars a year for the Province. Education is a provincial responsibility, but it is funded in part through property taxes collected by the cities and municipalities. I do not know why it is the way it is, but I suspect it's just one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time and nobody has ever bothered to change it.

This blog post is certainly not the first time that somebody has suggested taking education off the property tax roll, but each time it seems to be shrugged off as some unobtainable pie-in-the-sky idea. The political landscape in these parts, both at the provincial and civic level, has been devoid of bold ideas for far too long. Perhaps it is time to take this concept a little more seriously.

Transfers to the City from the Province in 2009 totaled $187m (both operating and capital). As mentioned, the City collected $474m in school taxes for the Province. If the Province funded education in its entirety and dropped the transfers, the City would have room to increase property taxes to fund itself and still able to reduce the overall property tax bill. In fact, they could increase their revenues by $250m while still reducing the tax bill. No more complaining about not getting enough money from the province to fix roads!

The PC party needs more votes in Winnipeg if they want to form the next government. This issue could be a winner for them. Vote for us: we will reduce your property taxes! Of course, that leaves the Provincial government with a $287m hole to fill, but giving up a point of the PST would be almost as painful. Stop me if I'm out out to lunch here, but if we need to increase funding to Winnipeg this is the best way to do it, plus it simplifies the education funding situation:

We elect trustees for each school division who have the task of setting a budget. While the Province imposes various requirements on them and does not give them the autonomy to close underutilized schools, they also cannot raise the mill rate or else the Provincial government will punish them by withholding their "tax incentive grant". They are between a rock and a hard place. That would no longer be a problem if everything was funded centrally.

If $287m is too big of a pill for the Province to swallow, they could always reduce but not eliminate the education property tax. Have a smaller fixed mill rate for education but still eliminate transfers from the Province to the City. Provincial funding will no longer be driven by what provides the best photo op. No more whining to the province for money and no more sharing the spotlight with a grinning Premier when the ribbon is cut.

Do you want another helicopter? Fund it yourself. Too many pot holes? Fix them yourself. Is the traffic snarled all the time at the new IKEA? Increase taxes by a quarter point and build a bloody overpass like you should have right from the start. You have control over your own revenues. You get the credit. All you have to do is justify it to the tax payers -- as it should be.

School taxes collected by the City:

2008 $465m

2009 $474m

Transfers to the City from the Province:

Operating Capital Total

2008 $135m $53m $188m

2009 $123m $64m $187m

http://winnipeg.ca/finance/files/2009AnnualReport.pdf

Limited Ambulances

The Paramedics of Winnipeg union is taking advantage of the current civic election to push for more ambulances, with a snappy website and PR campaign. You can't fault them for that: more paramedics means more union dues and less work for each medic. It's in their interest to increase their base. Is it in our interest, knowing that the money for each additional ambulance has to come from somewhere else?

I was going home last Monday and

saw a firetruck rushing off to an emergency at a school on Archibald. There was an ambulance in the parking lot that had beaten them there,

and the fire fighters were casually strolling towards the entrance, chatting about something, knowing that they were not actually needed inside. Further down the same road on the same day, there was both an ambulance and a fire truck at an apartment building that was not on fire.

A couple weeks ago, the lady sitting behind me on the bus had a seizure. We called 911 and waited for help. The firetruck showed up first, and the ambulance later. There was another instance where I was playing ball and no fewer than 3 emergency vehicles showed up after a girl got stung by a bee. It wasn't even a killer bee. Just a regular one.

The point is that there is a lot of duplication and unnecessary effort in our emergency response system. This wastefulness doesn't sit well with me. Virtually every medical emergency, regardless of how small, requires two different teams to respond, because the fire truck might get there first, but only an ambulance can actually take somebody to a hospital. This is costly: Edmonton has 40 ambulances and spends $50m per year on that service. Winnipeg, with 60% the population of Edmonton, has only 18 ambulances but spends $44m on paramedic services -- almost the same amount (according to this editorial).

Our combined fire/paramedic system may produce quick response times, but it is a failure in terms of cost-effectiveness in my humble opinion. I agree with the paramedics union: we need more ambulances, but at the same time we need to end the experiment of combined fire/paramedic service and potentially make corresponding cutbacks to the fire service. We also need to work with the health authorities on reducing the time that paramedics spend parked at a hospital twiddling their thumbs as they wait to transfer ownership of the sick guy.

If we can make that procedural improvement, and bump up the number of ambulances a little bit, then we can have good response times while also saving money by cutting the fire fighters loose to focus on dumpster fires and other things that they are best equipped to handle.

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Keeping on theme: here's a video from laid-back tunesters Ambulance Ltd. This one has a bit of a Lou Reed vibe to it. Ciao:


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Blog Action Day 2010: Water

As a blogger, I sometimes put in a half-assed effort to participate in Blog Action Day. This year I resolve to do even less.

I thought about it for a bit. Water. The theme to this year's Blog Action Day and the key to all life on earth. The stuff that I splash on my face after I exfoliate and before I moisturize. (Maybe should have kept that to myself.) What do I have to say about water?

Well for one thing, I grew up around water. A lake was right down the street from my house. I could see it from my front yard. Even if you don't live next to a lake, if you live in the same province that I do then you're never far from a fresh-water lake. We also have water in our wells, in our rivers, in our ditches, pouring over our hydro dams; and too often it's in our basements and flooding our fields. Lately, if we've had any problem it all, it's too much water. Some of it may be dirty, or loaded with phosphorus and algae, but nevertheless we have minimal water problems compared with most other parts of the world.

What do I know about these other parts of the world? I have cleverly managed to avoid dust-caked third world nations in my limited travels around the world, so I have no special insight. I do recall from when I was in Spain that there was a problem with scarce water being diverted from irrigation for farms to posh golf courses and retirement resorts for wealthy Brits. Spain is drying up, as are parts of the U.S. and many other places. Everybody knows this though.

My dilemma about what to write was solved when I came to the realization that "Blog Action" is an oxymoron. There are few things that are less "active" than sitting in front of a computer blogging. The idea I suppose is that people read blogs, and maybe ... maybe ... somebody reading a "Blog Action" post will actually take action of some kind. But I think more than anything else, it's a feel good thing: be a part of a community or movement and experience a sense of camaraderie and purpose that you don't normally achieve by typing on a laptop in a basement while wearing a bath robe.

Perhaps if I had some unique experience to talk about ... but I don't. I installed a rain water collection barrel this year, but sadly I never made use of it. I installed a low-flow toilet in my house, so I guess that's something. I don't water my lawn, but mostly because I don't really care what my lawn looks like. If it can't survive on it's own, then screw it.

I will certainly read other people's posts and see what they have to say. I may learn something or get a new perspective on something. That's fine. But I won't feel bad about my own pitiful contribution. If the topic were "Beer that tastes like water" then okay -- I would have lots to say -- but that's not the case.

for different, probably more enlightened, views from local bloggers: DriveGoddess, SMW, OneManCommittee,

The NDP candidates, to a casual observer

Based solely on what I have absorbed from media reports that have happened to pass through my field of vision over the past few weeks, these are my impressions of the two candidates for leader of the Manitoba NDP party:

Selinger: Same as the old boss. Yawn.

Selinger has made very little impression on me. Policies? Does Selinger have policies? He probably does, but I haven't picked up on any yet. Most of the answers I have heard him give seem to be carefully crafted mumbo jumbo or complete nonsense like "I believe we are a 'have' province". This leads me to believe that Selinger doesn't actually stand for anything other than spending money, and I only know that from his track record under Gary Doer. I think, like his boss, he will be a man of inaction who will be completely unwilling to make the difficult decisions that are required to address some of our problems -- especially if he does not even acknowledge the existence of the problems to begin with.

Bullshit rating*:

* may not be accurate due to insufficient data.


Ashton. Ashton, Ashton, Ashton ... where do I begin?

Steve Ashton: "Mr. Zero Tolerance", left wing nut-bar, bit of a suck.

At least I know that Ashton stands for something. He has principles, even if he has no common sense to accompany those principles. Let's look at some of his policies:

"Dignity Laws" to enforce zero tolerance for hatred. I like how Freedom Manitoba put it: "Ashton wants to see Manitoba become a model for human rights, by violating human rights." We already have laws and mechanisms in place in this country to protect people from dangerous levels of hatred, and if anything, they have already tilted too far towards violating people's rights vs. protecting them from harm. This whole proposal is unnecessary, stupid and dangerous. How are we going to enforce this? Are we going to take police away from busting gangs to arrest people who use racial slurs? Can I still sing along to Tupac in my car?

"Anti-scab" legislation: "a zero-tolerance zone in terms of replace­ment workers." His heart is in the right place, but Manitoba is already a hostile climate for private investment because of our labour policies and tax structure, and this would push even more private money out of the province, and make us even more reliant on public spending to drive our economy - something that is not sustainable.

Tuition freeze: anybody who is able to think critically about this issue will realize that this is a failed policy and should not be continued.

I also heard something about "provision of jobs for young people". I don't know what this means, but you can't force private businesses to hire from specific age groups, so it therefore must refer to some new and expensive government program (thank you Alberta!) I also know that he advocates regular increases in our minumum wage. I do too, but it has to be on-par with the other provinces and should be tied to inflation.

Now, about the "bit of a suck" comment: look, I don't know how the NDP selection process works, but can it really be as bad as Ashton makes it seems? This guy is apparently signing up new members on pieces of cardboard and toilet paper rolls, and then complains because his people are outside smoking when they should be inside voting, but somehow it's the systems fault. I don't want this guy sitting at the table with at a First Ministers conference having a hissy fit because everything isn't going his way, but he gives me the impression that that's exactly what will happen.

The good news: Ashton clocks in at a mild 1 on the Bull Shit-O-Meter. He's not actually that full of shit. He's just seriously wrong.


I have to say that, of the two, Selinger would make a better Premier. He might continue our decline into the economic abyss, but at least he won't accellerate it (I hope). From the Conservative's point of view, Ashton would be better because they should be able to finally differentiate themselves from the governing party, which they have been unable to do before, and probably can't do with Selinger, on account of him having no policies to differentiate from.

Suggestions on Ikea Development

I am now going to geek out with some planning stuff that I have no training in. But why not? I don't think the Kenaston & McGillivary development was carefully crafted by a highly trained planner, and this new development isn't looking much better on paper so I figure I might as well throw in my bit.

Here are the problem spots:

Red circles:
I totally agree with Policy Frog that this is shaping up to be a traffic nightmare. Route 90 is already bad. Throw in increased traffic from Royalwood and Sage Creek as they fill out, Waverly West, and then a destination store that will draw traffic from all over the place, plus another 1.2 million square feet of commercial space and clearly you're going to have a road rage factory on your hands.

The MMM traffic study seems to back this up:

I won't explain the LOS scoring system, but "F" isn't good ... and that's where we're at now. I am also pretty sure the projections here are conservative, since MMM is behind the proposal as well.

Purple circles:
I mentioned in the comments of a previous post that the development resembles croutons floating in a bowl of soup. This is what I mean. If you want to go from one store to the other you either have to drive, or hike clear across a parking lot.

Here are some ideas (so you don't call me "anti-development". I am ok with development .. I just want it to make sense):

There is no way around it: you need an overpass on Kenaston. Period. (I guess that is three periods, but anyhoo ..) Put the traffic lights on Sterling Lyon which has much lighter volume. All entries and exits from Kenaston are via merging lanes. South-bound traffic can flow directly into the development, but north-bound traffic would have to go through a new controlled intersection just to the east of the current one (which will be replaced by the overpass).

As for the purple buildings, all of these suckers should be moved to the north half of the development and arranged in an outdoor-mall arrangement, much like some of those discount malls that people love to visit in the US. I think this could really be something special if they put a little thought into it. Park once and spend half a day walking between the stores without having to dodge cars or walk across frozen concrete waistlands.

I also think we have too many box stores already, and Bartley tells me that they're going out of style anyhow, so I say scrap a couple of those and try to attract more smaller buisnesses for the mall.

One last thing: I am making the call: You will see a water park on this site. Ledo's big waterpark at Polo Park is dead. This is where the big park is going to go: at the Ikea Centre CanadInn.

Impalin' the VPILF

I admit that I am not the keenest observer of US politics, but I feel compelled to comment on John McCain's choice for VP, and it's my damn blog so I can comment on whatever the hell I want.

Now, a lot of people have had a lot of things to say about Sarah Palin. Me, I think John McCain picked her for two simple reasons: she is young and she has tits. Because she is young, the average age of the President/VP tandem will be somewhere in the high 50s (58 by my calculations) which should be acceptable to most voters. Because she has boobies, she will automatically capture the disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters.

I think McCain is wrong. Palin may look a little bit like your sexy high school teacher, but on the inside she's a gun-toting, oil-pumping, vengeful bitch with a knocked-up teenage daughter and a mentally handicapped newborn who she apparently wants nothing to do with¹. She's more of a redneck than Ted Nugent. Aside from the bitch part, she has little in common with Hillary. Vengeful Hillary supporters may vote republican, but otherwise I imagine they will be scared off by the creationism, anti-abortionism, and poor environmental record -- vagina or no vagina.

There. That's what I have to say about Palin. I think it was a gutsy pick by McCain, and I expect an interesting and nasty race to the finish line. But I think, ultimately, the gamble will not pay off because, aside from helping to secure the social conservative base, Palin will not pull in the votes that McCain needs.

¹ I should explain this statement. Palin has 5 kids. The oldest - Track (named after the marks on the inside of her arm?) - is going off to college, which leaves four. Those four include her daughter Bristol who is pregnant and a newborn Trig (named after the course she flunked in high school? Ok. I'll stop now) has Down syndrome. Now, I'm not saying that a woman cannot work and raise a family at the same time. Far from it. But US VP is no ordinary job. Most working moms would still be able to squeeze in some time to help their kids with their homework, help their daughter plan her shot-gun wedding, help change the diapers, etc. With the responsibilities and learning curve that Palin has ahead of her, she will have ZERO time for her family. So the husband does it, right? You mean the husband that works for BP and also owns a commercial fishing business? Ok. Sure. At least they'll have enough income to hire some really nice surrogate parents.

Hydro Math

Looks like Hydro has inked a Howard Stern-like $1billion contract to sell power to Minnesota. I guess Bob Brennan had better get on the horn and find somebody to build the Wuskwatim dam.

Just doing a little math here ... $1 billion over 15 years for 250 megawatts = $267k per megawatt-year or about $30 per MW-hr. That's a bargain, compared to the $40 cited here, but I guess you need to cut a deal if you want to secure your customer for the long-term. I hope that's indexed for inflation.

Hydro isn't saying what the surplus will be sold for, but even at $30/MW-hr, that works out to between $7.4 mil and $14.7 mil in annual line losses from the west-side Bipole III route. Think about it ... we could build a waterpark with a few years of that money.

Musharraf gets kicked out of the club ... again

Well, it seems that our buddy Pervez Musharraf's shenanigans have made him unwelcome in the cozy Commonwealth club. I happened to wander over to the BBC website and found this late breaking news.

"The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group agreed that notwithstanding some progress by the Pakistan government since its last meeting, the situation in Pakistan continued to represent a serious violation of the Commonwealth's fundamental values."
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It is the second time that Pakistan has been expelled from the Commonwealth. The country was suspended in 1999, after Gen Musharraf seized power in a coup.

What does this mean? Well, it means that Pakistan isn't allowed to attend the Commonwealth meetings and play in the Commonwealth games. That must be crushing. Him and Rudolf have so much in common.

Oh well, what can you do? I guess it's a statement. But I think Pervez has bigger problems than trying to get reinstated into an archaic club of countries with a second rate track meet. Like: trying to convince people that fair elections can be held under a state of emergency, or trying to save his political future after jailing lawyers, judges, political rivals and anybody else who gives a damn about the future of the country.

Pakistan will get reinstated, but with Benazir Bhutto at the helm..