More fizzle than boom from Games benefits so far

Unless things change significantly, the economic benefits of the Winter Games are looking pretty thin.
Take jobs, one of the big selling points.
According to an economic study done for government by
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, having the Games created about 18,400 person years of employment from 2003 to the end of last year.
That sounds dramatic, but spread over six years it's about 3,000 additional jobs at any given time.
Nothing to sneer at, but with about 2.2 million people employed in the province, not that significant either.
Especially when at least some increased employment would have resulted if the money spent on the Games went for other projects or was left in taxpayers' pockets.
The report on increased economic activity from the Games tells a similar story. The report found that the Games had meant an extra $685 million to $890 million in economic activity over the six-year period.
Take the midpoint, and that's about $130 million a year.
Given that the provincial GDP is about $150 billion, that's less than one-tenth of one per cent.
You could argue that these results aren't surprising. They're consistent with a forecast of Games benefits done for the government in 2002.
But they're a far cry from the rosy picture painted by politicians talking about the dramatic economic benefits from next year's festivities.
And in one area - possibly the most important for British Columbians outside Greater Vancouver and Whistler - the forecast got it badly wrong.
The 2002 report predicted increased tourism revenues during the period of $40 to $600 million between 2003 and 2008.
Based on the midpoint, that would have translated into some 6,500 person-years of increased employment
The PriceWaterhouseCoopers report found there was no increase in tourism as a result of the Olympics. The expectation that increased awareness would lead to more visitors to the province was wrong. The report estimates the Games have likely meant about 10 additional jobs in the tourism sector each year.
That should be a particular concern to communities outside the immediate Games area. Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey and Whistler all end up with guaranteed Games legacies - buildings and infrastructure. Much of the spending by Games organizers, from salaries to supplies, also benefited those communities. And realistically, the promised potential future investment is likely to provide the greatest boost to those areas.
The rest of the province has fared less well. Leaving aside nice but hardly essential items like Spirit Squares, the Games so far have represented a transfer of tax dollars to the Lower Mainland.
Tourism gains should have broader benefits. The theory is that travellers, newly aware of B.C.'s charms because of the Games, would likely venture beyond the Lower Mainland.
According to the 2002 report, the biggest tourism gains are still ahead. It set out several scenarios, but the mid-range forecast projected about $2.9 billion in increased tourism because of the Games between 2008 and 2014.
The failure to achieve the increase forecast for the initial period raises doubts about those numbers.
It's especially troubling that the failure might be partly self-inflicted. The PWC report notes the 2002 projections envisioned that "a co-ordinated and effective marketing plan would be in place" before the Games. It wasn't.
The government had warnings about the problem. In 2003, the auditor general noted a well-planned, well-funded marketing effort was needed to seize the potential benefits from the Games.
In a follow-up report in 2006, the auditor general noted that hasn't happened. "The marketing effort to date has been delayed and unco-ordinated, with no central agency taking the lead," the report warned.
The confusion continues. Tourism Minister Kevin Krueger eliminated Tourism B.C., the highly regarded industry marketing agency, without warning of consultation in August.
The big opportunities for tourism promotion are coming in the next three or four months.
For British Columbians outside Greater Vancouver, benefits from the Games depend on how well the job is handled.
Footnote: It's important to note that the benefits, except for tourism, are much as projected in the 2002 report. Which raises questions about the level of scrutiny and analysis brought to the report by journalists and politicians and policy groups. The pro-Games rhetoric drowned out the few cautionary voices.

The bigger problem at B.C. Ferries

It's understandable that the comptroller general's findings about overly rich executive and board pay and sloppy governance at B.C. Ferries grabbed headlines.
But the report raised a much more serious problem. The new structure for ferry service the Liberal government set up in 2003 failed to provide any criteria for considering the public interest, in terms of travellers, ferry dependent communities or the economic impacts of soaring fares.
The Times Colonist set out the problems clearly in this editorial.
Will the government act? One bad sign is that the comptroller general's recommendations included having the Ferry Commission regulate reservation fees, currently outside its mandate. The commissioner has been seeking that small change since 2004,. noting that the fees - $17.50 and a $12-million revenue stream for the corporation - are part of the fare structure.
In nine years, the government hasn't responded to that basic request.

UVic hits the media motherlode

The University of Victoria has a superb communications department, consistently providing interesting and useful leads for journalists and great at finding an expert in almost any area.
But this release is inspired. The interest in anything Twilight is extraordinary. TIming is excellent. And the issues are important.
This is really good work.


MEDIA TIPS AND LEADS

TWILIGHT SERIES SENDS WRONG MESSAGE TO GIRLS: According to UVic political science professor Janni Aragon, the Twilight vampire movies and books don’t provide a healthy portrayal of the interaction between the sexes. That is just one of the points she makes when she uses the series as a teaching tool in her gender and politics class at UVic.
“Bella Swan is a human teenager, moody, sardonic and clumsy which plays into how Edward Cullen interacts with her—he’s protective, condescending and behaves like a stalker,” says Aragon. “He watches her while she’s sleeping even though he hasn’t been invited to do so. He talks down to her, which plays into the myth that in a relationship boys are all knowing and girls are supposed to follow and listen to them.”
Aragon remarks that in the beginning of the series, Bella doesn't have a very strong sense of self. She leans on Edward, falls apart when he leaves. “He has bigger burdens to carry, since he’s a vampire and she is a mere mortal teen,” says Aragon. “He is in charge—and takes care of Bella, who continues to be the damsel in distress.
“In New Moon, Bella suffers a horrible depression when Edward abandons her. She has visions and starts being reckless which sends a message to young women that when your boyfriend leaves, the expectation is for you to be out of control. In real life, not every woman does that—some of us just consume a couple of tubs of Häagen-Dazs and we’re over it.”
Aragon says she also has issues on how the Stephanie Meyer books and films address Indigenous people. For example, the vampires refer to them as mongrels or dogs.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the second movie in the Twilight series, is scheduled to open on November 20, 2009.

Why I'm glad an MLA is bashing the Charter of Rights

On one hand, MLA Pat Pimm's preference for getting rid of the Charter or Rights is alarming. It suggests that he's a lot more comfortable with government intrusions into the private lives of citizens than he should be.
But it is refreshing to have a new MLA who isn't sticking to a script crafted by communication staff. Pimm is, so far, apparently willing to say what he thinks, even if it's not in line with party policy.
Pimm is a Liberal, newly elected in Peace River North to replace Senator Richard Neufeld.
And in one of his first speeches, during debate on a bill to deny welfare to people facing outstanding arrest warrants, he took aim at the Charter.
"I just don't think it's a good document whatsoever myself," Pimm said in the legislature. "For 99 per cent of the people out there, that document doesn't even need to exist, first off. It's only about one per cent or two per cent of the people that it's even developed for, and it's to keep the lawyers and the judges and everybody working to support the system." (Thanks to the Lower Langdale Tattler, an irregular publication of NDP MLA Nicholas Simons, for reporting Pimm's comments.)
What the Charter does is set out the basic rights of Canadians. We can say what we think and follow our religious beliefs without government intrusion. Basic principles of justice have to be followed if the state wants to interfere with our lives.
Police can, for example, search our homes, but only if they have a good reason.
Pimm's position appears to be that decent citizens don't need their rights protected. Governments know best about what must be done for the greater good.
That's too trusting. The world is celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a reminder that governments can't always be counted in to respect the rights of citizens.
It is troubling when a drug dealer avoids trial because a police search violated his rights.
But that's the trade we make for enshrining the rule of law and our own freedom from government messing in our lives.
Still. Pimm was speaking his mind. A lot of his constituents would likely share his views. That's good for an MLA. And not all that common.
MLAs and cabinet ministers, especially in government, tend to avoid saying anything.
Consider the example recently offered by Ida Chong, junior minister for healthy living. Two health officials in Alberta have been fired because the Calgary Flames jumped the queue for H1N1 flu vaccinations.
So Chong was asked whether the Vancouver Canucks would get special access to flu shots, ahead of vulnerable members of the public.
The answer should be easy. No, the vaccine would be provided based on health needs. A vulnerable five-year-old or pregnant woman would be protected before an incredibly fit professional hockey player.
But Chong instead, offered this response. "I believe that what is important is that those who need access to this vaccine to mitigate the possible spread will be looked at by our health experts," she said.
It was an easy question. On principle, should the survival of a child come before the playoff chances and profitability of hockey team?
And Chong is no fool. But politicians are told to say nothing. And they do, even when it makes them look ridiculous.
All in all, I'm rooting for Pimm. The voters sent him down to the legislature to speak for them, based on his experience in business, community sports and municipal government. They know him. He's wrong on the importance of the Charter, but at least he is saying what he thinks.
Imagine 85 MLAs, from all across the province, with different individual skills and experience and perspectives, debating and listening and learning from each other and really shaping government policy. Still committed to core party principles, but not blindly.
That's how our government is supposed to work. Our representatives, making decisions based on their best judgments about what is good for the people they represent.
Instead, MLAs sign up for their teams and do what they're told.
Footnote: You can judge the level of MLAs' independence. The legislature sessions are televised, though they're off this week. Question period, about 1:50 p.m., offers a chance to assess their efforts and let them know what you think.

The Berlin Wall and Prague's haunting ghosts

The 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's end comes two years after my only visit to the former Soviet bloc.
It's not Berlin that comes first to mind. It's Prague, and the Museum of Communism. The museum is small, up a broad staircase on the second floor of a grand old building. A McDonalds is next door.
I went alone, on a bright spring day. Inside, the rooms were gloomy. The artifacts of 41 years of totalitarian communist rule were grim.
They showed how governments could easily construct a false reality, where enemies threaten and only a strong state can keep citizens safe.
But what brought tears to my eyes me were the video displays and writings in which Czechs looking back on the Prague spring of 1968. For eight months, under a reform government, change seemed possible.
Then the Soviet tanks rolled in.
For several months, people fought back, at great cost. Until the hopes were destroyed and they gave up.
The occupation lasted another 21 years, until it collapsed after the Berlin Wall came down on Nov. 9, 1989.
What was so sad?
The crushed hopes, for certain. The museum's black and white films showed protesters flooding into Prague's streets to demand freedom and democracy, defying police and army and censorship.
The fearlessness, too, and the obvious belief that an army of citizens could triumph over an army of guns and tanks.
But sadder than all that were the doubts and regrets. It was in the people's eyes as they talked about the collapse of the democracy movement.
What if, they must have wondered, we had fought a little longer, accepted more deaths, pushed back a little harder? Could that form of oppression been thrown off 20 years earlier?
There is no harder question.
Walking through the museum, I wondered how deep the scars still must be. No one who lived through the period could have escaped them.
The people who saw injustice and oppression lived with the questions about what they, and didn't do, to resist and whether they shied away from a just and important struggle. Each person had to decide if he was sensible, or scared.
A lot of people chose sensible. Some informed on neighbours or worked hard to support the Communist state. They too must have wondered about their choices.
Berlin was certainly haunting - the memorials to those killed trying to cross the wall, the preserved subway stations, closed for more than 40 years because they would have allowed East Berliners to simply step off the train and walk up into West Germany.
But the little museum in Prague was terribly sad and raised very hard questions, at least for me.
There was no character flaw in the Czech and Slovakian people or the East Germans or any of the other people who spend so long under Soviet oppression. They were not, except for their circumstances, much different from us.
As a child of the Cold War, the power of fear is easily understandable. When the warning sirens went, usually by accident, children in my Toronto suburb paused to see if the Russian a-bombs were about to fall. I pondered whether there were local targets worthy of a nuclear missile and calculated the odds that a Russian bomb aimed at Buffalo would miss land in my subdivision.
And as thousands of people gather in Berlin to celebrate the wall's fall, I wonder about the reality our states are constructing today.
Most Czech citizens, I expect, accepted the world their governments created, deferred to authority, made the best of their lives. As we do.
That is not, for a second, to compare the Soviet bloc governments and our own.
But as I emerged into the sun and walked Prague's beautiful streets, through the squares where thousands gathered, I felt both sadness and admiration. When tested, they had risked much in a bid for freedom.
Footnote: Equally haunting is a monument in Wenceslas Square in Prague, a curling cross set into on the ground. In January 1969, Jan Palach, a 20-year-old Czech history student, set himself on fire to protest the Soviet invasion that crushed the Prague Spring and brought 20 more years of winter.

Putting a price on greenhouse gas cuts

It has taken a big bank to bring some focus to the talk about fighting climate change and Canada's role.
And, on balance, the news is good. Greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced significantly without too much economic damage.
But there will be costs and the burden is going to hit some industries and regions much harder than others. And the changes are going to have to start happening much more quickly.
Governments have been vague on all those details.
So when TD Economics released a report suggesting Alberta and Saskatchewan would take the biggest hit from greenhouse gas reduction efforts, there was a flurry of headlines, hand wringing and criticism from politicians.
The report, commissioned by the TD Bank's economics branch, identified the impact of different levels of carbon emission reductions.
Heading into world climate talks in Copenhagen next month, the Harper government has pledged to reduce emissions to 20 per cent below 2006 levels by 2020. That's the equivalent of three-per-cent below 1990 emission levels. And a big step back from the Kyoto Accord, which called for a 5.2 per cent reduction from 1990 levels by 2012.
B.C. has already committed to a 33-per-cent reduction from 2006 levels by 2020.
And the TD Economics study also looked at much more ambitious cuts that would take emissions to 25 per cent below 1990 levels in the same period. That's the minimum reduction the Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change said is needed from western nations.
The good news is that both targets can be hit without huge overall economic impact.
The bad news is that there will be some hard-hit sectors and regions.
First, the big picture. Meeting the Harper government's target would mean reduced economic growth, but the pain is moderate.
The study's computer model predicts that cutting emissions by 20 per cent would mean overall Canadian economic output would be 1.5 per cent lower in 2020. That's about $20 billion - not chicken feed.
But the reduction would be spread over a decade. Annual national GDP growth would be just under 2.3 per cent instead of 2.4 per cent. Significant, but not wrenching.
This matters because economic growth means, as a rule, more jobs and higher pay. Slower growth means fewer opportunities.
Even meeting the much greater reduction sought by the international panel would mean less than half of one per cent a year in lost economic growth.
Here's where it all gets interesting.
The TD Economics' report assumes the government is going to put a price on carbon emissions, through cap and trade and a carbon tax like the one B.C. has introduced.
Industries that don't produce greenhouse gases will roll along happily. Those that do will face big extra costs.
The report says this would create "a major structural change in the Canadian economy," away from carbon emitting industries, like the oil and gas sector and coal mining. Mining, smelting, trucking and others would also suffer.
And since the oil and gas industry is significant in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C., those provinces take the big hit.
While meeting the Harper government's targets would mean 1.5 per cent less economic growth over the next decade, Alberta would be reduced by 8.5 per cent; Saskatchewan 2.8 per cent; and B.C. by 2.5 per cent. (Or about 4.5 per cent, based on the Campbell government's more aggressive commitments.)
That's a significant cost, but not crippling. And it has to be balanced against the costs of doing nothing. If forest fires continue to worsen and droughts bring water shortages and forests grow more slowly as global temperatures rise, the province's economy suffers.
One of the challenges in all this is trust. Things will get more expensive as carbon taxes are implemented, the study assumes. But governments will get a huge windfall in new tax revenue and return it to people. They'll be OK.
The bottom line? Kudos to TD Economics, for bringing clarity to the fuzzy world of climate change.
Footnote: The economic model comes from Marc Jaccard and Associates. Jaccard is a Simon Fraser University professor and deservedly influential analyst, with no political agenda. It is interesting to note the assumptions include significant change, including a 100-per-cent shift to electric heating for new construction in B.C.

A man with no hands gets no jail time

UPDATE

I wrote last week about Terry Bazzani, a man with no hands and other physical problems, who was caught on what he said was his first trip as a drug mule. The Crown wanted a penitentiary term. The defense argued the punishment would be far to severe for Bazzani, who can't feed or clean himself, brush is teeth or, of course, defend himself.
The case, I maintained. showed the foolishness of mandatory minimum sentences, which many politicians want for such crimes.
Justice Keith Bracken this week rejected the Crown prosecutor's argument. Bazzani will serve a two-year sentence under house arrest, with relaxed conditions.

Surgery cuts encourage private two-tier care

It doesn't matter what the intentions are. The Campbell government's actions are resulting in a shift to two-tier health care in B.C.
People who can pay get fast, effective treatment. The rest of British Columbians wait, suffer and get sicker.
Earlier this month, the Vancouver Island Health Authority said provincial funding was inadequate to maintain health care services. It chopped surgeries and support for seniors and people with mental illness.
For example, last year the health authority did 124 bariatric surgeries. The operations help obese people who have been unable to lose weight in less extreme ways. Their stomachs are made smaller or bowels shortened to reduce the absorption of calories the number of bariatric surgeries.
It's not easy to get on the list for the surgery, which is expensive and, of course, carries risks. Patients who receive referrals have tried other ways of losing weight and face serious health complications from obesity.
Tough luck, some would say. Try harder or suffer.
That ignores the reality of their illnesses. And it ignores the great costs that the system would face in coming years if they remain obese. Pragmatically, effective treatment is a good investment.
Last year, the health authority performed 124 of the procedures in Victoria. This year, it will cut the number to 80. Next year, it will reduce the number of surgeries to 52.
Demand hasn't fallen. The wait for treatment is measured in years.
But the health authority's provincial funding for this year falls $45 million short of what is needed to provide health care services. The gap will be greater next year.
So patients won't be treated.
Unless they have money.
The False Creek Surgical Centre, a private clinic in Vancouver, has been advertising an information centre in Victoria next weekend on its weight loss surgery. People can register for a presentation with light snacks and a chance to have questions answered. A similar session is planned for Kelowna later in the month.
It's a good business move. There are desperate people who have waited several years for surgery who now face an even longer wait. The surgical centre can offer them speedy, effective treatment.
Or the centre can if they have about $17,000 to cover the costs of lap band surgery and follow-up. The procedure involves placing an inflatable ring around the upper stomach, limiting the amount of food the person can eat and increasing the length of time to digest the food.
Bravo, say some people. If I can pay extra to jump the queue for other things, for higher quality treatment, why not for health care?
But so far Canadians have decided that health care is different. We have, after a fierce public discussion, decided that when care is rationed, it shouldn't be auctioned off the to the highest bidder.
If two people have an illness, then the decision on who gets treatment is to be based on medical need.
We've even written the principle into law. The Canada Health Act and B.C.'s Medicare Protection Act say people cannot pay extra for speedier treatment for any medically necessary procedure.
But the law is routinely ignored. Private clinics have pushed the boundaries in offering more and more surgery to those who can pay for faster treatment.
You can't argue credibly that the weight-loss surgery isn't medically necessary.
For starters, the diagnosis of medical need has already been accepted by the health-care system, at least for people on the wait list.
The False Creek Surgical Centre emphasizes the point. Obesity is not the result of a lack of willpower; "It's a disease that requires treatment."
And the centre also points out that the surgery can reduce patients' risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer and other serious conditions.
I certainly don't fault people who decide to pay for the surgery. I probably would.
But the combination of surgical cutbacks and inaction on the expanding role of private clinics is taking us a long way from the principles of medicare - and the laws that set them out.
Footnote: The issue might end up being resolved in the courts. Four private clinics are challenging the government's ability to enforce the Medicare Protection Act. And a group of patients are suing to require the government to enforce the act.

Get ready to chip $106 for the new B.C. Place roof

Can B.C. taxpayers really can afford $458 million for a fancy new roof on B.C. Place?
Especially right now. The government has chopped funding to fix leaky schools. Health authorities are cancelling thousands of surgeries to save money. School parents' groups, people who work with seniors, mental health programs - the government says there is no money to keep on supporting them. Youth sport funding has been chopped.
But for a Vancouver stadium and its two main pro sports teams, the government can find almost $500 million from taxpayers.
Which works out to about $106 per British Columbian - say $425 for a family of four. If they live in Prince George or Nelson, it's a big bill for a stadium they will likely only see on TV.
The government justifies the project on two grounds. Tourism Minister Kevin Krueger said the project will create 3,000 per years of employment. But that's a cost of more than $150,000 for each one-year job. The government could create the same employment at much lower cost simply by reversing cuts that have meant layoffs across the province.
And Krueger says a retractable roof will result in greater use of B.C. Place and indirect economic benefits for Vancouver.
You own the stadium. It's operated by a Crown corporation, Pavco, which also runs the Vancouver Convention Centre. Pavco's last annual report said the stadium was booked for about 200 events last year. The average economic impact was about $300,000 per event, Pavco estimates.
With the roof, the Crown corporation hopes that by 2013 there will be an extra 41 bookings a year, more than one-third of them from the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team. And it expects each of those to generate an extra $1 million in spinoff benefits.
The corporation, and thus the government, is counting on attracting bigger summer events once the roof can open. (It's too often hot and uncomfortable now, apparently.)
There's certainly a chance for greater economic benefits if the right events can be added to the schedule. U2 played in GM Place this week; of the 56,000 tickets, 16,000 were sold to people from outside the province. That's a lot of hotel rooms that will be booked and restaurant meals.
But it's also true that there is no guarantee that will happen.
And people outside Vancouver - or even outside the business sectors that will benefit - have a right to wonder why they are footing the bill for a reno that benefits a couple of sports teams and a specific group of businesses.
You are paying. The government has been a little cute in announcing the project, describing its commitment as a loan to Pavco.
That's not really accurate. The Crown corporation is going to use $42 million left over from the Vancouver conference centre project. (Which, you'll recall, ended up costing $841 million, although Premier Gordon Campbell had insisted the $495-million budget was adequate. Provincial taxpayers picked up the whole bill for the overruns.)
And it hopes to raise the rest of the money by leasing land taxpayers own around the stadium site for development. If that works, it can repay the loan.
But that's still a cost to taxpayers. The people of B.C. own that land. It could be developed and the money used for health care or tax reductions or to reverse cuts in services in smaller communities.
There are other ways of funding the roof, if it is a good investment. In other places, special taxes or fees have helped ensure that the people and businesses who benefit from the stadium improvements pay the costs. There could be a tax on Lower Mainland hotel rooms earmarked for the new roof, or a surcharge on event tickets or a levy on Vancouver businesses. If the benefits are as claimed, that would be fair - certainly fairer than asking someone in Penticton to pay for Vancouver's fancy new stadium roof.
Footnote: Don't expect much political debate on this. The NDP supports the new roof, although MLA Spencer Herbert notes the cost estimate has more than doubled in the last 12 months. Politicians do seem to love fancy stadiums for sports teams.

The link between NFL fans and dog fighters

For those settling down for an evening of Monday Night Football, recommended half-time reading could be found here at the New Yorker. Alarmingly clever - and Canadian - writer Malcolm Gladwell looks at brain injuries suffered by NFL players and wonders how the league differs from the dog fighting that got Michael Vick in such trouble.

Province should head off industrial property tax battle

OK, this is about industrial property tax battles.
But it's important. Depending on what happens, homeowners could face 70-per-cent property tax increases. Arenas and community infrastructure could be lost.
And thousands of jobs are at risk.
Catalyst Paper lost the first round in its fight to avoid paying property tax bills in the four communities where it operates - Campbell River, Port Alberni, North Cowichan and Powell River.
The battle isn't over. And Catalyst is just the vanguard.
Across B.C., the big employers in towns are fighting to pay lower property taxes. In Castelgar and Kitimat they've also launched legal actions. Some are threatening to close mills or other operations.
The companies have a case. For the most part, the municipalities concede that.
In the case of Catalyst, the four municipalities have been slowly trimming their industrial tax rates, and the company's burden, over the last several years. This year, the combined tax bill is down about 11 per cent.
But the companies say they're still being gouged. Given the recession, the rising dollar and collapsing markets, they can't afford to pay, they say. Competitors in the rest of North America face much lower local tax bills, they maintain.
Catalyst proposes to pay one-quarter of its tax bill. It calculates that reflects the value of the municipal services it consumes. The argument was part of its presentation in B.C. Supreme Court.
The challenge against North Cowichan taxes was the first of the four cases to be heard. Catalyst argued the taxes were so unreasonable and unfair as to be illegal.
Justice Peter Voith didn't buy it. The corporation made a good case that the taxes were too high, he found.
But the elected municipal council had set them legally, he ruled. "These matters are properly addressed by different levels of government and not the courts," Voith wrote in his judgment.
The tax rates are a legacy of a different time. Forest companies, mines and smelters were all highly profitable and often operated in one-industry towns.
They needed a stable workforce. Rather than building an old-style company town, they opted to pay high taxes to fund the services and infrastructure that allowed them to attract workers and their families.
Now they're less profitable. The towns are more diversified and a lot of people with no connection to the company are being subsidized.
In North Cowichan, residential property taxes are among the lowest in the province because Catalyst pays so much tax.
But fixing the imbalance isn't easy. If big industry pays less, than everyone else has to pay more or the municipality has to slash services.
In North Cowichan, residential taxpayers would have faced an immediate 70-per-cent tax increase to maintain services if Catalyst had won in court.
The provincial government should have taken the lead on the issue long ago. More than three years ago, the B.C. Competition Council, chaired by former NDP premier Dan Miller, recommended a 50-per-cent cut in industrial property taxes.
The B.C. Progress Board, which advises the premier, has also identified the problem.
The government has the power to cap industrial tax rates. But that would be intrusive and politically risky.
And the government could be accused of paying the company's tax bills, subsidizing them at the expense of their competitors.
Still, a combination of the threat, along with the carrot of some transitional funding to allow municipalities to plan for higher residential and small business taxes or budget cuts, could help resolve the problem.
That's what both Catalyst and the municipalities hoped would happen.
The government has opted to stay on the sidelines.
It could let the industries and the municipalities continue the battle. But there are significant risks to jobs and investment and public services in this dispute.
The provincial government has the best chance of brokering an agreement without a long and destructive series of skirmishes between big industries and municipalities.
Footnote: The issue raises the broader question of municipalities' reliance on property taxes. It's an odd way to assess taxes. A big family with a huge income and heavy demand for services pays the same as the neighbouring couple just scraping by.

B.C. not really interested in preventing gambling crime

Sean Holman offers an extraordinary police perspective on the government's lack of interest in dealing with the crimes associated with casinos and gambling today.

"The former commander of British Columbia's now-defunct integrated illegal gaming enforcement team is questioning the provincial government's commitment to "meaningful" illegal gaming investigations. Speaking exclusively with Public Eye, Fred Pinnock also described the RCMP's senior management in British Columbia as demonstrating "willful blindness" when it comes to the connection between illegal gaming and organized crime. And he said his provincially-funded RCMP team should have been expanded - not shutdown.

Mr. Pinnock, who retired as a staff sergeant in September 2008 after 29 years with the force, acknowledged airing his concerns will make him "unpopular with some of my former colleagues."

But he felt compelled to do so - in part, because he believes his team should have been keeping tabs on what happens inside legal gaming facilities rather than just cracking down on illegal gaming outside those facilities."

Read the rest of the article at publiceyeonline.com.

A man with no hands and mandatory minimum sentences

Terry Bazzani could star in an ad campaign about the foolishness of mandatory minimum sentences.
Bazzani has no hands and short arms. He has only half of his left foot. He's had a series of surgeries on his face. He has no criminal record.
And he has pleaded guilty to importing heroin. He was a drug mule; he swallowed heroin capsules in Colombia and flew to Toronto. Police had been tipped off and arrested him.
It's a serious crime. It's also the kind of offence that some politicians would like to see linked to a mandatory minimum sentence. Judges would have no discretion. Anyone guilty would receive a guaranteed term in a penitentiary.
Fortunately, the measures aren't in place. Bazzani will be sentenced later this month, based on the judge's analysis.
The politicians think they can decide the appropriate punishment without knowing about the crime or the people sitting the courtroom - not just the criminal, but the victims too.
But crime circumstances vary. For some offenders, serious prison time might be appropriate - a repeat drug trafficking offender or high-volume importer. A strong deterrent sentence might be needed.
Bazzani has no convictions. He said the smuggling wasn't planned. He traveled to Colombia to see a woman he had met online. He was approached in a bar, offered $10,000 to swallow the drugs and fell for the lure of easy money. (That might not be true of course, but the Crown has offered no evidence to contradict the story.)
And offenders' circumstances vary. Imprisonment is a serious punishment for anyone.
But Bazzani would do spectacularly hard time. No hands, remember? He can't feed himself, except sandwiches. He can't clean himself after going to the bathroom, unless he has a shower. He spent five weeks in pretrial custody and went without brushing his teeth, cleaning himself and ate little food.
And he certainly can't stand up for himself. Which means that in prison he will be a victim, or locked up a protective custody. Bazzani's doctor spends two days a week providing care for inmates at the Vancouver Island Regional Correction Centre. The handless man would be in danger in prison, says Dr. James Henry, who said he treats inmates who are victims of violence.
Bazzani illustrates one problem with mandatory minimum sentences. Some people are going to be punished with sentences far out of proportion to their crimes, because judges are fettered with arbitrary, political sentencing rules.
There are other problems. They don't actually reduce crime, for starters.
And they cost taxpayers a fortune as more prisons are built and staffed to house a growing number of inmates.
B.C.'s jails are already overcrowded. The Solicitor General's Ministry service plan says there are "dangerous levels of inmate overcrowding" and reveals prisons are operating at 185 per cent of capacity. The situation "increasingly compromises community and staff safety," the ministry says.
The federal government has passed legislation to impose mandatory minimum sentences for a wider range of drug offences. The Senate is now reviewing the law and the Conservatives have already complained its not moving quickly enough to "get tough on crime."
The Conservatives won't reveal the cost of imprisoning more people as a result of their changes to the Criminal Code. But the government has doubled the capital budget for building new cells. At a minimum, analysts suggest, it will cost more than $100 million a year to lock up the new inmates.
Which might be fine it reduced crime and made Canadians safer.
But it doesn't. The Americans have been down this road. Thanks in part to mandatory minimum sentences, the U.S., on a per capita basis, imprisons six times more of its citizens than Canada. Crime has not been reduced; it is not safer. Just poorer
And more people like Bazzani have ended up in desperate situations behind bars.
Judges - the people who actually hear the evidence and study the laws - are far more likely to impose effective, appropriate sentences than politicians looking for some good headlines.
Footnote: Here in B.C., the problem isn't just jail overcrowding. The Solicitor General's Ministry service plan also notes that the number of offenders under community supervision orders jumped by 10 per cent last year, to 22,000. The increases, without a corresponding increase in staff to ensure offenders obey the rules of their release, are also compromising public safety, the ministry notes.

B.C. a bad bet to help gambling addicts

Good work in the Times Colonist today on the B.C. government's abysmal record in working to prevent problem gambling and help the inevitable victims of the Liberals' huge expansion of gambling in the province.

The Press Pass column in the Sunday Times Colonist also provided this background.

"HYPOCRITES ARE US -- The B.C. Liberals have made a habit lately of saying one thing and doing the opposite (see HST later in this column). But nowhere is that more blatant than on the gambling file, where they recently expanded Internet gaming, while cutting help to problem gamblers.

One wonders what Tourism Minister Kevin Krueger would say about that if he were still in Opposition. This is him, back in 1997, attacking the NDP government of the day: "Women in British Columbia will die because of gambling expansion; that's the prediction of our experts at UBC. Some 37 per cent of the spouses of pathological gamblers abuse their children. So children may die as a result of gambling expansion, and their blood will be on the heads of the government that expanded gambling and of the MLAs who voted for it. This is a serious, serious issue."

WE'RE NO HELLS ANGELS -- Asked recently why the Liberals have drifted so far from what they once said in Opposition, Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman credited a growing understanding of the gambling file, if not the $1 billion-plus profits.

"I think you have to mature on the file over time," he said. "That's what we've done. I think you also, like any product, have to stay current with the issues around it."

For instance, Coleman claims one of the biggest problems with Internet gaming is that "it isn't controlled." People can visit thousands of unregulated sites run out of the Barbados and Cayman Islands, he said.

"We'd rather do it here, and know what's in front of us, and also, at the same, we can, on our site, keep people informed on issues around problem gambling if they need help and all that stuff ... We're managing and watching it a lot differently than somebody that frankly doesn't care about them."

How that squares with a 34 per cent cut to the problem-gambling budget remains unclear."

No one voted for worsening health care

The Vancouver Island Health Authority's plan to deal with provincial underfunding is a destructive mishmash of measures that hurt patients, increase long-term costs and ignore real health issues.
And it's a pattern occurring across the province as all the regional health authorities struggle to find $360 million in spending cuts.
Fewer surgeries and diagnostic tests, cuts to care for seniors and the addicted, reduced community programs - VIHA revealed a list of measures that reduce the level of care in the region.
The problem is simple. The health authority's funding from the provincial government, despite a 5.9-per-cent increase, is $45 million short of what's needed to provide care to residents.
VIHA proposes service cuts, higher fees and property sales to deal with the lack of money from the province.
The other health authorities face the same crunch and have announced, or soon will reveal, similar cuts.
The timing is ridiculous. VIHA's fiscal year started last March 31, like the other health authorities. It is only now, more than halfway through the year, revealing plans to address a $45-million shortfall it knew about nine months ago.
That's not competent. Practically, it means cuts need to be deeper. Instead of 12 months of savings, the authority needs to find the same money in five months.
Politically, it means people voted in May without knowing the effects of Liberal policies. The cuts reflect a choice by the Campbell government to limit health-care funding; the consequences were never made clear in the election campaign.
Quite the contrary. Premier Gordon Campbell promised that despite financial pressures, core services like health would be protected. The authority knew in February cuts were needed; so did the Liberals.
Only in October did they reveal the reality.
VIHA will cut the number of surgeries by 1.3 per cent. Fewer operations means longer waits for suffering people, some unable to work or care for their children. It has reduced the number of MRIs and closed mental health beds.
Those are cuts to services. That's a Liberal promise - an important one - broken.
The other major problem is that the cuts are desperate and short term. They don't really save money.
Cutting the number of operations just means that more will be needed next year. Making people wait means more emergency room visits, more pain drugs and worse outcomes.
It's a straightforward equation. About 30 people a month in the capital region are told they need non-urgent hip replacement. It's called elective surgery, but it's not. No one is going to let doctors cut away their hip bones unless it's desperately needed to stop pain and restore mobility.
If system provided 30 operations, the wait would remain the same.
But if it provided 25 operations, then five people would be bumped to the next month. By the end of the year, 60 people would be parked on the waiting list. And each year, the wait would grow longer.
The health authority is also cutting grants to community organizations that deliver front-line services. That too is a short-term saving with long-term costs.
Victoria Citizens' Counselling, for example, provides help for more than 1,000 people annually, mainly working poor and those on income assistance. Demand has increased by 25 per cent in the past 12 months. VIHA has eliminated its funding, which was 30 per cent of the budget.
The health authority is also selling real estate and privatizing care homes. Publicly operated seniors' homes will be closed and the property sold to corporate providers. The authority will pay for spaces for seniors needing residential care.
Leave aside the public-private debate. The health authority is selling assets - a one-time gain - and using the money to cover operating deficits.
Next year, based on the three-year budget, the funding shortfall will be just as great. The money from selling real estate will be gone. And the cuts to health care will need to be much deeper. The year after that, more of the same.
It's cruel to make people wait for care or treatment without at least discussing whether it makes more sense to look after them promptly.
It's dishonest for the government have promised to protect services during the election campaign.
And it's foolish to think that pushing costs into the future is any real solution.

Art and Soul: A Saturday must if you're in Victoria

I've just been helping mount some of the art for this event. It's quite powerful; you've got to see it.
Art and Soul is part of Homelessness Action Week, billed as "a special evening featuring the art and music of people who have experience homelessness."
It's a casual event at the Victoria Conservatory of Music building - 907 Pandora - to celebrate the creativity and talent of local artists you probably don't know. It's on from 7 to 10, Saturday, Oct. 17.
Admission is free. You can meet the artists and hear music by people who have known homelessness. Some works will be for sale. They'll be snacks and a little beer.
As well as the artists' works, Rev. Al Tysick has loaned some works from his collection. And there will be a slide show of the work of the late Hans Fear, a great talent.
OK, my partner is organizing the event. But really, you should see the pictures.

The Liberals take B.C. in a new, colder direction

Things have been changing in B.C. since the election, for the worse.
The cuts in services and community supports and the tax breaks for businesses represent a big shift in the kind of province we're handing on to our children.
These aren't just the usual post-election initiatives, but changes that reflect a dramatic change in values.
The recession would inevitably have forced some changes on any government. But increasingly, it looks like what's really underway is a search and destroy mission aimed at programs and services that had been considered important.
These programs had all survived the Liberals' first term core review to strip government down to its essential roles.
The cuts are brutal and poorly thought out. Solicitor General Kash Heed said he didn't know that cutting $440,000 from frontline support for victims of domestic violence would be a problem. Premier Gordon Campbell didn't understand gaming grant cuts reneged on three-year commitments to charities. Both were reversed as a result of public pressure.
Hundreds of others are going ahead. Less help for autistic children, halving of support for school parent advisory committees, longer waits for health care, no repairs to leaky schools, cuts to kids sports, reduced treatment for drug addicts. The list is long.
And the loss is likely permanent. Grants to parent advisory councils can be restored before the next election, of course. But if a treatment centre has closed because funding was cut, then the resource is lost.
This goes beyond a trimming of programs. The Liberals seem to be making a structural and cultural change. The people hurt by the cuts have overwhelmingly been the already disadvantaged - children with disabilities or struggling schools or people who couldn't afford private health care. Local seniors' drop-in centres or libraries.
Cumulatively, the cuts change who we are. Over decades, British Columbians have come to set out a collective role in helping people who needed it, and the limits of that support.
Now, we have decided we will do much less. Those affected will have to accept their diminished lives.
That's a choice a society can make.
But British Columbians didn't get a chance to make that choice. Gordon Campbell ran his spring election campaign on the promise that big cuts weren't needed in B.C.
And then proceeded to make them.
These aren't temporary cuts during a recession. In fact, they are just the beginning.
Non-health spending, after a small increase this year, is to be cut in each of the next two years. This funding isn't going to be restored. (Health spending rises by about six per cent annually in the current three-year plan.)
At the same time, the government is shifting the burden of paying for the remaining services from large businesses to individual taxpayers.
The harmonized sales tax, according to Campbell, will reduce the taxes paid by businesses by $1.9 billion a year. It will also be revenue neutral, he said. The government won't be out any money.
Which means individuals will see their taxes increase to cover that shift. (Some businesses will pay more too, like restaurants. The Finance Ministry has been unable to provide any numbers on the share of the burden between the unlucky businesses and individuals.)
Again, society can make a choice to tax business less and individual families more. Lower business taxes can attract investment. Jobs are created, competition for employees raises wages and most people get enough money to pay the higher taxes, plus a bit. (Probably not the most disadvantaged, who depended on those services.)
But again, the Liberals didn't campaign on the need to reduce the tax burden on big business by raising it on everyone else. In fact, they specifically ruled out the HST.
Big, lasting changes are underway in B.C. And the people have never had a chance to say whether they approve.
Footnote: The Liberals have faltered in explaining or defending the cuts in the legislature and their support has plummeted since the election, according to the polls. The impact of the cuts and the HST, which takes effect July 1, will continue past the midpoint of the Campbell government's term.

B.C. expands gambling, cuts prevention and support

The Liberal government's gambling addiction is spinning out  of control.
It's still expanding betting in the province, looking for ways to  increase the number of gamblers and the average amount each one loses  in a week.
At the same time, it's slashing the money for problem gambling  prevention and treatment by 34 per cent this year. B.C. will spend  $4.6 million. Ontario, with three times the population, will spends  nine times as much.
Up to the point that they go broke, kill themselves or get arrested  for embezzling, problem gamblers are great customers for B.C. Lotteries. The corporation's financial targets for this year include the goal of  an average $740 loss from everyone who plays Bingo, buys lottery  tickets or goes to casinos.
Most people who buy a few lottery tickets don't let things get that  out of hand. The corporation needs big losers to hit that goal. And  problem gamblers are big losers.
The Globe and Mail has done an excellent series on. It used freedom of  information requests to get data from the B.C. Gold Players Card,  which the Crown corporation uses to identify and reward big losers.  Gamblers use the card in casinos and the corporation gets huge amounts  of information on where they bet, how much and their losses. It can  offer the big losers benefits to keep them coming back. And boy, there are big losers. Ten B.C. gamblers posted combined  losses of $11.7 million in a year. Eight lost more than $1 million. To make the top 100 losers, you would have to drop $270,000 - that's  $5,000 a week for an entire year. (B.C. Lotteries says it's possible  the losses are overstated; maybe you would only have to lose $4,000 a  week to make the club.)
So there are at least 100 people with a gambling habit costing them  between $5,000 and $35,000 a week.
Which is fine with B.C. Lotteries.
"Those individuals are clearly able to make that kind of expenditure  without an impact on their economic security," corporation  vice-president Kevin Gass said. "I think that's really the way that  one has to look at it, and I think it's dangerous to try to guess or  judge based on that level of expenditure." Here's a useful rule. Anytime some says "clearly," they're about to  make a claim that can't be supported. (And anytime someone says  "frankly"? they're about to try and dupe you.) B.C. Lotteries has no way of knowing whether these people can afford  to gamble away this money, or whether they are being destroyed by an  addiction. One gambler spent an average 26 hours a week over the  course of year, losing $100 an hour.
The corporation's interest is in increasing losses by British  Columbians so it can deliver its commitment to the government. And the  government is keen to support the corporation in achieving its goals. As the government cuts funding to prevent problem gambling and help  those whose lives are being destroyed, it is about to become the first  jurisdiction in North America to launch online casino gambling. The government's own responsible gambling website notes Internet  betting involves risks of addiction and big losses. People can be  hooked; they can be drunk or stoned or desperate. And they can go for  hours, chasing their losses.
The government increased the limit on weekly losses from $120 to  $9,999. (That's $1 below the amount that requires reporting of  suspicious transactions to the federal government to fight money  laundering.)
You can make an argument for government gambling as an alternative to  illegal operations.
But in B.C., the goal is to grab cash from citizens by enticing them  to lose more.
Gordon Campbell and the Liberals used to think it was wrong to create  a province of losers and contribute to crime and family breakdown. Now, they care more about the money.
Footnote: The Liberals ran in 2001 on a promise to halt the expansion  of gambling. Since then, they have quadrupled the number of slot  machines or VLTs, doubled the money they take from losers, allowed  alcohol to be served to be gamblers and gone online. The number of  people with severe gambling problems doubled between 2002 and 2007,  according to the government's data.

Even Crown corporations need lobbyists, it seems

Andrew MacLeod has an important story over at thetyee.ca. The news hook is that the newly hired head of the B.C. Innovation Council, claimed $167,342 in expenses during his first six months on the job. Most of the money went to cover moving costs for Dean Rockwell, who had been based in Atlanta.
But the real big questions relate to an earlier report by MacLeod. (It's the sidebar to the main story on post-secondary institutions hiring lobbyists, also a bizarre phenomenon.)
Rockwell was hired in October 2008. Two months later, Jason Herbert, a Vancouver lawyer, and Allen Salton registered as lobbyists for the Crown corporation. Their goal was to influence the government on "CEO compensation," according to the registration. Herbert's law firm was paid $80,469 during the period, but that could include other work for the council.
So a Crown corporation, dependent on taxpayer funding, needed lobbyists to talk the government about a raise for the CEO. What happened to picking up the phone and calling the cabinet minister responsible for the corporation?
What does it say when even Crown corporation CEOs and boards think they need help in getting the government to look favorably at their concerns?
And where does that leave people who don't know, or can't afford, lobbyists?

Another outsider gets top government job

The news that Jessica McDonald is quitting the top management job in the B.C. government didn’t surprise most people, since they didn’t know she had the job in the first place.
But for the 35,000 people working for the government, lobbyists, politicians and those interested in how things work, McDonald’s surprise departure this week was a big deal.
The job title is deputy minister to the premier. But in a management sense, it’s something like being CEO of a corporation with $35 billion in revenue.
Premier Gordon Campbell set the direction, but McDonald figured out how to get there. The deputy minister sits at the point where politics and the public sector come together. The deputies in each ministry reported to her, not their ministers. The premier counts on both policy and political advice.
McDonald was a surprise hire when Ken Dobell, her predecessor, left the job after the 2005 election. She was 35, easily young enough to be Dobell’s daughter. and had little management experience.
McDonald’s work in Victoria began as a legislative intern when the Bill Vander Zalm government imploded. She worked then with Campbell’s chief of staff Martyn Brown. She moved into government, including a brief stint as a mid-level manager, and then started a consulting company. And she was married to Mike McDonald, who supported and worked with Campbell since his days as Vancouver mayor.
In 2003, Campbell hired her as deputy minister for special projects, a job that offered experience across government. She then got the job of planning for the Liberals’ second term, reporting directly to Campbell. It was a powerful position.
A year later she was the head of the public service.
It was controversial, naming an outsider with little experience to the top job.
Reviews of McDonald’s tenure are mixed. She brought focus to supporting and strengthening the workforce, a priority from day one in the job. Unfortunately, her last months were spent in downsizing.
McDonald also played a big role in striking a land use deal on the Great Bear Rainforest, generally considered a success. And she led the New Relationship with First Nations, which hasn’t worked so well.
The most common criticism was that McDonald grabbed too much control of big files, centralizing decision-making and pushing ministry management aside. Among other things, that created a bottleneck when projects bogged down in the premier’s office.
McDonald wanted to be in control. I had one of the few — maybe only — media interviews with her soon after she took the job, for a magazine. It took months of pushing to get an hour. At the outset, McDonald said she wouldn’t answer questions about herself — a problem, since the piece was a profile. (You can read it here; it was pretty good.)
There has been some talk that McDonald is responsible for the chaos since the botched February budget, but that’s not accurate. Decisions on the HST and the cuts to services — and the way they have been communicated — were made by the premier’s officer.
McDonald said she decided it was a good time to leave. There is no reason to doubt that.
Allan Seckel, who is replacing her, also has an unconventional path to the top job. He was a high-level Vancouver litigation lawyer, with clients from the airport authority to Bon Koo, an entrepeneur sued for $8 million by the Chinese government.
In 2003, the government launched a national search for a deputy minister to the attorney general, a cabinet post then held by Geoff Plant.
And Seckel, a former law partner of Plant who helped with his first election campaign, emerged as the winner.
Again, what’s striking about this appointment to the top job is the lack of experience. Seckel has done the deputy AG job and had some short-term experience in other areas. But he’s gone from lawyer to deputy minister to head of a giant organization — 35,000 employees, remember — with little practical management experience.
Seckel hasn’t made any strong impression, good or bad, in his current job. The Attorney General’s Ministry has been slow to bring forward needed legislation and has made little progress on reducing delays and costs in the court system. But again, that likely reflects the politicians’ choices.
The changes do matter. Seckel will bring his priorities and political and policy advice to the premier. He’s also likely to shuffle deputy ministers, bringing more change.
And he’s starting in the job at a very tough time.