B.C. Legal Aid for the 'Chosen Few'

In response to the crisis in the B. C. Legal Aid system due to underfunding and the government's decision to pay the $6 million legal expenses of two confessed criminal government workers, I wrote and submitted the following letter to the Nanaimo Daily News (now part of the Postmedia group).

Dear Editor,

RE: Underfunded legal aid system is in 'crisis', says new report, Nov. 10/10

It must be painfully obvious to anyone who has been paying even a little bit of attention to the actions of the Liberal government in Victoria that, after slashing the Legal Aid budget by 1/3 since coming to power in 2001, they still managed to come up with $6 million dollars from we taxpayers to pay the exorbitant legal fees of two confessed criminals, David Basi and Bob Virk, who accepted bribes while working for the government in jobs that enabled those crimes. One could perhaps understand the logic if what they did had been considered part of their jobs, i.e., if they were told to do something by their superiors which then put them in trouble with the law, but that isn't what happened here - is it?!?
That $6 million (of which $1 - 2 million was reportedly for 'document management'), for the benefit of only two individuals with some assets, is equal to 9% of the entire current annual government contribution to the B. C. Legal Services Society of $66.9 million, which we are told was to cover 6,207 cases (down from 15,526 when this government first came to office). The paying of their legal bills with taxpayer monies and the leaving of their assets intact was totally contrary to two agreements they had previously signed with the government. We really must demand an answer as to WHY?!?

Sincerely,
Hans J. Larsen

B.C. Justice System Is An Expensive Joke!!!

I submitted the following in response to a new 'feature' run in the local Gobal/Canwest newspaper because the original piece offered such a clear contrast between what I think most of us expect from our justice system and what we are actually receiving. Of course, even with such a short item, they still edited it since I guess they felt I was 'laughing my head off'. Is it not about time that we get off this merry-go-round and look seriously at what we are actually accomplishing with the system and how much it is costing us to get those results? The whole thing reminds me of the old Foghorn-Leghorn cartoon which regularly pits a small chickenhawk against a very large chicken. In spite of all their battles, at the end of the day, they each punch their time clocks, say 'goodnight' to each other and then head home. It must be extremely frustrating for anyone in the system who actually wants to see criminals held accountable, would-be criminals deterred and the cost of operating the system at least partially paid for by those convicted.

Dear Editor,
What with all of the bad news that we constantly receive through the media (murders, pandemics, scandals, essential service cuts), it was a welcome change to read your new feature, Court News (Nanaimo Daily News, November 26) - I just couldn't stop laughing! A "$250 fine for theft under $5000" - ho, ho, ho, hee, hee. "(P)ut on probation for one year on a count of theft over $5,000" - tee hee, yuk, yuk, yuk. "(G)iven one day in jail for obstructing police and breaching a court order" - snort, guffaw, chortle. "(F)ined $1000 and prohibited from driving... for one year for driving while suspended", ha, ha, ha, oh, my sides are starting to hurt! "(F)ined $800 and prohibited from driving for one year on a count of driving while impaired" - no, stop, you're killling me... (or very well might be)!

Canada Can't Afford Another SRTC Fiasco!

Since I well remember the disastrous Scientific Research Tax Credit program of the mid-80's and the billions that it cost the taxpayers of Canada with very little actual research being conducted and I have noticed troubling similarities developing with the government's Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, I submitted the following 'Letter to the Editor' to 21 'major' regional newspapers across Canada, almost all of them in the Canwest/Global fold (which shows just how much concentration of media there is in Canada!). Much to my dismay, as far as I can tell, only 1 newspaper, the Winnipeg Sun (which is NOT a Canwest/Global property), published this short piece. What possible reason could the others have for not wanting to help see that taxpayers' hard-earned money is spent in an efficient, effective and transparent manner?

Dear Editor,
Seems like everyone nowadays is in an 'all-fired' hurry to spend billions of dollars on infrastructure funding, which of course, is just taxpayers' money (minus a 15-20% 'handling' fee) being returned to the chosen few. In our rush to 'stimulate' the economy, we need to remember the example of the Scientific Research Tax Credit program of the mid 1980's, a federal government program which cost the taxpayers of Canada almost $8 billion (in 2009 dollars), with it being widely reported that almost $4 billion of that resulted in no actual scientific research being done (i.e., it was obtained under false pretences).
I personally know of 3 infrastructure grants which were awarded to applicants who did not meet the requirements. In our haste, let's be sure that this latest program amounts to substantially more than 'shovelling money off the back of a truck'. Canada cannot afford another expensive, failed program - strict controls must be in place, beginning with the selection, without political influence, of projects that best meet the program's criteria right through to the spending of the money and, if the government can't satisfy taxpayers that they can do that, then our money must stay in the bank.

Government Propaganda/Have I Finally Made The 'Big Time'?!?

Parksville-Qualicum MLA, Ron Cantelon, caused to be published a very political sounding advertisement in the Parksville-Qualicum News last November. It was 'short and sweet', basically saying: increase in B.C. K-12 education budget since 2001 - 23%; decrease in student enrolment since 2001 - 13%. Feeling that such a use of statistics without any elaboration was not being very forthright, I wrote the following 'Letter to the Editor' to the Parksville-Qualicum newspaper, as well as the three Nanaimo newspapers - none of them chose to publish my letter:

Dear Editor,
Following the format of a recent pre-election advertisement surrounding student enrolment and government funding for public education in B.C. placed by Nanaimo-Parksville MLA Ron Cantelon in local newspapers: Increase in MLA's salaries since 2001 - 38%; Decrease in number of sitting days since 2001 - 26%.

Then, in the middle of December, Shirley Bond, B. C.'s Education Minister, caused to have published a 'Letter to the Editor' in the Nanaimo Daily News and Harbour City Star newspapers in response to two submitted by readers, parts of which she took issue with. Part of the message in that letter was virtually identical to what Mr. Cantelon had written in his advertisement (who says the government doesn't make good use of their large media and communications team?!). Therefore, just after Christmas, I submitted the following letter to those same two newspapers:

Dear Editor,
Having become somewhat of a cynic when it comes to matters political, I have to admit that I never would have expected that someone like B.C. Education Minister, Shirley Bond, would have the time to peruse local papers like the Nanaimo Daily News/Harbour City Star for items to respond to (B.C. government funding schools at historic levels/B.C. government funding of schools is at historic levels, Dec. 18/26/08). Given the myriad challenges in public education, I would have thought that she would have many, far more weighty matters to deal with in order to earn her $150,000/yr. salary. As it is, she has taken a large, complex issue and tried to placate us with a few, simplistic statistics.
She writes that "this government fundamentally believes that local boards of education are in the very best position to make decisions for the students in their communities". I think it has become obvious to anyone paying attention over the past number of years that, since the government controls the funding, there are only 'painful' decisions to be made. Another way to look at this is that it leaves the 'dirty work' for the local school boards. The government also reserves the right to fire the entire duly elected school board if they don't like their community-minded decisions (I see this as the main reason why school boards timidly accept unacceptable learning conditions in many of their classrooms).
In closing, and in the same spirit as the Minister's letter (where she basically says: increase in B.C. K-12 education budget since 2001 - 23%; decrease in Nanaimo-Ladysmith student enrolment since 2001 - 13%; ), let me offer my own set of 'coupled' statistics: increase in MLA's salaries since 2001 - 38%; decrease in number of legislature sitting days since 2001 - 26%.

What is especially interesting is how these two papers chose to use my letter. The Daily News ran it (Education Minister's letter far too simplistic, Jan 10/09, the bolded text indicates that part of my letter which was not published) and then Walter Cordery wrote an editorial piece using my letter as 'the hook'. The Harbour City Star only ran the editorial piece (Thin skins fill letters pages, Jan. 13/09), making reference to my letter printed in the Daily News.

Lantzville Provides The New Mayor of Nanaimo

I submitted the following 'Letter to the Editor' of the Nanaimo Daily News (Canwest/Global newspapers) on Nov. 24/08. As with most of my letters, and especially anything that might be critical of them, time will tell if they publish it. If they don't, consider it just one more reason to support independent media when obtaining real news that is important to you.

Dear Editor,
So Nanaimo's Mayor-elect lives in Lantzville (Ruttan must live up to promises he made, Nanaimo Daily News, Nov. 17/08) - well, get over it! It's not like Lantzville hasn't been very good to Nanaimo over the years. Let's make a list, shall we:
- Nanaimo gained 3 large properties (and the commercial taxes they generate) from Lantzville, even receiving $100,000 for 'good works' from one of the benefiting developers
- Nanaimo received $200,000 from Lantzville for their Conference Centre in exchange for agreeing to provide emergency water
- Nanaimo received $96,000 over the past 11 years from Lantzville in support of the Port Theatre, the only other municipality to do so
- Nanaimo uses Lantzville land for their northern 'Welcome to Nanaimo' signage
Although your paper has been very vocal all along with the fact that John does not live in Nanaimo (while not going out of your way to make it clear that he is a business/property owner/taxpayer in the city), I'd be far more concerned about one household having more than one vote on a Council or Board such as Donna and Nelson Allen on SD68 School Board, Diane and Jamie Brennan on Nanaimo Council and SD68 School Board, respectively, Colin and Denise Haime on Lantzville Council and Sue, Greg and Evelina Halsey-Brandt on Richmond Council. In your view, it seems that a person's place of domicile is more important than fair and broad representation.

Mainstream Media May Often Be Wrong But They're Tenacious!

I submitted the following 'Letter to the Editor' to the Harbour City Star because, when we are making decisions involving hundreds of thousands, if not millions of taxpayer dollars on infrastructure projects, it is important that we have access to factual information and not just so much talk to advance someone else's agenda. Notice that the Canwest/Global (now Postmedia) newspaper didn't like the very valid criticism of their past poor performance in this regard in the last paragraph and so deleted it from the letter that was actually published.

Dear Editor,
The unattributed piece, Sewers improved in Lantzville, The Star, Wed., April 30th, leaves a lot to be desired in terms of reporting. If it was provided by government, surely you have realized by now that even they (you know - "for the people, by the people") have their own agendas and their communications are specifically designed to further them.
For example, the "laying of a sewer pipe along the community's foreshore from its border with Nanaimo north to Oar Road" was only a part of the $3.6 million public expenditure, (one that was completed BEFORE the affected properties had even been asked to approve their 1/3 share) with the distribution of smaller collector pipes throughout an area of 208 (not 225 as reported) homes and businesses and a sewage lift station comprising the bulk of it.
Since it is the fields which normally fail in septic systems and the tanks remove about 40% of the Total Suspended Solids (TSS), 60% of the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and 5-10% of the pathogens, it is irresponsible and just downright wrong to write that "(t)he problem of raw sewage leaking into open ditches from septic fields in Lantzville, where most residences are not hooked into the Regional District of Nanaimo sewer system [in fact, none were at the time] has alarmed residents for years". Not one piece of factual evidence has ever been provided to support that claim or level of concern.
It is uninformed and incorrect articles like yours which are the cause for alarm. Remember when your sister paper, the Nanaimo Daily News, ominously reported some 10 years ago that Lantzville was "literally a cesspool" and sewers were "criminally overdue"? One would have thought we'd all be dead by now!