By Richard Hughes, on May 18th, 2012 
The Financial Post coverage is shocking to put it mildly.
By Greg Quinn and Doug Alexander, Bloomberg News
Canada buys high and sells low when it comes to crude oil, costing the world’s 10th largest economy billions in lost revenue as it expands production from one of the world’s largest energy deposits.
The gap between Alberta’s exported Western Canada Select and Brent oil imported into Ontario and Quebec was about $30.50 a barrel yesterday, and that difference is creating a drag on growth according to Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney.
The full story is available here. As is often the case the comments that follow are well worth the read.
By Richard Hughes, on May 18th, 2012
Richard "Hub" Hughes The man who hates government now is one. Conservative Prime Minister Steve Harper loves power as it allows him to implement his long held belief that governments are bad and Canadians are soft, lazy and pampered.
These are the sentiments he shared with a corporate friendly American audience when he spoke there as the President of the Canadian Taxpayer Federation.
It is not only the Canadian coastline and wilderness that are at certain risk from oil spills and leaking pipelines. The US is facing threats to parts of the Alaska Panhandle and their coast and marine environment as well.
Like many others I am on Rafe Mair’s email list and this morning he tipped us off about this story hitting the Seattle papers.
UBC Professor Michael Byers alerted Americans of the threats they face in this article published in the Seattle Times.
Hardly a day goes by when we are not alerted to further unravellling by this egotistical idealogue who has Canada by the throat.
The high profile Enbridge Northern Gateway proposal has seen him dismiss 20 of 24 Environmental Hearing Panels and wage an attack on environmentalists referring to them as disloyal radicals.
He cut a deal with the Chinese which is supect at best as he essentially assured them of regulatory approval of a highly questionable pipeline proposal that is guaranteed to have destructive impacts on British Coulumbia’s pristine wilderness and also threatens the sensitive eco systems of the Pacific Coast.
 - Steve gives us the finger!
Opposition is building with virtually all the Native communities and local governments along the proposed route clearly not in support of this ludicrous assault on Canadians and our environment. To top it off the job factor is so insignificant as to be laughable if it was not so serious.
PM Steve Harper has a majority in the Federal House of Commons with three years remaining before he must call an election.
What really rankles is that this proposal is non sensical on many levels. Eastern Canadians import their oil while Harper’s endorsed scheme wants to ship the Alberta Tar Sands bitumen from Alberta to the BC coast. Simply put, this is nuts!
We could of course risk free trade within Canada and ship the oil east along existing corridors and provide Canadians with oil they now import. That tact would dramatically reduce risks, create real jobs, refining opportunities and increase national energy security.
In the meantime we fight and glance southwards over our shoulders to see if the Americans will be annoyed enough to stand up to protect the certain risks to their interests. Will they challenge our out of control Prime Minister?
Any port in a storm!
By Richard Hughes, on May 17th, 2012  Ummm! The tired, troubled and confused Christy Clark led Liberal pretenders love to have power but it seems are incapable of governing.
The BC NDP on the other hand are led by the dynamic duo of Leader Adrian Dix and House Leader John Horgan. These two represent the best minds and abilities in the Pointy Buildings and they are ready to govern.
The rattled Liberals are trying to ram through legislation thart deserves more of a look than, we have more votes than you do!
The bookies will have a heyday with this one! When the ballots are counted how many seats will these sorry ass pretend Liberals have?
Liberal friendly Sun Columnist Vaughn Palmer has seen it all as is evidenced in his latest column.
By Richard Hughes, on May 17th, 2012 Rob Douglas is a young man with a worthwhile message. It is most encouraging to see forward thinking and thoughtful analysis so badly needed in our community.
Economic development has been somewhat of a bust under the traditional Economic Development Commission approach.
We should be developing and supporting local businesses along with more cooperative approach as suggested in his column that was featured in the Cowichan News Leader.
It is a timely message and an important one. More and more we will need to be depending on ourselves and our locally owned community businesses and services.
It will not be long before Cowichan News Leader readers will be be wanting to see Robert’s columns on a weekly basis.
Focus our economic development closer to home
 Rob Douglas Published: May 15, 2012 9:00 AM
Our newly elected council in North Cowichan recently voted to overhaul the municipality’s tax structure, shifting the burden from heavy industrial to residential property owners.
Our councillors argue that lowering the industrial tax rate will benefit the local economy, mainly by making it easier for the municipality to attract and retain investment.
When our elected officials talk about “attracting and retaining” investment, they are almost always referring to luring in businesses from outside the community. In most cases, this means opening our community to big, foreign-owned corporations. A truly local business can’t be attracted and doesn’t need to be retained.
This is the conventional approach to economic development, long embraced by municipal councilors, economic developers and community planners across Canada. And it is an approach that is fundamentally flawed.
Too many communities are racing to bottom in an effort to attract and retain investment, lowering their industrial tax rates and providing other incentives to convince big corporations to set up shop within their jurisdictions.
This approach to economic development encourages foreign ownership, which creates a host of problems. It means we lose control of our local economies to outside interests. It means small locally owned businesses are squeezed out by chains and big box stores. It means profits flow out of the community into the pockets of far away investors.
But there is an alternative approach to economic development, one that is being embraced by a more and more communities across Canada. And there is strong and growing evidence that this approach is far more effective.
It rejects the idea that we should be “attracting and retaining” outside investment, and instead emphasizes the need to strengthen the economy through local ownership, import substitution, and the mobilization of investment from within the community.
Local ownership can come in many different forms including small businesses, co-operatives, non-profits, and municipally owned enterprises. Locally owned businesses have many advantages over foreign companies. They rarely move, and in comparison they have a higher “economic multiplier.” To put it simply, a dollar spent at a local business tends to circulate in the local economy longer.
For example, when you buy $10 worth of vegetables from a local farmer, the farmer in turn spends the $10 at an auto repair shop, the shop owner uses that money to pay his employees and the money circulates again.
The $10 dollars you gave the farmer will generate more income, wealth and jobs the more times it is spent in the community and the faster it circulates without leaving the area.
What happens when we import our vegetables from California rather than buying them from local farmers? The economic multiplier effects (i.e. jobs, income, wealth) flow to businesses south of the border rather than staying within our community.
Our councillors in North Cowichan need to re-think their approach to economic development and recognize that there is growing evidence that the conventional model is doing more harm than good for local economies.
What we need is a new approach to economic development, one that recognizes the benefits of local ownership, of self-reliance, and of keeping control of our economy within the community.
Rob Douglas writes monthly for the Cowichan News Leader Pictorial. He can be reached at douglas.robert.g@gmail.com
By Richard Hughes, on May 17th, 2012  Ted Olynyk-BC Hydro PR Guy The Letters to the Editor section of our local papers are often the best parts and well worth a look see.
The Cowichan News Leader’s letters included this predictable spin piece from BC Hydro PR Spinner Ted Olynyk.
His smarmy offering resulted in a response from Cobble Hill resident John Walker who is not buying what Mr. Olynyk is selling. Either do I.
As is often the case a response can trump the original. This is the case with John Walker’s letter carried by the Cowichan Citizen. Read on John Walker nails it!
The Citizen
Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Ted Olynyk of BC Hydro would have us believe the smart meters are the best thing since sliced bread (Customer feedback important to BC Hydro, May 11). If he is truly interested in customer feedback, perhaps he would provide an answer to some of his “questionable” claims he has made in defence of the new smart meters.
He states that the meters provide “faster power restoration when there’s an outage.” Power is restored when the power problem has been repaired and has nothing to do with electric measuring meters.
Olynyk claims that like the smart meters, the old meters have problems. I don’t know about you folks, but I have never had a problem with the old meters, nor have we ever had a Hydro employee come by to repair our meter, in the 40 years that I have lived in this province.
He states the new meters will “help save energy and money” and the savings would be “passed on to our customers.” If BC Hydro were truly concerned about saving their customers money, why were millions upon millions of dollars used to purchase new meters when the old units had been functioning properly for many, many years and why hadn’t the money been passed on to customers prior to the purchase?
He also claims that complaints of high power bills and consumption comes “from customers with the old meters.” I disagree! Is Olynyk prepared to provide proof of that statement? He claims “a colder winter” is the reason that power bills are higher. I have an old meter and my power consumption has not increased any significant amount.
The public is expected to believe the foregoing statements coming from a corporation whose executives hid Hydro losses in order to give themselves handsome annual bonuses.
My old power meter will remain in place regardless of BC Hydro propaganda.
John Walker Cobble Hill
© Cowichan Valley Citizen 2012
I then found another retort this time from the Cowichan News Leader’s Web Site.
 Gwen Farrel BC Hydro is right that British Columbians have been patient. For more than a year now they’ve brought forward varied concerns about Smart Meters and borne the fact that the B.C. government refused to subject the program to the oversight of the B.C. Utilities Commission.
They’ve faced the reality of having no real opt-out provision. But even farther back there’s a group that’s been even more patient: meter readers. Since 2008 they have waited for the government and B.C. Hydro to come up with a transition plan for their jobs, knowing their years of institutional knowledge is invaluable to our public utility. When that failed to happen they asked to meet with Minister Rich Coleman or the premier.
The almost 400 meter readers are still waiting for a meeting with them as individuals or with their union. The B.C. government has already had four years to take the opportunity to listen to meter readers and help protect community-supporting jobs.
This doesn’t bode well for concerned British Columbians who are looking for the right to opt-out.
Gwenne Farrell Vice-President, Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 378.
When I finished reading these letters I googled “Opposition to Smart Meters” and whoa! Google delivered 2,510,000 results.
 Richard Hub Hughes-Political Blogger So residents, local governments, and a growing number of politicians do not support the BC Liberal’s Billion Dollar Boondoggle to install these so call “Smart Meters” on our houses whether we like them or not. What the hell is going on here folks?
Many of us have yet to have been “Smart Metered” but know that the sleuth style installation effort is about to present itself. If we are home we can refuse the installation and chances are that the installers will leave.
I have heard of cases where they park and watch and wait for the owners to leave the property and then swoop in for the install! Imagine!
It appears that the “Smart Meters” will be substantially installed by the time our BC Liberal Government will have to face the voters in a May 2013 election. This is such an abomination and assassination of fair, decent, honest dealing that it must be reversed when and if British Columbian’s give the BC Liberals the boot.
The politicians need a shakeup and voters should direct their votes to those who will agree to remove the highly questionable smart meters and never dare try anything like this again.
Just like the HST, the “Smart Meters” should be yanked!
By Richard Hughes, on May 15th, 2012 Richard Hub Hughes-Political Blogger The BC Liberal Party whine over the fact that the rabble stood up and rejected their heavy handed implementation of the HST (Harper’s Sleazy Tax) demonstrates their contempt for the voters of this province.
Their disrespect is puzzling considering that they must face the voters in an election a year from now, or earlier if they decide.
It seems as if the Finance Minister Falcon’s continued pissing and moaning about it is an attempt to embrace and project a revisionist version of what really happened and what the impacts are on the average Joe or Jane.
 Finance Minister Falcon & Premier Clark The Liberal spin of course focused on the simplicity of one tax instead of two. That ruse was so transparent as to be laughable if it was not so dishonest.
The HST charge applied to far more than was the case with the Provincial Sales Tax which explains the hand wringing and foot stamping of Finance Minister Kevin Falcon and Premier Clark.
Now of course PM Harper wants the money back. Why should we give it to him? We did not approve the grab. It was not raised in our legislature or debated as such policy should be. In fact the BC Liberals lied through their teeth denying any effort to buy into the HST prior to the last election.
Let the Feds whistle for it. They were full participants in such gross dishonesty and our PM Harper should eat the loss.
 Former Premier Bill Vanderzalm Do you think that Gordon Campbell agreed to play along with Steve regarding the Enbridge Northern Pipeline proposals? Is this why his former Deputy Premier and now our Premier Christy Clark is not stepping up and assuring a full environmental examinaton by the Province that British Columbians deserve?
Former Premier Bill Vanderzalm is grinning like a sheep eating thistles these days and it looks good on him after all the effort he put into keeping them honest!
By Richard Hughes, on May 14th, 2012  Richard Hughes - Political Blogger
Good Morning. Not a cheery headline but we have been taken to the cleaners and our once secure gem BC Hydro has been decimated, much of it sold off. It is past time for accountbility for this unthinkable betrayal at the hands of the Christy Clark BC Liberal Government.
Here is the latest from Rafe.
RAFE HERE
The chickens have come home to roost and I tell all in my blog THE COMMON SENSE CANADIAN under the headline Hydro’s Overflowing Dams, Huge Losses Due to Private Power
You will see the story told – Private companies in the so-called run of river projects have, thanks to the Campbell/Clark government, destroyed 75 rivers and under sweetheart deals forced upon Hydro, now are reaping huge profits while BC Hydro loses its shirt.
We, at the Common Sense Canadian and many others have told of this for several years and while after the shit we’ve taken from Campbell/Clark and the industry, it’s nice to be utterly vindicated, it’s at a huge cost both monetarily and environmentally to all of us as taxpayers and ratepayers.
Let’s be our own media and pass this on
By Richard Hughes, on May 13th, 2012
By Richard Hughes, on May 12th, 2012  Rex Wyler-Co Founder of Greenpeace
The independent assessments of yet another critic Rex Wyler is well worth looking at.
RAFE HERE
Rex Weyler, a co-founder of Greenpeace, has written a superb article helping us understand the enormous problems with tankers loaded with Tar Sands product, called Bitumen. Check it out here!
By Richard Hughes, on May 12th, 2012 
Many thought that Occupy was a flash in the pan. Proof of the US Corporate concern was reflected when the US Newspaper of Record, the New York Times, censored the news of the WallStreet Occupy by ignoring it for a week. Finally it was the British newspaper the Guardian that published news as to what was happening.
What will Occupy 2012 bring to the table and how will we know what is really happening and where? It sure as hell is not going to be accurately and effectively carried by the Corporate Media here in Canada, or in the US.
Fortunately the Progressive and Alternate Media is thriving and so folks the stories and coverage will be available. Click on the tab “Alternate Media” at the top panel to easily access a full array of non corporate sources of news and information. Here is just one of the sources you can look to for news of the Occupy.
By Richard Hughes, on May 12th, 2012  Richard Hughes-Political Blogger Efforts continue to be made in the US by some employers to require employees to release their personal Facebook Passwords.
George Orwell was ahead of his time but many of the concepts he wrote about in his classic 1984 have been surfacing in concept and practice. He lived to see 1985 and the shift towards the direction he wrote about in 1949.
OK Canadians, that is in the US right. Ha! Can’t you just see our PM Steve Harper slavering over the prospect of gaining more control and manipulation through such a scheme.
Is it true that Canadian right wing charities are funding this effort south of the border? Wouldn’t that be special!
Read about this latest attack in Web Pro News.
Should Congress Move To Ban Employers From Demanding Employees’ Facebook Passwords?
By: Josh Wolford | Staff Writer
Is it a big enough invasion of privacy to warrant government intervention?
If your future employer or current boss asks you for your Facebook password, it might soon be against the law. That’s because there is new national legislation against the practice of employers demanding access to employees’ personal accounts.
Read the rest of the story here.
By Richard Hughes, on May 11th, 2012 Richard Hughes-Political Blogger While our Federal Prime Minister Steve Harper rides roughshod over long established processes regarding the proposed Enbridge Pipeline BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix has stood up for legal and due process and rights of all British Columbian’s.
The Vancouver Sun’s Peter O’Neil conducted this lengthy interview with BC’s NDP Leader and quite possibly our next Premier, Adrian Dix.
By Richard Hughes, on May 10th, 2012  Thomas Mulcair-NDP Leader
It has been a tough road back for the Federal New Democrats after the untimely death of their popular former leader Jack Layton.
Following a long drawn out leadership campaign Thomas Mulcair was victorious.
I must say that I did not support Mulcair, as did a number of my friends, but by the time we got to the last ballot it had become quite clear, even to me a Nathan Cullen fan, that Mulcair was the guy. He did not flinch when facing blistering criticisms by icon Ed Broadbent. He kept his cool under fire and he was gracious to his opponents upon winning the race.
Today Canadians seem to have sized up Mulcair and the party up and they now their support tops the polls in urban areas but is still trailing in rural parts of the country. The NDP is gaining ground lost by Harper’s extreme top down approach.
The once powerful Liberals are trailing at 20 percent support.
The Toronto Star covered the latest poll results and report as follows.
By Richard Hughes, on May 9th, 2012  What is Premier Redford saying to our Premier Christy Clark?
By Richard Hughes, on May 9th, 2012  Most young children learn quickly that you cannot pour water from the big bucket into the little bucket without spilling and making a mess. Our Premier Clark does not seem to grasp this basic fact. She resides in a strange rarified existence pampered and stroked by fawning spinners and flaks of many colours, flavours, sizes and shapes.
The BC Premier is now heading into the last ten days of the legislative session with a bucket overflowing with bills including reinstating the PST with all its complexities.
That tax formula was tossed when former disgraced BC Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell was seduced by equally slippery PM Steve Harper.
You will recall that Gordo emerged with a sack of money and promised what in exchange? Did he promise Harper a cooperative response to his pet project the Northern Pipeline Proposal for implementing the HST without debate or public input? It certainly appears to be the case.
 “Is it malicious or is it just incompetence?” How many times have we heard BC Liberal House Leader Rich Coleman and his leader Premier Clark whining about how difficult it is bringing the PST back?
Are they going to close the legislative session without passing the PST legislation?
Will they try to blame the NDP and leave the HST in place?
Will they end the session and call an election over the issue?
Colonist Legislative Reporter Rob Shaw filed this report that includes BC NDP House Leader John Horgan asking “Is it malicious or is it just incompetence?”
Indeed. Hang onto your hats folks this session may soon further define our choices very clearly.
By Richard Hughes, on May 8th, 2012  Hiding behind the meaningless to most people label of Bill C-38 is an attack on our Parliamentary practices. It hides from debate matters crucial to Canadians and our environment.
This is not what Democracy looks like!
Our first past the post election of a majority Harper Government is bringing about an unravelling of services and benefits Canadians worked for and measured ourselves by. It is all up for grabs now and under our system unless a number of Conservative MP’s vote against their own government we must fight back through other means.
We cannot stop our federal government from liquidating our assests and commons through parliamentary means.
In BC we face the Christy Clark Liberals who are singing off the same song sheet as our PM. We are looking at a two-fer Neo Con Special.
Democratic processes and giving way to corporate friendly expediency. Who would have thought Canada could be under such a threat from our own governments?
Interesting CBC Blog looks into it as you can see right here.
By Richard Hughes, on May 8th, 2012 Dorothy Field is a writer, poet and artist whose letters and articles will appear here from time to time.
 Dorothy Field I volunteered for two days in Victoria at the Peace and Reconciliation process on the fallout of Residential Schools (April 13-14). It was a powerfully moving experience that caused me to consider the idea of reconciliation.The Missing Women enquiry is ongoing with no legal support for First Nations testimony. There is little government initiative to end the HIV/AIDS holocaust among First Nations people.
First Nations’ rate of incarceration is hugely disproportionate to their population. Harper is pushing through the Enbridge pipeline and tanker route despite strong opposition from the majority of First Nations peoples whose land, waters, and way of life will be degraded, possibly severely.
The assault on First Nations communities continues. There can be no real reconciliation until we address what’s happening right now.
Dorothy Field
By Richard Hughes, on May 7th, 2012 Richard "Hub" Hughes
It sure was good to hear Rafe Mair back on the CBC Political Panel this morning with BC NDP President Moe Sihota and Susanne Anton voicing the views of the far right, aka, the BC Liberals.
This is no longer a walk in the park. The joke may well be on us. We are being occupied by the Christy Clark and Harper Government’s that disregard and disrespect Canadians, the Commons, our institutions and our history. The tide has turned. Canada is at risk!
RAFE here … below is my recent blog for The Common Sense Canadian (www.thecanadian.org)
 Rafe Mair “Civil Disobedience has had successes in the past in BC but too often there have been one or two who have refused to obey the law and once they have been jailed, the protest has petered out. We must organize such that scores, even hundreds, defy the law and are ready to do time. There has been very little by way of organization in the overall community but First Nations appear to be ready and, if nothing else, the rest of us must be prepared to support them and face the same consequences. Our first step must be, in my view, a clear statement by environmental organizations and individual British Columbians that we will stand shoulder with First Nations – and we at the Common Sense Canadian plan to meet with their leaders and see how we can help.”
By Richard Hughes, on May 6th, 2012  Dorothy Field
Guest Blogger Dorothy Field is a writer, poet and artist. She has agreed to allow me to present some of her thoughts on Cowichan Conversations.The following was submitted and printed in the Victoria Times Colonist.
Dear Editor
Remember when a budget bill was about the budget. That was in the Bright Ages.
Among other things, Bill C-38 guts the environment impacting these bills: Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (repealed), Fisheries Act, Navigable Waters Protection Act, Species at Risk Act, Canadian Environmental Protection Act, National Round Table on Environment and Economy Act (repealed), Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act (repealed).
The Canadian Council of Archives office will be closed (Librarians, historians, researchers are reeling). We have huge cuts to StatsCan (this after scrapping the long form census). What do we need all that information for anyway? The PM knows what he believes and that should be enough for all of us.
There are more disappearances every day. It’s like going to sleep and waking up to a Canada you don’t recognize. Sorry, folks, I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but if we sleep politely through all of this, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Sincerely,
Dorothy Field
By Richard Hughes, on May 6th, 2012  Richard Hub Hughes-Political Blogger The former Solicitor General John van Dongen jumped ship and hooked up with the fledgling BC Conservatives prior to the recent by elections that they had hoped would result in electing a Conservative in the Chilliwack-Hope riding.
The BC Conservatives ran third and missed it but so did the BC Liberals, the pollsters and the pundits. For the first time ever the BC NDP’s Gwen O’Mahony’s vigorous campaign produced victory for the New Democrats.
 - After the BC Liberals over BC Rail
Now to rekindle his political worth John is attempting to redeem his shameless cheerleading for open net fish farms by nailing the BC Liberals over their sleazy deal that set BC Liberal party functionaries Bobby Virk and Dave Basi free. Not only did the BC taxpayers pay their 6 million plus legal bill but this scandalous intervention assured that the trial over the highly suspect BC Rail sell off would essentially be stopped in its tracks.
Province Columnist Michael Smyth happily shines a light on the shoddiest political deal in decades.
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