paulhillsdon.com

Doug Sanders has a terrific column about the Canada of 1967, or the so-called golden age of my country. This quote really made me think:

“For right-wing writers like David Frum, 1967 marks the end of the old, self-sufficient Canada and the start of the state-controlled, high-tax, welfare-dependent nanny state, the working woman and the liberated homosexual, the rise of easy divorce and birth control. It was in 1967 that the Canada and Quebec medicare programs sprang fully to life, that our unemployment-insurance system (called Manpower in those days) became a full-fledged assistance plan, that our banks became protected with deposit insurance and, most gallingly, that the federal-provincial Canada Assistance Plan was created, launching the modern welfare state.”

It’s odd to me to think of the Canada before the 60’s - a country still largely controlled or influenced by Britain and populated by Europeans, a country of only two major political parties (Conservatives and Liberals), a country that discriminated against Asians, East Indians, Aboriginals, Germans, and Italians.

My Canada is the country of Medicare, of peacekeepers, of strong and resilient social justice for all citizens; of beavers, maple leaves, and moose; of countless innovators in sports, technology, and the arts (hockey, the telephone and insulin, comedians abound); of mountains, prairies, and the tundra. This is the Canada I am proud to call my home.

I wonder, today, what my Canada is becoming, just as the people of the 40’s pondered the same thing in the 1960’s. Sure, we are a multicultural society, but is there too much immigration without enough assimilation? Are citizens becoming more conservative in the 21st century, with many questions surrounding war, health care, human rights, and the environment? Is my Canada a country slowly dying, or is it bound for a strong evolution in the coming years?

We all have a part to play in the country we live in. There is nothing wrong with patriotism or nationalism as long as we remember we are above all things human together on this Earth. With that in mind, enjoy today with your friends, family and fellow citizens, and celebrate living in such a wonderful country.

Here’s two great clips that symbolize Canada to me. The first is a great little cartoon that used to play on TV all the time for me as a child, made by the National Film Board of Canada. The second was a slideshow I made two years ago for Socials class on Canadian Pride. Enjoy :)

I don’t think I’ve ever read a tabloid, but this was actually quite the eye opener to me. I’d love to see the face of those who love Hollywood gossip after they see this:

[via kenneth in the (212)]

Thanks Jordan for the tag. This is my first time participating in one of these tag games.

• Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
• Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
• Players should tag eight other people and notify them that they have been tagged.

1. I am a closet Disney geek. I collect all the animated features and some other special historical content on DVD.
2. I droppped out of regular high school in Grade 10. I’ve flip flopped several times between going back and staying out. I’m currently still on schedule to graduate on time, and am taking courses through online school.
3. I always have trouble completing or continuing projects that I start. Thankfully, I’ve still kept up this blog reasonably well, so that may be changing.
4. My parents have been separated since I was 8. I still hop between Cloverdale and Burnaby every week. Google Maps is your friend if you don’t know Greater Vancouver.
5. I listen to jazz and classical quite a bit. I just never put that info in my web profiles under “Music” because I’d feel like a nerd. More info can be found on my last.fm.
6. I am incredibly shy. I try to avoid phone calls as much as possible, and have a hard time approaching strangers. I dislike Skyping online friends for this same reason. So nag me until I do it - it’s good for me.
7. I am generally a nice person - everyone seems to get along with or like me. It’s karma baby. But watch out, because I can hold really bad grudges, especially when it’s to my benefit. I’ve had one for almost 8 years now with a person I see everyday. This means not recognizing their presence at all.
8. I am gay. If you didn’t know that already, it’s cause it has yet to come up. Which is the way I like it. Because, it’s only one small part of my personality. I’m not ashamed, it’s just not necessary to flaunt it. Except during Pride ;)

I tag:

• Arthus Erea
• Michael Yurechko
• Stephen Rees
• Pierre Lourens
• Gordon Price
• Christian Long
• Chris Tindal
• Wesley Fryer

3 teens, 2 urban design whizzes, 2 education whizzes, and 1 politico.

Rock on Mika. Rock on.

[via TV Squad]

[via While the Earth Burns]

According to the Surrey Now, via Langley Politics Dotcom, the Surrey School Board is mulling over a plan for a brand new board office and convention centre. The estimated cost of the multi-year project is $96 million. The board can currently only handle a cost of $48 million, so the project is currently being handled by Partnerships BC as a P3. You should read the article for the full story.

Does $96 million seem like a large number to you? Well, it should. Consider this:

• Port Coquitlam recently spent about 1.8 million to expand it’s city operations with new office space, in addition to renovations at their current City Hall.
• The Township of Langley recently spent 21.6 million for a brand new Municipal Hall (a LEED-Ci silver rated building) which also features a fitness centre, library branch, community police office and a presentation theatre.
• Fraser Downs, in Cloverdale, recently had a 35 million dollar expansion which dramatically renovated the entire facility, including a 250-seat clubhouse, in addition to adding a whole new entrance atrium, area for gambling slot machines, and a ton of flat screen displays for the horse racing
• The City of Surrey recently spent 2 million on it’s brand new Learning and Discovery Centre (or Museum). Surrey has also put 10 million into renovations for it’s City Hall.
• Coquitlam spent 19.3 million on it’s City Hall, completed in the early 2000’s.
• The Surrey School District completed, this year, a new elementary school (Cambridge) for the cost of 9 million, and a new secondary school (Panorama Ridge) for the cost of 27 million.

One would assume that a school board building would mainly consist of offices and multi-purpose rooms. Maybe even a small theatre. Not too fancy, you know. Probably a mix between a City Hall, and elementary school. I mean, it’s not like they need the huge gymnasium or super science labs the secondary schools have, nor do they require a wall of flat screen TVs for horse races. And heck, we aren’t even talking LEED certification for environmental sustainability.

So, where does the Surrey School Board come off trying to claim that they *need* a 96 million dollar facility? Based on the costs above, such a facility should cost about 10-20 million at best, and certainly nowhere past 30 million. What’s going on?

What’s with the acronyms you ask? AVL is Auto-Vehicle Location, a form of ITS, which stands for Intelligent Transportation Systems. A quick excerpt from the Translink website will give you a brief understanding of what ITS is supposed to provide us, the riders, with:

• Driving to work knowing the route you chose is the quickest and most efficient
• Approaching a ferry terminal or border crossing knowing exactly how long you will wait; or better yet, not waiting at all
• Travelling on a bus that can pre-empt traffic lights and remain on time
• Receiving traffic reports on your wristwatch receiver
• Seeing emergency vehicles dispatched to a traffic accident almost instantaneously
• Knowing traffic will be diverted when an accident or construction occurs
• Carrying one smart card that can be used to pay for transit, parking and toll booths
• Colsuting your in-vehicle navigation system for directions and real time traffic reports
• Highways and roads made safer through advanced safety systems like blind spot detection and collision avoidance
• Electronic signs along roadways warning of trouble ahead
• Trucks that are safer and more fuel efficient because traffic flow is smooth, rather than stop-and-go
• Signal coordination, traffic alerts, and preauthorizaion at weigh stations and borders
• Knowing help will come if your car is stranded in a remote area

Read the rest of this entry »

Ratatouille, the latest from the animation wizards at Pixar, is quite the mixed bag. That’s not to say the film is a bad movie; rather, it gives the viewer an overall impression of “meh”. The movie was questionable from the beginning, with an out-of-the-ordinary premise and a relatively unknown director. These two variables gave the film relatively wobbly legs to stand on right out of the gate.

While it can be arguably said that since Finding Nemo, Pixar has been going down on a winding road, failing to match or surpass it’s previous record setting success, it is still churning out hits. The Incredibles was a different tone for the studio, while Cars became John Lasseter’s second “Bug’s Life“. However, both of these films were still winners in their own right, with the same heart and soul one has come to expect from Pixar.

After we heard that Jan Pikava, the director and screenwriter of Ratatouille, had been removed from the project, one could instantly assume something wasn’t quite right. Although a similar situation happened with Toy Story, which turned out fantastically, so fans were still prepared to keep an open mind. Brad Bird was brought in to tweak the film, but it turns out that he may not have had enough time to fix it. While Meet the Robinsons succesfully gapped it’s holes and reigned in it’s wacky storyline with a resounding heartfelt theme, Ratatouille did not achieve the same result.

Don’t get me wrong. The animation is superb - no question. The problem lies with the story and theme. The film never really connects with the audience, leaving us at the ending with the weak lesson that “Everyone can cook, but only some should.” The plot also taps into minor love and family stories, without fully fleshing them out. With Ratatouille, Pixar could’ve easily pulled off the “follow your dreams” theme, but even that one is hidden deep under the covers of a cooking rat and his skinny teenage puppet.

The connection between Remy (the rat) and Linguini (the teen), arguably the most important in the film, is just barely touched on near the culmination, making me feel Linguini cared for more about his girlfriend Colette then his “little chef”.

In the end, Ratatouille fails to grab onto any one theme. Such an act, unfortunately, has the audience wondering what, if any, purpose there was to watch the film. Without a strong plot to stand on, nor any of the attention grabbers other studios like to use, Ratatouille left little aftertaste; good or bad. The film was a resounding “meh”.

I would certainly place the movie at the bottom of Pixar’s barrel, akin to Sleeping Beauty or The Sword in the Stone, both from Disney’s second Golden Age. That said, the studio looks more than ready to repair their reputation with next summer’s Wall-E, the fantastic trailer of which was recently released. It just goes to show that even Pixar is not able to “do no wrong”. Streaks are difficult to pull off, and while Ratatouille isn’t a train wreck, the movie just is not what the world has come to expect from the studio that brought us Toy Story, Monster’s Inc., and Finding Nemo.

According to the Globe and Mail, the TTC is facing a funding shortage for expansion, in the face of increased ridership. Of course, the issue here was providing tickets with far too much of a subsidy. Kind of like what Translink did with the severely cheap U-Pass program. That initiative increased ridership severely, which in turn forced the authority to boost service levels, although all these new riders weren’t going to be footing the bill.

It seems to me like there is this intricate play with transit systems and balancing the authorities budgets. I just heard from Paul Mees in a podcast that all public transit systems are designed to run on subsidies. Can somebody please tell me why in the world this is? In my mind, it would make the most sense to run a transit system like a private business, while still being mandated to provide equal opportunities to the whole community. Translink today is not being competitive enough with the car and other mode of transportation. We need a top-notch, attractive, comfortable, frequent system available around our region. Maybe I’m being slightly right-wing here, but isn’t this the type of stuff competition would take care of?

Now, I’m not advocating a privately-owned transit authority. I’m just saying that Translink could be run more like a real company - one that does not rely on subsidies to survive. This would mean improving service to really attract new riders to the system. A stupid move like the $100 U-Pass would never have happened. Sure, it added a ton of new riders, but these riders are adding very tiny amounts of new revenue, while causing far greater added expenses to the system.

Heck, maybe this is the type of thing we’ll be getting with Translink 2.0.

[via Will Pate's blog]