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Just as the media has been speculating for months, Carole Taylor has introduced a revenue neutral carbon tax for BC. We are the second province in Canada, following Quebec, to introduce the tax as an method of curbing climate change.

Here’s the deets:

Carbon Tax

A carbon tax will be introduced on all fossil fuels starting July 1st. It will increase over time. The rate begins at $10 per tonne of carbon emissions. It will generate $1.85 billion over three years.

For example, the cost works out to be 2.41 cents per litre of gas, and 2.2 cents per litre of diesel.

Legislation will be developed requiring the government to show how the carbon tax funds are being used to fight climate change.

Revenue Neutrality

Every BC resident will receive a $100 dividend in June aimed at helping them to adopt greener lifestyles before the carbon tax is introduced.

Low income households will receive a new Climate Action Credit quarterly, amounting to $100 per adult and $30 per child.

Furthermore, the bottom two personal income tax rates, the general corporate income tax rate, and the small business tax rate will all be reduced to offset the carbon tax revenues.

General Spending

• Health care spending is up $2.9 billion over three years
• K-12 education spending is up $144 million over three years
• $104 million over four years will go towards reducing homelessness
• $78 million over four years will go towards keeping emergency shelters open 24 hours

Surplus?

The forecasted surplus for this year is $50 million, a far cry from last year’s $2 billion.

Video game events at public libraries are drawing crowds of teens, including about 100 competing monthly at “Guitar Hero” at the Rochester Hills Public Library.

“Getting teens to come to the library is right up there with getting them to go to church: It’s not exactly the first place they want to go,” Christine Lind Hage, library director, told the Detroit Free Press for a story Sunday.

[via ABC News]

Now here’s some innovation from a dying industry - the library. It’s great to see them making progressive steps to attract back people. The fact of the matter is that library can no longer rely on simply being an information repository - the internet has taken over that responsibility.

Libraries need to be social spaces for a community. They need uses beyond the “book rental shop” and the “study space”. Libraries need to merge with other attractive community spaces, such as community halls, coffee shops, and rec centres. Just imagine how much busier a library would be if it had the only Starbucks in town attached to it.

It’s interesting how this library in the States went beyond just stocking video games - a big step in it’s own right and certainly something that should be tried out here. They transformed a space in the library into something that you would typically call a youth center. They had a video game party and competition night. Tremendous idea no?!

I think it’s collaboration and incorporation that community services need now more than ever. They need to capitalize on their own individual successes and situate in a relatively close space to create what one would typically call a civic square. If services were all close together, you would create a focal point for the community. Of course, this is hard to do with sprawled cities, but steps should be taken today to fix this problem.

First step: create community spaces that are attractive for everyone. Just like these innovative libraries are doing.

For a while I felt as though my blog was steering too far into posts on Surrey. I mean, obviously it’s something I feel is important to write about as it is my home city. However, I know not everyone is interested in such posts.

On that front, I’ve launched a Surrey specific blog: civicSurrey. It will cover important future developments and major news stories in the city. I may crosspost a few interesting articles, but generally from now on, most Surrey posts will be on civicSurrey. So, go check it out and I hope you stick around!

As one of Surrey’s initiatives under the Cultural Capital of Canada designation, the City has funded a digital art project named “Glocal: Your World in Motion“. Here’s the synopsis from the project’s site:

Glocal is an interactive screen and online artwork now in production by a team of local artists: Sylvia Grace Borda, M Simon Levin, and Jer Thorp. They have envisioned building a massive community media experience that will challenge perceptions about the city of Surrey, Canada’s fastest growing metropolis.

With the use of digital cameras and motion capture, audiences will witness how speed, size, density and diversity have enabled Surrey to exist in local and global (Glocal) consciousness.

All the content produced under the banner of the Glocal project will form a large relational artwork in which ‘moving’ images of Surrey will become a central point of exploration. This interaction will then be repeated internationally through community workshops and public exhibitions. When realized, audiences will be able to compare, contrast and examine the world from all points of the globe – and experience how we all share the same horizons … and how we have a lot in common with others, wherever you are!

So how can YOU become part of Glocal and Think again about what’s cool where you live.
The Glocal team of artists will be residing online and at the Surrey Art Gallery TechLab to guide you on your way. Surrey youth and residents can become partnering artists through a series of mentoring workshops developed by the team. The team will also be producing low-tech toolkits to help you record your world in lots of new and amazing ways….

The project already has a Facebook page and a Flickr pool.

It sounds interesting enough, but I fear “Glocal” will be just another waste of time and money. I found it quite surprising that, as of yet, I didn’t even know this project was even in progress. For such an interactive and multimedia project, it hasn’t seemed to reach out to the local web community at all. Is this just another case of artists sharing their art with no one else but other artists?

Furthermore, the pictures that are currently posted on Flickr are nothing more than a series of boring, webcam shots. It’s like this group of artists is being paid to sit at a computer, make faces, and take pictures of themselves. I want that job!

We’ll see where this goes, but as of yet, I am not at all impressed.

Speaking of flashmobs…

[via Open Thinking and Digital Pedogagy]

Combining two of my favourite loves - “Thriller” and rail transit. Sure, we may have SkyTrain parties, but nothing can beat this flashmob.

[via SpacingToronto]

The Province is endorsing a suggestion by the government to add “talking on a cell phone” to the already long list of restrictions new driver’s face as part of the graduated licencing program. While the evidence is quite clear that talking on a phone while driving is quite dangerous, why is the proposal to apply only to new drivers?

The suggestion is completely discriminatory - but not only to the young people that are typically associated with the graduated licencing program. BC is home, especially in the Lower Mainland, to a large number of immigrants from Asia and India, many of whom face the licencing program, either for a transfer of their current licence, or to receive certification for a whole new one.

The graduated licencing program, as is stated quite clearly on ICBC’s website is “one of the strictest in the world.” A new driver faces a series of prohibitional restrictions for the course of three years before they are treated as equals in front of the courts and on the roads. Get a speeding ticket 5 months into your N? Well, too bad, you’ve been booted back to the beginning on your timeframe and will have to start the 18 month prohibition all over again.

Adding “talking to your cell phone” onto the list is just one step too far. Young people revolted against the province’s Graduation Portfolio for several years, prompting Shirley Bond to rehaul the program in 2006. I don’t think it’s too far fetched to see these same youth disregard the restriction and continue to talk or text on their cells.

Furthermore, while it is true that a large market of the cell phone industry is young people, what about all the soccer moms and business people who blab on their phones behind the wheel?

Many areas around the world have placed complete bans on talking on a cell phone, including Japan, the U.K., Australia, France, California, and New York City.

If we really want to improve the safety of all road users, don’t limit such a ban to young people and new immigrants by placing it as a restriction to the graduated licencing program - make it an all out ban for all BC drivers.

Dave left a comment on my Transit Metropolis Vancouver post, challenging me to take it beyond a vision and to figure out if it is viable as a real plan, and how much it would cost. I didn’t quite fulfill that exact challenge, but combined it with the latest SkyTrain expansion plans in Surrey, and came out with this.

It’s a 14 paged document outlining what LRT is, why we shouldn’t build SkyTrain in the South Fraser area, and how much it would cost to build three LRT lines out here.

Surprisingly enough, the final estimate, based on a cost of $24 million per kilometre, three LRT lines totaling 100km in the South Fraser area could be built for $2.5 billion.

Considering that the SkyTrain extensions, tentatively set for completion between 2020-2030, will likely total nearly $5 billion by then, with only 22.7 kilometres of rail rapid transit.

I think the business case is clear. Check it out [PDF] and let me know what you think in the comments! :)

I’ve been pondering a lot recently about my position in the community and how to best realize my vision for this region, and, more specifically, for my home city of Surrey. You see, a person like me tends to have a lot of projects and ideas swirling around his head - it’s just a matter of how best to make these a reality. Rather often, it seems that the power to truly improve things lies in the hands of decision makers. To that end, I’m pondering a potential run for political office in Surrey during the November municipal elections.

I’ve written before about what I believe is a lack of boldness in this region. You know, that spice of life, that energy… that ability to make, support and rally around the *best* decisions and ideas - and I think it’s something I inherently possess. It’s a quality that could make up for my lack of experience in politics and support my candidacy as I’m advocating for the important issues.

And what are the important issues?

Well, take a look at the “four pillars”, so to speak, of a Surrey civic platform that I’ve been brainstorming.

1. Sustainable Development
2. Green Spaces
3. Transportation Alternatives
4. Vibrant Communities

I’m a logical guy, so trust me when I say that I already have many plans on how to achieve measurable improvements in these four categories - something rarely seen from political candidates vying for office. November’s a long ways away still. Does the platform sound intriguing to you? Something you would support?

Stay tuned, the rest of this week, I’ll give a full rundown on each of these “pillars”, including specific policies and plans.

Naturally, I’d really appreciate any and all comments :)

If you have no clue about this teen, watch the video below.

Despite the typical ageism the rather young host shows, the kid definitely did not deserve anything better.

He held a party with over 500 teens, destroyed the neighbourhood, and retaliated against police when they arrived to crash the situation.

This story definitely shows the power of the internet. The party itself blew up it’s attendance due to MySpace, and since the aftermath has become a worldwide phenomenon within the past week, the kid has now been offered a job with a club to host parties. Ironic enough that the $20,000 bill will be easily paid by hosting more parties.

The kid is the epitome of unresponsible teenagers. All things considered, maybe youth laws should be tightened up to ensure that, in these types of situations, kids face the consequences.

To me, it’s not so much a story of hosting a 500 person party, but a more typical situation where the partiers wrecked havoc on the neighbours. This follows my whole libertarian philosophy that you, as a free person in a free country, should be allowed to do anything you wish, as long as it does not have negative effects on any other person. Quite a broad overarching view, but such a “golden rule” is quite clearly broken here.

If they had just stuck to themselves and had their party, there wouldn’t be a huge fuss right now and I probably wouldn’t think Corey is a prick.

But hey, Corey has at least gotten his 15 seconds of fame as either the ultimate teenage asswipe or the prodigal party host. I think it’s quite clear which point of view I’m siding with.