May 1, 2009
BC For Sale: Why You Should Vote NDP on May 12th
April 27, 2009
Driving With the BC Liberals
April 7, 2009
UBC's Great Farm Trek '09, 3:30 p.m. Today. Save the UBC Farm.
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The UBC Farm has been an integral part of UBC since the Point Grey campus was founded in 1922. The UBC Farm is 24 hectares and is located on UBC Vancouver's south campus. It is the last working farm in Vancouver and an irreplaceable resource for our future that once gone, is gone forever. The farm provides a unique centre for innovative teaching and research about sustainable food systems, food security and health.
The UBC farm serves as an important educational resource to members of the academic and non academic community, including a wide variety of aboriginal groups, school children and others. In addition, the UBC Farm is a complex ecosystem and home to many species such as coyotes, frogs, eagles, owls, snakes and over 70 species of birds.
Why is the UBC Farm in crisis?
UBC may use the farm land for other purposes. Students and community members have worked very hard in the past year to preserve the farm. UBC has acknowledged that the farm needs to be considered in their planning process; however, we still need the University to commit to: keeping the farm at its current size and location, providing stable funding, and including key users in determining the farm's future
HOW YOU CAN HELP save UBC Farm
Come to the Great Farm Trek '09 today, Tuesday, April 7th. The Trek will gather at the Student Union Building at 3:30 p.m. and trekkers will walk to the UBC Farm for a celebration with food and music, and a ceremonial planting. Free parking is available at UBC Farm anytime. A free bus shuttle, originating at the SUB, will take participants to and from the Trek, which will be in progress between 3 p.m & 6 p.m. We'll see you at the rally today!
Sponsored by UBC Alma Mater Society, and the Friends of the UBC Farm.
April 3, 2009
Grand March for Housing - 12 noon, Saturday, April 4, 2009
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The Citywide Housing Coalition's march to end homelessness, build social housing, and raise the minimum wage takes place this weekend.
Muster stations are located at Thornton Park (due west of the bus depot / train station), Hastings and Main streets, and Peace Flame Park (at the south end of the Burrard Street bridge). Marchers will walk peacefully (but noisily, we hope) from the march starting points to the Vancouver Art Gallery, meeting in front of the Art Gallery, on Georgia Street, at 1:30 p.m.
Given the failure of the federal government to step up to the plate and build affordable housing for Canadians - when many across Canada are experiencing a housing crisis - is unconscionable. We need a renewed, affordable, well-funded and effective co-operative housing programme, as well as the construction of special needs housing (for women, and for single parent families, for the homeless). Housing is an issue which affects us all.
Let's make this a march for change, for a renewed commitment to social agency, and to programmes benefitting the most vulnerable in our society. Let's march to encourage government to bring in programmes to protect renters, and construct social housing for the homeless and for families in Vancouver, throughout British Columbia, and across our great country!
April 2, 2009
Vancouver Radio Ratings, Spring 2009. A Sea Change.
The Vancouver 2009 Winter radio ratings were published this morning, and the news is huge! For the first time ever, Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC, has emerged as the top-rated radio station in the market, besting long-time market leader CKNW by almost a full percentage point. Only four short years ago, in 2005, CBC Radio One scored a paltry 5 percentage points, behind eight other stations. Now, CBC Vancouver is number one!
Tom Monaghan, VP media director of Vancouver-based advertising agency Cossette Media told the Globe and Mail's Fiona Morrow that recent developments in the city's radio scene had made an impact on the figures, noting the arrival of The Peak and some re-branding among other stations.
"It's a balancing out of the marketplace," he told Morrow. "And, to be honest with you, it's CKNW's audience that has declined - it's not that we're seeing a dramatic increase with the CBC, and it's a relatively small increase anyway."
Taking a look at the ratings above (click on the graphic at the top for the fullscreen graph), apart from the local CBC radio outlet, AM650 (formerly CISL) emerges as the other big winner, tripling their ratings in the past year with a move to the low-key "All Time Favourites" format, a format they assumed when Jimmy Pattison's AM600 went dark in the autumn of 2008.
In the morning slot, 6 - 9 a.m., CBC Radio One pulled in an unprecedented 16.9, with JACK a distant second at 9.4, and the other morning shows emerging as also-rans, averaging 5.1 (the Team) to 7.7 (QM-FM). News1130 registered 9.0 in the morning, with Rock 101 and Virgin tied at 6.4, CKNW dipped to 6.1, JR-FM held steady at 5.7, with Virgin and CFOX tied at 5.3. CFUN, AM730, CISL and The Peak are the bottom dwellers (1 point each). CKCL, 104.9 (oldies), remains stuck at 3 percentage points.
Otherwise, for the most part, the 2009 Winter radio ratings book is stand pat. One supposes that the Team 1040 (CKST) has reason to celebrate (as the Canucks do well, so does the Team), reaching 4.0 for the first time. And Jimmy Pattison can't exactly be thrilled with a rating of 1.0 for The Peak, his new triple-A radio station (can't sell many ads with a 1.0 rating).
PugetSoundRadio has published a further demographic breakdown of the numbers, which shows perennial favourite 103.5 QM-FM and 96.9 JACK-FM in the lead 25 - 54, and CHQM out in way out in front with women 25 - 54.
The folks at RadioWest (from whom we appropriated the graphic) have also begun to weigh in on the Winter 2009 radio ratings book, the commentary in the early going focusing on the "erosion of the once Giant 98."
With the portable people meter coming to Vancouver as early as this fall, to record local radio ratings, we'll see what effect, if any, the new technology has on recording radio listening preferences on the Lower Mainland.
March 20, 2009
A Fever Dream or Wishful Thinking: The Fate of the BC Liberals
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With a provincial election just around the corner (May 12), and the pollsters reporting a current BC Liberal government lead of 16-points in public confidence, the results of the upcoming election would seem to be a forgone conclusion.
Still and all, given that it's BC politics we're talking about here, and with just shy of two months to go before the election, an accurate prediction as to the outcome is, really, anyone's guess.
With the above in mind, there's one person who seems to know what the future has in store for British Columbians, at least as far as the political scene is concerned. Going way out on a limb, savvy astrologer Lasha Seniuk writes in this week's issue of the Georgia Straight ...
Gordon Campbell's astrological chart reveals him to be a cunning negotiator who works tirelessly to achieve his goals. While publicly congenial, privately he is capable of unusual political methods. Campbell is, however, a skilled and passionate leader. Astrologically, he will be the victor in the upcoming election. But not by much and not for long.Carole James, a resourceful and shrewd politician, will also be a permanent fixture in British Columbia politics. After the election, she will use her hard-won street smarts, energetic appeal, and social altruism to challenge Campbell's slender power advantage. Within three months, her influence will be undeniable.
By mid August, a financial controversy or political mutiny from Campbell's back benches will trigger a crisis of leadership. The fight will be fierce, dramatic, and painfully public. Before the end of December, James and the New Democrats will win leadership of the house.
So, is it possible that the May 12th provincial election will be that close? Will Gordon Campbell and his merry band of corporate capitalists emerge victorious in a third consecutive provincial election, only to lose it all this summer, only six months away from his cherished 2010 Winter Olympics?
