Ski to Sea

Fresh snow on the local mountains again this morning. Since the ski area is closed now I cut across the ski hill to the Howe Sound Crest trail. All the trail markers are under 10 feet of snow. Even the map shelter at the base is buried.



The way up was magnificent. Not much visibility at the top the the way up was worth it.







Then instead of waiting in rush hour I went over the White Cliff. Now that is what I'm talking about. The best things in life are still free.

Put on your game face

Nobody likes violence and I think riots over hockey games is stupid. Yet there is anti scab legislation in BC that is not enforced when a federal company goes on strike and that is wrong. Scab labour causes violence and is no different than breaking into someone's home and stealing the food off their table. It is theft and creates a powerful knee jerk response. The anti scabbing laws in BC need to be upheld during the next postal strike.

Warriors Come Out to Play ...

Warriors Come Out to Play ...

Warriors Come Out to Play ...

RBH under attack

Peaceful civil disobedience

AFI antagonism against TELUS workers

Canada Post Contracts out Call Centres

Well this is kind of a surprise. Canada Post just gave out Easter lay off notices for employees in call centres at Winnipeg, Ottawa, Fredericton and Antigonish. The work is going to a private company called Minacs that specializes in outsourcing and off shore call centres.

Bruce Simmonds, the CEO of call centre company Minacs stepped aside at Minacs into an advisory role in 2007, the year after his brother filed an application against Minacs. Janet Ecker, a former provincial finance minister for the Harris governement and a Minacs director, is one of the individuals named in the suit.

Minacs specialty is "Outsourcing Business Solutions." They're full of BS alright. They reduce call centres in Canada and then shut them down. Moya Greene would be proud. I thought we were looking at anti terrorist legislation in Canada? This corporate terrorism kills Canadian jobs.

Aditya Birla Nuvo is a $24-billion conglomerate based in Mumbai, India. The larger firm bought 90 per cent of Minacs, founded by the late Elaine Minacs, in 2006, and established it as a subsidiary of the larger company.

Deepak Patel joined Aditya Birla Minacs as the CEO in September 2008. Aditya Birla Minacs acquires UK based Compass BPO. That would be Business Process Outsourcing in the UK. So Moya Greene goes to England to privatize and destroy the Royal Mail while the company Canada Post sells it's call centres to is an outsourcing company in India that is now outsourcing jobs in the UK. Why does that not surprise me?

Looks like more public demonstrations are on the way over this kind of corporate terrorism. No wonder Canada Post just had a 94.5% strike vote. Maximize Revenue and Minimize Costs while you throw customer service out the window.

The outsourcing industry can be a catalyst for this new stage of India's growth. But what about customer service and the economies of Canada, US and the UK? Stocks rise when jobs are outsourced because investors get their services for less money. Yet that destroys the country's economy and tax revenue where the revenue is taken from and the jobs stolen. This is why we need public accountability in a democratic system. The large corporations do not care about destroying local economies if they can make a quick buck.

The Easter Rising

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

The Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves in the stall and mount up with wings as eagles.

You are an eagle. Spread your wings and fly.

Bowen Island Lookout

Went for a short snowshoe to the Bowen Island Lookout on Cypress.



This is Bowen Island.




The far island is that other island I paddled to from Lion's bay in the summer to catch the sunrise behind the Lions.

Eagle vs Heron in Stanley Park

Kind of a sad tale of nature's reality in Stanley park. Since they got rid of the zoo at Stanley Park there has been a nesting site for rare Blue Herons just outside the Aquarium. It's been there for years.

Well now the eagles are raiding the nests on a daily basis eating the eggs and eating their young. It's kid of just part of nature but it seems unfortunate that the eagles are raiding on a daily basis and keep coming back. Soon those herons will be extinct.

Normally when the eagles come the herons take to the air but they are finally starting to fight back. The blue herons don't have the long sharp bill the regualr herons do so it's pecking isn't as effective.

In Surrey the crows all gang up on the Eagles and keep dive bombing them over and over again. They do the same with hawks that steal their eggs and young. The herons need to get together and gang up on the eagles or they'll be come extinct.

Kind like us joining together to fight corporate greed. Kinda makes ya wanna take a sling shot and throw rocks at the eagles to protect the herons there.

Canadian Postal Workers 94.5% strike vote

The media reports that Canadian Postal Workers "may" go on strike after the results of a 94.5% strike vote. This clearly shows us two things: The employees at Canada Post are not happy with the unprecedented roll backs the Corporation demands they absorb and the Union is still being very reasonable about the disagreement. They still want a negotiated settlement.

You always get some people that will vote to strike and some that will vote not to strike no matter what the issues are on the table. A 94.5% strike vote is huge. The union states the concerns are: "The corporation wants to pay new employees 30 percent less. It wants to reduce their benefits, weaken their job security and provide an inferior pension. It also wants to attack retiree benefits, sick leave and turn back the clock on many other contract provisions."

So once again we have 16 years of consistent profit and huge roll backs from the Corporation just because. One of the pinnacle problems is route measurement. Moya Greene's last act of terrorism at Canada Post before she left to destroy the Royal Mail in England was to turn a profit making dividend paying company into one that was $2.5 billion in debt. Instantly.

Borrowing a huge amount of money to buy machines that would greatly increase the workload and eliminate a huge number of positions in an economic recession. That is Moya's Madness. Creating more unemployment during a recession is not wise. Neither is throwing away tax revenue but what can I say, that's Moya Greene.

The problem is the insane way Canada Post is insisting the new rules be followed to implement the new sortation machines. The new rules are absolutely insane and have completely wrecked havoc in Winnipeg which was the test model for the new system.

The Union won a grievance in Moncton stopping the insane rules. It comes as no surprise the Corporation is now demanding key words in the collective agreement be changed so they can reverse the Moncton decision and implement their insane rules just because. Destroying a good job and destroying a good pension is bad business.