Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Kudos to VIA Rail and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference
An excellent letter in the Ottawa Citizen today (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Desirable+relations/1839388/story.html). I was mulling over writing one in a similar vein, but Keith Egli beat me to it! I never expected to be singing the praises of VIA Rail but OC Transpo and the Amalgamated Transit Union could certainly learn something about consideration of public interests from this example.
A viable alternative to Rogers
We’ve decided to cancel our Rogers cable subscription and are investing in an Over the Air (OTA) antennae system that gives us excellent reception of local stations (these are the ones we view most often anyway). In a few months we will recover our initial investment in the antennae and will be viewing television for free, released from steep monthly fees from Rogers, mostly for the many channels we never view anyway. This move will also simplify the change-over to DTV that will take place in 2011.
Message to Rogers: Your inconsiderate decision to eliminate Cable Channel 64 (PBS Watertown N.Y.) precipitated this decision and we are encouraging friends to take similar action. Our cell phone service from Rogers is the next on our list to go.
Update, July 30, 2009: I am very pleased to learn that today Rogers backed down on the WPBS Watertown issue. However, this will not influence our decision to give Rogers the boot. This firm, like other TV and cellphone service providers is a deal to greedy and arrogant.
Message to Rogers: Your inconsiderate decision to eliminate Cable Channel 64 (PBS Watertown N.Y.) precipitated this decision and we are encouraging friends to take similar action. Our cell phone service from Rogers is the next on our list to go.
Update, July 30, 2009: I am very pleased to learn that today Rogers backed down on the WPBS Watertown issue. However, this will not influence our decision to give Rogers the boot. This firm, like other TV and cellphone service providers is a deal to greedy and arrogant.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Putting greed before need
A lot of folk are expressing anger about Rogers’ unilateral decision to eliminate Cable Channel 64 (PBS Watertown N.Y.) and to force them to subscribe to digital channels if they want access. Their response, or lack of response, to Ottawa resident’s complaints demonstrates what their real priority is (increased profits, no matter what!).
Rogers is inconsiderate to customer concerns and needs in so many ways. Another issue that came to my attention recently relates to their “pay as you go” cell-phone service. Subscribers are being bombarded by unsolicited junk calls for which they are charged. Rogers is benefiting from this unexpected revenue stream at subscribers’ expense and inconvenience. It’s time to change and to look for viable alternatives.
Rogers is inconsiderate to customer concerns and needs in so many ways. Another issue that came to my attention recently relates to their “pay as you go” cell-phone service. Subscribers are being bombarded by unsolicited junk calls for which they are charged. Rogers is benefiting from this unexpected revenue stream at subscribers’ expense and inconvenience. It’s time to change and to look for viable alternatives.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The State of Democracy in Canada
The subject of the June 9, 2006 D4D meeting was the state of democracy in Canada. Ottawa City Councillor Clive Doucet opened up the meeting with some observations on current issues and events. Unfortunately Clive had to leave early because of prior commitment but his comments stimulated much discussion amongst participants. Following is a summary of comments from Clive and others during the course of the meeting.
In Canada, as in many other countries, many aspects of the democratic process are still quite superficial. Inadequate controls are in place and there is still no real accountability by the people in power. Successive governments have encouraged degradation of Canada’s nation institutions:
e.g. the health care system and CN Rail. At the local level, facilities and infrastructure have been allowed to degrade. In almost every case, after allowing these institutions to fail universal solutions appear to favor privatization in some form.
In the health care system privatization of selected services and hospitals is seen by many as a viable solution.
After CN failed due to lack of adequate financial support from government it was privatized and is now virtually a U.S. focused company. Canadian based services and facilities continue to degenerate.
The City of Ottawa has allowed facilities like Lansdowne Part to degenerate and crumble year after year. The City is now considering a sole source contract arrangement with a developer group that will virtually take over develop and operate the entire Lansdowne facility for a period of some 30 years returning it to the City’s care just in time for its mid-life refit.
Participant observations on democracy in Canada suggest it is weak or failing:
We live in a democracy of the rich (e.g. banks, investment institutions and insurance firms) not the people. Rightwards shifts by dictatorial groups are appearing from nowhere. Democracy was stronger before the industrial revolution than it is today. Corporations and financial institutions have undue influence over the political process.
The existing “first past the post” electoral system tears the country apart and angers people. The coalition government strategy launched by the opposition parties in response to unrealistic budget plans by the Harper government last December offered an excellent opportunity to demonstrate a different form of government in Ottawa.
At the municipal level in Ottawa local government amalgamation driven by the Harris led provincial conservatives has urban and rural representatives who do not have the same interests or priorities voting on each others issues. This has resulted in ineffective government and stalemate on many issues. It has never achieved one of its primary objectives, to save money. In fact it has had the reverse effect. When faced with disappointment people tend to turn to the “strong guy” not necessarily the most sensible solution!
The city’s decision not to proceed with the southern light rail initiative has hurt the local economy significantly. Also an opportunity to quickly reduce air pollution has been lost. The democratic process was seriously compromised as a result political interference from higher levels of government.
Participants felt strongly that some form of proportional representation would go a long way toward reinforcing/restoring effective democracy in government. In a post meeting note Clive Doucet opined “democratic reform is the key to having our governments work better but is (apparently) the initiative of least interest to the public. It is a conundrum I don’t have an answer to but we need fair tax sharing between governments and proportional representation more than we need to change (replace) the inhabitants of the political chairs. But how do we get the message out there? I commend your efforts but as you can see, it’s not easy.”
Whilst attendance at this event was not as high as we had anticipated the level of interest and concern expressed by participants was very clear. Events will resume in the fall, likely at a new location. Stay tuned.
In Canada, as in many other countries, many aspects of the democratic process are still quite superficial. Inadequate controls are in place and there is still no real accountability by the people in power. Successive governments have encouraged degradation of Canada’s nation institutions:
e.g. the health care system and CN Rail. At the local level, facilities and infrastructure have been allowed to degrade. In almost every case, after allowing these institutions to fail universal solutions appear to favor privatization in some form.
In the health care system privatization of selected services and hospitals is seen by many as a viable solution.
After CN failed due to lack of adequate financial support from government it was privatized and is now virtually a U.S. focused company. Canadian based services and facilities continue to degenerate.
The City of Ottawa has allowed facilities like Lansdowne Part to degenerate and crumble year after year. The City is now considering a sole source contract arrangement with a developer group that will virtually take over develop and operate the entire Lansdowne facility for a period of some 30 years returning it to the City’s care just in time for its mid-life refit.
Participant observations on democracy in Canada suggest it is weak or failing:
We live in a democracy of the rich (e.g. banks, investment institutions and insurance firms) not the people. Rightwards shifts by dictatorial groups are appearing from nowhere. Democracy was stronger before the industrial revolution than it is today. Corporations and financial institutions have undue influence over the political process.
The existing “first past the post” electoral system tears the country apart and angers people. The coalition government strategy launched by the opposition parties in response to unrealistic budget plans by the Harper government last December offered an excellent opportunity to demonstrate a different form of government in Ottawa.
At the municipal level in Ottawa local government amalgamation driven by the Harris led provincial conservatives has urban and rural representatives who do not have the same interests or priorities voting on each others issues. This has resulted in ineffective government and stalemate on many issues. It has never achieved one of its primary objectives, to save money. In fact it has had the reverse effect. When faced with disappointment people tend to turn to the “strong guy” not necessarily the most sensible solution!
The city’s decision not to proceed with the southern light rail initiative has hurt the local economy significantly. Also an opportunity to quickly reduce air pollution has been lost. The democratic process was seriously compromised as a result political interference from higher levels of government.
Participants felt strongly that some form of proportional representation would go a long way toward reinforcing/restoring effective democracy in government. In a post meeting note Clive Doucet opined “democratic reform is the key to having our governments work better but is (apparently) the initiative of least interest to the public. It is a conundrum I don’t have an answer to but we need fair tax sharing between governments and proportional representation more than we need to change (replace) the inhabitants of the political chairs. But how do we get the message out there? I commend your efforts but as you can see, it’s not easy.”
Whilst attendance at this event was not as high as we had anticipated the level of interest and concern expressed by participants was very clear. Events will resume in the fall, likely at a new location. Stay tuned.
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