BC trade school reverses bigoted anti-Israeli policy

The Island School of Building Arts (ISBA) is a trade school established on Gabriola Island, BC as a "Training Provider for the Log and Timber Frame Construction Industry".

Who knew that BDS bigotry would have, like termites, infested a woodworking trade school in the backwoods of BC?  I certainly wouldn't have but for the Jerusalem Post and the Canadian Centre for Israeli and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

From this morning's JPost:

A Canadian trade school reportedly turned down an Israeli student applicant simply for being Israeli.

[The school, foolishly assuming the moral high ground,] wrote ... that "It is sad that decisions being made halfway around the world impact us here as we have had a number of students from Israel attend the school in the past." The email continued: "This is a question of staying in line with our moral compass, which will always be important to us. We are still inclusive and cannot support that which is not inclusive."  

Following the CIJA's intervention later today they were able to report :

"We are pleased to announce that the ISBA has reversed its decision."

That was fast work! Good show, CIJA.

FWIW, the incident garnered a fair bit of attention on Twitter.

BC school curriculum - an overdose of aboriginal culture

Alongside the article on the "massive shift" in BC school curriculum (previous post) is a related article - Aboriginal perspectives help shape new B.C. school curriculum:

With the new curriculum comes one notable and significant shift ...

Not only will students in B.C. be learning about the history of residential schools, starting in Grade 5, but they will also have aboriginal perspectives embedded into all parts of the curriculum in what the government hopes will be a meaningful and authentic manner.

In the specific lessons about B.C.’s history, topics will include discrimination, inequality, oppression and the impacts of colonialism. The changes are part of the B.C. government’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report on the residential school system. [That was fast! Wasn't that report just published?]

Wonderful! A school system that wasted so much time, money and energy on the highly dubious notion that "self esteem" was a paramount consideration in educating students has now shifted in the opposite direction.  Now it is of paramount importance that students (at least the non-aboriginal ones) be indoctrinated with the equally dubious notion that they should feel guilty for their ancestors' supposed sins.  Perhaps for "progressives" that's progress.

I don't know how many aboriginal children attend BC public schools but those who do will be subjected to this curriculum.  What effect will such an unremittingly negative indoctrination on the "history of residential schools" have on their young, immature minds? Will it not reinforce a sense of victimhood?  Will it not make them feel bitter?  How will it affect their relationships with their fellow non-aboriginal students?

Then, how about the children of immigrants who had no role whatsoever in residential schools?  What will this indoctrination do to them?

Indoctrination (not "education") that induces feelings of guilt, victimhood, bitterness and God knows what other negative effects seems not just a little misguided.  This curriculum needs some serious re-thinking.

As for "having aboriginal perspectives embedded into all parts of the curriculum" -  why, other than to demonstrate "sensitivity" and, perhaps, boost aboriginal self-esteem?  Given the limited time available for more valuable learning, it is a massively unproductive exercise to subject everyone to an overdose of aboriginal culture. This stuff should be strictly optional for anyone who might have a "passion" for it.

First Nations Mathematics
Also discussed in the article is how the mathematics curriculum might embed learning about First Nations:

"... difficult to imagine how math ...  could have learning about First Nations embedded into its curriculum  ... building a canoe is a good example of how to think about it. ... Math ability has always been important for First Peoples.   ...There are some fantastic resources out of Haida Gwaii that show how math was embedded in the creation of a canoe ...

  Well, "math" in this sense has no doubt been important for all human beings at all stages of development.  It's not difficult to imagine that all humans, even at their most primitive stage, were capable of thinking logically about how to measure and compare quantities for various purposes.  How societies  throughout history actually thought about and used these capabilities would be part of the disciplines of "Cultural Anthropology" and  perhaps "History of Mathematics".

So the rather esoteric "Haida mathematics" of building a canoe should not be embedded in the "Mathematics" curriculum.  It would be a possibly interesting but probably confusing distraction that interferes with learning the modern mathematics necessary to survive and get ahead in the modern world. And suggesting that it is comparable with or relevant to the study of modern mathematical concepts is delusional.

While "First Nations mathematics" may be of great interest, even importance,  to aboriginals (for self esteem?) or historians or anthropologists, for everyone else it should be strictly optional. 

"A massive shift"in BC school curriculum

Vancouver Sun:

"... it is clear that schools will have to move away from a traditional model where all students read the same book at the same time, answer the same questions and write the same test.

There is a massive shift underway, and as students go back to school next week, a new optional curriculum will be in place for students up to Grade 9. It will be mandatory next year. Grades 10 to 12 are next, with a draft curriculum expected this week. ...

The need for "a massive shift" becoming "clear" seems to be based on an assumption that the internet, iPads, iPhones, etc have suddenly changed how kids learn what schools are responsible for teaching. Sure, the internet is neat and there some nifty new tools for accessing information but it is highly doubtful that kids' brains have evolved measurably since their invention and that what they need to know and how they learn it has radically changed.  But what the heck, an Education Minister has to make his mark, doesn't he?

Then there's this interesting assertion:

The shift will also bring in new methods of assessment that could see traditional report cards and letter grades disappear. A bit further off are new graduation requirements, which could mean the end of every student passing the same basic courses and exams in order to get a diploma.

Haven't teachers' unions been pushing these ideas for some time?  Students learn whatever strikes their fancy at their own rate with no tests and no report cards.  Also, no more measuring student progress and so no more accountability for their success or failure.  What could go wrong?

Then, if nothing else, this should be a huge alarm:

"there are no global examples to follow and this education transformation is untested."

Yikes! But why am I not surprised?  This seems to be the case for so many grand new educational schemes.  While there are no doubt some reasonably decent ideas in it, this "massive shift" appears to be yet another giant social experiment involving every child in the province as a guinea pig.  It's an experiment to test the latest radical progressive "thinking" coming out of academia.  And it'll take a generation before we have any inkling of how big a flop it is.

Evolution, not revolution, should be the rule in bringing about change in large crucial systems like education.

BC Transit referendum - a big fat NO! to a new tax

Jordon Bateman, head of the BC office of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation and leader of the NO! campaign explains the huge victory to Ezra:



The referendum was non-binding but you can bet, given the 62/38 result, that politicians will feel bound by it anyway. 

The great carbon tax grab and BC's bogus green claims

Terence Corcoran:

Just as consumers start getting used to the idea of lower gasoline prices, putting billions of dollars in their pockets for spending on other things, politicians are conspiring to grab it back ... a long list of economists and celebrity policy wonks eager to provide support... Preston “Don’t call it a tax” Manning, The Globe and Mail’s editorial board, assorted think tanks ... Obama advisor Lawrence Summers ... Glen Hodgson, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada ...

... The carbon tax issue is no small policy shift. This is big statism in a green cloak, filled with policy inconsistencies, economic nonsense and out-of-control rationalizations.

... Carbon taxes are piled on green taxes piled on congestion taxes on top of regulations and other direct interventions. ... Worse, none of these taxes will do anything to improve the environment or curb carbon emissions...

Far left radical Saul Alinsky once wrote "never let a good crisis go to waste". Obama's far left fixer, Rahm Emanuel famously repeated it.   So, now, with a "crisis" in falling oil prices, opportunistic political weasels and wonks of all stripes are rationalizing a tax they hope can be imposed with minimal objection.  And once imposed it'll stay there after oil prices rise again. It's time for tax payers to show up en-mass on all their doorsteps carrying tar, feathers, torches and pitch-forks.

The B.C. carbon tax: Gordon Campbell's Liberals imposed a carbon tax in 2008 and have long held it up as a glowing success in  lowering BC's carbon footprint.  Terence Corcoran puts the lie to that load of junk economics:

... B.C. gasoline consumption is actually higher today than it was in 2008, both in absolute and per capita numbers. B.C. is therefore today producing more carbon emissions than it was the day the carbon tax was introduced.... Economics 101 is still the law, and the B.C. case for a carbon tax does not exist.

The push for taxes on "carbon"

Progressives have been ramping up the rhetoric for a "tax on carbon" or, euphemistically, "pricing carbon".  The usual suspects  have been doing so for some time and more recently it came from a less predicable quarter, Preston Manning.

It's worth reminding ourselves of the reasons to push back:

Finance Minister Joe Oliver: the "multibillion-dollar tax on everything"
Lorne Gunter: "Heaven help us ..."

BC, the first jurisdiction in North America to impose such a tax, is frequently held up by carbon tax pushers as a shining success.  Aldyen Donnelly points out why that and related claims are a myth:

... BC Ministry of Finance budget documents show, clearly, that total demand for the B.C. carbon-taxed products grew faster after the carbon-tax was introduced than over almost every other similar timeframe between 1992 and 2008.

Vancouver School Board's idiotic gender policy

Kelly McParland:

... B.C., it is clear, does not view schools as a place in which children are taught the basic tools necessary to navigate life – math, science, geography – but as petri dishes for social experimentation in which teachers are lab technicians with unwitting children as their mice.

... On Monday, the Vancouver School Board approved a policy change aimed at accommodating gender identity and sexual orientation.

... Parents who questioned the change argued, quite reasonably, that six-year-olds aren’t qualified to understand all the intricacies of identity issues. ... Nonetheless, the school board forged ahead, even deciding to adopt new pronouns

... A last-minute amendment mandated that “xe, xem and xyr” may be used in place of “he/she” or “him/her”.

... B.C. teachers will presumably be the ones to add this social minefield to the other developmental issues they are already expected to shoulder ... In this case it appears they may be expected to actively keep parents in the dark about a critical element of their child’s growth.  ...

Sun News' Anthony Furey and Ada Slivinsky:


Such idiocy follows naturally from the decades of indoctrination in radical social theory that many of these VSB members received in their UBC Women's Studies and Gender Studies courses.

Another slow news day - so let's stoke the climate scare

Vancouver Sun, front page, above the fold:

VANCOUVER — British Columbia Environment Ministry staff have warned their minister that the province’s dreamed-of liquefied natural gas industry poses some big challenges with greenhouse gas emissions.

... Internal briefing notes prepared for Environment Minister Mary Polak ... single out methane emissions for concern.

... emissions remain a hurdle for the provinces, which has legislated targets for reductions. Legislation dictates that emissions are to be reduced by at least a third below 2007 levels by 2020. ...

 

 

 

 Okay, I know that politics demands that Ms Polak at least nod in the direction of the climate hysterics, but it's long past time to be realistic.

Even IF there's a chance that "warming" is a problem, and it's a mighty big IF, nothing that BC (or Canada) does to limit GHGs (even limiting them to absolute zero) will have any measurable effect on global climate.  The mere increase in China's annual emissions is enough to swamp Canada's (and 10 times BC's) entire annual output.  Then there's India.  Then there's the rest of the developing world.  Then ...

Polak's (or her eco-bureaucrats') apparent concerns are a drop in Canada's bucket and the world's ocean of emissions.   It is not worth the sacrifice of one BC job to pursue what are at best symbolic gestures towards avoiding that big, remote IF.

BC's many Nobel pretenders

Donna Laframboise, on the 9000 people who helped the UN IPCC "win" the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize:

... When the IPCC was awarded half of the Nobel Peace Prize back in 2007 (Al Gore won the other half), its chairman profoundly over-stepped his authority. Writing to IPCC-affiliated academics en masse, Rajendra Pachauri proclaimed: “This makes each of you Nobel Laureates.”

This, of course, led to many claims by individuals (or by their organizations on their behalf) to be Nobel Prize winners or Nobel Laureates. British Columbia has more than its fair share:

In March 2013, The Walrus magazine published an article it said had been written by a “Nobel laureate” and a “Nobel economist.” But Mark Jaccard, who teaches at Simon Fraser University, has never won a Nobel prize — not in economics or any other field.  

... [Jaccard] is a special advisor to the BC environment ministry’s Climate Action Team. An official web page claims that eight members of that entity were awarded the 2007 Peace Prize. When we stretch the truth so extravagantly, this is where we end up.

It got so bad that the IPCC was prompted to issue an official statement (Dec 2012) to try to stop the practice:

... The prize was awarded to the IPCC as an organization, and not to any individual associated with the IPCC. Thus it is incorrect to refer to any IPCC official, or scientist who worked on IPCC reports, as a Nobel laureate or Nobel Prize winner. ...

As an aside, if anyone has any doubt as to where the BC government stands on the issue of "climate change" it's "Climate Action Plan", "Climate Action Team" and its carbon tax are hints that it brooks no skepticism.

Smart meters and the potential for encroachment by Big Brother

People object for a number of reasons to the new "smart meter" technology being installed by power companies across the country. Russell Irwin, the first guy in the above video, just doesn't want a new meter ("shoved down his throat") saying his original analog meter works just fine.  Others object to the installation of the remote metering WiFi technology on their premises, fearing adverse health effects. The second fellow, Len Miller, objects on grounds of privacy and the potential for government to monitor his activities.
 
First, the meters belong to the energy company and are installed by agreement between the buyer and the supplier of energy. If you want power you agree to pay for what you use.  If the company decides to upgrade its metering equipment that's strictly its business unless the equipment can be reasonably shown to be harmful to the customer.  If all BC Hydro did was use WiFi technology to remotely collect monthly power usage data, presumably reducing meter reading costs, then who could object?
Well, lots of people would anyway.  People like Russell Irwin and those who fear the health effects of WiFi. But neither has reasonable proof of harm.

Of all the objections against smart meters, the only legitimate one, so far, is Len Miller's objection based on privacy concerns.  The potential for future encroachment of Big Brother is a real threat that needs to be addressed.  [Miller's completely unacceptable treatment by the idiot thugs of the Vancouver Police Department is a separate and much more urgent matter.]

I wrote to BC Hydro last year with my own concerns about privacy and the potential for smart metering to be used by government to manipulate and coerce energy use (for example to enforce "climate change" policy).  Their response:

Thank you for contacting us regarding BC Hydro’s Smart Metering Program.

Our customers trust us to protect their privacy and security, and we recognize and take that responsibility very seriously. That’s why extensive privacy provisions are in place for the Smart Metering Program.

BC Hydro takes the responsibility to protect your privacy and security very seriously. 

BC Hydro has been collecting electricity consumption information for 50 years through a safe, secure and regulated process. The Smart Metering Program is no exception.

Privacy is governed by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, for which the Office of the Privacy Commissioner here in British Columbia provides oversight. BC Hydro has worked closely with the Commissioner’s Office over the past few months and will continue to work closely with their office to put in place the most stringent privacy standards, and to ensure privacy is built into the entire system.

Your information will remain private and secure with the new smart metering system because: 

• Smart meters do not contain personally-identifiable information. The only information stored on the meter is hourly consumption information. The information is encrypted much like online banking.
• Smart meters cannot detect what appliances you are using or when. Smart meters only measure how much energy a home used or generated in total. This is the same information we have always collected, just more frequently – up to three or four times per day rather than once every two months.
• BC Hydro does not sell or disclose personal information to third parties. The information collected will be handled in accordance with the B.C. Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act – just as it is now with your existing meter. 
• The smart metering system uses multiple layers of security. Multiple layers of security ensure that any single point of vulnerability will remain contained and will not compromise the overall system. We have hired online experts to test our systems and develop the strongest possible protections.

All personal information will then continue to be handled in accordance with the British Columbia Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

We do not have an opt out option. BC Hydro is committed to working with you to understand your specific concerns. We understand that some customers are uncomfortable with radio frequency based technology and that’s why we are working with those customers on a case by case basis to find mutually agreeable solutions.  The options available to you will depend on your individual concerns and circumstances.  In addition, the costs associated with customization will also vary depending on your unique circumstances.

Your concerns have been noted on your account and a smart meter will not be installed at this time until we have communicated with you further.  [They installed the meter without further communication].

I suspect that was a pro-forma response.  And they didn't address my point about the potential for manipulation to enforce policy for "fighting climate change".

The CBC and The Economist promote green huxster's "report" on BC carbon tax

University of Ottawa professor Stewart Elgie founded an organization called "Sustainable Prosperity",  "a national green economy think tank/do tank ... in the pursuit of a greener, more competitive Canadian economy."   [Note that Preston Manning is listed as a steering committee member.]

Sustainable Prosperity recently published Prof Elgie's upbeat "report" on BC's carbon tax - "An Environmental (and Economic)Success Story" promoted first by the CBC and yesterday by The Economist.

Given Elgie's green activist orientation it behooves one to read his report with some skepticism as it is likely to be tainted with substantial confirmation bias (and worse).  Both Elgie and his report are critiqued by Hilary:

Ottawa based Stewart Elgie – not unlike IPCC-nik and recently elected British Columbia Green Party MLA, Andrew Weaver – has a history of putting advocacy carts ahead of evidence horses. ...

And here's a commenter on The Economist piece:

... BC per capita energy use has been declining since 1978. The post CTax rate of decline is actually been SLOWER than the 2000-2007 trend (the CTax was announced and introduced in 2008)for the package of CTaxed goods, and most of the individual commodities in the package. ...

... BC's economy has always been less carbon-intensive than the rest of Canada's (due to its large hydro resource and two of the most densly populated major urban areas in the country) But comparisons of BC's fossil carbon energy usage and the rest of Canada's show that BC's relative advantage was much better every year from 2002 through 2007 than any year after the CTax was introduced.  ...

... Second, over 85% of the post-Ctax reduction in BC energy use was reductions in industrial energy use. This reflected the historically unprecedented shrinkage of BC's forest products and paper manufacturing sectors ...

... the driver of post-2007 energy demand reduction in BC has been de-industrialization. Manufacturing employment in BC has fallen 26% since the CTax was introduced, while the Cdn national average has been a 15% decline.  ... etc.

Eco-terror in Lac-Megantic disaster?

Ezra Levant analyzes:



See also.

The chairman of the rail company is convinced that at least tampering was involved.

Meanwhile, the Vancouver Sun (on its front page today)  believes it's all about BC.

And Thomas Mulcair wasted no time blaming Harper.

Home grown morons ...

become foreign inspired terrorists:

A man and woman from B.C. have been arrested and charged in a terror plot targeting the B.C. legislature in Victoria on Canada Day.

 ... John Stewart Nuttall, in his late 30s, and Amanda Marie Korody, in her late 20s, both from Surrey, B.C., built explosive devices they planned to detonate at the provincial parliament buildings as part of an attack inspired by al-Qaida ideology.

... A terrorism expert said it's likely the duo were converts to radical Islam and coached in the alleged plot. ...

Comedian Guy Earle loses appeal of BC "Human Rights" Tribunal ruling

National Post:

In a ruling that could carry implications for comedy clubs across Canada, the Supreme Court of British Columbia has upheld the right of a bar patron to receive five-figures in damages from a comedian whose performance she alleges gave her post-traumatic stress disorder.

... ruled Justice Jon Sigurdson, while comedy clubs may swirl with “offensive, irreverent and inappropriate” language they are not operating in “zones of absolute immunity from human rights legislation.” [You mean "fake human rights" legislation, don't you judge?]

... In addition to Mr. Earle’s $15,000 penalty, the restaurant was also ordered to pay $7,000 to Ms. Pardy on the grounds that since the owner had given Mr. Earle a small bar tab to host the event, the comedian was legally an employee. Restaurant owner Salam Ismail had already spent at least $13,000 in legal fees defending himself before the tribunal. ...

Thereby, sadly, upholding the fake "human right" not to be offended, strengthening the mandate of "Human Rights" Commissions and Tribunals to continue punishing those who allegedly hurt others' feelings, and encouraging sensitive souls and opportunists to file more complaints.

Update:

Dumb-assed BC court OKs teachers' pushing politics in the classroom

In a 3-0 ruling the BC Court of Appeals OK'd teachers pushing their politics in classrooms:

Teachers who wore campaign buttons to school five years ago and posted political messages on classroom doors were exercising their right to free expression in a way that did not detract from their students’ education ...

... “There was no evidence in this case of any actual or potential harm to students from being exposed to the materials about educational issues, nor any facts from which an inference of harm could be drawn, Madam Justice Risa Levine says in a 3-0 ruling that sided with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF)...

... “Open communication and debate about public, political issues is a hallmark of the free and democratic society the Charter is designed to protect. Children live in this diverse and multicultural society, and exposing them to diverse societal views and opinions is an important part of their educational experience.” ...

What utter bullcrap!  No 'evidence of harm to students'? How would that be measured with any credibility? And, invoking "Charter" rights, "democracy" and "diversity of opinion" is little more than bafflegab to justify teachers pushing their politics on students to further their own self-interest.  If "diversity of opinion" is a legitimate "reason" for their ruling, maybe the judges could have explained from whom the students would be getting an opposing point of view.

In the classroom teachers have, for many hours each day, a captive audience over which they exercise adult authority and influence.  Teachers should be absolutely barred from pushing their politics on students.  It's an abuse of their position of power and influence.  Teachers have ample opportunity to exercise their "right to free expression" outside the classroom.  Besides being able to do it personally, the BCTF does it on their behalf, year-round, day-in, day-out.

A more dumb-assed ruling is hard to imagine.

Oh crap! The BC Liberals won

But the NDP lost - Yaaaayyy!!!

BC politics - Godawful choices (Adrian Dix's NDP the worst)

There's no one to vote for.  The only choices are bad choices:
 
     Liberals: can't be trusted; extortionate anti-pipeline policy. 
     NDP: tax and spend; excessively green, anti-development; funded by American eco-interests
     Conservatives: weak; not running a candidate in my riding.

So it's either not vote or hold my nose and vote Liberal. Bah!

Ezra Levant makes some great points about the Dix NDP's dismal agenda:

Earls caves to BC "Human Rights" Kangaroo Tribunal

Earls Restaurant decided to drop its Albino Rhino labelled beer in response to a "human rights" complaint from a thin-skinned albino immigrant from Nigeria.  Sadly, according to this report, Earls, rather than fight, caved in with a whimper:

Communications Manager Cate Simpson said it was never their intention to offend anyone, but agreed Earls had come to appreciate people with the rare genetic condition struggle with discrimination.

"We did give thought to the fact we were offending a group of people and to that end we decided to move forward and remove the word albino from our beer branding."

I can understand Earls dropping the label rather than waste time and money fighting this ridiculous nonsense, but did they didn't have to buy into the idiot complainer's bullcrap.

Here's Ezra Levant:

Thin skinned "albino rights" activist files complaint with BC "Human Rights" Tribunal

Kelly McParland:

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has agreed to hear a complaint against a restaurant chain that sells a beer called Albino Rhino, because a woman who suffers albinism considers it offensive.

... Ikponwosa Ero, a 31-year-old immigrant from Nigeria, says Earls restaurants Albino rhino and wings combo is no different than offering an “Alzheimer’s appetizer,” or “Down syndrome daiquiri.”

... Earls [has] been selling Albino rhino beer for 25 years without complaint

This is beyond ridiculous. Though it's no surprise that the BCHRT is hearing the complaint.  They're just doing what grievance mongers and enablers are inclined to do.

Both Ero, a professional albino rights activist, and the BCHRT deserve maximum ridicule.  And judging from the comments on McParland's column they're getting it.

Not a bad column by McParland but he's way too accomodating:

... both parties in the dispute have valid enough arguments [No they don't.]

... Earls also has a reasonable case. [... ie. Ero has a "reasonable" case.  No she doesn't.]

... could Earls have maybe avoided some bad publicity and needless legal expense by agreeing to quietly relabel the suds “white rhino” over an extended period? Would it have been so difficult? [B.S. Why should Earl's modify a perfectly respectable brand of 25 years to satisfy one professional complainer's unreasonable complaint.]

Kudos to Earls for not knuckling under.

Support for Christy Clark's petty provincialism

There is no doubt that Christy Clark's stand on the Northern Gateway pipeline has appeal for a lot of BC voters.  A column by Bob Plecas, a progressive BC political hack, is a good example:

... Enbridge calls for tough political policy. A fair share of $80 billion of government revenue would help feed our insatiable thirst for social programs. [Feeding an insatiable thirst is a good thing?]

... I was reminded about what Enbridge is really about when the province's child advocates recommended a $10-a-day child care program. Price tag: $1.5 billion per year. Who wouldn't favour this? [Are you kidding?]

... Clark did the right thing, and the honourable thing.... [No, just the opposite.]

Clark's politics on this amount to foolish, petty provincialism. No doubt it will appeal to a lot of BC voters but it sure isn't showing courage or leadership. Seeking to extort money from Alberta to pay for BC social programs is not "honourable" in any way. A shakedown for a supposed "good cause" is still a shakedown. Ends don't justify means.

This deplorable thinking, if accepted, opens the door to similar sorry action by other provinces. Will Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba demand a "fair share" of lumber revenues for lumber being shipped to eastern markets? Will BC retaliate by demanding its "fair share" of revenues from Saskatchewan potash being shipped through its ports? There's no end to the ill-will that would surely result. It's nuts and no way to run a country. There's a good reason it's unconstitutional.

Christy Clark is embarrassing BC. She and her anything-for-a-vote brain-trust, which I assume includes backroom fools like Bob Plecas, should be ashamed of themselves.