Tunnel fear mongering is false

Yesterday the Vancouver Province printed a letter from a paramedic who lives in Vanocuer and is familar with the George Massey tunnel. He wanted to dispel some of the falsehoods being spread in the media about the tunnel.

"As a paramedic, when I need to move time-sensitive patients through the Massey Tunnel, I use the emergency lights and sirens and the carpool lanes or shoulders any time of the day or night to get to the tunnel entrance quickly where traffic is flowing as often as it does on a bridge. If there is a crash in the tunnel, blocking it, I confirm that traffic is stopped and use the emergency lights on the ambulance again and drive in from the opposite direction of traffic flow — no cars! — to get the patients and leave."

"In the rare event of a fire in the tunnel (traffic isn’t moving that fast, high-energy crashes are rare, hence few result in fires or serious injuries), then people can move to the adjacent tunnel using the emergency exits. None of the recent public fearmongering justifies the outrageous outlay for a new bridge that my grandchildren will be paying for. There isn’t an infinite pot of taxpayer money."

Since traffic patterns have changed after the NDP lifted the tolls on the Port Mann bridge, there isn't a need to build a third bridge crossing on that side of the Fraser river. The NDP just saved us 2.5 billion tax dollars through fiscal restraint. So now the corporate campaign contributors are spreading false rumors about the tunnel claiming it needs to be replaced. Building an additional crossing like the Alex Fraser bridge is an entirely different matter than getting rid of a useful functioning tunnel. If you get rid of a functioning tunnel you have to build a bridge twice as big to make up for it which of course costs more money. As does demolishing a perfectly good tunnel.

Even Richmond city council is opposed to replacing the tunnel and they are the ones that have to live with it. The real reason they want to get rid of the tunnel is so they can load more coal onto the cargo ships at the Fraser docks. Once again it has nothing to do with traffic flow or fiscal responsibility. The whole thermal coal exports out of that dock is still before the courts.



As one blog reader pointed out, at least the tunnel works in the winter and doesn't have falling icicles crashing into cars whenever it freezes.

Fall yields to winter, Winter yields to spring

Fall represents change. The vibrant colours of fall transform the landscape in preparation of winter. It's going to be a long cold winter yo. Buyer Beware. Harm promotion isn't working.



Winter then yields to spring as the cherry blossoms declar. The circle of life.

Luc and Michelle LeBlanc found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine

The RCMP is reporting that Luc and Michelle LeBlanc were found guilty on October 11, 2017 of conspiracy to import cocaine into Canada following an eight-week jury trial in the Court of Queen's Bench in Moncton. This is from 2013 where a Moncton couple were caught trying to smuggle 16 kilos of cocaine into Canada from Texas in their RV. They met Luc LeBlanc in Mexico and loaded up their RV with cocaine with the intent to drive it back to Canada but were stopped at the US border. The couple became crown witnesses.

Luc was already sentenced to six years in the summer of 2016 for the crystal meth and cocaine bust six months after they were caught trying to bring the cocaine in an RV through Texas. I haven't heard what happened to Jeff Galant. He's friends with the National President of Bacchus.

Body found in Kelowna Orchard

CBC is reporting that "RCMP in Kelowna are investigating after a body was found in an orchard in the 2100 block of Cooper Road around 11 a.m. Wednesday. Global is reporting that the death is being treated as suspicious. Castanet is reporting that "Police are confirming the body found off Cooper Road is that of a female, about 25 to 35 years of age."

Edmonton LRT is a bad model

A metro Vancouver resident originally from Edmonton wrote in to the Vancouver Province and pointed out that the Edmonton LRT is a bad model. He admitted working on the line as an apprentice. The letter published in the paper claims:

"I do not use public transport and also live north of the Fraser in Mission, thank God. But I have seen the devastation of badly planned light rail transit first-hand in Edmonton."

"Returning there after a 30-year absence was shocking. The gridlock, traffic and pedestrian chaos, improper software compatibility with existing systems, bad contracts, no accountability on anyone, and emergency vehicles unable to enter a hospital while the train is running is all bad. I worked on the infrastructure as an apprentice electrician and thought LRT was a great idea, but it was just poorly executed in Edmonton."

Recenly a pedestrian was killed by the LRT in Edmonton. Aside from the usual problems other cities have involving traffic accidents with the on ground railway, reducing 104th avenue to a single lane of traffic each way is insane. That is a huge step backwards not forwards.

Toronto has had its share of traffic accidents between streetcars, buses and even police cars as has Paris and San Fransisco. Skytrain avoids all of those problems.

Chilliwack shooting suspect arrested

The Abby News is reporting that "A 24-year-old Abbotsford man is in custody facing numerous charges after a shooting in a residential area near Chilliwack’s downtown core overnight Oct. 2." Another white guy that needs to be deported.

Fatal shooting victim in Richmond identified

The Peacearch News is reporting that "A body found in Richmond’s Garden City Park has been identified as a Surrey man. Ibrahim Amjad Ibrahim, 30, was found dead on Tuesday (Oct. 10) just after 4:15 a.m. It appeared Ibrahim had been shot."

More Manslaughter charges against fentanyl dealers

CBC is reporting that more manslaughter charge are being laid in Ontario for fentanyl dealers that cause fatalities. In contrast, the Surrey RCMP won't even charge the fentanyl dealers with drug trafficking right in front of them. Instead they are offering the fentanyl dealers police protection on the Surrey strip. It doesn't get any more corrupt than that.

When we first cited a Vice dot com report on the fentanyl drug trade in Calgary, fentanyl was already established. People were addicted and were asking for the drug from dealers. Unlike in BC where the dealers were tainting other drugs with fentanyl with the intent on getting addicts here addicted to it as well. If people ask for the drug knowingly manslaughter charge are a stretch but if they are given the drug unknowingly, manslaughter charges at are well within reason.



Leanne Yardley died after doing a line of cocaine at Shakerz a bar owned by the Hells Angels in Surrey. She thought it was a line of coke but it was straight up fentanyl and it killed her. Not laying charges in that case is criminal culpablity just like not even arresting the drug dealers selling fentanyl on the Surrey strip right in front of the RCMP. Lawlessness does not serve the public.

Dear Younger Me

While waiting at a seniors home I noticed a copy of Our Daily Bread a daily devotional they used to distribute through the United Church. One heading caught my eye: If I Knew Then... "On the way to work, I listened to the song 'Dear Younger Me,' which asks: If you could go back, knowing what you know now, what would you tell your younger self? As I listened, I thought about the bits of wisdom I might give my younger, less-wise self. Most of us have thought about how we might do things differently—if only we could do it all over again. But the song illustrates that even though we have regrets from our past, all our experiences have shaped who we are."

The song the devotional refers to is quite nice and reiterates a discourse by Rev. Peter M. Wallace printed in the Huffington Post called 52 Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self. Number 2 reads "It’s a good thing that we don’t know everything that’s going to happen to us. If I had known all the pains and heartaches I would encounter in life, even amidst the joys and victories, it would surely have been too much to bear." Truth. "For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow."

When I first read the devotional my cynical mind chuckled and I looked back on my life and could see myself eagerly interject "Don't walk down that road! Don't do it! Don't go there." Kind of like an avalanche warning on a ski hill. Yet the devotional is correct in that all our experiences have shaped who we are and above all, children are never a mistake. I am grateful for the experiences I have had but many of them I sure as hell would not like to repeat or relive.

The second half of the devotional gets religious and mentions the forgiveness of God which doesn't really concern me. Not to be sacrilegious but that's just not where I'm at right now. For me it's about being true to your own set of values and being at peace with yourself. Outlaws for life.

Sunday shootings in Surrey and West Vancouver

CBC is reporting that "Police in the Cloverdale area of Surrey and officers in West Vancouver are both seeking tips after bullets struck homes in the two communities Sunday morning. It doesn't appear that the two incidents are related, despite sharing similar details. In Surrey, in the 17200 block of 65th Avenue, police say that someone fired shots around 11 a.m. PT at another person in a vehicle. The vehicle was hit along with a nearby residence. No one was injured."

"Hours earlier, at around 3:30 a.m. in West Vancouver, a British Properties residence was struck with bullets in the 2600 block of Finch Hill. Police say multiple shots struck the home, resulting in damage inside and out. "​Fortunately, no one was injured despite several people having been at the home earlier for a house party," said a release from West Vancouver police."