Canada Post Cancels Home Delivery? Maybe Not...

Last month, Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt announced that Canada Post will be ceasing all door to door deliveries of mail.  The operations are to be suspended over a 5 year span, as community mailboxes are erected throughout the country.

Conveniently, Ms. Raitt made said announcement days after Parliament ended for the Christmas session, effectively ending any form of debate on the issue.  I suspect, the announcement was also made as close to Christmas as possible, to minimize media coverage as well.  However, it seems as though the Conservative Government under estimated the passion of Canadians for the service.

Deepak Chopra: Mail Scrooge?

Numerous MP's returned to the Parliament for an emergency session, and simultaneously hauled in Deepak Chopra, the CEO of Canada Post to explain his rational for why ending home delivery was necessary.

Chopra came up with a series of fantastic answers to the MP's grilling session.  At one point, he suggested that the feedback he had been receiving from Canadians was positive, and that Canadian seniors have told him they welcome the opportunity for more fresh air and exercise by walking a few blocks each day to retrieve their mail. 

Chopra and Raitt indicated that the end of mail delivery to our doors was necessary, as Canada Post is facing a $100 million deficit for the year, and the projections for the next five years look even worse.  Not surprisingly, Chopra dodged a series of questions in which he was asked point blank if he received a bonus in the last year, and exactly how much his bonus was.  The closest he would get to providing an answer, was to say that his salary is "a matter of public record".

Well I agree!  His salary SHOULD be a matter of public record.  However, it is not.  Most Canadians would never have known that Chopra's salary is nearly $500,000 a year, or that his bonus was paid out at 33% for an additional sum of close to $200,000 unless NDP MP Paul Dewar hadn't stated so during this parliamentary committee meeting.  In fact, in 2012, the Toronto Sun filed an access to information request for a number of bonus payouts to Canada post employees over the previous four years.  They also asked for a breakdown of how much was paid out to 23 members of the executive committee.  All of the individual payment numbers were refused based on "issues of privacy".  What they DID find out was that 7,402 Canada Post employees were paid some sort of bonus during the time period, including all 23 members of the executive board.  Clearly his salary and bonus is not a matter of public record.  It should be noted that Canada Post posted a net loss before taxes of $327 million in 2012.  A significant portion of which came because of a 25 day strike by postal workers.

I find it rather objectionable that anyone received a bonus when the company is bleeding money.  While good personal performance should be rewarded, it should not be done so when the company is hemorrhaging money.

A number of ways Canada Post could increase revenues was suggested by the parliamentary committee, including offering banking services at its branches in remote locations, or small towns where regular bank branches do not exist.  A wise suggestion.  The Swiss Postal service implemented this service several years ago to great success.

While the Conservative Government seems intent on ramming through the end of mail delivery as we know it (the first communities to lose this service are scheduled to be announced this summer), there may be some hope after all.

Thomas Mulcair: Defender of the Post

Thomas Mulcair, leader of the NDP, and Olivia Chow, Transportation Critic are set to introduce a motion in the house tomorrow declaring home mail delivery an invaluable service to Canadians.  They will force a vote on the matter, which should be an interesting political stone to throw.  An election will be held next year.  Forcing MPs to effectively vote for or against mail delivery will no doubt come to haunt some MPs who find themselves in tight electoral races in their own districts.  And you can bet, the NDP will make it very public come campaigning time which Conservatives voted to kill off their constituents delivery.  

It will all play out in the Commons tomorrow, and it should be interesting to see if Stephen Harper cracks the party whip, or if he lets MPs vote on their own.  I would suspect that independent voting will mean that the NDP motion will pass, which will likely see the plan of killing mail delivery dead on the floor.  If the whip is cracked... well... I guess we will see who will survive re-election.

Elizabeth May Is Dismayed

Elizabeth May

Elizabeth May and her Green Party were dealt a severe blow by Federal Court judge Marc Nadon yesterday, as he refused to make an emergency ruling on May's complaint of being shut out of the televised electoral debates next week.

Nadon agreed with the Television Consortium's argument that due to the short amount of time to the scheduled debates that a decision could not be made so quickly while still providing due diligence in examining both parties arguments.

This could be a death strike to May's attempt at getting elected this year, as her inclusion in the debates in 2008 gave her party a significant boost in recognition and popularity, but thus far this year has struggled to maintain as much media attention.

May says she is still not counting herself out, as she and her lawyer Peter Rosenthal are currently examining any other potential legal avenues to force the courts to hear the case immediately.

Although the courts will likely not make a decision until it is too late for this election, it is likely that they will side with at least some of the Green Party's arguments, and perhaps force the Media Consortium to establish firm and set criteria for who should be included in the debates in the future.

In the mean time, May continues to campaign hard in her riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, rather than focusing on a cross country tour as the party leader like she did in the last election. She hopes to unseat Conservative Incumbent Gary Lunn.

Bell Mobility Overcharging For Data?

Kate & Daniel Methot from Merritt, BC, have been fighting Bell Mobility for several months over astronomical data charges that they have been receiving from Bell.

In October of last year, Kate purchased a Samsung Galaxy smart phone (shown above). After her first month of usage, the Methots received a bill for over $1000, mainly consisting of data charges.

The couple was shocked. Initially they thought they must have done something that they didn't realize was consuming huge amounts of data. Daniel deleted every app he had downloaded to the phone, thinking maybe it was an app that was accessing network data when not in use. Kate and Daniel also became scrooge-like with their data usage, basically not using the phone for any data if at all possible.

The couple also called Bell asking for an explanation into how is was possible they had used so much data. Bell was unable to give them an answer.

Even with their efforts to keep their data usage to a minimum, The Methots received another astronomical bill in December of 2010. At one point in December, the bill stated that they had used 30 hours of Data in one 24 hour period. The Methots maintained even if they had been frequently using their data capabilities on the phone, it would be impossible for them to use the phone continuously for a 24 hour period.

The couple has spent countless hours of time on the phone with Bell Customer Service to attempt to find an answer about the billing. Every time they called Bell, they were not able to speak to the same service agent, and would have to retell the whole story from the beginning. The responses from Bell was typically an agent telling the couple that they must be downloading video and to stop watching movies on the phone.

One other possibility that Bell suggested was that the couple had the hot-spot feature of the phone turned on, which allows tethering to 3 other devices. In other words other wireless devices that the Methots use, or someone else nearby uses has been connecting to the phone to access the internet.

The couple categorically denies that scenario is possible, stating that since the first two bills came in, the phone is rarely used and is always turned off because of the fear of excessive data charges. Daniel also maintains that some bills show data usage during time periods in which he knows the Samsung phone was turned off.

By the end of December, Bell Mobility had offered no answers for the outrages billing and had offered no solutions for the gigantic bills. Finally the Methots enlisted a lawyer for $400 and had the attorney send a letter to Bell, but that did not bring about any results.

However, in January, Daniel thought he had finally made a breakthrough with the phone company. On a call with a Bell rep that Daniel had recorded, the rep told Daniel that the problems they were experiencing was "known", and was a software problem that Bell was experiencing. Their account was immediately credited $3300. The couple thought that was the end of their problems.

They were wrong.

Within a few days, the couple received another bill for $1200. Bell has since recanted their admission to a software problem, saying the Account Rep the Methots spoke with was incorrect. Bell now says that the software issue they had been experiencing had charged a small number of customers for the correct amount of data, but at a rate that was much higher than in accordance with their monthly plan. Bell says this cannot be the same issue, as the Methots claim they are being billed for data they didn't use.

Since the Methots have taken their issues to CBC news, the couple claims that Bell has now offered to cancel their contract and waive all outstanding fees. The couple has not yet accepted this offer, as they feel this is not enough to make up for the hours of conversations with Bell Mobility, and the $400 for the unanswered lawyer's letter.

The CCTS, or Commissioner of Complaints for Telecommunication Services say this happens more often than people think. Last year alone the CCTS received almost 1000 complaints solely for over-billing by cell phone companies. And those are just the customers that actually filed a complaint. The CCTS also recommends installing a third party app on your smart phone that monitors your phone usage. It's important that it's a third party software, so if there are discrepancies between billing and usage, the customer has some evidence to back them up.

If you are having problems with your cell phone company, and want to file a complaint with the CCTS, you can do so here.

BC Premier Gordon Campbell Resigns

Gordon Campbell (photo by Mary McNeil)

In a surprise press conference this morning, BC Premier Gordon Campbell resigned from his post.

This comes after months of heated controversy in British Columbia where Campbell's Liberal government signed an agreement with the Conservative Federal Government to bring in a Harmonized Sales Tax which took effect in July of this year. (A topic on which they campaigned against in the last election)

The tax was openly despised by BC citizens, and dominated the headlines for much of the year as a grassroots movement came to life, forcing the government to agree to hold a referendum on the issue. Due to Campbell's lack of expediting the process (he could have chosen to table a motion in the BC legislature rather than a referendum, AND the fact that he scheduled the referendum for a year down the road), unsatisfied voters began a very public attempt at recalling Liberal MLAs.

It should be no surprise that members of the Liberal caucus did not appreciate the negative public opinion, and began criticizing Campbell's job performance.

It's likely that Campbell is attempting to curb what would have been a very public embarrassment, as it has been rumored that a number of Liberal MLAs were about to call on Campbell to resign during the next Liberal Caucus meeting.

Campbell's party has already suffered damage due to some high profile and well liked cabinet ministers who resigned this summer due to their dislike of the party's direction.

The next step will be for the Liberal Party to hold a leadership convention sooner, rather than later, to choose the next premier of BC. Unfortunately for the Liberals, history shows us that when a leader steps down, the replacement leader ultimately commits political suicide by taking the reins of a sinking party. See Kim Campbell and Paul Martin for examples of this.

Randy Quaid: When Bad Actors Do Bad Things

Randy Quaid Looking All Craaaaazzzzzy

I am not one who typically cares about Hollywood gossip, but I have got to say: What the hell is wrong with these people?

Every second week when I read the news, it seems there is some description of bizarre and illegal activities of Randy Quaid and his wife, Evi.

In case you have forgotten, last September, the Quaids had been arrested for failing to pay a $10,000 hotel bill. As I recall, Randy was said to be quite cavalier and insistent about not paying for the bill. They had been arrested, with a court date set, and the couple failed to show up to court, having fled to Texas. Warrants for their arrest as well as a request for extradition from Texas had been submitted.

Finally, they were re-arrested, with a new court date set, of which they failed to appear not once, but thrice!

Hello?? Anyone home? Do you not realize that failure to appear multiple times is not going to help your cause any? Did they think that the matter would simply go away if they didn't show up? Maybe the Quaids thought "oh ya, the State of California will get bored with this and forget about it."

As though all that was not strange in its own right, in September of this year, the Quaids were again arrested. This time for burglary and trespassing. Apparently the couple broke into a house that they formerly owned in Santa Barbara and were, well, squatting. There were also reports of vandalism of the property.

The story gets weirder. Randy Quaid claimed the house had been unlawfully transferred to a third party illegally by a woman who forged the Quaids signature on real estate documents. They claim her name is Rhonda Quaid.

Simple solution right? Simply find Rhonda and ask for answers, right? Nope. Rhonda is now dead. Don't ask me how, as I have no idea. Perhaps we should be looking for a murder weapon in the Quaids suitcases??

At any rate, the Crazy Quaids AGAIN failed to show up for court, and new arrest warrants were issued.

To top it all off, Today, the Quaids were arrested in Vancouver, for violating the Canadian Immigration Act. Most likely because they fled to Canada with outstanding warrants for their arrest in California. Duh. Did they think that Canadian and US Boarder Services does not share that information with each other?? Though it does make one wonder how they were allowed into Canada to begin with. Did they swim to Canada, thereby bypassing Customs?

The Quaids have been arrested more times in a year than Lindsay Lohan has been sent to rehab. Thats pretty bad.

I think they both need a serious psychological evaluation. And stop letting them out on bail, for crying out loud!

BC Voters Move to Recall Defiant MLAs

Most people have probably heard at least something about the ongoing fight to repeal the Harmonized Sales Tax in BC, which added an additional 5% tax onto many products and services that had previously been exempt.

The fight has been ongoing for nearly a year now, ever since BC's Liberal controlled provincial government signed onto a Federal agreement to meld the provincial sales tax with the Federal Goods and Services tax.

The new "Harmonized" tax has been hotly contested, mainly since the Liberal government had partly been elected by standing on a political platform of rejecting the idea of a harmonized sales tax.

Having our elected officials renege on election promises is not a new development in Canada. However, in a rare form of democracy being exercised, more than 10% of eligible voters in EVERY BC riding signed a petition which forced the BC government to make a choice: Either table new legislation to repeal the tax all together, or hold a province wide referendum allowing the voters to decide whether to scrap the tax.

Now a few things should be noted here. First of all, tabling new legislation does not mean the tax would actually be repealed. Since the Liberal government still hold a majority in the BC legislator, they could in effect, vote the bill down. The tax would carry on and nothing would change. Aside from the problem of mass voter revolt in the next election which would probably decimate their political party for the next 10 years.

The other option of choosing the referendum has its flaws too. A referendum is a lengthy and expensive process, not unlike a general election. It requires polling stations stacked with election officials, and vote counters. It is also NOT legally binding. This means that even if an overwhelming amount of voters choose to scrap the tax, the government is not obligated to do so. Though again, failure to listen to the voters most likely means political death.

In recognizing that the non-binding and expensive referendum is not a favorable option, the organizer of the anti-HST movement, Bill Vander Zalm publicly called for the government to call the legislature into session early and to table a bill to repeal the tax.

Vander Zalm, who spent a great deal of effort to rally BC voters to have their voice heard, was also very up front in stating that failure of government MLAs to table the legislation and to listen to voters and repeal the tax would face the unpleasant consequences of a recall.

In true politicking fashion, the Liberal government chose the route of holding a referendum. Next year. This would allow the tax to be integrated into the province for a considerable amount of time (ie, the citizens would be used to paying it), the heat of the topic would die down, and it would buy the government time to buy votes. Pardon me. Regain voter confidence.

Bill Vander Zalm is now on a mission to show the government his bite is as harsh as his bark. He has already set a date for recalling Liberal MLAs. And, he's published his hit list of MLAs that will be recalled first.

While recalling an elected MLA is exceedingly difficult, (it requires 40% of eligible voters in the MLA's riding to sign a petition in 60 days) the MLAs on the hit list should be legitimately worried.

Vander Zalm's campaign has specifically targeted MLAs that are already weak prey. They are the elected officials who won their ridings by slim margins, or have been embroiled in public controversy since the election. In addition, Vander Zalm is going to start with attempting to recall 3 MLAs, with another one being added every month starting in February. To determine who the first 3 targets for recall will be, Vander Zalm is hosting a Survivor-like contest asking for extremely competitive volunteers to help with recall efforts. Whichever 3 ridings have the most volunteers signed up will end up being the targets. Holding this contest should keep the recall efforts on the list of top stories for every BC news outlet for the next 3 months.

Ultimately, Vander Zalm's goal, aside from showing his displeasure with the government, is to recall enough Liberal MLA so that they will lose their majority in the Legislature.

I for one, hope his efforts succeed. This is a rare glimpse of the Canadian public doing something to hold their elected representatives accountable. It happens so rarely in Canadian politics. Other provinces should be paying close attention to these developments. If the recall campaign is successful, voters across the country may decide that there are viable courses of action to punish their representatives for failing to listen to them.

And after all, isn't that what democracy is all about?

For those of you that live in BC, here is Vander Zalm's complete hit list of MLAs. Yours may be on it:

John Slater - Boundary-Simikameen

Donna Barnett - Cariboo Chilcotin

Terry Lake - Kamloops North

Bill Bennett - Kootenay east

Ida Chong - Oak Bay - Gordon Head

Ron Cantelon - Parksville - Quallicum

Bill Barisoff - Penticton

Norm Letnik - Kelowna - Lake Country

Ben Stewart - Kelowna Westside

Steve Thomson - Kelowna - Mission

Eric Foster - Vernon Monashee

John Les - Chilliwack

Don McRae - Comox Valley

John Rustad - Nechako Lakes

Colin Hansen - Vancouver Quilchena

Jane Thornethwaite - North Vancouver - Seymour

Joan McIntyre - West Vancouver - Sea to Sky

Marc Dalton - Maple Ridge - Mission