Heather Conn Blogs

While the fight to save Gospel Rock in Gibsons, BC has continued for decades, last Thursday’s public hearing at Elphinstone Secondary was the last chance for community members to express their views regarding the related bylaw amendment. (The second reading of the amendment came on July 31.)

When I arrived early and saw many rows of empty seats, I was afraid that the proceedings regarding the amendment (#985-8 2012) to incorporate the Gospel Rock Neighbourhood Plan into Gibsons’ Official Community Plan bylaw 985, 2005 would move ahead with little local feedback.

But by the 6 p.m. start, hundreds of people had already filled seats. Within about 20 minutes, the speaker’s list had more than 40 names. Within the first hour, passionate voices to preserve Gospel Rock, plus those who did not support the neighbourhood plan in its existing form, outnumbered the pro-amendment people by roughly seven to one.

Those in favour of the amendment said that they thought the consultation process had gone on long enough. They acknowledged that the existing plan wasn’t perfect, but felt it was a catalyst for moving forward.

•  the waterfront is not preserved
• a development would threaten Gibsons’ aquifer and the town’s water supply
• it doesn’t follow the policies of the OCP, especially regarding densities
• it lacks smart-growth policies
• it doesn’t save forest for community use or protect biodiversity
• it removes the existing wildlife corridor
• there is no mention of geothermal energy
• it threatens Seaward Creek
• the east part of the proposed waterfront area is an unstable geotechnical zone
• it doesn’t take into consideration the impact of global warming
• it doesn’t consider the impact of additional traffic onto Chaster and Pratt Roads
• the proposed access does not meet fire regulations and requirements by provincial government’s transportation ministry
• it ignores the area’s designation as sensitive ecological inventory, as defined by the province.

Gibsons Council will vote on the bylaw amendment tomorrow, Oct. 16, at its regular meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. The community group Friends of Gospel Rock encourages concerned citizens to attend.

                                              — photos by Heather Conn

About 40 hikers tromped out to Batchelor Lake (yes, it’s spelled that way, after a military surname) Sept. 20 to enjoy free pancakes, fresh blueberries picked by the cabin, and hot chocolate, thanks to the Tetrahedron Outdoors Club.

Convening at the second parking lot of Tetrahedron Provincial Park on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, we divvied up the breakfast gear, from propane stove to canned evaporated milk and napkins, and carried it up in our respective packs, with Club member Victor Bonaguro overseeing the operation.

Within 40 minutes, we were at the cabin, able to admire the lake views and surrounding forest. In the park’s true volunteer tradition, people immediately pitched in to make pancakes, start a fire in the wood stove, collect and boil water, prepare outdoor seating areas, etc.

The event was one of three pancake breakfasts (tomorrow’s is at Edwards Lake), held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the construction of the four cabins in what later became the park. Club members Victor and George Smith were two of the primary volunteers in 1987 who supervised the creation and placement of the cabins, trails, and firewood collection.

Some people present, who have lived on the Coast for 40 years, said it was their first time up to the cabin. We had a short spit of rain but only a few people crowded into the cabin for shelter.

Victor Bonaguro

Many thanks to George, Victor and others for such a fun event. The cabins and the park reflect what a committed group of volunteers can achieve. As cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Tet Club members Sue Sleep and George Smith

Anyone who thinks that human activity and industry have little or no impact on global warming needs to see the astounding 2012 documentary Chasing Ice. (This movie was screened last week at The Heritage Theatre in Gibsons, BC as part of the Sunshine Coast’s excellent Green Films series.)

National Geographic nature photographer James Balog, a former geologist who was himself a skeptic about climate change, uses truly disturbing Arctic footage to prove how quickly the world’s glaciers are indeed receding. With the help of young male assistants, some of whom have never even worn crampons, he sets up Nikon time-lapse cameras in Arctic glacial fields in places such as Iceland and Greenland and checks them after a six-month interval.

What he discovers surprises even him. When he initially holds up a photo taken a half-year earlier of a glacial landscape that stretches in front of him, he thinks that he must be looking at a different location. He can’t believe how much ice has disappeared in such a short time. But when he rechecks the contours, he confirms that yes, it is the same spot.

As part of his self-created Extreme Ice Survey, Balog crawls onto high, fragile ice shelves to shoot straight into a crevasse. He ropes himself to the shoreline while taking stills of glacier-fed waves smashing onto ice floes. He scales and belays down steep walls of ice, all the while in pain from a much-operated-on knee which doctors say he shouldn’t even be walking on. His eldest daughter says she’s never seen her father so passionate about any project.

The most visceral scenes, besides Balog’s own stunning imagery of glaciers and Arctic ice, are the outlines on a topographical diagram that carve out how much polar ice has disappeared in the last 10 years, compared to the previous century. After managing to film one ice peninsula, the length of five football fields, breaking off, Balog is inspired to capture the same activity at one of the world’s largest glaciers in the Arctic.

He assigns two young assistants, stranded amidst frozen oblivion for two weeks, to keep a camera trained on this glacier. Sadly for us and the planet, and yet fortuitously for the filmmakers, the monumental wall of ice, higher and far bigger than the entire Manhattan skyline, rises up 600 feet, turns on its side, and “calves” (breaks) off. The process takes an hour.

I think that this remarkable, 75-minute documentary should be required viewing in all schools and workplaces.

With multi-festival awards from Sundance and Telluride to Hot Docs, it offers beautiful cinematography by director/co-producer Jeff Orlowski. Editor Davis Coombe does an excellent job of weaving together Balog’s stills with his indoor public appearances and footage from helicopters, dogsled and canoe. Both writer Mark Monroe and co-producer Paula Du Pre Pesmen, repeat their respective roles from the Academy-award-winning documentary The Cove about the slaughter of dolphins.

Some critics charge that Chasing Ice is more emotion than science, but researchers interviewed in the film confirm Balog’s findings. The documentary doesn’t give a platform to the political naysayers who dismiss global warming, yet its website provides a list of top 10 questions that people ask about climate change. The site also provides the resource skepticalscience.com.

Meanwhile, veteran Arctic researcher David Barber, director of the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Manitoba, warns that North Pole ice, which used to be considered impenetrable, is now more like Swiss cheese. When he first visited the Arctic in the 1980s, the ice there usually receded only about a few kilometres offshore by the end of the summer. Today, he must travel more than 1,000 kilometres north into the Beaufort Sea to even find the ice.

James Hansen, a climate scientist with NASA, says: “The scientific community realizes that we have a planetary emergency.” Peter Wadhams, one of the world’s top ice experts from Cambridge University, told The Guardian this month that Arctic sea ice will collapse within four years (in the summer months), calling this “a global disaster.”

Here in British Columbia, the Sierra Club recently announced that the province’s 2010 carbon emissions are four times higher than those reported by the provincial government last June. The B.C. Liberals stated then that 2010 emissions had dropped by 4.5 percent to 62 million tonnes. But the Sierra Club report “Emissions Impossible?” reveals that these emissions total more than 250 million tonnes, when emissions from fossil fuel exports and forests are included. Click here to read more at Sierra Club BC.

What can you do? Stay informed. Ask how your lifestyle and purchasing choices affect global warming. Join groups such as Bill McKibben’s 350.org and support the ones that are educators and advocates for the planet, including scientists and politicians.

Join with like-minded others. Calculate your ecological footprint. Drive less or not at all. Walk and bike.

On paper, it sounds like routine parks work: Build and maintain four log cabins. Carve out 25 kilometres of forest trails. Ensure that the cabins are supplied with firewood, delivered by air. Maintain a precarious, steep winter road as access to 6,000 hectares.

But now add the crucial ingredient, which has made the recent 25^th anniversary of what became B.C.’s Tetrahedron Provincial Park particularly compelling: most of this effort came from thousands and thousands of volunteer labor, which continues to this day.

In just one summer in the 1980s, about 200 volunteers built four cabins, which have become the focus of memorable outdoor experiences for generations of hikers, snowboarders and back-country skiers at Batchelor Lake (yes, it’s spelled that way), Edwards Lake, Mt. Steele, and McNair Lake, respectively. (The youngest park visitor, at three weeks of age, who accompanied her parents for an overnight stay in the park, was part of the audience of 100+ at Saturday night’s anniversary presentation at Roberts Creek Hall.)

Saturday’s presentation—a true community-hall event with pot luck dinner, door prizes, rows of tables of friends and photo displays around the room—was a glowing testament to what community spirit and sweat equity can achieve. George Smith, who managed the original construction crew, shared a slide-show overview of the history of the creation of the Tetrahedron Park, from laying out the log foundations for the cabin on airport land in Sechelt, to a crew of committed volunteers replacing a cabin roof during prolonged bursts of hail and heavy rain.

(As a friend of George’s, I’ve heard his ongoing passion over the years about this project and the area and know the challenges he faced, including death threats from locals, to help create the park.)

Fun and humor, though, were part of the presentation and the park’s volunteer legacy, like the image of the identified guy who “pulled a moon” on a cabin porch. (George knows who it was, but wouldn’t tell.)

George paid tribute to the many individuals and local businesses that provided in-kind support and free expertise to create and maintain the park, the biggest one on the Sunshine Coast. The Tetrahedron Provincial Park officially became a park in 1987 and offers elevations from 900 to 1,800 metres, including Tetrahedron Peak, Panther Peak, and Mount Steele.

This visionary community project, which has helped to conserve local watersheds, old-growth forests of hemlock, fir and cedar, and habitat for many animals and birds, including the rare marbled murrelet, required the cooperation of four local governments, the province of B.C. and the federal government.

A powerful desire for back-country recreation, without crowds and commercialization, fuelled this park’s creation from the start. This was evident in a seven-minute DVD of the park by a local filmmaker and a photo slide show featuring 250 images contributed by those who have relished their time in the area. We saw night-time shots of a silhouetted cabin aglow with firelight, a snowboarder in the air above a snowy bluff, fresh ski trails in deep powder, and numerous scenic summer and winter views.

Michael Wilson of the Tetrahedron Outdoor Club presented fellow club members George Smith and Victor Bonaguro a plaque in recognition of their countless hours as the two primary volunteers of this decades-long community effort. This plaque will be permanently displayed at the Edwards Lake cabin.

Many thanks to George, Victor, and everyone who helped to create this outstanding park. I feel proud to be part of a community of individuals who so willingly used, and continue to use, their free time for the benefit of so many.

To celebrate the park’s creation, the Tetrahedron Outdoor Club is hosting a series of Saturday pancake breakfasts at some of the park cabins. Click here for details.

In all of the 2012 Olympics media coverage so far, I have heard nothing on TV or in print about the environmental impact of the Games. The construction and operations of the London Games, combined with the associated travel of athletes from 200+ countries, are expected to generate more than two million tons of carbon dioxide, according to University of B.C. associate professor James Tansey.

He’s executive director of the ISIS Research Centre at the university’s Sauder School of Business. The centre focuses on using business tools to create a low-carbon economy. Tansey was involved with the organizing committee of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which were the first Games to be carbon neutral.

Tansey’s company Offsetters partnered with the 2012 Canadian Olympic team to offset its travel to London. The team is offsetting around 1,500 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, which is roughly the same volume as 300 Olympic-size swimming pools. The team’s related carbon credits are invested in four organizations: two landfill gas ventures in Canada, a bio-gas project in Thailand, and a wind farm in Turkey.

Some people think that carbon offsets are little more than scams, allowing people to continue to pollute, then appease their guilt by investing in dubious projects branded “green.” Like any businesses, the standards and ethics of carbon-offset companies vary dramatically.

You can find out more about carbon offsets from the downloadable guide Purchasing Carbon Offsets, prepared by the David Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute. A few questions to consider regarding carbon offsets include:

•  Have your carbon offsets been certified to a recognized standard?

• How do you ensure that the greenhouse gas reductions that your carbon offsets represent are quantified accurately?

• Are 100 per cent of your offsets validated and verified by accredited third parties?

As the David Suzuki Foundation points out on its website: “[V]oluntary offset programs should not be seen as a substitute for comprehensive government regulations to reduce greenhouse gases.” The Foundation calls them a step in the right direction, and an opportunity to demonstrate leadership on climate change.

Find out more at Go Carbon Neutral on the David Suzuki Foundation website.

Awareness. Commitment. Action. One person alone can’t alter an entire economic system, but working with others who are committed to take action to change it can make a difference. That’s one of the messages of The Story of Change, the latest in environmental activist Annie Leonard’s animated video series The Story of Stuff.

In this six-minute short, Leonard blames bad policies and business practices for our current western economy, which values profits over people and the planet, and creates enormous inequities in taxation and income. It’s not enough, she says, to be a smart shopper and stop buying stuff that you don’t need that will end up in a landfill. We need to demand changes from politicians, regulators, and manufacturers.

The movie explores what effective change-making has looked like over time, presenting two world examples of successful mass change: the U.S. civil rights movement under Martin Luther King Jr., and India’s shift to independence, spurred by Mahatma Gandhi. Neither of these pivotal events of social transformation would have happened, Leonard says, if the respective leaders, King and Gandhi, had pursued their quest as loners.

Annie Leonard

She emphasizes that any significant effort to build a better future shares three key factors: a big idea, a commitment to work together, and the ability to turn the big idea and commitment into action.

I wholly agree, and yet the movie fails to acknowledge the value and power of inner growth and change, which often creates the launching pad for external action. The spiritual beliefs of both King and Gandhi were major influences behind their desire for change and their commitment to peaceful resistance. If King and Gandhi were themselves violent people, they could not have inspired and led others towards peace and dramatic social change. Their inner change had to come first.

That’s one reason, in my view, why many collective attempts at change fail. The so-called leaders haven’t done enough inner growth work (whether it’s in aid of maturity, anger management, compassion, forgiveness, love etc) to walk the talk and inspire others without creating emotional meltdowns, hatred, resentments, and disillusionment. The resulting hypocrisy and contradictions between their espoused views and goals and their daily behavior become too discordant for many followers, who often quit in disgust.

As they say: Never underestimate the power of one human being to make a difference. As Gandhi said: “We must be the change we want to see in the world.” Someone’s presence, demeanour, and attitude, even with no words spoken, can alter any atmosphere or group.

I believe in the approach Heal Yourself, Heal the World. Yet, as Leonard points out, it’s not enough to remain isolated after changing yourself for the good. Only when you join with like-minded others for a larger cause can widespread change take place.

What kind of change agent are you — networker or nurturer, builder or resister? Discover your “changemaker personality type” (communicator, builder, networker, nurturer, investigator or resister) in the short quiz following the video.

Happy Canada Day! This year, I’ve avoided the parades, entertainment, and other public hoopla that normally come with our nation’s birthday. However, I did wear green for our national birthday, as advocated by Nanaimo, BC resident Dana Haggarty.

“I would like to see green added to the celebrations this year, so we can all show that we care about our environment and we don’t support the government’s changes to environmental protection,” says Haggarty, a PhD student at the Biodiversity Research Centre at the University of B.C.

This marine biologist invited all Canadians to wear green on Canada Day as a symbolic gesture against the Conservative Party’s omnibus budget bill, Bill C-38. Sadly, this bill, which eliminates a cutting-edge environmental research centre and decades of environmental regulations, fisheries and species protection, has just passed in the Senate. Its legislative changes will soon be law.

“The stories of cuts and closures to scientific labs have really affected me and my colleagues working on ecological integrity monitoring that have lost their jobs from the cuts,” says Haggarty.

Our prime minister is poised to begin more program cuts, layoffs, and amendments to environmental assessment, including measures that weaken the legal clout of the federal Fisheries Act and Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

That’s ironic, since Canadians consider the country’s wilderness the best symbol of “what Canada really is,” even beyond hockey and our flag, according to a Canada Day poll by Ipsos Reid. We’ve allowed Stephen Harper to trample on our natural heritage and threaten the very earth and ecosystems that we cherish as a nation and people.

That’s not even mentioning the other unwanted aspects of Bill C-38, like cuts to old-age security benefits, employment insurance, health care, immigration—even stiffer penalties for marijuana use. All will become part of our new reality as Canadians this year.

That’s why I support Haggarty’s Green Canada Day as a collective sign of protest. As she says on her website:

• I will wear green to send a message that our country’s identity is our environment.

• I will wear green to protest the dismantling of environmental protection through changes to the Fisheries Act and repeals of the National Round Table Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

• I will wear green to protest what has been dubbed the “environmental devastation” act, bill C-38, and how we have not been consulted.

• I will wear green to show that I care about our climate and I am ashamed that our government has missed all of their targets and has no adequate plan to cut emissions.

• I will wear green to protest funding cuts and closures to our important centres of environmental research: the Experimental Lakes, PEARL, the Centre for Plant Health, the Bamfield Marine Science Centre, and others.

• I will wear green to protest cuts to Ecological Integrity Monitoring in National Parks and cuts to the Contaminants Program Fisheries and Oceans.

• I will wear green to protest cuts to fish habitat management at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

• I will wear green for my health and the health of my unborn children.

• I I will wear green for our land, water and air.

• I will wear green for our climate and environment.

• I will wear green for our oceans.

• I will wear green for our wildlife, our trees, our plants, our animals, our fishes.

• I will wear green for you, for me, for our future.

 “This land is your land, this land is my land . . .”

Jamie Biggar and Julia Pope of Leadnow.ca address crowd in Sechelt last week

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the best thing that ever happened to activism in Canada, says Leadnow.ca spokesperson Jamie Biggar.

“He’s over-reaching catastrophically for his own causes,” Biggar told about 100+ Sunshine Coasters at the Seaside Centre in Sechelt, BC last week. “He’s the greatest organizing opportunity. People understand this.”

But more about that later.

Today, I mourn the passage of federal Bill C-38 and all that it means to Canada’s democratic process, environmental future, and habitat protection. (I won’t recap these issues here, since media pundits have already thoroughly covered them.)

Last week, I joined dozens of concerned Sunshine Coasters to hear Leadnow.ca activists Jamie Biggar and Julia Pope ask: “What does YOUR Canada look like?” The visiting duo, rooted in a vision of hope, positive action, and collective organizing, asked the crowd to each write down a personal view of Canada, articulating the values and traditions that have made the nation special to our hearts. Biggar then urged us to mail these handwritten notes to our local MP John Weston and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

I dutifully complied, easily stating the qualities that have made me proud of Canada, from its tradition of an open democratic process to freedom of speech and dissent. I mailed my letter to Weston the next day. Yet, it was obvious when reading Weston’s subsequent editorials in local media, in direct response to the correspondence that he had received, that he has neither truly listened to, nor respected, his constituency.

The paternalistic tone of his writings essentially insisted that Bill C-38 will help the environment. He did not once acknowledge the validity of any countering viewpoint; his opinion pieces, instead, held this implied thread: “Listen, you poor misguided souls: The sooner you realize that I know best and will move ahead regardless, the easier it will be for all of us.”

Biggar inspires an audience of multi-ages at Seaside Centre

At the Sechelt gathering full of activist spirits (with regular faces like George Smith, Rick O’Neill, Jack Stein, Caitlin Hicks and others) it was easy to feel hopeful about the power of group action and speaking out. Yet, what struck me visually as I sat on the aisle next to the audience’s microphone were the number of white-haired seniors in the audience. Indeed, they were the majority, embodied in the leadership of Jef Keighley, chair of the Sunshine Coast Senior Citizens.

These seniors weren’t radical naysayers and hippie extremists, as Weston likes to portray anyone who disagrees with his stance on the environment and other positions. Weston, this is what democracy looks like.

“The energy is out there,” said Biggar, who refered to online and on-site activist momentum as “a wave.” “We built a surfboard for that wave.”

Buoyed by Biggar’s praise – he said that the Sunshine Coast’s rally at Weston’s office the week before had been the best turnout (200 people) in the country, along with the Yukon’s, of 75 similar actions nation-wide – the group agreed to form an alliance of diverse activist groups on the Coast.

“You’re an inspiration for the rest of the country,” said Biggar.

I think that such action is essential and I applaud it. Yet, when I consider how patently Harper and Weston ignore the voices of grassroots democracy and public process and discourse – even in our highest political body, federal Parliament – I grieve for this country. As Canada’s current stance at the Rio+20 summit reinforces, at the political level of official decision-making, our nation is going backwards.

“There’s been a fundamental eruption in our democracy,” said Biggar. “It was a rupture, a wound. We’re trying to go back to that moment and heal that fabric of democracy.”

Today’s democratic protest movement needs more youthful energy, said many people at the Sechelt event. They’re the ones who are media and technology savvy and can easily use social media as communication and organizing tools. (A few students from Elphinstone Secondary were present.) That’s why groups like Leadnow.ca and visionary catalysts like Biggar need our support.

For next steps, Biggar offered his own suggestions and those he recapped after listening to speakers at the mike:

• Make moveon.org a good model for action. This U.S. group built “democratic muscle” against the Iraq war, as one success story.
• Use “unscripted opposition” (not protest form letters) because it’s more vigorous and can change political calculations.
• Build a community of activists. Engage people face-to-face and integrate art and fun into public actions.
• Ask young people what they care about.
• “You need to ask for what you want and back it up with mobilization.”

Biggar reminded us: “Success looks like changing the national conversation.” He added: “We want you to be powerful. It is a moment of alchemy. It’s time to meet the anti-democratic with a groundswell of democratic revitalization.”

                                                                                                — Jef Keighley photos

Day-of-Action participants at John Weston’s office in Sechelt

It used to be in Canada that if you had a black mark against your name, it meant that you were on the do-not-admit list. Not anymore. Now it means that you can run the country — and ignore core democratic principles like freedom of speech.

On this day of information blackouts by progressive media to protest Harper’s unscrupulous Bill C-38, I feel compelled to speak out. As we know by now, our prime minister is trying to ram through, at the highest level of this nation, a host of new regulations in his Blackmark Budget, with limited debate and discussion, that will fulfill his too-obvious agenda: to get the Northern Gateway pipeline built as quickly and easily as possible, and to silence the groups and individuals who disagree with this plan.

Bill Forst, past president of the Sunshine Coast Teachers’ Association, speaks to those in Sechelt gathered to protest Bill C-38

High-profile folk like activist David Suzuki, federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May, and Liberal leader Bob Rae have villified this 450-page omnibus budget Bill that takes aim at anyone who doesn’t fit the Conservative party agenda of economy and profit above all else.

The Bill is designed to weaken environmental protection and fisheries laws, make it easier to launch major natural resources projects, and eliminate the watchdog that monitors the activities of Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. It is also geared to zero in on, and stop, the political activities of non-profits (read environmental groups) that speak out against the Northern Gateway project and other earth-destructive projects. Basically, if you love the planet and this province, you’re Harper’s enemy.

Thankfully, Canadians have collectively spoken out against this outrageous abuse of their democratic freedoms. Two days ago (June 2), they gathered in a Day of Action at 75 locations across the country at Conservative MPs’ offices, in conjunction with Leadnow.ca.

Here on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, about 200 people, including the region’s NDP MLA Nicholas Simons and Sechelt councillor Alice Lutes, rallied against Bill C-38 at the Sechelt constituency office of Conservative MP John Weston.

Local NDP MLA Nicholas Simons addresses the crowd

“Bill C-38 changes and/or eliminates some 70 pieces of federal legislation, the majority of which have nothing whatsoever to do with the budget,” says Jef Keighley, chair of the Sunshine Coast Senior Citizens and lead organizer of the Sunshine Coast protest.

This nation-wide stand against Bill C-38 had three purposes, says Keighley:

• to make sure that Canadians are aware that the Bill contains a sweeping agenda to remake Canadian society that goes against most citizens’ interests and values;

• to rally Canadians to stand against the Bill before it puts a black mark on our democracy

• and to find 13 Conservative MPs who will represent their constituents and stop the Bill.

“It will take 13 Conservative MPs to make it impossible to pass the Bill without changes,” says Keighley. He and others are calling on a baker’s dozen of Tory MPs to divide the Bill into reasonable components and start over. That way, prior to the Bill’s third reading, the appropriate parliamentary committees can share reasoned discussion and debate, inviting Canadians to help them make laws that work better for all of us. That’s what democracy’s all about, right?

Roberts Creek activist Caitlin Hicks reaffirms the need to defend democracy in Canada

Our freedom of speech is on the line. As a Canadian citizen, you can help to ensure that our fundamental democratic laws, practices, and principles do not disappear under Stephen Harper’s efforts to squelch dissent. You can stop Bill C-38 and Harper’s “culture of bullying and intimidation,” to use Bob Rae’s words.

If you’re on the Sunshine Coast, write a letter (not an email) to John Weston and ask him to vote to divide up Bill C-38 so that our elected officials can debate and discuss its components separately. (Weston’s constituency office is 207 – 5760 Teredo Street, Trail Bay Centre, Sechelt, BC, V0N 3A0.) We deserve this kind of democratic representation – not Harper’s form of autocratic power.

Here’s a sample letter, written by Jef Keighley:

Dear _________:

Please Vote to Divide Bill C-38

I am writing you as a concerned Canadian who values and respects the traditions of our representative democracy and the processes of debate and decision of Canada’s Parliament.

Bill C38, the 450 page omnibus budget bill that is seeks to amend and/or eliminate some 70 pieces of federal legislation, the majority of which has precious little to do with budgetary matters, is the most sweeping set of changes in Canadian parliamentary history.  Many of us take issue with the content of the proposed changes, but we also take issue with the hurried process and limited debate.  It seems designed to ensure that the vast majority of MPs and Canadians will not know or understand the impact of those changes until after they are made law after the imposition of closure.

In 2005 Stephen Harper, then Opposition Leader, in response to the 120 page budget bill under Prime Minister Paul Martin said “How can members represent their constituents on those various areas when they are forced to vote on a block of such legislation?’  Harper was right to voice those sentiments then and the call of all of the opposition parties to divide C-38 into its component parts for debate by the appropriate parliamentary committees prior to third reading is the right and fair thing to do now.

As a constituent I am not asking you to express opposition to the content of Bill C-38, but I am asking that you respect our parliamentary traditions and vote to divide Bill C-38 so that MPs and Canadians can know the content and intention of the proposed changes prior to third reading.  Otherwise, MPs will be voting blind and Canadians will be kept in the dark, and that will truly make Bill C-38 a blackmark budget.

I look forward to your positive response.

For those on the Sunshine Coast, a gathering is planned on June 14 at 7 p.m. at the Seaside Centre in Sechelt, led by Lead now representative Jamie Biggar.

If you live elsewhere in Canada, speak out, stay informed, and write your local Conservative MP. Demand a change and return to participatory democracy. Check out the Lead now website.

When I bought a SmartKlean washing ball on Earth Day in Roberts Creek, I’ll admit to some skepticism. Was this strange, bright-green ball, full of ceramic pellets and a double magnet, truly going to clean my laundry?

Friendly local vendor Neale Smith explained the impact of the various pellets, from chlorine removal to “the far infrared effect.” The latter breaks down the water’s hydrogen molecules, which causes more molecular motions. Negative ions then weaken the water’s “surface tension” so that dirt can be removed more easily. Apparently, it’s all about friction.

And those two magnets, stuck together? They are supposed to generate electrical charged particles that cling to dirt and bacteria, which then disappear with the water outflow.

It all sounded impressive, albeit dubious. My husband was even more skeptical than me. But I liked the idea of not polluting water or using chemical-laden detergents. And one small washing ball was supposed to last for 365 wash loads. That would save on a lot of detergent.

I bought the ball. Like the directions said, I threw it into the washing machine full of clothes, ensuring that there was enough room for it to bounce around. When the laundry was done, it looked great. Better still, the wash had not left white streaks on the clothes, like detergents can.

Even my husband was impressed. We’ve since done several more washes and all have turned out really well.

I’m delighted to be using a new product that delivers what it promises: “practical, economical, ecological.” There’s one more bonus: you don’t need a rinse cycle because there are no chemicals to rinse out.

We need more balls, so to speak. Let’s get these out in popular use and put laundry detergents and fabric softeners out of business.

Besides, in a pinch, you can always use one as a percussion instrument.

The SmartKlean washing ball is available at IGA and through It’s About Time Eco Product Distributors. The initial $50 outlay is high, but it’s worth it when you consider how many tubs or boxes of laundry detergent it will save you in a year or more.