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What do you guys think about this carbon tax that's coming in effect? Should we pay for it? I think.... well, we should pay because we do use a lot of pollution. It's only fair that we should pay for it. However, the money gained from this should go (technically speaking) into fixing the problem.

  What are your thoughts?

     [H2]What is a carbon tax?[/H2] A carbon tax is an example of a what's called a Pigovian tax, as advocated by British economist Arthur Pigou (1877-1959).

 When an activity has a negative social cost, such as pollution, Pigou argued that it should be taxed. That, according to his theory, provides an incentive to stop the social harm and move to more positive alternatives — a similar idea to "sin taxes" on products such as alcohol and tobacco.

 So the idea of a carbon tax is to turn people and businesses away from "bad" fossil fuels and toward "good" clean alternatives. Under some models, it can also provide funds to help combat the wider effects of climate change, with the idea that the "polluter pays" for green initiatives.

 In practice, a carbon tax can be:

 [UL] [LI]an across-the-board levy on all fuels based on CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions.  [LI]applied to just the businesses that produce carbon emissions, leaving it up to them whether or not to pass costs along to consumers  [LI]directly levied on consumers. [/LI][/UL] Under a "revenue-neutral" carbon tax, any levies that would be extracted from a particular sector — say, transportation — would be returned in the form of a subsidy or tax break.

 The tax level is often calculated in terms of dollar cost per tonne of emissions. This can then be translated into a cost on the fuel that emits the greenhouse gases (e.g.: 10 cents a litre on gasoline).

 [A href="vny!://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/18/f-carbon-tax.html"]Read More[/A]

I have a hard time believing any Canadian needs another tax on anything. There should be more than enough surplus of what we already get taxed now for investment in other energy technologies. I am sick of taxes as I feel I can not pay anymore than what I do now.

  The dork Dion is a bumbling fool and I would put more trust in the leader of Burma to handle any more of my taxed money. Don't get me wrong, Harper is doing nothing for the environment either. Dion will do nothing too, the only difference is, I will have less money in my pocket.

  Revenue Neutral???  Biggest load of dog turds I have ever heard come out of Dion's mouth. Until the Fiberals get a real leader, I hope they stay in the doghouse too.

I'm sorry.....I'm not up for another tax either.

  I recycle, I reuse, I conserve, I repurpose..........I feel like I'm doing as much as I can.  

  So my answer is NO.....I do not want to be penalized for those who aren't doing their share (and never will if someone else has to pay for it)

Campbell and Dion enact plans that don't do anything. If its neutral what's the point? It goes to nothing, it's lip service.
 

I think they should be directing their energy to the big companies who crank out products that are obsolete within a couple years....no parts to be had to repair them....cheaper to buy new......guess where it goes.  Landfill.  Start enforcing some guidelines for at least some degree of compatibility in appliances and electronics.  Granted, technology doesn't stand still for a lot of things....but a toaster is a toaster, a kettle is a kettle....a coffee maker is a coffee maker.  Change the shape, but jeeeez.....let me at least be able to have my year old coffee machine FIXED instead of chucking it for a new one.

  The truckers who ship....well....EVERYTHING.... will have to pass on these costs to the consumer and then yet another tax of top of that?  How is it saving the planet if a person can't afford to put food on the table ?    

As a society I think we need to come to the realization that our societies we built after the war are flawed. More then ever do we really need to wipe the slate clean and start over (alas this is impossible who's going to sanction of tearing down miles and miles of suburban sprawl). Humans and ideas change over time ebb and flow, strongest survive etc. The problem is our cities and towns developed wrong and will become our downfall. We are still stuck in this post war concept of needing to build everything around the car (car dependent society). No carbon tax is going to fix the fundamental problem of our communities unless we drastically change. That's the problem though we're in this in between zone of yes we want to change, but we want this this this and this 'cake and eat it too' as well.

Either everyone comes together as a collective and forces change or we take the kicking and screaming option.
 

I saw some numb head do a report on the news last night about some guy who moved from the suburbs into the city.  They ran down a lengthy list of costs he no longer had to face.  Convenient public transit, sold his car....no gas or insurance to purchase.........blah blah blah......

  However, they DIDN'T cover exactly how it was going to work if everyone decided to leave the suburbs and live in the city.

  (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/6.gif)

Easy. Tear down the ghost towns which the suburbs will become and rebuild the cities to be sustainable. You know, bring back all the trolley's and tram lines that were prevalent before the wars started.
 

I agree it is up to us humans to do the actual change. Waiting for the government to give us 'hand outs' after taxing the f*ck out of us is as smart as waiting for a cigarette company to help someone with lung cancer. No solution as far as I am concerned.

Yeah PC, I always wonder that too? Where would everyone live when suburbia is over, in one bedroom condos? I think most families would rather jump off of a bridge than move to condo-urbia. You will probably see a lot of that too I guess.

 Yeah PC, I always wonder that too? Where would everyone live when suburbia is over, in one bedroom condos? I think most families would rather jump off of a bridge than move to condo-urbia. You will probably see a lot of that too I guess.

  I'd be the first one over.

  I think it's all about personal responsibility....and frankly, there are still a lot of people not doing their part.  If each individual has played a part in getting us to where we are, than each individual can impact the outcome by doing things differently.[/DIV]

P.C. wrote:
 

I'd be the first one over.



I think it's all about personal responsibility....and frankly, there are still a lot of people not doing their part.  If each individual has played a part in getting us to where we are, than each individual can impact the outcome by doing things differently.

It is a tough situation. I know I don't waste gas on my daily rat race routine.

 That being said, until the price gets too high to do so, I am going to continue driving around BC (especially the Kootenays), Alberta, and the USA. My trip to Italy is also still tentative for next year. And I will still turn up my stereo very loud.

 Canada's biggest issue seems to be our size. It is hard to sit in one spot to try and conserve when friends, family, festivals, adventure, LIFE spans across a huge area.


 

 I think there are trade offs......and I don't think one person has to give up everything.  Going for little road trips is something I totally enjoy....and will continue to do it.  It's just a matter of being extra diligent in other areas.  I don't think one person has to do everything....but if every person does one thing...it will make a difference. (well.....at LEAST one thing)

 

SD wrote:  Easy. Tear down the ghost towns which the suburbs will become and rebuild the cities to be sustainable. You know, bring back all the trolley's and tram lines that were prevalent before the wars started.


 

Sorry SD.....I disagree that this is where the root of the problem is.  Trolley's and trams aren't the solution.  I think we're where we are because consumerism has run amuck.  The need to have everything....more of everything, the best of everything, the newest of everything and we are willing to sacrifice everything to get it.  I know it sounds disconnected from the problems, but I don't think it is.  

No.

  and dont start telling me we all need to get new this and that cause they are this environmentally friendly. People that say that are idiots cause it takes MORE resources and pollution to make the new ones than it is to continue to use the older more polluting things. If you have something now thats still running, use that until its time to replace then upgrade.

  Its all the sky is falling routine.

  Dont get me started.

Nice Russ!

  I also hear a lot of "Well, if you were in parts of Europe, your tax and costs would be way higher". Don't get me started on that!

  Lets just get the Libs to tax 100% of our income and we can live in shanty towns in mud huts with 15 people in them.

 P.C. wrote:
[em]SD wrote:  Easy. Tear down the ghost towns which the suburbs will become and rebuild the cities to be sustainable. You know, bring back all the trolley's and tram lines that were prevalent before the wars started.[/em]

 
Sorry SD.....I disagree that this is where the root of the problem is.  Trolley's and trams aren't the solution.  I think we're where we are because consumerism has run amuck.  The need to have everything....more of everything, the best of everything, the newest of everything and we are willing to sacrifice everything to get it.  I know it sounds disconnected from the problems, but I don't think it is.


----

I was going to say something about that but I wanted to stay on the suburbs route. The 'American Dream' idea is very consumerist, it's 'have it all'. Canada suffers from the same disease.
 

 Van wrote:
Nice Russ!
 
I also hear a lot of "Well, if you were in parts of Europe, your tax and costs would be way higher". Don't get me started on that!
 
Lets just get the Libs to tax 100% of our income and we can live in shanty towns in mud huts with 15 people in them.

European gas taxes go to something, where do you think they got the money to build all of the train routes and metros. Small towns the size of Nanaimo have Light Rail Systems.
 

True, but this isn't Europe! In Europe you can actually visit many cities within a few hours. Maybe they have better leaders there too? Canada is NOT Europe.

The gov can take their taxes and shove it.

Van wrote:
 Nice Russ!



I also hear a lot of "Well, if you were in parts of Europe, your tax and costs would be way higher". Don't get me started on that!



Lets just get the Libs to tax 100% of our income and we can live in shanty towns in mud huts with 15 people in them.[/DIV]
 Ha! :) :)

  If you are in CERTAIN parts of europe your taxes and costs could be higher? My standard of living is better than many of my contemporaries living in scotland, uk, ireland.. because of buying power and taxes. Well, thats also kinda untrue on the tax thing. Canada's the only country in the so called industrial rich nations that penalizes people that work out of the country for most of the year with full taxes and no tax breaks.

  Lets not worry about the Liberals taxing us 100% of our income, this carbon tax while a GOOD idea, is not going be needed right now with the high cost of gas. That alone will kill the provincial Liberals this next election, and hopefully we will get a conservative in. But just let the NDP communists back in and all of us WILL be living in 15 person mud huts except for public sector and other union workers.

  Just to clarify.. with my last statement I didnt mean we shouldnt all upgrade to teh newer stuff, I just meant dont all go out and buy it now if your older stuff it still working and in good condition.

This is where I do believe its all consumerism gone wild. Prime example.. on top of the cheap crap we are buying, look at all the waste that the products come packaged in. I really think we should implement plastic bag and packaging recycling in vancouver, like what they are doing in parts of the UK. Either that or ban plastic packaging and go back to cardboard and filler.      

Russ wrote:
Van wrote:
Nice Russ!



I also hear a lot of "Well, if you were in parts of Europe, your tax and costs would be way higher". Don't get me started on that!



Lets just get the Libs to tax 100% of our income and we can live in shanty towns in mud huts with 15 people in them.[/DIV]
 Ha! :) :)



If you are in CERTAIN parts of europe your taxes and costs could be higher? My standard of living is better than many of my contemporaries living in scotland, uk, ireland.. because of buying power and taxes. Well, thats also kinda untrue on the tax thing. Canada's the only country in the so called industrial rich nations that penalizes people that work out of the country for most of the year with full taxes and no tax breaks.



Lets not worry about the Liberals taxing us 100% of our income, this carbon tax while a GOOD idea, is not going be needed right now with the high cost of gas. That alone will kill the provincial Liberals this next election, and hopefully we will get a conservative in. But just let the NDP communists back in and all of us WILL be living in 15 person mud huts except for public sector and other union workers.



Just to clarify.. with my last statement I didnt mean we shouldnt all upgrade to teh newer stuff, I just meant dont all go out and buy it now if your older stuff it still working and in good condition.

This is where I do believe its all consumerism gone wild. Prime example.. on top of the cheap crap we are buying, look at all the waste that the products come packaged in. I really think we should implement plastic bag and packaging recycling in vancouver, like what they are doing in parts of the UK. Either that or ban plastic packaging and go back to cardboard and filler.



Good points Russ. I can make enough money under the table no Lib or Cons will ever touch! HA!

As for new technologies, I am all for it. I am just saying, is taxing us more and more going to help?

After visiting Dublin and England, it was amazing to see how the working class live.  
 

Russ wrote:
  But just let the NDP communists back in and all of us WILL be living in 15 person mud huts except for public sector and other union workers.

  If the NDP get back in, I am Outta!!

   


 BC Liberals aren't going anywhere, the North could split and bring back the Reform party, but that won't happen for multiple of reasons and would just alienate the North. And those 'communists' you talk about are against the Carbon Tax saying its a tax grab and punishing lower income people. The Liberals aren't going to lose until the economy tanks after the olympics. The voters that matter in BC love the Carbon Tax so you're going to have to deal with it.
 

I was talking more about Dion and gang. BC Libs are another story.  I don't even hate the Fed Libs. They just need a real leader and not some pathetic piece of ****!

  Curious though, how is one voter more important than another?

  As for BC's economy tanking? Where does that come from? People said that after Expo 86 the economy would tank. Maybe a slow down, but a tank?

BC has too much 'awesome-ness' for that to happen! Ha!

Economic after Economic Forum its all about 'After 2010'. After the olympics BC will have peaked economically, everything in this province is geared toward '2010' for those two weeks.

Who's vote matters the most? The votes that make things move in this province
1) You must live in Vancouver
2) You must make over an x amount of money
3) You probably live downtown or in West Van
4) Or you have your had in Vancouver real estate developers

Politicians ignore anyone outside of this group. They've turned Vancouver Island into a prison where people can't move freely off the island without paying a tonne of money, Vancouver Island might as well be its own province now. They've ignored the North as 'nobody of importance' lives up there. While the head of the government resides in Victoria, there's no urgent need to fix Victoria or Kelowna or Kamloops problems. No matter who you elect they will all be Vancouver centric governments of the West Vancouver variety. Both political parties battle over the same core voters while ignoring the rest of the province and the issues.


 

Sportsdude wrote:
Economic after Economic Forum its all about 'After 2010'. After the olympics BC will have peaked economically, everything in this province is geared toward '2010' for those two weeks.

 
Biggest load of bunk I ever heard of.

 
Who's vote matters the most? The votes that make things move in this province
1) You must live in Vancouver
2) You must make over an x amount of money
3) You probably live downtown or in West Van
4) Or you have your had in Vancouver real estate developers

Politicians ignore anyone outside of this group. They've turned Vancouver Island into a prison where people can't move freely off the island without paying a tonne of money, Vancouver Island might as well be its own province now. They've ignored the North as 'nobody of importance' lives up there. While the head of the government resides in Victoria, there's no urgent need to fix Victoria or Kelowna or Kamloops problems. No matter who you elect they will all be Vancouver centric governments of the West Vancouver variety. Both political parties battle over the same core voters while ignoring the rest of the province and the issues.

 
I see what you mean. I thought you were saying the voters who you personally felt were important.  Depends who you talk to on the Island. You are the first person I ever heard call it a prison? Most people I know there are happy to be there and somewhat isolated

 That is the way BC has been since day 1.  

 Take a look at the Kootenays. Their hospitals, roads, and infrastructure is in no better or worse shape than Vancouvers.

 


 

Could you imagine the uproar if there was Carbonated Tax?  

Its a prison in the sense that the last ferry is 9pm. A hockey game or a concert doesn't end at 9pm, you have to then spend more money to stay at a hotel for a night. Isolation is not good. The two will drift apart to the point where Vancouver Islanders will see themselves as different from British Columbia. Then you'll get a province within a province.

 

Sportsdude wrote:
Its a prison in the sense that the last ferry is 9pm. A hockey game or a concert doesn't end at 9pm, you have to then spend more money to stay at a hotel for a night. Isolation is not good. The two will drift apart to the point where Vancouver Islanders will see themselves as different from British Columbia. Then you'll get a province within a province.

 
 According to your anyways.

Maybe you should stick to worrying about your own neck of the woods instead of making up nonsense about BC regional boundaries.

 Insults lead us nowhere, they just hold us back.
Regional nonsense, okay, all my friends on the Island share this view. People I meet on the street share this view, I've read it in the newspapers in the media and I've seen it everywhere.


   

Insults? You are a timid little guy hey? easily offended. Are you Emo?

  ok, to me, the people that live on the Island, CHOOSE TO DO SO! It is not a prison. They have the freedom to move elsewhere. If someone wants to catch a concert in Vancouver, they better stay at a friend's house, or get a hotel and make a night out of it.

  Van wrote:
Insults? You are a timid little guy hey? easily offended. Are you Emo?
 
ok, to me, the people that live on the Island, CHOOSE TO DO SO! It is not a prison. They have the freedom to move elsewhere. If someone wants to catch a concert in Vancouver, they better stay at a friend's house, or get a hotel and make a night out of it.----

No. It's whenever we have some kind of reasonable great discussion here, it always leads to 'I'm out of things to say so I'll knock where SD is from" or somebody starts using stupid polarizing words like 'communists, fascists, loser unions, welfare scabs' etc. It's something you don't do when you want to discuss something with someone and it shows you've run out of things to say constructively.

Just look at the House of Commons and those baffoons. Yelling and screaming, insulting each other and being big babies. Then the MPs that do care in that building wonder why Canadians have turned them off. Same thing happens here in the states except the way our government houses are set up, they don't really bicker at each other like they do in the parliamentary system. Instead pols take it to the airwaves and the media through radio programmes which I believe is worse for the country and leads to deepening polarization. Keep the hate in the buildings, don't bring it outside or mom should wash out your mouth with soap. Politics is not suppose to be personal, yet we've made it that way which leads to hatred of each other.

Anyway. :) *takes a deep breath*

I meant 'prison' in the term of if you live on the island, you have to pay insane fees to get off. The constant prices going up make it not affordable for someone to reasonably leave the island. It cost me 60 dollars to take my car and myself off the island on a one way trip. Add a family of four and you are looking at around 180 dollars for a 'trip'. To me that is an economic prison. Punishing an island of around 800,000 for living on an island. It's just slowly putting up economic barriers that will eventually lead to political barriers and Island provintgwpdm.
My last weekend on the island, I ran into two guys playing extreme Frisbee golf. These guys were rather hilarious but they wondered why anybody would want to leave the island, the conversation though went from their point of view to quickly went to "mainland sucks, nobody cares about us, Vancouver full of crime and immigrants" etc. It reminded me of the first weekend on the island where the local kids proceeded to talk to me for hours on end about how the mainland hates us, we are Islanders, f*ck mainland, nobody cares about us etc. I wouldn't be shocked if a Cape Breton style movement happens on the Island.
 

  Lil Me......I think you're BRILLIANT !!!!!  A Carbonated Tax.  Who'd a thunk the solution was so simple.  Add 2 ounces of Everclear and it will bring a whole new meaning to being taxed til yer naked.  I think I'll have one now.  (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/12.gif)

A carbonated tax to stop public burping. lol  

 [FONT face=Arial size=2][SPAN class=177053321-20062008]sports, I don't mean to insult you or where you came from. I am just saying, you probably know a lot more about where you came from than BC.  I wouldn't tell you about Missourri political issues or regional differences if I went to school there for awhile, met a few people, and watched and read your media. I still would not have a clue about what Missourri is all about, and I wouldn't pretend to.[/SPAN][/FONT]

[FONT face=Arial size=2][SPAN class=177053321-20062008][/SPAN][/FONT]

[FONT face=Arial size=2][SPAN class=177053321-20062008]It is just the trying to prove so hard you know more about what goes on in BC, than people like over half of this forum that lived in BC, all, or most of our lives. If anyone should be insulted, it isn't you. Same with the things you pretty much say about anywhere in the world. You are an expert on that place, more than the people who were born and raised there. I remember you judging all Albertans that way too.[/SPAN][/FONT]

[FONT face=Arial size=2][SPAN class=177053321-20062008][/SPAN][/FONT]

[FONT face=Arial size=2][SPAN class=177053321-20062008]I know there is isolationism on the Island and the interior. "No hope past Hope" is a common saying in the interior. But it is far from the extremity you make it out to be. Like I say, people on the Island, moved there for a reason, or were born and raised there.  [/SPAN][/FONT]

[FONT face=Arial size=2][SPAN class=177053321-20062008][/SPAN][/FONT]

[FONT face=Arial size=2][SPAN class=177053321-20062008]Cape Breton! lol That is awesome![/SPAN][/FONT]

[FONT face=Arial size=2][SPAN class=177053321-20062008][/SPAN][/FONT]

[FONT face=Arial size=2][SPAN class=177053321-20062008]As for the carbon tax, that is something I am totally against. I don't care if anyone else supports it, it is their right to.[/SPAN][/FONT][/DIV]

I've heard Cape Breton IS awesome.  

As much as I like the 'isolation' of the Island (although that's not how I really feel), I DO resent it costing an arm and a leg to visit my family who are virtually 20 minutes away (as the crow flies).  Ferry rates are apparently going to take another substantial hit at the end of the summer.  I can barely afford them now.  I consider BC ferries to be part of BC's highway....and I pay taxes for all of BC's highways.....PLUS an additional heavy hit to have access to them.  I accept though, that that's just the way it is.

  Having said that, as Van says.....I CHOOSE to live here.  It's benefits to me, far outweigh being cut off from the mainland.  ( people clamoring for a bridge need to hush......no bridge)   When it comes down to that choice, I'd rather pay the heavy ferry rates).

  SD, I agree with Van as well regarding your assumption that you know what's best for BC or Vancouver Island after living in Nanaimo for 7 or 8 months.  As much as you ARE entitled to your thoughts, opinions and ideas on it, they are no substitute for those of the people who have spent their lives here.  It's nice to toss around ideas.....but it's hard to be 'put in your place' by anyone who has spent their life in another country.

    Oh yea......I'm still on [FONT size=6]NO[/FONT] for carbon taxes....or any other name they want to dream up for it. (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/12.gif)  

It should be called the Universal Carbon-Based Life Form Tax.  

 Sorry if it comes out that way, I really just want to know what everybody thinks. I'm basing my opinion on the opinion that I get from others who talk to me since I don't know the area, wanting to fit in so to speak.  

Someone in Government told me that somewhere in the 90%s of all funding for BC Ferries comes from users. This is how I got the prison idea. Vancouver Island alienation, I felt that the instant I got to the island. I must say though, after university I want to move back to the Island in some fashion. Call me an Islander.

  Well....I have never felt like a prisoner here.  On the contrary, I feel trapped, clausterphobic and penned in when I go to the mainland.  I get the initial 'warm fuzzy' when I go to the mainland ......but I usually can't wait to get back to prison....I mean home.   (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/12.gif)

  I know one thing for certain....if I ever do feel that way, I will choose to move.  I also have not experienced the 'Vancouver Island alientation'.  I'm not sure if I even know what that is.  Attending concerts, games or mainland events can be a nuisance.....and an expensive nuisance to boot.  I can't imagine though, anyone who would choose to stay here if that were an issue for them.

Prisoner in a sense that you have to pay so much to leave the island. Meh I think its the 18-40 angst. Although good buddy from Port Hardy hasn't left the island in 6 years. lol Going to Vancouver in August, told him to prepare for shock. lol He wanted to know what the place looked like. hahaha  

I always say things about unions, ndp communism. Dont know where you think its all about you?

  Dunno, we've had this discussion a few times before.

  I know for a fact that not all the islanders think like that SD.. I have alot of family over there. Remember you are around the young generation, the college one right now.    

(//vny!://images1.comstock.com/Imagewarehouse/BX/SITECS/NLWMCompingVersions/28001-28250/bxp28059.jpg)
 
 I'm enjoying this thread.
 Popcorn, anyone?
   

Lil Me likes popcorn?!

That just goes to show you the angst British Columbians have against biofuels!! Eating corn rather than using oil to create ethanol!

All British Columbians feel this way too! At least the people between 18-40.

  Russ wrote:
I always say things about unions, ndp communism. Dont know where you think its all about you?
 
Dunno, we've had this discussion a few times before.
 
I know for a fact that not all the islanders think like that SD.. I have alot of family over there. Remember you are around the young generation, the college one right now.
 

About me? Russ you use political labels that a commentator on Fox News, Conservative Radio uses to polarize people, words of hate which have been condemned by both sides of the aisle down here and in Canada, it's what is wrong with politics. We're having an election based on 15-25 years of baseless hate words that have polarized people. People are tired of the cheap words. I used to be like that too, but you know, I'm trying to change because its pointless. If you have nothing good to say, don't say anything at all, people would tell me. It's childish behaviour fit for 5 year olds.

You've missed my point, when a region starts to feel disenfranchised they'll start to think people in their state/province are against them. My family is from Southern Illinois. They hate Chicago, they're paranoid in believing that Northern Illinois doesn't care about Southern. In the 90s there was a movement to split from Illinois. The movement went nowhere and it was rather laughable, but the anger toward 'Chicago' is still there and the people will complain saying 'Illinois isn't fixing the roads again, they need to pave a road in Chicago' or something like that.

In Missouri, there's people that live in Kansas City and St. Louis and then there's everyone else. The 'everyone else' hates St. Louis and Kansas City as 'bastions of liberalism, black people and multi-culturalism'. Here in the two cities we see the rural area as backwards and racist while the rural area sees us as a cess pool of people causing all the problems in Missouri. Any state or province or country where there's one giant city which has most of the area's population and political power, will cause political angst in other parts of its territory. Chicago- Illinois, Missouri-KC and STL, Atlanta-Georgia, Providence-RI, Toronto-Ontario, Montreal-Quebec, Halifax-Nova Scotia, Boston- Mass.


I don't just hang out with 'college' age kids. Just talk to people on the ferries, in public, on the beach in Tofino or Victoria and in the media.

 
 

Driving is one of the leading causes of global warming so it's only fair that people who drive should have to pay carbon tax.  

Sportsdude wrote:
 About me? Russ you use political labels that a commentator on Fox News, Conservative Radio uses to polarize people, words of hate which have been condemned by both sides of the aisle down here and in Canada, it's what is wrong with politics. We're having an election based on 15-25 years of baseless hate words that have polarized people. People are tired of the cheap words. I used to be like that too, but you know, I'm trying to change because its pointless. If you have nothing good to say, don't say anything at all, people would tell me. It's childish behaviour fit for 5 year olds.

You've missed my point, when a region starts to feel disenfranchised they'll start to think people in their state/province are against them. My family is from Southern Illinois. They hate Chicago, they're paranoid in believing that Northern Illinois doesn't care about Southern. In the 90s there was a movement to split from Illinois. The movement went nowhere and it was rather laughable, but the anger toward 'Chicago' is still there and the people will complain saying 'Illinois isn't fixing the roads again, they need to pave a road in Chicago' or something like that.

In Missouri, there's people that live in Kansas City and St. Louis and then there's everyone else. The 'everyone else' hates St. Louis and Kansas City as 'bastions of liberalism, black people and multi-culturalism'. Here in the two cities we see the rural area as backwards and racist while the rural area sees us as a cess pool of people causing all the problems in Missouri. Any state or province or country where there's one giant city which has most of the area's population and political power, will cause political angst in other parts of its territory. Chicago- Illinois, Missouri-KC and STL, Atlanta-Georgia, Providence-RI, Toronto-Ontario, Montreal-Quebec, Halifax-Nova Scotia, Boston- Mass.


I don't just hang out with 'college' age kids. Just talk to people on the ferries, in public, on the beach in Tofino or Victoria and in the media.

No didnt miss your point. I happen to agree with you, but I feel its more the interior then the Island which is being quashed by decision makers in high population areas. I happen to know many people from the interior that talk about cappucino sucking lower mainlanders. lol. I hate cappucino.

 Many of my family and friends on the island prefer the island over the mainland.. and so will stay there.

 Im trying, as are others on here (I think) to not just take some information and apply it with a brush.

 How the hell can you write so much so fast? Im having troubles with what I have written here so far. lol

 
 

 Driving is one of the leading causes of global warming so it's only fair that people who drive should have to pay carbon tax.  

  In a way that makes sense Richard.....the only problem with that is, it's the means in which everything gets moved.  Food, clothing....well.....everything makes it's way to us by truck.  The high costs of gas alone, have jacked the price of shipping up already.  To add another tax on top of that really will make the difference for some people to even put food on the table.

  The other reason I disagree that people who drive should be responsible for this tax, is that many have no alternate choices.  I also think a person who is not a driver, but does nothing to reduce, recycle and reuse.....is contributing to the problem as well.[/DIV]

   
 

 Russ wrote:
No didnt miss your point. I happen to agree with you, but I feel its more the interior then the Island which is being quashed by decision makers in high population areas. I happen to know many people from the interior that talk about cappucino sucking lower mainlanders. lol. I hate cappucino. Many of my family and friends on the island prefer the island over the mainland.. and so will stay there.[/p] Im trying, as are others on here (I think) to not just take some information and apply it with a brush. [/p] How the hell can you write so much so fast? Im having troubles with what I have written here so far. lol
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Great! Yes, I feel very fortunate to come from two different societies with two completely different views of the world. One is the rural society/culture which feels constantly oppressed by the cities. While the other says its the rural people's fault. The reality is that it's somewhere in between, both sides don't get it. A lot of the 'city' folks would say I was a hypocrite for taking a middle ground on a rural vs. urban issue. My response is and always will be, 'you don't understand, you have to walk in their shoes, live their life then  you might be able to understand the rural vs. urban divide'. (I say the same to the rural people who complain as well). Both sides response always seems immature to me, to the extent of "So what if this legislation is bad for urban/rural, you don't like them, so break with them." I can't do that, because what is good for the farmers is good for the urbanites. So rural vs. urban divides have always fascinate me. It's amazing how someone who lives an hour and a half outside of a metro area can have a totally different view on this world as someone who lives an hour away.

Good legislation has to address both rural and urban concerns. The main complaint from the rural side from what I've seen and lived is the no development case. "All the taxes go to... (insert city)".  Doesn't really matter what state/country/province, it's the same song. Easy solution. Campbell's Transportation plan, is for the most part Vancouver centric. Where's the 'hey we need an LRT in Victoria' or 'lets give the local cities control of where the bus routes go and not have somebody from an office in Victoria dictate that they know what's best for Nanaimo, Kelowna, Kamloops etc'.  Greatest example of this is Nanaimo's buses. The so called 'city centre' bus stop isn't at the 'city centre'. It's by the old train station in the uptown area. Who decided to move this? Somebody in Victoria. The local governments must have power over these decisions. Translink being taken over by Victoria, bad.

Last time I took a typing test I could type 80-100 words per minute, but I usually type a lot faster if I'm thinking off the top of my head instead of copying something. Horrible writer free hand. Hands write too slow for the brain. Personally, universities should do their tests on the computer, instead of a piece of paper and a pen. Then again nobody my age really writes anymore. Real life I'm a long winded talker. I can talk for days and days and days and days. You hand me a rock and I could talk about it for 10 minutes.
I typed up a 5 page essay in about 30 minutes for Sociology class this year. Prof worried I was spending too much time on his class and not others. lol

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Jebus! Too much reading^

I will just assume you wrote about how great I am!(//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/3.gif)  

Hey Van.  I think the expression you're searching for is TL;DR.  TooLong; Didn'tRead  

You mean he wasn't writing great things ab-b-bout me?...(//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Sad/7.gif)

*bless*
 The Reader's Digest version is...Van is one cool guy...thighs of steel...funny as heck...he's everyone's best friend.
   

Awww, what a sweetie *bless back*...(psst, thanks for fibbing).

Should I tell everyone that you are 6'8"?  

Yes, and also tell them I am done with the gym because I am too huge for the weights there!

It happens.

 

lol.....yer killing me.

     

Gordo gives the North a giant f- you
[a href="vny!://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080703.wBc-campbell04/BNStory/National/home"]vny!://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080703.wBc-campbell04/BNStory/National/home[/a]

hilarious
 

Gordo who.

Premier Gordon Campbell
"Gordo"