THE STALEMATE CONTINUES

A story in the Toronto Star today about the significant pressure on British Columbia's Attorney General Wally Oppal to take action on polygamous marriages in the commune of Bountiful in B.C.'s interior.

The government has even sought out potential complainants, sending in officials to interview and talk to women, children and men in Bountiful. Despite the overtures, not one complaint has emerged from the community.

Bountiful remains the largest colony of polygamists outside the U.S. towns of Colorado City and Hildale, Utah.

During the rape trial of American sect leader Warren Jeffs last fall, witnesses testified that there were frequent exchanges of people, especially young women, among the different communities.

Texas officials raided the Eldorado compound on April 3 and removed 437 children from their families, who were all members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

While some members in Texas may have ties to the polygamous community in B.C., so far no definitive links have been made.

Still, the federal government confirmed yesterday that at least one Canadian citizen was living on the Texas ranch raided by American authorities.

CREATING A MONSTER

Analyzing data from Ireland, Scotland and Atlantic Canada, the late Ransom Myers of Dalhousie University showed that disease and parasites spread by farmed salmon reduced the survival of local populations of wild salmon and sea trout by more than 50 per cent per generation.

The downside of farmed salmon is that parasites are are wiping out wild salmon. A few years ago I attended an International Atlantic Salmon Conference in Ireland and there was a lot of discussion about the impact of aquaculture on salmon in the natural environment.

Wild salmon have decreased in great numbers in the Atlantic Ocean. Low returns in rivers throughout the North Atlantic have alarmed scientists for a generation. After the salmon-farming industry came to Scotland, sea lice started appearing in great quantities on wild fish and wiped them out.

We hear about the great aqua-culture industry in Chile but we do not hear stories about U.S.-based Safeway supermarket chain has announcing that it is curtailing purchases of disease-ridden farmed salmon from Chile.

A story in todays Globe and Mail about the infestation of sea lice in British Columbia salmon farms may give you great reason for alarm and concern as we expand the industry here. Are we in the opening stages of a potential ecological disaster that may lead for further disastrous consequences for the environment and tourism industry?

THE MV FRANK MOORES

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Our government is making a much-needed investment to ensure that we have the capacity to deal with increasing both passenger and freight traffic on this main transportation link. It will have a tremendous positive impact on the local and regional economy.” - Loyola Hearn

It has been a long wait but Ottawa has announced $101 million over five years to enable Marine Atlantic Inc. to acquire a charter vessel that will address increasing traffic to and from Newfoundland and Labrador.

The politicians say the ferry could be in rotation as early as July. but the Marine Atlantic site says "this fall, Marine Atlantic will be adding a new ferry to our fleet. It will be the largest vessel ever to enter the harbour of Port aux Basques, which means more passengers, vehicles, and goods can be carried."

As predicted by P&P a few weeks ago the vessel is the Superfast IX. The deal has been in the works for a while, as it looks like the new ferry has already been painted. It significantly larger than any vessel ever operated by Marine Atlantic. The ferry is 203 metres in length, has four propulsion engines with a total output of 46 megawatts and can travel at speeds up to 27 knots. In comparison, the MV Caribou is 179 metres long. It has four engines with a total output of 21 Megawatts and can travel at speeds of up to 20 knots.

50 percent more vehicle capacity than either the MV Caribou or the MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood. It is capable of carrying approximately 531 cars or a mix of cars and commercial vehicles using the two main vehicle decks and the two lower decks. The lower decks are sized to accommodate only cars. In comparison, the MV Caribou has a capacity of 350 cars or a mix of cars and commercial vehicles on its two vehicle decks.

I thought I heard a media report that there will be a contest for school children to name the new vessel. In the tradition of the Smallwood perhaps this one could be called the MV Frank Moores or considering Danny's popularity we might just name it the MV Williams, or paint it green and call it Lukey's boat.

CAMPAIGN PARAPHERNALIA

GAME NIGHT!

The type of e-mail that makes me warm all over:

Hey guys,

We're hoping to have another go at a game night tonight. I know I spoke to a few of you yesterday and got positive feedback. We're thinking our house at 7pm...

Maybe Carcassonne, Power Grid, Settlers, Robo Rally or Ticket to Ride...or anything else you guys would like to bring...

Cheers,

Should be a nice relaxing night. Some other game nights lean toward party games or word games. This games night is for strategy board games. I mostly enjoy strategy board games lasting from 90 to 120 minutes:

• These games include bidding, bluffing, building, collecting, combat, exploring, farming, investing, persuasion, racing, strategy, trading, and other forms of intellectual competition.
• They make use of every theme under the sun, including dinosaurs, fish, jewels, magic, money, pirates, robbers, utility companies, and trains.
• To various degrees, they involve luck, suspense, anticipation, planning, and analyzing.

This games night is unlikely to get into trivia games, party games, word games, role-playing games, or long war or economic campaign games. I have dozens of games to choose from. Two I hope we play tonight are:

Settlers of Catan. Settlers is a classic strategy board game. Players accumulate resources to build roads and settlements, trying for the most points earned for their accomplishments.

Power Grid involves building a power supply network and buying fuel and power plants to supply power to earn money to buy more. The game has an unusual auction mechanism, along with fluctuating prices for fuel, and plays nicely. However, it can be a bit long

OBAMA'S ARROGANT NEW STRATEGY

More on Obama's new strategy from Pajamas Media.

THE TIPPING POINT

Defections have been a big issue for the Clinton Campaign all year. She has hemorrhaged superdelegates, former supporters and big backers. Evidence today that she is leading the race in Indiana and making gains in North Carolina in the wake of a post-Pennsylvania bump. At a time when she has turned the tide and is gaining momentum, another defection threatens to shake the campaign to the core.

To push the Obama message of the inevitability of defeat, one of Hillary's major fund raisers is defecting. Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon is leaving the campaign to join Barack Obama's campaign. The announcement is expected on Monday.

Guerra-Mondragon raised half a million dollars for Clinton and is a former Ambassador to Chile, appointed by President Clinton in 1994. He is expected to take a role on Obama's national finance committee.

Apparently he was uneasy with the tone of the Clinton campaign and was beginning to worry about what this would mean for the general election.

I see this as a deliberate strategy to lure key Hispanic Democratic leaders to the Obama camp. We have seen this process play itself out over and over again in this campaign. Obama's strategists have been laying little speed bumps and political land mines all over the place.

The question is, what other defections are going to occur and has this one tipped the balance and the math?

OBAMA FOCUSES ON THE FALL CAMPAIGN AND PUTS CLINTON BEHIND HIM

Barack Obama has a new strategy....Ignore Hillary and act like the Democratic nominee. It is an arrogant approach which may lead to more divisions after the race is over, which will not be easily mended.

The spin a few weeks ago was, we are wasting time, Democrats have decided that Obama is the winner and Clinton should just step aside for the good of the party. In the days after her double digit win in Pennsylvania the strategy has started again. The message is that Clinton's refusal to go away is killing the party's chances this fall against John McCain. This despite the fact that Clinton has proven over and over again that an Obama campaign is doomed to repeat the failures of the past, because he has proven over and over again that he cannot win a big state or the hearts, minds and votes of Reagan Democrats.

In an article in the New York Times, the new strategy is very clear: forget Clinton and focus on McCain. The race is all but over, the convention a formality.

Clinton's electability factor has increased this past week. The race is not over. The compelling question for the superdelegates is, do they want to win in 2008 or repeat the marginal defeats of the past two campaigns?

SOME POSITIVES...

I sometimes get feedback telling me that I’m always too negative. While Newfoundland and Labrador may have gotten a raw deal, on more than one occasion, and even though the place should be far ahead of where it is today, there are some positives people ask me. “Why don’t you publicize those”?

Myles Higgens reflects on the positive in his post on Canada Free Press in an article called Positives In Newfoundland and Labrador.

THE GREAT WALL OF CONFUSION

"There are no gag orders in place on anybody. We do not put gag orders in place. The fire commissioner is not under a gag order. The minister is responsible for the fire commissioner and the minister will speak for the fire commissioner. When matters relate to education, that minister will speak for the fire commissioner. The fire commissioner is not out speaking publicly. He has a right to do technical briefings and everything else, but he acts under the minister. He has a responsibility to that minister and the minister will speak, and that is the way it is going to be. It is as simple as that." - Premier Danny Williams, speaking in the House of Assembly on April 23, 2008.

P&P has written a few posts in response to hearing particularly frustrating and maddening interviews with provincial cabinet ministers who either do not want to share information, have not read their notes or have not been properly briefed.

CBC radio in particular has been a source for these nearly comical exchanges, because radio is a great forum for playing out longer clips. There have been some really horrendous exchanges in particular with Government Services Minister Kevin O'Brien, Northern Affairs Minister Patsy Pottle, Works, Services and Transportation Minister Diane Whelan, Municipal and Provincial Affairs Minister Dave Denine and Natural Resources Minister Kathy Dunderdale. I have written posts on all of them.

The Ministers have become the official spokespeople for most things in their departments, but often they lack the expertise and knowledge to answer the questions. The exchange this week between CBC reporter David Cochrane and Denine over fire inspections capped it all off. There is skidding, stonewalling, ice skating and, well, just inability to answer the question. Frustrating for the reporter, sure, but imagine how it sounds to the public.

Russell Wangersky puts a much finer point on the issue in his column in today's Telegram.

ALLEGED MURDERER WAS KNOWN TO POLICE

Disturbing accusations that a tragedy in Piccadilly could have been avoided. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is running a story that indicates that Christopher Vladisov Sawicki, who is charged with the first degree murder of George Benoit, was known to police and had severe mental health issues.

Neighbours say both men were well liked. One said that the RCMP had been called to Sawicki's home on a number of occasions over the past three weeks but " they keep letting him go, letting him go." They say Sawicki is a good person who needed help.

Pat Hinks, a cousin of the deceased, says he was good freinds with Sawicki, "But lately, since last year, he got involved in crystal meth and then ecstasy and all that stuff, so he got all screwed up."

RCMP are facing some criticism for not holding a man in British Columbia who had been in their custody days before he is alleged to have murdered his three children. Kaitlynne, 10, Max, 8, and Cordon, 5, were found dead in his wife's trailer in Merritt, a ranching community about 270 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. Allan Dwayne Schoenborn was the focus of a week long nation wide manhunt but was found just a ten minute drive from the crime scene.

He was arrested at the school on April 3 after allegedly threatening a classmate of his daughter, whom he believed was bullying Kaitlynne.

He was released after begging the justice of the peace through a phone bail hearing for a break.

B.C.'s chief provincial judge Hugh Stansfield said the JP who granted Schoenborn bail was unaware the suspect had repeatedly violated a peace bond that was supposed to keep him away from his estranged wife if he had been drinking, or if she or the police wanted him gone.

LOO LOO

I can see that this day is going down the toilet. Nancy just forwarded a link after reading the bathroom renovations post. She suggests I invest in a bidet?

Look like fun!

HE IS BACK.....

This should really get Wally and Mark into a lather this morning. Former Liberal leader, former ambassador to Ottawa, lawyer, Rhodes Scholar and Back Talk host Bill Rowe is back in print. He is now writing a weekly column for the Independent.

Check out Bill's inaugural column in the April 25-May1st edition on sale this morning for an insider's look at the Martin-Williams Atlantic Accord spat.

The column will be comprised of excerpts from his upcoming book.

PS. I just heard the latest Independent ad on VOCM promoting Bill's column. I think it was Ryan's voice in a very fast pitch with lots of reverberation and forced echo. It sounded very much like the stuff we used to do for fun in the old mock station in college in Stephenville.

A LITTLE BATHROOM RENO

We are considering some renovations to the upstairs bathroom. Three boys play havoc with your flooring. Between torrential tub spills and bad aim the flooring needs to be replaced. Tile seems to be the material of choice.

Of course any little project in a bathroom is bound to turn into a much bigger and more expensive job.

I think the kids would like this new toilet. I know it would drive the kitten crazy!

COOKES A BRIGHT LIGHT IN THE RURAL KITCHEN

A bright light on the south coast. Cooke Aquaculture is employing over 300 people in the Harbour Breton area, between its processing facility and salmon farm operations.

Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout provided an update on the company's operations in a ministerial statement prior to question period in the House of Assembly yesterday.

"All agreements between the provincial government and Cooke Aquaculture have been finalized, and $7.5 million of our investment have been provided to the company. The balance of the government’s investment will be delivered upon the completion of a hatchery by Cooke in this Province. To date, Cooke’s investment in our Province exceeds $40 million."

The Newfoundland and Labrador aquaculture sector is growing. Rideout said that by the end of 2008, the production and the value of the industry will have doubled from 2005.

GOUDIE JOINS DOWNEY

Another former Conservative candidate from this province is taking on his party over the "In and Out" scandal that is enveloping the Federal Conservative Party.

Former provincial Cabinet Minister Joe Goudie told CBC News he is ready to cut all ties with the federal Tories over the matter. He ran as a Conservative against Liberal Todd Russell in Labrador in 2006.

Goudie learned that he and his campaign manager were involved in the scandal at a local coffee shop in Goose Bay when a friend told him his name was in the news. Goudie and both his campaign manager and official agent said they were duped into accepting money from the central party, only to have to send it right back.

You know it is simply amazing that the Conservatives would flow this money through cash starved campaigns and create such animosity in the first place. You talk about rolling the dice with other people's reputations.

Read the whole story at CBC.

Prime Minister Harper's line: "It is a Liberal conspiracy. These former candidates are all just bitter. We did nothing wrong. Excuse me, I have a flight to Panama to catch."

CABBIE PULLS A FEW STRINGS

New York cabdrivers get a bad rap but their counterparts across the river in New Jersey are receiving accolades after a Newark cabbie returned a musical instrument left behind to its owner.

A touring musician mistakenly left his $4 Million Stradivari violin in the back seat of the taxi.

The irreplaceable 1723 Antonio Stradivari "Ex-Keisewetter" was on loan to Grammy-nominated violinist Philippe Quint. Read more about this story at newsday.

HYPERMILLING & ECODRIVING

Gas prices have reached record highs. Don't pull your hair out, there is not much we can do but get used to the reality that prices are going to stay up and keep climbing.

Would you like to improve your fuel economy without buying a new car? Try slowing down. Here are a couple of tips that might help you get a little more out of your gas tank.

SEGAL: THE CASE FOR A GAI

When potentially, actually or previously productive citizens fall behind, they must have a bridge — a passageway, a “lifecost” allowance which sees them through the rough spots.

The IRRP publication Policy Options is one of may favorite monthly reads. Hugh Segal revisits the concept of a guaranteed annual income which always generates a good debate. It is a concept that has found support from red Tories like Robert Stanfield and arch conservatives like Milton Friedman.

Segal argues that a GAI or negative income tax would be a good move if it was done right. I am not sure if that is a pun or not but the article has merit.

In the early 1990's there was quite a discussion about a GAI in this province.

FEDERATION OF SCHOOL COUNCILS AGM

The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of School Councils will be holding its annual general meeting in St. John's this weekend.

There will be elections for the position of secretary. Last April Sandy Hounsell was elected president but resigned in mid July after finding himself at odds with other members of the board on how to run the organization.

Hounsell took over the leadership after longtime president Denise Pike stepped down to seek the Liberal nomination in Bellevue district. She was defeated and is now working as an adviser to interim Liberal Party leader Yvonne Jones.

The executive appointed Ruby Hoskins to finish out Hounsell's term.

The NLFSC has been recognized by the Department of Education, the NLTA and various other stakeholders as the voice of parents in education, for this province.

I am looking forward to taking part in the discussions over the weekend. While it may not be on the agenda, this issue of fire safety inspections in schools is sure to be a hot issue with the membership. If the calls to the Virginia Park Elementary School from concerned parents are any barometer of how this issue has registered with the public, the government had better rethink its approach to having the Fire Commissioner embark on a province wide inspection.

MUSING ABOUT THE POST DANNY ERA

Will Danny Williams seek a third term in office? Many people probably hope he does but change is inevitable. Will the next leader of the Progressive Conservative Party come from within or outside the caucus?

If a leadership were called my money is on a race between newly minted Justice Minister Jerome Kennedy and Education Minister Joan Burke. I would not be surprised to see Environment and Conservation Minister Charlene Johnson in the mix positioning herself for the future. Of course backbencher Elizabeth Marshall would be a good choice.

Interesting that my list includes three women. Perhaps the province's next Premier will be a woman.

Any one else have any suggestions?

Ps. I stand corrected.

FOREIGN POLICY'S TOP INTELLECTUALS

I love lists, with the exception of the work around the house list that Kristine put together last week. One of my favorite series of books growing up was the Book Of Lists. It was the pioneer of the People's Almanacs and of course the wildly successful Bathroom Institute books.

So imagine my delight when Foreign Policy published a list of the top 100 intellectuals and their biographies. A cool list and lots of good reading. A couple of Canadians make the list: Charles Taylor - Philosopher; Steven Pinker - Linguist; and Michael Ignatieff - Human rights theorist, politician.

Some of my favourite authors are there including Noam Chomsky, Pope Benedict XVI, Al Gore, Umberto Eco, Thomas Friedman, Christopher Hitchens, Paul Krugman and Robert Putnam.

One person who is missing from the list is Naomi Klien. Perhaps it is age discrimination! I am disappointed!

FAR CRY FROM A COKE WITH A MOVIE VAMPIRE SLAYER

The flight services station in Stephenville was a great place to meet movie stars, the corporate elite and politicians. Private jets would touch down and while they were refueling the pilots and the occupants would come in for a grub job and a drink. I met some pretty interesting people in the late 1990's.

One person I met was Hollywood movie star Wesley Snipes. He seemed like a nice enough fella. Well today Snipes was ordered to do hard time for his conviction on income tax evasion. Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday for failing to file tax returns. No doubt they are trying to make an example of him.

His attorneys recommended he be given home detention and ordered to make public service announcements because his three convictions were all misdemeanors and the actor had no previous criminal record.

Snipes surprised the court before Hodges handed down the sentence by offering the government three checks totaling $5 million in unpaid taxes over several years, money the government first denied but then accepted. Prosecutors called it "grandstanding" to avoid jail time, and a mere down payment on the actor's still-undetermined multimillion dollar tax bill.

Snipes was the highest-profile criminal tax target in years, and prosecutors called for a heavy sentence to deter others from trying to obstruct the IRS. The government alleged Snipes made at least $13.8 million for the years in question and owed $2.7 million in back taxes.

WHAT'S NEXT AS COMPUTERS EVOLVE

The amount of any computing resource you can buy for one inflation-adjusted dollar doubles about every 24 months. - Moore's Law

It is amazing how quickly technology and society change. I recently acquired an older G-3 power mac. It looks kinda funky and I plan to let Aidan have it for his room, once I find a decent video card that will allow him to use the monitor for watching movies. I started reflecting on how much technology has changed around me over the past couple of years, and on what computers will look like in five or ten years. What will video games look like?

I found a great article by Charlie Martin on Pajamas Media that explores the question of What will your computer be able to do next?

ANOTHER MORAL DILEMMA

The cast of Seinfeld, Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer, have a layover in a small New England town.

They witness a robbery in broad daylight. The robber has his hand in his pocket, and the victim shouts that the man has a gun. As soon as the robber runs away, a policeman appears on the scene; but instead of pursuing the robber, he arrests Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer for having violated the new "Good Samaritan" law of the town.

Since the four of them spent the time of the robbery making fun of the victim, who was fat, their role in the matter doesn't look good, and at their trial everyone who has ever felt wronged by them in the course of the television series testifies against them. They are convicted.

Is this just? What were they supposed to do during the robbery? Should they have rushed the robber, just in case he didn't really have a gun?

SAVE XP

So you're an XP user and all the horror stories about Vista have made you nervous about making the upgrade. I cannot say that I blame you. That said I have been running Vista on a machine for a year now with no hassles.

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer says the company may reconsider its decision to stop selling it soon. XP was to be yanked off shelves on June 30th because Vista is being sold with most new platforms.

Microsoft is scheduled to release a new version of windows in 2010.

HARPER NEEDS TO ACT RESPONSIBLY

I wonder if Brian Mulroney provided any legal advice to the Conservatives when they formulated the "In and Out" scheme in the last election. The Conservatives continue to spin the issue as creative accounting, a misunderstanding of the rules and regulations, or a slight difference in interpretation between the Conservatives and the gatekeepers of Canadian Democracy, Elections Canada.

I have to admit that I am shocked by all these Conservative apologist blogs where commentators keep saying remember Ad Scam, this is only a million dollars. Yes boy sure, wrong is wrong. As sure as Paul Martin cleaned up and called an inquiry, it is time that Prime Minister Stephen Harper called in the RCMP to investigate whether certain aspects of the alleged "in-and-out" election spending scheme may have violated the Criminal Code.

Harper continues to insist his party followed the law in the last federal election and nothing has been proven in court, but it is the court of public opinion that must be satisfied. Allegations of "false and misleading" statements in filing financial returns are nothing to sneeze at.

Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc called on Harper to suspend all political officials alleged to be connected to the alleged spending scheme, including Transportation Minister Lawrence Cannon, Harper's deputy chief of staff, and a senior policy adviser to Government House Leader Peter Van Loan until an investigation is completed.

I suppose it is not fair to taint Mulroney with this fiasco. There do appear to be receipts and the bills were not paid with cash.

MONKEY BUSINESS

Perhaps that's the fault of democracy, an electoral system that picks candidates on a single day, and then gives them years to ply their particular trade, with no opportunity to fire their sorry butts.

The Evening Telegram's editorial today looks at the "In and Out" scandal and the Conservative spin.

OK, this must all be a little hard to explain. While last week the federal Conservatives were trying to cast a raid by Elections Canada on their office as revenge for a court action initiated by the Tories, it now appears that we're looking at a much more serious problem.

And that, as part of their campaign to clean up government, the Tories may have been using a curious little fiddle to have the taxpayer pick up the tab for more than $1 million in improper advertising.

Read the rest here.

CUPE SIGNS ON THE DOTTED LINE

It looks like there will not be a repeat of the 2004 civil service strife. The Government and CUPE have agreed to a tentative deal.

Media reports on my car ride home from work say the membership will vote on an eight per cent increase in the first year of the contract, and four per cent increases for each subsequent year of the four-year deal.

Let me do the math, that is a 20% raise over four years. Not too shabby at all.

CUPE represents 4,200 public sector workers in Newfoundland and Labrador at health boards, school boards, libraries, public housing and at Government House.

FACING A SUDDEN STOP

I feel like the fella sitting on the corner pronouncing "repent, the end is near, repent, the end is near". The Bank of Canada has released its monetary policy report and it predicts economic growth to grind to a near halt in the second quarter of the year due to the U.S. slowdown and the global credit crunch.

Governor Mark Carney said in Ottawa that strong domestic demand is offsetting some of the fallout from the U.S. situation and the credit slowdown.

"Consumer confidence is quite strong at present," Carney said during a press conference, but he added it is reasonable to expect some softening of that confidence among Canadian consumers and businesses.

Carney said Canada has so far dodged the runaway price inflation on food and other items experienced in other countries. Canada has dodged the trend toward higher prices because of the reduction in the GST brought in by the federal government in the fall and the lower prices on goods imported from the United States resulting from the rise in value of the loonie.

Two days ago the bank cut a key interest rate by one-half of a percentage point to three per cent, in a move to give the Canadian economy a shot in the arm.

For more detail check here and here.

GAS PRICES SOAR

"It is anticipated that fuel-pricing adjustments in Newfoundland and Labrador will continue to be significantly influenced by global commodity market activity with appropriate adjustments for local factors to ensure an adequate supply to the provincial fuel network," - PPO

I prepared myself for a 3 cent per litre rise in gas prices. but a jump of 5 cents seems so drastic. The Petroleum Pricing Office approved the second five-cent increase in a week this morning.

My handy Ultramar gas bar on Logy Bay road had revised the sign to show $1.328 for a litre of self-serve unleaded gas. That is 16 cents higher than in April of last year.

Some prices dropped. The cost of furnace oil dropped by 2.27 cents per litre and stove oil by 0.12 cents per litre.

Truckers saw the cost of diesel drop by 2.3 cents per litre.

Jeff Rubin, chief strategist and chief economist at CIBC, says the price of gas will surge to $1.40 this summer and to over $2.25 by 2012 as oil supplies continue to deplete.

All I can say is someone is taking another huge chomp out of my personal income. Statistics Canada estimates 55 per cent of Canadians travel on average about 60 minutes round trip to work by car.

READ MY LIPS: THE PROTOCOL IS NOT WORKING

Keeping Fire Commissioner Fred Hollett gagged seems to have been an attempt to underscore the gravity of a potential health and safety issue impacting many of the province's public buildings, from health care clinics to schools.

Last year I came face to face with concerns about fire safety in schools when the Virginia Park School Council received a consultant's report pointing out that the school was seriously deficient and not up to any modern code. Alarms were raised about fire doors, fire alarms, lack of sprinklers, wiring issues and of course mat