City of Calgary Wins Innovation Award

Out and About with Stewart

Heads down, paparazzi!

Wayne's World - Riding Time

June 1, 2016

                                    Wayne’s World – Riding Time

“We’re going to have to buy some tissue for constituents coming into the office.”

One week into opening our office in Cranbrook and my assistant was already experiencing how emotional some of the issues are that we deal with. I now have offices and staff across three time zones, and every day they work with me to provide service for our 107,589 (2011 census) constituents, many of who are dealing with difficult personal situations.

Kootenay-Columbia (K-C) is one of the largest ridings in Canada at 64,336 km sq with a driving time of just under six hours from corner to corner, quite a contrast to some urban ridings which you can drive across in 20 minutes! K-C incorporates three provincial ridings, Nelson-Creston (MLA Michelle Mungall), Columbia River-Revelstoke (MLA Norm Macdonald) and Kootenay East (MLA Bill Bennett). In a riding this size being “home” often means I am on the road.

While I am in Ottawa six months of the year, my four great staff in Cranbrook and Nelson are busy answering thousands of emails, hundreds of phone calls and meeting one-on-one with constituents. The most common topics raised relate to accessing and understanding federal government services like Employment Insurance, Immigration (including Syrian Refugees), Child Tax Credits, Canada Pension Plan and access to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. We do our best to help people individually while also working to improve how the federal government operates long term.

My staff help me to hear what issues are most important to you, so that I can give you a voice in Ottawa. So far I have heard most about the need to fight climate change, the desire for proportional representation voting, eliminating tax loopholes for the rich, stopping the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, the desire to have Canada-wide child care and pharmacare plans, better pensions for seniors, the need to have both a healthy economy and a healthy environment, reducing student debt, and concern over Canada’s growing budget deficits.

What do my staff in Ottawa and the riding like best about their jobs? “Working with constituents. Advocating for good public policy. Learning more about, and strengthening, our communities. Making a real difference for people on issues that matter to them. Helping people where I grew up. Building understanding about political and democratic processes and educating people on how to better participate in these processes. Advocating for National Parks. Working each day to help build a better Canada.” I am so fortunate to have great staff who truly care about helping people!!

Parliament takes a break from the end of June to mid-September so I look forward to connecting with many more of you in Kootenay-Columbia in the coming months. To find out when I’ll be in your neighborhood please go to http://waynestetski.ndp.ca or email us at wayne.stetski@parl.gc.ca . Have a great summer!

Future shock and its frightening implications

Future shock and its frightening implications

Perceptions by Gerry Warner

“The future ain’t what it used to be.”

So said the great philosopher and sage Yogi Berra many years ago and the great Yankee catcher said this long before the Internet, Goggle and Apple began changing the world in ways none of us could imagine. And as Yogi might have said, “it ain’t over until it’s over” and that’s what’s so frightening because it’s not over yet.

For instance, I have a son who recently became a doctor. What more could a retired father hope for as he begins the inevitable slide into his golden years? Except it may not be so golden thanks to robots, smart phones, and the latest “aps,” which threaten to make doctors redundant. No kidding!

Robots are already doing surgery at hospitals around the world and in many cases their computer-driven fingers (claws?) and silicon brains enable them to open up their patients and remove tumors and diseased organs with more precision than any surgeon. This ain’t the future. It’s now! And the implications for the medical profession are surely obvious.

There’s also something in the development stage called the Tricorder X, a portable, wireless device that will fit in the palm of your hand and analyze your health status utilizing numerous biological markers that previously had to be found through a personal examination by a physician and referral to a specialist, which could take weeks or even months. Not only will the device provide an accurate diagnosis, but it will tell you the pill or therapy you need while cutting out the middleman, which of course is a doctor. A $10 million prize is being offered for the first company to market this futuristic device and when it happens the medical profession will never be the same because patients will have the power to diagnose and heal themselves without the intervention of a doctor.

If technology is going to change medicine to this degree, what else is it going to do? Will electric cars eliminate the gasoline engine and put the big oil companies out of business? Don’t laugh! Remember Kodak? In 1998, the company employed more than 170,000 and had a virtual monopoly on the photography industry. Less than two years later as digital cameras came to the fore, Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection and its employees gathered around the company’s headquarters in Rochester and watched it being demolished while taking pictures of it with their digital cameras.

That’s how fast technology moves these days. Then there’s the advent of the driverless car, which are already on the road in California and likely to go into general production sooner than we think. And if their engines are powered by batteries instead of gas the “Big Three” automakers of the future will be Google, Apple and Tesla instead of General Motors, Ford and Toyota.

What about 3-D printers and their potential to eliminate the manufacturing industry as we’ve known it? It will soon be possible to custom make your own shoes with a 3-D printer as well as make almost any manufactured part you can name. There goes numerous more industries. What about solar power? It’s already the fastest growing energy industry in the world and what will that mean for traditional power-producing industries like oil, hydro and coal? How many jobs do you think there will be in the Elk Valley in 20 years? Not too many and what will this mean for Elkford, Sparwood and Cranbrook?

And have you thought about the impact that robots will have on the world? I’ve already mentioned medicine, but “bots” also have the potential to take over teaching and most of the service industries, and if you don’t believe me, robots are already checking people in at high-end hotels around the world and carrying luggage to their rooms.

Indeed, robots have the potential to eliminate almost all jobs in the future and then what will we do? Travel, contemplate our navels, write poetry, get high on medical marijuana or demand our right to die as we’ll soon be able to do in Canada?

I don’t know what you think about this, but I find the future a bit frightening.

Gerry Warner is a retired journalist, who does not look forward to the future. 

New Addition to local Trans Canada Trail

It is great to be able to walk this beautiful new section of the Trans Canada Trail off Pritchard Road.

What's Happening.....

Saturday June 4th

Plant Sale, Christ Church Anglican
46, 13th Ave S.
9 to noon

Be a Tourist in You Own Town
To see what is being offered

 http://cranbrooktourism.ca/beatourist/

East Kootenay Outdoor Club Hike

Columbia Lake 

Call Ruth & Barb 250-427-3761 

Why Scientists Are Amazed at Oilsands Smog Levels

Why Scientists Are Amazed at Oilsands Smog Levels

Air pollution report in Nature shocks even Canada's top researchers.

By Andrew Nikiforuk, 30 May 2016, TheTyee.ca

http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/05/30/Oilsands-Smog-Levels/

On any hot day Shell and Syncrude tour guides used to call the gasoline-like vapours that wafted from Fort McMurray's huge open-pit bitumen mines "the smell of money."

But a new study in Nature has another name for the stench: air pollution and megacity volumes of it.
In fact the tarsands, already the largest source of climate disrupting greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, have a new grim moniker: "one of the largest sources of anthropogenic secondary organic aerosols in North America."
Researchers define "secondary organic aerosols" or SOAs as gases and particles that interact with sunlight in complex ways and that are released by both the globe's plant matter as well as fossil-burning machines and industries.

That mining the oilsands would create smog isn't news to researchers -- but the kind of air pollution identified and the sheer magnitude of it is what startles, and concerns, the scientific community. 

Councillor Blissett Bikes to Work

Cranbrook City Councillor Norma Blissett is participating in bike to work week and rode her bicycle to last Monday night's  city Council meeting.

" I'm registered on two teams. When I ride to school I record the kilometres for the Mount Baker team and when I ride to City Council I record the kilometres for the city of Cranbrook team. " said  Councillor Blissett.

 " Riding my bike to work is just as fast as driving my car. Riding home is definitely slower though, all uphill, but I get there eventually ."

Stetski Tables Bill to Establish National Local Food Day

June 1, 2016 

STETSKI TABLES BILL TO ESTABLISH NATIONAL LOCAL FOOD DAY 

Cranbrook – Today Kootenay–Columbia MP Wayne Stetski introduced a Private Member’s Bill to establish National Local Food Day. The bill would designate the Friday before Thanksgiving of each year as National Local Food Day.

 

“The importance of local food is something that needs to be recognized and something that needs to be celebrated.”  said Stetski “In our region we have an amazing array of high quality locally produced food, from vegetables and fruit, to pasta and chocolate, to meat and organic milk. Our local farmers, manufactures and retailers are integral not only to our food security but to our local economies.”   

According to the Conference Board of Canada, 77% of Canadian consumers think locally produced food is important for their purchasing decisions. Farmers Markets contribute over $3 billion dollars annually to the Canadian economy. 

The introduction of Stetski’s bill has already found a lot of support in the Kootenays:  

“This is exciting news,” says Sophie Larsen, Project Coordinator of the Cranbrook Food Action Committee whose efforts include the successful Cranbrook Public Produce Garden located at Eric McKinnon Park. “We support any initiative, such as the creation of a National Local Food Day, which helps to build awareness about the importance of a healthy and sustainable local food supply in our community.”  

“The significance of a healthy local food system cannot be understated. Our markets have a large social impact locally and are an important local economic driver in our area” said Jesse Woodward, Markets and Events Director for the West Kootenay EcoSociety. “Locally grown and produced food is such an important part of building healthy communities. During the peak of the Nelson outdoor market season from June to September, we have 100+ vendors and thousands of patrons that utilize the markets every week.” 

“The Kootenay Co-op supports the development of a National Local Food Day to highlight the importance of locally produced food to our environment and local economies,” says Jon Steinman, the Co-op’s board president. “Through our True Local program, the Co-op supports more than 100 farmers and food producers in our region with payments of approximately $1.8 million annually. We see the local multiplier effect of that investment in our economy and we applaud any effort to help strengthen the connections between food producers and consumers.”

 

“There is a growing movement across the country that understands how much local food matters to communities, from farm to fork,” said Stetski. “Ensuring that Canadians have access to healthy, affordable food and sustainable food systems need to be national priorities. Supporting and celebrating local farmers, manufactures and retailers in every community across Canada is essential to achieving these goals.”

It is Bike to Work Week

https://www.biketowork.ca/

 

About BTWBC

Bike to Work BC is a registered non-profit society governed by a board of directors.

Vision:

“A future in which as many people as possible experience the joy of commuting by bicycle.”

Mission:

"By securing and sharing resources, Bike to Work BC helps communities throughout British Columbia deliver successful Bike to Work events."

We have a way to go before we look like some European countries but these photos from Amsterdam might inspire.