Stuart Hunter
Province

B.C.’s business community has given a thumbs-up to the B.C. government’s plan to harmonize the provincial sales and GST effective July 1, 2010.

But some business groups say the devil could be in the details.

Premier Gordon Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen said in Vancouver Thursday that the new blended 12-per-cent Harmonized Sales Tax will be the lowest in Canada, promoting productivity and economic growth and creating jobs.

“This is an essential step to make our businesses more competitive, encourage billions of dollars in new investment, lower costs on productivity and reduce administrative costs to B.C. taxpayers and businesses,” Campbell said in a news release.

“Most importantly, this will create jobs and generate long-term economic growth that will in turn generate more revenue to sustain and improve crucial public services.”

By fusing the seven-per-cent B.C. provincial sales tax with the five-per-cent federal Goods and Services Tax, B.C. will have a 12-per-cent HST, removing more than $2 billion in costs for businesses.

Hansen called the PST “outdated, inefficient and costly” and, in some cases, a hidden tax.

Ottawa will administer the tax, saving Victoria an estimated $30 million annually.

Business Council of B.C. economist Jock Finlayson said the timing was right for the HST, given Ontario‘s proposal to implement a single value-added tax at 13 per cent July 1, 2010.

“It is a move that is going to be strongly endorsed by many in the business community,” Finlayson said. “Compliance costs will be reduced, which will make life easier for most businesses. It’s also good for Canada because the Canadian economic union will function better.”

Helmut Pastrick, chief economist with Central 1 Credit Union, was cautiously optimistic, saying many details have yet to be resolved. “In general it is a positive move,” he said. “It reduces the tax burden on businesses, which in turn promotes investment and expansion.”

Asked if the HST will help B.C. out of the economic downturn faster, Pastrick said: “That is largely dependent on other forces. In the medium and long term — yes.”

Brian Bonney, director of provincial affairs with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, was somewhat surprised by the announcement but welcomed it.

“Overall, small businesses in B.C. will be happy,” Bonney said. “The negative side is

. . . this announcement has come out of the blue. We just went through an election and there was no mention of this.”

Government should sit down with business to work out what the HST means for the restaurant industry, drugs and medicines, and border towns, Bonney said.

NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston said the HST will result in families and seniors paying more for items such as vet bills, hydro bills and hair cuts in trying financial times.

– – –

Savings by Sector

Harmonized Sales Tax will deliver B.C. businesses an estimated $2 billion in savings, Victoria says.

– Construction saves $880 million

– Manufacturing saves $140 million

– Transportation saves $210 million

– Forestry saves $140 million

– Mining, energy saves $80 million

– Business compliance costs will be cut by $150 million

– The HST will give consumers point-of-sale rebates on products such as gasoline and diesel, books, children’s clothes and car seats, diapers and feminine-hygiene products.

© Copyright (c) The Province

Province to get $1.6 billion in transition funds

Vaughn Palmer
Sun

When the B.C. Liberals were asked during the recent election campaign if they had any plans to combine the provincial sales tax with its federal goods-and-services counterpart, they responded with an artful denial.

“A harmonized goods and services tax is not something that is contemplated in the B.C. Liberal election platform,” was the governing party’s identically worded reply to both the Greater Vancouver Homebuilders’ Association and the Restaurant and Food Services Association.

Note how they stopped well short of read-our-lips opposition to a harmonized GST.

The Liberals weren’t saying it was the furthest thing from their minds. Only that they hadn’t mentioned the possibility one way or another in their election platform.

The ruse worked until election day. But as soon as the campaign was over, provincial officials began talking harmonization with their federal counterparts, resulting in the deal announced Thursday.

B.C. will move to a 12-per-cent sales tax effective next July, combining the seven-per-cent provincial sales tax (PST) with the five-per-cent federal goods and services tax (GST). The HST, they’re calling it and some observers will wonder if the first letter stands for “higher” as opposed to “harmonized.”

Critics were quick to point out the downside of the move, with arguments the Liberals themselves had made until recently. The combination will better than double the tax bite on a lengthy list of currently PST-exempt goods and services, from restaurant meals to haircuts to (is nothing sacred?) newspapers.

Overall it means higher up-front prices for consumers, tourists, homeowners and pretty much everyone in B.C. If not from cradle (diapers would be subject to a seven-per-cent rebate) at least to grave (funeral services lose their current PST exemption.)

Asked to account for the sudden reversal of position — less than three months ago the Liberals insisted they had “no plans to formally engage the federal government in discussions about potential harmonization” — Finance Minister Colin Hansen offered multiple rationalizations.

The province of Ontario had already announced the changeover. The federal government was offering financial inducements for provinces to climb aboard the single-tax bandwagon. Ottawa insisted B.C. had to act now or there wouldn’t be time to incorporate all the necessary changes by next summer.

“B.C. cannot be left behind,” said Hansen. Other reputed benefits include reduced administrative costs for the two governments, less paperwork for business, and the better investment climate that ought to emerge from a more integrated national tax system, and so on.

But those advantages have long been pitched by advocates of sales tax harmonization, only to be dismissed outright by a succession of B.C. Liberal ministers. Former finance minister Carole Taylor: “Not on my watch.” Former revenue minister Rick Thorpe: “Not on our agenda.”

What’s changed (other than the retirement of Taylor and Thorpe) is the B.C. Liberal government’s own room to move on fiscal matters.

So long as the government was balancing its budgets, B.C. could afford to go its own way on tax policy.

Slumping revenues, combined with rising spending pressures, means that the province could no longer turn up its nose when the feds dangled a financial inducement for sought-after policy changes.

In recognition of the benefits to the Canadian economy of an emerging national sales tax regimen, Ottawa established a formula to provide transition money to provinces that agreed to harmonize. In B.C.’s case, it works out to $1.6 billion, which the province will be free to spend any way that it sees fit.

Just the thing for a government that was recently forced to admit it can’t possibly hit a promised $495-million deficit target amid demands for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of additional spending on health care and other programs.

“It will help with our fiscal challenges,” Premier Gordon Campbell admitted. “We don’t have to take it all at once,” added an obviously relieved Hansen.

Both insisted that the province won’t realize any additional revenues from its share of the combined tax. Any new revenues will be offset by credits, exemptions and other changes to ensure no net increase in overall provincial sales taxes.

Individuals won’t be hit as hard as they might think either, they argued. A share of current sales taxes is hidden in prices. The harmonized tax has the singular advantage of putting everything up front.

Still, Hansen concedes he is facing a “hard sell” in persuading British Columbians to accept a hefty jump in an already unpopular tax with no obvious payback to the consumer. “There will be a lot of people taking pot shots at this,” he forecast.

Perhaps that is why the minister and the premier held off saying precisely how they would make use of that $1.6 billion transition money. Maybe to maintain programs. Maybe to reduce the deficit.

Or they might take the lead from the Ontario government, which has been using the transition money to cushion the financial blow for consumers and provide direct cash rebates of up to $1,000 to provincial taxpayers.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Third station to become Global TV network affiliate as advertising revenue falls

Jamie Sturgeon
Sun

Canwest Global Communications Corp. said Wednesday it will close two of its over-the-air television stations, including CHEK-TV in Victoria, as it moves to cut costs to cope with falling advertising revenue in the recession.

A third station, CHBC-TV of Kelowna, will be rebranded as an affiliate of the main Global TV network.

Saying it had no other “viable options,” the Winnipeg-based media company said it will close CHEK — cable Channel 6 in Metro Vancouver — and CHCA-TV in Red Deer, Alta., by the end of August.

Peter Viner, president of Canwest Broadcasting, said the decision followed an exhaustive review of the five stations that comprise the company’s secondary network, begun in February. Last month, Canwest agreed to sell two stations in Montreal and Hamilton for an undisclosed sum to specialty TV operator Channel Zero Inc.

“I’m pleased to say … we have been able to find creative solutions for three of the five stations, which will sustain more than three-quarters of the jobs impacted by the review,” Viner said in a statement.

The recession has exacerbated a longer-run trend for conventional TV broadcasters that has seen advertising revenue flow away to specialty channels, cable and satellite operators as well as online sources.

In a landmark decision last month, Canadian regulators said digital TV operators such as Rogers Communications that carry the signals of broadcasters like Global and CTV must begin preparations on compensation proposals as part of Ottawa’s plan to protect locally produced over-the-air content made by smaller-market TV stations.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Mayor Robertson’s homeless shelters are an ill-considered failure that has left a neighbourhood in chaos

Lin Sheffield
Sun

Homelessness is a significant problem in Metro Vancouver. Residents have a moral obligation to assist vulnerable and less-fortunate individuals in a manner of their choosing.

But to provide a long-term, sustainable solution to homelessness, there needs to be a comprehensive, well thought-out plan looking after all those involved.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s bold social experiment to open two no-barrier shelters in False Creek North is a prime example of how not to approach the homeless problem. Not only did the mayor fail to inform residents that the shelters were opening, but he situated the shelters within metres of a pre-school, daycare and seniors’ residence with little regard for the consequences.

In months, the shelters transformed the once peaceful neighbourhood into chaos. Instead of these “no-barrier” shelters bringing in homeless people with shopping carts and pets not allowed in conventional shelters, the facilities have become a magnet for drug dealers, prostitutes and petty criminals.

False Creek North residents routinely witness people using and dealing illegal drugs (crack-cocaine and heroin) and carrying weapons. Residents have been intimidated, threatened and assaulted. We’ve seen prostitution, public sex acts, malicious vandalism, theft, and our properties used as dumping grounds for used syringes, condoms and human excrement requiring that the shelter alley be hosed down nightly.

In 12 years of living in False Creek North, I have never seen such disturbing sights. Residents no longer feel safe in their own neighbourhood.

For four months, residents and business owners have contacted civic politicians and sent photos of illegal and immoral activities in the neighbourhood, imploring mayor and city council to address our concerns. Council has ignored residents’ concerns, dismissing them with offhand statements such as: “we haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary”. . . “all kids litter, we need to teach them”. . . “crime is down” . . . and “surprising to hear very few complaints until now.”

When the media carried photos of a tattooed thug carrying an axe, Councillor Kerry Jang responded “a lot of these guys are carvers, so they have their tools.” Residents were routinely dismissed as “irresponsible” for airing their concerns about safety and security in their own neighbourhood.

Mark Smith with RainCity Housing, which runs the shelters, has publicly stated that residents’ “concerns are legitimate, there are far too many people housed together and we cannot control the outside element”.

The city’s recent attempts to crack down on troublemakers outside the shelters had little substance or effect; problems continue. Within hours of Robertson’s press conference proclaiming his new steps taken to further “raise barriers,” a shelter client threatened to stab my neighbour with a syringe, and was subsequently arrested and charged. The suspect returned to the shelter the next day.

Sadly, False Creek North residents now face new fury from shelter supporters for wanting the remaining “magnet for mayhem” closed. As recently as Sunday, on his way to City Hall, a resident was followed, taunted and threatened. Police are looking for two suspects.

Even though these shelters are a city initiative, Housing Minister Rich Coleman was forced to step in on June 29 to withdraw funding and close one of the two problematic no-barrier shelters imposed upon this primarily residential community. Coleman also directed the City of Vancouver to engage in “immediate community consultation” on the remaining shelter.

After failing to attend a community-organized townhall forum on this issue June 11 and ignoring residents’ legitimate concerns for seven months, Robertson gave 10 area residents a few days notice to attend a closed-door meeting on July 19. No public forum is planned.

The city posted an online survey inviting people to give input on the shelters in False Creek North and the homeless problem in Vancouver. The city’s survey postcards feature an admitted generic stock photo of a gentle-looking homeless man and his dog; hardly representative of visitors attracted to the Howe St. shelter.

The fundamental flaw with this online survey is that anyone can fill it out by entering a Vancouver postal code. It can easily be manipulated by special interest groups that could stack the results. False Creek North residents fear it will be little more than a public relations ploy by the mayor to justify his ill-conceived decision to open these shelters.

During the last civic election, Vision Vancouver campaigned on a promise to “increase accountability, transparency . . . with new opportunities for engagement, and improved consultation on major issues.” When opening the two no-barrier shelters, city council bypassed normal requirements for permits and bylaws. Residents were not consulted on the shelters. And contrary to verbal and written reports from the city stating otherwise, the City Hall withheld notification of the existence of the HEAT shelters from all area residents.

Robertson insists on keeping the remaining shelter open “year-round.” Is it any wonder this community has lost all confidence in the mayor to manage or control a problem that he alone created?

Many homeless people in Vancouver have drug, alcohol and mental problems. Addressing homelessness requires a comprehensive solution that involves not just shelter but treatment as well.

At the same time, when opening shelters, the city has an obligation to ensure the safety and security of residents is protected.

Lin Sheffield is a resident of False Creek North and a member of Concerned Citizens of False Creek North.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Our use of wood is good and world will know about it

John Bermingham
Province

B.C. wood is good, and the province’s forests minister plans to tell the world all about it.

Pat Bell said green-building features at Olympic venues, nine of which were honoured in Vancouver yesterday, will showcase the potential of B.C. wood for commercial buildings worldwide.

“The world’s decision-makers are going to be in Vancouver,” Bell said.

“I think if there’s going to be a story told through the games, it’s going to be the use of wood products in all of the various buildings.”

Housing construction has a boom-bust cycle, but commercial building is more resilient, he said.

“We’re competing with concrete and steel,” added Bell.

“In a new, low-carbon economy, where people are looking at building larger group buildings in a green way, reducing their carbon footprint, utilizing wood makes all the sense in the world, and has a great story to tell.”

The Globe Foundation and World Green Building Council presented green-building awards to architects who have helped make the 2010 games the greenest Olympics ever.

Dan Doyle, who headed venue construction for the Vancouver Olympic Games Organizing Committee, said organizers kept their promise to build sustainably.

“We did everything we could possibly do to make sure we had the greenest venues,” he said, after receiving the award for VANOC. “We are going to be leaving a green building legacy, and some very beautiful buildings.”

Award-winner Ron Beaton, lead architect for construction at the Vancouver Convention Centre expansion, said its “living roof” was created to extend a folded landscape up from Stanley Park.

“The roof will change over years and seasons,” Beaton said. “It will change colour. It will change species.”

The roof uses treated blackwater from toilets. After the games, the walkway outside will add 90,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. “There will be restaurants, a bike-rental place, an ice-cream parlour,” Beaton said.

Bob Johnston, lead architect in the Richmond Oval project, said the facility’s huge ceiling was built from salvaged mountain-pine-beetle wood by nailing together two-by-fours. “These wood-wave panels

. . . have gaps in them and allow sound to go into the voids between the wood-framing members, that makes the building acoustically very, very good,” Johnston said.

© Copyright (c) The Province

 

Birthplace of Vancouver lauded for its ‘splendid examples of Victorian and Edwardian commercial architecture’ dating from 1886

Gerry Bellett
Sun

Vancouver‘s historic Gastown district has been designated a national historic site by federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice.

Prentice, also the minister responsible for Parks Canada, bestowed the designation Tuesday following a recommendation from the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

“The designation of Vancouver‘s Gastown recognizes the role of this special place in shaping the economy and development of Western Canada,” said Prentice.

He said the area of business and commercial buildings constructed in Gastown between 1886 and 1914 represents an early Western Canadian city core and the growth of the Western Canadian economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“The remarkable collection of architecturally significant buildings is an exceptional and early example of an urban historic district,” said Prentice.

International Trade Minister Stockwell Day said the buildings in Gastown were “handsome, strikingly harmonious in their materials, scale and architectural detailing — collectively splendid examples of Victorian and Edwardian commercial architecture.”

“I am delighted to know that through this designation, future generations will have the opportunity to enjoy them as part of Vancouver‘s urban landscape and as an integral part of the city’s vibrant tourism industry,” Day said.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said Gastown was the birthplace of Vancouver.

“Our citizens have been instrumental in ensuring that it could be preserved for future generations to enjoy. It is gratifying to see that all of the work put into revitalization and preservation measures is now being recognized nationally with this designation,” Robertson said.

There are more than 900 National Historic Sites in Canada, including more than 90 in B.C.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Users can share information about outdoor adventures on land, water and snow through a Canadian-made application by Trailpeak.com

Gillian Shaw
Sun

Now you don’t have to go any farther than your iPhone to find a hiking trail in your area with the launch of a new application for the popular Apple phone by Trailpeak.com.

The Ottawa-based company, which traces its roots to the mountains around Vancouver where founder Kurt Turchan came up with the idea of a community of online users sharing their hidden hiking gems, is offering its application through Apple’s app store.

The application taps into more than 10,000 trails, with reviews by users and turn-by-turn directions to help hikers locate them.

“We have become Canada‘s largest trails website and it all started in Vancouver,” said Turchan, who moved to Ottawa in 2005, four years after he started the website.

It’s social media meets mobile in a trend that is seeing an explosion of services aimed at taking advantage of global positioning systems (GPS) in mobile devices to deliver information targeted to the user’s location.

“We think we are really hitting the nail here, we have such rich content on Trailpeak.com and now we are allowing people to get content on their iPhone, which is very cool,” Turchan said.

While your iPhone can already tell you where the nearest Starbucks is or rate the quality of the restaurant you’re strolling by, Turchan said this is the first app that offers up Canadian hikes.

“It is a fairly simple app right now, but it’s exciting because we are the first ones to do it,” he said. “With your iPhone, you can do a simple search, browsing all trails, or you can click to find trails near you.

“It will bring up a Google map and show with push pins the trails closest to your present location.”

The application free for downloading with Trailpeak getting feedback from users for future improvements.

“The feedback we hear from users is that they love Trailpeak.com and they are really looking for this mobile app,” Turchan said. “We wanted to get it out there and it will be continuously improving and evolving.”

With the mapping and GPS technology changing constantly, it’s a non-stop job to keep up. Currently the Trailpeak iPhone application goes to Google maps to generate its mobile trail offerings. Apple’s recent announcement of the new compass function with mapping in its new iPhone 3G S means Trailpeak will switch to the native iPhone maps, a process that will be seamless for users but should speed up the map delivery.

I inadvertently became a tester of the Trailpeak application when it failed to show any trails near me. The company has testers across the country and apparently I was the first to uncover a glitch that left the app unable to connect the list of nearby hikes with my location.

Once corrected, the application plastered the page with colour-coded push pins, from nearby Vancouver beach trails to more adventuresome treks in the mountains of the North Shore.

The mobile app is an adjunct to the successful Trailpeak.com, where 100,000 to 150,000 people a month peruse and share information about their outdoor adventures. While hiking is a popular focus, the site also caters to water sports from kayaking to canoeing and surfing, to mountain biking climbing, snowshoeing and cross-country and back-country skiing. Its reach has extended across the border to the United States where users get details of adventures from San Juan sea-kayaking to back-country skiing at Mount Baker.

“It really is a social media site,” Turchan said. “The idea is, it is run on karma points. If you don’t see a trail you know about, then you add it.”

Users can also upload GPS waypoints from their hikes to provide the equivalent of a GPS bread-crumb trail for other users. Under the karma system, every time a user uploads a GPS trail, he or she gets credit to download three.

The site also has a $25-a-year premium membership but Turchan said it differs only in adding some GPS downloads without the karma exchange and a few other perks.

– – –

Trailpeak’s on the phone

Following the success of his website trailpeak.com, Ottawa-based Kurt Turchan came up with an iPhone application that lets outdoor enthusiasts share their favourite hikes and paddles with others while harnessing the mapping and global positioning powers of Apple’s iPhone.

Users click on red push pin icons to get details about the routes.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Roberto Rocha
Sun

Zip.ca, the mail-order DVD rental service, will go digital by the holidays, letting Canadians watch movies and TV shows on their computers or on special Internet-connected televisions.

The Ottawa-based service will allow customers to buy movies in digital format or watch them once by “streaming” them to a device.

This will make Zip.ca the third provider of downloadable videos in Canada, after Apple’s iTunes video store and Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace Video Store. Bell Canada had an online video store, but it is being shut down.

A spokesperson for Bell said it will focus instead on a website with extra features for its TV subscribers.

Zip.ca CEO Curt Millar said the service should be up for the holiday season.

“Our goal is to give as wide a selection as possible to our members at a nice price point,” he said. What the price will be was not disclosed, but the online service will start as pay-as-you go and evolve to a subscription model.

Zip.ca is the Canadian equivalent of Netflix. Members pick movies they want to watch on a website and the service lends out the DVDs over mail.

In the U.S., Netflix also allows members to watch online movies on a TV set, but it requires a set-top box. Zip.ca is negotiating with electronics companies to allow videos to stream directly to TVs and DVD players.

This will require special Internet-connected televisions equipped with software called CinemaNow. Such TVs do not yet exist in Canada.

“Over the next months, as new TVs are rolled out, we hope they will have this technology,” Millar said.

Given the number of Canadians who watch movies online — legally, that is — this is a risky venture, said Brahm Eiley, president of research firm Convergence Consulting.

“It’s a tiny market here,” he said. “The numbers hardly register.”

While in the U.S., video downloads claim two per cent of the rental market, in Canada it’s less than one per cent, he said. Mail order DVDs, self-service DVD kiosks and downloads represent two per cent of the rental market.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Kim Davis
Sun

Now that you have your organic beverages and barbecue fare all lined for your Canada Day gathering, one niggling issue needs addressing: paper, plastic or papyrus?

While the last may seem a little farfetched, a trip to your neighbourhood grocery store, let alone an eco-oriented mega destination like Whole Foods, will demonstrate that there is no shortage of disposable party paraphernalia catering to the conscientious consumer.

From paper plates made with recycled-content to a growing array of cleverly conceived alternates, including edible tableware, finding a platter that best accommodates your palate is becoming increasingly easier.

Now while there is something rather eco-disconcerting about the garbage created in using toss-away dinnerware, sometimes the BYOD system (bring your own dishware) or funky thrift store finds just aren’t suitable.

When they aren’t, consider the following appetizer-sized review of plates (with a nod to other utensils) before dishing up your next do.

PAPERED PAST

Like the potluck dishes that we pile on them, and endeavour to finish before they begin to warp and sag, paper plates have long been a staple for gatherings large and small, informal and elaborate.

PROS: Light, convenient and reasonably priced, these tree-based products come from a renewable resource and readily degrade under most conditions.

CONS: While paper platters now come in forest-friendly varieties, many of which also eschew the use of nasty and harsh chemicals, be aware that not all recycled-content versions are created equal.

Most of the recycled paper plates on the market today are made with post-industrial (think sawdust from logging operations), rather than the more desirable post-consumer (what we put out to the curb) paper waste.

What to look for: Avoid virgin materials, seek out products with at least 30-per-cent post-consumer content and keep a big tree in mind to remind you to use them sparingly.

PLASTIC GETAWAYS

Not even a vacation on an isolated, deserted island will spare you contact with the pervasive and disturbingly persistent creature known as the plastic polymer. Taking many shapes and forms, some more manageable (i.e. recyclable) than others, plastic is a favourite with those looking for something a bit sturdier, and immune to the moisture malaise that compromises paper plates.

PROS: Like their paper counterparts, disposable plastic dishes and cutlery are generally light, convenient and reasonably priced. Water friendly, plastic has the added benefit of multiple uses, as it can be (hand) washed and reused several or more times.

Recent evolutions, in the way of compostable, vegetable-based (corn, potato, sugarcane) options, are making the species even more attractive for unlike earlier generations, these new ones break down into carbon dioxide, water and biomass when properly discarded.

CONS: Most of the species are petroleum-based, possessing unnaturally long lives that endanger both humans and the environment during all stages of their development.

While compostable bioplastics are an improvement, those such as corn plastic give rise to whole host of other issues, such as the appropriation of food resources.

What to look for: While most plastic plates are pretty pesky, if you are determined to take some home, opt first for bio-based versions, most of which can be composted (commercially or in the backyard), or at least will eventually break down in a landfill.

If a vegetable variety is not a financial option (being slightly more expensive), or even available, choose a product that can be recycled readily in your curbside blue box. Sugarcane (or bagasse) based plates can be found at a variety of health food stores. At Whole Foods Market, 15 plates measuring 25 centimetres (10 inches) in diameter go for $4.69.

DISPOSABLE BEAUTY

‘Too pretty to throw away’ is how many people describe the growing number of disposable products made from such materials as bamboo or discarded palm leaves. While often sold and recommended for single use, their visual appeal often inspires people to keep them around for as long as possible.

PROS: A mix of the best qualities of paper and plastic — sturdy, reusable, readily biodegradable or compostable and sourced from renewable resources — plates made from materials like bamboo and pressed palm leaves are attractive both environmentally and esthetically.

CONS: More expensive, sometimes significantly so, than your average disposable paper or plastic plate.

What to look for: Whenever possible, choose products that indicate they were sustainably grown (i.e. no pesticides) and harvested, and used no chemicals in their production.

For those looking to support local, consider Earthen Disposable Dinnerware.

The company was started by Victoria-based Alex Casewa who came up with the idea as part of his sustainable development thesis project. You can buy Earthen’s innovative products at MarketPlace IGA stores, where 12 plates measuring 22 centimetres (9 inches) in diameter go for $6.99, or at earthentrading.ca on the Internet.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Gillian Shaw
Sun

Calling 911 from your cellphone will soon alert emergency responders to your location, under a new enhanced 911 service being implemented at Vancouver‘s regional emergency communications centre E-Comm.

Vancouver‘s centre will be the first in Canada to have the technology. The trial is going on now, with the service expected to be fully implemented here by November, ahead of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It will then be rolled out across the country.

The enhanced 911 service will take advantage of GPS (global positioning system) on GPS-enabled cellphones to zero in on a caller’s location.

Now, 911 centres in Canada can locate only the cell tower the call is transmitting from, information that could cover kilometres, making it difficult to pinpoint a location in the case of calls from people who can’t communicate that to the 911 operators.

E-Comm president Ken Shymanski said the search area could be narrowed to 10 to 300 metres.

“This will be of enormous benefit to the 911 personnel and first responders trying to help.”

Shawn Hall, spokesman for Telus, a partner in the initiative, said the move puts Canada in the forefront of enhanced 911 services.

“We are going to be bringing in the most advanced wireless location technology in the world,” he said. “It is advanced technology so there will be bugs to work out of the system and this trial is going to allow us to do that before we implement enhanced 911 across Canada.”

The 911 service will rely on a range of technology options every time a call comes in.

For callers with GPS-enabled phones, the service will be able to pinpoint their location as long as they are within range of GPS satellites.

In cases where the satellite signal is blocked or phones are not GPS-enabled, the system would use cell tower triangulation to narrow down a location.

The second system isn’t as accurate but is still better than the original and final resort — the single cell tower from which the call is transmitting.

“The system will automatically flip through all technologies and within a few seconds it should be able to pass that information along to the 911 operating centre,” said Hall.

Hall said privacy issues were part of the discussions ahead of the CRTC mandating the service.

“That was definitely a concern,” he said. “You have to weigh all of that but in the end when people are calling 911 they want help and they want it right now.”

Hall said the GPS locating service only kicks in when people call 911.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun