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Mayor hopes 2010 demonstration line will be a catalyst for a downtown network

Derrick Penner
Sun

VANCOUVER I Fifty years after the city’s original streetcar network was paved over, the city has unveiled plans for the 60-day demonstration of a new streetcar line for the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics with an $8.5-million price tag.

The service, dubbed the Olympic Line (with International Olympic Committee approval), will run on streetcar units borrowed from the Brussels Transport Co. and provided under a sponsorship arrangement with Canadian transportation giant Bombardier, which is also a major sponsor of the 2010 Olympics.

It will run 1.8 kilometres, linking Granville Island and the new Canada Line’s Olympic Village station on improved existing rail lines. In introducing the demonstration plan, Mayor Sam Sullivan said it will stand as an example of accessible, sustainable transportation.

Sullivan said he hopes the test will spur creation of the long-sought downtown streetcar network and serve as a legacy of the Olympics.

“This [demonstration] will get citizens excited about rail technology,” Sullivan said, “and we have plans that ultimately the streetcar will go to the convention centre, Stanley Park and the north side of False Creek.”

Sullivan said he has lobbied Ottawa for support of the streetcar on many occasions and has reminded Premier Gordon Campbell that Campbell himself started the push for new urban streetcars when he was Vancouver‘s mayor in the 1980s.

“It was kind of a fundraising pitch,” he quipped, suggesting that it would be wise for the provincial and federal governments to sign on to “help finish the job that you started.”

The streetcar system the city has proposed hasn’t been costed out in detail, Sullivan said, but at an estimated $100 million, Vancouver would be looking for co-funders at a time when regional transportation authorities have multi-billion-dollar transportation plans in front of them.

The Olympics have been a “wonderful catalyst” for transportation innovation, according to Doug Kelsey, CEO of the TransLink subsidiary B.C. Rapid Transit Co. Ltd., which operates SkyTrain. “SkyTrain, at Expo 86 was a demonstration project,” Kelsey said, “and look at it.”

He said a Vancouver streetcar line will “have to earn its right into the overall network of regional transportation system. But [the demonstration] is a great way to start the conversation.”

Kelsey said he doesn’t view the proposed streetcar as competition to TransLink’s priorities, which include building the Evergreen rapid transit line through the TriCities, extending SkyTrain and building a new rapid transit route to the University of B.C.

For 2010, however, Dale Bracewell, Vancouver‘s director of Olympic transportation, said the city will spend $8 million replacing 1.8 km of rail track and adding a section of passing track to allow for two-way service on the line as well as improving the overhead electrical service.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., which operates Granville Island, will put an additional $500,000 into the project.

Bracewell said the improved track will also serve the historical downtown streetcar that runs on weekends in tourist season.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

System would block calls from some, but not all, telemarketers

Sun

Telelisting 411 with DNCL – 3 days left before september 30, 2008

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The National Do Not Call List (DNCL) will go into effect across Canada on September 30, 2008. Heavy fines will be imposed if you call a number that is on the List. The new law burdens you with the responsibility to check any and all numbers you call against the List.

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OTTAWA — Canadians fed up with unsolicited telemarketers will be able to register Tuesday on a national do-not-call list established by Canada‘s telecommunications regulator and operated by Bell Canada.

Residents can register their home and cellphone numbers to block unwanted telemarketers by phone or online with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

The CRTC says calls will not stop immediately upon registration, as telemarketers have 31 days to update their own no-call lists.

Exceptions to the list include calls from charities, political parties, polling companies, newspapers selling subscriptions and organizations with which the consumer has an existing business relationship.

The CRTC first broached the subject of a national do-not-call list in 2004 to complement the current regulations requiring telemarketers to keep individual, company-specific lists.

The regulator set out rules for the list in July, 2007, and awarded Bell Canada a five-year contract to operate the list.

The telemarketing industry has been critical of the list, specifically the online registration. The concern is that hackers will be able to upload entire phone books to the list.

To register call 1-866-580-3625 or visit www.dncl.gc.ca. The CRTC said the website will be activated after midnight.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

CFIB bids to block ‘big cash grab’ by credit-card giants

Wendy Mclellan
Province

Canada‘s two major credit-card companies rejected claims made yesterday that adding debit card options to Visa and MasterCard offerings would lead to massive fee increases for merchants.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business launched a national campaign yesterday to lobby against allowing the two credit-card companies to add debit cards to their products, and to protest credit-card transaction-fee increases planned for next month.

Both Visa and MasterCard offer debit cards in the U.S. and in other countries worldwide, but in Canada, the debit-card system is managed by a not-for-profit national network and members pay a low, flat fee per transaction. The CFIB claims the credit-card companies will change the fee structure to a fee based on the value of each transaction, which is the way merchants are charged for credit-card transactions.

The organization, which represents independent businesses, says the change could cost merchants 10 times more for each debit-card transaction.

“This is basically a big cash grab and it will put more money in the pockets of Visa and MasterCard,” said Laura Jones, the CFIB’s western vice-president. “These are big, big increases in fees and it will ultimately lead to price increases for consumers.”

But a written statement from MasterCard Canada says the CFIB is jumping to conclusions.

“[The] statements are founded on rumour and speculation at best, or a complete lack of information at worst,” the statement said. “It is premature and irresponsible for anyone to incite fears that are unfounded.”

The statement from Visa Canada was slightly less critical: “Since Visa debit cards are not issued in Canada, interchange rates have not been set. Any speculation about debit interchange rates is both premature and inappropriate.”

The CFIB says the credit-card companies increased their transaction fees to merchants in June, and will increase them again on Oct. 1. Visa and MasterCard have also introduced different fees depending on the credit card, which means merchants have to pay more when customers use a corporate card or one of the specialty gold cards.

“It’s all being done without a lot of transparency,” Jones said.

“Most businesses are not going to reject credit cards — they don’t want to make things inconvenient for their customers. But these are big costs for small business owners and some of them will likely be passed on to the consumer.”

Vancouver retailer Dane Baspaly said his little shop can’t absorb many more costs for accepting credit cards, but asking customers to pay cash for their purchases would kill his business.

“I’m getting a little nervous,” said Baspaly, who owns a Main Street clothing store called Lark with his wife, Veronika. “I’ve had a letter about the transaction fee increases, but it’s not clearly worded. You can smell what’s coming down and it’s not good.”

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Gillian Shaw
Sun

The weather was still warm and inviting on a recent Friday night in Nanaimo as marina supervisor David Mailloux surveyed an expanse of still-vacant boat slips at the Nanaimo boat basin.

“People could still be arriving later,” he said, his hopeful tone belied by a slowdown that saw the port of Nanaimo and its adjacent Cameron Island Marina with vacancies during the summer high season — one that is customarily marked by crowded docks and at times boats rafted two deep to squeeze in.

“This is the first time I’ve seen it like this at this time of year,” said Mailloux, who added that while the marina was full enough to raft up boats on a few nights during the summer, that has not happened as much as in years past.

It was troubled waters up and down the coast this summer, with escalating fuel prices and a strong Canadian dollar erasing the discount that American boaters had long enjoyed. Unsettled weather didn’t help. Anchorages that are typically busier than the Lions Gate Bridge on a Friday night remained comfortably uncluttered much of the season, and marinas that are customarily booked weeks in advance often had space for latecomers on their docks.

As a favoured supply and service destination for boaters heading up and down Georgia Strait, Mailloux said Nanaimo was somewhat insulated from the slowdown. But business has still been down about 10 per cent.

“Definitely, this summer is different,” he said. “We did know there would be a drop off, and we expected that,” he said of the marina that sees 80 per cent of its summer traffic from the U.S. “We are often one of the sure stops, but we are still seeing a bit of a drop.”

Two of the overnight moorage docks at the marina have been converted to annual moorage to deal with the declining demand for visitor spots.

Mailloux said that while the higher price of fuel isn’t deterring the larger yachts that tie up at the Cameron dock just outside the inner boat basin, among the smaller vessels the marina is seeing more sailboats this year. And there is a new preference by mariners to stop for supplies but then anchor off to save moorage fees.

“It’s not usually like this at this time of year,” said Margaret Harvey, who sells seafood from the deck of the Iron Maiden, a 1944 fish boat that her husband Neil, who died five years ago, first moved to the Nanaimo boat basin in 1974. “People are worried. I don’t care who you are, people are worried about the economy. I think people are just being careful because everything is in a mess right now.

“May and June were the worst I have ever seen it here. It was dead.”

Harvey said her long-time customers who stop in en route to the north coast and Alaska have shortened their trips this summer.

“This year, they said they were only going as far as Campbell River,” she said. “They said they aren’t going further north because the fuel costs are too high.”

While the mega-yacht owners who see tens of thousands of dollars swallowed up in their fuel tanks may not be deterred by higher prices, the smaller boaters are.

At Egmont Marina, a popular last stop for boaters heading up Jervis Inlet to Princess Louisa Inlet along the Sechelt coast, one Seattle boater who used to sail to Alaska in the summer said he is staying closer to home after calculating it would take $8,000 in fuel to make the same trip in a newly acquired power boat. While Princess Louisa remains a hotspot for visitors, Ray Calhoun, who was serving customers at the Egmont Marina check-in said he has noticed a difference this year.

“I would say this year is definitely slower than last year,” he said. “Definitely the price of gas has affected business, and also with the Canadian dollar being closer to the American dollar, any perceived advantage is gone.

“I would say there are fewer boats and less activity overall.”

At Desolation Sound, a magnet for both American and Canadian boaters on B.C.’s coast, fuel sales took a dive at Refuge Cove on West Redonda Island.

“It was significantly down. I’d say we were about 70,000 litres down. We were down about a third of our fuel sales,” said Colin Robertson, who runs the Refuge Cove fuel dock and store with his partners. “Our fuel sales were definitely down. People weren’t travelling around as much, and they weren’t going the same kind of distances. They were throttling back.”

Gas prices at the dock reached a high of $1.69 a litre this summer, but have dropped back to $1.59 for both gas and diesel. Fuel prices are also affecting operating costs, with the business burning 13 litres of diesel an hour to generate power.

“All our power is generated. We are not on the grid,” Robertson said of the scenic island resort.

Despite the drop in fuel sales and customers reporting anchorages emptier than usual this summer, Robertson said there was still a lot of traffic.

“Overall, we were busy,” he said, adding that it is the smaller boats — those that can sit in driveways over the winter and are trailered up north for summer holidays — that have all but disappeared.

“The people who are missing, who I think would like to be here, are the smaller boaters,” he said. “I am just projecting that they are the ones who have less disposable income, but for an outfit like us they are kind of important.”

One sign of that has been a drop in block-ice sales, which have halved every year for the past few years, Robertson said. The smaller boats were ice customers, the larger, more luxurious cruisers have their own icemakers and freezers on board.

“I am hoping the low end of the market comes back,” said Robertson. “We are kind of down, but not out. We’re still optimistic.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

MDA project to help farmers, governments and traders better gather agricultural information

Brian Morton
Sun

RapidEye, a $170-million satellite project developed over five years by Richmond-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, is the newest constellation in space, and it’s expected to help farmers, municipal governments and commodity traders get a better handle on everything from crop conditions to weather patterns.

MDA launched RapidEye, an array of five satellites each weighing 150 kilograms, from Kazakhstan on Friday in a move that’s expected to position the company to take advantage of the emerging “smallsat” (high-performance/low-cost satellites) market.

“We’re using this to demonstrate to the world how advanced our smallsat capabilities are,” Wade Larson, MDA’s director of business development for the satellite division, said in an interview Monday. “We believe this will place us at the forefront of this emerging business model.”

Friday’s launch from a converted Russian-built Dnepr — a space-launch vehicle previously used to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles — will enable the German firm RapidEye AG to supply agricultural information to clients around the world. The technology will be used not only for things like monitoring crop conditions, weather and natural disasters, but also for disaster management and cartography.

“It takes images of the land like Google Earth, [but] it’s much broader,” Larson said of the project. “It covers four million square kilometres a day and can revisit any spot on the earth each day. It can be used for crop yield predictions and damage assessment.”

Larson said RapidEye picks up “signatures of organic material and compares what you’re getting from week to week.”

He also said RapidEye will be helpful for providing information in poorly mapped areas.

“In western China, they’re dealing with maps that are decades old. In Afghanistan, they’re often relying on maps the British produced over a hundred years ago.”

Larson said the cameras take 78-kilometre-wide swaths of high-resolution images.

He likened the technology to a “caravan of satellites” that are evenly spaced out around the earth along the same orbital plane. They’re 19 minutes apart and each satellite takes images of a different piece of land, he added.

MDA hired three main subcontractors to implement the satellite constellation portion of the project.

“Our information solution demonstrates that lower cost small satellite technology can now be deployed operationally to support business plans that would otherwise not be economically viable,” MDA president and CEO Daniel Friedmann said in a statement.

Larson said there are other remote sensing satellites in use, but that MDA’s is unique in that it uses five cameras that can revisit any location on the earth each day.

As well, he added, other satellite systems tend to produce either high-resolution images in a narrow swath, or low resolution images in a very wide swath. RapidEye, he said, produces high resolution in a wide swath.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Restaurant, construction company bosses justify $240-billion underground economy

Don Butler
Sun

OTTAWA — A limited amount of tax evasion by otherwise honest business owners is justifiable, say people who run companies in the construction and restaurant sectors.

Their views are reported in a $133,000 study done for the Canada Revenue Agency that examined why workers in those two sectors are among the most frequent participants in Canada‘s multi-billion-dollar underground economy.

The study, held in February by Sage Research, is based on 20 focus groups with 163 owners and managers of small- and medium-sized construction and restaurant, bar or catering businesses. It offers a window into a thriving, but mostly uncharted, segment of the economy.

Results of the study found participants don’t have a black-and-white view of those who conceal income to avoid paying taxes.

Someone who evades a large amount of tax “is generally seen as committing a crime and deserving to be punished,” the study says.

But for smaller evaders, “some degree of evading tax is quite often seen as justifiable,” it reports. “Depending on the circumstances, these ‘small’ tax evaders were not seen as being ‘bad’ people.”

Concealing income may be acceptable, participants said, if done to keep a basically legitimate, but struggling, business afloat.

Many also justified cheating because they think small business pays too much tax, government wastes the money it collects anyway and small business people deserve compensation for working long hours.

“I spend 150 hours every two weeks at work, I’m tired and sometimes I don’t get a day off,” said one participant quoted in the study. “I deserve some extra money.”

Many also sympathized with wait staff who don’t declare tip income, noting they’re not paid very well and need all their tips to earn a reasonable living.

Some participants described tax evasion as a “victimless crime,” while others called practices such as paying employees “off the books” or doing cash jobs for customers as a “win-win” for both parties.

Estimates of the size of the underground economy vary widely, but a 2005 study by Lindsay Tedds of the University of Victoria put it at 15.3 per cent of gross domestic product. That equates to about $240 billion.

“That is our absolute best guess estimate,” Tedds said in an interview. “And it really is a guess.” The number includes money earned through illegal activities, which the CRA doesn’t count in its definition of the underground economy.

Tedds said the problem has been ignored for far too long. “I just don’t think it has captured the policy focus at higher levels that it should.”

The issue is important because those in the underground economy aren’t paying their fair share of the tax burden, she said. As a result, “we’re paying higher taxes than we should be otherwise.”

According to the study, paying short-term workers off the books — with none of the requisite paperwork or deductions — is quite common. Completing the paperwork for workers who last only a few weeks is time-consuming and costly, participants said.

Some who apply for jobs in the restaurant sector prefer to be paid off the books, many said.

They include people receiving government benefits, newcomers who don’t have legal working status, people with student loans, divorced or separated people who face alimony or child support payments and those with regular jobs looking to earn extra money.

As well, the study says, labour shortages can leave employers feeling they have no choice but to hire a worker off the books.

Participants said some bars and restaurants use two cash registers — one in the public area, where all sales are recorded, and one in the back, where only some sales are recorded.

In construction, the underground economy thrives in the home renovation market. According to the focus groups, that’s driven by a preference for cash payment by homeowners, who assume they’ll save money.

“They’re just trying to get the best deal,” said Tedds. “They don’t view it as being an illegal activity.”

The study says some in the home renovation sector work almost entirely underground, especially shift workers such as firefighters, police officers and teachers, who do construction work during their time off.

While the risk of getting caught is also a consideration, few focus group participants knew of businesses in their sector being prosecuted for tax-related underground economy activity in recent years.

Catherine Jolicoeur, spokeswoman for the CRA, said the study will help the agency inform and educate businesses about the “risks and consequences” of participating in the underground economy and to refine its strategies for addressing the problem.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

LARGE HADRON COLLIDER: Critics say it could create black holes

Sun

A last-minute legal challenge has been launched against the world’s biggest and most expensive scientific experiment, amid claims that the research could bring about the end of the world.

Critics of the Large Hadron Collider — a machine due to be switched on in 10 days’ time — have lodged a lawsuit at the European Court for Human Rights against the 20 countries funding the project.

The device is designed to replicate the conditions that existed a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, and its creators hope it will unlock the secrets of how the universe began. However, opponents fear the machine, which will smash subatomic particles together at high speed and generate temperatures of more than a trillion degrees centigrade, might create a miniature black hole that could tear the earth apart.

The legal battle comes as the European Nuclear Research Centre (CERN), in Geneva, prepares to send the first beam of particles around the machine at the official opening, on Sept. 10, although it will be weeks before the first collision.

Opponents of the project had hoped to obtain an injunction from the court that would block the collider from being turned on at all, but the court rejected the application on Friday morning. However, the court will rule on allegations that the experiment violates the right to life under the European Convention of Human Rights.

Prof. Otto Rossler, a German chemist at the Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen, who is one of the most vocal opponents of the project and who was one of the scientists who submitted the complaint to the court, said: “CERN itself has admitted that mini-black holes could be created when the particles collide, but it doesn’t consider this a risk.

“My own calculations have shown that it is quite plausible that these little black holes survive and will grow exponentially and eat the planet from the inside.”

Prof. Rossler claims that, in the worst-case scenario, the earth could be sucked insideout within four years of a black hole forming. But a safety report published earlier this year by experts at CERN and reviewed by a group of external scientists said there was little theoretical chance of the collider producing black holes that would be capable of posing a danger to the earth, as cosmic rays that hit the planet routinely produce higher energy collisions than will be possible in the collider.

Sun

What would you do if you had to flee your home on short notice?

Emergency preparedness experts say it’s wise to put together a supply kit that will get you and your family — and your pets — through the first 72 hours.

Here’s a snapshot of some the items you should include, ideally in a backpack with wheels that’s stored near an exit door.

– A first-aid kit, flashlight and batteries, as well as a radio with batteries.

– Toilet paper and personal supplies, including medications.

– Photocopies of important papers, such as ID and personal documents.

– Canned food — for you and your pets — and bottled water, as well as a can opener.

– Shoes and a change of clothes.

– Blankets or sleeping bags.

– Extra car keys and cash.

For more information, visit redcross.ca and getprepared.ca

STILL SPEAKING OF PREPAREDNESS…

Remember that smoke detectors save lives — period.

Since 1997, new homes have been required to have smoke detectors hard-wired into the electrical system. Check that you have at least one detector on every level. And if they’re hard-wired, check that they have a battery backup in case the power goes out.

When buying detectors, ensure they’re CSA or ULC approved. Consider detectors that use a voice instead of a beep, as they may wake children more effectively.

Emergency preparedness experts also say it’s important to have fire extinguishers on hand, and to know how to use them. They should be placed in every vulnerable room — including kitchens, workshops and garages — and be easily reachable.

Extinguishers should be used only if a fire is small, if there is a clear exit, and when everyone has evacuated and 911 called.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Sun

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