An unusual week for us as we enjoyed a pre-emptive February holiday on Monday - and extended it to Tuesday - to see what it will be like when the government finally enacts legislation ( did we mention the Manitoba Federation of Labour takes credit for the holiday initiative at the NDP convention, but wer actually opposed to a Feb. stat and instead had wanted a stat holiday on June 21st?).
In fact we were in British Columbia for 4 days for meetings with the regional Clear Channel telecaster KVOS on behalf of Island Sports and Entertainment. But in a shortened three show week, we managed to stir up more than a few issues.
Wednesday: Kelly Dehn of CKY TV delved into the lack of a formal protocol for high-risk entries such as the Jubilee incident where 3 cops were shot. He agreed with our point that tension between the brass and police union may be at the root of the reluctance to institute specific rules - as that may lay the groundwork for endless grievances and lawsuits when things go wrong. When the discussion turned to MPI bragging about suing a young car thief for $110,000 which the insurer may never be able to collect, Kelly revealed that he, too, had his truck vandalized while parked downtown recently and knows firsthand some of the aggravation felt by victims he profiles in newscasts.
A CTV.ca online story about the Canadian Taxpayers Federation handing out their TEDDY Awards caught our eye for the use of the phrase "claims to be" when describing the mission of the CTF. Using a Google News search to illustrate appropriate instances where to use the term ( such as people who "claim to be" kidnapped by UFO's), we explained that when MSM outlets use the phrase in reporting on a public organization is without fail, a premeditated attack on the group in question, particularly in this case.
The CTF does not "claim to be" a non-profit, non-partisan organization - IT IS. Using the loaded phrase "claims to be" was designed to undermine the sincerity and credibility of the CTF's important work in holding bureaucrats and government freespenders to account.
We told listeners about a costly mistake at the Free Press when a front page item identified Nicola Goddard as a casualty in Iraq. Only she served our country in Afghanistan. The print run was pulled and the item corrected, but how it slipped through is hard to understand since every editor would know Canada is not engaged in the Iraq conflict.
Thursday: While catching up on odds and ends, we made sure to provide another lesson in journalism, and correct the Free Press about their own correction.
A story about provincial electricians threatening to take action against the Department of Labour for failure to enforce safety standards was headlined that the incident rate was going up. Unfortunately for the newspaper, right in the story it said the rate had been going down for years.
Simple enough, right? These things happen.
Except by the time they were done, the paper apologized for the story from "Tuesday" - it ran Wednesday - and it was on the "front page", when it was on B1. It was almost impossible for readers to figure out what they were really apologizing for.
Three callers joined the show, all upset with MPI and their PR campaign trying to make ratepayers believe the efforts to collect damages from car thieves was of any true significance. Based on our analysis, the $300,000 collected last year amounted to less than 1% of the real cost.
Friday: Tom Brodbeck was on a roll, with 2 important stories for us to talk with him about. His take on climate-change nagger David Suzuki included the revealing facts about the professors own enviro-record, starting with traveling in a huge fuel-guzzling bus which was going cross-country with only 8 of 30 seats filled.
This revelation got Tom some national coverage. We pointed out a Free Press item about farmers complaining of global warming causing a 30% decrease in ice thickness on the Red River over a 12 year period. Mind you, it was a historical item in their weather map feature, and the farmers were complaining in 1898 not lately, and here it was over a hundred years later so maybe some of this warming is cyclical, maybe? Brodbeck poked a lot of holes in the campaign of climate-change alarmists trying to convince us that scientists are not debating the issues when they are.
But the Spirited Energy campaign was even more startling. Tom got a request to his Freedom of Information request, without having to pay the $750 fee demanded. However the government did not release the actual invoices Tom asked for, but rather a summary of the expenditures was provided.
This in itself is a violation of the usual NDP edict that no new documents will be created to fulfill a request for information - in other words, if what you are asking about isn't already written down or itemized, you are SOL. So Brodbeck got special treatment which he did not fall for whatsoever.
Other pundits said the list should suffice, but Tom explaied that such FOI requests are like forensic investigations, and the dates, contents and signatures on the invoices were all valid points of information the public is entitled to know.
When the Spirited Energy campaign was raised at the Public Accounts Committeee, all three parties voted unanimously to ask the Auditor-General to look into the file, which Tom figured was a cynical NDP ploy, to appear committed to transparency but knowing the Auditor is swamped and won't get to the issue until long after the expected spring election.
Frank the Italian Barber joined us on the phone and predicted the Hockey Night in Canada games for the weekend. He also said CBC's Scott Oake needs a good haircut.
Robin Ann Rich called in from her new bar, Sin City, and explained why former dancers had entered the business side of licenced establishments. Not without a few bumps on the road, including the key busting off in the lock to the bar fridge on opening weekend, making it kind of hard to accept the beer delivery.
Finally our resident business expert Shaun Myall called in form Vancouver and touched on the business climate in Victoria (robust and growing), Vancouver's pending 2010 Olympics fiasco (costs spiraling out of control to the point Jean Drapeau's handling of the Montreal Games of 1976 will make him look like a slash and cut Republican), and ending with the announcement that Island Sports and Entertainment was given a time slot for a regular series about professional wrestling, with your humble host now also, the voice of Power Pro Wrestling on KVOS-TV.
