NDP Thought They Had Already Won & That Was A Mistake

17 May 2013

On Tuesday night supporters of BC NDP were left shell-shocked as the results that came out showed the exact opposite picture of what had been predicted in various exit polls. In fact BC Liberals improved upon their showing from the last provincial elections to win 50 seats and NDP could get only 33 seats.

Many people thought BC NDP took it lightly and were complacent. Surrey resident Pardeep Sharma said NDP have only themselves to blame for the loss. “NDP thought they were going to win and so they thought all they have to do was to keep saying Time For Change. There is no expiry date on government. Like best before so and so date, so what exactly did they mean by Time For Change. NDP had to do more than that and talk decisively about their policies. But their leader was evasive,” said pardeep.

Another Liberal supporter from Surrey, Gurmej Josan said he had voted for Liberals but had not expected them to win a majority with so much ease. “When the results started coming in, I felt this is good for the Liberals. But honestly although I’m a Liberal supporter even I was not expecting them to win 50 seats. It just shows that people simply do not trust the NDP,” he said.

Another Surrey resident Omair Chaudhary felt Christy Clark knew what she was doing and was more aggressive. “I think the televised debate was also the turning point for the Liberals. While Clark was firm and came out with direct answers, Dix was evasive and did not give any clear answers. People were not sure what the NDP was going to do if it came to power. There was too much uncertainty with the NDP,” said Omair.

Some also felt that Dix was not strong enough. “There was too much ammunition that the BC Liberals had against Dix and they kept coming out with negative ads with attacks against him. Ultimately it affects the voters. Even the NDP had too many negative points that they could have talked about against the Liberals but they chose not to talk about that at all. I think that was a mistake. If you have so much ammunition against your opponent you have to tell people about that constantly and remind them. The NDP just did not do that,” said another voter from Surrey.

As for the NDP candidates they too did not have any explanation as to what happened. “I think we ran a strong campaign. Ultimately it is the people who decide. It was a tough race. I think we are victims of a negative campaign, the negative ads that the Liberals ran those ads did affect people. That’s what it is at the end of the day,” said Surrey-Fleetwood NDP candidate Jagrup Brar who lost to Liberal Peter Fassbender by less than 300 votes.

Surrey-Panorma NDP candidate Amrik Mahil too said he could not understand what went wrong. He lost to Liberal candidate Marvin Hunt. “I don’t know what happened. I simply cannot understand it. The Liberals did not run a good campaign,” he said.

Delta-north NDP candidate Sylvia Bishop lost out to Liberal Scott Hamilton. “I think people were expecting a different outcome. Certainly I was hoping for a different outcome in my riding. I’m very proud of the campaign I ran. We stayed positive,’ she said.

Ultimately it boiled down to the fact that the BC NDP wanted to stay positive and not attack the Liberals. The Liberals, on the other hand, ran a campaign which they thought gave them the best chance to win. And they won.

83-year-old Surjit Bhandal allowed to stay in Canada after five-year fight

17 May 2013

Saanich resident Surjit Bhandal (83) has finally got the news that she had been waiting to hear for the last five years. Citizenship and Immigration Canada will allow her to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. This has ended five years of rejection.

“She feels, very, very good, finally,” said nephew Jasminder Bhandal (45). “She was very upset before, so much tension was a burden on her health.” The aunt he calls “mom” is frail, has no family in India and has been fighting to stay since she first visited Langford in 2008.

Esquimalt Juan de Fuca MP Randall Garrison, whose office has championed her cause and put close to 100 hours into the case, said only a few routine procedures remain before Surjit Bhandal receives permanent resident status.

Garrison said the decision sets a precedent in keeping with Canadian values: When federal adjudicators deal with other cases involving family members who don’t meet the “strict legal definition” of a family, those individuals can still qualify to stay.

Canadian law does not consider aunts close enough family members for reunification, but in this case, Surjit raised the two boys from birth because their mother was disabled. Although she’s their mother’s sister-in-law, they call Surjit mother. But because she was not their birth mother, the nephews could not sponsor her for permanent residence status.

“We don’t actually need a change to the law or the regulations,” said Garrison, an NDP MP. “We just need an understanding of diverse families and this is a precedent. … My only regret is that it took the Conservatives so long to come to the right conclusion.”

Jasminder said he is thankful not only for Garrison’s help, but for the churches and the rest of the community that supported the family, ultimately sending 5,000 letters and emails to Ottawa. He estimated his legal bills in the case at $40,000.

Canadian MP’s proposed bill to criminalize gang recruitment set to become law

17 May 2013

A bill proposed by a Conservative Party MP to make recruitment of youths in criminal gangs a crime has secured the support of the Canada’s justice minister and is set to become law.

Paramjit Gill, Member of Parliament from Brampton-Springdale in Ontario, has proposed legislation that will also inflict tougher penalties on criminal organizations trying to recruit youth.

The bill has received the support of Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and is set to be adopted before parliament breaks for summer June 21, the South Asian Observer reported Friday.

According to the report, Bill C-394 has passed the third and final hurdle in the House of Commons by a vote of 240-36 and has been submitted to the upper house, the Senate, for review.

The bill proposes prohibition of recruiting or encouraging a person to join a criminal organization. The new offence will carry a maximum of a five-year jail term and a mandatory minimum penalty of six months, if the person recruited is under the age of 18.

Gill, 39, said that, as a father of three, he was particularly concerned about addressing the issue of gang recruitment in Canada’s communities.

He appealed to all MPs to support the bill in its final vote.–IANS

Expect more rates at the pump, say experts

17 May 2013

You’ve likely noticed it over the past couple of days, gas prices are creeping higher and higher and that could mean we could see a record being broken by the time the Victoria Day long weekend rolls around.

Gasbuddy.com is showing the average reported price for Metro Vancouver to be at about $1.49 per litre for regular gas yesterday afternoon, that’s compared to $1.46 on the same date a year ago.

The price of gas has gone up about $0.11 cents in about a month, according to the website. We here in BC pay way more than many other provinces across the country. The average in this province right now is $1.40 and it’s $1.26 for the rest of Canada.

The highest prices around the Lower Mainland are in North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, New Westminster, Delta, Surrey and Port Moody. Abbotsford typically trends with much lower prices.
By the end of May of 2012, regular prices at the pumps were sitting at $1.55.

Canada Deports Issa Mohammad After 25 Years Of Trying

17 May 2013

The federal government announced Monday it has deported a convicted Palestinian terrorist to Lebanon, twenty six years after an incident that killed an Israeli citizen.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad, who entered Canada in 1987, was finally removed this week from the country after numerous appeals over more than 25 years.
Kenney issued the following statement regarding the removal of Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad:

“Mr. Mohammad entered Canada in 1987 and was first found to be inadmissible to Canada on the basis of misrepresentation and subsequently found to be ineligible to make a refugee claim because he had been a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and had participated in a terrorist attack on an Israeli plane, which killed an Israeli citizen in 1968.

“Mr. Mohammad was convicted of that crime in Greece, but was freed before completing his sentence as part of the resolution of another hostage taking. He then misrepresented himself to enter Canada, where he remained until his removal over the weekend.

“This convicted terrorist was able to use numerous and repetitive appeals and loopholes under Canada’s old, broken immigration system to remain in Canada for 25 years. Fortunately, since 2006, the Government has acted to strengthen the integrity of Canada’s immigration system. The introduction of biometrics, reforms to Canada’s asylum system, and the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act, among many other measures, all help to avoid another convicted terrorist like Mr. Mohammad being able to remain in Canada for so long.

“Canada’s immigration and refugee determination system is one of the most generous in the world. However, its integrity can only be maintained by ensuring that individuals like Mr. Mohammad, whose heinous crimes and misrepresentations mean they are not legally admissible to Canada, are identified and removed.”

Angelina Jolie says she got both her breasts removed over genetic cancer risk

17 May 2013

Actress Angelina Jolie has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that makes it very likely she’ll get breast cancer.

She wrote an op-ed in today’s New York Times where she says that in April she finished three months of surgical procedures to remove both breasts.

The 37-year-old made the choice after her mother died of the disease at the age of 56. Doctors told Jolie she had a 87 per cent chance of being diagnosed herself, but since the operation, that number has dwindled to just 5 per cent.

“She chose to have preventive surgery which has been conclusively shown to not only reduce the risk but likely convey some survival benefit as well, but not every woman chooses surgery. So surveillance, which is just a high-tech form of screening, while it does not drop the risk, it does increase the rate at which that cancer is detected. And then for some women, medication to lower the risk also,” says ABC’s Dr. Jennifer Ashton.

She kept the process very private but is writing about it now in hopes of helping other women.

Many choose to have a preventive mastectomy since the advent of genetic breast cancer testing.

Realtor charged with theft from homes he claimed to be showing

17 May 2013

A real estate agent has been charged with stealing from listed homes he claimed he was showing to potential clients in Brampton (Ontario).

Indo-Canadian Shalinder Kapoor, 38, was seen entering a home on Pringle Avenue in Brampton April 26 and then leaving unaccompanied, according to media reports Tuesday. When the owners of the home returned, they found several pieces of jewellery missing.

“The agent was observed entering and leaving the premise unaccompanied,” the reports quoted police as saying in a statement.

Police later recovered several pieces of jewellery from a car and arrested Kapoor of Homelife Diamonds Realty.

The accused has been charged with breaking into a house and entering and stealing but was released on a promise to appear before court June 17.–IANS

Two Indian men plan to drive 70,000 km in six months to document the diaspora

17 May 2013

There are an estimated 25 million people of Indian origin settled across the globe. In perhaps the first such attempt to document the story of the non-resident Indian (NRI), two travel enthusiasts are now set to embark upon a six-month adventure “to connect with Indians living abroad” and record their lives and experiences while staying with them.

Undertaking the 70,000-km journey in a Mahindra Scorpio SUV are Tushar Agarwal and Sanjay Madan of the Delhi-based Adventures Overland, a self-drive expedition company. They are not new to setting world records, having entered the Limca Book of Records six times with their zeal for travel across tough terrain and to little-known places.

The journey they will undertake this September will cost them 20 millon rupees, roughly $375,000, and will push their limits.

“The Great India World Trip is a journey that has never been done before and was born out of our love for travel and adventure. I have been an NRI for 10 years, living in the UK, the U.S. and Japan, so I know what that kind of life is. During this road trip, we will be travelling across six continents and 50 countries to connect with Indians living abroad and document their life in the form of a travel series,” Agarwal says. The Indian youth entertainment TV channel UTV Bindaas is in talks to air the series.

“Starting from New Delhi, we will first go to Singapore via Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia. Moving on to Australia, we will then drive through the continent before turning west towards Africa. Driving south from Kenya, we will cross Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana and carry on till we reach Cape Town in South Africa. Hopping on to South America, we will drive through Argentina to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world,” Agarwal said.

After that, they plan to take a U-turn and drive up the Pan American highway — the longest such in the world — that will take them through Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia to Central American countries like Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, before entering North America.

“Instead of simply turning east and driving to New York, we are going to take the long and lonely road to Deadhorse (Alaska), the northernmost point of the American continent,” Agarwal added.
After experiencing the chill of Alaska, Agarwal and Madan will then cross Canada, hit New York and then head east to London.

“The hard part done, we will then drive through Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Iran and finally make the final crossing to reach Mumbai and back home to Delhi,” Agarwal said.

In between all this will be a series of sea crossings — Singapore to Australia, Australia to Africa, Africa to North America, North America to Europe and finally, Iran to India.

All through the journey, the duo will be staying with NRI families to get a feel of their day-to-day life.

“We have been planning this journey and the logistics for a year now and are still getting our visas (for all the countries). We are in talks with the Ministry of External Affairs for support from the Indian embassies in the countries that we will be visiting,” said Agarwal, who has previously driven from London to Delhi with his wife to raise money for animal welfare.

The duo is also in talks with the tourism ministry and other government officials.

“We have got sponsors but are still on the lookout for more companies that could support us. I am confident all will turn out well at the end,” Agarwal concluded enthusiastically.–IANS

Director Deepa Mehta to adapt novel ‘Secret Daughter’ into movie

17 May 2013

After adapting Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children” for the big screen, Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta is working on a script based on Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s novel “Secret Daughter” about how two families are bound by an adoption.

Mehta is said to be busy penning the script for producers Jody Colero of Silent Joe Inc. and Hussain Amarshi of Mongrel Media, reportshollywoodreporter.com.

“Secret Daughter” tells the story of two families, one in Mumbai, India, forced to give a baby up for adoption, and another in San Francisco, raising a child from another culture.- IANS

Canadian Students demand government reduce tuition fees

17 May 2013

Students are ready to work with newly elected and re-elected Members of the Legislature to make education more accessible.

“Making post-secondary education accessible means reducing tuition fees,” says Katie Marocchi, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-BC, “Struggling students and our families want the government to change the current course of public education to reduce tuition fees and drop student debt.”

In 2001, the BC Liberal government deregulated tuition fees. As a result tuition fees skyrocketed, surpassing greatly the rate of inflation and reaching record high levels. From 2001 to 2012, tuition fees more than doubled. Despite the current regulations, tuition fee rates continue to climb.

“Continuing tuition fee increases would not reverse the damage done to affordability and accessibility,” says Marocchi. “As students we won’t sit on our hands for another four years and let our families fall prey to massive student debt.”

With record high tuition fees in BC’s post-secondary education system, the province boasts a shameful average of $27,000 student debt upon graduation.

The Canadian Federation of Students-BC is composed of students from 15 post-secondary institutions across every region of BC. Post-secondary students in Canada have been represented by the Canadian Federation of Students and its predecessor organizations since 1927.