Guardian: http://tiny.cc/BqpNW

Entertaining, but one big clanger:

It has become the sine qua non of these shindigs that the aboriginal folk who inhabited the land in the days before Starbucks and 24-hour news channels play a major part, which can feel a little patronising, but given Canada’s generally benign – although not untainted – race relations record, it felt more appropriate in Vancouver than it did in Sydney, for instance.

I have a hunch that his only exposure to Canadian aboriginals was at that ceremony. Or perhaps he visited some of our local reserves, which are about as relevant to Canada as a whole as the Beverly Hillbillies were to Appalachia (the locals are sitting on top of huge RE wealth). Just a short walk down to Hastings and Main would have given a taste of the reality for most of the rest.

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http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/b.....tains.html

Disgruntled athletes and coaches staying at the Olympic Village in Vancouver have hit out at what they say is shoddy accommodation and a lack of basic comforts.

One of the complaints is that the walls of the rooms are so thin that the athletes are struggling to fall asleep – not a good time to have snorers nearby…

Ski jumping trainer Werner Schuster compared the Olympic Village with a boy scout camp. The 41-year-old said: “The living standard is very poor. Five, six people have to share a bathroom and the walls are as thin as curtains.”

Such Spartan living, all in the quest to win gold at the Olympics!

The size the accommodation has also been criticised. A particularly sore point is that there isn’t enough space for athletes to dry their clothes.

A German functionary said: “The Village is good for summer. But now in winter with this weather it’s a problem.

“The German team have especially bought heaters to dry their things which are always getting wet due to the relentless sleet.”

Hermann Weinbuch, Germany’s Nordic combined coach, also slammed the fact that athletes and support staff will have to live so far apart.

And having to eat with plastic cutlery off paper plates in the Olympic Village hasn’t gone down well with the 49-year-old either.

But despite the problems, most of the Olympic Village residents seem to have come to terms with the inconveniences.

Schuster added: “I think it is enriching for the athletes to experience this. There’s a different atmosphere in a four-star hotel because you have to adjust to the circumstances.”

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In summary the CHMC is the single biggest distortion of thr Canadian housing market, with effects particularly dire for Vancouver (where the share of low down-payment buyers is the highest).

Removing the distortions due to the CHMC would result in a more balanced, stable and affordable market.

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“He suggested that it would be wise for Ottawa to officially give CMHC a mandate to watch over the health of the housing market.”

Abolish the CMHC entirely. Not only do they have a problem “watching over” the health of the housing market they are the cause of most of the problems in the housing market.

When they at least did housing inspections and stopped things like leaky condos from happening (they lost that mandate just before the leaky condo crisis of the ’80s) they had a purpose but now they’re taking taxpayer money and using it to fund a program that hurts taxpaying Canadians! How ludicrous is that!

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“..the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver, where four giant penises rose slowly from the floor to stand proudly erect in the arena, presumably intended as symbols of a thrusting young nation… (sorry, but does that not look a bit like four huge todgers?)”

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I also took a bike ride and probably went to similar places as you. Yeah, the Art Gallery line, was unmentionable. It almost took 10 minutes of standing. What a bunch of cheap a$$es getting in for taking advantage of the free entrance fee instead of paying the normal $18. There’s a couple of paintings inside, alright – a few rough sketches too – Original 500 year old sketches from Leonardo Da Vinci from the Queen’s collection that we were able to get within millimeters and see the details of his pen stroke, the texture and thickness of the paper, light construction lines, the edges of the paper that’s a bit deteriorated. Who cares? We’ve got digital cameras now.

Unfortunately, it was sunny in Vancouver – Too bad the visitors get to actually linger around outside instead of jump from one cover to the next. Too bad also that Canada won only one Gold medal today. So sad that the entire Yaletown including boats in the harbour almost blew up from excitement when it was won – what a bunch of losers with low standards, they had home team advantage and should’ve won at least a dozen Golds by now.

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CMHC’s “actual mandate today, which is different from what it was back 20 or 30 years ago, is really just to get people into houses,” Mr. Dodge said. “And that’s always been something that bothers me, because it really doesn’t have a stability mandate.”

He suggested that it would be wise for Ottawa to officially give CMHC a mandate to watch over the health of the housing market.

This makes a lot of sense! It is exactly what we would need. I wish he was still in a position of influence, instead of these young yuppies who just want to ride the good times and let them roll as long as possible.

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David Dodge is a smart (and, above all, honest) guys. This is what he has to say about the CHMC:

“……you’ve got to look at lending standards and the framework for mortgage insurance as very important tools of stabilization,” he said. “The terms and insurance over which mortgage insurance should be given over the next little while probably should be tighter, and probably should have been tighter over the past period.”

Mr. Dodge said he has never been comfortable with the idea that people can buy homes with down-payments of as little as five per cent. Whether increasing it to 7.5 per cent or 10 per cent, he would be supportive of raising the minimum payment.

He certainly makes A LOT MORE sense than Mark Carney or Jim Flaherty. What are these guys doing? What are they waiting for? I sincerely hope they will crucified for not taking action on time, and letting this bubble get out of control.

Abolish the CHMC!

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Canada should be bracing itself for the reality that house prices are more likely to go down than up in the next few years, says former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....le1468224/

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And the DES. The annual native womens gathering at Main & Hastings ??celibrating?? missing women. I dunno, it sure didn’t look like a solemn event to me. Crusing through the back alleys, it is blatently obvious that the city has jumped through hoops to tidy the place up and keep the downtrodden corralled around Cordova and Main. This reminds me of that annual visit you are obligated to make to those slovenly relatives of yours. They always clean up prior to your arrival, but the grime is still apparent and nothing will completely dissipate the odor. You actually can go 12hrs without using the washroom and “no, it’s OK, I’ll drink my beer right out of the bottle.”

In all honesty, I have never seen SO many people in my life wandering around, going nowhere. I suspect everyone wasn’t lining up for 4hrs to get into the Art Gallery to see those 6 or so paintings in there. And Robson Street, completely closed and no one buying a thing. I doubt foreign visitors are going to buy overpriced crap that they could get for half price back home. Where would all these people be if it was raining today? By 3 in the afternoon the mini-bar would already be empty and they’d be planning the escape.

What a scam this city, this province and the feds perpetuated on the world. Wait until the visitors get a taste of the overpriced crappy food topped off with a dose of bed bugs. What we read in foreign media will be very interesting in a month or so.

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Another reporter who cannot connect the dots.

“Our broad objective as a city is to put Vancouver on a global map,” Mr. Robertson says. He hopes foreign companies involved in growth areas such as clean technology and digital media will set up operations in Vancouver.

Digital media? You mean like Creo? Well I guess Greg has to talk his best, but why would any tech company set up in Vancouver when it has the least affordable house prices in the Western world – twice those of leading US and Canadian tech centres such as Ottawa and Seattle?

And farther down:

Vancouver’s hot housing market could provide the city with an opportunity to profit when it eventually sells the athlete’s village.

Yeah right. Who is the author of this incisive reporting?

Brenda Bouw is a journalist and author based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Her experience includes nearly two decades of writing, reporting, editing, producing, researching and managing at various news organizations across Canada.

She also wrote a Canadian bestseller on women and real estate published in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd., and was the ghostwriter on two Wiley books released in the fall of 2009.

Say no more.

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“Where the hell is No-Lympics when we need him??”

I saw him in the crowd at women’s 3000 speed skating, he’s probably still fighting traffic to get home.

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When the mourning phase is over, no doubt lawyers acting on behalf of the luger’s family will seek to find out why it was necessary to make alterations if the track had no role to play in his death. It will draw attention to complaints from other competitors about a facility that has stretched the boundaries of safety in what is already a dangerous sport. “We are not crash-test dummies,” an Australian competitor said on Thursday.”

There was a big team changing and boarding up the track from the top down and a big bundle of padding put on the posts where the luger had died. Its really scummy of the CDN Olympics guys to have done what they did to ,own the podium’. Winning by stepping on someone elses neck to cross the finish line is not what Canada has ever been about. But now with the cover up it is downright disgusting behaviour.

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According to the British Olympic Association’s chief executive, Andy Hunt, the British skeleton sliders have had just 10% of the practice time on the stretch that the Canadian team has enjoyed. Similar complaints had been voiced by the Americans. “I think it shows a lack of sportsmanship,” Ron Rossi, the executive director of USA Luge, told the New York Times

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“Winter Olympics athletes blame hosts for death of Nodar Kumaritashvili”

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What the local press has been spinning regarding behaviour of the Canadian olympic movement and what the international press is saying about the ugly behaviour of the ‘impolite’ Canadian in the now villified ‘own the podium’ snakepit are two completley different stories.

The international olympic movement says Canada has lied and cheated in a sleazy attempt to limit other atheletes access and that is why atheletes have been at risk and one has died. Legal proceedings have already begun against Canadaa , own the podium thugs and the Canadians are rushing to do a massive cover up. read on.

“Yet if these are issues for the lawyers somewhere down the line, more immediate questions may be asked by the Canadians of themselves, who, in pursuit of their own Olympic dream – 30 medals at least, with as many golds as possible – appear to have forgotten that national ­characteristic for which they are best known: politeness.

“Some say what defines us/is something as simple as please and thank you/and as for you’re welcome/well we say that too,” wrote Shane Kozycan in “We Are More”, a poem he delivered during the opening ceremony.

In normal times perhaps, but in the run-up to these games, the hosts – or at least the Canadian Olympic Committee – seemed to have mislaid their manners. “Own the podium,” it implored its athletes in an initiative aimed at ensuring the host nation finishes at the top of the medals table at these games. Money has been poured into training, while a hard-edged approach has been adopted in dealing with other teams, most noticeably in granting them only limited access to facilities such as the sliding track.

Such behaviour is within the Olympic rules, but it came across as distinctly un-Canadian at the time, and in the context of Friday’s death it seemed like a terrible misjudgment. Steven Holcomb of the US bobsleigh team said: “This track is one of the fastest and most difficult in the world, so I think keeping it closed and not letting people have access… made it very difficult. Then you have Olympic ice, which is even faster. Little mistakes become big mistakes, and big mistakes end in tragedy.”

Kumaritashvili was one of those who had relatively limited experience on the track. He spent a week there in November during training, according to reports, and had gone down the track 26 times in total. He had crashed once, as had the double Olympic champion, Armin Zöggeler of Italy.

“It would be speculation if I said the time period of practice was sufficient or was not,” said Georgia’s minister of sport Nikolos Rurua, before defending the luger against suggestions that he was inexperienced – or simply not good enough – to be competing at Olympic level. Rurua said: “He was a very progressive, strong athlete. It was his wish to compete at the Olympics, and he underwent a rigorous qualifying process. He was 44th in world rankings.”

Yet if the formalities of Olympic diplomacy required the minister to leave it at that, so sparing the feelings of the hosts, Holcomb felt no such compunction. “They limited the amount of access and training time we had on the track, while they let Canadians train on it as much as they wanted,” he said. “There were smaller nations that have never been down here before. It is kind of unfair and now it is a tragedy.” So much for the Olympic dream.”

The truth cannot be found in Canada but it can’t be hidden from the world. Canada is really getting a black eye because of the gross bullshit that has been perpetrated on the people. Anyone still in denial needs a slapping, not another dose of kool aid. Can’t handle the truth, then you better hide under the bed or run away to some far flung shithole, cause it ain’t gonna get any better.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/spor.....ritashvili

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Hahahahahahahahahahahahah, I’m sure if I came to newfie I’d find you working as the ‘piccolo chiquino’ in a the can of some dump begging for tips and asking if you could flush the toilet for me.

Meanwhile back in reality, the apologists at VANOC are blaming the Aussies for ‘stealing thier medals’

“It’s no secret Canada is hungry for gold. It started an $110 million program called Own the Podium, publicizing the drought to build excitement for the Winter Games and setting the bold goal of claiming the most medals here.

“We know it’s a seminal moment in the minds of many Canadians,” Rudge told reporters.

The home country was shut out at the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary.

Canada had a chance to break through later Sunday at the men’s moguls competition with four skiers, including Alexandre Bilodeau of Montreal as one of the favorites.

But there was also the prospect of a particularly painful loss. Another favorite is Dale Begg-Smith, born in Vancouver but competing for Australia.

“We have four athletes in there,” Rudge said optimistically. “In a sense, we have five athletes. Unfortunately, one of them is wearing an Australian uniform.”

Who can fathom the idiocy that is building towards the denial campaign of the failing Olympics.

And yes, more howling denial can be expected from the losers and the malcontents from wherever. Be sure to check my spelling kids, like anyone gives a shit.

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I have yet to hear a coherent argument for why the film industry should be given massive handouts, but my industry should not.

If the BC economy had not been massively warped by the government-sponsored RE bubble, secondary industry would have had a fighting chance to compete without subsidies.

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The same Arnold who declared war on BC’s film industry.”

Frankly, I’d gladly cheer on Arnie BECAUSE he declared war on BC’s film industry.

There are plenty of us in non-favored industries that don’t get massive tax breaks. I have yet to hear a coherent argument for why the film industry should be given massive handouts, but my industry should not.

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People in Newfie? Wow Grampy… I’m pretty sure Newfoundland wasn’t a province when you were going to school but you really should bust out an atlas. Did you go to Pangea high?

In a way you’re right Grampy. There wasn’t very much opportunity either in IT or to start a small business in Vangroovy. The taxes were too high and it’s really expensive to live in Van. I wasn’t at all happy with the quality of life relative to the money I was spending, so I left.

By all means you and your boyfriend Supra should keep displaying your appalling ignorance of the country you two lovebirds live in. I’m pretty sure I speak for the entire East Coast of Canada when I saw we’d really prefer you stay where you are. You two could spend time greasing each other up and whispering sweet MLS listings to each other.

People think Torontonians consider themselves the most important part of Canada, yet much of Vangroovy are just like ol’ Grampy and Supra; completely ignorant of anything east of the Rockies.

Life in other Canadian cities is just as awesome, and maybe even better then in Van. Personally I’m having a blast in Halifax, but I’ve spend a lot of years living in Toronto and Montreal too, and those cities have a lot to offer.

I think ol’ Grampy and Supra are very helpful in explaining the housing bubble. They really don’t get that it’s a big country with lots to offer everyone but somehow most of Vancouver really is better then the rest of the country.

Go on now Grampy… it’s time for Nurse Supra to clean up that nasty mess in your pant and get you some nice Tapioca. YOu can eat it while watching Matlock reruns if you promise to let Supra tuck you in at 10PM.

Supra, time to bust out the naughty nurse outfit…..

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