Cartoon (Modified Web Source):  It is amazing how good information can change the complexion of an entire debate.
Join in A Search for the Truth.

Update March 30, 2016,  The Research Paper referenced in this post was first published in 1999 by Dr. Robert L. Bish, as he neared the end of his career at the University of Victoria, School of Public Administration.  Seventeen years later, in 2016, Dr. Bish collaborated with Josef Filipowicz at the Fraser Institute to provide a complete update of the information presented in the original study.
Link to the Fraser Institute Study

(Link to Photo Album of this amazing place we call home)

Link to the Next Post in Series: Local Communities: Keeping the Spirit Alive

November 9, 2014: A new post on McNeill Life Stories Facebook Page:
Thirteen Communities and Ninety-Two largely Volunteer Councillors 

The Real Costs of Amalgamation (Time Colonist November 23, 2014)
March 2018 (Count 609)

Dear Reader,

This post provides a short overview and links to four studies that will likely answer many questions as to whether amalgamation of some or all the Municipalities in the CRD or of the Police Services in the Capital Region, is warranted.

These excellent works, written by a world-renowned expert in the field, Dr. Robert L. Bish, provide not only an in-depth review of the comparative costs and operational efficiencies in the Capital Region, it also compares the BC Regional District system with other city and municipal systems across Canada and the United States.

These studies provide clear evidence the Regional District system as developed in British Columbia, is the most inclusive, efficient and cost-effective form of Government in North America. In that regard, British Columbia was, and continues to be, a leader in the field and is often cited as a model for others.

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College (L to R): (T) Langford, Sidney, Victoria, Saanich, Highlands,
(C) Esquimalt, (Malahat), (CRD) Oak Bay, Metchosin,
(B) Colwood, Sooke, North Saanich, Central Saanich, View Royal
(Link to Photo Album)
Link to original Post: Amalgamation in Victoria

Note: After this Question and Answer post was written and published, and by pure chance, while doing a further search, an astounding discovery was made: The Bish Papers.  These papers, written by a renowned Economist and researcher into Public Administration, pulled away the veil of opinion and conjecture that defined the debate on Amalgamation. You may still wish to read this post and the one previous (linked above), however for solid, reliable information read the papers Dr. Robert L. Bish.  Link here:

Amalgamation: A Search for the Truth

The Real Costs of Amalgamation (Time Colonist November 23, 2014)

Introduction:

Since posting the original Amalgamation article in 2011, then updating it in October 2014, a number of exchanges regarding the content have taken place. The updated original (linked above) spoke to the many advantages of living in the Capital Regional District.  Clearly, not everyone agreed: dysfunctional, costly, over-supplied, cronyism, duplication, poor-decision making, hidden incompetence, poor media coverage, etc. These were just a few of the words used to describe the CRD and its members.

The words were spoken by otherwise thoughtful, intelligent individuals who are totally committed to the cause of amalgamation. On the other hand, I am equally committed to preserving the best of what we have. Most often the comments on either side appear only in posts where an individual is preaching to the converted.  In this post, the contrasting ideologies are placed side by side. Whatever may be the outcome, I don’t want CRD members or electorate, being pushed into making a decision based on faulty information or the whims of a few people. The four situations in #7 involving bad and very expensive outcomes pushed forward by persons in a position of power, as outlined in the final section of this post.

First, a sample of the questions asked and the answers given:

1. Question: 

There is a thing you refuse to answer in your posts and that really hits at the core of the matter: if you were drawing municipal boundaries from scratch based on what would serve the people of the region best, would you draw the lines where they are today?

Painting:  Watercolor painting of the southwest bastion of Fort Victoria with harbour to the left by Sarah Crease (wife of Henry), 8 September 1860.  It was from these humble beginnings other communities began to take shape along the Saanich Peninsula and West to a community now called Sooke.

Answer:

I have mixed feelings about ‘what might have been’ questions. I seldom ask them of myself, as the question never helped me to move forward. My gut feeling, based upon 55 years of living in this area, is that had this city began and remained just one city from early in the last century, many of the CRD areas would not be nearly as well developed, and filled with citizens who were generally satisfied with their lives, nor would they be as close to their government as they are today. Even within the core, when Oak Bay, Esquimalt and Saanich began to emerge, they ended up with their own districts rather than as part of Victoria.  I spoke more to this matter in Part 6 of Amalgamation in Greater Victoria

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Photo (Web Source) (Headwaters of Martineau River, Northeast Alberta): This photo suggests a time in the past when the Cold Lake area was tropical, a time when the tar sands were being formed and when all manner of pre-histortic fish, animals and birds habitated the area.  Is it possible some species from that pre-historic era can still be found? Could the Big Kinosoo be one of them? If you are from Alberta, particularly from Cold Lake, help is needed in Growing the Kinosoo Legend

Link to Next Post: Origin of the Legend
Link Back to Adventures Index
Link to Part 4, Otter Down in French Bay

Introduction 

My goal in writing this series is simple – to help that legendary fish, the Big Kinosoo who lives deep in the waters of Cold Lake, Alberta, to grow in stature.  While our very own Kinosoo has not yet reached the mythical proportions of the Lock Ness Monster of the Scottish Highlands, Ogopogo of Okanagan fame, or that famous bushman of the Pacific Northwest, the Sasquatch, working together we can change things for the Kinosoo. While anecdotes abound, they are necessary but not sufficient for that fish to reach iconic status. Like the other Great One of Alberta, we want people to become hushed and bow down whenever they hear the name Big Kinosoo.

To do this we must search out new stories, stories that include scientific fact which points toward existence of historic big fish. It would also help have a government or military cover-up, perhaps one that could turned into a full-blown conspiracy. Conspiracies are, after all, nothing more than a few solid facts mixed with a lot of fiction. While our Kinosoo might never become as big as the cover-ups carried out in Area 51 that abuts the Edwards Air Force in Nevada, with new information recently secured from Guy Venne, a man who grew up in Cold Lake, we can make a good start. To ensure our Great One of is given his fair due, we must blend fact and fiction into a credible story just as the other Great One has done.

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Index to Family Stories 1941 -1965

October, 2014: The Index Sections are currently being updated.
(Double click photos for full size)

Full introduction to the Family Series 1940 – 1965 go to: Introduction
Welcome to McNeill Life Stories Blog: Background on Blog Development
McNeill Life Stories and Joomla Going their Separate Ways

Most recent stories at top of page:

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Part VI Return to Cold Lake and the High School Years

31: Chapter 3:  Cars, Girls, Rock and Roll:  (1955 -1960).  I was tempted to name this story “Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll”, but as for the first “what happened in Cold Lake, stayed in Cold Lake” and for the second, our drug was “liquor”.  So I decided to stick with Cars and Girls as that was, and still is, a fairly potent combination.  Link Here to the Cars and Girls Story

30. Chapter 2: The Silent Generation, Our High School Years:   “The Silent Generation”.  Seems someone made a big mistake as this chapter and the next will reveal.   Link here to the “Silent Generation”

29. Chapter 1: The Journey Begins, Summer, 1953:  This was one of the most difficult posts to write as it involved aspects of our family life that was beginning to fracture.  We still loved each other, but sometimes love is not enough.  Link to The Journey Begins

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Index to Police Notebook

This section provides an introduction to the storylines posted over the past few years – the most recent story appears at the top. Some stories will be indexed in more than one category.  While each story will ‘stand-alone’ others, particularly the shorter stories, will be added in groups of three, four or more.  Feature-length stories are listed below the initial index.

Introductory Posts

1. Policing in a Land of Millionaires (September 2011):  Over the century since incorporation, the Municipality of Oak Bay gained a reputation as having more millionaires per capita than any other city or town in Canada.  Whether that is true or not, the Municipality certainly exudes a sense of affluence and boasts some of the most pristine waterfronts of any city or town in the country. Link Here

Photo (1994 Family Photos): During my last few months of service I was assigned to a Quick Response Team during the Commonwealth Games being held in Victoria.

2. Amalgamation: Hardly a week goes by that the Mayor of Victoria, the City Police, or the Times Colonist, is not beating the drums for amalgamating area police forces. Last week was no different as the dispute between Victoria and Esquimalt, again boiled over onto front page of the Times Colonist… Link Here

3. Harold David McNeill: About the Author (September 2011):  As a thirty-year member of the Oak Bay Police (1964 – 1994) it was my intention for several years to write a series of stories about policing in Oak Bay and Greater Victoria. This post provides some background on my family, work and study life.  Link Here

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Photo Collage: There was never enough time to do it all. Cars, girls, rock and roll were all part of the freedoms that came in the 1950’s.  If was a unique time in the Canada, and we made the best of it. The majority even managed to graduate with distinction. I was one of the non-distincts, however, my sister, Louise McNeill, graduated with a distinct distinction, that being the 1961 Honour Role. This post makes it clear why I failed to do so.

(Photo selection: Jimmy Martineau, Gordie Wusyk, Billy Martineau and drummer in the background, Gary McGlaughlin, playing at the Tropicana Night Club. Below, the Pinsky Cadillac. Harold McNeill and Aaron Pinsky in a “cool” shot at the Roundel Hotel.  Sitting across from us is Dorothy Hartman, an awesome dance partner. We worked out the fine points of the back over flip as shown in the photo top right  (Dance photos from the web).

THIS STORY IS CURRENTLY BEING PROOFED AND UPDATED

Chapter 3: The High School Years

Link Here for Chapter 1 of the High School Years
Link Here for Chapter 2 of the High School Years
Link to Family Stories Index

1. Introduction

Perhaps the best way to pick my way through the final two segments of the Cold Lake High School Years is by selecting random memories. Not to worry, I will be discrete while keeping the history and stories interesting as possible. The post is not meant as a titillating account of a small town as in Peyton Place, but seeks instead to provide an account of how I950’s High School kids in a small town at the edge of the wilderness on the Alberta/Saskatchewan border lived and loved.  For the most part, private matters between consenting students during our time in Cold Lake High would stay in Cold Lake High. That does not mean I won’t pick around the edges.

Peyton Place:  The sizzling movie version of the best-selling book was released in 1957, just in time for our coming of age. While the movie was toned down, it still raised eyebrows and was soundly condemned in many quarters.  By today’s standards, it would be relatively tame.

Another thing that will become evident, this story was written from the male perspective. To make any statements about what girls focussed on in the day will be up to them.  Any girls who wish to add to my descriptions, please write a few chapters of your own, they will be added to the post so we can compare and contrast our views of life in the 50’s.

Two things defined High School boys back then as today – cars and girls. In my day the two consumed an enormous portion of our limited and highly specialized brain space – girls occupied the left hemisphere, cars the right. As we boys couldn’t use both halves at the same time, the balance wavered from day to day. For that matter, our brains stopped working altogether when other parts of our anatomy kicked in.

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Does the beauty and welcoming nature of the new Vancouver International Airport (YVR), completed in time to showcase British Columbia and Canada to the world for the 2010 Olympics, belie the holding of dirty little secrets in the bowels of that sparkling facility?

Link Here to Part I of this series: Abducted: The First Twelve Hours
Link Here to Part II: Living in the Shadow of Mental Illness
Link Here to Part III: Mental Illness: A Rising Crisis on the Street
Link Here to Other Police Related Posts

Update, November 9, 2014:  The inquiry into the death of Lucia Vega Jimenez while in custody at the Vancouver Airport is now concluded.  Several recommendations were brought forth and it is clear from these recommendations that entire CBSA operation should be subject to the same independent oversight as that which takes place with regular police services.  Under the current legislation, the entire CBSA operation is effectively shielded from any form of formal oversight and it was only after persistent probing by various media outlets that much of what is happening is now coming to light. For one summary, listen in to the CBC Early Morning Edition podcast.

September 19, 2014 (Original Editorial): Introduction

Sometimes the greater threat to our democratic way of life comes from within and not from without. I am not speaking of terrorists, jihadists or those who join murdering criminals like ISIS, I am speaking of how we respond to the threat. When we begin to dismantle all that which underpins our democracy because of them, they will have won.

As I researched the following post, I was astonished to see just how far we have fallen in the past decade. I fear that if we continue along this path for another decade, we will have become just a shell of nation which our grandparents and great grandparents fought for in first fifty years of the last century and which they and our great-great grandparents dreamed of when they first joined a line of immigrates and refugees to take up life in Canada.  (From Facebook Post)

Would it surprise you that under the Beijing Airport, hundreds of people, thought to be ‘enemies of the state’ are detained after being pulled aside for a secondary search and questioning during entry? No surprise you say? In China, you could just as easily be whisked away on the street. What about Russia or other countries where human rights and the rule of law has little meaning in the sense we know it? Same answer? Probably.

How about the United States? Given the incredible size and strength Homeland Security and the many laws enacted since 9/11, there is little doubt a person, particularly a foreign national, could easily disappear without a trace at any airport or transportation hub in the country. Being whisked off the street would be just as simple.

Now, what about Canada, “the true north strong and free”? Do you think it possible thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of men, woman and children might be arrested and taken away to secret prisons located below major airports such as Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary or Winnipeg and at other, more or less secret facilities across Canada?  Is it possible these prisoners have been stripped of all the rights we Canadians take for granted?  Finally, is it possible these people could be whisked out of the country at the stroke of a pen, never to be heard from again? Not possible you say — we have far to many checks and balances. Well, think again.

This week after researching an article on the plight of a few immigrants and refugees, I was astonished to learn that not only is this happening, it is happening on a regular basis in cities and towns across Canada.

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September 12, 2014:  Further to a recent story on this blog (Living in the Shadow of Mental Illness) posted on August 19th, 2014, the Vancouver Police Chief and Mayor have now waded in on the subject of mental illness.  They outline how the VPD will likely make 3000 arrests under the Mental Health Act this year, up from just over 2200 five years earlier. (Link to Province Article)

Both the Mayor and the Chief make the point that the Criminal Justice System is not the place on which this problem should be offloaded.  They state that we are now seeing the consequences as senior governments continue to close hospitals that provide intensive care for those having spiralled into the depths of despair that comes with deteriorating mental health.  As was pointed out in the earlier story, over 8000 seriously mentally ill people were dumped onto the streets when the Riverview Hospital closed its doors in 2012.  The Coquitlam Mayor is now calling for that hospital to be updated and re-opened in order to help deal with the crisis. (Post February 1, 2016, 553)

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