Public pensions need reviewing
With the Julie Payette fiasco, along with revelations that high-ranking bureaucrats and police resign before they can face disciplinary action, there needs to be a review of how public-sector pensions are administered.
I accept that governments are contractually obliged. However, in the case of “Julie, do ya love me?” it’s estimated her pension for life will be around $150,000 annually (indexed, plus many other perks) for a job that she held for less than four years. And, by all accounts, she was poor at her job.
— Rod and Ekaterina Baker need to grow up. The B.C. couple flew to a remote First Nation community and received the COVID vaccine, allegedly under false pretences. People are furious, especially in the Yukon.
This cost Rod his job as the CEO of a major casino enterprise (don’t worry, Rod will be fine, he earned $45 million in stock options from the company) and it’s doubtful anyone will ever want to hire Ekaterina, a bit player in several ‘D’ movies that nobody has ever heard of. I also can’t see Vancouver’s elite wanting this power couple at their next party.
If convicted, the maximum penalty is six months in jail. Some sensitivity training on First Nation issues would also be good for them.
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The South Okanagan’s New Year’s Baby has a name. “Jeena kaur Brar” was born Jan. 1 at 6:52 a.m. at Penticton Regional Hospital to proud parents Beant and Manpreet Brar of Osoyoos. She is the couple’s second child.
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U.S. President Joe Biden will now provide a sign-language interpreter for all press conferences. He should hire Nigel Howard, who does the Dr. Bonnie Henry briefings. I enjoy Nigel more than the actual update.
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Condolences to the family of Chris MacKay of Penticton who died earlier this month after a courageous battle with cancer. Chris was active behind the scenes in the two-year battle to save Skaha Lake Park. I got to know him during this time. He was a great friend to The Herald. Chris was a very thoughtful person. I enjoyed our conversations. The community will miss him.
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As veterinarians in Penticton seek a solution to the lack of on-call, emergency vet services (the BC College of Veterinarians seems disinterested in helping find a solution), I offer two additional suggestions to pet owners.
1. Make a special trip to Kelowna to locate the emergency animal hospital during daylight hours. This way should you ever need to make that trip, you will be familiar with the route. GPS technology isn’t always reliable, especially when a driver is in duress.
2. In addition to contacting the Registrar, you might want to carbon copy the provincial government: Melanie Mark, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training; Lana Popham, Minister of Agriculture and your local MLA Dan Ashton (Penticton) or Roly Russell (Boundary Similkameen).
We have a problem and someone needs to resolve it.
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Insiders are speculating that a federal election is on the way this spring. My guess was always that it won’t be held prior to Oct. 19 — the six-year anniversary of the 2015 election. (MPs need to serve a minimum of six years in Parliament to qualify for the goldplated pension.)
It looks like I’m wrong.
According to Angus Reid, this week the Liberals have a five-point lead over the Conservatives and with the NDP in a state of disorganization, Justin Trudeau could do a John Horgan and call the snap election.
So just for fun, let’s speculate as to who the Liberal candidate in Kelowna-Lake Country will be. Former MP Stephen Fuhr (2015-2019) announced some time ago that he won’t run again. That leads me to believe we could see the name Colin Basran on the ballot.
Although municipal and federal politics are different, Basran won the 2018 Kelowna mayoral race with almost 57% of the vote. His nearest challenger was long-time Kelowna Chamber of Commerce president Tom Dyas, a right-leaning candidate.
It would make for an interesting race against Conservative incumbent Tracy Gray.