Open Letter to my MP on Fee for Carriage

Today I checked my e-mail hand found this letter from my cable television provider Rogers Cable. Dear Rogers Cable Customer: {snip} I am now writing to inform you of yet another broadcasting policy proposal that is under consideration by the CRTC After rejecting it twice, the CRTC has reintroduced the idea of having a fee-for-carriage: a payment to Canadian over the air broadcasters that could ultimately end up costing cable and satellite TV subscribers between $5 and $10 per month!The proposal is being championed by over the air television networks such as CTV and Global (Canwest Media). These companies also own highly profitable specialty channels, such as TSN and History, and therefore overall are financially healthy.Furthermore, the CRTC has suggested that if the cable and satellite distributors don’t go along with the fee-for-carriage scheme, the television signals of American network stations, (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and PBS) which we have distributed since cable TV began, will be taken away. The “fee for carriage” proposal is strongly opposed by Rogers and most other cable and satellite distributors.You as a cable TV customer can take a definitive position to oppose this new tax, called “fee-for-carriage”.To do so you should contact the CRTC…

Change

Change

As you can see CEFM.ca has a fresh clean new look. It is a metaphor for things happening in my life now. I am preparing for the bittersweet life of Academia. I am returning to UNBSJ in a little over a week only this time I have a plan. I am intending to complete my BA with an Economics Major and History minor. I am also going to take a stab at the LSAT next month. I haven’t started studying yet for it. C’est la vie of the eternal procrastinator. I am also happy to announce that the goals I have set to lose weight are moving in the right direction. I have not been able to get to the gym this week, my old back injury from High School just came back. However, it did a big snap that really hurt Wednesday while running for the bus and is tender but it feels like it repositioned in the right way for the first time in a long time. I should be able to head back next week. I’m considering moving my Gallery section to Gallery3 however it is not ready yet and there are no themes at the current moment…

King’s Landing and Fredericton Market

King’s Landing and Fredericton Market

Over the weekend I rented a car and took my aunt Rena out to King’s Landing. While I was there I took this picture of the water pouring from a horse water feeder. This has got to be one of the best depth of field close-up pictures I have ever taken. I really like King’s Landing there is gust something about history, especially social history that just totally fascinates me. Again on the way, we stopped at the Boyce Market in Fredericton. The absolute best feature of the market is the German bakers. There is absolutely no better makers of really good foods than the Germans.

WordCamp Montreal and Other Things Montréal

WordCamp Montreal and Other Things Montréal

Getting here to Montreal, I had decided to get the bus. (Orleans Express/Acadian Lines) Thus it presents this opportunity to write this long detailed encounter as I have the remainder of the 13 hour bus trip to finish. After arriving here in Montreal I took a nice stroll down Ste-Catherine to the train station. It was on this trip through the eerily quite streets of the jazz festival site that I ran across the first image. Although to is common to think of those in the financial services industry as “wanks” someone thought it would be a great idea to draw one on the two sided of the corner of the building. After the fist day of sessions at word camp there was this crazy man that started yelling at me in french, I think he though I took a picture or something. The funny part that is so not like me is the fact that I started yelling back at him in English and he did not seem to understand me at all. That make id kind of funny then he ran off and I went off to catch the subway to the hotel. The subway in Montreal seemed…

Saint John Transit Changing Routes

Over the past few weeks, I have heard discussions on the bus about these upcoming changes. Some of the things I hear sounded stupid but look to be true. Now that I have seen the changes as a whole it makes a lot more sense. Basically, the routes I use are only changing by about 5-10 minutes and better evening runs. I really would not call this a major change, with the exception of the East-West and University, runs and addition of a few routes. But the numbers are. They are now grouping lines by the area where the old system had numbers all over the place. These changes are taking effect on August 9th, 2009. Please leave comments below on what you think of the changes. saintjohn.ca/transit-schedules has more information.

Time to pull Mayor Court

One of the major articles from the Telegraph-Journal this week that had caught my attention (Petition would oust Mayor) was the petition by Gerry Webster to recall the mayor. All I can say is where do I sign. No don’t say that I don’t agree with democracy, in fact I believe that petitioning to recall the Mayor is very democratic. I gives everyone the chance to vote on whether to keep the Mayor or pick someone better. Ivan Court in my opinion has not kept up the standard in the first year of his reign that this city needs, and is in fact going to be severely detrimental; as his and councils policies do nothing more than chase businesses out of the city. On the other hand I see that Fredericton would be probably the most likely and willing to nail the tomb on Saint John. In a historical perspective the city of Fredericton was created because of all the morons and poor decisions of Saint Johners. It would be very interesting to see who would come out of the woodwork that could beat Mayor Court. The fact that it only takes 15% of the electorate is a good number…

There ain’t no flies on us!

Once again it is summer. Last week something happened at work that got me remembering the amazing days of summers past spent at Camp Glenburn. Glenburn has to be one of the best places in New Brunswick to promote active living. It is on the south shore of the Bellisle Bay on a big hill that about every 2 hours you would go up and down. When you were up you were up, when you were down you were down and when you were only half way up… I Spent 4 summers there, the first was the year before the boathouse, the second was the year they built the boathouse, and the third was the year after the boathouse was built, and the final was when I was 16 in 1998. One of my most favorite activities was canoeing, especially when one year we went to the island in the bay east of the camp, and the other year when we went to a beach across the bay and to the west. And then there was the treks way up the hill to Mt. Baldy however it was in hindsight just a huge rockface and not really a mountain.

Okay, or maybe Save Local that gives a $#!+

While in my last post I may have took the position that Saving Local is not important. That is not true. I am against CTV and Global who have for the last few years, mainly CTV, treated New Brunswick as a second class maritime province in terms of share of news coverage and local programming. Now on to the main topic of this post, CBC Radio 1 in Saint John. In reality Saint John has about 4 main contacts for news CHSJ, CBC, CHNI, and Telegraph-Journal. However, only the Telegraph-Journal and CBC provide the depth of information and understanding of our community as a whole. Despite radio being close to a hundred year old technology. The style of the CBC just draws you in and is never shallow on good storytelling. Technically speaking the CBC does have a trend on over staffing on productions on the TV end but with the radio it takes less people to technically produce the shows so that leaves cutting the staff as ripping out pages from the unpublished book, still there but more shallow. I definitely plan on attending the rally in King’s Square this weekend. We Want Our CBC

Why not to “Save Local”

Today I seem ads on CTVGlobeMedia stations that are urging the government to require cable/satellite distributors to pay for distributing the signal. I think this is just plain wrong. Here in Saint John there are 4 broadcast stations CBAT (CBC Fredericton but licensed and has its main transmitter in Saint John), CKLT (Has no programming differences from CJCH (CTV Atlantic) in Halifax, NS), CIHF-TV-2 (a semi satellite of CIHF-TV known as Global Maritimes from Halifax.), and CBAFT-1 which is a re-transmitter of CBAFT the Radio-Canada Moncton feed. When it comes to local programming CTV is the absolute worst, as I have noted before at most has 2 stories from the Saint John area and 4-5 total from the entire Province of New Brunswick on a good day. Global TV despite their severe cut backs have managed to keep their news stories basically equal per province. The basics is that all 4 of these broadcasters offer their signals for free over-the-air (a.k.a. poverty-vision). The cable company simply re-transmits the feed via an antenna to cables to the subscribers. Why should we pay to have something that we get for free anyway? In fact this even benefits the TV stations by making…

All the photos taken for the website are now on Flickr

We have taken over a thousand photos over the four days. Instead of choosing the best I am posting all the “in focus” photos for the weekend on flicker. If you see a photo, you like and want the original high resolution .jpg file for free you may e-mail me at c@cefm.ca. Be sure to comment on the photos as well so everyone can know what you think if the photos. Photos on Flicker

Moncton takes Cornwall 5-4 in Finals Action

Moncton takes Cornwall 5-4 in Finals Action

After a long weekend here at the Lord Beaverbrook Rink here in Saint John NB, the Moncton Mark’s Work Wearhouse Flyers are on their way to Selkirk MB for the Telus Cup after the most intense battle of the tournament. In first period action, Moncton’s Gino Goguen comes out with an early hooking penalty that Cornwall’s Darcy Ashley took advantage of for the period’s only goal at 1:00 this period featured lots of physical action with few shots on goal. The second period started out like the first with an early penalty by Alex Saulnier leading to Cornwall’s Brent Andrews landing a power-play goal at 1:33. That goal released Alex Saulnier from the box who thirty-two seconds later at 2:03 scored on Cornwall goaltender Devon Cudmore. Later a 6:46 Moncton’s Jean-Marc Leger ties up the game with Flyers second goal. Then the Flyers lay two more goals on with Curtis Leet #18 and Alex Saulnier #21 at 11:54. However, Cornwall not wanting to go quietly in the night respond at 13:46 with their third goal by Brandon Carter #16. The third period was filled with eight penalties and a goal apiece for Cornwall’s star Jordan Costello (11:09) and Moncton’s Gino…

Game 10: Moncton 3 @ Cornwall 6

This game featured a warm-up for the final gold medal game slated for Sunday at 1:00 pm. As many times as these two teams play there is always something to play for. Both teams played a hard fought battle showing no backing off in saving energy for Sunday. These two teams proved that Sunday’s gold medal game will no doubt be a high-intensity hard-hitting affair. Shots on goal for this final round-robin game were 22-17 favouring HPEI’s Cornwall Thunder. Play resumes Sunday at 1 pm with the finals featuring Moncton (HNB) vs. Cornwall (HPEI) at the Lord Beaverbrook Rink in Saint John NB. Home Team: Cornwall Thunder (HPEI) Away Team: Moncton Flyers (HNB) Start Time: 3:30pm Arena: Lord Beaverbrook Rink Referee: TBD Linesmen: TBD Goals 1 2 3 OT SO Total HPEI 2 3 1 0 0 6 HNB 2 1 0 0 0 3 Shots on Goal 1 2 3 OT SO Total HPEI 5 9 8 0 0 22 HNB 5 8 4 0 0 17 Goals First Period 8:41 HNB- Allain Saunier #19 Assist- Pierre Durepos #23 13:39 HPEI- Brody McDonald #18 Assist- Devin Cudmore #29 and Brent Andrews #9 PPG 17:52 HPEI- Jason Smallman #28 Assist- Matt Myers #22 and Brody McDonald #18 PPG…

Game 9: Saint John 1 vs. Cole Harbour 5

In first period action in what many at the rink hoped would be the shoe-in for the Vito’s in tomorrow’s finals proved to not be the case as in the first period Cole Harbour nets a 3-0 lead with goals from 5:36 Christopher Riguse #11, 16:42 Michael Clarke 19#, and 19:04 Brandon Duke #20. The second period was fast with six penalties but the scoring did not resume until the third period when Saint John’s Jared Hicks broke the 2 period goose egg at 8:31. That however did not deter Cole Harbour from responding with Michael Crowley (10:42) and Mitchell Maynard (18:26) each scoring a goal to finish off the game with a 5-1 victory, dashing Saint John’s chances for a finals berth. Home Team: Cole Harbour McCains (HNS) Away Team: Saint John Vito’s (Host) Start Time: 12:30pm Arena: Lord Beaverbrook Rink Referee: TBD Linesmen: TBD Goals   1 2 3 OT SO Total HNS 3 0 2 0 0 5 Host 0 0 1 0 0 1 Shots on Goal   1 2 3 OT SO Total HNS 8 11 8 0 0 27 Host 3 8 8 0 0 19 Goals First Period 5:36 HNS- Christopher Riguse #11  Assist- Jordon Mock #8 16:42 HNS-…

Game 8: St. John’s 2 @ Cornwall 4

Play resumed this morning at the LBR. So far in the first period action HPEI’s Cornwall Thunder have taken an early lead with a 2-0 score. Cornwall’s Darcy Ashley started off the games scoring at 5:01. The second goal came at 14:27 by Jordan Costello taking advantage of a power play resulting from a roughing call. The other notable aspect of this period is that Cornwall received 3 penalties all for interference. After a second period of intense action the moral of this game is staying out of the penalty box as the periods seven penalties have led to two of the periods three goal. With 5 on 3 action Cornwall sunk the periods first goal at 3:10 by Matt Myers. Then at 6:07 St. John’s started a comeback with a goal by Ryan Walsh. Then to finish off the period at 17:55 Fog Devils forward Andrew Ryan completed a power play goal. Finishing off the third period was one more final goal from PEI’s Brandon Carter early in the period at 4:15. Then at 7:04 Fog Devils key player Jacob Pitcher was removed with a game misconduct for hitting from behind.The final score was 4-2 for Cornwall eliminating the…

Game 7 Moncton (HNB) 3 vs. Saint John (Host) 3

Game 7 Moncton (HNB) 3 vs. Saint John (Host) 3

In the first period of play, the first half was rather uneventful until the eight-minute mark that set off a string of penalties until Vito’s #4 Jamie Bishop scored a power-play goal at 14:05. The shots were fairly even with an 8-7 lead for Moncton at the end of the period. The second-period action went well for the Vito’s as they manage to take two goals twenty seconds apart with Matt Bursey at 5:42 and Jordan Bruce at 6:02. The latter causing the Flyers to switch goaltenders and Aaron Hamilton #31 took over from Scott Cale #29. The third-period action definitely changed the face or this game as the Moncton Flyers came back with a goal early in the period at 0:27 by Pierre Durepos, followed shortly after by Alex Saulnier at 3:58. Then following a hard fought game just as Vito’s fans were starting to enjoy their victory when at 19:58 Allain Saulnier scored the final goal leaving this the only tied game so far at 3-3. The final shots on goal were 21-17 favouring Moncton. Action will resume with the final 3 round-robin games starting with Cornwall at St. John’s at 9 am then at 12:30 pm Saint…

Game 6: Cole Harbour (HNS) 2 @ St. John’s (HNL) 5

Early in the first period it did not take the Fog Devils long to show the direction the game was going to take. Upon 0:23 into the game Zach O’Brian sunk the games first goal against McCains goaltender Ben Clark. Although Clark’s attempt should not dissmissed as he protected the net from 10 more shots as the Fog Devils only managed to get one more past him as Ryan Walsh #4 scored the periods second and Final goal. The second period was definitely a “Featuring the Fog Devils” kind of period as all the goals and penalties featured the Fog Devils. St. John’s sunk 3 goals past the McCains starting with Michael Cole’s at the 0:13 second mark, followed by Zach O’Brien’s second game goal at 7:35 and the final from Andrew Ryan at 13:24. However all the penalties resulted in a 12-8 reversal for Cole Harbour in the shots on goal numbers. Third period play was very even in shots on goal and penalties however Cole Harbour attempted to make a comeback with two close together goals midway through the period. The goals were by Christopher Riguse #11 at 9:15 and Tyler Doyle #14 at 10:48. Shots on goal…

Game 5: Saint John (Host) 2 @ Cornwall (HPEI) 1

Game 5: Saint John (Host) 2 @ Cornwall (HPEI) 1

Although the first period was played very disciplined by the Vito’s the period’s action began before the puck even dropped as Cornwall’s Dylan McGuigan #19 received an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty. The game was played very fast albeit very light on the shots on goal with 4 a piece and none successful. It did not take much however in the second period for the Vito’s Matt Bursey to land the only goal of the second period at 0:36. The true hero of the period was Vito’s goaltender Matthew Murphy who covered 8 amazing saves, many from point-blank range. Through out the third period, the Vito’s had a difficult time staying out of the penaly box resulting in the final goal at the end of the period to break the shout-out by Cornwall’s Darcy Ashley at 19:53. the Vito’s had just taken a 2-0 lead prior to that goal by #22 Aidan Kelly at 18:32, which unfortunately resulted in Matt Bursey heading to the dressing room with an injury after providing an assist to the Kelly goal.  The saving graces for the Vito’s in this game seemed to be Matthew Murphy at goal after an inspirational turnaround based on his tough playoff…

Game 4: Cole Harbour 1 vs. Moncton 4

Game 4: Cole Harbour 1 vs. Moncton 4

Late in the first-period, the Moncton Flyers (HNB) took on an early first-period lead with a goal by Allain Saulnier. There was solid goaltending at both ends and was definitely a fast and physical first period. In the second period , the heavy physical play continued resulting in 5 penalties the most notable coming late in the period when Moncton’s Nick Smith was removed from the game and issued a game misconduct for hitting from behind. Then Cole Harbour’s Michael Crowley took advantage of this by 1:27 later sinking a power-play goal at 17:48. The third-period action was not disappointing for Moncton (HNB) as the period started with Cole Harbour’s Jarett Johns being removed from the game for Hitting from Behind. Then later Moncton’s Tyrone Sock took advantage of a 4 on 4 to sink the tie-breaking goal at 11:47, resulting in a power play in which he sunk a power-play goal at 12:15. Then near the end of the game, Cole Harbour’s Jordon Mock was ejected for High Sticking (2:00), Unsportsmanlike Conduct (2:00), and a Game Misconduct (10:00). Moncton’s Allain Saulnier took advantage of this to sink his second goal of the game during the power play at 19:43.…