After the subject with no meat of yesterday I better put something up today to express my pissed-off-ed-ness.

It is a watered down version of what I intended, but there is just too much to contend with in a short time with these cuts and closures Canada wide at the moment.

Below is an abridged version of an e mail I sent to local and regional politicians. I don’t expect much will come of this, but at least I thought I should make these people aware of what is about to happen. Believe me they had no inkling.

At the end of July 2012 CBC will be shutting down all its free to air Television transmitters across the country.

Along with the CBC shut down APTN transmitters will be shutting down.

This has a two fold effect on the people of small rural communities.

One is that everybody who does not subscribe to Satellite or cable TV service will be unable to receive any TV broadcast all.

Second is that cable subscribers will not be able to receive CBC or APTN broadcasts if the cable companies do not install receivers to pick up the CBC and APTN signals. At the moment cable companies on the coast pick up the free to air signal and re broadcast on cable.

I am not sure of the ratio of people who do not subscribe to Satellite or cable service, but I would think it a lot higher than the CBC president’s figure of 1.7% Canada wide.

My guess would be closer to 30% and if the cable companies do not install the receivers required this number would increase.

CBC has at the moment around 620 transmitters across the country. After the shut down only 14 to 16 transmitters will remain, all in large populated areas.

In this province 90 transmitters will shut down. About 18 of those are in Labrador.

This is a travesty for the less privileged of society and something needs to be done about it.

What can be done I don’t know, but I think groups and individuals representing small communities need to have a serious look at this and contact CBC and the local cable companies in your area as well as the CRTC and the federal Government. 

 

Things pertaining to the Goose Bay base are going from the ridicules to the absurd with announcements and hints and promises.

First the feds announce a third griffin chopper to act as asecondary SAR in the area. In actual fact all they are doing to bringing the 444 squadron back up to full compliment by returning the chopper taken away for work in Afghanistan.

Then a couple days later the chief of the defense staffgives hints that perhaps some of the unused housing at 5 Wing can be used forcivilian housing.

What a novel idea, I have been writing about that very same thing for several years now.

The chief went on to say nothing is concrete; talks need to be held with community leader’s yadda yadda.

By community leaders I hope he does not mean the HV-GB mayor and town council exclusively.

It is well known the mayor and many of the councilors are not exactly the sharpest knives in the cutlery draw. There also seems to be a cozy relationship between developers in the area and some councilors.  

There is some sharp community activist around town so I hope they are watching what is going on. 

Lil oh Rigolet jumped into the headlines again yesterday, all due to a seven dollar nine cents loaf of bread.

The more things change the more they stay the same on the coast of Labrador. Have a listen to the audio on this link, very enlightening.

It just highlights what I and others have been saying about the absurdity of the Nutrition North Canada program.

By the by, I took the opportunity to check out the bread section down at Northern yesterday. Prices vary between $4:09 to just under 5 bucks. But what stood out yesterday was the limited availability and the fact the USE BEFORE dates ranged from 6 April to 25 March, with some having no use before date stamp.

It may be that the bread was frozen before shelving, but nothing can hide the 18 day old stale bread smell the permeates through the plastic wrap.