Homeless in Abbotsford, BC

I DO NOT, HAVE NOT, WOULD NOT ever suggest throwing money at a problem. I am a REALIST, believing in examining a problem to understand what the situation IS. I am not an Ideologue who, wearing the blinders of ideology, looks at a situation and sees what they want to see, not what really is. There is NO perfect solution. A system dealing with people demands flexibility and denies neat, easy answers. Rigidly applying Ideology guarantees failure. How I came to homelessness: click Backstory below.

0 comments Published Saturday, January 24, 2009 by James W Breckenridge.

Growing Hunger in Abbotsford

I got an email from a friend about a friend of hers who had lost his job. With the economy in the shape it is he had been unable and is unlikely in the immediate future to find another job. Like so many people he was living paycheque to paycheque with no savings and now found himself looking at not only hunger, but also facing the very real prospect of homelessness.

For someone who had always been able to buy food and pay his rent it was a frightening, yet very real possibility.

Because searching for information about being homeless in Abbotsford turns up www.homelessinabbotsford.com I have been getting emails from people struggling with the prospect of homelessness etc in Abbotsford.

I had a conversation earlier tonight about a friend’s wife who was getting reduced hours at work. Fortunately for her he was still employed so that although they faced reduced income, his wife was not facing homelessness. Unlike the third party in the conversation who would be facing homelessness if she did not get more hours of work than scheduled.

With the economy in the shape it is and thousands of Canadians losing their jobs we face the potential of a tidal wave of new homeless on our streets. Even if they are fortunate and manage to hold onto their accommodations these Canadians will find themselves without money for food and thus hungry.

At the Chamber of Commerce’s recent breakfast it was noted that there were 6,000 people helped by the Abbotsford Food Bank. 6000 people needing the food bank to eat; a number that just keeps rising ever higher. Worse, 2,000 of that number were children.

We know that the Abbotsford Food Bank raises the bulk of its funds for the year during the Christmas Season. We also know that during this past Season fund raising targets were being missed, in some cases by a wide margin. News reports informed us that in the months leading up to Christmas donations of food and funds to food banks were significantly lower than the levels needed to meet the growing demand on food banks.

Which has me wondering what the current state of the Abbotsford Food Bank is and how this next year, which threatens to be one of quickly increasing need, is shaping up?

I suspect the food and funding levels are poor at best with bad, perhaps very bad, being the most likely levels. It does not matter how hard the people at the Food Bank work, the levels depend on the community.

So what are we, the community of Abbotsford, going to do about hunger and hungry children in our city, our community?

Bury our heads in the sand? Let self interest rule as it has recently? Send adults and children to bed hungry?

Or will we do whatever is necessary to make sure the shelves of the Food Bank are stocked so that people do not suffer hunger?

The choice is yours Abbotsford. Choose.

0 comments Published Sunday, January 18, 2009 by James W Breckenridge.

Nice of the Chamber of Commerce to step up.

I read with interest the letter from David D. Hull concerning the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce and its board of directors’ position on Plan A.

It is unfortunate that Monday January 19th 2009 is one of the days council has chosen not to be taking care of business as this is a matter they need to move on quickly to ensure it’s inclusion in the city budget they are drawing up.

Given Mr. Hull and the Chamber of Commerce’s “unwavering belief” that all 3 Plan A projects will make Abbotsford “a fantastic place to conduct business”, council must recognize the $benefits$ that will accrue to Abbotsford businesses from these projects.

In light of the breadth of the business $benefits$ cited by city council and other staunch supporters of these projects the business taxes levied on these $benefits$ should to be spread widely over the business community, rather than limited to the hospitality industry via room rental and meal taxes as is the case in Vancouver to pay for the Vancouver convention centre ensuring that businesses gaining $benefits$ from these projects, contribute to the costs of the projects in a manner reflective of the $benefits$ they will receive.

With two of the projects already open and the third scheduled to be open before the City’s new fiscal year begins, council needs to act promptly to ensure these $benefits$ are appropriately recognized and taxed; reducing the impact of debt repayment for capital costs and cost overruns, interest payments and the yearly operating expenses on ordinary taxpayers gaining no benefits from the Plan A projects.

It is fortunate Mr. Hull and his board of directors brought the matter to the public’s attention at this time as it permits council to include a tax reflecting the Plan A $benefits$ to business in the budget for the next fiscal year.

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The Times

Friday, January 16, 2009

EDITOR, THE TIMES:

The Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce board of directors passed a resolution at their December board meeting to vociferously and enthusiastically support local efforts to secure an American Hockey League franchise for Abbotsford.

The Abbotsford chamber has been a staunch supporter of all three Plan A projects with the unwavering belief that an improvement to the quality of life in Abbotsford will make our city a great place to live. A great place to live is a fantastic place to conduct business.

The addition of an AHL franchise in our city would be a fantastic addition to the sporting and entertainment landscape.

We are confident that an AHL team in Abbotsford would not be to the detriment of other hockey leagues in the area, but in fact an important asset.

An AHL team would raise the awareness and appreciation of semi pro and junior league hockey and will in fact grow the overall market.

David D. Hull
Executive Director
Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce

0 comments Published Friday, January 16, 2009 by James W Breckenridge.

You call that consulting? I call it insulting.

You’re the federal Finance Minister; the world economy is in meltdown mode; the Canadian economy is in reverse, showing no inclination to stop edging closer and closer to the precipice where recession plunges into depression; you have come to the west coast for consultation and input on the economy and you go to … West Vancouver?

The only way he could have held his consultation somewhere less in touch with the economic reality that 80 – 90% of Canadians face in their daily lives in the actual working world would have been to hold it on Jimmy Patterson’s yacht. However, that would have left no room for the press and thus press coverage.

Why is it that when politicians want to consult on or discuss the economy they never seek the advice or opinion of the people who are most affected by the economic policies of governments? Probably because they will be given advice and opinions they do not want to hear, much less have to act on it.

For instance Employment Insurance. You currently have to wait 45 days to start collecting EI. With so many working Canadians living pay cheque to pay cheque as a result of the government policies that continue to swell the ranks of the working poor how are you expected to survive 45 days?

With the economy in free fall and shedding jobs by the tens of thousands how are the unemployed to find employment before their EI benefits run out? Add in those trapped on Welfare because there are no jobs for them in this economy plus the fact that welfare payments are not sufficient to pay rent or live on and the country is facing the possibility of a tidal wave of homeless.

That is not what the government wants to hear or to have to act on. No our governments abhor having to spend money on the welfare of the poor, those who have or will lose their jobs and the working poor; preferring to spend nothing to insure the welfare of these citizens. No welfare spending should be reserved for corporations and the wealthy.

The federal government has for years been abandoning its duty of care to address the welfare of the ordinary citizen; but let big corporations like the automobile industry need welfare and the feds happily rush to hand over billions – on top of the billions of dollars of corporate welfare paid to the car companies over prior decades.

We have already started to hear the hue and cry for tax cuts to stimulate the economy, a course of action that has been a favourite of governments over the years. Yes we will cut taxes to make the rich richer; but put money into the hands of the poor or ordinary income earner – can’t do that – even if these are the groups that will spend the money and stimulate the economy.

Listening and watching Mr. Harper and his finance minister Mr. Flaherty it is looking more and more as though the fact Canadian voters denied the Conservatives a majority and Mr. Harper having been forced to prorogue parliament is a massive stroke of luck for ordinary Canadians.

Not only is Mr. Harper required to work with the other parties, but the events leading up to the Governor General proroguing parliament rudely and extremely effectively reminded Mr. Harper of the need to consult and work with the other parties in parliament.

One of the things that Mr. Flaherty and Mr. Harper don’t want to hear but need to actually pay attention to in deciding on policy is that the economic disaster we find ourselves teetering on is a result of the actions and policies of governments over past 2 – 3 decades.

Continuing to operate in the same way is only going to continue to give rise to more of the same economic problems; in other words if government keeps on doing what it has been doing we are going to continue to get what we have been getting.

Personally I have no desire to keep on getting the economic outcomes that we are facing currently, do you?

It is time to tell Mr. Harper we have had enough of the insanity of doing the same thing over and over, basing policy on the same operating philosophies, hoping that one of these times the outcome will be different.

No more corporate welfare; no more welfare for the rich; it is time that government paid attention to the welfare of ordinary Canadians.

0 comments Published Wednesday, January 14, 2009 by James W Breckenridge.

Conservative MPs missing in action

Gord Kurenoff’s column about Tory MPs missing in action raised a few thoughts on the matter.

When did the Langley officials ask MP Mark Warawa to “show them the money”?
Was it before the project began or was it recently as he toured the nearly completed centre? The time to line up funding by senior levels of government is prior to starting the project when you have the maximum political and PR leverage.

While I am not happy that Ed Fast failed to get Abbotsford any federal funds I think that pointing fingers at his failure to be proactive in seeking funds distracts taxpayer attention from those who should face an inquisition over the fact that when it comes to protecting Abbotsford’s taxpayers pocketbook it was to much trouble for even one member of city council to pick up a phone and ask Ed Fast to earn his keep by securing federal funds.

Of course, if council was to engage in such proactive behaviours as asking the local MP to get federal funds it would create work for them. They would have to follow up, make more phone calls, letters to the prime minister … Be proactive, seek out opportunities that would be to the advantage of the citizens of Abbotsford? That kind of behaviour would get in the way of cutting council meetings back to twice a month.

If we are going to censure or impeach our local MPs let us do it for the major failings they have committed recently.

No Conservative MP should have been re-elected after permitting Stephen Harper to call the unwanted and unnecessary recent federal election.

Conservative MP’s turned around and added grievous damage and insult to the injury already done to Canadians when they permitted Stephen Harper’s megalomania to cause him to see himself not as leader of a minority government, but as ruler by divine right of Canada. Canadians are still waiting for the bill and fallout of that reckless cretinism.

Not a peep out of Conservative MPs about Mr. Harper’s recklessness and delusional fantasies of omnipotence. If, as suggested by Mr. Kurenoff, this behaviour of kowtowing to Mr. Harper’s every whim is as a result of Randy Whiteitis and their desperation for political power the fallacy and irony in this behaviour is dumbfounding.

Focusing on avoiding Randy Whiteitis the behaviour of the Conservative caucus and party has become so lemming-like they blindly follow Mr. Harper off the cliff of “how to blow a pending majority government” time and again.

Despite the millions of dollars of spin the Conservatives spent on Stephen Harper’s image, the Canadian people made clear that they did not trust Mr. Harper with a majority government; a judgment bourn out by his behaviour after the recent election.

In leaping from the frying pan of Randy Whiteitis the Conservatives have leapt into the fire of Stephen Harper’s being unacceptable to Canadians as the leader of a majority government and lacking the courage to leap out of the fire.

0 comments Published Friday, January 09, 2009 by James W Breckenridge.

Sigh ... a lttle Common Sense would be so nice.

Any regular patron or minimally observant staff member of ARC will tell you that January, with its large influx of New Year’s resolution exercisers, is the busiest of the winter months. They can also tell you that as January progresses the New Year’s resolution people fall away and the crowd thins back out.

So if you were scheduling maintenance that would close the men’s and women’s change rooms for three days each, forcing people to change in the family change rooms you would schedule this maintenance for … the first week of January if you are the City of Abbotsford.

In keeping with the effort to maximize inconvenience and hassle for patrons: rather than schedule the closure for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday one week and the same three days the next week you would of course schedule the maintenance for six days in a row.

That way rather than closing only on the quietest days of the week you include Thursday (cheap swim), Friday (longer public swim) and Saturday (public swims and a pool rental with 2 – 3 dozen people wanting to change at the same time) allowing the city to annoy and torment as many patrons as possible.

Mayor George Peary says he wants to bring change to City Hall. I would suggest he make his #1 priority introducing Common Sense into city behaviour and decisions.

0 comments Published Sunday, January 04, 2009 by James W Breckenridge.

Nice non-work if you can get it.

Obviously I missed something in our recent municipal election.

Although I am not sure how as I attended all the all-candidates meetings listening carefully to everything the candidates said and paid careful attention to the media to ensure awareness of the issues and ideas candidates were speaking of.

Yet somehow I managed to miss our recently elected and/or re-elected mayor and council members speaking of the need to hold council meetings only twice a month. Or was this a possibility our elected representatives felt the public didn’t need to know? Something to be added to the long and growing list of issues and costs that the public does not need to know anything about?

This 50% reduction was approved on December 15th at the last council meeting of 2008 - just before taking a month off. Apparently they felt the need to rest up before beginning their arduous new twice a month schedule.

For the sake of accuracy - with 52 weeks in a year a bi-weekly schedule would entail 26 meetings a year, not the 24 on council’s 2009 schedule. Council is neither meeting bi-weekly nor every other Monday but twice a month.

It is this lack of attention to detail and to reality which has the City burdened with massive debt and debt repayments and having the need to invest tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure at a time the city is facing declining revenues and with most taxpayers unable to afford any tax increases.

Abbotsford is facing harsh fiscal realities as a result of council’s past actions. Under this grim reality the economic slowdown would not seem an excuse to kick back, take it easy, meet less and twiddle ones thumbs but a call to action.

I had not realized that council had all its’ infrastructure projects in a state where they are ready to break ground the day after receiving funding.

The federal government is readying to apply economic stimulus through spending to invest in infrastructure. With stimulus the purpose of this spending it is the projects that are ready to break ground immediately, not in six months or a year or two, that will be receiving funding.

To benefit from this federal largess council must have infrastructure projects ready for an immediate ground breaking, not be sitting around waiting for money to fall into their laps – we all know, and are paying for, how well that worked with Plan A.

With the economy in the shape it is in, the attraction of business and development is not only highly competitive but is becoming more competitive all the time.

Council needs to spend time expediting matters that are tied up in City Hall’s bureaucracy. Such positive action would serve to counter Abbotsford’s reputation as a bureaucratic red-tape nightmare which moves with snail like speed and is the last place one wants to do business.

The city needs to be aggressively competing for business rather than sitting around watching business and revenue fall. Taxpayers can no longer afford to make up the difference between council’s budget revenue numbers and the real world revenue levels.

Of course in the real world the economic slowdown is reason to work twice as hard, not an excuse for a 50% reduction in efforts.

If council is finding it difficult to stir themselves in the face of the economic slowdown they could use the extra time available at council meetings to consult with the public as to the publics priorities, where to reduce expenditures to offset the reduced revenue, ideas on attracting business and revenue and ideas on ways to save money through expenditure reductions.

Not to forget homelessness, poverty, children going to bed hungry at night, a food bank facing the need for new premises to meet ever increasing demand while donations decline, a host of social problems made worse by economic realities real people have to face, etc.

Consult the public – as they should have consulted the public on cutting council meetings to twice a month during the recent election rather than waiting until safely elected (or re-elected) before springing this on the electorate.

As a suggestion from the public on cost reduction: since council ran on a platform that included weekly meetings, it is reasonable to divide their yearly salaries by 52 and pay this amount for each council session actually attended.

Unfortunately council is unlike the poor taxpayer who, upon deciding by/for themselves to only show up half the time, would quickly find themselves seeking other employment.

0 comments Published Friday, January 02, 2009 by James W Breckenridge.

Be aware to Beware.

“We need to get those MP3 players purchased and ready” I was told the other day. I had been volunteered to write a proposal for funds to replace the old, bulky and failing cassette-tape walkmans with MP3 players. The proposal was successful and the funds await spending.

I ducked the statement and avoided committing, not because I seemed to have now been volunteered to carry out the acquisition and preparation of the MP3 players, but because I have become aware of the reality and dark purpose driving the iPod/MP3 player revolution. Aware of what the real source of the technology behind the small, lightweight size of current digital music players with their large memory capacity and flexible music loading and playing management systems is.

All of these innovations were designed to maximize the number of people using this new generation of digital music players. The stratagem has worked and the use of these digital audio devices has become ubiquitous within our society. It has become “normal” for human beings to be seen to have a tendril running from an ear or ears to disappear into the persons clothing and for the person to appear distracted or “not all there”.

Seeing a person in such a state we automatically assume that the tendril is a wire(s) connected to a speaker in the ear and that at the other end of the wire(s) is a digital audio player. Since digital audio players are now so small we find nothing unusual in not seeing the device the “wire(s)” are assumed to be attached to.

I spoke of it becoming normal for human beings to be seen with thin tendrils running out of their ears and down to somewhere on their bodies because this digital audio technology is of extraterrestrial origin.

I can hear you and your sceptical “not another wacko alien conspiracy to take over the human race”.

I do not blame you for that attitude. After all, the human race has been brain washed by the government and media to believe that aliens do not exist and that even if they did exist, aliens have the fatal flaw of rushing into their conquest of humanity. Thereby permitting a miraculous, if improbable or impossible, salvation strategy to be found by the handful of humans aware of the impending doom to not only overcome the obstacles presented by the inertia of disbelief of billions of humans and the actions of humans already controlled by their alien masters but to successfully destroy the alien conquerors.

It was with those in media that we first began to become use to seeing human beings with tendrils (wires) leading out of their ears out of sight. It was in media that we also became use to seeing the lumps of what were assumed to be merely electronic devices under the clothing of those with tendrils running from their ears.

The truth is that any race that has learned to cross the vast distances of space has had to learn patience.

Reality is that, faced with the inertia of billions of humans and opposed by those already become hosts, a handful of human beings cannot save the human race from becoming hosts to their alien parasite masters without somehow managing to expose the truth of this slow moving conquest to humans as yet without a “puppet master” alien parasite directing and controlling them.

So begins the defence/salvation of the human race by those aware of the reality, the truth, behind the digital music player revolution and alien conquest strategy.

This awareness cannot be shouted from the rooftops. That would only warn the would be alien conquerors/enslavers, advance the alien conquest by making the shouter and his claims a laughingstock, imperil the shouter and others aware of the slow subjection of humanity occurring and deny those aware of the conquest underway the time needed to disseminate knowledge of the truth and assemble an army to defeat this insidious threat to the future of the human race.

No, this information must slowly be disseminated through out the entire human race so they can be on their guard and become ready to repel this invasion.

Now YOU know. Pass it along quietly and carefully. Be prepared to answer when the call for action to throw off these alien masters and their lackeys comes.

Until then to avoid servitude, avoid anything that would make people use to seeing you with a tendril running out of your brain (ear), as do I. Temporize.

Caveat.

0 comments Published Thursday, January 01, 2009 by James W Breckenridge.

Media changes a must.

I solidly agree with Mark Latham’s conclusion that currently media is failing miserably at asking the questions and providing information which the public needs to make informed decisions; failing to lead debate and discussion on important local, provincial, national and societal issues; being more focused on the comics (style) than stimulating debate and discussion (substance).

Indeed, I have expressed my opinions on these failings to the local publishers and editors as well as to the CEO of the corporations owning the Abbotsford newspapers.

However I think his concept of creating another government bureaucracy to address this pressing and important problem/issue is based too much on “thinking within the box”.

Given the effect that the internet is having on information dissemination, the rapid technological changes (pod/web casts, digital recording and editing etc) and the current operational and fiscal realities of print and broadcast media I think that the media is in such a state flux, even chaos, that “thinking outside the box” is where the best solution or solutions will be found.

Rather than seeking to find and impose “the” solution I would argue that the best approach would be to encourage experimentation.

In that regard I would like to draw attention to the current inform the public/ask the questions/raise the issues/wide open debate/readership inclusive/it is about content media experiment taking place in Abbotsford, BC.

A brief background: Abbotsford has two chain owned local papers; a third paper, The Post, was started up with much more open and interesting editorial content than either of the two long established chain papers; The Post was bought out by Canwest Global, owners of the Abbotsford Times, who proceeded to gut all the editorial content and turn it into a entertainment insert – managing to turn what had been interesting reading into boring entertainment pabulum.

In October of 2008 AT (Abbotsford Today) was launched at www.abbotsfordtoday.ca. The four columnists dropped from the pages of the Post became columnists for the new AT. While originally envisioned as strictly an online publication Abbotsford Today currently publishes a monthly print news-magazine edition supported by local advertisers and reader subscriptions.

I state upfront that I know the people involved in putting AT together. I was a booster and supporter of AT’s editor when he was involved in founding The Post. I enthusiastically cheered the people involved on when AT was merely a glint in their eyes. Not because they were friends but because Abbotsford so badly needed an open and free news/opinion/issues media voice. And if this experiment was successful it could be adapted to and implemented in other local (even provincial or national) markets.

There are several things I particularly liked about this model.

It reminds me of the local paper I grew up reading. Local ownership so policy is set locally; reader subscriptions mean that content has to be of interest to the readers, the paper is not just the wrapping for flyer delivery; the end user (the reader) evaluates the content and its usefulness or interest and expresses that by subscribing or not subscribing; local businesses/advertisers get to participate and express their support/thoughts thru the purchase or non-purchase of advertising.

The major web presence means timely presentation of the news and breaking stories/issues. It also allows more reader participation – letters to the editor, stories, comment and all the space needed for reader writings. It allows more content since it is not limited to X number of pages.

The model is flexible, adaptable and evolving. Given the state of flux, chaos and change media is in at this time these characteristics are needed if we are to arrive at a product that delivers the information and content that readers not only want but need.

It is this state of flux, chaos and change media is currently in that has me favouring an approach to encourage experimentation and diversity rather than trying to find and impose “the” solution. Let market forces, the public and readers evaluate and judge the models. Then we can adapt and spread the models tested and appropriate to the media market.

It would be nice if there was a pool of money that could be used to provide seed funding for experiments such as Abbotsford Today and I would certainly encourage and support the establishment of such a fund.

Ultimately it comes down to the readers judgment as to the value of the media being offered to them. Which reminds me – I need to write a cheque and send in my subscription to Abbotsford Today.

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New Ideas for the New Year, 2009 (http://www.thetyee.ca/News/2008/12/22/NewIdeas09/)

Idea #2: Voter-funded Media

Mark Latham wants readers to control the purse strings.

For a former financial executive, Mark Latham doesn't have a whole lot of faith in the invisible hand's power to give us the news we need.

Who can blame him? Two companies control half (http://www.cna-acj.ca/en/aboutnewspapers/circulation) of the country's daily newspapers. Both plan big layoffs and one of the two, CanWest, is in 10-figure debt (http://www.cna-acj.ca/en/aboutnewspapers/circulation). South of the border, the company that owns the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune has declared bankruptcy (http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/12/10/ap5805933.html).

And even before the economy went into the tank, media critics (http://www.freepress.net/media_issues/journalism) accused the industry of prioritizing financial over journalistic considerations.

But Latham believes he has developed a model that will increase the media's public accountability while creating additional revenue.

"I don't think you can get good enough media for free," the founder of votermedia.org told the Tyee. "But the way you design the way media get revenue will affect the information you get."

Voter-funded media (http://www.votermedia.org/) evolved from Latham's earlier work on corporate governance and is based on the simple premise that money persuades. Allow the public to make media funding decisions and news organizations will become more accountable to readers, rather than the advertisers or government who currently control the purse strings. The result, according to Latham, should be a knock-on effect leading to a better-informed electorate, better elected officials and better public policy.

Anyone could vote online to decide which news outlets should get a portion of a designated pool of public money. In theory, the funding model would free news organizations from the thrall of corporate advertisers while avoiding the risk of government control. But that doesn't mean Latham wants to do away altogether with the dominant free-market system or the more traditional kind of public funding that keeps the CBC going. Instead, he sees voter-funded media as a third option that would foster greater media diversity.

Latham has tested his idea at UBC and Langara College during student election campaigns, in Vancouver during the six months leading up to last month's municipal vote and now, province-wide ahead of the May election.

Though he has struggled to attract and retain regular voters, he said he has been pleased with the wisdom of those who have participated. (Full disclosure: The Tyee finished tops in the Vancouver Election Blog contest (http://votermedia.org/van/totals.html). It initially encouraged readers to vote for it but ceased the practice several months before election day.)

Not so fast

Some media experts are sceptical.

Ross Howard, a journalism instructor at Vancouver's Langara College, readily admits there are problems with Canadian media. They don't question society deeply enough, they don't cover the media well, there is too much corporate concentration and journalists working for major companies are sometimes "inhibited or self-censoring."

But he worries the public could value entertainment over the need for a watchdog and imagines a scenario where "52,000 teenage boys would all get online and vote for Monster Truck Magazine."

Latham argues that even individuals who spend their time and money on infotainment may rationally decide to allot public funds to a service they recognize as essential, even if they only use it for 15 minutes right before an election.

"The value of media is not measured by the amount of time you spend watching it," Latham said.

Stephen Ward, the former director of UBC's School of Journalism who is now at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, likes the idea of public input into the distribution of media funding, but also worries about the outcome of a "popularity contest." What's more, he wonders if voting on the finished product might not mean the evaluation is coming too late.

"It's too based on what people have already done or are doing when, in fact, we know that one of the things wrong with our journalism is that we don't do stories about many, many stories in many, many parts of the world," he said. "So how does that get onto the agenda?"

Latham admits there will be growing pains but believes time will allow media organizations to develop a track record that will let the public vote accordingly. He argues readers may reward an initially unpopular editorial stance five years down the line.

"After it's been running for a while, I think what you'll see happen is new media will grow that are serving this source of revenue and they will build reputations that will appeal to the voters so that they'll get more revenue," he said.

For a few dollars more

The source of the money for voters to distribute could pose another challenge.

"The idea is the funding should ideally come from that voting community if that voting community has a pool of funds, whether it's corporate funds or tax funds," according to Latham. "It would be in the interests of the members of that community to fund a blog ranking because they'll get better information for their voters."

But Kathleen Cross, a lecturer in communications at Simon Fraser University, believes Latham will have a hard time convincing people the media require more public funds.

She thinks objections are likely from both the public and those within the media industry concerned, perhaps mistakenly, that such funds will translate into government control.

"There's a lot of resistance to channelling public funds into something that supposedly doesn't have accountability," she said. "When you look at the kind of critiques of the CBC in the last 10 to 15 years, it would be even more so with this kind of a system."

And yet, media subsidies are not uncommon in Europe where Cross says a number of countries tax commercial media revenues and redirect the money to organizations that do not rely on advertising.

The CBC aside, Canada has some modest federal subsidies of its own, such as the Canada Magazine Fund, which promotes Canadian content and the Publications Assistance Program, which provides postal discounts for magazines and non-daily newspapers

Howard would like to see such subsidies increase "massively" and thinks it would be useful to see federal funding agencies test Latham's idea for a year without actually disbursing funds.

"I'd like to at least see if, through a website, you can test this proposition that Canadians will repeatedly vote in favour of what they like in the way of media and that when you total it up, it won't all just be entertainment media," he said.

Tomorrow the world

Despite her reservations, Cross called Latham's idea "bold" and said it could serve as a partial antidote to the advertising-based system, which often produces coverage that is "problematic and unrepresentative."

Ward points to the year-old ProPublica, funded by an American private foundation and specializing in investigative reporting, or the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, which gives money to approved projects, as other ways of promoting alternative journalism. He doesn't want to discourage creative ideas but suggests Latham's model needs some restructuring.

Latham is the first to acknowledge voter-funded media is a work in progress. Right now, his primary focus is creating a new website, or "building a better mousetrap" as he puts it, in the hopes of adding to the disappointing 450 voters who participated in his first large-scale trial.

But the fact that voter-funded media is still very much at the experimental stage isn't keeping Latham from dreaming big.

He envisions a system where each country, province, municipality and its corporate stockholders, labour unions and professional associations could weigh in.

"The idea is to have a blog ranking and competition -- a separate competition -- for every voting community in the world."

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