David James Varnes

       Air Canada B737MAX aircraft have been stored at Vancouver for months awaiting the return of       airline travelers.  David Varnes photo.   IS THERE A FUTURE FOR AIRLINES IN CANADA? '...It's been the darkest period in the aviation industry that I have ever seen...' Fred Hospes interview March 06, 2021                                                         Fred Hospes has been representing  unionized working people in air transport in Canada for three decades as an elected officer in the Machinists Union. District Lodge 140 represents ground employees with Air Canada, Air Transat and Sunwings Airlines.  In a frank March 06, 2021 interview, Fred discusses the many changes that have taken place within Canadian air transport, and the uncertain future for people who still have jobs in this vital industry.                                                                                                                                  Fred Hospes, President and Directing Ge

        Vancouver International Airport (YVR) January 23, 2021 at 2:46 PM, and there is not an airplane  in sight.       Photo by David Varnes      Is the Vancouver Airport in peril?      'We have cancelled or deferred 60 per cent of our capital projects.'            YVRAA CEO Tamara Vrooman, interview on January 25, 2021        The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the revenues of the Vancouver International Airport (YVR). The Operating Authority's (YVRAA) new CEO, Tamara Vrooman, has had to revisit the 2037 Airport Master Plan and either cancel or reassess $9.7 billion in capital projects scheduled over the next three years.       In March 2020, the world was alerted to a new virus in China, later to be categorized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, and designated COVID-19. The pandemic spread world-wide, and air travel became restricted as a consequence. Throughout 2020, airports and airlines began to cut services, reduce schedules, defer investment, and impl

AIRLINES and MRO's IN CANADA WILL FACE A SEVERE MECHANICAL TRADES SHORTAGE    Airlines and airline manufacture, overhaul and repair facilities (MRO's) in Canada will face a severe mechanical trades crisis within five years, say many airline industry observers. This crisis will result in reduced flight availability for Canadian travelers and a huge economic loss for the nation.    The chart above displays the average number of airline employees, by group, from 2012-2017. Corporate human resource conventional wisdom holds that your employee replacement rate should be around ten per cent. This percentage covers attrition for promotions, retirements, long term illnesses, terminations, resignations, and unpredictable events. With the exception of the airline management group which has declined in numbers, the remaining groups have kept pace with attrition, except for the maintenance personnel group, whose numbers increased by only three per cent.    The industry crisis po

                 THE WHITE GOOSE PROBLEM YouTube URL:     https://youtu.be/PyeVKQNCH-Q    Every year, a huge migratory arctic white goose population departs from its Alaskan Aleutian Island summer nesting grounds during late October and early November, and follows the migratory bird flyway along the Pacific Coast to seek winter shelter in warmer roosts along the Oregon coast.    For years, many thousands of these geese made a stop-over at the ample marshlands of Richmond and Delta to feed and rest, before moving on to Oregon. In the last decade, thousands of these white geese have decided that Richmond is as far as they want to go.    This creates a problem for the City of Richmond from November until March every year. The geese love lawn grass. Thousands of geese will descend on schoolyards, public parks, greenways, and golf courses and wolf down all the young grass shoots, leaving behind a generous puddle of green goose turds, and reducing the grassy areas to a defoli

                                                                                                                  October 03, 2018                                                                                      David Varnes                                   Canadian Citizen, B.C. Taxpayer, and Retiree                               7111 Beecham Road, Richmond B.C. V7C 1V6                                                       Home telephone (604) 275-8971 The Director Information Access Operations Government of British Columbia P.O. Box 9569 Victoria, B.C. V8W 9K1 To the Director: Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (B.C.), would you please provide me with the following: ⇨  a copy of all letters, memos, notes, cheque amounts and       negotiated  understandings with all contracted firms engaged in       the  planning, advising, supplying,  constructing and consulting       for the cancelled  Massey Bridge Project

    Photo by Elliott Brown    Freedom is our most private precious privilege in a democracy. But know this - freedom is not free .    Our democracy was created by our ancestors, who took up political and military service to establish it, struggled constantly to perpetuate it and many died horribly in numerous wars defending it -- for us.    These defenses should not be forgotten. Our ancestor's sacrifice allow us to enjoy the many present freedoms we so often take for granted today.    Mandatory military participation by all citizens is a way of honoring that sacrifice. Military obligation would educate all citizens about the role for a military presence to defend our freedoms, and engender a respect for military service to ensure the continuity of our precious privilege of liberty.    So, allow me then, some very brief arguments...    Canada has a long and respected history, both as a defender of freedom in the western world under the North Atlantic Treaty Organizatio