Video copyright CBC News.

Story copyright ABC News.com

The Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance published the 2009 National Report Card on Energy Efficiency with false information. CBC Charlottetown then broadcast the story on Compass August 23rd, 2010 without checking the facts.

It’s hard to believe that a national energy advocacy group and CBC would get together to mislead the public but they have.

Viewer feedback on CBC indicates that most people accept the story as gospel truth.

The report says “PEI moved from a D to a B” on the report card.

They have already reduced household energy consumption by 20% through their energy efficiency household programs (offered through the PEI Office of Energy Efficiency). They will be… putting policies in place to increase their wind energy generation to 500 MW by 2013. CEAA’s National Energy Efficiency Report Card

CBC reported this press release as Energy use dropping in P.E.I.: report with the byline “Household energy use in Prince Edward Island has dropped 20 per cent in the past two years, according to a national watchdog group.”

Neither of those statements in the Report Card are true.

Anyone can put out a press release but CBC is supposed to fact check them. In this story, CBC didn’t even look at their own story 12 days ago P.E.I. wind projects just hot air: opposition debunking the 500 MW wind energy project. CBC is already reporting the 500 MW dream is delayed or dead.

Energy Minister Richard Brown responded that the 500-megawatt plan is still in place, but it requires waiting for better economic conditions.  Last week Maritime Electric… announced tenders for 130 megawatts of renewal energy had returned proposals for just 30 megawatts of wind power. “What we have is maybe six megawatts of energy that this government is going to bring since they’ve been elected,” said Bagnall. CBC

Any journalist worth their salt would have smelled a public relations job in the Report Card. Not CBC: Sarah Fraser blithely reported the phony story as fact along with viewer comments.

Have Islanders “reduced household energy consumption by 20%”

To fact check the claim Islanders had reduced their home energy consumption by 20%, I sent emails to the CEEA and to Energy Minister Richard Brown’s office.

“PEI submits their answers to our Report Card questions,” said Cathy Lepiane of the CEEA in an email. “Mike Proud, Manager, Office of Energy Efficiency, PEI Environment, Energy and Forestry, made the submission on behalf of PEI.”

Imagine a school or university course where you can write your own report card. That’s what the Province did. They fed the CEAA the story Islanders have saved 20% and the CEEA didn’t check the numbers.

“The 20% *(reduction) referred to in the CEAA report card refers to space heating only,” writes Mike Proud Manager at the Office of Energy Efficiency. “It does not cover electricity use in houses (appliances and lighting).”

Proud’s “space heating only” is not the CEEA report card 20% savings. Household energy also includes electricity.

According to Maritime Electric, household consumption of electricity is going up about .5% a year.

Focusing on only home heating gives a distorted picture.

Did home heating consumption drop 20%?

There is no evidence residential consumption of energy dropped any amount.

The fanciful estimates produced by Energy and swallowed hook, line and sinker by CBC and the CEEA are based on the 4,000 people who applied for Energy Grants.

“The 20% reduction in household energy consumption referred to in the CEEA’s release refers to the 4,000 Island households who have had energy audits conducted on their homes,” says Kim Devine of Communications for the Department of Energy.

Only 4,000 Islander saved 20%. That’s not what the CEEA Report Card says and it is not what CBC reported.

Actually the saving for Islanders, if the Department of Energy is to be believed, is only 1.2% for all Island consumers. The 4,000 people who got the grants represent only 6.2% of the homes.

Even the 20% is an estimate of savings.

We have presented this information to Cathy at the CEEA and asked if they will investigate. We also asked CBC if they will investigate and report something closer to the truth. Neither of them replied.

The PEI Department of Energy stands by its story.



Ron Petrides is back in Charlottetown performing on Victoria Row. Petrides first came to PEI 13 years ago when the Always on Stage jazz festival was in its infancy.

It’s a real treat to have Ron Petrides perform in Charlottetown.  He is both a jazz composer and interpreter of the greats including John Coltrane in the featured video, Blue Trane.

Petrides wide smile and tall stature make him a pleasure to watch. His style includes virtuoso guitar runs mixed with on-the-money rhythm, improvisation and warm tone.

I’ve enjoyed jazz since my father introduced me to Louis Armstrong in the 1950s. Miles Davis, Mingus, Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, and Wes Montgomery – I’ve heard them all. I collected some of the best records from the 1930s onward and in 1965 wrote jazz record reviews. Perhaps a little cheeky for my tender years but I knew the music.

Rod Petrides impressed me the first time I heard him. He knows and interprets the golden era of  jazz from the 50s and 60s but he doesn’t copy anyone. He has also composed some decent pieces of his own.

Playing a semi-hollow Gibson, Petrides tone is warm and his fingers quick.  He lays the groove down and swings. Petrides is not cocktail bar jazz with another rendition of My Funny Valentine. He’s the real thing.

The video is from his performance in Charlottetown last August. Ron said my camera work was a little shaky but the shots of his wife and children were priceless.  The whole thing was shot amazingly on a Flip HD Ultra. The sound was re-mixed down to tame the sizzle.

Petrides is faculty at the New School University Jazz and Contemporary Music program. “Previously taught at the New York and Columbia Universities. Dr. Petrides holds a Ph. D. in composition from NYU, where he conducted an original research into the life and music of the late 20th century American composer Stephen Albert.”

“During the last two decades, Petrides established himself on the New York jazz scene, having performed with many famous musicians, including Walter Bishop Jr., Dizzy Gillespie, Ron McClure, Billi Hart, Duffy Jackson, and Bob Mover.”

Accompanying Ron this year are Chris Buddan on bass, Barrie Sorensen on Sax and Matt Maceachern on drums.  Show starts around 6 pm each evening and runs until 9 pm or so.

Always on Stage is the longest and longest running music festival on PEI and anywhere we know in Canada. For the past 13 years, promoter Chris Buddan put on 7 days of music, 11 hours a day f0r 8 weeks in the summer. More than 50 musicians work at entertaining patrons and tourists on Victoria Row for more than 1,000 hours a summer. This year Chris expanded to include music on Sydney Street.

For the public this is a one-of-a-kind experience. There are few places where one can go and enjoy free live music for 11 hours a day in the summer. The ambiance created on Victoria Row is unique and second to none.

Always on Stage is funded by  the Government of Canada, the Province of P.E.I., and the City of Charlottetown. Chris Buddan deserves the credit for putting the festival together and managing it year after year on essentially a shoe-string budget. He is dedicated to the Festival and providing a music performance experience for young musicians on Prince Edward Island.

It’s been my pleasure to work with Chris over the years, including organizing the singer-songwriter performers for two years. This year I’m happy to be just performing my usual Tuesday lunch set.

Chris Buddan is one of the unsung heroes of the PEI music scene.  Since he started as a high school student, Chris has earned three degrees including his Doctorate in Music. He has traveled and performed in the United States and Europe. Dr. Buddan is a PEI treasure.

In June a woman with a disability was pushed to the street in Vancouver by a police officer. He walked away without helping her up.

While the Vancouver police department claims the incident was under investigation, the officers are still on the beat.  We expect some official response that exonerates the officers will appear many months from now.

It’s clear from the video the woman has a disability. She has Cerebral Palsy (CP) which gives her a distinct walking pattern and affects her speech. She may sound intoxicated however anyone who has experience with CP can easily spot the symptoms.

This is not the first incident of police brutality nor is the it the first time an adult with CP has been abused.  Physical and passive aggressive abuse is a way of life for many people with disabilities.

Cute as children abused as adults

Children with cerebral palsy and down syndrome are the favourite poster children for Easter Seals telethons and charity fund raisers. When they grow up, they become easy, adult targets for bullies and human rights abuse.

No longer cute and cuddly,  adults with disabilities are victims every day. How many people spend the time to grant a person like Sandy her dignity? How many strike up a peer conversation with a person with a disability? Sandy is a human being and besides not deserving policy brutality she deserves respect.

How many social groups invite the disabled to join? Does Rotary want people with disabilities in their membership or do they just want cute kids to raise money? Other than a few Easter Seals ambassadors who are giving the royal treatment, Rotarians are ill-at-ease having the disabled in their club. Rotary is not unique in ostracizing the disabled.

Half of all people living below the poverty line are disabled, which is the probable reason Sandy is living on Vancouver’s East Side. In the CBC National video Ian Hannimansing tries to weakly blame the disabled for their abuse by the system. “Part of the problem is where the encounter took place.”

OK, so if the disabled weren’t poor and living on the down side of town they could expect better treatment.

All Sandy has to do is get herself an $50,000 plus annual salary working in a white collar office job and the abuse will disappear. The reality is employers discriminate against Sandy and other people with disabilities and get away with it. Canadians living with disabilities are routinely discriminated against in employment, housing, and in their contact with government.

What’s worse, the cop pushes Sandy to the ground once or Canadian society that keeps her on the ground for her whole life?

Video is copyright CBC News