Kevin Hung's Blog

As soon as the Harper Government announced its intention of purchasing the Lockheed Martin F-35 Stealth fighter, media anti-aircraft batteries opened fire along the border from Vancouver to Montreal. If the mainstream media and federal opposition parties have their way, decision on the purchase will be delayed until the Liberals are returned to power and drive the stake through the dragon’s heart.

Surprise, surprise…BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER reports that the first beneficiary of the F-35 project in Canada is not Montreal, Toronto, or Winnipeg. It’s us! NGRAIN of Vancouver has developed a pricey interactive 3D flight simulator for the F-35 that the US Air Force loves and even the Australians may purchase. NGRAIN is negotiating a 20-year contract with Lockheed, and it will certainly be used by the Canadian pilots.

That is the software story, lets get to hardware. Avcorp Industries of Delta has signed a deal with BAE Systems to supply airframe components for the US Navy version of the F-35. Since the average Canadian F-18 pilot is ten years younger than his aircraft, lets get on with it!

Rich Coleman, the B.C. Housing Minister, threw a stink bomb in Whistler on Monday and nobody left the room.   READ VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE Coleman charged that excessive government RED TAPE and TAXES were adding as much as $100,000 to the price of a new home in B.C. Of course Coleman was not outing his own government, he was pointing his fat finger directly at B.C. municipal government, which do very well collecting exorbitant development fees and constantly adding pages to the building code.

The room was packed with mayors and their well-paid entourages, all of whom seemed immune to criticism. No one dropped their lobster bib long enough to stand to rebut or to refute the Minister. Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts was pleased to announce that her city is “considering” laneway houses. No wonder! Vancouver is already making a killing amount of money with the fees they levy for this innovative new micro-house concept which has been imported Toronto. Coleman said that infamous property transfer tax adds “only” about $5000 to the cost of a $500,000 home. This after first pretending to be sympathetic to the average home buyer. “Every dime we put on someone’s shoulders is a piece of a mortgage that they are carrying…”  $5000 bucks! That is hell of a lot of dimes.

Maybe Minister Coleman is using a bad grade of motor oil in his SUV.   WATCH    He can be up to his neck in dimes and never notice burden he creates. He feels our pain? Not!

The Global Fund is an international organization that fights against three of the world’s most deadly diseases – Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It has given out more than 700 grants across the world since its establishment in 2002, totaling $19.5 billion US. However, China has been exploiting the loopholes to receive more aid from the Global Fund than severely deprived African nations. Because of its enormous population and low Income per capita, it continues to receive huge amounts of grants reduces the remaining funds needed by more desperate countries stated the Foreign Policy magazine. Global Fund Info page

As China emerges as the world’s second largest economy, there come more international responsibilities. China has to question her own ethics and conscience. Should her continue to take advantage of the loophole? 25,000 malaria deaths were reported last year in Congo while China, where 38 deaths were reported, has won $149 million malaria grants which is far more than Congo. For the past eight years, China contributes merely $16 million compare to $1 billion it receives. In fear of offending China, other countries countries are afraid of opposing the unfairness. China destroys the spirit of a charitable cause and ignores the rights of billions of people in need. As the world’s second largest economy and the next superpower, China needs to take responsibility of her unethical actions. ORIGINAL ARTICLE