Conditions Resulting in Leaky Condos Continue to be Perpetuated by Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services.
April 25, 2012
The reason given by the Executive Director of BC Stats, of the Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services, for purchasing Telus data in order to use the change in the number of telephone landline hooksup along with electrical landline hookups was "two indicators look better than one". (from conversations in 2002)
The Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services’ emphasis on "looks" rather than "ground truthing" (see Endnote 1) is similar to the emphasis (described by Dave Barrett, in the Commission of Inquiry into the Quality of Condominium Construction in British Columbia) on "business finesse and marketing techniques, [rather] than on down-to-earth building basics" resulting in the Leaky Condo tragedy. (2)
The emphasis on "business finesse and marketing" rather "than on down-to-earth building basics" has burdened BC citizens with an estimated $4,000,000,000 (4 billion dollars) in extra debt just from the Leaky Condos.
The costly mistakes resulting from the emphasis by the Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services on "looks" rather than "ground truthing" - from reference to numbers created BC Stat, have yet to be calculated.
Just one example, was the recommendation to close a public school due to " declining" enrolment only 7 years after a $9,100,000 school expansion was opened.
Personal Experience
Prior to returning to university and earning a graduate degree specializing in population and statistical methods (3), I earned two red seal certifications (4). As a tradesman, I also worked on "leaky condos" on False Creek in Vancouver where I raised concerns about the use of substandard techniques, resulting in water accumulation. After 3 weeks of work, myself and several others who also expressed concern, were "laid off". The concerns raised by certified tradesmen were unheeded.
As the Population Analyst, employed by BC Stats of the Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services, I raised concerns about the use of substandard techniques resulting in substandard numbers referred to when considering opening and closing of public and private facilities, including public schools.
Shortly after informing the Deputy Minister about the real methods used by BC Stats, and before a ruling was made, I was dismissed for just cause on the grounds of insubordination.
The Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services continues to block a legally required hearing
...into the real matters in dispute, namely the real methods used by BC Stats of the Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services to create population numbers used to justify opening and closing of public and private facilities, to plan electrical generation requirements, ElectionsBC electoral boundaries, transportation needs etc.
Efforts to improve the Public Service, including adopting proper statistical techniques such as ground truthing and removing ecological fallacies, thereby reducing the chance of more disasters like the Leaky Condos tragedy, or opening and closing facilities unnecessarily, should not be blocked by the Ministry any longer.
Open letter sent via email to the Minister and all BC MLAs

Endnotes:

1. BC Stats' Executive Director also removed municipalities from the GES population estimates models in an effort to reduce error. This practise is the opposite of ground truthing. See Outliers.

2. "Residential construction, during the past fifteen years, has become an industry dependent more upon business finesse and marketing techniques, than on down-to-earth building basics."

From THE RENEWAL OF TRUST IN RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION: Commission of Inquiry into the Quality of Condominium Construction in British Columbia, Submitted to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, Government of British Columbia, by Dave Barrett, Commissioner, June 1998. http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/condo/execsumm.htm

Estimates of the cost of the made in BC disaster are as high as $4,000,000,000.

3. I earned my Master of Arts degree at Carleton University where I was fortunate to be able to design a series of courses on population with several adjunct professors from Statistics Canada. Statistics Canada offered to fund my research into testing alternative indicators of social and economic integration.

My Masters level statistics course final paper "A Model for the Prediction/Interpretation of Infant Mortality Rates" (1999) continues to be read by Health Researcher Organizations including Aetna (Connecticut).

4. Bricklaying, Ministry of Labour 1982; Electrician, Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Recreation and Culture: Electrical Safety Branch, 1991.


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