As stated previously on this site, a letter sent to all 305 Members of Parliament by Airspace president Errol Povah (in which he calls on the federal government to administer a billion-dollar buy-out fund/exit strategy (that won't cost tax-payers a cent) for about 1,500 Canadian tobacco farmers) was mentioned in the House of Commons -- in a very positive/supportive manner, by Southern Interior (B.C.) NDP MP Alex Atamanenko -- on Tuesday, June 10, 2008... the same day, by the way, that Povah returned from a major international anti-tobacco conference in Washington, DC.

Just three days later (yes, Friday the 13th), Airspace was once again mentioned in a rather prestigious setting: Attending his first Vancouver Board of Trade function, Povah -- and Airspace -- was formally welcomed as one of the newest members of the Board... on board the Holland America cruise ship, the MS Veendam.

The "dam ship" (as all 14 Dutch-named of the fleet are affectionately nick-named, since every one of their names [Amsterdam, Eurodam, Maasdam, etc.] ends with "dam") didn't go anywhere; we were securely tied up at the cruise ship terminal at Canada Place in downtown Vancouver!

It was an incredible 3.5 hours; in addition to a lot of very valuable networking, the group of about 70 Board of Trade members and guests did a little self-guided tour of the ship and enjoyed an awesome lunch, then listened to a very inspirational and motivational speech (about giving back to the community, etc.) by Peter Legge... who has, among many other things, played a major role in raising tens of millions of dollars for GlobalTV B.C.'s Variety Club Telethon over the years, etc.

After Legge's speech, the MC welcomed Airspace and a couple of other new members. Much to Povah's chagrin, nobody from Imperial Tobacco -- also a member of the Board -- stood up and objected to Airspace's membership.

In addition to networking and furthering Airspace's agenda (ultimately, the total eradication of the tobacco industry from the face of the planet), Povah will be lobbying the Board to give Imperial Tobacco the boot: Tobacco companies are not "good corporate citizens" -- and have no place whatsoever in an organization like the Vancouver Board of Trade -- no matter what kind of spin they put on their sleazy, despicable and murderous business.