# Canadian Content



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

London Calling. What do you think of the Olympic uniforms? They certainly don't look like any we've had before. My niece said they look like someone threw up a thrift store.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

I've been trying to find a website that has pictures of *all *the uniforms but I can't find one. I found a couple of pics on google images.

But if these are examples of them, I'm not that keen on them. I think they could have done better if they'd just stuck to red and white, and maybe with some gold or bright green trim and should have left the black out - the black looks too negating. Aren't there any spiffy blazers and berets?


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Where were they made? Since I've heard many outfits are made in China. Or did Canada get Canadians to make the uniforms.

Why bright green? And it would liven them up a lot.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

The Hudson's Bay Company is the Canadian Olympic Team&#8217;s official outfitter so they were probably manufactured in Canada but some might have also have been contracted out to other places. If some of the outfits were manufactured in China it most likely won't matter to Canadians the way it did to Americans over the American Olympics uniforms.

I think evergreen would have been good for trim or piping just because it's brighter for contrast, and evergreen is more representative of Canada and the Canadian spirit than black is. I wouldn't want green as a solid color the way they've done with the black (it would look too much like a Christmas tree if they did that) but I think they could have chosen a softer and less starkly harsh looking color than black to offset the red and white. Black is a good dominant "power" color and I can understand why it was chosen but I think perhaps a softer shade of black, like dark grey or soft charchoal shade would have been less harsh on the eyes.

It doesn't really matter though, they're just uniforms and as long as they're comfortable and utilitarian to serve their purpose that's all that really matters. The colors of the uniforms and wherever they were made isn't going to change their performance.

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

This is what they will be wearing when not wearing competition gear and what I don't find very appealing. I am sure the young people will feel comfortable in it.

The Bay Unveils Their London 2012 Olympics Apparel Line

The British uniforms were designed by Stella McCarthy and the main comment is "where's the red?"


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Red and white are usually the main colours but green has been used and is symbolic for the forests and blue for the sea - from sea to sea.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Well, that looks like someone came in from a mall. Nothing special to even show that they are Canadian representatives. 

Do you like it and think it's right?


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

emdeengee said:


> Red and white are usually the main colours but green has been used and is symbolic for the forests and blue for the sea - from sea to sea.


I can see those colors for Canada. I could think up some neat things with that background and those colors. 

I remember how nice the Olympics were in Canada. Quite a show was put on .


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Funny that is what the British are saying about the on sight Olympic Village dental clinic. It is supposed to be for dental emergencies but there has already been quite a few teeth whitening treatments. I wonder if whiter teeth makes someone swim or run faster.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

the squirrel out in the tree told me that a British import squirrel told him that the white teeth shave off .01 seconds per trial swim.

Not we know that must be a fact!


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

It looks like an awfully casual Olympics for 2012. I just hope that the competitions are exciting! I think that the teeth whitening will give the participants a competitive edge. They will be ready to flash those pearly whites while standing on the podium. It wouldn't do for the gleaming medal to outshine their smiles!


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Or maybe flashing those pearly whites will dazzle and blind their opponents at the most crucial of moments. :grin:

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

AngieM2 said:


> Well, that looks like someone came in from a mall. Nothing special to even show that they are Canadian representatives.
> 
> Do you like it and think it's right?


I think it is not attractive at all. And there are 31 pieces to the uniform. And considering our Olympic Uniforms have always been so great in the past this is a real contrast. ROOTS has made the uniforms in the past and I hope they will make them again.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Now that Rae is out who do you think will step up? Is 2013 too long to wait? That only give 2 years to get to know whoever it is.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

who is Rae and what do they do?


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Dominic LeBlanc, Denis Coderre, David Bertschi and Marc Garneau have all said they're considering their options but I doubt there'll be much more news on that front from any of them until after Christmas. Personally I don't think 2013 is too long to wait. I don't think 2 years is too short a period to get to know a new party leader either. At least not in Canada.

I think eventually Justin Trudeau will step up for the leadership but I don't anticipate that from him for at least another 15 years or more. He has a very young family of his own right now and he's been quite emphatic about his family responsibilities coming first before leadership. He's always been active in the party all his life and has hinted that he's not uninterested in the leadership at a much later date but has expressed concern about wanting his political "rock star" reputation to wane first so people won't have too many expectations of him and quit pushing at him. I think he is being wise in that regard and when he does run for the leadership he'll be a shoe-in.

And just for the record Em, I'm not aligned with the party, nor with any of the other parties either, am just an interested observer but do tend to lean more towards the conservative side than the liberal at this point in time.

.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

AngieM2 said:


> who is Rae and what do they do?


Angie, Bob Rae is a Member of Parliament and the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. There will be a new Liberal leader in April 2013.

Bob Rae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bob Rae | Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre

And just so you know, Canada has a lot of political parties. Right now there are 5 parties representing Canada at the federal level in Parliament, but there are also other parties on the Provincial level throughout the provinces/territories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Canada


.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I am also an independent. 

The only prospective candidate I know much about is Marc Garneau (first Canadian in outer space). Not so very impressed with his political career so far.

Bertschi is not an MP is he? 

Trudeau has a lot of maturing to do. In that sense and his bad behaviour he is more like his Mom than his Dad. 

So far the NDP (New Democratic Party) seems to be way ahead in the polls in BC.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

> Bertschi is not an MP is he?


Bertschi is a lawyer. Heh heh. :happy2:

.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

I'll read the links in a minute, but with 5 parties, how does that work? Are 2 or 3 of them the stronger parties, with the others close behind.

Have there always been multiple parties? Sounds as if more directions could be voted on.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

> with 5 parties, how does that work? Are 2 or 3 of them the stronger parties, with the others close behind.


Right now this is the way it stands. The Conservative party has the most reps in the House of Commons and so Canada has a Conservative administration - Stephen Harper is Conservative and is the Prime Minister. 



House of Commons

Conservative (164)
New Democratic (101)
Liberal (35)
Bloc QuÃ©bÃ©cois (4)
Green (1)
Independent Conservative (1)
Independent NDP (1)
_Vacant_ (1)



> Have there always been multiple parties? Sounds as if more directions could be voted on.


Yes, there has been multiple parties for a long time (don't ask me how long, I'd have to look it up - but at least for over 60 years that I know of). Having multiple parties is beneficial in that there isn't the black & white kind of polarization that happens with 2 party systems. They all have a voice coming from various perspectives and all force each other to toe the line and maintain more balance and stability with the decision making that is done. They all bicker amongst themselves of course but none of them are dread enemies.


ETA: (America has a lot of political parties too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_United_States)


.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

I don't know why it slipped my mind, but there is Deborah Coyne too (the mother of Justin's out-of-wedlock sister). She announced in June that she intends to run for the Liberal leadership.

.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

so the most reps have the Prime Minister? You don't vote on the Prime Minister?

And I know we have other parties, but they are almost insignificant in the grand scheme of voting for a Pres.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

AngieM2 said:


> so the most reps have the Prime Minister? You don't vote on the Prime Minister?


Yes, we vote. There's a variety of ways that a Prime Minister becomes appointed. Typically in a federal election the people vote for the Party of their choice (they vote for the Members of Parliament in their ridings) and the Party that gets the majority of votes (more than half of all other parties) then the leader of that Party is automatically appointed as Prime Minister. 

If there are ties between 2 or more parties or no party whose members compose more than half of all Members of Parliament then the Governor General (our Commander in Chief and the representative of our Queen) will appoint the Prime Minister at the Governor General's discretion. The Governor General may also call for another election. 

If a PM dies, or has to step down for some reason, or if there is a call for a non-confidence vote or some other non-typical event that leaves us without a PM then again it will be the responsibility of the Governor General to choose and appoint an interim Prime Minister to stand in until a federal election takes place. Said election will be called for immediately with the Governor General setting the date for the election.

Something that is different from the way you appoint presidents - the POTUS can only run for 2 terms to a max of 8 years. But in Canada if a Prime Minister and his/her Party are really popular it would be possible with successive elections for a Prime Minister to hold that position indefinitely. Or a PM might end up being PM on separate occasions. For example, Pierre Trudeau (the father of Justin Trudeau) was Prime Minister on different occasions, non consecutively, for a period of 17 years.


.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

So what is this? Is this a new Canadian Chat thread? Looks like it. Good idea but I think someone needs to let the rest of the Canadians on the board know it's here because most of the Canucks don't come down here to General Chat.

I don't like all that black on the Olympic uniforms either.

So what do you all think about the latest Chuck Wagon tragedy at the Calgary stampede that is now spurring more calls to cancel the chuckwagon races? I watched in on TV, it was terrible to see the way it went down. Poor horses, 1 drops dead in its tracks in the middle of the race and the rest of them tumbled over it and 2 more had to be put down. 3 horses this year , and 50 horses have died since 1986 in chuckwagon racing, four in 2010 and two last year. Personally I think they should cancel the chuckwagon event.

What do you think?


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

I see there's been a lot of views. Is Angie the only courageous American willing to brave the Canadian Chat thread? :grin:

Three cheers and yay for Angie! You go, girl. :goodjob:


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

they are talking of canceling harness racing here in Ontario, thousands of horses are slated to die now, farms to be closed up and an economy gone. Canadian politicians, same pot and then they get sent here (Ottawa) when elected. Olympic uniforms look more like a police squad on vacation, and whats wrong with red and white? gee, talk about thread drift!


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Well, Paumon - in an another thread it was pointed out that this was not "American Homesteading Today" and I said it would be good to have more Canadian input, as there is a high quantity of Canadians on this site. So here we have this thread. And I'm enjoying talking and learning about Canadian things, government without the stomach ache many other threads in GC bring.

Now - tell me how this Governor General gets to be Governor General. Since it's been referred to as "our Commander in Chief" that seems to imply almost a military background, and then "repreesntative of our Queen" seems to refer to an appointment by Queen Elizabeth.

This sounds interesting, 
The party causes the Prime Minister, in general, not a direct vote on the person. But, I can see if you know the leader of a party, then voting for them is basically voting for the leader person for PM.

Am I getting it?


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

That Chuckwagon event sounds badly handled or something along those lines. But dreadful if it closes down an economy and killing of many horses.
I wonder if someone could get hold of it and do some modification to keep it, but with safety changes.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

ford major said:


> *they are talking of canceling harness racing here in Ontario, thousands of horses are slated to die now, farms to be closed up and an economy gone.* Canadian politicians, same pot and then they get sent here (Ottawa) when elected. Olympic uniforms look more like a police squad on vacation, and whats wrong with red and white? gee, talk about thread drift!


Why cancel harness racing? What is wrong with it? Have horses been getting killed in harness racing?


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

AngieM2 said:


> Now - tell me how this Governor General gets to be Governor General. Since it's been referred to as "our Commander in Chief" that seems to imply almost a military background, and then "repreesntative of our Queen" seems to refer to an appointment by Queen Elizabeth.


 
Angie, the role of the Governor General of Canada

Governor General of Canada - Role and Duties


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

Paumon said:


> Why cancel harness racing? What is wrong with it? Have horses been getting killed in harness racing?


nothing to do with the racing as such, the casino industry got a foothold into Ontario Via the racetracks. the track got a percentage and that is what kept the track alive. now our premier has talked of allowing casinos not tied to the track and they are abandoning the tracks enmass. now race horses will be worth nothing.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Angie or anyone else

This explains the Canadian Parliamentary system very well and quite clearly

Parliament of Canada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

but 

This explanation by Rick Mercer is best and with typical Canadian humour

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi1yhp-_x7A]RMR: Canada Explained - YouTube[/ame]


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The mass explosives found in the home in Barrie, Ontario now number over 50 and their composition is said to be very sophisticated. They are being removed and detonated but over 60 people have had to leave their homes. The suspects are also being arraigned on murder charges. You just never know what is happening behind the doors of an ordinary suburban home.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

That's bad that someone is doing explosives in a residential area. Was he a version of a terrorist, or just a angry person in general.

At least they found the explosives before they could harm the whole neighborhood.

I'm going to google to learn more.

When I get home I can do more studying on the Canada explained, and then get the youtube.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Three dead and one injured. Oh well - six died in 2012. The Calgary Stampede has turned into a Roman circus where people sit and watch the death of animals for amusement. Over 50 horses dead in the past 20 years. The Chuck Wagon races could be timed events not this insane merry-go-round that puts horses and drivers at an unacceptable risk. When I was a child I was at the Stampede and witnessed a crash that killed the horses. Once you have seen such a thing and heard the screams of the dying animals you never forget it and it sure does not make for a worthwhile endeavour.

As for the claim that there is proper vetting. No 18 year old horse should have been running.


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

First off I cannot stand the Uniforms! Ugh where is th ecolour?? Then gaain I htink th eAmerican one looks like a airline uniform from the late 70's no inspiration there! What are the Canadians wearing for the Parade entrance-I havent found that one yet. 

As for multiple parties it works because it isnt a case of Us vs You(having lived in the USA for years I still find the system pretty bad..which is why I shall be heading North as soon as we can sell out our interests here!) which has become American Politics. I still think th eprocess of Lobbying is nothing more than Bribes, especially with most groups paying out to both sides of the coin!

I think we need Uniforms more along th elines of the Winter ones that were that real bright yellow(from th e80's I think, I remember Stemmle in his and cracking up at it-went to school with him) but people still rememebr those flashy unitards!


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Paumon said:


> Why cancel harness racing? What is wrong with it? Have horses been getting killed in harness racing?


robably because there are abuses, all due to learnign hwo to cheat the system and win. Same thing with any sport, it is why I no longer handle dogs in AKC shows, I got sick and tired of what I saw and how a blind eye was turned to it!


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> Angie or anyone else
> 
> This explains the Canadian Parliamentary system very well and quite clearly
> 
> ...


That video was funny. :thumb: :grin:

.


----------



## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

naturelover said:


> That video was funny. :thumb: :grin:
> 
> .


That video is so good and makes me miss home and that Canadian humour. I will smile for hours after watching that.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

This was a little film done by Tom BroKaw before the winter olympics 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV_041oYDjg&feature=fvwrel]Tom Brokaw Explains Canada To Americans - YouTube[/ame]


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

HOTW said:


> ....... What are the Canadians wearing for the Parade entrance-I havent found that one yet........ I think we need Uniforms more along the lines of the Winter ones that were that real bright yellow(from th e80's I think, I remember Stemmle in his and cracking up at it-went to school with him) but people still rememebr those flashy unitards!


The parade uniforms haven't been presented to the public yet, I guess they're keeping it some big secret until closer to the games to keep people on the edge of their seat or whatever. :huh:

But I found out the track shoes are a *blindingly bright neon yellow/green* :shocked: - I guess the shoes are supposed to blind their opponents too along with the dazzling teeth. :grin: 

And the black track suits are made by Nike out of recycled plastic, they're seamless, weightless and supposedly guaranteed to shave off more than two-hundredths of a second off a 100-metre time.
DurhamRegion Article: Canadian track team shows off sleek new uniforms




> I still think the process of Lobbying is nothing more than Bribes, especially with most groups paying out to both sides of the coin!


Oh yeah, I totally agree with you about that. I'm so glad that lobbying is deemed illegal and not allowed in Canada. Lobbying is all bribes and blatant dishonesty - whichever corporate lobbyists donate the most money owns the government and gets to call some shots. I never could understand how some other countries will permit lobbying.

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

painterswife said:


> That video is so good and makes me miss home and that Canadian humour. I will smile for hours after watching that.



Hope you smile some more. Rick Mercer training for the RCMP Musical Ride.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShBknK00xIg&feature=relmfu]RMR: Rick at the Musical Ride with the RCMP - YouTube[/ame]


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The International Monetary Fund is calling for further government action amid signs the recovery is faltering in many countries, although Canadaâs outlook has held up better than most other advanced economies.

The 188-country organization said Monday that it expects Canadaâs economy will grow modestly â by 2.1% this year and 2.2% next year. The 2013 projection is unchanged from the IMFâs forecast in April while the 2012 projection has been increased by one-tenth of a percentage point.

Thatâs not the case in many parts of the world.

Canada places No. 2 among the Group of Seven countries in terms of growth, with Japan at No. 1 this year with 2.4% and the United States in top spot at 2.3% growth in 2013.

Hope they are right! Good news for both countries.


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

Paumon said:


> I see there's been a lot of views. Is Angie the only courageous American willing to brave the Canadian Chat thread? :grin:
> 
> Three cheers and yay for Angie! You go, girl. :goodjob:


Hey! Don't I count? Nevermind... I forgot... I'm a Martian!


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

emdeengee said:


> The mass explosives found in the home in Barrie, Ontario now number over 50 and their composition is said to be very sophisticated. They are being removed and detonated but over 60 people have had to leave their homes. The suspects are also being arraigned on murder charges. You just never know what is happening behind the doors of an ordinary suburban home.


That is some scary stuff!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

TheMartianChick said:


> That is some scary stuff!


It sure is. The people who have been evacuated from the surrounding homes will probably not be back in their homes until the weekend! It is a father and son team. The police discovered two bunkers behind the house as well which are filled with chemicals. So far the police are handling the scene but the military bomb experts may be called in. They are finding some things they don't know how to handle.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

TheMartianChick said:


> Hey! Don't I count? Nevermind... I forgot... I'm a Martian!


LOL! It is very cold on Mars. You would feel right at home in Canada.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Atheletes and their teams will start to arrrive at Heathrow today (236,000) and everything has been going smoothly. Unfortunately the US team bus and the Australian officials got lost on the way to the Olympic village but made it in the end. Took 4 hours. London is a little embarrassed so I think there will be more signs tomorrow.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

AngieM2 said:


> That's bad that someone is doing explosives in a residential area. Was he a version of a terrorist, or just a angry person in general.
> 
> At least they found the explosives before they could harm the whole neighborhood.


No, not terrorists in the _terrorism_ sense but still terrorists anyway - murderers who were being investigated for a brutal shooting murder that happened in 1978. They are a 54 year old man and his 75 year old father (Donald and William Feldhoff). In the house and the bunkers the investigators have found explosives, chemicals, wires, firearms and other lethal devices that are not being divulged to the news yet. Here is the most recent update to that story.

Bomb investigation will keep Barrie, Ontario, residents out of homes until weekend: police | News | National Post

.


----------



## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

emdeengee said:


> Hope you smile some more. Rick Mercer training for the RCMP Musical Ride.
> 
> RMR: Rick at the Musical Ride with the RCMP - YouTube


Yes, my husband( non Canadian) and the dog had to come see what I was laughing about.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> ..... the US team bus and the Australian officials got lost on the way to the Olympic village .... Took 4 hours. London is a little embarrassed ........


LOL. London is embarrassed - I guess so, eh? That's hilarious. :hysterical: 

Maybe they got lost going round and round in circles in Picadilly Circus. You'd think the bus drivers would have been Londoner's who knew their way around. Maybe not.

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

naturelover said:


> LOL. London is embarrassed - I guess so, eh? That's hilarious. :hysterical:
> 
> Maybe they got lost going round and round in circles in Picadilly Circus. You'd think the bus drivers would have been Londoner's who knew their way around. Maybe not.
> 
> .


I would have thought that the English bus drivers would have known the route. My Husband said maybe the signs weren't in English. I just looked at him and couldn't stop laughing.


----------



## Oggie (May 29, 2003)

Apparently, they were driving on the wrong side of the road.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

They're saying on the news here that the Ambassador Bridge connecting Canada and USA has been shut down due to a bomb threat. :huh:

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Another bridge?!??? What is going on?


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Ambassador Bridge closed after bomb threat - Canada - CBC News

Ambassador Bridge closed by bomb threat | Canada | News | National Post


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

That youtube of the coverage of learning the Musical Ride is wonderful - funny. neat.


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Then there is "I am Canadian" [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg"][/ame]

and the William Shatner version [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKLkmTz-kJw&feature=related]William Shatner - I Am Canadian - YouTube[/ame]


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Of course there the [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVC677-YmfM&feature=related"]War of 1812[/ame]


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

TheMartianChick said:


> Hey! Don't I count? Nevermind... I forgot... I'm a Martian!


Sorry. Canadian style hugs and kisses to make up for the oversight ... :grouphug: ... :kissy:


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

AngieM2 said:


> That youtube of the coverage of learning the Musical Ride is wonderful - funny. neat.


We lived for many years right near the farm in Pakenham where the RCMP horses are bred and raised and trained. We used to be able to drive up to a hill overlooking the paddocks and watch them. What a magnificent sight. But then of course some idiot spoiled it by shooting beebees at the foals. The security is really tight now and in fact the farm has become part of the special forces training ground. Up until about 5 years ago we had RCMP on horseback patrolling the small city where I live. Now they are on bicycles. Not nearly as impressive.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Last night there was a mass shooting at a neighbourhood block party in Toronto. Two young people dead and 22 injured some very seriously including a baby. The police chief said he has never seen such violence in his 35 years. Supposedly there is going to be a bill before Parliament to change the punishment for people using a gun in crowd. It will be life without parole.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The temperatures are just going crazy. It is going to be 40 celsius or 104 farenheit today in Toronto. Where I live in the North we have yet to have summer. The hottest day so far was 23C or 74F which is way below normal for us.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The Assembly of First Nations are holding their election for Grand Chief tomorrow. 630 chiefs will vote. I really dislike this system. There are over 700,000 status First Nations and they should be the ones voting. The Chiefs just like regular politicians are much too involved in promoting their own interests above those of the bands. This time half of those running are women so perhaps there will be change.


----------



## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

Wow. I sure am enjoyng the free assocation Canadian news and views thread. LOL! All the information we need in one place. Keep it coming!

Some of my own comments:
- the uniforms are (only) OK, and I am scared at teh tought of the green shoes
- it is crazy hot here and we haven't had rain at my house since June 2. Wheat is coming off here now and the combines and other machinery is starting grass fires Toronto issues extreme heat alert, temperatures expected to reach 37Â°C - The Globe and Mail (I don't live in teh city, but it's still hot! sounds like a recipe for a grid failure - anyone remember that?)
- those poor people in Barrie - now they're saying that they won't get back home until the weekend Barrie bombs: Residents frustrated by lengthy evacuation - thestar.com 
- anything on gun violence in Toronto? Scary stuff!


----------



## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

majik said:


> Wow. I sure am enjoyng the free assocation Canadian news and views thread. LOL! All the information we need in one place. Keep it coming!


I am really enjoying it as well.

I would like to know how Canadians feel about the economy. The majority of my family is in BC and Vancouver in particular. They all seem to think things are still going well.. I left Canada in 2000 ( My home was Whistler at the time). The news cycle on Canada down here is very small so I don't get a good take on how things are going and the public is feeling.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

I'm really enjoying this thread, too. Finding out more about the everyday real Canada.


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Well DH and I are heading to Morrisburg On for a 5 day weekend and the campsite has a fire ban so it has been pretty dry there!

The mes in Barrie doesn't sound fun- I wonder how they managaed to amass so much! Pretty sure my DB will be alert on that story. For the people that were evacuated better safe than sorry! Does anyone remember the Mississauga train derailment in the 70's?? They basically evacuated 1/4 million people overnight due to th etanks leaking chlorine gas! We ended up with 21 at our house north of the city because they were so tired of the constant wave of evacuation. Most of them got out only with the clothes on their backs, not even a sparepack of diapers!!!


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

This is a good thread. I live about 3 hours from Niagara Falls so we visit Canada regularly during the summer. We also travel through the Thousand Islands to get to Gananoque. We've met a lot of nice Canadians but what we never seem to get is a good understanding of the politics.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

majik said:


> Wow. I sure am enjoyng the free assocation Canadian news and views thread. LOL! All the information we need in one place. Keep it coming!
> 
> Some of my own comments:
> - the uniforms are (only) OK, and I am scared at teh tought of the green shoes
> ...


Ha! Those green shoes sound like they are going to be wild. I hope the opening uniforms will do us proud. I am worried though.

My sister lives in the Ottawa valley in a small country town. She said it has never been so hot and humid and the fields look bad. They have been running the air conditioning steady (turn it off at night) and her husband refused to show her the last electric bill. Ranting and raving just makes her hotter. 

I keep thinking about a grid failure back east. I am really afraid of that happening. Planes now come right to where I live (way North) and I can see my whole family arriving in the middle of a power outage. But you know - when I lived back east they kept the shopping malls so cold in summer that it felt like winter and I worked in office buildings (private and government) where I had to wear sweaters and socks and those little gloves that have cut off fingers in July. It made me cross that they would tell me I have to turn off my air at home to save the grid. My sister says it is still the same.

The Barrie incident and the threats against the tunnel and the bridge plus the shooting in TO last night. Just wild. Mind you the RCMP just arrested two men right where I live with a mass cache of guns and explosives and crack. And last summer my husband was on a raid where the walls of the cabin were all false and behind them were masses of explosives, guns and ammo. Good thing they did not bulldoze it and set it on fire as was the original plan.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

HOTW said:


> Well DH and I are heading to Morrisburg On for a 5 day weekend and the campsite has a fire ban so it has been pretty dry there!
> 
> The mes in Barrie doesn't sound fun- I wonder how they managaed to amass so much! Pretty sure my DB will be alert on that story. For the people that were evacuated better safe than sorry! Does anyone remember the Mississauga train derailment in the 70's?? They basically evacuated 1/4 million people overnight due to th etanks leaking chlorine gas! We ended up with 21 at our house north of the city because they were so tired of the constant wave of evacuation. Most of them got out only with the clothes on their backs, not even a sparepack of diapers!!!


I remember the derailment. Scary. But they did a great job with the evacuation. Must have been a fluke lol! We spent a lot of time in the Morrisburg area because a friend owned a farm there. Lovely place.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

TheMartianChick said:


> This is a good thread. I live about 3 hours from Niagara Falls so we visit Canada regularly during the summer. We also travel through the Thousand Islands to get to Gananoque. We've met a lot of nice Canadians but what we never seem to get is a good understanding of the politics.


Oh Martian - who does understand? There is a really good explanation of the system on Wikipedia but this one by one of our political comedian/pundits is the real truth

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi1yhp-_x7A]RMR: Canada Explained - YouTube[/ame]


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

painterswife said:


> I am really enjoying it as well.
> 
> I would like to know how Canadians feel about the economy. The majority of my family is in BC and Vancouver in particular. They all seem to think things are still going well.. I left Canada in 2000 ( My home was Whistler at the time). The news cycle on Canada down here is very small so I don't get a good take on how things are going and the public is feeling.


The prairies and west and the territories are doing better than the center and east. 

The housing market has slowed but this is because the prices in Vancouver and Toronto got to be just ridiculous and no one was buying so that dragged down the stats for the whole country. Prices in other places have remained steady but sales are slower. 

They just changed the mortgage rules which will make it harder for people to get into the market but which will hopefully prevent people for over extending themselves. The main changes are that there are no more 30 year mortages only 25 years and thus your monthly payments are higher so you need to earn more or have a bigger down payment. And they have reduced the amount that you can remortage or reverse mortgage your home from 85% of the value to 80%.

The Bank of Canada interest rate is staying the same and the bank says we are doing worse than expected. On the other hand Forbes just voted Canada as the best place in the world to do business - again - and the IMF says we are the second strongest economy for growth this year (Japan is first) and expected to do as well next years. 

The Governor of the Bank of Canada is again warning Canadians that we are carrying too much personal debt ( more than you all!) and that we need to pay it off. A most recent poll reported that over 50% of Canadians expect to be debt free by 2017. No one spoke to my sister obviously.

As a country we are in a deficit situation but the last budget was an austerity budget which is projected to get us back in the black just before the next election. Coincidence? I think not. It includes the loss of 20,000 public sector jobs and the way they are cutting is crazy. Customs has had to cut the dog sniffing teams and the coast guard canât cover their areas anymore. Has anyone in government looked at a map of the Canadian coastline???? We have the same problem as the rest of the world. The young are not finding jobs. Not a surprise since the retirement age is being raised to 67 so people are going to be staying longer. If the oldies donât get off the ladder no one is going to climb anywhere. 

People are nervous. About Europe and about the US. It is often asked why we Canadians are so interested in what is happening in the US. Simply because whatever happens there really affects us. And lets face it your politics are dramatic. Ours â yawn. Except last year we all got really annoyed that the Defence Minister used a military helicopter to fly from a fishing camp to a meeting. Huge fight in Parliament and we really got tough. Told him not to do it again. Or else.


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

My Mother lives in the subdivision where people have been evacuated due to the loony with the basement full of bombs. I fell off my chair when I saw the news clip of Mum's street on the evening news.
That house is 13 doors away from my 87yr old Mum!!

Most of my online time has been spent looking for updates so I only just saw this thread now. My Mum and brother are not evacuated and the far end of her street is still open so her personal support workers can still get in to care for her. I'm sure that Mum is kind of oblivious to the commotion and thankfully so.

My Mum and Dad bought the house in 1974 when the subdivision was built. That guy, "Willy" was the kind of old guy who'd grump at us kids when we played outside but otherwise was a normal type of neighbour. I dont know his son at all. I dimly remember the old lady and never spoke to her. My childhood public school is one street over, directly across from the dangerous house.

Wow, doomsday preppers with concrete bunkers and bad stuff on Mum's street!! I never would have guessed this would be happening so close to home.


----------



## celina (Dec 29, 2005)

i MISS CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok...the us elections are KILLING ME>....

anyhow..so nice to hear the news....when i left last year we were doing well...oakville, ontario..near toronto's houseing prices were INSANELY high....and things were selling like hotcakes.

dh's in IT and works for a canadian company that has a us office...where we cannot keep staffed...the young professionals do not want to work down here...or fresh out of school want 150k!!!!!!!!!! LOL.....

so dh was always down here in virginia working..so we came along and he asked for a transfer..we're hoping with him in the office he can mentor some young guys and get them to stay!

i find our grocery budget had to be increased..which is weird as i always heard prices were so much lower here..but in richmond virginia..i do not see it. the copays and med. ins portion sucks but we do what we have to. the housing int he usa is way WAY WAY cheaper than in oakville.

i dislike the olympic unis....although i'd like the jean jacket for ME. red and white PLEASE..i dislike nike and wish roots did them again..but them doing the usa's the one year left a bad taste in alot of mouths i think.

i am sorely gonna miss seeing alot of our athletes perform .. we'll see what the us coverage will be like. 

the barrie thing is CRAZY...i wonder if the son confessed cause he was afraid dad was getting old and senile and was gonna blow them up?????? that should be some interesting info coming out of that story.


----------



## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

painterswife said:


> I am really enjoying it as well.
> 
> I would like to know how Canadians feel about the economy. The majority of my family is in BC and Vancouver in particular. They all seem to think things are still going well.. I left Canada in 2000 ( My home was Whistler at the time). The news cycle on Canada down here is very small so I don't get a good take on how things are going and the public is feeling.


You know, it's odd. Mostly, I think people are plodding along, but there is an undercurrent of worry. As has already been said, alot depends on where you are. I'm in Ontario, which has been hard hit by the recession with lots of industrial job losses, but rural Ontario has been on the decline for a long time. Provincial and Federal governments seem to like playing urban and rural off one another, which doesn't help. We are seeing lots of (literal) cracks in infrastructure due to cut backs and less public spending. Mostly, people are hanging on, but the divide between the haves and the have nots is getting wider and wider all the time.

I do know people who moved to BC and came back to Ontario because the cost ofliving there was too high for them to manage. My daughter is going to Nova Scotia for school in the fall and she was looking around at real estate prices (just in case she wins the lottery I guess) and she was amazed at how low things were, but that's because there aren't the job to sustain higher prices.


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

celina said:


> i MISS CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok...the us elections are KILLING ME>....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


US coverage is nowhere near as good as Canadian beleive me I miss the coverage we had as a kid...they talk way too much and do not show stuff the way it is doen in Canada..when the USA was doing well in curling they overed every round and many Americans were totally baffled about it so they had to do special coverage on the whole "what is Curling" I think at that point I lost my sanity and started throwing things at the TV!!

Food has definately increased in price in the USA but the media will not use the I word (inflation) because BO(sorry but that kills me plus he has to have a dog called BO too-narsacistic!) a lot of things have gone up a lot even when I was up there in Spet on PEI I told DH how I expected th eprices to be a lot higher than they were at home and they weren't at all!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

rileyjo said:


> My Mother lives in the subdivision where people have been evacuated due to the loony with the basement full of bombs. I fell off my chair when I saw the news clip of Mum's street on the evening news.
> That house is 13 doors away from my 87yr old Mum!!
> 
> Most of my online time has been spent looking for updates so I only just saw this thread now. My Mum and brother are not evacuated and the far end of her street is still open so her personal support workers can still get in to care for her. I'm sure that Mum is kind of oblivious to the commotion and thankfully so.
> ...


Wow! Rileyjo - you must be freaking out! I would be! At least your Mum has not had to be evacuated. This is rather shocking. So close. And now to know that they have been involved in a murder that took place around the time when you thought of him as just a grouch! You really never know what is happening in the house next door or the one behind your school. A few years ago a house that was used as a grow op on our street was shut down. I never noticed a thing but both neighbours (next door and across the street) were RCMP officers. Awkward.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

celina said:


> i MISS CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok...the us elections are KILLING ME>....
> 
> anyhow..so nice to hear the news....when i left last year we were doing well...oakville, ontario..near toronto's houseing prices were INSANELY high....and things were selling like hotcakes.
> 
> ...


Maybe that is WHY the son confessed now! I know I was always nervous when my Mom was making her bedtime hot milk! Ha!

I like the jean jacket - the only piece I do like - but because it reminds me of when I was young! Fashion sure does go around. You will be able to buy the pieces through the Hudson Bay Company.


The expectations of salaries seem to be very high for some young Canadians as well. Our neighbour graduated Uni a year ago in the same field as my husband and at the time he said he would not look at anything under $75,000 a year. My husband just laughed and said you will have to work quite a few years before you get enough experience to command that salary. Well he is applying for all entry level jobs now and not even looking at salary as long as he can get something close to his field. He wasted a year and now it looks like 2 years since he missed applying for the summer/fall field season.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

majik said:


> You know, it's odd. Mostly, I think people are plodding along, but there is an undercurrent of worry. As has already been said, alot depends on where you are. I'm in Ontario, which has been hard hit by the recession with lots of industrial job losses, but rural Ontario has been on the decline for a long time. Provincial and Federal governments seem to like playing urban and rural off one another, which doesn't help. We are seeing lots of (literal) cracks in infrastructure due to cut backs and less public spending. Mostly, people are hanging on, but the divide between the haves and the have nots is getting wider and wider all the time.
> 
> I do know people who moved to BC and came back to Ontario because the cost ofliving there was too high for them to manage. My daughter is going to Nova Scotia for school in the fall and she was looking around at real estate prices (just in case she wins the lottery I guess) and she was amazed at how low things were, but that's because there aren't the job to sustain higher prices.


My sister lives in Ontario and says the same. She is extremely annoyed by the new electric system which charges more for peak hours since - according to her - the peak hours are all the hours when people are awake! 

The cost of living in southern BC is high - nearly always has been, we called it the sunshine tax - but the salaries used to reflect this. Now they don't pay more. We live in the north and I keep track of the grocery and gas prices in BC because we would like to spend some of our retirement months back there. We barely pay more than in Vancouver. 

My sister is seriously considering moving to the Atlantic provinces because of the inexpensive housing. It is a good place to retire but not so good for work. Nearly all the geologists who work with my husband come from Nova Scotia. Just no work back there in their field.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

HOTW said:


> US coverage is nowhere near as good as Canadian beleive me I miss the coverage we had as a kid...they talk way too much and do not show stuff the way it is doen in Canada..when the USA was doing well in curling they overed every round and many Americans were totally baffled about it so they had to do special coverage on the whole "what is Curling" I think at that point I lost my sanity and started throwing things at the TV!!
> 
> Food has definately increased in price in the USA but the media will not use the I word (inflation) because BO(sorry but that kills me plus he has to have a dog called BO too-narsacistic!) a lot of things have gone up a lot even when I was up there in Spet on PEI I told DH how I expected th eprices to be a lot higher than they were at home and they weren't at all!


Last Olympics I watched both US and Canadian Olympic coverage. I thought CBC did the best covereage with a real international coverage of events - but all the networks do a lot more talking than showing than they used to. My husband loves curling but I have to admit that to me it is like watching a rock age. LOL! I do like to play though.

Our friends have wintered in Arizona every year since 1992 and I used to be so amazed at the low food prices in the US. We were always quite a bit higher but I think the US is suffering much more from food inflation than we are over the past few years - although our prices are rising as well. The news warned today that corn crops are going to be bad so the first thing that will go up is beef prices. Better stock up the freezer.


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

emdeengee said:


> Last Olympics I watched both US and Canadian Olympic coverage. I thought CBC did the best covereage with a real international coverage of events - but all the networks do a lot more talking than showing than they used to. My husband loves curling but I have to admit that to me it is like watching a rock age. LOL! I do like to play though.
> 
> Our friends have wintered in Arizona every year since 1992 and I used to be so amazed at the low food prices in the US. We were always quite a bit higher but I think the US is suffering much more from food inflation than we are over the past few years - although our prices are rising as well. The news warned today that corn crops are going to be bad so the first thing that will go up is beef prices. Better stock up the freezer.


The first time I saw curling, I burst out laughing. It seemed impossible that it was an real sport and actually a part of the Olympics. Now I have a better appreciation for it... I watch it during the Olympic coverage and wish that I knew a curler to come scrub my kitchen floor for me. Their technique would make for spotless tile!

Our household is in full stock up mode. Between our own garden failure, the massive crop failures across the US, I am quite certain that food is going to be skyhigh. We are getting a Price Rite chain supermarket in my city. I've already started tucking a little money aside so that I can do some stocking up when it opens. In the mean time, I am shopping the sales and buying extra of everything. We have also gone back to scooping up firewood at the curb. If the price of food goes up, the cost of heating with natural gas will go up, too! I'm preparing for a harsh winter all around.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Here's another news flash of a different nature for you.

Yesterday a *75* year old woman in Sayward on Vancouver Island beat off 2 cougars that attacked her 2 little dogs while she was out walking on the beach. One of the cougars had picked up 1 of the dogs and the woman kicked the cougar in the head repeatedly until it dropped her dog. The cougars then ran off. They were both found a little later by the police in another public area and were put down. Both cougars were young, hungry, skinny males. The lady says she feels sorry for the cougars because they were so skinny and hungry. Her dog suffered a broken jaw and is getting surgery for that tomorrow.

.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Wow, that lady must be tough and mad at those cougars. I guess the forrest is loosing the natural food for the cougars so they are migrating to wherever they can for whatever they can.

With this drought all over the place, there will most likely be more incidents of this nature.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Another one. A young man from Ohio is missing in the wilderness of northern BC. He went there alone to do a film documentary on spirit bears and disappeared. When his family in Ohio reported he hadn't reported in or returned when he was supposed to, and informed police that he was NOT a seasoned wilderness camper and outdoorsman, search and rescue teams were mobilized. He has been missing since July 5th. His car was found with all his camping gear inside the car.

Search for missing Ohio filmmaker continues in northern B.C.

Now I have a rant about this. While I am concerned for this young man and I really hope he is found alive and unharmed I must say this kind of story also annoys me somewhat. All too often this kind of thing happens here in summers where some young adult person goes off into the wilderness here, all alone and unprepared and lacking in knowledge and familiarity of the treacherous BC wilderness conditions and thinks they're going to be invulnerable to the potential hazards of terrain, rivers and wild predators. Then search and rescue teams have to spend days and days looking for them and more often than not (if they find the person at all) they usually find the person dead because of an accident or predator incident that could have been avoided.

What ever happened to common sense? :sob:

.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

naturelover - common sense is a precious commodity and very few have it these days.

I think it's cause in many cases, as someone grows up, natural consequences are not allowed to happen, so they don't understand cause and effect.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Those spirit bears are the white ones? sorta like that white buffalo in the US S/W? Precious to the Native Americans/First Nation peoples.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

AngieM2 said:


> Wow, that lady must be tough and mad at those cougars. I guess the forrest is loosing the natural food for the cougars so they are migrating to wherever they can for whatever they can.
> 
> With this drought all over the place, there will most likely be more incidents of this nature.


Yes, she is a tough old gal alright, I was watching the interview with her on the TV news. She wasn't really mad at the cougars though, she feels sorry for them because they were young and hungry, but she was frightened for her dogs and was determined to get her dog back.

There is no drought here and this took place over on Vancouver Island which is quite wet. Conservation officers figures maybe the young males lost their mother before they knew how to hunt properly yet. There is actually an abundance of deer and other food on the island but if they didn't know how to hunt properly they will go into human inhabited areas without knowing any better. Cougar and bear incidents are very, very common in human settlements here.

And definitely no drought here - today there has been a *3rd mudslide* in another inhabited area - there was a 2nd one at a hotsprings resort on Sunday. That makes 3 mudslides in 3 different locations here since last Friday all because of the extremely wet spring we had. Nobody has been hurt in the last 2 mudslides but a lot of damage was still done and highways closed.

.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

AngieM2 said:


> Those spirit bears are the white ones? sorta like that white buffalo in the US S/W? Precious to the Native Americans/First Nation peoples.


Yes, they are definitely considered sacred by the First Nations people here, and even those who are not First Nations people feel very protective about them.










.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Thanks for the environment info for the cougars. Such pretty and strong cats.

And another mud slide, dang - I hope everyone near a possible site are watching and getting themselves out or prepared to move. But those mudslides just happen from the other information you've posted on the other two, and what I've seen on USA coverage of the 2nd one.


Just bad.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Speaking of mudslides, you have GOT TO watch this video. It was taken from the lake by a boater when the Johnson's Landing slide resumed on the 2nd day and went all the way down to the lake. The boater managed to film what happened with a couple who were near a boat on the shoreline when the 2nd JL slide came down to the lake and the couple just barely managed to leap into their boat and get out of the way in time. As they were speeding away in their boat in the nick of time they escaped by the skin of their teeth and nearly got slammed and swamped by the rush of mud and logs pouring into the lake. It's quite dramatic and you can hear the mud and logs rumbling down the hillside as it approaches the lake. :shocked: 

[ame="http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=046_1342224638"]LiveLeak.com - Landslide in British Columbia caught on camera,[/ame]

.


----------



## gryndlgoat (May 27, 2005)

naturelover said:


> LiveLeak.com - Landslide in British Columbia caught on camera,
> 
> .


Wow...just...wow.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

that is some film.

The land couple are sure lucky they moved out in time.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

That was an incredible video! It sure showed the power and speed of the landslide. I don't think the boys in the boat filming should have cut their engine or stayed as close to shore. I would have wanted to be ready to make an escape!

The shortest route to town takes us right by some vertical clay cliffs that begin about 20 feet from the road. We have never had so much rain. We are taking the longer way into town because those cliffs have nothing to keep them from collapsing. We suggested that the city put up wattle fencing up the hillside as they do at the mine sites but I guess they would rather wait for the whole thing to collapse and wash the road into the river. Much more expensive for the tax payer that way.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

My friend lives on Vancouver Island and they often see cougars. So far they have kept their distance. She has 3 small dogs and for them the greatest danger is with the Eagles. All of her neighbours have lost cats and one has lost a small dog.

I understand the conflict the woman faced - determined to protect her dog but so very sorry for the cougars who were just being cougars. They don't have a grocery store and they do not understand the concept of pets. If it moves it is food and thus everything is for predation. I was face with a similar situation a few years ago but with loose dogs.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

TheMartianChick said:


> The first time I saw curling, I burst out laughing. It seemed impossible that it was an real sport and actually a part of the Olympics. Now I have a better appreciation for it... I watch it during the Olympic coverage and wish that I knew a curler to come scrub my kitchen floor for me. Their technique would make for spotless tile!
> 
> Our household is in full stock up mode. Between our own garden failure, the massive crop failures across the US, I am quite certain that food is going to be skyhigh. We are getting a Price Rite chain supermarket in my city. I've already started tucking a little money aside so that I can do some stocking up when it opens. In the mean time, I am shopping the sales and buying extra of everything. We have also gone back to scooping up firewood at the curb. If the price of food goes up, the cost of heating with natural gas will go up, too! I'm preparing for a harsh winter all around.


When my husband wanted me to curl I went along to watch. So you want me to chase a rock on ice and sweep the ice as I run while everyone yells Hurry! Hurry! Hurry HARD!!! at me? I can do that at home in the kitchen with dog hair and my swiffer mop AND without the abuse and freezing. 

But I did curl and it was a lot of fun.

We just spent another $300 on stock up and I was thinking maybe we over did it but nope. Prices will be high this winter.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

In Saskatchewan a dog was chased and bitten by beavers while swimming after a stick in the water. Yes, I'm laughing and I am not proud of myself.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Two Seattle men say they spent more than two hours in a detention center at the Canadian border after U.S. border agents discovered illegal chocolate eggs in their car.

Brandon Loo and Christopher Sweeney told Seattle's KOMO-TV they decided to bring home some treats for friends and family during a recent trip to Vancouver. They bought Kinder Eggs &#8212; chocolate eggs with a toy inside.

The two men say border guards searched their car and said the eggs are illegal in the United States because young children could choke on the small plastic toys. Importing them can lead to a potentially hefty fine.

Sweeney says the bust was a waste of his time and the agents' time. The men eventually got off with a warning.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman declined to comment about the case Tuesday night.

The agency warned on its website around Easter that the treats can't be imported legally.

The agency says it seized more than 60,000 Kinder Eggs from travelers' baggage and international mail shipments in fiscal 2011, which was more than twice the amount seized in the previous year.


And yes I am laughing at this story as well which is really shameful because they are a choking hazzard for little children. But soon the ban will be lifted because the Kinder Eggs and the toys are being made much larger. Christmas and Easter in our house would not be complete without the Kinder Eggs.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Johnny Reid is dominating the Canadian Country Music Awards again this year. A Scottish boy who was raised in Canada and records and writes Country Music in Nashville. If that isn't a great immigrant success story I will eat my cowboy hat. I just love his music. So sexy. 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6a4RznX-fc]Johnny Reid - A Woman Like You - YouTube[/ame]


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

emdeengee said:


> Johnny Reid is dominating the Canadian Country Music Awards again this year. A Scottish boy who was raised in Canada and records and writes Country Music in Nashville. If that isn't a great immigrant success story I will eat my cowboy hat. I just love his music. So sexy.
> 
> Johnny Reid - A Woman Like You - YouTube


He was also spotted kicking a soccer ball one day at his high school by a university football recruiter and ended up playing university football in spite of never having played the game before in his life - I blocked for him.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

DaleK said:


> He was also spotted kicking a soccer ball one day at his high school by a university football recruiter and ended up playing university football in spite of never having played the game before in his life - I blocked for him.


I did not know that! He seems like a nice man. Is he?


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

Yep, and one of the funniest people I've ever met.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

DaleK said:


> Yep, and one of the funniest people I've ever met.


Nice to know. It is always sad when someone you like (but don't know) turns out to be an azz. Thank you for telling me this.

Do you still play soccer?


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

> But soon the ban will be lifted because the Kinder Eggs and the toys are being made much larger. Christmas and Easter in our house would not be complete without the Kinder Eggs.


I wonder how soon is soon. This Kinder Eggs ban has been in effect for a few years now. Three years ago there was a big hullaballoo in the news about a lady who lives in Toronto was driving to Maine for Easter holidays at her seaside cottage in Maine. She had packed a box of Kinder Eggs in her suitcase to give to her sister's family in Maine as a treat for Easter Sunday egg hunt. She didn't know they were banned and she was detained by U.S. customs officers and held for 4 hours with them chewing her out royally. They did finally let her proceed after contacting her sister in Maine to ascertain that she was the owner of the cottage and was who she said she was. She WAS fined, and they confiscated the Kinder Eggs too.

.


----------



## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

For the First Time, Canadians Now Richer Than Americans - US News and World Report

For the First Time, Canadians Now Richer Than Americans

The average Canadian household is worth about $40,000 more than their American counterparts


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

emdeengee said:


> In Saskatchewan a dog was chased and bitten by beavers while swimming after a stick in the water. Yes, I'm laughing and I am not proud of myself.



too bad that there was not a youtube or at least a photo of that. Must have been something to see.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

The youtube of Johnny Reid is very nice. I enjoyed it. I had never heard of him before. Nice to hear he's a nice guy , too.


painterswife - I heard that about Canada being ahead of us in being richer than USA. Heard it was mostly because of the problems with the housing market here.

Congratulations.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

painterswife said:


> For the First Time, Canadians Now Richer Than Americans - US News and World Report
> 
> For the First Time, Canadians Now Richer Than Americans
> 
> The average Canadian household is worth about $40,000 more than their American counterparts


I wouldn't take that article at face value. They're just parroting propaganda that they sourced from the Globe & Mail and the G&B has a tendency to be biased and likes to rub America's nose in it's problems. Kind of going like this ---> :nana: to America whenever they get the opportunity.

Canadians are NOT richer than Americans and I think the only reason the average Canadian household is worth more is because houses, properties and consumer goods cost 2 or 3 times more in Canada than they do in America. Especially houses. The consequence of that is that Canadians are more frugal with their money and don't spend as much money on non-essential consumer goods per household as American households do. And, if Canadians didn't have the social safety nets and the kind of affordable health care system that it does, and it was like the American system, every Canadian household would be living much closer to poverty. Also, on a per capita basis by comparison with America there are 3 times more working middle-class citizens in Canada than there are poor or rich citizens. That does not make Canadians of any class richer than their American counterparts, it just means there are 3 times more middle class people who are working at living comfortably within their means without going into too much debt.

Taken as a whole nation, USA is the richest nation in the world and Canada ranks in something like 13th or 14th place behind USA and other wealthy countries.

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

My God-daughter just gave birth to a lovely boy. She and her husband are just thrilled and because their work allows that they can work from home they will both be with the baby for most of the next year without having to use up all maternity/paternity benefits.

I just read two interesting medical studies from Montreal. Both were long term (15 to 20 years) and involved tens of thousands of participants.

First has to do with anti-inflammatories. The tens of thousands of cases of spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) they studied clearly showed that the only anti-inflammatory drug that a pregnant woman (especially in the first trimester) should take is Aspirin.

The second study (again 40 plus thousand cases and decades of information) shows that nature has equipped men to be nurturing caregivers to new born babies. Their testosterone levels drop 34% (average) immediately after the birth and 50% after one month. This testosterone drop removes most of the aggression factor in males and also dramatically slows the sexual hunting aspect. It is important to note that the men studied were those committed to the child. Others studied who were just "sperm donors" with no regard for the child did not change. Who says men can't be just great with babies? Mother Nature sure took care of everything.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

They have stopped the recovery effort for the two women killed in the Kooteney mud slide. So very sad.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

2012 is the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. The Americans declared war on Britain and thus by association on the colony of Canada. We of course studied this in school but that was a long time ago for me. 

The battles were a lot bigger than I remembered. 20,000 soldiers died at Niagara. But the year the war ended it was back to commerce and tourism as though nothing had happened. In fact the first real tour guides of the Niagra falls were ex-soldiers who were from the area or left behind. And who won the battle and war was a very flexible concept depending on whether the guide was American or Canadian. Kind of like the history books I have been reading this summer about the war of 1812. 

One thing I did not know is that it was battles of this war that inspired the lyrics of the Star Spangled Banner.

Another is that this war cemented the people of Canada (the French, English and First Nations) into Canadians for the first time and led to the eventual formation of the Confederation.

And I always wondered why all the old houses in Kingston and Niagara did not have any closets. That was because King George taxed houses according to the number of rooms and a closet (three walls and a door) was considered a room. See. Sneaky taxes are nothing new.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

That's really interesting emdeengee. I never knew that stuff. And crazy about the rooms with no closets. Sneaky taxes - seems they all want some.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I had to giggle because according to King George I would be living in an eighteen room house (we have a lot of closets)! I'm rich! Well until I had to pay taxes. I would have been hanging my clothes on the floor rather than pay tax for a closet.


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

This old farmhouse of mine is 110 years old. It has one closet. I live about 60 miles from Kingston. My 133 year old farmhouse on Manitoulin Island did not have any closets.
How long was the crazy closet tax in effect?


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

AngieM2 said:


> too bad that there was not a youtube or at least a photo of that. Must have been something to see.


My husband's work takes him deep into the wilderness. Part of his training involved how to handle animal confrontations. There is an order of danger list. Grizzly, other Bears, Moose, Ground Wasps, Beaver. Wolves, coyotes are not considered a real danger. 

Beavers are the most fascinating creatures but they are very protective of their homes and especially their young. Farmers hate them but without them nature is in big trouble and a lot of the prairie farmers are now suffering from the extermination of beavers and their dams.

My husband has been chased by a beaver. Fortunately it was on land - they are very slow moving. Climbing a tree however is pointless. When their work takes them near a beaver colony and they are in and out of the water they have to be very careful. Everytime my husband sends someone in the water he hums the theme from Jaws. And of course if they see a beaver they all yell "shark". This is called being "bushed" - when you are in the wilderness so long that even small things become very amusing no matter how many times they are said.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Shawn Atleo was re-elected as Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. There was a lot of criticism of him during his first term by the other chiefs - he was too comfortable with the government and not strong enough. His pledge has been to be more forceful particularly in the area of participating in the wealth from natural resources. 

This will be of great interest to the oil industry since so much of the proposed pipelines will have to cross First Nations Land.


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

Here's an update on the Doomsday Prepper that lives near my Mum. Police have finished sweeping the house and are now clearing the concrete bunkers in the back yard. They have found 83 improvised explosive devices, various noxious chemical and 29 firearms, including a sub machine gun.

The bigger bomb shelter bunker was built using plans submitted to and approved by the City of Barrie in 1984. I'm thinking this was not the intended use the city planners has envisioned. The link below gives you a look inside the bunker. Can you imagine being an officer who has to sort thru all that and worry that any wire could lead to a booby trapped bomb? I'm sure that people are frustrated at still being out of their homes but I am also hearing that there is great support for the police who are doing this job.

My brother and I use to deliver the Toronto Star to this address when I was a kid. 

Sweep of bomb-filled Barrie home nears completion - Toronto - CBC News


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

rileyjo said:


> This old farmhouse of mine is 110 years old. It has one closet. I live about 60 miles from Kingston. My 133 year old farmhouse on Manitoulin Island did not have any closets.
> How long was the crazy closet tax in effect?


I don't know how long it was in effect and can't find it in my books or on the internet.

What I did find is that before Confederation (1867) the colonial governments collected taxes and sent them to the two mother countries, England and France. The colonial governments usually collected revenue by charging
customs duties. In 1650, Louis XIV of France imposed the first recorded tax in Canadian history. It was an export tax of 50% on beaver pelts and 10% on moose hides leaving his colonies. 

In 1751 Nova Scotia, by then an English colony, began charging its own customs duties on sugar, bricks, lumber, and billiard tables. The following year, the Nova Scotia government imposed excise taxes on tea, coffee, and playing cards. (I think they were being double taxed on tea and should have held their own Tea Party!)

In 1867 the British North America Act was passed, giving the newly formed Canadian government the power to raise money by taxation. In the next 50 years, the federal government used only indirect taxes such as customs duties and excise taxes to raise the money it needed. Direct taxation was left to
the four provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.

The Fathers of Confederation gave the most expensive area of responsibility â building railways,roads, bridges, and harbours â to the federal government. The provincial governments were responsible for education, health, and welfare.

I sure wish we could go back to the indirect tax system. We got corporate taxes in 1916 and income tax in 1917 as TEMPORARY war measures taxes. No one has a dictionary on Parliament Hill because apparently they don't know the meaning of "temporary".


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

rileyjo said:


> Here's an update on the Doomsday Prepper that lives near my Mum. Police have finished sweeping the house and are now clearing the concrete bunkers in the back yard. They have found 83 improvised explosive devices, various noxious chemical and 29 firearms, including a sub machine gun.
> 
> The bigger bomb shelter bunker was built using plans submitted to and approved by the City of Barrie in 1984. I'm thinking this was not the intended use the city planners has envisioned. The link below gives you a look inside the bunker. Can you imagine being an officer who has to sort thru all that and worry that any wire could lead to a booby trapped bomb? I'm sure that people are frustrated at still being out of their homes but I am also hearing that there is great support for the police who are doing this job.
> 
> ...


holey moley that is some messy bunker! I hope it isn't booby trapped. I really am quite speechless about this whole thing. That it could have been going on for so long in a family neighbourhood. I am sure you are right - the city planners did not envision this! but I wonder what they thought a bunker was going to be used for? 

The news reported that they had food for three people for one month. I am better prepared than that! Not as many bombs though. Kidding. Maybe.

The TO Star seems an odd choice for these guys since it is considered to be the most left wing of the major newspapers. Maybe that was part of their cover story? Ha!


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

He took the Toronto Star on Saturdays and the Barrie Banner on Wednesdays. The Banner had all the grocery advertisements. Maybe he was planning his grocery list so he could stock up. That was in the late 70's and those were the only papers that were home delivered.

What I'm hearing is this theory....Willy knew his son had committed murder and as the years went on, his paranoia kept increasing. He took steps to protect his family against the day when the authorities would come to arrest his son. Fear, paranoia, guilt, whatever the cause, it drove him to obssession. The upper floor was normal but the basement and bunker was booby trapped with IED's even hidden in the walls. Theres no mention of the wife anywhere. The son moved back home about 6 months ago. The son turned himself in to police and confessed, maybe because living with a father who was a few fruit loops short of a bowl was not a better option. It will be interesting to hear the whole wacky story in full some day.
My Mum's house has the identical layout inside so all of this is quite easy for me to visualize.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

rileyjo said:


> ...Theres no mention of the wife anywhere.


Not much mention of her at all. Her name is Annette, she also goes by Renate. According to some people on that street who are discussing this online or who have given anonymous interviews to reporters, Annette showed up at the house shortly after her husband was arrested and allegedly told police she didn't know there was explosives and firearms in the bunkers. I think that's probably unlikely but it stands to reason she would deny any knowledge. 

I imagine she's probably being held in protective custody somewhere now and being questioned about what she knows and who her husband may have been affiliated or associated with.

Her husband, William "Willy" Feldhoff was born in 1937 and was an immigrant from Germany.

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

An anti- trust lawsuit brought against Visa and MasterCard by the retailers of America has been settled. Visa, MasterCard and major banks agreed to pay retailers at least $6 billion to settle a long-running lawsuit that alleged the card issuers conspired to fix the fees that stores pay to accept credit cards. The final settlement was 7.25 billion. 

As part of the settlement stores will be allowed to charge customers more if they pay using a credit card. In other words get ready for a surcharge if you use your credit card.

The Canadian Retailers Association reacted to this by telling Visa and MasterCard that they will stop accepting Visa and MasterCard before they will pay any higher fees or pass the increases on through a surcharge to their customers. They say this surcharge will hurt business and so will refusing credit cards but they would rather make a stand than keep getting messed with.

I have long thought that anyone paying cash should get a discount since the store does not have to pay for your credit card transaction. In the past I have not been shy about asking for this - some stores do, some don't. But lately a lot are happy to do so.


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

This is actually the first time I read past the first posts and so many topics went whizzing by....

1 - the uniforms are not the normal red or red/white I'm used to seeing the Canadian athletes wearing, and I'm sure I will be looking for our athletes in those colors during the events instead of spotting them in the black.

2 - looks like the people evacuated didn't know about having BOBs packed and ready.

3 - Canadian legend Ian Tyson has the song that explains the wagons....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz2sB4wIEGw]Half Mile of Hell, Red Deer, 2008 - YouTube[/ame]

I think it's being overblown about the rodeo and chuckwagon racing and animal cruelty, but then I'm an Albertan and of course I'm biased because a couple relatives are involved in the sport.
If we compared the number of horses hurt or killed in the sport of wagons compared to ... say - injuries and deaths in downhill skiing then the numbers favour the animals. 

This next video shows how much the horses, even the minis, are anxious to race.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b76JTv6SlMY&feature=related]Mini Chuckwagon racing - YouTube[/ame]

4 - 100+ years ago when those houses were built not many people had more then a change of clothes and their special "Sunday go to church" clothes so there was no need for closets. Back then the people had wardrobes if they were rich, otherwise there were trunks and nails in the wall.

5 - A lot of the young male animals (bear, cougars and beaver) are forced out of their home territory by the older males and they wander into human inhabited areas because of the fact that there are no bigger males there. 

The brain is shutting down and that's all I can remember for topics posted other then the political ones and the RMRs


----------



## celina (Dec 29, 2005)

credit vs cash 

hey that's the reason Canadian tire gives you canadian tire money when you pay cash!!! (although i think debit messed that up) But that was the reason at first. Gosh i miss Canadian Tire..almost as much as Tim Hortons....

i LOVE this thread thank you...makes me feel like i have a little piece of home here.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The Colorado shooting is just so terrible and tragic. With the shooting in Toronto that is 14 dead and 61 wounded in just a week. Crazy. Sometimes I just despair.

To make this even more unreal. One of the dead in the Colorado shooting was in Canada in June and she was at the Toronto Eaton's Centre mass shooting.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

celina said:


> credit vs cash
> 
> hey that's the reason Canadian tire gives you canadian tire money when you pay cash!!! (although i think debit messed that up) But that was the reason at first. Gosh i miss Canadian Tire..almost as much as Tim Hortons....
> 
> i LOVE this thread thank you...makes me feel like i have a little piece of home here.


We had so much Canadian Tire money (which we always seemed to leave at home when we went shopping) that it was getting to be embarrassing. Last time we went we noticed that they have a box into which you can deposit the money if you don't want to use it. This money goes to pay for their program which helps to pay for underpriviledged kids to play hockey. I love it! So Canadian. I have bundled all the money into denominations and it is in the car ready to be deposited when we go into town this week. 

Tims has moved into the US market but mostly in the North East. Hang on they may head south! I love that Tims was in Afghanistan on the Canadian base for the whole time the troops were there. Nothing like a Tim Bit and a double double to cure a little homesickness.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Sanza said:


> This is actually the first time I read past the first posts and so many topics went whizzing by....
> 
> 1 - the uniforms are not the normal red or red/white I'm used to seeing the Canadian athletes wearing, and I'm sure I will be looking for our athletes in those colors during the events instead of spotting them in the black.
> 
> ...


That is the first thing I thought about. I hope they had their bug out bags ready!

My favourite Ian Tyson song is the Coyote. We saw him in concert a few years ago. He really is a Cowboy Poet.

I have my Great x 3 Grandmother's hope chest and her clothes trunk. Everything was kept in these. She also had an Armoir later in life but as you said - people did not have as many clothes as we do. A best dress, a second best dress and maybe two work dresses. And you rotated them. When you wanted a new dress your best dress became your second best dress and your second best dress became a work dress. Your worst work dress was used to make patchwork quilts or cut down to make play dresses for your girls.


----------



## celina (Dec 29, 2005)

there are 2 Tim's near the usa military bases near virginia beach..but its a few hours drive...and i'm afraid it's gonna suck..lol....but when we're down there, we'll check it out


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

celina said:


> there are 2 Tim's near the usa military bases near virginia beach..but its a few hours drive...and i'm afraid it's gonna suck..lol....*but when we're down there, we'll check it out*


If you do, and if it's hot out, order an Iced Cap. They are really good.

.


----------



## celina (Dec 29, 2005)

iced caps were my FAVE back home!


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Some visitors from England caught an 1,100 pounds, 12 foot 4 inches long white sturgeon in the Fraser River on Monday.

12-foot sturgeon caught near Chilliwack weighed 1,100 pounds



> Thereâs bound to be variations, but when Michael and Margaret Snell â a retired English couple from Salisbury â return home this weekend theyâll have their story of hooking into a 1,100 pound monster sturgeon to captivate family, friends and neighbours.​
> At 12-feet-four-inches long, with a girth of 53 inches and weighing an estimated 1,100 pounds, guide Dean Werk of Great Fishing Adventures estimates the sturgeon to be over 100 years old.​
> It took an hour and a half to land the fish. Eventually the fish was brought to the shore with the trio standing chest high in the water embracing their catch while photos were taken before the fish was released.​


Video of them admiring then releasing their sturgeon: Video: 'A fish of a lifetime' caught in B.C.'s Fraser river - The Globe and Mail

​ 
*Dean Werk, president of Great River Fishing Adventures, Margaret and Michael Snell hold their 12-foot four-inch sturgeon.*​ 




.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Yesterday an 81 year old woman, Jessie Roland, in Pt. Hardy (on the Island) opened her back door to let some fresh air into the house. A young female black bear wandered in through the door and made itself comfortable in her kitchen. The old lady got a squirt bottle of water out of the kitchen and squirted it in the face to get rid of it. She says the bear groaned and rolled it's eyes at her then the bear ambled back out the door. It's still making itself at home in her back yard and she says that's okay as long as it stays out of her house.

.


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

I used to have a neighbor who bought a lawn tractor with Canadian Tire money. Took them an hour to count it


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

At the border crossing between Soo Michigan and Soo Ontario, the customs officers will casually say "Welcome back to Canada...I'll bet you're ready for a Tims"

If you know the right answer. " yes, I need a dub dub and a frit', they will smile and then start their spiel of official questions. The crossing is pretty smooth once you pass that first test.


----------



## celina (Dec 29, 2005)

i lived in soo ontario for a few years..was never asked that question..but i loved crossing there...eggs were 38c doz and milk was 89c at walmart....this was 2007. Those were the prices i was hoping for when we moved here..to see eggs at 2.50 adn milk at 3.00 were disapointing...and my timmy's fave is a Dutchie. YUMM


----------



## celina (Dec 29, 2005)

my fil got robbed a few years back and they stole about 200$ in cnd tire money...i'm sure they thought it was a roll of real cash...

He was more upset at that then the booze or camera's they ripped off.


----------



## celina (Dec 29, 2005)

naturelover: in temiscaming, qc bears were a PAIN...2 seperate stories...2 seperate friends. One was chatting on the phone with her dd and heard something at the door and opened it and came face to face with the bear.The other had a young bear make itself at home in the kids treehouse. lol


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

celina said:


> credit vs cash
> 
> hey that's the reason Canadian tire gives you canadian tire money when you pay cash!!! (although i think debit messed that up) But that was the reason at first. Gosh i miss Canadian Tire..almost as much as Tim Hortons....
> 
> i LOVE this thread thank you...makes me feel like i have a little piece of home here.


I remember our first visit to Canadian Tire in Niagara Falls. We were camping at the little campgrounds behind Marineland and found that we forgot something simple like toothebrushes or something. Someone at the campground recommended Canadian Tire and gave us directions. We didn't know why we should go to a tire store to look for toothbrushes, but we went anyway and found just what we needed. 

We got some of that Canadian Tire money back in change and then didn't quite know what to do with it. We made a wrong turn out of the parking lot and discovered a Kmart not too far away. That was the same trip that we "discovered" Tim Hortons and bought Timbits for breakfast.

You will probably find a Tim Hortons in Virginia soon. We have quite a few in our area of NY now and they seem to be headed south.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Some sad news. Search & Rescue workers and police never found a trace of that young Ohio man that went missing while doing the documentary on spirit bears. They announced yesterday they had to discontinue the search for him. I sure feel sad for his family.

.


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

That is sad. I wonder why he didn't partner up with someone else to do the doc. There's so many accidents that can happen to incapacitate a person and they would stand a better chance of surviving if there's someone else to help.

There's more mud slides and now Quesnel is having some flooding problems. I'm starting to worry about my oldest brother who lives up on the side of a mountain on Williams Lake. I know in drier years they've had slides and now with all the rain they had it's scary.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

From some of the stuff I read about him I think it was like a personal Vision Quest looking for his Power Animal sort of thing for him, so maybe that's why he wanted to do it alone. Unfortunately he picked an area that has some of the most deadly terrain in the province so I think he probably fell into a hidden ravine and or got swept away in a torrent.

Yeah, the weather's done a number - more mud slides continuing, and over the weekend there was the wind storm that swept through Washington state and south BC, uprooted so many trees in soaked ground. An 11 y.o. boy at a Bible Camp in Grand Forks was killed when a couple of huge trees came down on the bunk house he was in. 

Travellers are being warned now by Tourism BC to be sure to carry enough emergency supplies with them in their vehicles to tide them over for several days in the event they get trapped or isolated somewhere because of mudslides and downed trees. It's common sense anyway but they've never had to issue warnings like that before.

.


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

I read up a bit more about the guy and he wanted to make the documentary to protest against the gateway pipeline. 

He hadn't even taken his supplies out of his vehicle, and was NOT an experienced camper/hiker/ outdoors person to begin with.....what was he thinking? That finding and photographing the bears would be the same as when he photographed some black bears at that zoo he stopped at? I didn't see any articles saying if his camera was missing.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Calgary-based oil and gas firm Nexen Inc. has agreed to be acquired by China National Offshore Oil Company in a $15.1 billion US cash deal.

State-owned CNOOC Ltd. will pay $27.50 per Nexen share. That price makes the deal the largest foreign transaction that Beijing has ever attempted.


Nexen is big in the oil sands. The deal still has to be approved by the competition bureau and there are questions concerning this because the acquiring company is owned by the Chinese government.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

naturelover said:


> Some sad news. Search & Rescue workers and police never found a trace of that young Ohio man that went missing while doing the documentary on spirit bears. They announced yesterday they had to discontinue the search for him. I sure feel sad for his family.
> 
> .


Very sad and tragic. Stories like this make be angry as well. The wilderness is a very dangerous place. People really just don't realize how dangerous. Even if you have the best equipment and are in a team it is dangerous. And the size of it. It really is hard to understand the area and terrain that a search team has to deal with. His poor family.


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Teh really sad thing about the man from Ohio is he had less sense than we did as kids(referring to my family) we grew up knowing the dnagers of being in the woods and knew what bear track and scat looked like from studying books on wildlife. When we were between the ages of 4-9 we traveled across Canada with out parents during a move. We werecamping in Banff National Park and it was a bad summer for bears in the camp. We were walking along an old logging trail when my DB 9 looked down and told us to turn around and we were going back to camp and to just walk the same way we came. When we got back to camp we asked him why? because he saw big cat tracks, our dad went back with a ranger and he checked them out and told our dad his son was pretty smart the tracks were made pretty recently and we might just well have found the cat if we had kept going! The rangers went out that night and tranqed a young male and collared him and mover him to another area of th ecamp just to be on the safe side!

Twice we had bears in camp(meaning our actualcampsiteperimeter both times they decided the dog barking asnt worth the hassle. My DB tripped over a bear coming ou of th ebathroom, he went one way the bear went the other the bear eneded up in a camper a few spots over and destroyed it before he found hos way back out. We dont know who got more scared DB or th ebear!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I live in a wilderness city. The house we now live in is on the outskirts. Lots of homes around and we are very civilized. Take away the snow or midnight sun and we look like any newer subdivision in any Canadian city. 

When we walk the dogs we go down our street and then hit the snowmobile trail. This skirts the rim of the valley behind our street. I don't know how deep the valley is but grizzly bears that go to drink at the creek at the bottom look about the size of a teddy bear. We have watched nature in the raw there - wolves attacking and killing a young moose, bears threatening to fight each other, an eagle taking off with a rabbit in its talons and the rabbit was still alive and screaming and ravens attacking an eagle in defense of another raven in an aerial ballet of death. The dogs freaked out each time and so we turned back. 

We have not run into a bear on our walks but my neighbour did. Fortunately she knew how to behave and the bear was in a good mood. We have snow shoed (without the dogs) in winter and out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of wolves following us like ghosts flitting through the trees. My husband said just keep walking and talking. They were not interested in us but would have been in our dogs. The wolves killed my neighbours dog right in his own back yard and twice I have seen a coyote trotting down the street with a cat in its mouth. 

From the edge of this valley the wilderness stretches for 300 km to the west before you even come across a hunting lodge and you have to go over 600 km north to hit a small city. You can drive the entire time and see a couple of cars or trucks. Maybe. This is just my little corner of the wilderness and this poor young man would not have stood a chance here either - once he left the safety of the subdivision or the guidance of the highway.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Apparently the full size Canadian Moose statue (red and white of course) at the front of Canada house at the Olympic village is the biggest hit so far. Everyone wants to take a picture with the moose. Having grown up with moosez (moosei?) I forget that for a lot of people (including some of our Canadian team) a moose is something new and different.

Three Marauders and a moose in the Olympic Village | McMaster Daily News


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The Canadian government contributes 64 million dollars to the training of olympic athletes every year. The Olympic committee contributes 6 million. This is just not enough so we are trying to get corporations to meet or exceed the 64 million $ in sponsorship contributions of their own. I don't much care for this although it will help the athletes and allow more than just the top 2 or 3 to reach their full potential. Already the corporations are taking over - the Polo and Nike symbols on the uniforms are ridiculous - as big as or bigger than the Olympic symbol! And the corporate stranglehold on their exclusive rights to the symbol is getting a little crazy. A 90 year old British woman was knitting olympic symbol items to be sold for charity and was threatened with a huge fine and/or prosecution if she did not stop. So of course the British who are known for their "up yours" attitude towards corporations and governments have been tagging everything with faux olympic rings. I wonder how many Canadians will be smuggling spray paint in their luggage?


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Discovery Island, one of the very small islands grouped in with the Gulf Islands near Victoria, has an unusual visitor this year (see picture below). Discovery Island is half provincial park and half native reserve and is uninhabited with no fresh water and no wild life on it except for birds and small rodents. It's about 10 miles away from all the nearest islands or the mainland. 

This lone Pacific Coastal Wolf swam across the 10 miles of ocean from somewhere and has been haunting Discovery Island for the past several weeks. It's been observing boaters and campers curiously without approaching too closely and is seemingly unconcerned about being stuck on an isolated island with little food and no fresh water except puddles of rain water. 

Conservation officers thought it would swim away when it ran out of rain water but it hasn't left yet. So this week they got busy putting down all sorts of baited live traps and foothold traps on the island. Once they catch it, vet it and tag it, they'll relocate it to one of the coastal regions where there are lots of other Pacific Coastal Wolves.

This pictures was taken recently by a fisherman on his boat near the shoreline. The wolf looks a wee bit skinny to me so I think he must be getting pretty hungry. I'm sure it will be relieved to be moved to a better hunting ground and put into contact with other wolves again.




.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> A 90 year old British woman was knitting olympic symbol items to be sold for charity and was threatened with a huge fine and/or prosecution if she did not stop. *So of course the British who are known for their "up yours" attitude towards corporations and governments have been tagging everything with faux olympic rings.* I wonder how many Canadians will be smuggling spray paint in their luggage?


:hysterical: :thumb: :nana: LOL. Good for them!

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

naturelover said:


> Discovery Island, one of the very small islands grouped in with the Gulf Islands near Victoria, has an unusual visitor this year (see picture below). Discovery Island is half provincial park and half native reserve and is uninhabited with no fresh water and no wild life on it except for birds and small rodents. It's about 10 miles away from all the nearest islands or the mainland.
> 
> This lone Pacific Coastal Wolf swam across the 10 miles of ocean from somewhere and has been haunting Discovery Island for the past several weeks. It's been observing boaters and campers curiously without approaching too closely and is seemingly unconcerned about being stuck on an isolated island with little food and no fresh water except puddles of rain water.
> 
> ...


WOW! That is an Olympic swim for a wolf. I hope they can catch him before he runs out of food. Amazing.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> WOW! That is an Olympic swim for a wolf. I hope they can catch him before he runs out of food. Amazing.


Yah. We got heap big strong wooofs here on Pacific .... half fish, half wooof.

Olympic wolf. :thumb: I like it. Maybe Olympiad should be suggested as a name for it. 

.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

I think it's worth mentioning here that the Pacific Coastal wolves (a.k.a. Sea Wolves) are a subspecies unique to the BC rainforest coast and islands with perhaps 500 known along the coast. Locally they are affectionately referred to as Sea Wolves and there has been a book written about them with that title, "_The Sea Wolves_" by authors Ian McAllister and Nicholas Read, it includes many photographs of them in their natural habitat.

Sea wolves are noted for swimming from island to island to hunt for food and a 10 mile swim is not unusual. They swim effortlessly like otters and hunt for fish and marine life the way bears do. Their hair is dense and coarser than other wolves and sheds water easily, adapted over thousands of years to the rain and their frequent forays into the salt ocean. British Columbia's sea wolves are to the wolf family as polar bears are to the bear family, they are just as much at home in the water as on land.

The only reason the wildlife conservation people want to move this wolf is because there are a lot of campgrounds and picnic sites on the small island that gets many visitors and they don't want people feeding it or having the wolf become accustomed to being around people. Also they don't want someone getting funny ideas about killing it for a poached trophy. It could very easily leave the island and swim elsewhere without any trouble but doesn't seem to want to leave just yet so now it's getting its eviction notice for its own good.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

I found a site with pictures of the Canadian dress uniforms for the Olympics, it has pictures of the uniforms of other countries too. 

Jamaica's is wild colors, Korea's is snazzy, I think they look sharp - I love the Korean's hats, I have one just like it.

Best designed Olympic uniforms

Here is Canada's for the opening and closing ceremonies.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

The U.S. team also has the bright yellow track shoes for the track and field team.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Paumon said:


> I found a site with pictures of the Canadian dress uniforms for the Olympics, it has pictures of the uniforms of other countries too.
> 
> Jamaica's is wild colors, Korea's is snazzy, I think they look sharp - I love the Korean's hats, I have one just like it.
> 
> ...


Is this not the uniform from the Beijing Olympics in 2008? Are they just recycling it?


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Paumon said:


> I think it's worth mentioning here that the Pacific Coastal wolves (a.k.a. Sea Wolves) are a subspecies unique to the BC rainforest coast and islands with perhaps 500 known along the coast. Locally they are affectionately referred to as Sea Wolves and there has been a book written about them with that title, "_The Sea Wolves_" by authors Ian McAllister and Nicholas Read, it includes many photographs of them in their natural habitat.
> 
> Sea wolves are noted for swimming from island to island to hunt for food and a 10 mile swim is not unusual. They swim effortlessly like otters and hunt for fish and marine life the way bears do. Their hair is dense and coarser than other wolves and sheds water easily, adapted over thousands of years to the rain and their frequent forays into the salt ocean. British Columbia's sea wolves are to the wolf family as polar bears are to the bear family, they are just as much at home in the water as on land.
> 
> The only reason the wildlife conservation people want to move this wolf is because there are a lot of campgrounds and picnic sites on the small island that gets many visitors and they don't want people feeding it or having the wolf become accustomed to being around people. Also they don't want someone getting funny ideas about killing it for a poached trophy. It could very easily leave the island and swim elsewhere without any trouble but doesn't seem to want to leave just yet so now it's getting its eviction notice for its own good.


A few years ago we saw a report on the "Sea Wolves". It said that they swim but never that they could do 10 miles. That is AMAZING! Leave it to Mother Nature to adapt.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The Women's World Fastpitch Championship is over. Japan won the gold. The Snow Birds did a fly over. Never gets old. Everyone wants to return to the Canadian North to do it again. Where else can you play in broad daylight until midnight? Well Russia and Scandinavia too but our sunlight is better. The papers wrote:

Yukiko Ueno got exactly what she wanted for her birthday on Sunday: a gold medal.

Japan&#8217;s star pitcher rung in her 30th birthday by leading her team to its first gold medal in 42 years at the ISF XIII Women&#8217;s World Fastpitch Championship at Whitehorse&#8217;s Pepsi Softball Centre.

Japan, who won silver at the previous three worlds, captured gold in a grueling 2-1, 10-inning battle against Team U.S.A.

&#8220;This will never happen on my birthday (again), I feel great,&#8221; said Ueno, through an interpreter. &#8220;I felt (the Americans&#8217 enthusiasm and their fighting spirit, so I knew I had to really work hard.&#8221;

&#8220;We did very, very well,&#8221; said Japan&#8217;s head coach Reika Utsugi, also through an interpreter. &#8220;It&#8217;s been 42 years since we&#8217;ve won the world championship. I&#8217;m so happy, I&#8217;m so excited because after 42 years Japan finally won the world championship.&#8221;

The win over the U.S.A. ends a gold-winning streak of momentous proportions. The U.S.A. has won gold at the last seven Women&#8217;s World Fastpitch Championships, dating back to 1982. They&#8217;ve won nine in total.

The American team went undefeated en route to the final, winning its first six games without allowing a single run. Only six runs were scored against the U.S.A. in the entire championship.

&#8220;You can&#8217;t ask for much more in a championship setting,&#8221; said U.S.A. head coach Ken Erikson. &#8220;Get down to 10 innings &#8211; three extra frames &#8211; in a world championship gold medal game, some phenomenal defensive play and great pitching, clutch stuff. So it was everything the fans were paying for, I can tell you that.&#8221;

Ueno was easily the star of the game. She pitched all 10 innings, throwing 134 pitches, amassing eight strikeouts and allowing just three hits. That&#8217;s just a few hours after pitching seven innings earlier in the day in a 2-0 win over Australia to reach the final. The loss to Japan on Sunday gave the Aussies the bronze.

Ueno, who is considered to be the best women&#8217;s softball pitcher in the world, is the first ever to throw a perfect game at the Olympics in 2004 and has had pitches clocked at 121 kilometres an hour. She was on Japan&#8217;s gold medal-winning team at the 2008 Olympic Games.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Last night CBC news had a round table discussion on debt. To sum up

Debt can be good or bad. (dah!)

Our economy is based on credit. Without debt there is no new money coming in. 

Consumers have kept the ball in the air with our borrowing. Now we are not buying.

The only way to get the economy stimulated and growing is for government and corporate spending to get very active.

The government is tapped out and in deep deficit.

Corporations in Canada have never, ever had so much cash on hand and they are not doing anything with it. This is a question of lack of confidence in what will happen in the US and Europe but it is also a question of looking out for number one. Waiting to see where they can get more money for their money. 

Consumer's shouldn't spend more and get into more debt, the government can't spend more and get into more debt and the corporations won't spend anything. 

It was a good discussion - lots of blood in the water - but it left me feeling like we are floping around and some are playing chicken with our economy.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> Is this not the uniform from the Beijing Olympics in 2008? Are they just recycling it?


It's identical to the 2008 uniforms and that picture IS from the opening ceremonies in Beijing because I found another one of it from 2008. 

I guess I could be wrong but I don't think that's what they'll be wearing. There is nothing else to be found on internet that shows pictures of opening/closing ceremony uniforms only. There's lots of pictures of other outfits; T's, hoodies, windbreakers, competition suits, the yellow track shoes, etc. 

I have a sneaking suspicion they're either not going to reveal the opening ceremony uniforms until the actual opening ceremony or else they'll all be wearing the "Canada tuxedo" - that's the denim jackets with all the patches. I guess we'll just have to watch the tube on the 27th to watch the opening ceremonies and see what they wear. I planned to watch that anyway, wouldn't miss it for anything.

.


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

Well I wish all the athletes good luck and hope they all stay safe and healthy. Please let there not be any acts of terror there.

Em - the plural of moose is still moose. Here's one that was around Grande Prairie...


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Sanza said:


> Well I wish all the athletes good luck and hope they all stay safe and healthy. Please let there not be any acts of terror there.
> 
> Em - the plural of moose is still moose. Here's one that was around Grande Prairie...


 
Oh my gosh! A pinto moose! I've never seen the likes of that before.

.


----------



## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

Sorry, I fell behind. Can we go back to bears for a minute? Anyone else remember when dumps weren't fenced and a summer time evening activity was to go bear watching at the landfill? It was kind of amazing. I know it's not good for the bears to eat our waste, but...


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

When we first moved to the north we went to the dump to watch the eagles. The dump was fenced but that was not a problem for the eagles. 

The city where I live has had so many problems with people and their garbage that the bylaw officers are now driving around ticketing people who do not contain their garbage. About time. I am tired of the risk to the children and bears being shot because people are slobs and lazy.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The body of the third victim, a 17 year old girl, from the Johnson Landing landslide has now been recovered. So horrible.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

All the Premiers are meeting this week. They have had a cordial meeting concerning healthcare and will be combining the purchasing of generic drug brands to lower the cost. 

But they are not playing so nice over energy. BC has told Alberta that the Gateway pipeline will only be going through if BC shares in the profits of the oil. Alberta of course said no way, never been done and not going to happen. This should be an interesting fight because not only the Province of BC is saying share the wealth but the First Nations are also saying share. And it is their land.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

RIP Captain.

A young German Shepherd was dumped into a dumpster in Vancouver after being so badly beaten by his owner that he later died of his injuries despite every attempt to save him. 

A vigil was held last night in honour of Captain. All very nice and it shows that people care but nothing will change until the laws change making it a felony to abuse an animal. Right now an animal is treated the same under the law as any possession. The owner will probably get the same punishment as if he had beaten a chair to death. 

I sincerely hope that they find the owners body in a dumpster so badly beaten that he will die of his injuries. I would happily beat him with the chain that he used on the dog.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

A flap is developing over shipping ports. 

This is part of a report from CTV news

An official with a U.S. federal agency is taking public issue with her own commission's report raising questions about Canadian port practices and offering suggestions to remedy supposed "cargo diversion" that could be prohibitively costly to importers.

Rebecca Dye, one of five members on the bipartisan Federal Maritime Commission, released a statement Friday that is starkly critical of its study into allegations that Canada was luring lucrative cargo away from U.S. West Coast ports.

Of particular concern for Dye is the suggestion that the port of Prince Rupert, B.C., is lax in security because it is not a so-called "CSI" port. CSI is an acronym for the Container Security Initiative, a program implemented 11 years ago by U.S. Customs and Border Control to pre-screen more than 86 per cent of U.S.-bound container cargo.

"Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax are CSI ports; Prince Rupert is not," reads the report.

Dye, one of two commissioners who voted against sending the report to Congress, said the point was a silly one to raise.

"While the Container Security Initiative was begun in the fall of 2001, the Port of Prince Rupert did not begin operations until 2007," she said in her statement. "Ports were selected for the Container Security Initiative according to greatest volume of cargo destined for the United States."

Canadian port security practices are airtight, she said, with all U.S.-bound cargo arriving in Canada screened via radiation at the port, and then screened again when it crosses the border via Canadian railways.

Prince Rupert, Dye also noted, is a key player in the Canada-U.S. Beyond The Border initiative.

"The Beyond the Border Action Plan, developed by both the U.S. and Canadian governments, selected Prince Rupert for a pilot project for a Cargo Targeting Initiative, which will involve perimeter vetting and examination of inbound marine cargo at the port and destined for Chicago by rail."

The report, to be delivered to U.S. Congress, divided the panel's members down party lines. The two Republicans on the commission voted against its release, finding it too negative toward Canadian port authorities, and the three Democrats voted to sanction it.

The report said repeatedly that importers choosing to ship their U.S.-bound cargo to Canada weren't breaking any laws or regulations.

It suggested that Congress should consider doing away with or restructuring the U.S. Harbor Maintenance Tax, saying it plays a major role in why importers choose Canadian ports for their U.S.-bound cargo.

David Jacobson, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, praised the report after its official release on Friday.

"As the study found, there are a number of factors that explain why shippers might elect to use ports in Canada or Mexico," he said in a statement.

"But whatever the reasons, shippers are within their rights to do so. There are no legal impediments to the use of Canadian or Mexican ports for U.S. bound cargo shipments."

But a source close to the Federal Maritime Commission read it differently, saying the report is subtly suggesting that Congress might consider putting a law in place.

In its suggestions on how Congress could proceed, it also made mention of a proposal from a former commission chairwoman, Helen Bentley, who earlier this year said the Harbor Maintenance Tax should be replaced with a US$100 fee imposed on every cargo container entering the U.S. from a Canadian port.

That would essentially make Canada a no-man's land for many importers, consequently hurting Canadian ports.

The study caused serious dissension among its members for good reason, the source said: The final report is obscure, misleading and risks causing tension in the Canada-U.S. trade relationship at a crucial period in its history.

"This is a trade issue with the Canadians; this is not a maritime port issue, so they should have had the insight to realize that," the source said.

"We're right in the middle of Beyond the Border, and Keystone, and this is what they came up with? They didn't consider the context in which this would be received."

In her statement, Dye didn't pull any punches.

"The 'study' we have submitted to Congress is a political policy paper," she wrote.

Dye suggested it was flawed from the start, since it is based on an unsubstantiated foregone conclusion that the Harbor Maintenance tax causes cargo diversion from the U.S. to Canada.

The study advises Congress to consider reforming or doing away with the harbour tax, suggesting it's the best way to fight against Canadian competitors that are successfully diverting cargo away from their American counterparts.

"U.S. ports are competitive internationally; however it would appear that the HMT makes the challenge more difficult," the report reads.

But Dye said only a dozen experts who made a total of 76 submissions to the commission agreed that the tax plays a significant role in the problem of supposed cargo diversion by Canada, a phenomenon she characterized as vastly overstated.

"This study is not based on an independent economic model designed to isolate the effect of the Harbor Maintenance Tax and other factors, including government policies, that may have a causal relationship with the flow of cargo through North American ports," she said.

In fact, Dye added, many other, far more significant factors are at play when an importer decides whether to ship to Canada or the United States -- chief among them "individual port efficiency and reliability."

Dye also noted that a minuscule amount of U.S. bound cargo enters via Canadian ports, as little as 1.3 per cent of total American port traffic.

"The small percentage of U.S. cargo imported via Canadian ports is obscured in the commission study by implications regarding the potential for future changes in the flow of cargo through North American ports," she said.

"The commission should have clarified the facts in the study related to the flow of cargo through North American ports for members of Congress and the maritime industry."

Even though the commission has no authority over Congress, it could shape the opinions of lawmakers who could pounce on the security concerns raised in the report with just four months before the presidential election.

Canadian officials are particularly sensitive to suggestions that Canada is lax on security. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said repeatedly that any security threat to the United States is a threat to Canada.

Congress asked the Federal Maritime Commission last year to probe allegations about Canada's port practices after complaints by two Washington state senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. The senators urged the commission to launch the inquiry last fall, and soon had the support of several lawmakers in the House of Representatives.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

TARGET bought most of the ZELLERS stores last year and are changing them to their own stores this year. Now the remaining Z stores will be closing. 6400 about to lose their jobs. Not good.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> All the Premiers are meeting this week. They have had a cordial meeting concerning healthcare and will be combining the purchasing of generic drug brands to lower the cost.
> 
> *But they are not playing so nice over energy.* BC has told Alberta that the Gateway pipeline will only be going through if BC shares in the profits of the oil. Alberta of course said no way, never been done and not going to happen. This should be an interesting fight because not only the Province of BC is saying share the wealth but the First Nations are also saying share. And it is their land.


Those 2 lady Premiers are fighting each other very determinedly, they sure are not pulling their punches.

I can't say I blame Christie Clark for her stance for BC, nor the First Nations - as it is their land that pipeline would be going through - it is BC that will be taking all the risks and they are HUGE risks. If there is a spill on the west coast it would be devestating beyond comprehension. I think a lot of people who are not in BC don't understand the inter-relationships of the ecology between ocean and land of the west coast and how much of a disaster it would be to the entire province's ecology. A spill wouldn't only effect the coastline, it could effect the long-term ecology and economy of the whole province all the way to the Rocky Mountains and from Alaska to southern Washington.

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I too hope Christie holds her ground.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> RIP Captain.
> 
> A young German Shepherd was dumped into a dumpster in Vancouver after being so badly beaten by his owner that he later died of his injuries despite every attempt to save him.
> 
> ...


Em, we don't yet know that it was the owner of the dog that did it. He has been arrested and questioned and was released. The investigation about what happened with the dog is still underway. At this stage it's looking like it might have been somebody else who did it (possibly a house/dog sitter) but the police and SPCA are being hush-hush about that and not releasing any more news right now.

Captain had originally been in training as a police dog but had hearing problems and so couldn't be kept as a service dog. Reports from people who are acquainted with Captain's owner have stated to news reporters that he was a very responsible and reliable animal lover, a personable and well like person and took good care of the dog.

.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

majik said:


> Sorry, I fell behind. Can we go back to bears for a minute? Anyone else remember when dumps weren't fenced and a summer time evening activity was to go bear watching at the landfill? It was kind of amazing. I know it's not good for the bears to eat our waste, but...


I remember - I also remember evil people going to the dumps and using the bears and other animals for target practise.

I'm glad the dumps and landfill sites are all fenced in now.

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The report I read said they had a witness to the beating. All I know is that if the owner was not the one who beat the dog to death but it was a house/dog sitter then why hasn't the owner been arrested for murder? Well at least assault. I sure would not have let anyone who beat my dog to death just walk away.


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

Target will hire all the Zellers workers back, because that's what happened when Walmart bought out Woolco.

Don't get me started on how big a role Alberta plays in Canadas' economy. If we don't ship our oil the rest of the country loses out on money big time.
Canadian Trade Statistics by Province: Resource Rich Alberta Grows Its Trade Surplus to US$60 Billion | Suite101.com


I know you're all thinking about oil spills and pollution and you can't look and see down the road how the rest of the world is still going to pollute our country. The Japan nuclear fiasco is going to hurt BC way more then a possible oil spill.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Alberta and the rest of Canada's environment doesn't have an environmental symbiotic dependency on the Pacific marine life. The entire province of BC does. It's the only place in the world where all the land has a unique symbiotic relationship with the ocean. If BC becomes a barren land because an oil spill interferes with that symbiosis are Alberta's oil corporations and the rest of the country going to support a barren province and 4 million people? I don't think so.

.


----------



## sheepish (Dec 9, 2006)

Sanza said:


> Target will hire all the Zellers workers back, because that's what happened when Walmart bought out Woolco.


There are 64 stores that were not bought by Target because they were not considered viable. They are just being closed by Hudsonâs Bay Co. In addition Target has just closed some of the locations it purchased, without converting them to Target stores.

Each store employs about 100 people, so there are over 6,400 jobs lost to the retail closures.


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

I don't think BC will be kicked out of the confederation because of any environmental issues that may arise in the future. 

So tell me how can BC become a barren place because of a hypothical oil spill? 
IF, and only IF there is a leak somewhere it will not affect the whole province, but only the area it is in, which is in the northern half of the province that is very sparsely populated, and by the way, already has a big pipeline going through that same area already. How could a possible oil spill NE of Prince George affect your area? It couldn't! 

There are 700,000 k of pipelines running through Canada , with thousands of that being through BC already. There's the big one running from Valemount down to Vancouver, and another big one from Ft. St. John to Prince Rupert already so what's the big deal with another one? I'm sure the province of BC will be handsomely compensated for the pipeline without the additional royalties your premier is trying to get. We will just have to wait and see how it all works out...

I beg to differ with your statement about the whole BC province having a symbiotic relationship and depending totally on the pacific. Somehow the terrain around Kamloops has nothing in common with the rainforest on the coast, and is not directly affected by the ocean in any way. But it's ok for you to think that way because we all think our own province is special and unique....and they all are .


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

> I beg to differ with your statement about the whole BC province having a symbiotic relationship and depending totally on the pacific. Somehow the terrain around Kamloops has nothing in common with the rainforest on the coast, and is not directly affected by the ocean in any way.


You can beg to differ but you would be wrong. Clearly you don't know how the environment here works.

The biggest concern is for a large spill into the ocean. If there's a spill on the coast it would interfere with the salmon and land ecology. That's where the symbiotic relationship comes into it, everything hinges on the salmon. All of the lakes, rivers, spawning creeks from the Rockies westward empty out into the ocean and all the salmon spawn in those waters from the ocean right into the Rockies and north into Yukon and Alaska and south into southern and eastern Washington, even into Idaho. The salmon carcasses are what provide essential nutrients to all the soil and plants in the rainforests and interior forests eastward, north and south to all those territories right up into the high mountains. The whole west coast ecosystem is dependent on the carcasses of the salmon that make their spawning trips into the interior every year. That is what the plants and wildlife are adapted to and they in turn contribute nutrients to the waters that the salmon are dependent on for spawing in as well as nutrients that the coastal marine life is adapted to. 

Why did you think the soil, vegetation and wildlife is so rich and lush here? It's not just because of rain and moderate climate. It is a unique cyclical land/sea symbiotic relationship unlike anywhere else in the world. If and when the salmon disappear - even if it does end up being from radiation from the west (already a known hazard) - the west coast regions will become barren of the essential nutrients that it needs to thrive and so will the ocean be deprived of what the land contributes. Not only salmon would be effected, all other marine life and wildlife and people on the west coast that depend on marine life would be effected, as well as the vegetation. It only needs one major spill and interference that effects the cycle for a couple of years for it to have disasterous consequences.

It is a very valid concern. You think it's all about the money, it's not just about money, it's also about the environment and how it serves us all and yes, our environment and the livelihood it provides us all is VERY special to us and there are people that want to protect it and want guarantees that it is not going to be harmed by somebody else's oil.

.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

I haven't posted much recently on this thread, but I am reading and learning more of Canada and you all. Nice to see more here.


----------



## celina (Dec 29, 2005)

i am so missing the canadian coverage..i found IMO that our announcers talked more about ALL the athletes and front runners...

BUT on nbc on the ipod i've been able to watch all the final of the synchro dive where canada won gold, no announcers..which isn't too bad of a thing...

so i am at least getting to see our athletes win...


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

One more comment to add to my above post. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1989. That was *23 years ago*, still considered one of the two worst human caused environmental disasters to happen and 23 years later the islands and coastal regions of that part of Prince William Sound is *STILL* suffering the consequences of that spill. There is still oil there on the shorelines and the flora and fauna has still not rebounded. And that was in Prince William Sound which is more sheltered and contained and colder than the west coast to the south is .... can you not imagine what the long term disasterous effects of a similar spill would be for the wide open, unsheltered west coast and 100's of islands and tidal rivers to the south and the much warmer Pacific waters and the multitude of marine life and land life that feeds there?

The black mark shows the extensive range of the exxon valdez spill












Can you not visualize how far reaching and insidiously pervasive a similar spill would be to this kind of coastline?
































.


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

Naturelover spare me the theatrics. I'm not interested in a pizzen contest with you in this senseless topic about imaginary oil spills and leaks, and this is the last I write about it. 
I clearly do understand about the environment, and since pipeline environment is exactly my sons' field of work I have knowledge about how pipelines and pipeline leaks affect the environment because I get answers from a professional point of view. 

Has there been any major problems with the other pipelines in BC? Then why create spillage problems already on a non existant pipeline? 

And "somebody elses oil"? You make it sound like we're a foreign country and your province doesn't benefit at all from the federal money cut of the oil. Harper already alluded to the band chiefs that if the federal government doesn't make the money they won't pass it along either.
Since the logging industry has run it's course and now the salmon industry seems to have died, it is the BC premier that made it all about money by demanding a cut of the royalties. It sounds like she'll sell out the provinces' special "symbiotic relationship" for a few bucks........


----------



## celina (Dec 29, 2005)

oops canada didn't win gold..but bronze..i am just as excited for them though....lol


----------



## celina (Dec 29, 2005)

as for target/zellers

all zellers employess HAVE to reapply for jobs with target..and since they are revamping everything the staff have been told there are no guarantees of them being hired over any other staff..

(i have friends that work at seperate zellers in seperate towns, same story)

Canadians are SO excited at getting targets...although i suspect that it will be more of a target light compared to the usa....just a hunch


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Sanza said:


> ... this is the last I write about it.


That's fine, you don't have to respond, but I'll still address these following points.



> Has there been any major problems with the other pipelines in BC?


Yes. Most recently two pipeline spills on land since 2000, both of which occurred in urban areas near major water courses. One spill at sea in 1989 near Vancouver Island which could NOT be cleaned up due to the geographic nature of our coastline and the twice daily rushing tidal rapids in the inside passage. That mess is still a mess, it permanently effected the tourism and fishing industries and the coastal ecologies of both BC and Washington state in the vicinities of the spill. 



> Since the logging industry has run it's course and now the salmon industry seems to have died .....


The logging and fishing industry in BC both went into a slump with the decrease in demand from USA, however they have never died and have now been on the increase again since 2009 with a greater demand for our products coming from Europe, China and Japan.



> .... it is the BC premier that made it all about money by demanding a cut of the royalties. It sounds like she'll sell out the provinces' special "symbiotic relationship" for a few bucks........


The BC Premier speaks on behalf of the government of British Columbia and the people of British Columbia who have made it clear that the province views an oil spill as inevitable. The BC Environment Ministry stated that work has been completed to assess what would be required to establish British Columbia and Canada as world leaders in marine oil spill response. Clark wants to make sure that British Columbia receives a fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits of a proposed heavy oil project that reflects the level, degree and nature of the risk borne by the province, the environment and taxpayers. This province feels it would be impossible to compensate for the loss of pristine coastal habitat or the long-term damage to the fisheries and tourism industries. The majority of British Columbians would prefer that this province become a leader in sustainable marine ecosystem management, not in oil spill response. As we saw 23 years ago with both the Exxon Valdez in Alaska and the Gulf Islands spill near Vancouver Island in 1989, the environmental and economic impacts of an oil spill on fisheries, ecology, wildlife habitat, tourism and recreation are devastating and last for generations.

.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

celina said:


> as for target/zellers
> 
> all zellers employess HAVE to reapply for jobs with target..and since they are revamping everything the staff have been told there are no guarantees of them being hired over any other staff..
> 
> ...


I've just only recently been hearing about Target. What kind of products does Target sell and what sets it apart from other stores? Is it like the Walmart stores? Does it provide better customer satisfaction and lower prices than Walmart does? I'm not at all impressed with Walmart and don't shop at the Walmart stores here.

.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

I think Target is a bit similar to Walmart stores, but seems more upscale. Still not terribly priced.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I posted this a few days ago:

A 90 year old British woman was knitting olympic symbol items to be sold for charity and was threatened with a huge fine and/or prosecution if she did not stop. So of course the British who are known for their "up yours" attitude towards corporations and governments have been tagging everything with faux olympic rings. I wonder how many Canadians will be smuggling spray paint in their luggage?

Update: The fine for using the Olympic ring symbol is 30,000 pounds. And it is a straight fine - it does not go to court. And in fact you cannot use the word OLYMPIC. Heathrow airport has a sign that reads Welcome to London 2012. Even they cannot use the word Olympic.

SO of course the Brits are retaliating. One of the most common symbols you now see are the "Oimlypc Squares". Yes - five interconnected and coloured squares. And nearly every pub table in London has five interconnecting rings stamped on the top with wet beer glasses. I love this one!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The 64 Zellers stores that are closing still belong to the Hudson Bay Company so Target has no obligation to offer employment to any of the staff. People can apply just as anyone can but it depends on where they live in relation to a Target store. The HBC could offer employment in their stores but it is unlikely they need more staff.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I have lived all over British Columbia and I completely understand the reluctance and opposition to this pipeline. And spills are not remote possibilities. Another spill by an Embridge line in the US this weekend.

I support the BC Premier in her argument that Alberta needs to pony up a lot more money to make the risk worthwhile. It is a complete case of NIMBY for British Columbians because for Albertans it is the attitude that a spill is NOPWAU (not our problem, won't affect us). 

A spill fund and legacy fund should be created for BC as well as Alberta. So many companies have opened mines and drill sites with the hand-on-heart promise to take care of any problems and then just walked away when there was no more profit and only a mess to clean up. Of course now there are laws and so called reclamation funds but if the company declares bankruptcy for any particular mine then this is as worthless as dust in the wind. The BIGGEST reclamation site in the world is in the Yukon and it is costing hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars a year and expected to take a century or more to clean up. The company that owned it is long gone.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I luv luv luv the Olympics. My Dad was an Olympian so the games for him were just heaven on earth and some of my fondest memories are of the time we spent together watching them.

I particularly remember the year of Carolyn Waldo and the synchronised swimming medal. When she was interviewed just before the finals and was asked how she thought they were doing she replied "We would have to drown not to win the gold". My Dad laughed so hard I thought we were going to have to give him oxygen.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

What event did he compete in?

And the Canadian marching in uniforms looked good.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

AngieM2 said:


> And the Canadian marching in uniforms looked good.


I thought so too. Plain and simple windbreaker jackets - no frills, no thrills, and no great expense on something casual and not showy that can be worn again and again at any time. I was really pleased to see that they were being so economical and practical with those uniforms.

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

AngieM2 said:


> What event did he compete in?
> 
> And the Canadian marching in uniforms looked good.


Fencing.

I did not like the biege pants with the red and white for the opening ceremony. But the athletes looked so happy and proud so who really cares what they were wearing. I did not like that I even said to myself that I don't like the pants! Talk about being a nit picker.

The part of the march of the athletes that touched me the most was when the four stateless athletes came in under the flag of the Olympics.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

fencing sounds neat.

And I liked those 4 also. Good to know they could make it even without an official country.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Fencing is a very tough sport. Requires a lot of stamina and leg strength. My Dad taught fencing for many, many years. I still have all his equipment including his Saber. That was one of the sports we shared. He would have been thrilled to know that the Hungarian underdog won the gold today. Hungary has more Gold medals in fencing than any other country in the world but they went downhill after 1964. Only one gold since then until today. Always cheer for the underdog!


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

I just saw the google page logo is fencing at this time.
Thought that was neat.
Maybe I'll get to see some of the fencing tonight.


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

My son loves fencing he prefers sabre i keep telling him he should work harder and try competitions! Maybe i can get his college buddies involved that might give him more enthusiasm. I have tried to learn my bigget obstacle is an inability to hear with the face shield so i cant heqr any feedbck!

I was hopinh to find video online but very hard to find a lot, wish they did live streaming but networks want to get their monies worth!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Yes I saw the google logo this morning! I was already thinking about fencing so it was an odd but funny coincidence.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

duplicate post


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

HOTW said:


> My son loves fencing he prefers sabre i keep telling him he should work harder and try competitions! Maybe i can get his college buddies involved that might give him more enthusiasm. I have tried to learn my bigget obstacle is an inability to hear with the face shield so i cant heqr any feedbck!
> 
> I was hopinh to find video online but very hard to find a lot, wish they did live streaming but networks want to get their monies worth!


I always felt like a giant fly in the mask. But you have to wear it. My Dad learned to fence in an era when they did not wear a mask and many had fencing scars. It was stupid but it was treated as a right of passage. My Dad had no scar. He used to laugh and say it was because he was so good. Tell your son all the girls love a man who can fence. Sabers are sexy. Many of my Dad's students came because they needed some sort of sport for college but they stayed because it is exciting and because girls were always fascinated when they said they were fencers. And there is nothing like it for developing the reflexes. We were mugged once - at least it was attempted. My Dad took the knife away from one "kid' and "fenced" around the other knife and had it to the throat of the other "kid" before I could even blink. The 'kids" were still pretty surprised when the police arrived. But then again fencing was not just a sport for my Dad. It was part of his military training.


----------



## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

Just wanted to pop in and celebrate today's Olympic results. I am especially excited about the women's gymnastics team final. I know 5th isn't a medal, but it's a huge achivement in a very competitive field. Can't wait to get home and watch the re-broadcast highlights - I'm blocked on my work computer. Go figure!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Our girls are bringing home the medals. Another bronze in syncro diving for Fortier and Benfeito and one in weightlifting for Girard. Yeah! And we got a bronze in men's judo too thanks to Valois-Fortier.

I am so relieved and happy that Phelps got his medals to be the winner of the most Olympic medals. I was really disappointed for him in the first races.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Has anyone else heard of yarn bombing? New to me and I just read this story.

Knitters in Whitehorse plan to cover their airport's DC-3 weathervane with yarn on Aug. 11.

Jessica Vellenga, one of the organizers of the yarn-bombing, said donations of knitting have come in from all across North America for the attempt at creating the world's largest airplane cozy.

&#8220;A lot of local knitters have participated,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We've had donations from Ottawa, Toronto, Huntsville, Texas, Ohio, lots of different places.

&#8220;We had a great donation from a young lady who's 11 years old and she wanted to donate a little bit to the yarn bomb. She decided to help us meet our world record and we also had a lovely box of goods come from the National Arts Centre.&#8221;

Yarn-bombing, also known as yarn-storming, is a kind of graffiti popular in recent years where artists cover objects such as trees, statues and telephone booths with knitting.

The DC-3 was mounted on a pedestal outside the airport in the 1970s and functions as a weathervane.

Vellenga said knitters will gather at the Old Fire Hall next week to stitch together all the donations.


----------



## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

I love the yarn bombing story! I heard another one on CBC the other day. A group in Alberta yarn bombed trees: http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/Alberta/Alberta+at+Noon/ID/2198366028/?page=7


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

I think if you check in the Fiber Forum, they are doing some of that yarn bombing stuff. Anyway - intense fiber creating and creating from the yarn. Great group (no politics allowed).

And congratulations to all the winners last night. I was disappointed when M. Phelps did not get that first gold but loved the relay getting the gold.

And I'm was amazed watching the US girls, especially on the floor exercise. 
Contratulations on Canada doing very well there too. It's such a little bit of numbers that separate the 1st and subsequent place holders.

That story about the fencing help disarm the attempted hold up - priceless. Good for Dad.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Canada has 5 medals now. The US has 26 with 10 gold. This is a very exciting and competitive Olympics. Canadian women gymnasts placed 5th. The best placing we have ever had. So exciting!

Dad was also attacked by a Grizzly bear. It was a draw - both being injured and giving up at the same time fortunately. The muggers were nothing to him. I am not ashamed to say that I actually did pee my pants.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

An interesting report on the news last night about how the pipeline income will be distributed. Alberta will make an estimated 550 billion $ while British Columbia will make 9 billion $. Since they will be taking the risk it is quite clear why they want much, much more as a spill fund and legacy fund. For the Premier to do less than fight for this would be to let British Columbians down.


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

emdeengee said:


> I always felt like a giant fly in the mask. But you have to wear it. My Dad learned to fence in an era when they did not wear a mask and many had fencing scars. It was stupid but it was treated as a right of passage. My Dad had no scar. He used to laugh and say it was because he was so good. Tell your son all the girls love a man who can fence. Sabers are sexy. Many of my Dad's students came because they needed some sort of sport for college but they stayed because it is exciting and because girls were always fascinated when they said they were fencers. And there is nothing like it for developing the reflexes. We were mugged once - at least it was attempted. My Dad took the knife away from one "kid' and "fenced" around the other knife and had it to the throat of the other "kid" before I could even blink. The 'kids" were still pretty surprised when the police arrived. But then again fencing was not just a sport for my Dad. It was part of his military training.


I think my son's huge advantage when he started fencing was the fact he is a traoned dancer-sadly his ankles have gone bad so he no longer dances however he loves the chalenge of fencing. He took one group of formal classes with the trainer who is also a judge, and he told my son about an informal group that met who were much more advanced fencersthan were in th elocal program. At the age of 13 the coach felt he could hold his own against adults in the informal program.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

HOTW - that was quite a compliment to your son. When you watch fencing it is like a dance.


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

Stephen and I try very hard to make sure that ' cheap date night' happens regularly in our lives.

We live in the Nation's Capital so there are lots of museums, festivals and other attractions. It is amazing how when you live here, you take these things for granted and figure you'll get there someday. I've been putting a push on to take the time and do some of the touristy things that Ottawa has to offer.

About 2 weeks ago, we drove downtown at dusk and went to the laser light show that plays nightly on Parliament Hill. We took a blanket and sat on the lawn. It was perfect summer night and there were many people walking about downtown. The show, called Mosaika is about 30 minutes long and uses the Peace Tower as a backdrop. It is a laser light show and it is the story of the founding and development of Canada. The special effects were pretty Wow. The crowd gave it a standing ovation and I had a few patriotic tears myself. It is free and it is a must see if you ever come to Ottawa.

Today we drove over to Montreal, which is about 2 hours from our home. We toured the Montreal Botanical Gardens. It covers 128 acres and we did about half of it on this trip. I just lost my Mum this week and I was feeling pretty rattled so wandering about in beautiful surroundings really soothed my soul. I'd never been to Montreal. We had zero issues with the language. I spoke English and everyone spoke English back to me. I know enough Francais by osmosis to be able to get around but I cant speak it at all. We go to Ottawa's arboretum quite often and it is nice but it is only 26 acres. The Montreal BG is very well done. The Olympic Park is just across the road as well. I took as many pictures as my camera could hold.


Here's a little clip of MosAika.
[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrXkm72GAg8[/ame]


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

rileyjo - both of those outings sound fantastic - good for you and Steve to do those things together.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

rileyjo said:


> I just lost my Mum this week and I was feeling pretty rattled so wandering about in beautiful surroundings really soothed my soul......
> 
> Here's a little clip of MosAika.
> www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrXkm72GAg8


Rileyjo, my condolences on the loss of your mother, I am so sorry to hear this news.

Thanks for the light show, that was beautiful.

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

RileyJo - I am so very, very sorry about your Mom. We were just talking about her and the Barrie bombers a couple of weeks ago. Losing your Mom and Dad are about the hardest things in life. I really am sorry.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I grew up toboganning in the Arboretum. That really is a place to calm the soul. My husband literally grew up on the Experimental farm where his Dad worked. He was a city boy raised on a farm. 

It has been 20 years since we walked around there. I don't know how many of the barns and greenhouses are open now but when I was young I whined and whined until my parents took us there - at least once a month. I think that is why I loved homesteading. 

There used to be huge flower displays in the green houses and wagon rides (pulled by the huge Shire horses) which was very romantic on a summers eve. And you used to be able to go into the Royal observatory and look at the stars. And of course there is the tulip extravaganza in the spring. I hope you have seen it. 

All these millions of tulips were a gift from the Netherlands after WW2 because Canada gave sanctuary to the Dutch royal family. In fact Princess Margriet was born in Ottawa during the war.

The maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital in which Princess Margriet was born was temporarily declared to be extraterritorial by the Canadian government. Making the maternity ward outside of the Canadian domain caused it to be unaffiliated with any jurisdiction and technically international territory. This was done to ensure that the newborn Princess would derive her citizenship from her mother only, thus making her solely Dutch. To top it off the feet of the delivery bed were set in cans of Dutch soil which were smuggled out of occupied Holland.


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

We try to get to the Arboretum once a week. Either we go early in the morning and wander around with our double doubles or we go in the evening. Once in a while, we share a poutine from the stand down the road. Always, always we kick off our shoes and walk barefoot amongst the flowers. Cheap date night is all about just spending time together. We consider the Arboretum "our place" but we will share it with you whenever you come back. Stephen (Ford Major) was born in the Civic. They sent his Mom to the morgue to deliver, ooops. My Dad is from Holland so the Tulip Festival is my fave festival of the year. 

Thanks for your kind thoughts for my Mum. July has been a tough month for my Bro. First, all the chaos from having the bomb squad down the street and then Mum slipping away quickly but peacefully.

In other news, I saw on the Weather Network site that Ontario has had more tornadoes than the US states combined for the month of July.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Here are some tulips for you - the pics were taken at the annual tulip festival here last year.







































.


----------



## gryndlgoat (May 27, 2005)

emdeengee said:


> I grew up toboganning in the Arboretum. That really is a place to calm the soul. My husband literally grew up on the Experimental farm where his Dad worked. He was a city boy raised on a farm.
> 
> It has been 20 years since we walked around there. I don't know how many of the barns and greenhouses are open now but when I was young I whined and whined until my parents took us there - at least once a month. I think that is why I loved homesteading.
> 
> ...


THANK YOU so much for bringing back memories of Ottawa! I too loved going to the Experimental Farm, and walking along Echo Drive (I think that was it?) to see the Tulips every spring. And, of course, skating on the Canal. And the fireworks on Parliament Hill every July 1. I haven't lived there since 1981 but it sounds like a lot of things are still the same!


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Went to visit my brother in Ottawa in Sept and he gave us a personal tour of parliament Hill. He knows so much about history the kids had a great interactive tour. Had the kids laughing at his portayel of Sir John A MacDonald as a "normal " man including his propensity fo rdrink! He took my mum one year for the fireworks and had a prime spot sh eloved it. My mum told him to show us the Parliament Cat house!!What a hoot!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

naturelover said:


> Here are some tulips for you - the pics were taken at the annual tulip festival here last year.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Is that around Abbotsford? Just beautiful. Tulips have such vibrant colours.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

HOTW said:


> Went to visit my brother in Ottawa in Sept and he gave us a personal tour of parliament Hill. He knows so much about history the kids had a great interactive tour. Had the kids laughing at his portayel of Sir John A MacDonald as a "normal " man including his propensity fo rdrink! He took my mum one year for the fireworks and had a prime spot sh eloved it. My mum told him to show us the Parliament Cat house!!What a hoot!


I think I know what you mean by the cat house LOL! not what most people think. We used to give lots of cat food. I was always so worried that once Ms Demsormeaux and Mr. Chartrand retired there would be no one to look after the colony. But now they are being cared by a whole bunch of volunteers. 

Did you see the CBC movie about Sir John A? It was really an fun portrayal of him. Gosh he was feisty!


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> Is that around Abbotsford? Just beautiful. Tulips have such vibrant colours.


That's on Seabird Island (it's all Seabird First Nations land) just a few miles east of Agassiz on the north side of the Fraser River, at about the half way point between Chilliwack and Hope.

Yeah, the colors were so bright it almost hurt the eyes, but the floral smell was heavenly.

.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

I would have loved to see that and smell that in person.

The closest I've seen to something like that is Thousand Oaks, California with field so flowers being grown for the flower seed and bulb businesses.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

gryndlgoat said:


> THANK YOU so much for bringing back memories of Ottawa! I too loved going to the Experimental Farm, and walking along Echo Drive (I think that was it?) to see the Tulips every spring. And, of course, skating on the Canal. And the fireworks on Parliament Hill every July 1. I haven't lived there since 1981 but it sounds like a lot of things are still the same!


I forgot to mention skating on the canal and eating beaver tails - a cinnamon or chocolatey fried pastry. You can actually feel your arteries hardening as you eat them but soooo good.

One of my favourite places to visit was the Royal Canadian Mint. Something about all that lovely money!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

rileyjo said:


> We try to get to the Arboretum once a week. Either we go early in the morning and wander around with our double doubles or we go in the evening. Once in a while, we share a poutine from the stand down the road. Always, always we kick off our shoes and walk barefoot amongst the flowers. Cheap date night is all about just spending time together. We consider the Arboretum "our place" but we will share it with you whenever you come back. Stephen (Ford Major) was born in the Civic. They sent his Mom to the morgue to deliver, ooops. My Dad is from Holland so the Tulip Festival is my fave festival of the year.
> 
> Thanks for your kind thoughts for my Mum. July has been a tough month for my Bro. First, all the chaos from having the bomb squad down the street and then Mum slipping away quickly but peacefully.
> 
> In other news, I saw on the Weather Network site that Ontario has had more tornadoes than the US states combined for the month of July.


When I was a child one of the best Christmas presents given to us was a book about trees. After that we spent so much time at the arboretum in the summer just trying to tree spot (like bird spotting but your quarry does not move) that I am sure people thought we either worked there or were up to no good. Do they still have the big Crysanthamum displays in the greenhouses in the fall? I remember the first time we went I could not believe that the homely old Chrys could have so many colours and varieties.

My sister is freaking out about the tornadoes although none have come even close to where she lives. She has the laundry room in the basement set up as a "bunker" and everything she needs for the humans and cats. She told me that if she even suspects a tornado she will run and kidnap all the dogs that are in their neighbours yard. I can just imagine her doing this.

Last month was the 25 year anniversary of the huge Edmonton tornado that killed so many. The US gets hit so hard every year and really until recently we only did by fluke. It is terrifying. And tornadoes are fickle. My best friend was in an F5 tornado in Texas. They all survived in the house but the whole thing was destroyed around them leaving only the bathroom where they were in one piece. When she went into the yard she was stunned to see that in the children's sand box where her boys had been playing that day nothing had even been disturbed. Everything around including big trees was destroyed but the sand box with the sand castles was just sitting there as if nothing had happened.

My husband was also born in the Civic. I have tried to make poutine since we moved north but it is really hard to get cheese curds. It still has to be one of the ugliest but tastiest dishes in the world. I understand that there is now a poutine restaurant in New York city.

Once again I am very sorry about your Mom. It is a small blessing amongst so much sadness that she went peacefully. Stay strong and be at peace.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

So the Wheat Board is gone. And the PM pardoned the farmers who were convicted for selling their wheat outside the board. I really am in two minds about this - as are many of the wheat farmers. On one hand I think that each person should be able to determine what price and to whom they sell but on the other hand the combined power of the wheat board did protect the prices. Now I suppose there will be a lot of co-ops formed. I sincerely hope that this will not be an even bigger excuse for the corporate farms to expand and take over the family farms. My friend farms in Saskatchewan and my husbands' family in Manitoba and they are both happy and worried.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

gryndlgoat said:


> THANK YOU so much for bringing back memories of Ottawa! I too loved going to the Experimental Farm, and walking along Echo Drive (I think that was it?) to see the Tulips every spring. And, of course, skating on the Canal. And the fireworks on Parliament Hill every July 1. I haven't lived there since 1981 but it sounds like a lot of things are still the same!



most of the tulips are Colonel By drive (runs parallel to Echo but by the canal) and Queen Elisabeth driveway with the majority around the dows lake boat house. they replaced the boat house some years ago now and Lansdown park is pretty much gone, they started with the McElroy building where the dog shows were held and only three building will remain come winter. the farm tore down the buildings by the round about and the city tore up the roundabout last year and built almost the same thing in its place! other roads remain potholed car killers! there were fireworks July 1st ( and 4th) but none this weekend, drought is still hovering around a level three with some rain tomorrow (which i will believe when it comes!) 
touring around New Edinburgh and Rockcliffe park can really show off the city as well. showing someone your city can really bring home what a nice place you live in! even if the beemers, mercedes and Rolls outnumber the pickup trucks! (want to get around Ottawa with out misshap? grab an old farm truck, repels yuppies!)


----------



## gryndlgoat (May 27, 2005)

ford major said:


> most of the tulips are Colonel By drive (runs parallel to Echo but by the canal) and Queen Elisabeth driveway with the majority around the dows lake boat house. they replaced the boat house some years ago now and Lansdown park is pretty much gone, they started with the McElroy building where the dog shows were held and only three building will remain come winter. the farm tore down the buildings by the round about and the city tore up the roundabout last year and built almost the same thing in its place! other roads remain potholed car killers! there were fireworks July 1st ( and 4th) but none this weekend, drought is still hovering around a level three with some rain tomorrow (which i will believe when it comes!)
> touring around New Edinburgh and Rockcliffe park can really show off the city as well. showing someone your city can really bring home what a nice place you live in! even if the beemers, mercedes and Rolls outnumber the pickup trucks! (want to get around Ottawa with out misshap? grab an old farm truck, repels yuppies!)


More wonderful memories--Thanks! I remember the McElroy building and the Ottawa Ex at Landsdown Park. How sad that it is gone. Oh and yes, the mansions in Rockcliffe Park. When I lived there, New Edinburgh was a slum but its old townhouses were being refurbished into really pricey yuppy homes. I keep thinking I should go visit Ottawa again--it's only a five hour drive--but maybe I'd find it's too changed now?


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

and how Gryndl! they blew their boundaries and then some, Ottawa is now bigger than the country of Holland! ya, New Edinburgh has had an upswing of fortunes of a sort, more back to its roots really, back before the war (WW2) it was merchants and such lived there, the owner of Rankins hardware lived there his whole life (my family is pioneer roots there, great-grandfather and grandpa built a lot of the houses there and an aunt still has the ancestral home) Too many politicians for my liking and the RCMP has a presence because of them and the GG. still it is nice to see the area fixed up again! wonder if the latest GG has reopened the grounds? a lot of the changes have been for the better though, Eddies is no longer giving an odor too the air that made Hamilton seem like a nice place! (Espanola is close in odor!) as well a lot of the museums now have been refurbished or given completely new homes. and the Sparks street mall is better than ever. Tulips this year were very messed up by an early spring then a hard freeze again, hope next year is better. never really had much of a winter either, canal would almost get frozen and then melt again.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

EB Eddy! Good grief. That brings back memories. Walking to school on a cold morning and just about gagging from the smell of the mill! 

We used to love to walk around Rockcliffe and look at all the embassies. When we were first married our neighbour was an Arab diplomat - funniest and nicest man you could ever want to meet. We were looking to buy a van so one day he took us to see a really great deal in Rockcliffe. A friend of his at the Cuban Embassy. To get into the compound we had to go through a full check - and these guys were not sloppy. It was a bit unnerving as we were looking at the van because everyone seemed to take a great interest in us and they all looked like Che Guevera with the beards, bullet bands and guns. We thought the van was too small and were rather afraid to say so but the Diplomat that was selling it was charming and just laughed and gave us a huge box of cigars - just for coming to look at it. Because of my father's work I was lucky enough to attend a few parties at some of the embassies. Absolutely beautiful buildings.

Where is the Ottawa Ex held now if Landsdowne is closed?

I would love to see the museums and art gallery again. I spent nearly every Sunday of my youth at one of them. I still remember the King Tut exhibit. One of the reasons I studied archeology. We actually courted at the Sci & Tech - my husband is crazy for trains.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

when we moved back to Ottawa, Dad got as far a way from the city as he could and still stay in the county. EB Eddy was still very pungent!! walk to skewl? boy that was a long time ago!! now adays kids get trucked to their schools from a very short distance. dad would walk from home past Parliament hill to Lisgar and think nothing of it!

the Ex was supposed to move too the Rideau Carleton raceway but then it was canceled last year, some talk of moving it to Kemptville (south outa the mega city!) but have not heard what is happening now. the Ottawa winter fair has been gone for years now so the ex may be following suit. 
security is even more tight now and most people shy away from red plates on cars. love the multicultural atmosphere in the city and everyone gets along for the most part.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

I love this story. A 1915 heritage house in Vancouver was slated for demolition. A family from the island purchased the house for $100,000 and then paid an additional $60,000 to have it transported 120 Km. by flat deck and barge out of Vancouver, across the Strait of Georgia to Union Bay on Vancouver Island. 

What's particulary interesting for me is if somebody was going to buy this same house already on a lot in Vancouver, they'd be looking at a million dollar or more price tag for the house and lot.



> Massive move takes Vancouver heritage home to Union Bay | British Columbia
> 
> A Vancouver heritage home started a new life on Vancouver Island Friday after its owners paid thousands of dollars to transport it more than 120 kilometres.
> The Ford family fell in love with the 1,800 square foot house built in Vancouverâs Dunbar neighbourhood on West 37th Avenue in 1915, but it was slated for demolition. So the Fords bought the home for more than $100,000 and put down another $60,000 to have it moved to Union Bay.​Last week, the house rolled through the streets of Vancouver to the waterâs edge while strapped on to the back of a truck. Preparations to complete the challenging move were intricate, as trees had to be trimmed and power lines had to be dropped. The driver also navigated narrow streets lined with onlookers.
> The whole move was documented by a British camera crew for a show called âMassive Movesâ that will air in the fall.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMGcAIAObBo"]Heritage House Rolls into Union Bay - YouTube[/ame]

[YOUTUBE]kMGcAIAObBo[/YOUTUBE]




























*Three houses including a 1,800 square-foot heritage home, built in 1915 and being moved to Union Bay on Vancouver Island, are towed out to the Strait of Georgia on a barge in Richmond, B.C., on Wednesday August 1, 2012. The heritage home was saved when a family paid for the moving costs after a development company purchased it with plans to redevelop the lot.*

*Photograph by: Darryl Dyck, The Canadian Press*


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I have always been surprised at moving houses but since our friends did it I understand why. It seems like a huge cost but if the house is sound it really isn't. They inherited an Edwardian house in the heart of the city and wanted to sell it but all people wanted was the land, intending to demolish the house. They ended up moving it out to their farm where it has become the guest house for their family - which now lets everyone visit at the same time. They did sell the land - for a fortune.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Paumon said:


> I love this story. A 1915 heritage house in Vancouver was slated for demolition. A family from the island purchased the house for $100,000 and then paid an additional $60,000 to have it transported 120 Km. by flat deck and barge out of Vancouver, across the Strait of Georgia to Union Bay on Vancouver Island.
> 
> What's particulary interesting for me is if somebody was going to buy this same house already on a lot in Vancouver, they'd be looking at a million dollar or more price tag for the house and lot.
> 
> ...


Oh my goodness, yes I think that is a prme front porch. And that house is so great. I'm glad they moved it rather than tore it down. So much of the artistic, soul lifting, buildings are being torn down for "progress". Bah.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

It is just like the trees in cities and subdivisions. It is easier and cheaper to bulldoze the whole lot and then start building without any regard for the age and quality of the trees on the lot. It cost us a bit of time and effort and money to clear around where our house was going but we ended up with a beautifully treed property with hundred year old oaks and maples near the buildings. Even now we live on a property where the small northern trees were spared while other neighbouring properties were stripped bare for the house and outbuildings and lane. So sad and then you have to plant new trees and wait years for shade and wind protection.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

emdeengee said:


> It is just like the trees in cities and subdivisions. It is easier and cheaper to bulldoze the whole lot and then start building without any regard for the age and quality of the trees on the lot. It cost us a bit of time and effort and money to clear around where our house was going but we ended up with a beautifully treed property with hundred year old oaks and maples near the buildings. Even now we live on a property where the small northern trees were spared while other neighbouring properties were stripped bare for the house and outbuildings and lane. So sad and then you have to plant new trees and wait years for shade and wind protection.


Good for you! :goodjob:

That heritage house came from the Dunbar neighbourhood, which is a very old and wealthy neighbourhood of the city. The picture below shows the house before it was moved. It had nice landscaping and some lovely old trees to the side and in the back of the house. The developers are bulldozing all of that down and will be building a towering 3 storey McMansion Mega-house there (with no landscaping or trees) that will take up the entire lot space and eclipse all of the other lovely old homes and their landscaped properties on that street. It's a sad thing to see and I wish there was some kind of city ordinance that would limit the size of some of the houses being built to 2 storeys only.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

That house is a beauty. I am so glad it was given a reprieve.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

You used to be able to buy a whole house out of the Eaton's catalog and a barn from Sears Roebuck. They would ship the house kits anywhere the railroad went.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

Home

25th anniversary for the Kingston sheep dog trials, for the most part fabulous weather, even the pouring rain felt good and greened up the drought stressed paddock! these dogs are true athletes!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Every year we get to see the sheep dog trials on TV but not until in the winter. Those dogs are just breathtaking. And so intelligent. 

So the Olympics are over. The Canadians voted to wear their denim jackets for the closing. Lots of sartorial comments especially from the European fashion "experts". Stated that this was as big a faux pas as socks and sandals. Jeepers they would have a heart attack if they came up North. We were our crocks with special fleece linings! 

And of course they referred to it as the Canadian Tuxedo (love that description - thanks Brian Adams!) but that is wrong as they were wearing khakis not jeans. Anyways nearly every athlete and support staff was asked to sell their denim jackets by the athletes from other countries! and the Hudson's Bay company has sold out of them and is ordering more to fill the orders. I guess fashion experts aren't so expert after all.

I did not know that Saskatchewan is the world's largest exporter of lentils. Learn something new everyday. Personally I am happy to see the lentils leave the country as I don't like them.


----------



## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

I liked the denims jackets. I thought they were nice and relaxed, like us Canadians  I wasn't too keen on the patches, but now I'm just being fussy.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

I like the denim jackets with patches. If Canadians and the other athletes like the 'Canadian Tuxedo' then that's all that counts. Nobody else's opinions matter, certainly not the 'fashion experts'. :hysterical:


----------



## doodlemom (Apr 4, 2006)

Black white and red looks like Syria or Yemen to me without seeing the Canada on the outfits. I do not associate black with Canada. I'm just seeing this post for the first time and did not follow the Olympics.


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

Paumon said:


> I like the denim jackets with patches. If Canadians and the other athletes like the 'Canadian Tuxedo' then that's all that counts. Nobody else's opinions matter, certainly not the 'fashion experts'. :hysterical:


A sign of being truly fashionable is bucking the current trends and stepping out wearing whatever you want. If it looks fabulous on you, then you are fashionable and the world will try to emulate you!


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

but now the world will think we look like the Olympic athletes instead of Red Green or Bob and Doug MacKenzie!! they will pry my duct tape from my cold frozen hands but the can have the lumberjack jackets!


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

fordson major said:


> but now the world will think we look like the Olympic athletes instead of Red Green or *Bob and Doug MacKenzie*!! they will pry my duct tape from my cold frozen hands but the can have the lumberjack jackets!


My DH loves to tell the story of when he first met my 2 brothers...he walked ino the house and on the kitchen table was a box of donuts(B#2 worked at Dunkin') and they came into the kitchen with their beers, looked at him and said"Oh so you must be the new boyfriend eh??"

True story sad to say.....


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

My family is a living breathing Canadian cliche. We all say "eh" and everyone except me orders a double double and Timbits. When my husband first came North to work he phoned me all excited because this small town has TWO Tim's both within walking distance of his office. As for lumberjack jackets. There is nothing as lovely as a quilted lumberjack jacket for those cold summer mornings. I have a pink and black one to go with my pink Wellies.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Just saw on the news that Prince Philip is back in hospital. The Palace will not say why.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

So the Ottawa River Parkway has been renamed the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway. 

The Parkway now named after Sir John A. MacDonald is the one by the river and not the parkway that leads to the airport named after Sir John A. MacDonald and M. Cartier. I think there are enough things named after Macdonald. 

Harper is meeting with Merkel of Germany today. Hope he does not give away any more money that we don't have.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

So cute and generous:

A Newfoundland boy is receiving national attention for giving a medal he won playing soccer to Canadian athletes who were denied a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in London.

Elijah Porter, 10, reached out to the men's 4x100-metre running relay team after it was disqualified when one of its members stepped out of bounds.

Porter, who lives in Paradise, near St. John's, wrote the team a letter saying they were good athletes and what happened to them was wrong.

"I decided that even though I can't change the rules I can make them feel better. So I decided to send my soccer medal and a note that started with talking about everything that's good about Canada," he told CBC.

It was his only medal.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The city of Whitehorse has banned dogs from its Takhini arena because of the possibility of allergy problems. There have been none in 25 years. The arena is used by dog training clubs. In a city where everyone has a dog - or two - this is quite ridiculous because to socialize dogs is one of the most important things you can do. Not to mention the fact that they bring in lots of money to the city parks and recreation department and they hold the International Kennel Club Dog show every year which is one of the biggest events in the city.

I have sympathy for people with allergies (I have them) but what is the next step?

I presume that we can now expect a ban on the wearing of perfumes in all city buildings and schools? And when will they be rolling up the grass, flowers and trees at City Hall? I mean just getting into the building and having to walk past the flower beds could be a serious threat to someone with asthma. And what about dust mites? I vote that they should be banned as well.


----------



## Elffriend (Mar 2, 2003)

emdeengee said:


> Just saw on the news that Prince Philip is back in hospital. The Palace will not say why.


They're saying now it's a recurrent bladder infection, the same thing that put him in the hospital earlier this summer.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

I was hearing about this on CBC news on TV today. Thought it was interesting.

Only 2% of Canadians deny climate change, suggests poll - Calgary - CBC News



> "...... Our survey indicates that Canadians from coast to coast overwhelmingly believe climate change is real and is occurring, at least in part due to human activity," said centre CEO Carmen Dybwad.
> 
> Respondents were asked where they stood on the issue of climate change.
> 
> ...


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

emdeengee said:


> So the Ottawa River Parkway has been renamed the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.
> 
> The Parkway now named after Sir John A. MacDonald is the one by the river and not the parkway that leads to the airport named after Sir John A. MacDonald and M. Cartier. I think there are enough things named after Macdonald.
> 
> Harper is meeting with Merkel of Germany today. Hope he does not give away any more money that we don't have.



you forgot the Mac-Cat to the city formerly known as Hull!! and the MacDonald building a few statues around town and the one i can live with out, the golden arched MacDonalds! i am sure they could have found a new road to name after sir John A. and @ $60,000. it was the cheaper alternative. to us old folks it will always be the Ottawa river parkway. 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt0qVqwDUUA]Stompin Tom Connors - Marketplace Theme - YouTube[/ame]

we should all send this to Harper.


nother goodie!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RatUgAzdqs]Stompin&#39; Tom Connors - Big Joe Mufferaw - YouTube[/ame]


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Elffriend said:


> They're saying now it's a recurrent bladder infection, the same thing that put him in the hospital earlier this summer.


Poor Prince. I have had bladder infections and they are no fun. Hope he beats this. I would so hate for anything to happen to him - at any time but especially in this year of celebration.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

fordson major said:


> you forgot the Mac-Cat to the city formerly known as Hull!! and the MacDonald building a few statues around town and the one i can live with out, the golden arched MacDonalds! i am sure they could have found a new road to name after sir John A. and @ $60,000. it was the cheaper alternative. to us old folks it will always be the Ottawa river parkway.
> 
> Stompin Tom Connors - Marketplace Theme - YouTube
> 
> ...


Yes it will always be the Ottawa River Parkway to me as well. I remember when there was no parkway at all. We used to live near the end of Woodroffe Avenue where it intesected with Byron and at that time the street car tracks were still in place. From there you could walk to the rivers edge and go swimming or just walk along the actual shoreline..


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

I picked up this list at the Chemainus museum and thought I'd post it here for your amusement. These were the rules for teachers in Canada in 1885 and 1915. 


*Rules for teachers in Upper Canada in 1885*

1 - Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys.

2 - Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's session.

3 - Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.

4 - After ten hours in school, the teacher may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.

5 - Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.

6 - Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.

7 - Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaves in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention and honesty.

8 - Any teacher who performs his labour faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of 25 cents per week in his pay providing the Board of Education approves.



*Rules for women teachers in 1915
*
1 - You will not marry during the term of your contract.

2 - You are not to keep company with men.

3 - You must be home between the hours of 8 pm and 6 am unless attending a school function.

4 - You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.

5 - You may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the Board of Education.

6 - You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.

7 - You may not smoke cigarettes.

8 - You may not dress in bright colours.

9 - You may under no circumstances dye your hair.

10 - You must wear at least two petticoats.

11 - Your dress must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle.

12 - To keep the school neat and clean, you must: sweep the floor at least once daily, scrub the floor at least once a week with hot, soapy water, clean the blackboards at least once a day, and start the fire at 7 am so the room will be warm by 8 am.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

emdeengee said:


> I think there are enough things named after Macdonald.
> 
> .


 i was thinking that there is too many things named"MacDonald" here in Ottawa as well till i remembered one tied in to the one i can do with out. that is Ronald MacDonald house The house that love built - manoir Ronald McDonald house , they can build more of these anywhere!


----------



## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

Have you seen our American Olympic Uniforms, designed by Ralph Lauren and made in CHINA? I will leave this for those who wish to comment? I hope it is ok to post this here?


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

China manufacturing aside, I am so tired of our uniforms looking essentially the same for every Olympics, Romy! I can't wait until Ralph Lauren loses the contract... I think it is sort of un-American for us to have contracted for such a long period of time with that company. Imagine how nice it would be if we showcased a new designer at each Olympic Games...


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

fordson major said:


> i was thinking that there is too many things named"MacDonald" here in Ottawa as well till i remembered one tied in to the one i can do with out. that is Ronald MacDonald house The house that love built - manoir Ronald McDonald house , they can build more of these anywhere!


RonMac houses help so many people at a time when they really need it. I think it has been one of the great charitable ideas of all time. Like Tim's camp.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I found the US uniforms uninspired. To me they looked like something preppie from the 1930s. As for being manufactured in China. Don't get me started on that. We have a lot of government contracts filled with Chinese companies when we have the same ability to fulfil the contracts here in Canada. Where I live the government (all levels) MUST use territorial business first. Only if something is not available is it put up for external tender. 

Several cities in Canada (Victoria is one) have opted out of the Free Trade agreement that Harper is trying to set up with the EU because this deal he has made (again without consultation) will force all government tenders to be open to European companies. Municipal governments want to keep the work in their cities. My city will be voting whether or not to opt out soon.


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

emdeengee said:


> I found the US uniforms uninspired. To me they looked like something preppie from the 1930s. .


And they've been uninspired since Ralph Lauren got the contract. I think I read that he has the contract until 2020... I guess we'll have more blazers and berets until then.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

2020? The is not inspiring at all! I saw an interview with him on Oprah and it is clear that he loves the American heritage (his ranch is completely old west and everyone dresses in cowboy hats and jeans) that I was very surprised that his designs are not more "honest" and that he does not support American workers. I might (just possibly, maybe) understand his production line being made in China but when it comes down to a National uniform??? 

We had a huge flap here a few years ago when it was revealed that Canadian flags and provincial flags were being made in China. The contract was actually taken away from a Canadian company. Sad.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

The starving cougars here have sure been getting into the news this year. This little woman in Trail BC is only 4' 2" tall and weighs 78 pounds, she was attacked on her couch in her house by an old starving 50 pound cougar on Saturday. Her dog "Vicious", an 11 y.o. border collie, chased the cougar away and the cougar was later killed by conservation officers. This comes only 2 weeks after another attack on a young boy on the island by a young, malnourished cougar.

Desperate cougar attacks Trail woman in her home - The Globe and Mail

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/08/28/bc-cougar-attack-trail.html

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I saw this on the news. She was lucky and her dog was very brave. I still feel sorry for the cougar though. According to the Conservation officer it was old and sick and starving. It was just trying to survive. Just nature at work. I get furious with my neighbours. We have coyotes, fox, wolves and eagles that stroll up our street. And yet these people let their cats and small dogs out unsupervised. Three cats gone this month and one dog killed and eaten by wolves last winter.


----------



## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

We're pretty close to the BC border (as the crow flies over the Selkirks) and my daughter had a cougar cross the road in front of her last week in broad daylight. Hopefully we won't have a problem. Our last Pyrenees is getting older and we plan to start bringing him inside for the winter. Good thing we don't have sheep anymore.


----------



## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

I love Canada and I love Canadians but I have one question:
What is up with drivers from Alberta? They are always in such a hurry! We even had one pass us on the Going To The Sun Highway in Glacier. You never see cars with BC plates drive like that...only Albertans. I know...I'm generalizing. Also, I'm not a slow driver by any means but man...these Albertans. Total speed demons.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

LisaInN.Idaho said:


> I love Canada and I love Canadians but I have one question:
> What is up with drivers from Alberta? They are always in such a hurry! We even had one pass us on the Going To The Sun Highway in Glacier. You never see cars with BC plates drive like that...only Albertans. I know...I'm generalizing. Also, I'm not a slow driver by any means but man...these Albertans. Total speed demons.


I think it is because the roads in Alberta (except for when you head towards the mountains) are flat. I drive like a "normal" person but once I hit the Alberta border (and then all the way to Manitoba) it is just so easy to speed up and not even notice. Same in Northern Ontario.


----------



## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

emdeengee said:


> I think it is because the roads in Alberta (except for when you head towards the mountains) are flat. I drive like a "normal" person but once I hit the Alberta border (and then all the way to Manitoba) it is just so easy to speed up and not even notice. Same in Northern Ontario.


Must be.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Then of course there is driving in Quebec! LOL! That will age you but fast especially in Montreal. And yes it is a stereotype.


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

emdeengee said:


> Then of course there is driving in Quebec! LOL! That will age you but fast especially in Montreal. And yes it is a stereotype.


When I was in university I took the bus from Sherbrooke to Montreal and the train from there home, had to take a cab from the bus station to the train station. 3-4 minute drive. One cabbie hit three other vehicles on the way on a nice clear day. No stopping, didn't seem to think anything was out of the ordinary.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

LisaInN.Idaho said:


> I love Canada and I love Canadians but I have one question:
> What is up with drivers from Alberta? They are always in such a hurry! We even had one pass us on the Going To The Sun Highway in Glacier. You never see cars with BC plates drive like that...only Albertans. I know...I'm generalizing. Also, I'm not a slow driver by any means but man...these Albertans. Total speed demons.


It's as Em said, because Alberta is so flat and the roads dead straight so you can see for miles ahead, so speeding is the norm in Alberta .... or so I've been told by some of my Alberta friends. I've driven through Alberta and the drivers there were passing me as if I wasn't even moving..... and I'm a fast driver myself. LOL

But get those Alberta drivers on the roads in mountainous BC and all the sharp switchbacks on the slick wet narrow shoulderless single-lane roads through canyons and steep valleys where they can't see what's around the next bend and over the next hill in the road and it's a totally different story. They hunch over their steering wheels peering ahead over the hood and grip the steering wheels with white knuckles and slow down to the point of creeping along with one foot touching the brake pedal. All the BC drivers are passing them, even truckers in big rigs have to pull around them. The truckers get angry with them and honk their horns at them for driving like short grannies and old men in fedoras and bowler hats. :hysterical:

.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

LisaInN.Idaho said:


> I love Canada and I love Canadians but I have one question:
> What is up with drivers from Alberta? They are always in such a hurry! We even had one pass us on the Going To The Sun Highway in Glacier. You never see cars with BC plates drive like that...only Albertans. I know...I'm generalizing. Also, I'm not a slow driver by any means but man...these Albertans. Total speed demons.


just wait till ya meet a Quebecker, they hand out pilots licenses there! but don't ever speed in Quebec with foreign plates, my uncle got a whopper on the way up from Vermont in his Lincoln !


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

emdeengee said:


> I think it is because the roads in Alberta (except for when you head towards the mountains) are flat. I drive like a "normal" person but once I hit the Alberta border (and then all the way to Manitoba) it is just so easy to speed up and not even notice. Same in Northern Ontario.


 i was between Verner and Sudbury on 17 when i happened to glance at the speedometer in the stang, 180!! at least i was not stopped, would have been hand over pink slip time.


----------



## Truckinguy (Mar 8, 2008)

> What is up with drivers from Alberta? They are always in such a hurry! We even had one pass us on the Going To The Sun Highway in Glacier. You never see cars with BC plates drive like that...only Albertans. I know...I'm generalizing. Also, I'm not a slow driver by any means but man...these Albertans. Total speed demons.


I'll bet they're not as fast as Quebec truck drivers. If we see a big rig driving fast on the 401 through Toronto, tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic and passing on the right, it's guaranteed that it has a Quebec plate in it. 

Speaking of the 401, I believe it's only surpassed by the LA freeway for the amount of traffic it carries every day. Having delivered construction equipment in Toronto and the surrounding area for 22 years I can say I've spent more then my share of time sitting in traffic on that highway and getting a tractor trailer around down in the city was no picnic. Now running out of Alliston about an hour north of Toronto I rarely get downtown and don't miss it for a second. Great city, though, culture, cuisine and arts from all around the world, just not my cup of tea.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

naturelover said:


> It's as Em said, because Alberta is so flat and the roads dead straight so you can see for miles ahead, so speeding is the norm in Alberta .... or so I've been told by some of my Alberta friends. I've driven through Alberta and the drivers there were passing me as if I wasn't even moving..... and I'm a fast driver myself. LOL
> 
> But get those Alberta drivers on the roads in mountainous BC and all the sharp switchbacks on the slick wet narrow shoulderless single-lane roads through canyons and steep valleys where they can't see what's around the next bend and over the next hill in the road and it's a totally different story. They hunch over their steering wheels peering ahead over the hood and grip the steering wheels with white knuckles and slow down to the point of creeping along with one foot touching the brake pedal. All the BC drivers are passing them, even truckers in big rigs have to pull around them. The truckers get angry with them and honk their horns at them for driving like short grannies and old men in fedoras and bowler hats. :hysterical:
> 
> .


LOL! and if they are pulling a trailer or boat then you might as well pull over and take a nap! You will still catch up. As for the speedsters in Alberta. I remember once we had been driving for quite a while without seeing a car when I looked in the rear view mirror and could see one approaching from a long way off. The flatness fools you as far as distances go. I swear I blinked and that car went by us like the Roadrunner passing the Coyote. I was doing about 110 so I think he had to be doing 150.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Truckinguy said:


> I'll bet they're not as fast as Quebec truck drivers. If we see a big rig driving fast on the 401 through Toronto, tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic and passing on the right, it's guaranteed that it has a Quebec plate in it.
> 
> Speaking of the 401, I believe it's only surpassed by the LA freeway for the amount of traffic it carries every day. Having delivered construction equipment in Toronto and the surrounding area for 22 years I can say I've spent more then my share of time sitting in traffic on that highway and getting a tractor trailer around down in the city was no picnic. Now running out of Alliston about an hour north of Toronto I rarely get downtown and don't miss it for a second. Great city, though, culture, cuisine and arts from all around the world, just not my cup of tea.


I have driven in both LA and TO. I know that both places can be a parking lot but it seemed when I was there traffic was moving like a dream - a scary dream. TO scared me worse than LA. It really is a great city but the wind in winter!!!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

fordson major said:


> i was between Verner and Sudbury on 17 when i happened to glance at the speedometer in the stang, 180!! at least i was not stopped, would have been hand over pink slip time.


For us it was somewhere between Kapiskasing and Longlac. My husband was driving and we saw a moose right at the side of the road. We weren't going 180!!! but pretty fast and that sobered us up.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

So the Quebec election is over. Thankfully the whole election campaigns only run a few weeks here. The PQ won and the first female leader is now Premier. Not a majority government but still a win. Wild times followed. 

During her victory speech Marois was hustled from the stage by security police. 

One dead, two injured and the target was the PQ leader so since he could not get to her the assassin set the building on fire. Quick action by the police and firemen stopped this from being an even more serious crime. And it is not over yet since he apparently was yelling that the English will rise up.

This should be of interest to the US since Quebec supplies the majority of eletric power to their northern states. It is possible - probable - that they will increase the cost to pay to cover the costs of their dreams of sovereignty.


----------



## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

I'm still shocked that Charest thought calling an election was a good idea...or was he trying to avoid the anticipated fall out from the curruption inquiry? Did he not read the signs well or did he get bad advice?


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

majik said:


> I'm still shocked that Charest thought calling an election was a good idea...or was he trying to avoid the anticipated fall out from the curruption inquiry? Did he not read the signs well or did he get bad advice?


I am also still stunned that he would choose this time for an election. Maybe he believed that there was no such thing as bad press LOL!

The first acts of the new gov't according to the news today will be to roll back tuition and to repeal the protest law.


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

And then 75% capital gains tax and fire up the language laws again. Gonna be lots of moving vans on the 401...


----------



## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

I don't think the PQ government is going to be able to do much or last too long with such a slim minority and no other party willing to support them. I don't miss Quebec politics, but sometimes I miss Montreal. Amazing city for a student. Cheap and fun.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

majik said:


> I don't think the PQ government is going to be able to do much or last too long with such a slim minority and no other party willing to support them. I don't miss Quebec politics, but sometimes I miss Montreal. Amazing city for a student. Cheap and fun.


I agree. This isn't the same powerful position as last time.

Montreal is such a fun city. It is the second largest city and you can have a real big city experience there as well as a small village or neighbourhood experience. Quite unique.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

emdeengee said:


> I agree. This isn't the same powerful position as last time.
> 
> Montreal is such a fun city. It is the second largest city and you can have a real big city experience there as well as a small village or neighbourhood experience. Quite unique.



there have been times in Montreal that i have been white knuckled, last time was a breeze though! had a great navigator and was not a passenger that time. will be getting well acquainted with Montreal i think, as my DD and her SO are moving back there to go to school. PQ just drove down real-estate in Quebec and values here up  good time to sell in Ontario!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

That is good news for my sister and hubby who want to sell and leave Ontario for their retirement.

I still remember my first trip to Montreal as a young woman. Who knew that triple and quadruple parking even existed. I went into the store right next to where my car was blocked in and asked if anyone there was the owner of one of the two cars blocking me and plugging the street? The cop said - "just a minute, I'm nearly done". So I gave up and went back outside to listen to everyone leaning on their horn. Like that is going to move a parked car.


----------



## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

I've never actually driven in Montreal, but I have clumh on to my seat best for dear life as a passenger. And, after living there for 3 years, I had adopted the habits of a Montreal pedestrian - just walk in to traffic and hope for the best. When I came back to Ontario, my friends kept yanking me back on to the sidewalk. Now, being a staid matron, I always cross at the lights, of course.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The first time my husband used the term "sidewalk lemmings" was in Montreal. Pedestrians who follow one another and really are suicidal in their walking style and they have NO understanding of physics especially when it comes to a moving object like a car! Where we live now in the Yukon the sidewalk lemmings flourish as well but they tend to bounce with all the layers of clothing.


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

I'm a new Quebecer and it doesnt seem too bad. My car insurance went down by 40%. You dont have to buy tags for your car licence plate. 

Everyone is very friendly and helpful. If they speak to me in French, I say "I'm sorry" and they switch to English with a smile. No one I've talked to thinks the new PQ gov't has any real hope of accomplishing their agenda. People just seemed to want an alternative to the Liberals in power.

Gatineau Park is so beautiful. The only wacky thing is their stoplights, other than that I wouldnt know what side of the river I was on.


----------



## Oak Leaf (Sep 14, 2011)

rileyjo said:


> I'm a new Quebecer and it doesnt seem too bad. My car insurance went down by 40%. You dont have to buy tags for your car licence plate.
> 
> *Everyone is very friendly and helpful. If they speak to me in French, I say "I'm sorry" and they switch to English with a smile.* No one I've talked to thinks the new PQ gov't has any real hope of accomplishing their agenda. People just seemed to want an alternative to the Liberals in power.
> 
> Gatineau Park is so beautiful. The only wacky thing is their stoplights, other than that I wouldnt know what side of the river I was on.


To the bolded, it really depends on what part of Quebec you're in. Some areas are more english friendly than others. 

As for the PQ being voted in, I believe a majority of people were just looking for *change*, not separation. I knew Charest would be stepping down as leader of the Liberals, they're going to need someone fresh and new in there for the next election! Which they're saying could be next year...


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

I spent today hiking on the estate of William Lyon Mackenzie King, who was our tenth, and kookiest Prime Minister. I read a biography on him years ago and have always been fascinated.

Sure he was a passive aggressive Momma's boy but he loved dogs and he was passionate about gardening and landscape architecture. His estate covers hundreds of acres in Gatineau Park. I followed the trails to a beautiful waterfall, a spot where he would entertain visiting VIPs. The property has miles of stone walls and spectacular stone ruins leading to formal and informal gardens. 

At one point, I had to go thru a culvert under a highway to continue the waterfall trail. I am a claustrobe but I figured if Old Queen Vic could do it, so could I. I made it (personal triumph) and the jagged trail gave my flabby heart a good workout.

I got to practice my infantile French on unsuspecting fellow hikers..."Votre chien est tres belle!"...and no one laughed at me.

The property is also the home of The Speaker of the House but that bit was off-limits. The leaves are starting to turn. It will be a very pretty place in a few weeks time.

http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuse...tions/tresors-treasures/?page_id=2587&lang=en


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I cannot even begin to estimate the number of hours I have spent in Gatineau Park. Lots of time at Pink's lake (fell off a cliff edge while hiking and landed in the lake and nearly on top of a canoe) and the King Estate. I have a photograph of my sister and I sitting in the arches of the Abbey ruin. The most spectacular time there is in the fall with all the red, burgundy, orange and yellow leaves.

The attitude towards the English does change according to your location. Just across the Ottawa River and into Hull and the Gatineau park area most people are very involved with English speakers as so many of them work just across the river in Ottawa. But then again the attitude towards the French also changes as you to to different areas in the country.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

PERMANENT GRATITUDE &#8211; U.S. Consulate representative Jeanne Briganti was at the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport Tuesday afternoon on September 11th, 2012 for the official unveiling of the plaque commemorating Whitehorse residents&#8217; support of the U.S. during the terrorist events of Sept. 11, 2001. The plaque was originally presented to Premier Darrell Pasloski by U.S. Consul General Anne Callaghan last March, and is now permanently installed at the airport.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

That's really nice. Are the other provinces going to get plaques for their help on 9/11 too? 
Operation Yellow Ribbon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



> *Operation Yellow Ribbon* was commenced by Transport Canada to handle the diversion of civilian airline flights in response to the September 11 attacks in 2001. Canada&#8217;s goal was to ensure that potentially destructive air traffic be removed from U.S. airspace as quickly as possible, and away from potential U.S. targets, and instead place these aircraft on the ground in Canada, mostly at military and civilian airports in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia,Newfoundland and Labrador, and British Columbia (and also several in New Brunswick, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec) where their destructive potential could be better contained and neutralized. As none of the aircraft proved to be a threat, Canada and Canadians subsequently undertook to play host to the many people aboard the aircraft during the ensuing delay in reaching their destinations.
> 
> Canada commenced the operation after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all aircraft across the United States. The FAA then worked with Transport Canada to reroute incoming international flights to airports in Canada.
> 
> During the operation, departing flights, with the exception of police, military, and humanitarian flights were cancelled, marking the first time that Canada shut down its airspace. As a result of Operation Yellow Ribbon, 255 aircraft were diverted to 17 different airports across the country.


.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I think this was more about the incident with the Korean airliners that were considered "hijacked" and the order given by the PM to allow the US military planes (along with our planes) to chase them down through Canadian air space and force them down in Whitehorse - or shoot them down. 

One thing that is very interesting about the incident is that the reports only ever mention the one plane. There were two. My husband watched them land.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

So did all you Canucks hear the news? .... we're the second happiest country in the world, just behind Denmark on the satisfaction and contentment scale, according to an 8 year long Gallup poll world survey:

Canadians a satisfied bunch, study finds - Montreal - CBC News

:happy2::nanner::icecream::hysterical::happy: :thumb:


http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/0...econd-happiest-country-according-to-new-poll/

Here are the top 10 (happiest) countries:
1. Denmark: 72%
2. Canada: 69%
2. Sweden: 69%
4. Australia: 66%
5. Finland: 64%
5. Venezuela: 64%
7. Israel: 63%
7. New Zealand: 63%
9. Netherlands: 62%
9. Ireland: 62%

Here are the bottom 10 (saddest) countries:
1. Chad: 1%
2. Central African Republic: 2%
3. Haiti: 2%
4. Burkina Faso: 3%
5. Cambodia: 3%
6. Niger: 3%
7. Tajikistan: 3%
8. Tanzania: 4%
9. Mali: 4%
10. Comoros: 4%










.


----------



## celina (Dec 29, 2005)

i do see that now being in the states...people here (as a generalization) just seem unhappy and grouchy and like to complain alot more than back home...

i find (again a generalization) that we're more go with the flow...now in the states in the past that created great people....people who fought to change things..create things...now it seems they mostly complain.....


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

This does not surprise me. All the people we know just enjoy life. They have their problems as does everyone but there is an attitude of general contentment. People talk a bit about the tough times but they just seem to get on with it. I think most likely it is because we have been there done that as far as economic hard times go - over ten years of it in the 1990s. 

And I know - seriously - Universal Healthcare makes a huge difference in everyone's life. You just don't have to worry about illness bankrupting you - or having to make decisions about going to the doctor based on money and then live with the consequences of not being able to go.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

So it looks like Justin Trudeau is thinking of running for the leadership. Any opinions?


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

emdeengee said:


> So it looks like Justin Trudeau is thinking of running for the leadership. Any opinions?


It would be like 20 years of Christmas, Halloween, and Valentines all come at once for the Conservatives and it would kill the Liberal party for at least a decade. Bring it on!


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

DaleK said:


> It would be like 20 years of Christmas, Halloween, and Valentines all come at once for the Conservatives and it would kill the Liberal party for at least a decade. Bring it on!



i would vote for Justin way before i would vote for David McGuinty!! :viking: think Dalton is bad at the provincial level? same cloth and it aint Tartan!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I have to agree about McGinty but I honestly don't know much about Justin. I think he is rather a smart azz without the wit of his father and too young yet but his constituents seem to think the world of him.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

If he wants to be taken seriously then he needs to get a haircut. That little boy curlylocks look just makes him look like he has no credibility or maturity.

.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Also I wasn't amused with the ingenuous way he said he was presenting himself as a candidate for the Liberal leadership. Made it sound like he was offering himself up as some kind of sacrificial lamb.

He should have waited another 10 years instead of letting himself be pressured by younger people who apparently idolize the Trudeau image of his father.

.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

maybe ten years in opposition will temper the youth. or send him to the dark side. after Michael Ignatieff they can hardly go wrong!! (well maybe Daltons brother but that would be unthinkable!)


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Happy Thanksgiving Canada. 

Click on the turkey. :grin:



​ 

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/05/11/egreetings/image/01.swf

.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

lost a good one. Raylene Rankin passed.
Singer Raylene Rankin dies of cancer - Nova Scotia - CBC News

spent some time on the east coast, she lived in a piece of heaven already.


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

Breaking news...

Dalton McGuinty has resigned. He called a surprise caucus meeting late this afternoon.


----------



## Ross (May 9, 2002)

rileyjo said:


> Breaking news...
> 
> Dalton McGuinty has resigned. He called a surprise caucus meeting late this afternoon.



Is it April Fools day? Christmas??? Wow..... ummmmm really?


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

He has prorogued parliament because he was facing a second contempt vote over the gas plant scandal and that mess with the teacher's union.

Yay, we get to have another election. He is staying on a the MPP for Ottawa South but he has resigned as the Leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario.


----------



## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty stepping down | CTV News

OK really. Time to say something nice....he was way better than Peterson and Rae on their best days. His stand on Sharia law was much appreciated, and he did a few other things that escape my memory at the moment that were surprisingly right in my opinion. Tough to look good after Bill Davis and Mike Harris!


----------



## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

Something smells....the Liberals were forced to release 20,000 documents on Friday that they had 'misplaced' and today Parliament is prorogued. There are Liberal MPPs facing contempt charges for some murky dealings with the gas plant closures. 
The timing of McGuinty's resignation is a bit suspicious.

I liked Harris (I was a small biz owner) and I loathed Rae.


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

The other shoe will definitely drop about whatever he's turning tail and running away ahead of.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

DaleK said:


> The other shoe will definitely drop about whatever he's turning tail and running away ahead of.


really hope he is not heading home!! enough gooberminters here. maybe he is in the running to be our next mayor!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

So who is in charge now? Who is governing? This morning on the news they said the leadership replacement process could take up to six month. Considering they also released yesterday that the Ontario deficit will be nearly 15 billion$ someone should be at the helm.


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

Theoretically I think the Lieutenant Governor is "in charge". McGuinty will still have the chequebooks until he's replaced.


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

naturelover said:


> If he wants to be taken seriously then he needs to get a haircut. That little boy curlylocks look just makes him look like he has no credibility or maturity.
> 
> .


maybe John MacDonald should have had one too??LOL
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...n_1858.jpg/220px-John_A_Macdonald_in_1858.jpg


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Supreme Court rules employees have right to privacy on work computers - The Globe and Mail



> Workplace computers contain so much personal information nowadays that employees have a legitimate expectation of privacy in using them, the Supreme Court of Canada said in a major ruling Friday.
> 
> The court said an individual&#8217;s Internet browsing history alone is capable of exposing his or her most intimate likes, dislikes, activities and thoughts.
> 
> ...


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

&#8220;Canadians may therefore reasonably expect privacy in the information contained on these computers, at least where personal use is permitted or reasonably expected,&#8221; Mr. Justice Morris Fish said, writing for the majority.

Sounds to me like this will still allow the employer to officially, in writing and as a condition of employment, forbid the use of their computers and connections for personal use.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

So Harper finally kept one of the election promises he made when he was first elected years ago. The pension plan for Members of Parliament etc has been revised to a more normal 50% from the employee and 50% from the employer payment and adds ten years to the time when they can begin collecting their pensions. Of course it is set to only come into fruition in 2016 which will still enable all current politicians to get the old pension deal.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

I'd been hoping he wouldn't do this and would stay on in Canada since he's done so well by Canada but I understand the reasons for it too so I wish Britain well with him at the helm. I know that both the Liberals and the Conservatives here in Canada were hoping he would consider running for PM when his term as bank governor in Canada was over, but it sounds like he won't be returning to Canada after his 5 years as Bank of England Governor. Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne formally announced Carney's 5 year appointment and said that Carney intends to seek British citizenship.

Although, who knows, even with dual citizenship that might be a good thing - he might return to Canada to pursue the leadership or perhaps pursue the leadership in Britain. He could go either way.

Some snips from CBC.

Mark Carney named Bank of England governor - Business - CBC News



> Canada's Mark Carney will be the next governor of the Bank of England, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced Monday morning.
> 
> Flaherty said that Carney's advice had "kept Canada strong," pointing out, as he often does, that Canada has the best record for fiscal stability in the G7.
> 
> ...


.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Sadly he is leaving. He was very good for Canada and he was very important to us. His choice both disappoints and disgusts me. The real economic crisis is just beginning and Canada needs him. I would not want him back as leader. He - like most politicians and he isn't even one yet - is putting his self interest ahead of his country. I wish him well in Britain but as far as I am concerned he can stay there - I would not want him back.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

I feel differently about that. I don't begrudge him his decisions. I agree with his statement that this is a most extremely crucial time in Europe for *global* financial reform and that London is the *centre* of that system. He is the most successful chairman of the G20's Financial Stability Board, he has boosted the performance of the Canadian economy during his period at its central bank and turned it into a robust thing by comparison with other countries, and the appointment of Carney as governor of the Bank of England is a historic event. He did not apply for the job as governor of the Bank of England, he was *BEGGED* to take it and he had turned it down several times because of his loyalty to Canada and his intent to make sure that Canada is on a good path financially. It's not about the money he will be paid, he doesn't need the money ..... the man has scruples that are uncommon in this day and age for someone in his position. It was not until he was satisfied with securing Canada financially (nobody can dispute that) and satisfaction with his protege who he's been grooming (and will continue to mentor) and who will continue in his footsteps in Canada that he agreed to accept this position as Governor to Bank of England. The U.K. has fallen into a dire economic condition and he has a huge challenge ahead of him to get that straightened out. And whether you want to admit it or not, what effects the U.K. financially also effects Canada and the rest of the world. If he can get that fixed up and on the straight and narrow then I wish all the more power to him and to his personal choices and endeavours and I'm proud that it's one of our own home boys that's been begged to do the job. I just hope that he comes back to Canada again when he's finished his job.

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

But we are not on a good financial path at all. This was true but is not so now. The report on trade this morning was quite devastating in that we have a 19 and a half billion dollar trade deficit for the 4th time in a row. 

To presume that he will have any substantial influence over the EU in such a way that it will influence the mess and choices over there is not accurate. He will steer the British (and may well help them but it is a different world over there) but he will not have any substantial influence over Germany or France who really are in charge of the EU.


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

youtube canada in my pocket - Bing Videos

Just good clean fun


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

DaleK said:


> youtube canada in my pocket - Bing Videos
> 
> Just good clean fun


That is so cute. Perfect for kids. Now I can't get the tune out of my head!


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

That was cute. I wish he'd had time to tack on the loonie and the toonie. :happy2:

Here's another one from Canada that I heard about on the news this week, apparently it's going viral on youtube just like one of their previous productions.

[YOUTUBE]4AnMlQNw1M8[/YOUTUBE]

Global News | Machinery used to play Christmas classic for video posted on YouTube




> TORONTO - An Ontario-based photography firm that gained an Internet following two years ago with its video of a festive flash mob has found a new viral way to ring in the holiday season.​
> A new video created by Alphabet Photography of Niagara Falls, Ont., depicts employees taking a break from producing framed pictures and turning their talents to a more auditory art form instead.​
> Using machinery and office supplies scattered through the company's production warehouse, the workers take less than two minutes to stage a rousing rendition of the Christmas-time classic "Carol of the Bells."​
> The clip has already garnered nearly 85,000 views in the week it's been posted on the popular video sharing site YouTube, but still has a long way to go to eclipse the success of Alphabet's last holiday campaign.​
> A 2010 video depicting a flash mob of singers serenading a local food court with a stirring version of the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's "Messiah" became a YouTube sensation. The clip has attracted nearly 39 million views and landed the fledgling firm air time on several major U.S. television networks.​


.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

had to pull up this thread, for any who have not heard Mr. Canada, Stompin Tom Conners has passed from this earth. seen him in concert a few years back and he put on quite the show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy3knGGzZr8


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Very sad. He was a real patriot and one who really knew Canada.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8zeB7b1uFY[/ame]


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

I was saddened to hear of his passing, he sure was an interesting character.

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

A real rebel. And he had principles.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

quite the stage preformer!! saw him i think in 2006 in Kville, even at that advancent age he kept up the pace!! and his songs are not country nor any catagory other than his own and was loved by people of all walks of life!


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> ...... He was a real patriot .....


No kidding, eh. I think he was one of the most patriotic entertainers I've ever heard of, and he didn't pull his punches.

_Believe in Your Country_

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNbFLlMIp28&feature=player_embedded[/ame]

.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I really love the lines from Believe in Your Country - 

"But if you don't believe your country should come before yourself
Ya can better serve your country, by living somewhere else"


----------



## Truckinguy (Mar 8, 2008)

We grew up playing his songs on the guitar, part of many fond childhood memories. He will be missed!


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

This place needs a bump and an injection of humour, so here ya go, eh!  Go to the menu for more http://bertc.com/subfour/truth/index.htm



> http://bertc.com/subfour/truth/imposter.htm
> 
> 
> *Canadian Imposter*
> ...


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

LOL! How many clicks were you doing when you deked the deer?

Of course the number one give away is "zed"


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

So BC government turned down the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal again. Now it's going to have to go to federal review for fed gov to have the final say.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/05/31/bc-northern-gateway-rejected.html



> The B.C. government has officially expressed its opposition to a proposal for the Northern Gateway pipeline project, saying it fails to address the province's environmental concerns.............
> 
> "British Columbia thoroughly reviewed all of the evidence and submissions made to the panel and asked substantive questions about the project, including its route, spill response capacity and financial structure to handle any incidents," said Environment Minister Terry Lake. "Our questions were not satisfactorily answered during these hearings."...........
> 
> ......... The review panel will hear final arguments starting next month, and must present a report to the federal government by the end of the year. The federal government will have the final say on whether the pipeline goes ahead.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The absolutely final say in anything that involved water used to belong to the Federal Dept of Fisheries but since Harper has cut the legs out from under them with his new regulations I sincerely doubt that the will of BC residents and first nations peoples will have much bearing on the final decision.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

Alberta, eh!

Check out all the flood photos that people are sending in: http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunit...hern-alberta-floods.html#mid=&offset=&page=&s=


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

100,000 evacuated now. The Calgary Zoo is next. Saddle Dome flooded to the level of the 10th row of seating. Stampede grounds have some buildings immersed up to their rafters and the Stampede is only 13 days away. And it is raining in the foothills so this is not over.

Excellent response by the city and town, the province, military and emergency management but this is the worst flooding ever seen.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

They're still expecting more rain so it's going to be a rough weekend. Trans-Canada Highway is washed out at Canmore. Several railway tracks and bridges are gonners.

On the news now they're talking about putting the big cats from the zoo into the Calgary jail house. :grin:

All that flood water is going to be headed for Saskatchewan next.

A lot of that water is snow melt too, it's not all rain. And I see on the weather map that the heat wave for the past 3 weeks that's been in Alaska (80 - 90 degree F. temps there) and in Yukon (are you getting snow melt floods there too?) is now moving east into North West Territories and High Arctic. Not good. 

Greenland has sustained temps in the mid 60's to low 70's F. for the past 2 weeks !!! :shocked: I've never heard of it getting that hot in Greenland in at least the past century.

It's looking to be an interesting summer ahead.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

200,000 now evacuated and they moved the big cats from the Calgary Zoo to one of the jails. Cities downstream are now sandbagging and another 150mm is forecast in some areas. Banff is also shutting down and the Banff marathon is cancelled. The water is heading south.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

emdeengee said:


> Excellent response by the city and town, the province, military and emergency management but this is the worst flooding ever seen.


Yes, 6 months worth of rain in only 2 days and the magnitude of the flooding and vast areas effected is stunning. I'm really impressed (and proud) with the emergency responses and with the spirit of cooperation prevailing with all the citizens in all towns pulling together to help each other. In the town of High River which had mandatory evacuation on short notice one of the MLA's there has organized an emergency rescue team that is going from house to house rescuing any pets that had to be left behind. Medicine Hat and Drumheller are expecting the water to crest there on Monday so may also have mandatory evacuation going into effect by this weekend. They have volunteers arriving from all around to help with sand bagging and building berms with backhoes and excavators.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I have been watching the interviews with Calgary Mayor Nenshi. Quite impressed. Did not know very much about him. Very calm and professional and yet with a sense of humour. Very impressed with the people of Alberta. Sadly any natural disaster is an opportunity for scum to rob and loot but military and RCMP are stepping up patrols as well as people setting up their own defenses and patrols. Calgary may be a big city but is is still a cow town and they don't mess around with rustlers lol!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The water became so high at the Calgary zoo Savannah compound that the Hippos were floating feet above where they should have been and in fact were just about able to make their swimming escape over the wall. Lobi the Hippo tried to make a run (swim?) for it but was turned back. Keepers spent the night on guard armed with rifles. The giraffes were up to their neck in water and keepers had to dawn wet suits and swim in to get them. There is some concern that the stress will make them ill or even kill them. Hundreds of meters of the high security fencing in and around the zoo is just gone.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

I'd heard about what happened with the hippos but not about the giraffes being submerged to their necks. :shocked: That must have happened very suddenly. I hope they don't get sick from all the nasties in the water.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

More trouble.

CALGARY, Alberta -- A train has derailed on a Calgary rail bridge that is collapsing, threatening to send five rail cars carrying a diesel-like substance into the Bow River, acting Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc said Thursday.
The train derailed after a section of the bridge dropped two feet (60 centimeters) Thursday morning. Emergency management director Bruce Burrell the bridge is not in the water but is slowly sagging into the river.
"The bridge is continuing to drop as we speak, so that distance between the failure point and where the bridge decking is, is starting to open up more," said Burrell. 
"It appears that the bridge is failing."
Each car could have 80,000 pounds (36,000 kilograms) of flammable product, said Uzeloc, adding that he could not specify the liquid. A sixth car on the bridge is an empty oil tanker, he said.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

Man o man, that's awful news, those poor folks can't win for losing right now. I found an article about it in the Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...idge-in-danger-of-collapsing/article12852189/


----------



## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

What is the range of views about the removal of guns and ammo for safe keeping. Also what sorta proof of ownership will be accepted to retrieve one's property form safe keeping under the control of the government?. If you do not know what proof will be accepted and are just guessing that really is not going to help gather facts. I just hear that often guns are passed thur generations and I do not know if your country requires a form for inherieting guns. It is simply wanting to learn how a country so close to us handles this.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

kasilofhome said:


> What is the range of views about the removal of guns and ammo for safe keeping. Also what sorta proof of ownership will be accepted to retrieve one's property form safe keeping under the control of the government?. If you do not know what proof will be accepted and are just guessing that really is not going to help gather facts. I just hear that often guns are passed thur generations and I do not know if your country requires a form for inherieting guns. It is simply wanting to learn how a country so close to us handles this.


To the best of my knowledge the RCMP have never before needed to go around collecting up unsecured firearms from hundreds of destroyed houses in a whole town. What happened in High River is a new type of situation that hasn't happend in the past in Canada. However, the unsecured firearms they retrieved were all catalogued and stored the same way the police would do with any other valuables found on destroyed property or salvaged stolen items that are found by police. When the homeowners go to the police for the return of their unsecured firearms they will be required to provide their ID and address and full descriptions of their firearms and their locations. Just as they would have to do if they were retrieving any other kind of personal property that had been retrieved and put in safe storage by the police.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

The RCMP are not looting or "breaking in to" peoples homes to steal. This is a story that has really gotten blown out of proportion. The people spreading it have an agenda.

The RCMP have been making the rounds of homes in High River and other flooded towns and areas looking for stranded people, bodies and dogs and cats. In a state of emergency they have the right to enter all homes to search for victims. Just as it was in New Orleans with search and rescue. They are not tasked with rescuing property. 

They are confiscating any guns that they see when they enter a house. They are actually only doing their job. 

In Canada it is completely illegal to have your weapon unsecured at home. It must have a trigger lock and be locked in a gun safe. All these people who have had their guns confiscated will get them back but oh boy will they be paying big fines. I think this is a case of trying to distract from the fact that people have now gotten caught not securing their weapons.

There are hundreds of thousands of guns in Canada. Most are long guns. No registraton required. A handgun requires very demanding qualifications. All semi-automatic guns are illegal. To own a gun you not only have to have a background check and a licence but you have to take a gun course. Before any of the young university students who work with my husband can go into the field they have to be gun certified. They all love going on the courses and to the range. 

The Premier of Alberta has basically told PM Harper to butt out and mind his own business. She was furious in the interview I saw.


----------



## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

*Looting* also referred to as *sacking*, *plundering*, *despoiling*, *despoliation*, and *pillaging*&#8212;is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as during war,[1] natural disaster,[2] or rioting.[3] The term is also used in a broader sense, to describe egregious instances of theft and embezzlement, such as the "plundering" of private or public assets by corrupt or greedy authorities.[4] Looting is loosely distinguished from scavenging by the objects taken; scavenging implies taking of essential items such as food, water, shelter, or other material needed for survival while looting implies items of luxury or not necessary for survival such as art work, precious metals or other valuables. The proceeds of all these activities can be described as *loot*, *plunder*, or *pillage*.
*Contents*

[hide] 

wording seems correctly used. Just the facts.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

emdeengee said:


> The RCMP are not looting or "breaking in to" peoples homes to steal. This is a story that has really gotten blown out of proportion. *The people spreading it have an agenda*.


I think that at least 90% of the Canadian population fully realize that this is about somebody else's agenda and are backing up the RCMP. They aren't making much of it in spite of the attempted negative media attention it got. Heck, even when it got mentioned on the CTV news here the newscasters just went "Meh" and shrugged. Like they were saying, "get a life and get serious about the important stuff, eh?" which just goes to show that not all of the media are making a big issue out of it and aren't playing into the manipulation of the people with an anti-government, anti-authority agenda. 



emdeengee said:


> All these people who have had their guns confiscated will get them back but oh boy will they be paying big fines. I think this is a case of trying to distract from the fact that people have now gotten caught not securing their weapons.


Actually, I think they probably won't get very big fines even though technically they did commit a crime. I think it will be more like a sharp slap on the wrist for most of them except for those who had prohibited weapons and other illegal equipment. It isn't like they don't already have a lot worse problems and financial crises ahead of them now. The police interview I was watching the Captain said that the police do realize people were in a terrible panic over what to try to take with them and what to try to salvage by placing it high. He said a lot of people took their guns out of previously secure places and gun safes that would get flooded and put them up on shelves in the hopes that they would be protected from the water there. I don't think they were thinking about the possibility that any of their own townsfolk and neighbours might be potential looters and come steal their guns, but at least the police realized that could happen. I guess for people like that their guns were more important to them than a lot of their other household goods and they were in such a panic they just weren't thinking straight when they unsecured them. 



emdeengee said:


> There are hundreds of thousands of guns in Canada. Most are long guns. No registraton required. A handgun requires very demanding qualifications. All semi-automatic guns are illegal. To own a gun you not only have to have a background check and a licence but you have to take a gun course.


10 million actually. That are legal and privately owned by civilians, that is. And then it's estimated there are another 3 - 4 million that are prohibited or restricted and gone undeclared or had so-called "boating accidents". None of that is counting what the military and police have, which does number in the hundreds of thousands. 

Some types of semi-automatics are legal but all automatics are prohibited for civilians. One of my rifles is a semi-automatic that is restricted to 10 rounds, it is okay for me to have.



emdeengee said:


> The Premier of Alberta has basically told PM Harper to butt out and mind his own business. She was furious in the interview I saw.


Good for her. I like Alison Redford, she's gutsy and I think she rocks. Personally I like Harper too but I think he crossed the line by sticking his nose in on this particular thing.


----------



## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

I really wish the Canadians' content wasn't segregated to one long thread. Why not post a regular thread and write CAN, or something after it? I think the US could handle it.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

Feather In The Breeze said:


> I really wish the Canadians' content wasn't segregated to one long thread. Why not post a regular thread and write CAN, or something after it? I think the US could handle it.


Usually if it's something really important, like this terrible flood for example, a separate topic does get posted elsewhere. There was a topic about the flood posted in Current Events forum. Somebody else posted a topic about the RCMP and the guns in GC.

Otherwise. Heh. This IS a regular thread, Canadian "chat" style. I kind of like it this way, I think it's worked out rather well. There's been no deletions, no trolling, the thread hasn't been locked, it's an easy thread to find and to keep up to date, and individual topics and photographs that get posted here can't get "lost in the past" and eventually deleted the way so many other threads do. 

One of the reasons it's segregated from American topics is because some people _were_ getting upset, resentful and complaining about Canadian content or participation in some other topics, they _couldn't_ handle it and it was causing problems, and so it was suggested by one of the Admin that a separate, strictly Canadian content thread could be started. It's been a successful suggestion and to date there's been some good discussions and there's been no contentious intrusions or trolling from certain unfriendly folks who are resentful of Canadians and Canadian content and who want to pick fights. 

So here we are 12 pages later and everything is going along swimmingly with no unpleasantness all in one neat package that keeps on going and going like the ever ready Energizer Bunny. :walk::grin:

Some Americans have been interested and have posted comments or asked questions about Canada. Anyone who is interested in Canada and Canadian topics and events is welcome to participate in this ongoing chat thread. Canadians have been able to keep up with it, I'm sure that interested and friendly Americans can too.

Just my Canadian loonie's worth on the matter. (2 cents doesn't go very far these days).


----------



## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

You are saying some Americans and whining and complaining about Canadian content? I'm shocked! (not really)
I'm a citizen of both countries so it's always an interest to me.
Since this works so well, the canadian content post, then, carry on. Eh!?!


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

Paumon said:


> U
> 
> Just my Canadian loonie's worth on the matter. (2 cents doesn't go very far these days).


You'd have to round it up to a nickel anyway. 

Just sitting here on a chilly Canada Day smelling the smoke from the forest fire in Quebec.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

Oh yeah! Happy Canada Day. :bouncy:

There is a bit of a heat wave here. 90F in the shade right now where I am. Tonight there will be a town party in Spirit Park, fireworks, BBQ, dancing to a Celtic band.


----------



## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

Paumon said:


> Oh yeah! Happy Canada Day. :bouncy:
> 
> There is a bit of a heat wave here. 90F in the shade right now where I am. Tonight there will be a town party in Spirit Park, fireworks, BBQ, dancing to a Celtic band.


Spirit park in the endowment lands? Home is just a few blocks away for me. I miss it very much. Have a great time!


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Feather In The Breeze said:


> I really wish the Canadians' content wasn't segregated to one long thread. Why not post a regular thread and write CAN, or something after it? I think the US could handle it.


 
Many separate Canadian content threads and subjects have been started and received very poor response. This one is more of a way to comment on current affairs as they come up. Everyone is always welcome!


----------



## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

Happy Canada Day!!!


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

painterswife said:


> *Spirit park in the endowment lands?* Home is just a few blocks away for me. I miss it very much. Have a great time!


Nope, a different Spirit Park at the Royal Legion memorial grounds in front of the Performing Arts Center in the middle of the little town where my sister lives in the Fraser Valley. 

Today there is a crafts fair and farmer's market there, and assorted country bands playing in the gazebo in the middle of the park. I should have thought to take a picture of the big gazebo too where the bands are set up, but here are some other pics from today. Later tonight the market tents will come down to make more room for dancing and there'll be a big party with BBQ and ethnic foods, a rocking Celtic band and fireworks.


----------



## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Train derailed--cargo oil--fires --evacuation 

news comming.

In this past week I hear from many in this area of Canada. I hope that you are all safe.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sp...-train-derailment-explosions.html#post6652470

4:25 AM - 6 Jul 2013


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

What a tragedy. Many of the buildings in town have been destroyed or damaged beyond repair. One listed as dead. Many missing. Every night there are many trains going through towns and cities that are carrying horribly dangerous goods and we are completely unaware.


----------



## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Seems a pipeline would be safer.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

kasilofhome said:


> Seems a pipeline would be safer.


The train was carrying crude oil from North Dakota to Quebec. As far as I know there is no pipeline planned from ND to Q. And of course all pipelines enter cities and towns or pass close by at different points. And it is rather a narrow and blinkered view to think that a pipeline rupturing in the country side or wilderness is not just as harmful or likely to happen given the poor quality of maintenance. A fireball like the one in Quebec could start a massive forest or brush fire. And of course the spill - 100,000 plus litres in the river in this one.

In the US the number of tanker rail cars transporting crude oil has increased from about 9000 in 2008 to well over 230,000 in 2012. Not to mention the tanker cars carrying all the other toxic and flammable chemicals. And of course the trucks on the highways. Accidents will happen no matter what mode of transport is involved.

There are 5 confirmed dead as of today but the crews have not yet been able to get into the hot spot. 40 still missing. A very popular bar was right there next to the tracks. The Fire Chief does not expect to find anyone alive or injured in the fire zone. Horrific.


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Was up at the farm this weekend removing a huge tree and DB showed this to Mum &I. Pretty fun video.
(not to detract from the previous postings of the train derailment-just trying to have some fun)
[YOUTUBE]2E064kb3UnU[/YOUTUBE]


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

LOL! Excellent. Thanks for posting this.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

HOTW that is great!! you missed one of the biggest ******* party's by a week, held in a swamp just up the road from you (probably a good thing you did miss it!!), woulda been a good tune for them!


----------



## Truckinguy (Mar 8, 2008)

Two young boys killed by a python in New Brunswick. Seems the place used to be some sort of a zoo but the building seems a bit small. I'm sure there is more to this story. I can't imagine what the victim's family are going through.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

We saw this story on the news. Horrible. Incredibly horrible. I think there is more to this story.


----------



## d'vash (Apr 25, 2013)

I read that the boys were having a sleepover in the apartment above a pet store front. The snake escaped, and strangled them. The snake went through th ventilation system - it's not uncommon to hear about snakes finding their way through vents and plumbing. 

I'm curious to know what you believe is missing from the story? I personally do not think the shop keeper purposely allowed the snake to escape - not properly securing the enclosure is a possibility.


----------



## Truckinguy (Mar 8, 2008)

There may not be more to it but I'm wondering why the snake killed the boys and didn't seem to try to eat one of them. Usually Nature is pretty efficient. It's already been stated that there was no permit to keep the snake so it looks like this guy might be looking at some serious charges.


----------



## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

Truckinguy said:


> There may not be more to it but I'm wondering why the snake killed the boys and didn't seem to try to eat one of them. Usually Nature is pretty efficient. It's already been stated that there was no permit to keep the snake so it looks like this guy might be looking at some serious charges.


I was wondering the same. Kids that age would be too big for a snake to eat. Never understood why someone would want an exsotic animal. The poor families it just buggles the mind. I doubt it will ever make sence


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

Kids that age would not be too big for that snake to eat them. An adult rock python that size would find them small prey and easy to constrict and swallow. Full grown rock pythons eat adult goats, pigs, antelopes, alligators, crocodiles. It would be easy for it to engulf and swallow a child that size after it has crushed the child through constriction. On the news here there was a snake expert discussing this and he said there was some speculation the snake may have been hungry and smelled the scent of a pet cat or dog on the children or in that room and the children's body heat would have attracted the python to kill them.

I'm thinking it killed the kids with the intention of crushing and eating one or both of them but got interrupted before it had finished its constriction of their bodies.


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Further updates indicate that the snake was being housed in the family living quarters in a floor to ceiling cage and not in the store, which may relate to reports that the snake had previously escaped from it's enclosure in the store. It seems that one can only own this particular type of snake with a gamekeeper's license, which the owner may not have had.

There seems to be plenty of speculation as to how and why it happened and while I am no snake expert, I have a friend who is and he tells me that that this could be just one of those odd things that one couldn't predict. African Rock Pythons are substantially more aggressive than Burmese Pythons so they are typically handled less than other types of snakes. It has been reported that the children had been at a petting zoo prior to the sleepover so if the snake was due to be fed, it could be no more complicated than the kids smelling like dinner. Perhaps it was interrupted before it started to eat. 

Another train of thought within the reptile community is that because these snakes are so aggressive they tend to be handled as little as possible by humans, the snake may have simply startled the children and their fear may have been enough to cause it to attack. 

Whatever the reason for the attack, it's sad that a family has lost two beautiful children.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Golden Affinity said:


> I read that the boys were having a sleepover in the apartment above a pet store front. The snake escaped, and strangled them. The snake went through th ventilation system - it's not uncommon to hear about snakes finding their way through vents and plumbing.
> 
> I'm curious to know what you believe is missing from the story? I personally do not think the shop keeper purposely allowed the snake to escape - not properly securing the enclosure is a possibility.


As I suspected - much more to this story. The python was a house pet and kept in the apartment where the boys were visiting. It did not escape from the store below. This is a snake that is known for its viciousness and in fact you require special permits to even have one - the owner did not have these.


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

fordson major said:


> HOTW that is great!! you missed one of the biggest ******* party's by a week, held in a swamp just up the road from you (probably a good thing you did miss it!!), woulda been a good tune for them!


Dang!! LOL! I coulda sung it..LOL ! Once I am up there FT we have to meet up! DB is kinda nerdy so his idea of fun isn't neccesarily mine!


----------



## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

Paumon said:


> Kids that age would not be too big for that snake to eat them. An adult rock python that size would find them small prey and easy to constrict and swallow. Full grown rock pythons eat adult goats, pigs, antelopes, alligators, crocodiles. It would be easy for it to engulf and swallow a child that size after it has crushed the child through constriction. On the news here there was a snake expert discussing this and he said there was some speculation the snake may have been hungry and smelled the scent of a pet cat or dog on the children or in that room and the children's body heat would have attracted the python to kill them.
> 
> I'm thinking it killed the kids with the intention of crushing and eating one or both of them but got interrupted before it had finished its constriction of their bodies.


Wow!! I didn't know that they could do that... and this is a horrible way to gain that info. Will never understand the draw to having something like that in the house. It's not like they are trainable or cuddly they just are.


----------



## arcticow (Oct 8, 2006)

Shoot, y'all ain't never bothered me none postin' on the forums. Rather hear this than what happens in say, Oregon...:gaptooth:


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

HOTW they have this a bunch of times through the summer!! just watch for a red streak if you are up near Kville or an old hick farmer in overalls at the bird auctions!! slow down sometime around winter!!

housewife, them things are one reason I live in a cold climate!! DD went to Costa Rica a few years back and saw some big snakes there, would take a machete with me and not sleep. (nor would I eat what I killed!) hope for peace for the families involved, never nice when kids leave the world to soon.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I love the Canadian sense of humour. You know how many TV stations broadcast a burning yuletide fire at Christmas time to fill the dead air time? Well in the summer the local station in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory broadcasts a camp fire late at night. 

And you get just as hypnotized as with the Christmas fire - waiting for the hand to add more wood to the fire. Only added to the campfire are roasting hotdogs and then marshmallows and what a panic when the hotdogs fell into the fire! 

And the other night as we were lying in bed relaxing by the "campfire" a BIG FOOT appeared from out of the forest! 

Now we HAVE to keep watching to see what else comes out of the forest.

Crazy that something this silly can be so funny.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Finally some action. 

Cybersafety legislation inspired by Parsons case was implemented in Nova Scotia.

The law allows victims, among other things, to sue their alleged cyberbullies. If a bully is a minor, the bully's parents can be held liable.

I particularly like that the parents can be held liable. Well if a minor can't be then who else should be? Perhaps those parents who are so negligent and lax at teaching their children to behave will now step up since they are the ones that will have to pay. And no this is not a gibe at all parents - just the ones that are incompetent.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

HOTW said:


> Dang!! LOL! I coulda sung it..LOL ! Once I am up there FT we have to meet up! DB is kinda nerdy so his idea of fun isn't neccesarily mine!


 next one is sept 28 
http://www.wheelsachurnin.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/directional-map-2013a.jpg


----------



## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> Finally some action.
> 
> Cybersafety legislation inspired by Parsons case was implemented in Nova Scotia.
> 
> ...


Bullies cyber or other wise should always be accountable. Having watched and tried to help a love one deal with a young boys suicide. Bullying was one of the factors.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

housewife said:


> Bullies cyber or other wise should always be accountable. Having watched and tried to help a love one deal with a young boys suicide. Bullying was one of the factors.


I am so very sorry. There are just so many cases like this today. What cowards cyber bullies are.

I sincerely hope that this is just the beginning of such laws and enforcement and prosecutions.


----------



## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> I am so very sorry. There are just so many cases like this today. What cowards cyber bullies are.
> 
> I sincerely hope that this is just the beginning of such laws and enforcement and prosecutions.


Thanks emdeengee

Oh for the bad old days when "if you have nothing good to say don't say anything at all" was inforced!! Things have to change, hopefully this is a step in the right direction. My kids knew this was one of my big pet peeves and would not be tolerated ever! Sure glad mine are all grew... well mostly


----------



## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

Ok so some one who is much better at reading government gobbly ---- and legaleez needs to explain this too me. 

How is this not a hate crime?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...ives-euthanize-letter-ontario-newscastle.html

Looks hateful to me and esculating


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Sounds like a hate crime to me - fits the description exactly. We have laws against hate crimes and hate speech. If they catch this person then they should be prosecuted. Too bad there is no specific charge for being a vicious and stupid idiot.

Hate crime is a category used to describe *bias-motivated violence*: "assault, injury, and murder on the basis of certain personal characteristics: different appearance, different color, different nationality, different language, different religion."[2]
"Hate crime" generally refers to criminal acts that are seen to have been motivated by bias against one or more of the types above, or of their derivatives. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or letters (hate mail).[3]


----------



## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> Sounds like a hate crime to me - fits the description exactly. We have laws against hate crimes and hate speech. If they catch this person then they should be prosecuted.  Too bad there is no specific charge for being a vicious and stupid idiot.
> 
> Hate crime is a category used to describe *bias-motivated violence*: "assault, injury, and murder on the basis of certain personal characteristics: different appearance, different color, different nationality, different language, different religion."[2]
> "Hate crime" generally refers to criminal acts that are seen to have been motivated by bias against one or more of the types above, or of their derivatives. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or letters (hate mail).[3]


It sounded like a hate crime to me too but the police are saying no. They looking into it but really this is just crazy. I don't understand how any one could even think this but to actually write it down and send it! Just beyound belief.

Thank you I was driving myself crazy reading gobble ---- and thinking the way I read it it sounds like it fits. glad I'm not the only one who thought so


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I've read several articles on this particular letter and I certainly think it's hateful and ugly and written but the lowest form of life imaginable. 

I truly hope that investigators and simply saying the letter is not considered a hate crime while they are continuing their investigation.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

housewife, you know very well that there is more evil lurking in the mind of man than is open to the public. so when the person that wrote the letter develops Alzheimer's or has a stroke, Karma will have played its cards again.
if such garbage is not a hate crime, by legal definition, then it sure should be!!


----------



## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

fordson major said:


> housewife, you know very well that there is more evil lurking in the mind of man than is open to the public. so when the person that wrote the letter develops Alzheimer's or has a stroke, Karma will have played its cards again.
> if such garbage is not a hate crime, by legal definition, then it sure should be!!


yea I do know fordson major. At this point we should just pray that her children continue to be "normal" in her eyes. No telling what someone who can write that  garbag would do if her children deveated off the "Normal path"



Hey fordson major to you think Justin T. inhaled


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

It took public pressure for the RCMP to reconsider bullying against Rehtaeh Parsons was criminal in nature so maybe a bit of public pressure might convince the RCMP might want to look a bit closer at this one too.


----------



## Truckinguy (Mar 8, 2008)

As abhorrent as this letter is, I suppose they are reluctant to lay charges if they might not stand up in court with the law as it is written. Perhaps it is time to rewrite the law. I really hope the person who wrote the letter is found and named publicly, although the police might not reveal their name for their personal safety.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

not a good little boy like him!!


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

wr said:


> It took public pressure for the RCMP to reconsider bullying against Rehtaeh Parsons was criminal in nature so maybe a bit of public pressure might convince the RCMP might want to look a bit closer at this one too.


No RCMP, it would be the Durham Regional Police who aren't generally recognized for their competence as an organization.


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

DaleK said:


> No RCMP, it would be the Durham Regional Police who aren't generally recognized for their competence as an organization.


Perhaps public pressure will encourage them to become a bit more competent.


----------



## Fennick (Apr 16, 2013)

Yay! I am finally able to post here. :dance:

Regarding that letter, I don't believe it was written by an adult woman with children. I believe it was written by a spiteful bullying young teenager who has a fairly good command of English vocabulary but has no experience with children and parenting. The things she has said in the letter are not the kinds of things one would expect to be expressed by any mother who has children of their own and who knows the kinds of trials and tribulations that all parents go through even with "normal" children. The sentiments, words and exclamatory punctuation used are immature and more typical of an inexperienced, bullying young teenager with serious emotional/mental problems of their own.


----------



## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

Fennick said:


> Yay! I am finally able to post here. :dance:
> 
> Regarding that letter, I don't believe it was written by an adult woman with children. I believe it was written by a spiteful bullying young teenager who has a fairly good command of English vocabulary but has no experience with children and parenting. The things she has said in the letter are not the kinds of things one would expect to be expressed by any mother who has children of their own and who knows the kinds of trials and tribulations that all parents go through even with "normal" children. The sentiments, words and exclamatory punctuation used are immature and more typical of an inexperienced, bullying young teenager with serious emotional/mental problems of their own.


That is very possible. I have to admit to being stuck in "really! & outloud!" mode. Still can't get my head around the whole idea that someone would do it. 

If it is a teen maybe all the news coverage will scare them straight


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. 

He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups. And set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. A he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.

"Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies....

"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat of the back of his neck, "These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."

The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. 

"I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?" 

"Sure," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. "Here, Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight. 

As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others,doing its best to catch up.... 

"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt. 

The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would." With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe.

Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands." 

With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup. Holding it carefully he handed it to the little boy. 

"How much?" asked the little boy. "No charge," answered the farmer, "There's no charge for love."

The world is full of people who need someone who understands."

from a group I am on on facebook, you can not make the blind see or the deaf hear but sometimes you can change ignorance!!


----------



## Truckinguy (Mar 8, 2008)

Looks like the main building at the St. Jacobs Farmer's Market in Kitchener/Waterloo burned down last night. Still investigating but the main building is a complete loss. Hopefully they can get it rebuilt as soon as possible. Pretty devastating for the area as it was a great market and drew people in from a wide area.


----------



## Fennick (Apr 16, 2013)

That's a shame, sorry to hear that.










submitted 6 hours ago


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

A sad loss. I hope that it will be rebuilt quickly. Since it is so popular I think it will.


----------



## Karen (Apr 17, 2002)

Oh what a neat place. So sorry to hear this. 

BTW, I'm going to put up a monthly sticky that our Canadian friends can use to discuss Canadian news, discussions, and issues, etc.


----------



## Elffriend (Mar 2, 2003)

St. Jacobs is less than half an hour from my house. It's a great farmer's market. I was just reading one article that said they were hoping to have the building roped off and the outside vendors' area open by Thursday.


----------



## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

Karen said:


> Oh what a neat place. So sorry to hear this.
> 
> BTW, I'm going to put up a monthly sticky that our Canadian friends can use to discuss Canadian news, discussions, and issues, etc.



It was a very neat place. If you ever get up here St. Jacob's is a great place to visit. IMO better than Toronto, the CN Tower or the amusment parks.


----------



## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

Seeing the pictures of the market on the news was so sad. Vendors were talking about how important it is for them and the community. I think there will be a plan to rebuild as soon as the sight is cleared by the fire marsall. The "good news"is the wind conditions and the work of the fire fighters kept the fire clear of the livestock barns. The local Mennonite community will be very involved in the recovery of the sight. I feel hopeful for the vendors and the market, but so sad for them that it happened.


----------



## Truckinguy (Mar 8, 2008)

My Mom and I have been planning a trip there for a while. Maybe we'll go this Saturday if it's open although I'll bet it will be packed with people out to support the market.

I hope they rebuild the building in the way it was built and not in a modern commercial way. They need to preserve the spirit of the original building.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Karen said:


> Oh what a neat place. So sorry to hear this.
> 
> BTW, I'm going to put up a monthly sticky that our Canadian friends can use to discuss Canadian news, discussions, and issues, etc.


Thank you. Much appreciated.


----------



## majik (Feb 23, 2005)

Thanks, Karen! I'm going to add an update to the St. Jacob's fire story in the sticky and kick things off


----------



## Fennick (Apr 16, 2013)

Karen said:


> Oh what a neat place. So sorry to hear this.
> 
> BTW, I'm going to put up a monthly sticky that our Canadian friends can use to discuss Canadian news, discussions, and issues, etc.


What will be happening with this thread? Are people supposed to not be making any more posts here?


----------



## Karen (Apr 17, 2002)

You can post on this thread if you wish or to any thread for that matter. It's just an updated monthly thread to continue the discussions that will be a sticky each month. It will make it easier to find and you won't have to scroll through pages and pages or look all over to find the Canadian thread. It will help keep the ongoing Canadian discussions updated and active. It is just a friendly gesture to give our Canadian friends a place for issues related to Canada.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

Can this thread be made into a sticky too so it's easy to find and doesn't go the way of the dodo bird?


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

On Thursday afternoon there was a huge lightning storm with monsoon-like rains that lasted a couple of hours and swept across the lower mainland. It knocked out power in many places and brought all air traffic to an abrupt halt delaying many flights. 

There were trees down and floods everywhere (3 feet high in some places) and 1,159 spectacular lightning strikes recorded within that 2 hour period. The lightning was happening non-stop and the thunder was so close overhead it was making things fall off the walls.

Sadly some friends of ours lost 3 of their horses to one lightning strike.

http://www.mapleridgenews.com/news/222632251.html



> Three horses were killed after being struck by lightning in Maple Ridge as a storm rumbled through Metro Vancouver.
> 
> The horses were huddled under a tree when a bolt of lightning hit them in the afternoon at a property near Dewdney Trunk Road and 246th Street in east Maple Ridge.....


Some photos from the lightning storm:

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/09/vancouver-thunderstorm-lightning-rainbows-september-5/

*Photos from the Vancouver thunderstorm*





















More photos at above link.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

that looks like a good storm!! we had one blow through here the other night, not much precip but lots of lightning!! sad that the horses passed, did give me a bit of a scare as a friend has a farm named "mapleridge" and raises horses! 
http://www.mapleridgefarms.ca/CanadianHorse.html


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

FM, I looked at that link and learned something new. I did not know that Canada has a national horse! :thumb: That sounds to be a very nice farm your friends have there.


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

The Canadian horse resembles the Morgan so closely I was almost fooled the first time I saw a pair of them. I would say we just might have the origin of the Morgan in the breed. I am hoping one day to have pair on my place. The Chantecler chicken has a place in Canadian history as the only breed originating of Canadian origin there is a site that has the rare breeds with a deep canadian history www.rarebreedscanada.ca which gives some basic info. I hope to raise only heritage breeds.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

you ended up in a great area to do that HOTW!! lots of Canadian horse breeders and there is a chicken show at the spencervile fair where you can meet all kinds of chicken breeders!


----------



## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Great to know that! I will be up there and spending probably one day at the fair this week. When I decided to go th e farm route I always wanted to raise heritage animals and when we decided to move back to Ca, of course they had to be as Canadian as possible...


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

This 15 y.o. student won an award on Monday at the annual Google Global Science Fair for designing a flashlight that works without batteries. It's powered by body heat.

http://www.vancouversun.com/mobile/...student+wins+prize+Googles/8952273/story.html



> Victoria teen Ann Makosinski was named a winner in Google&#8217;s global science fair with her project demonstrating how a flashlight can be powered with nothing more than the heat from the palm of your hand.
> 
> Makosinski, whose entry was chosen from among thousands to represent Canada at Google&#8217;s global fair at the company&#8217;s Mountain View headquarters in California this week, created what she dubbed &#8216;The Hollow Flashlight,&#8217; to show how humans can be a source of thermal energy............


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CCGUMkcbjg[/ame]


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

A very clever idea and I am sure it will be taken over and improved upon - or bought up by one of the big battery companies and hidden away just like what happened to that battery that ran on sugar (including body sugar) which was such a huge invention in the 1970s.

Yesterday was a good day for Canadian science. McGill Uni students won the $million Clinton Global Initiative Hult Prize for their plan to turn insects into protein rich flour.


----------



## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

emdeengee said:


> A very clever idea and I am sure it will be taken over and improved upon - or bought up by one of the big battery companies and hidden away just like what happened to that battery that ran on sugar (including body sugar) which was such a huge invention in the 1970s.
> 
> Yesterday was a good day for Canadian science. McGill Uni students won the $million Clinton Global Initiative Hult Prize for their plan to turn insects into protein rich flour.


Can't happen as her idea is on line. Hopefully there was a cash prize, something for her university or patten info. I can think of lots of people who could use one. It would be great for emergencies.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

housewife said:


> Can't happen as her idea is on line. Hopefully there was a cash prize, something for her university or patten info. I can think of lots of people who could use one. It would be great for emergencies.


She did get a scholarship and some cash prizes along with the recognition. Also she is on the winners list for the earlier Vancouver Island Regional Science Fair. See list of winners, awards and cash prizes from that fair below. 

I don't recall how much it was in total that she got but when she was interviewed yesterday on the news they mentioned it. She said she would be putting the money towards furthering her university studies and science research.

https://secure.youthscience.ca/sfiab/vancouverisland/winners.php?year=2013&type=Special

Oh, here we go, I found it:



> She claimed a trophy made of Lego for the 15-16 age category, at an awards gala Monday night for the international science fair, Google announced. Her prizes are a $25,000 scholarship and a &#8220;once-in-a-lifetime experience&#8221; from either CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), LEGO or Google.


----------



## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

Paumon Great to hear! University is so very expensive these days and going up all the time. 

I didn't save near enough for the kids


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

2 days ago at Hornby Island in the Georgia Strait.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHJ8wrAkm4A[/ame]


----------



## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

So.... how many old Easy Bake ovens will have to go to the landfills when this lightbulb ban comes into full force?


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

LOL. I don't know. I've been stocking up on all the incandescent light bulbs I can find.


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

Me too! I would imagine that would be the small appliance light bulbs too, like the ones for the fridge, or a sewing machine, even my dryer.


----------



## Elffriend (Mar 2, 2003)

I pulled this thread up because it seemed the most appropriate place to announce this. My family moved to Canada in 2007. We applied for citizenship late in the summer of 2011. This week DH and I took the citizenship test and we both passed with perfect scores!

We should get our invitations to take the oath of citizenship in 1-3 months. The journey is almost over. We will soon be Canadians.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

Woo hoo! Congratulations and well done, that's wonderful news! Welcome new Canucks! :thumb: :happy: :goodjob:


----------



## Elffriend (Mar 2, 2003)

Thanks. We're very excited.


----------



## bowdonkey (Oct 6, 2007)

Elffriend said:


> I pulled this thread up because it seemed the most appropriate place to announce this. My family moved to Canada in 2007. We applied for citizenship late in the summer of 2011. This week DH and I took the citizenship test and we both passed with perfect scores!
> 
> We should get our invitations to take the oath of citizenship in 1-3 months. The journey is almost over. We will soon be Canadians.


Congratulations, I tried in 1985 and they would have no part of it! Can I ask what country you moved from?


----------



## Elffriend (Mar 2, 2003)

We're from the U.S. When you fill out the immigration paperwork you're assessed based on a bunch of criteria including age, occupation, ability to speak/read/write either English or French, etc. You also have to be able to show you can support yourself. At the time we applied we were under 50, native speakers of English, and DH had an internet job that would travel to Canada with him. He's also a software engineer which was one of the desirable occupations. The list of desired occupations changes frequently and we were lucky to get extra points for that.

From what I've read recently, they are planning to make the process even more difficult.


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

bowdonkey said:


> Congratulations, I tried in 1985 and they would have no part of it! Can I ask what country you moved from?



Do you have skills that may be needed in our oilsands or technical skills that may now be required? If you are still interested, there may be more options available now.


----------



## bowdonkey (Oct 6, 2007)

wr said:


> Do you have skills that may be needed in our oilsands or technical skills that may now be required? If you are still interested, there may be more options available now.


Nope, I was a farmer and trapper. Also a somewhat recently discharged veteran.


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

bowdonkey said:


> Nope, I was a farmer and trapper. Also a somewhat recently discharged veteran.



That's too bad because farmers come with so many skills that translate into so many areas. My youngest got into the heavy hauling industry with nothing more than farm kid on his resume.


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

Great breaking news! 
Our premier of Alberta has resigned!

She has been misusing our government money, spending lavishly for her own pleasure and these last couple of scandals were the deal breaker! We don't need to be told our wages are frozen and that they want to do away with our pensions while she jets all over the world, sometimes taking her daughter AND her daughters' friends along, spending money needlessly. Spending hundreds of thousands booking rooms and suites that are left empty, misuse of the government jet.....the list goes on....

I think a majority, myself included have signed petitions demanding her resignation, and have loudly voiced our concerns to our MLAs and we got the job done. Now I hope we can get rid of all the corruption and self entitlement that's been going on. 

Our previous premier was forced to resign by the party because he never forgot his roots (as a farmer) and wouldn't be corrupted. At least he left politics with his integrity intact, and then we got her...... but who can honestly say politics, lawyer and integrity in the same sentence?


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

So I guess you'll be having another election soon?


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

No, next election is still slated for 2016. The PCs have to wait a minimum of 4 months to have a leadership convention, and after that it's anyones guess. If the Wild Rose get a new leader there will be more votes going to them.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

Wow! Jim Flaherty has died suddenly. This is really sad news.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jim-flaherty-former-finance-minister-dead-at-64-1.2605728


----------



## Fennick (Apr 16, 2013)

It's a tragedy of unfathonable proportion. Canada has lost a good man. I feel so sorry for his wife and sons. What a terrible shock it must be for them with him having stepped down from work so he could finally enjoy quality time with his family only to die unexpectedly less than a month later.


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

Happy Birthday to the very grandest Grande Dame of them all, she is 88 today. :goodjob:


----------



## Elffriend (Mar 2, 2003)

As of this morning, my family is officially CANADIAN!

It was an awesome ceremony. 50 new citizens from 26 countries. The citizenship judge spoke about the diversity of Canada. As a guest speaker there was a 91 yr old WWII veteran whose chest was covered in medals. Everyone was so happy to be there.

And of course tonight we are inviting friends over to celebrate with us. We're having a red & white themed party.


----------



## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Congratulations Elffriend and family and I hope you will be very happy, healthy and successful Canadians!


----------



## Elffriend (Mar 2, 2003)

Thanks! We are thrilled to be here. We first decided we wanted to move here in 2002. We landed as permanent residents in Sept. 2007. We applied for citizenship in Aug. 2011 and now we are finally Canadians. It took a long time and a LOT of paper work. Oh, my goodness the paperwork needed was just impressive, but the end result has been worth it.


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

Welcome!!


----------



## Fennick (Apr 16, 2013)

Congratulations and welcome! :goodjob:


----------



## Paumon (Jul 12, 2007)

Bumped up for someone for a review .


----------

