Back woods party. Back woods ethics

I am not sure why we'd expect anything else from the unsophisticated bunch in power these days. But we do. I think we expect at least a smidgen of ethical behavior from the people in charge in Ottawa but why should we. These are backwoods politicians for the most part. Small town, small business owners who really don't have a clue.

But you know, handing out stimulus package cheques with the Conservative Party Logo on them, may take the cake. Excuse me, that is taxpayer money not money donated to the Conservative Party.

I'd wager that most of that lot, like the small town boy to our right, saw nothing wrong with it until the college boys and girls they hire to advise them, who have actually taken ethics 101, told them it was wrong.

I'd like to see a breakdown of where the money is actually going. Mostly to Conservative ridings we are told. In Nova Scotia for example, Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s riding of Central Nova is the big winner, with $87.7 million in stimulus money, 13 times as much as the $6.6 million being spent in Dartmouth, held by a Liberal. In fact, Mr. MacKay’s riding received more money than all five Liberal ridings in the province combined.

Here in Saskatchewan where we are represented by political lightweights we aren't getting the type of hnadouts seen in other parts of the country but, I for one would love to see a national breakdown. Where is this money, which has given us the largest deficit in Canadian history actually going.

There should be some resignations over this. Preferably Harper himself.

What about that Loonie

I am not sure what it is with reporters these days but, the Canadian Dollar isn't rising at an unprecedented rate. The loonie is most likely where it should be, perhaps a bit artificially undervalued to keep the Canadian manufacturing industry happy.

The American Dollar is dropping, and so it should considering the state of the American economy.

If the media were doing their jobs we would be told how our dollar was doing relative to other currencies like the Euro, the Yen or the British Pound. The fact is we are holding our own and more.

So, we are doing just fine. Let's enjoy it and do a bit of cross boarder shopping.

Canada's Do Not Call List

There was a good article in the Toronto Star today about Canada's Do Not Call List by Michael Geist who holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law. He notes that the legislation is seriously flawed and that the CRTC is pretty much ineffective in following up on complaints.

I don't know why I ever expected this government to do anything that might actually help consumers instead of their business buddies. Weak legislation. No surprise there.

As well, I had forgotten the CRTC is the body enforcing these rules such as they are. There is little hope that Canadians will be spared those annoying supper time calls. Even if the legislation was air tight, we'd be doomed if we have to depend on the CRTC for enforcement.

If there ever was an ineffective body in Canada, the CRTC is it. They couldn't enforce their way out of a wet paper bag if their existence depended on it, which is doesn't.

I don't know about you but even though I got my name on the Do Not Call List early in the process, we still get bothered frequently by RBC, SaskTel, charities, pollsters, university alumni associations and political parties. I filed a complaint myself after getting daily calls from a cruise company that refused to stop calling me. They laughed at me when I told me I intended to file a complaint. They eventually stopped but, I think it was more that they realized I wasn't going to buy the trip, than from any long arm of the law.

Goldfish

Somehow I always seem to manage to put off bringing my goldfish in until the water is almost unbearably cold. This year was so warm - 30 degrees in late September- that I managed to procrastinate once again.

So this week, I'm going to have to get up to my armpits in this very cold water and see if I can capture them all and get them into an aquarium. The only upside is that they will be a bit slow in that cold water.

Happy Thanksgiving

The turkey is in the oven and now we can relax until just before supper. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We hope yours is a good one.

This is a quiet one with our off-spring in Eastern Canada. On the up side, we don't have to share our bottle of Champagne with anyone.

Snow for Thanksgiving two years in a row. This global warming takes some getting used to.