Any Other Government Would Have Sent Gerry Ritz Packing

Gerry the Ritz Cracker

I got an e-mail yesterday from the official opposition saying that that a leaked memo confirms that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency ordered meat inspectors to not enforce health standards to the same standards for meat going to Canadian consumers as they would for meet was destined for export.

The memo says in part:

“Our number 1 priority is to ensure this standard is met with Japan-eligible carcasses. Ensure that non-Japan-eligible carcasses are not inspected for spinal cord/dura-mater, OCD (other carcass defects) and minor ingesta … Ignore them.”

This double-standard directive was issued in 2008, and then again in 2010 and 2011.

What it seems to say is that the Canada Food Inspection Agency, Gerry Ritz and the rest of the Harper Conservatives have been mismanaging food safety for years, endangering the safety of food that Canadians put on their dinner table every day.

Today the spin doctors at the Food Inspection Agency were hard at work trying to assure Canadians that despite other problems at XL Foods, they have always made sure that Canadian beef bound for domestic markets was fully inspected.

Our old friend Gerry Ritz also issues a release saying "The CIFA continues to ensure that meat processed in Canada meets our high food safety standards."

Sure Gerry Sure. We know we can depend on you.

Why?

How well do you sleep at night Tom?

My Member of Parliament Tom Lukiwski, has once again let his constituents down. Yesterday all except for seven members of the Harper Conservative Government,  Tom included, voted to defeat private member's bill C-398.

The only Saskatchewan MP who votes "yes" was Maurice Vellacott.

The bill, brought to the House by New Democrat Helene Laverdiere who said in part as she introduced her bill,  "Mr. Speaker, today, I am proud to introduce my bill entitled An Act to amend the Patent Act.

This bill will modify the provisions of the current access to medicines regime, which allows Canada to export generic versions of drugs for HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other illnesses to developing countries, and it will make the regime easier to use.

This will enable Canadian manufacturers to send potentially life-saving medicines to those who desperately need them.

This bill is an improved version of Bill C-393, which the House passed by a comfortable margin last March but which, unfortunately, died on the order paper in the Senate.

When drafting this bill, I worked closely with the Grandmothers Advocacy Network and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network"

The bill was championed by the Grandmothers Advocacy Network and thousands of Canadians signed petitions in support of this bill.

When the original bill passed the big drug manufacturers opposed it. This time around withdrew any opposition to the bill being passed.

In advance of the vote former Member of Parliament Gerald Caplin said “If you had the opportunity to save hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of AIDS sufferers in Africa and other poor countries, what would you do? A complete no-brainer, right? Why in the world is it even a question?” 

Why indeed. 

Why did the Conservatives change their minds and defeat this bill?

Why did the Harper Government mount a campaign of misinformation in a push to assure the bill was defeated?

Why won't any predominant cabinet ministers comment on the decision to defeat the bill?

Disappointment in the Harper Government was expressed widely by those working on the front lines internationally was widespread.

UNICEF for example released a statement saying in part "We are highly disappointed with the result of tonight's vote. This Bill would have helped get life-saving medicine to the world's most vulnerable children without any additional costs to the government or Canadians. This is a missed opportunity and it is children who will suffer most," says UNICEF Canada's President and CEO David Morley.

Currently only 42 per cent of the estimated 1.5 million infants born worldwide to mothers with HIV receive the antiretroviral (ARV) treatments needed to prevent transmission of the disease.

If passed, Bill C-398 would have strengthened Canada's position as a true global leader on newborn, child and maternal health. The Bill proposed critical amendments to CAMR removing the unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles that have made the process impossible to use.

How many children will die before a bill like this is finally passed?

Stephen Harper should be ashamed

Why Didn't They Bother to Report this in October?

I am sometimes amazed at the state of journalism in this country.

Yesterday we were treated to an "economic update" from the Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty  It was big news on the CBC yesterday and in this mornings papers. The deficit is up. The Globe & Mail shouts "Surprise $7- Billion Deficit Surge" on the top of the front page. The Regina Leader Post puts a bigger headline on the front page of the business section.

Holy smoke. it all seems to say. "Boy, were we taken by surprise."

Sure Jim, Sure

If you scroll down this blog, to a posting about a month ago, there it is. At that point it had surges to over $6-billion and climbing.

The spin now put on the story is that commodity prices are to blame. No mention of those corporate tax cuts.

The Globe & Mail quotes one unnamed bank economist as saying the government's financial credibility could now be in jeopardy.

Only now? These guys' credibility period, is  already shot.  Jim Flaherty is one of the old Mike Harris mafia and the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper already is the least trusted leader in the Western Hemisphere.

Flaherty says   "You can be assured, we have contingency plans."

Sure Jim, sure.

I Think They Have Lost Their Minds

Here in Saskatchewan it wasn't First Nations unemployment, the lack of adequate housing, sky rocketing rental costs, or the economic disparity many of us see in this new "boom economy" that was the hot button issue. The thing that captured the hearts and minds of delegates at the governing party's Convention was lowering the drinking age from 19 to 18.

I have to ask myself, what person, over the age of 19 or 20, think this is a good idea?

I figure two groups.

First the slightly older guys whose friends are not yet 19 think it would make it a lot easier to get them drunk if they could all go to the bar.

And secondly, bar owners who see lowering the drinking age to 18, as a cash grab. Great for business. Cooler sales shoot through the roof.

The Sask Party Government loves small business so will most likely back this initiative. We have heard the "What is good for business is good for Saskatchewan." mantra all too often

Tourism Saskatchewan will most likely jump on the bandwagon too selling this initiative as a way to increase tourism. Lets' attract under aged American drinkers to small Saskatchewan border town bars. Yet another  wayto stimulate the rural Saskatchewan economy.

Why Would we Believe Anything they Say?

The immigration minister Jason Kenney is hell bent for leather to deport a couple of Nigerian, University of Regina students. Victoria Ordu and Ihuoma Amadi made an honest mistake and worked for a couple of weeks at a Walmart store in violation of their student visas.

Many people are outraged by the actions of Canadian Immigration Services. Kenny and Cabinet puppet Vic Toews both have lied to the public about the matter saying the students were not actually enrolled in university. Something the U of R refutes. Both have been enrolled since 2009.

Both students, here on scholarships, have had to take refuge in a church to keep from being forcibly being put onto an airplane back to Africa.

Not surprisingly, there is no indication that any managers of the huge America company that hired them have had to take refuge in a church or anywhere else, to avoid deportation for hiring illegal aliens.

As often happens with Harper and his gang of thugs, we are getting mixed signals from this Government. At the same time he is trying to deport these young women the Minister is trying to amend legislation to make it easier for foreign students to stay here in Canada after they complete their studies. To be able to apply to immigrate from right here in Canada instead of having to first, return home.

Canada recruits foreign students. They pay a great deal more that Canadians students do for tuition. In many ways, a foreign student is basically, a cash cow for universities.

It is worth noting that many, many of these students the minister is trying to entice are here on scholarships paid by their home countries, often developing nations, that cannot afford to lose their best and brightest.

At the same time, Canada is continuing to under fund the education system in our own country. As an example, it is cheaper to steal doctors from developing nations than it is to provide more spaces for Canadian students in medical school.

How do you like those corporate tax cuts so far, Jim?

Stephen Harper and his blue meanies tell us they have the economy in hand. Don't forget, Canada's Action Plan saved us from the kind of problems experienced by Greece and Spain. Stephen reminds us that we are really lucky that socialist Tom Mulcair isn't running things .

Our Prime Minister is so proud of his record he took it upon himself to lecture other world leaders about the strength of his economic policies. Praise the Lord, Harper has saved us all from a fate worse than death.

At least that is what the Conservatives like to tell us.

That is why I am simply amazed that this story, I found tucked away on the back pages of the Regina Leader Post, isn't front page news. How could it not be?

Ottawa's deficit for the current fiscal year is now $6.2 billion. I guess that in and of itself, really doesn't grab people's attention. We are getting used to surging deficits despite the soothing tone of political leaders who tell us "We are fine."

The real story is that $6.2 billion is pretty much double what it was at the end of the previous month.

The Finance Department quietly announced recently that the August deficit was $3.2 billion, slightly more than the $3.1 billion recorded in the same month of 2011 but, corporate tax revenues fell by 13.5 per cent decline compared with August 2011 and a 16 per cent decline from $2.1 billion in July of this year.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who said recently he may need to revise downward growth projections for the rest of the year, is due to issue a midterm report card on the government's books in a few weeks.

How are those corporate tax cuts working out for out so far Jim? I can just hear him saying, "Oh don't worry, the middle class will pick up the slack"

Oh by the way, personal income tax receipts are up 3.8 per cent for the year so far.

What about an Order of Canada

Another story that grabbed my attention because of the outrage expressed by the media. Saskatchewan Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott, generously gave Queen's Diamond Jubilee medals to two anti-abortion activists who have been jailed repeatedly.

One of the 30 medals Vellacott was allotted to give away as a Conservative backbencher, one went to someone called Mary Wagner, whose actions at abortion clinics have landed her behind bars time and time again. He also gave one to Linda Gibbons,who is currently in jail in Toronto awaiting trial after she attempted to force her way into a Toronto clinic’s private treatment area.

Should we be giving these things to criminals? Do we care? What if the shoe was on the other foot?

Although I have never been convicted of a crime I have had my share of confrontations with police and have been arrested, and jailed as a result of my actions on picket lines. Should I now be disqualified?

Thinking of the issue in that light I am not so sure. I have been an activist too.

* Just a quick note to my MP Tom Lukiwski: I am still waiting for my medal in recognition of a lifetime working in the trenches fighting for the rights of working peoples.
OK Tom,  you were probably right in not offering me that one. A medal from the Queen wouldn't really be appropriate for me but, all things considered, I would accept an Order of Canada.
And after all if Conrad Black still has his and...never mind, I feel a rant coming on. I should just quit.

Letters to the editor

I wouldn't want anyone to think that this blog is in any way shape or form acting as a letters to the editor aggregator but from time to time, I think it is fun to pass on a couple of things that have caught my eye and that you might have missed. I like the letters from readers. They often oick up points that the papers' editor's miss.

First a couple of gems from Globe & Mail readers:

• Cathleen Kneen writes that she noted that there have been suggestions that \canada should irradiate meat coming from places like XL Foods that way any plants, fecal matter or other contaminants that made their way into our meat wouldn't be harmful to consumers. Ms Kneen certainly echos my feelings when she says, "Sorry, I don't want to eat poop, even if it is irradiated Why not just set up smaller plants where workers have enough time to ensure the the meat stays clean in the first place?" 
• Also in the G&M a reader from Winnipeg, Burton Ayles notes the difference between attitudes in Italy as compared with Canada. In Italy they recently convicted and jailed a group of scientists who failed to predict a fatal earthquake. Admittedly an impossible task. He compared it to Canada under Stephen Harper where "...government scientists repeatedly warned about environmental issues - acid rain, contaminants etc..." and when they do happen, the scientists get laid off and the programs get axed. 

Keep those letters coming

Gerry Ritz is predictable in nothing else. Known for making it up as he goes along and never accepting responsibility for anything unless it makes him look good, has done it again.

The Regina Leader Post reports the former ostrich farmer turned Agriculture Minister who, should by rights have resigned over the XL Foods tainted meat scandal, is now blaming the Federal inspectors at XL for being "too nice" Not tough enough?

No mention from Gerry that, under his watch, the number of inspector on the floor in meat packing plants was substantially cut. The message from the Harper Conservatives has always been clear, "Things work better when industry polices itself."  Under the guise of "cutting red tape" these guys put Canadians at risk daily.

Who has the guts or the time to be "tough enough" under Gerry's watch. Conscientious inspectors very likely would be accused with threatening meat packers' profits.

So no word that Gerry Ritz has learned any lessons from all this;

• No promise to get more inspectors on the floor, 
• no word that Gerry has listened to the workers on the floor who complain that the speeded productions  lines are a risk, 
• no sign that Gerry who visited the plant soon after the American inspectors found the problem his department had missed, ever visited the citizens who were made sick by his incompetence, 
• and actually no word that Gerry gives a fiddlers fart about anything but his own survival.

Get used to it folks. There are years to go before we gt another kick at the cat.

Election Night in Regina

We had an election in our town last night. In fact most, if not all people in Saskatchewan municipalities went to the polls yesterday to elect their civic leadership.

In Regina nine candidates ran for outgoing mayor Pat Fiacco's soon to be vacant spot. It was a bit of a dog's breakfast to be honest. A lot of people were obviously very unhappy with the current administration and it was nice to see so many throw their hats into the ring to attempt at least to draw attention to the shortcomings of those running our city.

Problem is of course, the die was cast for the one status quo candidate. He must have been ecstatic. And why not. It worked wonders for him.  As a bonus, we the voters got a real chance to see our flawed democracy at work. You would think that those in opposition to the way things were being run, would have thought of what would happen as they split the vote.

. Those opposition candidates got 58% of the vote.Instead all nine stayed in the race and the vote was split every which way. Had the only two credible candidates in opposition got together and run one candidate, that person most likely would be mayor today. The second and third candidates combined,earned more votes than the winner who was elected with 42% of ballots cast.

So in the end Regina's new mayor is Michael Fougere elected with about 21,000 votes in a city with a population of close to 210,000.

Democracy at work.

Not something I'd crow about.

American Leadership Debate

I try not to pay attention to American politics. God knows I have enough trouble keeping my blood pressure in check just dealing with Stephen Harper but, I am not sure the world can survive Mitt. Romney. So I tuned in.

Did anyone else who watched the debate last night wonder at the lack of response from the studio audience purported to be filled with undecided voters. It isn't unusual for the TV producers to warn the crown not to get overly animated in events like this. They don't want anything to take away from the "stars" of the show.

This crowd however was either drugged before hand or they were actually zombies. I believe they were undecided, they didn't look capable of making up their minds.

Toews fails Canadians Again

If you like Gerry Ritz, you'll love Vic Teows. They are pretty much peas in a pod sitting in the front benches along with the rest of Steven Harper's brain trust. Teows who worked hard to trash the gun registry is another of those Conservative bully boys who walks over anyone who disagrees with him or his ideas.

A sulking, smirking Toews has reluctantly announced that Effective Dec. 1, rules which the Harper Conservatives have delayed almost eight years, rules which will requiring serial numbers on gun will come into force.

In effect, serial numbers on rifles will work like a licence plate or VIN number. Now, investigators will be able to determine where and when the gun was made, and when it was imported to Canada, but not much more.

The rules, which the government says will "contribute to public safety, by facilitating law enforcement investigations when the markings can be linked to information on the last legal owner of the firearm."

I am not so sure, last June, the Tories also introduced legislation to ensure gun dealers don't have to keep records identifying buyers of non-restricted weapons and unfortunately, unlike the original 2004 regulations which were been postponed several times by this Conservative government, these rules will not be enforced and there are no penalties for non-complience.

How cynical can you get. What contempt for international protocols these guys have.

Gerry Ritz Has to go

Ok, enough is enough. No ands, ifs or buts, Gerry Ritz has to go.

I know, I know, Ritz is only putting into place the Harper agenda like a faithful old lapdog but, bottom line, the minister is responsible.

What makes things worse, I think, is his denial in the beginning of this latest scandal. His story just didn't hold up. Some say he just lied about it, figuring he’d get away with it. I don’t know for sure, but I do know what side of the coin I fall on. I just don’t trust Gerry.

I think what I find most annoying is that for Ritz and the rest of the Harper Conservatives, this is all about protecting business. Their corporate friends. These Conservatives forget, their primary responsibility is to protect its us.

Ritz is ignoring the fact that:

• Because we tolerate over crowded feedlots, cattle turns up on the killing floor, caked with mud and cow shit 
• A vaccine is available which would put a stop to this e-coli problem but it costs about $3.00 an animal and the government sees this as too much of a burden to producers to insist they use it. 

• Huge meat packers mostly hire immigrant workers on work permits who don’t dare complain when production lines are cranked up to unsafe speeds, making it impossible for the workers to do their jobs safely. 

• Despite what the so-called Agriculture Minister says, there are fewer inspectors on the plant floor, leaving much of the responsibility to the producer. 

Ritz just doesn't seem to get it. He has dodged question period in the House of Commons and left a press conference, held on the completion of his tour of the XL plant, after four questions because he didn't like where the questions were leading.

Calling this a scandal is not too big a word. Canadian’s health is at risk and from my perspective, having the Ag Minister resign isn’t enough. This whole damn incompetent government should step down.

Perhaps Andre Picard said it best in today’s Globe and Mail when he wrote in part:

Peter Sandman, a business professor at Rutgers University and the guru of crisis communications, says there are six strategies required during a situation like tainted beef: 1) don’t over-reassure; 2) acknowledge uncertainty; 3) treat the public’s fears as legitimate; 4) express your own feelings; 5) offer people things to do to protect themselves; 6) don’t worry about panic because panic is rare.

The company, the regulator and the minister failed on every single one of these points.

Worse yet, they have no excuse because we’ve seen this movie before.

In 2008, when Maple Leaf Foods Inc. produced listeria tainted luncheon meats that killed 22 people and sickened 35 others, the company responded in textbook fashion. CEO Michael McCain was front and centre: He was available to the media, he was transparent and he was contrite.

Maple Leaf recalled all its meat and shut down the plant – which is what XL should have done. The company then apologized, in print and via its CEO, it fixed the problems, and it compensated the victims.

Mr. Ritz was minister during the listeria crisis. His government commissioned a report from Sheila Weatherill, which cost taxpayers $5.3-million.

Obviously, he has not read or understood that report, which, in addition to its technical recommendations for improving food safety, had two overriding messages: 1) That communication by the CFIA and the government more generally were appallingly bad and 2) there was a “void in leadership” that contributed to the deaths.

Today, as the E. coli tainted meat outbreak demonstrates, communication is as bad, if not worse, and the void in leadership is even more gaping.

Are Calgary's Petroleum Investors Acting a Bit Odd?

I sometimes wonder about my fellow Canadians. Remember when the rallying cry was to restrict foreign takeovers and to be once again the masters of our own resources; our own economy.

All that seems to have gone out the window. Sucked in to supporting globalization, many Canadians don’t seem to care any more and other Canadians have paid the price.

Remember Caterpillar and their shut down of Canadian operations in in a move which saw Canadian jobs moved to an American right to work state. To the government, the caterpillar employees were just another bunch of greedy workers. Steven Harper sure didn't give a damn. He saw Caterpillar as a corporate friend during the election and made much of giving them a significant tax break as a  handout.  What we saw was, Canadian workers,used as pawns in the race to the bottom.

I find it all a bit confusing.

In Alberta, particularly in Calgary, when the Canadian Government created Petro-Canada just so our country would be present in a small section of what was largely then an American dominated oil sector Calgarians refused to fill up at Petro-Canada gas stations claiming the company reflected the socialist bent of the Liberal Government. They hated PetroCan for what it was. They referred to the Petro-Canada head office as Red Square.

Now a Chinese company, wholly owned by the government in communist China wants to take over Nexxon. A company with its head office in Calgary and no one in Alberta seems to have a problem with it. No talk of socialism and no suggestion of boycotts, just a line up to cash in when the deal goes through.

Go figure.

Saskatchewan Government Squandering Precious Resources

Zamboni Treatment Shot Down in Flames

Two years ago, give or take a couple of weeks I blogged about the so-called MS Liberation Treatment and the Brad Wall government's support of it.

I said "In the face of two new European studies debunking controversial Dr. Zamboni's "Liberation Treatment" for Multiple Sclerosis Saskatchewan's Premier figures damn the torpedoes. full speed ahead. Who knows what drives him but I'd wager it was a meeting with someone in small town Saskatchewan or from his church who came to him with a heart wrenching story about living with MS and not a well thought out strategy from within the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health."

Originally Saskatchewan put up $5 million and issued a call for clinical trial proposals in October 2010. The goal was to proceed with those trials by the spring of 2011.

However, by June 2011, it was revealed that only one proposal had been received and that was lacking in substance.

So in January 2012, Brad and his buddies decided to send multiple sclerosis patients to the U.S. for the clinical trial of a controversial treatment. The province is providing $2.2 million so that 86 MS patients can be included in the two-year, trial at the Albany Medical Center. So for, one patient, a man from Saskatoon, has been selected to participate.

The Harper government followed Wall and pledged $5 million in support of the study.

Meanwhile, a study was released Tuesday proving yet further conformation that Dr. Zambini's treatment is not credible. The finding have prompted an American  MS expert to criticise Canadian Government's support for the treatment. The Globe & Mail quotes David Hafler, the Chair of the Neurology Department at Yale University saying, "The debate in the scientific community was brief, swift and is over. The government has squandered precious resources not using peer review, but instead using emotion and theologic belief and I think shame of the Canadian Government for bowing to those pressures."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, after receiving reports of injuries and deaths to patients undergoing the treatment, issued warning against participating in the procedure. Canadian Health Minister, Leona Aglukaq was not surprisingly unavailable for comment.

One might argue that the Liberation Treatment, is no treatment at all as a growing number of studies all point to the fact that blocked veins have no impact on the development of MS.

Is anyone listening?

OK I'll get back to it.

An anonymous fan of this blog commented yesterday that he/she was getting sick of seeing Dean del Mastro 's ugly puss sitting their as the last post on my blog.  Anonymous  is right. Dean is as ugly as they come and mean spirited too. Time to move him down the list.

It has been a weird kind of summer for me and I haven't had the creative energy to generate any new postings. However, people do still come to the blog despite my lack of new postings. Nearly 50 hits yesterday.

Perhaps anonymous is right though and I think needed that boot in the rear to get me thinking about issues again.

Don't you just love it when bad things happen to nasty people

They don't get a lot nastier than Dean

I for one got so sick of watching the nasty Conservative Dean del Mastro defending the Harper government's conduct through the robo-call scandal. It some ways he epitomized the government's arrogance through out.

Well, this week an Election's Canada investigator told the court that Dean Del Mastro knowingly and willfully exceeded election spending limits. Then covered it up.

I am keen to watch this one play out.

La Festival Mondial de la Biere

This afternoon we all went headed up to Place Bonaventure where they are holding the Festival Mondial de la Biere. Beer from around the Quebec and the world.

It was a pretty good deal, for $20 you could get 20 tickets and a the beer cost anything from 2  to 5 tickets for a 4 ounce sample. I figured there was too much to try everything so I would stick to IPAs. I particularly liked what was on offer from the Cheval Blanc, a Montreal brew pup that had four IPAs on tap.

We shared around anything that was particularly delightful or unusual:

•  One by Dieu de Ciel called Umami a red German style beer which was a morrel mushroom flavour - very earthy and they also had a black IPA with a strong coffee flavour - a breakfast beer if you ask me.
• A rose hibiscus wheat beer
• The Aphrodisiac was a vanilla and cocoa stout
• I quite liked the Falconer's Flight IPA from Le Cheval Blanc.
• Shelley  tried Unibroue's La Terrible stout which once you got used to the background flavour of cloves was quite good.

We tried a  mint, raspberry, chocolate stout which in my view was better left in the bottle and we weren't too impressed with the cream IPA either.

The venue wasn't particularly striking, but the crowd made the place hop. It some point everyone started doing what I called the beer cheer, kind of like the wave at a sporting event. In the hall with its low ceilings  it sounded like a train rushing through.


The food wasn't bad either, everything from large pretzels to BBQ kangaroo.

It was interesting to see booths by Richard's, Kieth's and  even Heineken being ignored by the crowd looking for something different. 

Montreal in Summer

Montreal is a pretty busy place in the summer.


The Entrance to our Metro Stop

It is Grand Prix weekend so there are street parties all over. Crescent Street is jumping and we passed a big reception area not far from us on Notre Dame. Big events mean the students are out too and last night hilocopters hovered above the city all evening making what would have been a lovely night to sit outside a little noisy.

They changed tactics a bit last night and held a nude protest. I am sorry I missed that one.

We spend late morning and afternoon at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. I had forgotten how large a collection they have. Impressive.

Visiting my mother twice a day means we are in and out of the Metro system alot. Up and down those escalators, back and forth. It is a great system though. Every station was designed by a differant archetict so you really get to appreciate their creativty.

Today there were police posted at almost every station. Someone set off a smoke bomb last night and they aren't taking any chances there will be a repeat.

Here in Montreal

Photo Shelley Banks

We are here in Montreal trying to keep tabs on how my ailing mother is doing.

This afternoon we took a break and had lunch in Chinatown then walked into Old Montreal - people watching and checking out the shops and the old port.

We walked back along the old Lachine Canal through Griffentown and Little Burgundy and stopped for a much needed beer at the Burgundy Lion before heading down to check out the situation at the Verdun General.

One of the things I love about a big city is the characters you meet, This guy was out giving his iguana a ride on his bike. He was pleased to have his picture taken.

When we parted company and wished him a good afternoon he assured us that both of them would very much enjoy their bike ride.

Photo Shelley Banks