I am Finding the News Media More, and More Annoying

When did the European Common Market or the EU become the Euro Zone? Sounds kind of hip doesn't it? So kind of," in crowd" All reporters, not wanting to be seen as one of yesterday's journalist have abandoned the terminology we were all used to and are going with the new phrase.

The other term, and I think this has only surfaced in the last couple days with the awarding of the new federal ship building contracts is,  "combat ships". A week ago they were "warships" but I'd guess that Stevie didn't like the message that term was sending and sent to the PMO scrambling to find something softer. Something more like a video game. Reporters, in lock step, picked up the term from the government handout and started using it.

It is a bit scary really. OK men and women in the media, pay attention, they are warships.

As I was driving back to Saskatchewan earlier this week I found the CBC's Morning show's treatment of protesters camped out in Victoria park more that a bit distressing.

The corporation sent out a reporter to find out what it was all about. They found a kid who, although he knew it was important and wanted to be a part of something big, spent the night in a tent in Victoria Park. They got, what I am sure they all thought, back in the newsroom, a bit of fun with him. He hadn't had media training and when asked what his goals were for the protest, he really couldn't articulate them.

A bit later in the show, a couple of old farts called up, mocking him which host Shelia Coles found quite funny. You know, I am getting old too but, I saw it all quite differently from the crotchety old buggers who called in and the host who understanding her audience, climbed right up on the mocking bandwagon..

To me, it didn't really matter that the young mad wasn't really able to articulate the issues. He understood that the protest, which took place all over the world was important. He wanted to do something. To take some sort of action to establish his presence as being on side with the protesters.

Good for him! Much better to do that than to sit home in your warm house, complacently watching a "majority" government dismantle the Canada we know and love, watching the global economy crumble and mocking the people who are actually trying to do something about it, as ill defined as their protest may be.

I've been busy

Epson R3000

I feel kind of bad, not posting for almost three weeks now but I have been busy.

I have been doing a bit of consulting with a group in Saskatoon. I enjoy the work but, it does take up time I generally put to other things.

Then I bought a new photo printer. An Epson R3000 inkjet. It will produce very high quality, 13x19 prints on all kinds of different papers, art prints, glossy photographs and poster board.

It also consumes more ink than Oliver Reed did scotch and it is a bit time consuming, as I figure out the finer points this printer offers. It produces stunning prints out of the box but, as with everything, we strive to make them even better.

Back Country Lake

I also spent a few days in Banff and in the Kananaskis back country taking photographs. I love being in the mountains this time of year. It is getting colder. Ice is beginning to form on the lakes but, it is generally clear and sunny.

So, to make a long story short, that and other projects are taking the time I normally use for blogging. But hopefully, I'll be back at it soon.

I apologize. I am feeling a bit Cranky

I think my blood sugars are out of wack again because I am feeling a little ornery this morning.

First, I think they have thrown away the style guide at the CBC. It is getting so bad that the news readers, reporters and sports commentators on the CBC can't seem to pronounce Montreal's hockey team properly. The way it is usually pronounced "on air" by people who should know better is,  Canadi-ennes which might work if it was a woman's hockey team but, I'm sorry, not for the Habs.

It drives me nuts.

It might not be politically correct here in Saskatchewan to speak out against the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. At the first word of criticism you risk being labeled a raciest. Kind of like speaking out against Israel.  But, those of you living in here must be appalled at the latest turn of events at the FSIN. The organization could give lessons on how to set up and maintain an old boys club.

We have all watched how the organization  almost destroyed the First Nations University. Then when a Guy Lonechild, a reformer was elected Chief, they tossed him out of office and when the newly hired chair of the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA) started to look to closely at the Board's out of control expenses they tossed him out too. The FSIN claimed that the chair had a conflict of interest although no is willing or able to explain what the alleged conflict might be.

It was reassuring yesterday to hear some of the chiefs speaking out against the feeding from the trough and the abuse of power but, when it came time to vote on a motion to uphold the firing of the SIGA chair, not one of them would vote against the motion. My sense is break ranks and you'll never see another dime.

I believe in First Nation's self government but again and again the same old boys bring discredit to their own people. Some advice to the rest of the chiefs struggling to make things work. If you want to find your own worst enemy, look within.

Finally, it is interesting to see how much the CBC news and public affairs crews must be chomping at the bit to start election coverage.

Yesterday the Premier staged a press conference to announce that he was going to make an election announcement Monday. With fixed election dates, the announcement was pretty much a non event but that didn't seem to stop everyone at the CBC slathering over this latest bit of "news".

The Globe goes over the top on the Ontario Election

I know that the Globe & Mail likes to think of itself as Canada’s only National newspaper but they are still pretty focused on an area within 100 km of Toronto.

To the G&M’s editors the Toronto International Film Festival is an annual event that we all should really care about. After all, how could we survive out here in the boonies, unless we were told about “who rocked, and who flopped, on the red carpet.”

We can suffer for weeks out here in the depths of winter, enduring wind chills of -50 without it being noticed in the centre of the universe but, as soon as it hits around -15 on Hogtown’s Younge Street, they will let us know how they are all suffering.

It is even more so what it comes to provincial politics. Oh sure the re-election of the PEI Liberals got a few column inches and the NWT election did get a short mention but they are obsessed with the three way race in Ontario which pits the Liberal, same old McGuinty against a knuckle dragging, right winger, PC leader Tim Hudack.

The Globe seems to be terrified that the New Democrats might hold the balance of power in what may be a minority government and they are doing everything they can to undercut their share of the vote.

This morning, John Ibbitson looks at the NDP platform and asks about the NDP leader, “What kind of Ontario would Ms. Horwath make, if she had the power to make it?” He goes on to say, “Populist pandering, impossible promises and fictional accounting are the stock and trade of minor parties the will never be allowed anywhere near the lever of power. But after the next election, M. Horwath could have the power to decide whether and when the government of the day falls, which means at least some of those NDP fantasies, could become dangerously real.” Ibbotson closes by saying that although there won’t be an NDP government, a minority of either of the other parties might see their leaders “...struggling to stay in power by keeping Andrea Horwath happy while doing as little damage to Ontario as possible.”

Margeret Wente on the other hand says that the NDP’s Andrea Horwath “...doesn’t really have a platform, but she is basking in the glow of Jack Layton’s halo.”

And, just in case anyone in Ontario was thinking of voting for the New Democrats, the Globe really comes into its own in this morning’s editorial however. The editorial writers tell us that “An interventionist and protectionist NDP holding the balance of power in Ontario would be a disastrous election result. Behind Andrea Horwath’s pleasant, amiable personality are policies that would send Ontario into a tailspin, undoing years of progress into a tailspin, undoing years of progress toward interprovincial free trade and violating trade agreements.”

It reads like a guest editorial written by Stephen Harper which I suppose isn’t all that surprising considering that the same editorial board endorsed the Harper Conservatives before the last Federal election.

I wish they would just butt out.

It is Comforting to Know that Labour Scares the Hell Out of Harper

Harper’s Blue Meanies would have Canadians believe the New Democrats as the Official Opposition, is not much more than flash in the pan and something that doesn't worry them much at all. Their actions tell a different story.

I find it interesting that when Jack Layton died. Stephen Harper was falling all over himself saying how much he respected Jack but, now that the time has come to find a successor, he is back to treating the NDP as if they very scary. The barbarian horde camped just outside the gate.

What it shows, in my opinion, is that Little Stevie is much more afraid of the New Democrat’s than he ever would like to admit.

A case in point.

One of the leadership hopefuls in the bid to replace Jack is Brian Topp, a backroom strategist who worked here in Saskatchewan with Roy Romanow, back when Roy was the big cheese. The Harper spin doctors have gone to great lengths to characterize Topp as a “union boss” and raise the spectre of “big labour” taking over the NDP and potentially having labour control Canada’s agenda.

Anyone who understands “big labour” if there is even such a thing in Canada, would understand a few of things:

• “Big labour” in Canada couldn’t get its collective act together enough to control anything outside it’s own narrow domain. 
• Topp as the Executive Director of ACTRA’s Toronto Branch, is an employee, and not a big player on Labour’s National scene. 
•  ACTRA is a small player within the labour community and is certainly never thought of as one of the Labour heavyweights. 

So, all said, it is good to know that labour scares the hell out of Stephen Harper.

Doer on Keystone

I must confess that I was a bit disappointed in Gary Doer this week.

 I met him at some point before he was elected as Premier of Manitoba and have always been a fan. He struck me as one of the good guys. After Harper appointed him to be Canada's U.S. Ambassador, I  figured Gary was still OK in my books.

He was in town at the University of Regina talking up Trans-Canada's Keystone Pipeline and when criticizing the negative American reaction to the pipeline, which will carry Alberta Tar Sands bitumen to Texas to be refined, I was surprised to hear him say, "Would they rather buy their oil from Gaddifi?". It was as if saying no one in their right mind would buy oil from a dictator.

I agree with him on that front but, that is not the reality. Gary would, or should know that the Western World doesn't seem to mind compromising their principles for oil. In fact, Petro-Canada and now Suncor worked in Libya for years during the Gaddifi regime developing oilfields. At this point with the war quieting down, Suncor is chomping at the bit to get back at it.

Why would Canada do that when we have so much oil of our own?  We don't need to import oil at all. 

It is fairly simple. 

Most of Canada's petroleum industry is owned by Americans. Those companies along with the Canadian corporation I must admit, are very keen to ship our oil including the tar sands product to the USA. Simply put it is a more lucrative market that Eastern Canada. There are shades of the old "Let those eastern bastards freeze in the dark" which, considering where the eastern oil comes from, was always a hollow threat. 

So, Canada's pipeline people are building Keystone and other pipelines to ship our raw product to the States. American refineries are producing diluent, a thinner, and then shipping it north, via converted gas pipelines. Then, once it gets to Alberta, they dilute the thick tar sands bitumen and ship it back south to be refined. The government, those guys in Ottawa who are supposed to be looking after our interests, could insist we refine the raw product here in Canada and create jobs here but...the Harpers of the world and the Liberals and the PCs before him never saw this as an important issue. Or, dare I suggest,  they are all afraid of big oil.

Canada in the mean time is importing oil from the North Sea and the Middle East.

Even more amazing, there is no pipeline running north around the great lakes. Why? It isn't, as many would have us believe, because it is difficult to do. They are building them through the Rockies after all. It is simply because the multi nationals make more money shipping it south.

 What is good for business sometimes isn't good for Canada. It is just good for business.

Chasing Balloons

The CTV balloon had a slightly ungraceful landing,  tipping the basket.

Yesterday was another of those amazing days we seldom get in fall. Not warm but hot. Not what you'd generally expect for the end of September.

About 6:00 as the sun was getting lower in the sky a couple of hot air balloons slowly drifted by.

It was a spur of the moment thing. In minutes we were in the car, heading north and west, cameras in hand chasing balloons down grid roads, along farmer's dirt tracks and across the prairie trying to figure out where they were going to land.

We pulled on to the edge of a farmer's freshly harvested field, in behind the chase trucks, just before they landed and just before the sun slipped over the horizon.

Keystone Protest - Too little, too late

I notice with interest the kerfuffle in the USA and Canada about the Keystone pipeline. After some considerable length of time, people are finally starting to think about this project. It is nice to see people taking notice but in truth, it is to little to late.

The truth is that Keystone is just one of many pipeline projects which will soon be pumping our natural resources south to be processed and to feed the hungry American market.  

The controversy over these pipelines isn't new. In June of 2007 I wrote the following letter to the editor about the issue for my employer at the time. 

Too bad no one paid any attention back then when it was still stoppable.

As the Multinationals get rich shipping Western Canada's raw materials south to feed the American market, Canada still imports a majority of the oil it uses from off shore, mainly the North Sea and the Middle East. There is no talk of building east-west pipelines to supply eastern Canada with western crude.

Is anyone in Ottawa paying attention?

Leader Post readers may have seen a notice placed by the National Energy Board (NEB) about an application filed by Enbridge Pipelines dealing with their “Southern Lights Project.” As we read through our morning paper, the NEB notice is the sort of thing most of us skim over, but we would benefit from taking a closer look.

The application, in part, asks that a pipeline which now moves crude oil south into the United States be converted to transport ‘diluent’ north to Alberta. Diluent is basically a thinner used to dilute heavy oil and reduce its viscosity for easier transportation.

Coincidentally, in the same edition of the newspaper, Enbridge announced it is holding an open house in Grand Coulee to explain their Alberta Clipper Project: A new pipeline designed to transport an increased capacity to the USA.

Using names like Alberta Clipper and Southern Lights, Enbridge makes these projects sound like some grand adventure instead of what they really are. These projects and similar ones by several pipeline companies are part of a grand scheme to move massive amounts of our unrefined natural resources south of the border for processing.

The diluent, produced in the USA, will be pumped from American refineries to Alberta, where it will be used to dilute bitumen, which has been extracted from the Alberta Oil Sands. When the huge new Alberta Oil Sands expansion projects are up and running, millions of barrels per day of diluted but unprocessed bitumen will be pumped south to the United States where it will be refined. This new source of oil will create thousands of jobs in the U.S., as refineries are expanded to deal with this new source of product. As well, several billions of dollars in building and upgrading facilities to handle the bitumen will be spent in the U.S. instead of in our own country.”

In the meantime, the multi national oil companies have mothballed a large number of refineries in Eastern Canada. These refineries could be upgraded and brought back on line if Canada insisted.

If Canadian citizens don’t speak out, all of the new jobs – other than a few short term jobs created during the construction and conversion stage – will be created in the United States, instead of here at home.

Although Canada produces more oil than it needs, if we continue to export to the United States in this way, Canada will continue to be an importer of crude oil and petroleum products. As demand increases, we will be buying our own resources back from the USA in the form of gasoline, if they choose to sell it to us.

The NEB doesn’t care, our Governments don’t seem to care but Canadians should. We are speaking out and challenging the National Energy Board policy. We urge you to do the same.

A few Short Political Notes

Parliament is back this week which never has a positive affect on my blood pressure but what the heck...It gives me something to write about.

I see my friend, and newly elected MP Mike Sullivan (York South-Weston) got his picture in the Globe & Mail this morning. Mike is, quite appropriately, the first person on the left. He and about 50 other newbies were attending an orientation seminar on The Hill. I have a lot of time for Mike and think we'll hear more from him in the coming months.

The Blue Meanies are loaded for bear and the New Democrats have their hands full.  Say good bye to the Long Gun Registry, a majority of wheat and barley farmers will see their wishes ignored as the government winds down the wheat board, stand by to get "tough on crime" and of course the government will most likely interfere once again in the collective bargaining process and order the Air Canada flight attendants back to work, should they exercise their right to strike.

There should be a few interesting debates about spending too. The Chief of Defense Staff thinks it is OK to spend $1.5 million using government jets for travel. He thinks he is much too important to travel on commercial aircraft. In fact he got quite uppity about it all.

Much of it was travelling to and from hockey and football games where we would take part in tributes to the armed forces. This is all part of selling the conflicts we, to an increasing degree, getting involved in since Canada, under this Harper Government, has moved from our long tradition of peacekeeping into a much more aggressive role. I understand the Chief of Defense Staff was in his role as a shill for government policy but, not at that price.

The PM will be working on strengthening his ties with Israel this week as Canada takes a strong position against the recognition of Palestine as a state by the United Nations. This time Harper isn't just parroting the American position but following his own blind support for the Israeli government. It all strikes me as odd. Once again it puts us out of step with most progressive nations. So stand by for Canada's currency to take another hit at the UN.

The Ritz Cracker Ignores Farmer's Wishes

The Harper Conservatives made it very clear. Give them a majority, and the Wheat Board's monopoly as a single desk seller for wheat and barley would fade into history. Notwithstanding that, and with typical rural tunnel vision the farm communities pretty much voted as a block for the blue meanies.

Why the surprise then that Harper plans to follow through with his promise to "Give farmers the choice."

Former ostrich farmer, now Agriculture Minister, Gerry Ritz, or as he is fondly known, the Ritz Cracker, is once again carrying the torch for Harper on this issue. I heard him yesterday going on and on about democracy and how they won a majority so clearly Canadians support dismantling single desk selling. That is the democratic process he was saying.

Gerry however doesn't give any credence to the very direct democratic vote undertaken by farmers who actually use the Wheat Board. Given the opportunity to vote on the issue 400,000 farmers cast their ballots  in favor of keeping the single desk. That overwhelming support for the Wheat Board doesn't mean a lick to Gerry. "Our government is committed to giving Western Canadian wheat farmers the marketing freedom they want and deserve" he said while questioning the legitimacy of the plebiscite.

The Wheat Board might not work for farmers close to the American market with low transportation costs but doing away to a cooperative approach to marketing, without question, will slam most farmers hard in the pocket book. You have to ask then, what were they thinking? Those agricultural communities were once the backbone of the New Democrats out here but, corporate farms brings big business thinking. It is everyone for themselves.

The one thing Gerry Ritz and I can probably agree on is "They were warned.". Harper and his cronies made it pretty clear. Did those farmers give a moment's thought about the consequences when they cast their ballots in the last election? My sense is they voted for doing away with the gun registry without thinking about the Wheat Board.

What a trade off.

I Always Liked Ottawa

People like to slag Ottawa but I like to think they are just wrong about it, pushed into that mindset by their disdain for Stephen Harper or for the whole process of government. I like the place.

It is the sort of city you can walk in and if you ride a bike, even better, you can bike your heart out for days without repeating your route. Even downtown streets have dedicated bike lanes.

There are plenty of places to walk but, I love the walk along the river below the Parliament buildings ending at the stair step lock on the Rideau Canal. I can spend days exploring the museums and it is a photographer's dream.

I can't think of another Canadian city with a whitewater kayak course, a stone's throw from downtown.

After years of offering less than spectacular dining the restaurant scene is getting better and better. The Whalesbone is a favorite and this time we ate at Aroma a little Mediterranean mezes place. Quite good although their Retsina  only comes in 500 ml bottles.

Give the city a try. Get out of the conference rooms, walk around a bit, get beyond the Byward Market and enjoy what the place has to offer. You won't be sorry.

Montreal

Montreal is still one of my favorite Canadian Cities. You can forget how busy big cities are after living a few years somewhere smaller. The hustle and bustle was particularly noticeable for someone who had just spent a week on a Laurentian lake.

I love walking through the throngs along St Catherine Street Saturday morning or for that matter closer to midnight. The place always seems busy.

We wandered down and along, past the refurbished St James United Church, as far as The Main and savouring the smells of the small markets and restaurants down through Chinatown we headed to Old Montreal. The place still has so much old world charm,  that film production companies often have it stand in, pretending to be some European location.

Get passed the overpriced restaurants on Place Jacques Cartier and ignore the junky souvenir shops and there are treasures here. Tiny bistros hidden away on side streets, streets paved with cobble stones sent over from Europe on sailing ships from Europe as ballast, great old stone buildings, artists tucked up in alley ways and buskers.

We walked back to Pointe St Charles along the Lachine Canal bike path, part of an urban revitalization project that is turning old abandoned factories and work yards into condos and parks. 

Apportez Votre Vin

One thing Montreal, and Quebec for that matter, has going for it is its liberal regulations regarding the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Bars are open very late and you can pick up beer and a good selection of wine at your local corner depanneur. That is a convenience store for the uninitiated.

But for me the most progressive part of all that is that a culture of restaurants which don't have a liquor licence but that allow you to bring your own wine has really come into its own. This way you can afford a great meal without feeling ripped off by that $40 price for the $15 red you are drinking. You can afford to bring something nice and the restaurant provides full service including opening the wine, supplying the glasses and if you are drinking white or rose, a cooler to keep it chilled. If you don't finish it all. Pop the cork back in a bring it home to drink at lunch tomorrow.

There are thousands of restaurants to chose from pizza joints to creative and modern French cuisine.

We went out to Le Pegase located in a hundred year old former residence on Gilford Street. I am sure the place doesn't sit more than 30 people, including the outside deck and has two sittings at 6:00 and at 9:00.

We brought a nice red and a rose which went really well with the pan seared scallops in a curry cream reduction and the stuffed rabbit that I had but the chef's special the night we were there was venison. It was all very good.

No question, it is time for the rest of Canada to catch up. Bringing your own wine is a really civilized approach to it all.without the bar, restaurants can focus on the food and you don't feel ripped off by the gouging markup we usually pay for restaurant wine..

Lac des Monts

In the 1970's my mother bought an old log cabin in the Laurentians. Built in the 1930's, it sits on a quiet trout lake north of Mont Tremblant  and south of Mont Laurier. A couple of hours north of Montreal and about two and a half from Ottawa.

Over the years a few more people have built in the area but it remains a real retreat, a refuge from the push and shove of urban life.

The swimming is great and we can spend a week without seeing another person. When we do see someone else they are quietly puttering along trolling for trout. They give us a wide berth. We are inclined to swim and dive boisterously and we disturb the fish. Sometimes we wave.

I just that don't get back very often.

About 20+ years ago my brother and I gave the old cabin some upgrades. We expanding the front porch and added a porch running along the side. After over 20 years it was in pretty tough shape.

This year we put together a work party made up of my brother and Chris who was just beginning to walk when the first one was constructed and me. We tore off the old porch and with the help of a borrowed generator we put the whole thing back together.

Chris and I stayed nine days in all, mostly doing minor repairs, roadwork, replanting trees and clearing brush. Oh yeah, we also swam in that pure cold  lake, lay on the dock peering into those clear waters watching small trout and perch, we canoed and we watched the stars reflected in that calm northern lake.

On Home Gardening

Photo - Shelley Banks

I try to put in a garden each summer with varying degrees of success.

My herbs have always done well and the thyme, oregano, tarragon and chives come back faithfully each year and from time to time my sage makes it but usually I have to but a new plant in the spring.. I never manage to winter over the rosemary no matter how carefully I try to pot the plant and bring it in.

I have done well with annuals like basil, cilantro, dill, fennel, arugula and sage but vegetables and  I don't have a very successful relationship. My soil is just too much like clay to make any root vegetable happy.

My tomatoes either don't ripen or they get blight, my potatoes got a kind of fungus and the cabbage white butterfly just chews the hell out of anything that resembles, or even rhymes with any plant in the cabbage family.

So, this year I planted lots of onions, some leeks and tried carrots once again.  They are normally stunted and deformed but this year we got a nice crop of bright orange carrots and even if they are a bit stubby. We are happy about it.

So,  in October I'm going to put in some garlic for next year, I'll try mixing in even more peat and sand to try once again to make that soil a bit easier to work and hopefully in the spring I'll find that right combination of crops to keep us fed and happy next summer.

Some Thoughts About Employment

The issues around employment and unemployment are complex. The questions about why people remain unemployed when jobs down the road go begging are many and I am not so sure I have many answers but I came across a couple of situations recently which, I thought, at the very least are interesting. They tell us a lot, I think.

First, when I was in Val Marie a couple of weeks back, having lunch in the hotel "dining room" three guys wandered in for a beer and a bite.I thought they were a curious trio, obviously not locals and a few miles off the beaten track to be tourists they were, as it turned out, Newfoundlanders working in Frontier about 70 km west of there. About 13 km west of Climax to be concise.

"You boys are a long way from home." I said, and asked what brought them to Saskatchewan.

Things are tough in Newfoundland since the fishery closed down they told us. The small town they are from has virtually no jobs but they were reluctant to pull up stakes and leave the family home. They had tried Fort McMurry and didn't like the raw atmosphere of the place, so quit.

 They had been hired by an Ontario recruiter to work as assembly line workers at Honeybee, a farm implements manufacturer in Frontier who flies them home to Newfoundland for two weeks off, every seven weeks.

What a shift in lifestyle, from a Newfoundland outport to a small prairie village. It can't be easy.

What is it about the work that is so unappealing that Saskatchewan residents won't take the jobs?

The second odd situation is in the trucking industry.

Trucking companies are having a hell of a time getting, and keeping drivers. There are several factors at play here. Driving truck is a tough job. The work is solitary, the food is bad and the pay is worse. Drivers mostly get paid by the mile so generally drivers are only making money when the wheels are turning. If they get caught in a snow storm, have to wait a couple of days in some god forsaken place for they next load or if road construction slows them to a snails pace they are not often not making enough to cover the cost of their meals. If they are earning any money at all.

A large portion of the workforce is closing in on retirement and young men and women are not exactly lining up at the door, looking for a career driving a semi. Virtually every trucking company there is are looking for drivers.

A lot could and should be done to improve the lot of Canadian truck drivers' wages, working conditions and general quality of life but that would take a concerted effort and cooperation involving, the trucking companies, the unions, the manufacturing industry who are doing the shipping and governments.

Unfortunately for Canadian drivers, in a move which looks very much like collusion, instead of doing that, they have decided that instead of tackling the worklife problem, the best sloution is to bring in foreign drivers to fill the void.  It started with drivers from the UK but, many of them got fed up and went home so the latest batch of drivers are from the Ukraine, Indonesia and Mexico.

Little is done by the employers to help them to integrate into the existing workforce, setting them apart and making it difficult for them to fit in. Driving conditions are quite different that what they are used to and many of them have never seen snow, not to mention drive in it.. For many it will be a very tough winter. Cranking down a set of dollies at minus 40 can be tough enough for someone born on the prairies but for a person who, up until now has lived their life in Veracruz?

Like I said. No easy answers but, lots of question about where we are going.

I Admit to Having Mixed Feelings

Over the last few weeks there has been a growing movement against the plan to store, spent nuclear waste here in Saskatchewan.

Petitions have been visible at most public event and a walk against nuclear waste, left Northern Saskatchewan on July 27 heading for the provincial legislature in Regina. The trek, a 820 kilometre walk, arrived in Regina yesterday. They will present a petition to someone at the legislature, I assume today.

Their Facebook site says "The purpose of our Walk is to wake people up to the reality that northern Saskatchewan is being targeted to store millions of used nuclear bundles which would be highly radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. We will carry a petition to the Legislature that people may sign, directing the government to legislate a ban on nuclear waste storage and transportation in our province."

Well, Northern Saskatchewan is where that stuff came from to begin with.

I am not a big supporter of nuclear energy. We can't trust governments to tell us what is safe and what is not. It all makes me a bit nervous to be honest. And it didn't make me feel any better learning that some of the fuel "spilled" in the Japan nuclear disaster most likely originated in Saskatchewan.

I haven't signed the petition however.  I can't help but think it is a bit hypocritical for us to take the huge uranium mining royalty revenue to fund provincial services, to promote the jobs created by uranium mining with much fanfare, to ship that uranium elsewhere for it to be processed as fuel. Then, when the  fuel is spent, wash our hands of it and refuse to deal with storage.

Just saying.

The Last of Hellier's Plan

Roger Laye and I wearing the square rig,
somewhere warm

I see that Harper has decided to unravel one of the few things remaining from Paul Hellier’s failed experiment to unify the Canadian Armed Forces into one cohesive unit.

If you will pardon this overused expression, unification represented a sea change in the way the navy identified itself and operated. The “square rig” uniform identified sailors as such and despite being a bit archaic, we preferred it that way.

I left the navy as most of these changes were beginning. We knew by the time I headed out to civie street that before long we would all be wearing green uniforms with shirts and ties. I got out just in time but, if you read No Badge Killick you will know that my leaving had nothing to do with Hellier’s bold plan. Other things were afoot.

I don’t know how those serving on ships today feel but to me somehow Royal Canadian Navy rings a bit more true than Canadian Armed Forces – Maritime Command.

Canadians for Tax Fairness

There is a new group on the scene. Canadians for Tax Fairness say they promote a progressive tax system, based on ability to pay, to fund the public services and programs required to meet our social, economic and environmental needs.

They also tell us a couple of things about money and who has it.

For example, what is rich, and what is really rich?

Last year, the average income for the top 10 US athletes was $44.6 million. Wow! The top 10 pop stars averaged $87.2 million. If you think that is over the top, right? Well, think again.

The average income for the top 10 hedge fund managers was $1.7 billion. Yes, that’s billion.

The term “billions of dollars” is now thrown around with such frequency that many people simply have no feel for what it means. In their book, The Trouble With Billionaires, Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks put it in perspective: “Imagine this: you are given one dollar every second. At that rate, after one minute, you would have sixty dollars. And after twelve days, you would be a millionaire – something beyond most people’s wildest dreams. But how long would it take to become a billionaire? Well, at that rate, it would take almost thirty-two years.”

A billion dollars is an astronomical amount of money. And those with billions, hundreds of millions, tens of millions or even a few million can certainly afford to contribute more taxes to build and maintain a healthy 21st century society.

Taking a look at the corporate world. Do you wonder if Canadian Corporations are hurting so much that our Harper government has to give them tax cuts. No so, Erin Weir writes in Rabble, Canadian corporations sit on a huge amount of cash. He tells us that that private non-financial Canadian corporations held $471 billion in cash in the first quarter of 2011 saying “If corporate Canada already has half a trillion dollars more than it wishes to invest in physical or financial assets, there is no reason to expect that corporate tax cuts will boost investment. On the contrary, if the government collected more of this money and invested it directly, Canada would have more investment in total,” 

To read more go to their site

The Western World isn't Broke. Just Misguided

Standards and Poor's finally had the nerve to say out loud - albeit very softly - what everyone has known for years now. The American economy is in deep, over it's head.

The downgrading of the US credit rating down from the highest level to a notch below is sending waves through the global economic community. Everyone is jittery. You have to ask yourself why get nervous now? We all have known this for some considerable length of time. The rating agency probably should have done this years ago and should have moved with a stronger hand than it has.

It isn't only the US. A world economic reality check is well overdue.

Don't get me wrong. The United States is not broke.  The United States is a very rich nation. In fact most of the countries in the Western World including, those in the European Economic Union, are doing very well. It is their government's that are screwed up.

We have all heard the right wing economic mantra about needed corporate tax cuts, lower royalties, business  incentives and tax breaks for those who are best able to carry their fair share. We have been told again and again. "If it is good for business. It is good for the country." To my amazement voters bought in so  for decades now, we have seen the tax burden shifted incrementally to the middle class.

The simple truth is that business is clearly, not pulling their weight. Any hint of increased taxes or royalties and they threaten to pull up stakes and to move their operations to the third world.  Business has no loyalty so who do we pander to them? How many times have we seen multinationals pull up stakes after taking millions in government grants for retooling. How many corporations feel the need to contract services off-shore, putting those who built the company up from scratch out of work, before we say "enough is enough?"

I am convinced that future generation are going to look back at this time, shake their heads and wonder, "What were they thinking?"

The western world isn't broke. It is just misguided and gutless.

Bean counters, what do they know?