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Ottawa Mayor...rotten?
2007-09-29 20:48:00
Well it's been going on for sometime now...all these talks about whether he got Kilrea to step down from the running in the last city elections. Well lets see, there's a lot of circumstancial evidence like his niece telling people to be quiet, testimonies, emails, etc.. But now Mr. McGarry's involved apparently Mr. O'Brien is telling the likes of McGarry many moons ago not to worry that he can take care of Kilrea.Well to me that's damning enough...not to mention O'Brien's poor political record to date. He's out next election.
More About: Mayor , Ottawa , Rotten

More than Tech Needed to Solve Environment Problems
2007-09-27 19:14:00
You can praise him one day and shake your head the next. Were I mentioned his politically handling of Quebec sensibilities a coup d?etat one day ago. I scratch my head the next, after Harper?s speech at the United Nations.Stephen Harper stood in front of world leaders at the United Nations earlier this week and stated that to reduce hydrocarbons being released into the environment in today?s world of energy consumption we would require a significant tehcnological breakthrough.We all know Harper is against Kyoto, I personally aim to. However, the Kyoto Accord has great intentions but ultimately a very, very steep price and very, very unrealistic targets. The plan to reduce hydracarbons 20% by 2020 is more realistic and manageable and won?t ruin the economy.But my beef is that new technology is not the only answer. Or even 90% of the answer I would put technological discoveries at 50 to 65%. Why? Although I?m no expert I know that trees will help filter out hydrocarbons, (methane, CO2...
More About: Environment , Tech , Problems , Solar energy

Did Harper's conservatives push dollar up?
2007-09-24 22:17:00
There's an interesting notation that goes back to 1976. When Rene Levesque was elected in Quebec, once that was done, the Candian dollar plummeted downwards. Refer to this article for additional information:http://www.cbc.ca/money/story /2007/09/20/canadiandollar.html?ref=rssSo let us think about it for a moment, for over a year Harper has been pushing for presence in Quebec. Has been courting Quebec ever so elequently. It paid off in the by-elections with a seat in Quebec, added with the Quebec a nation within a nation statement all helps tie in a vision of a United Canada. Combined with the oil wealth of Alberta, and the general consumer confidence all helped push the dollar to the state where it is today.Personally after seeing everything and tieing it all together, although stoic and at times controversial Stephen Harper worked on his strengths being an economist and through politics has managed to bring in the third component to make Canada an economic giant to the likes of t...
More About: Dollar , Conservatives , Doll , Push

The Loonie Soars
2007-09-20 14:57:00
Why is the Loonie so high now?Maybe it has something to do with the vast amounts of oil flowing out of Alberta. Just maybe!What does it mean. To a person like me, very little. Except I can now go to those more tropical locations and spend less money. Or even the states. WOW, that's awesome. BUT for some reason even though our dollar has soared, all the goods we pay for are still incredibly high. Think about it. Go to chapters or any magazine store downtown. That a look at the price on the magazines. Some are labelled as much as $3.00 higher for the Canadian loonie, books as much as $10.00 or more for hardcovers. This is insane. Prices on goods sold must be reflective of the dollar high because we can end up being our worse enemy.People may spend less.For sure all of those exports to the States will decrease as cheaper suppliers become available to them from other countries.Cross-Border shopping will destroy border towns...things are cheaper in the States like electronics. Imagine h...
More About: Soar

Quebec Elections Bitter Pill for Liberals
2007-09-18 13:31:00
With three by-elections, the liberals take no seats in Quebec . Is it a surprise? Not to this electorate member.I am so happy that the bloc was held down to one seat. Why would anyone want to have representatives in Parliament Hill that have tried to break apart the country? It's just not right and very disturbing.The big winners are the Tories and the NDP here. I see this as a good move for Quebec and for both parties. Why? Because it means that Quebecers are finally making decisions to help progress their province to make the move forward with the rest of country.All polls indicate that the conservatives are moving the country forward, which in my mind is a good thing. The country must make the important decisions to move the country forward. So on that not, if you want your own riding to benefit we need to vote for the party that you expect to win. Because in a conservative government, a liberal backbencher will not be heard. Besides after the past years of theievery who would wa...
More About: Liberals , Elections , Bitter

Mixed Member Referendum
2007-09-17 15:15:00
On October 10, Ontario will need to decide whether we maintain our electoral system or take on a new one A Mixe d Member Refer endum .What on earth is MMP...well I found a nice YouTube video that explains it. Actually there's a quite a few that explain it. But I like this one.Elections Ontario Referendum (MMP)The thing about the MMP is that it will be easy for a government to form coalition majorities and that is not what the people wanted. I could see a great stagnation in Ontario within the halls of Queenspark. Agenda items will never be put forward for voting because the single majority government can loose by having the other coalition vote against it.Not only that but I don't know about having someone appointed into parliament because they were on a list and their party decided to put them up high on the list. I know the video says for majorities, women and all that. That is a great idea. But that's not how it will work. It's all about money, and whoever has the most will end ...
More About: Rendu

Six Ontario Schools with Lead in the Water and a General Thought on Ontario
2007-09-14 19:00:00
Just in case my argument from my last post fell short...Wednesday night news identified 6 schools, in the following communities contained dangerous levels of lead in the drinking water...Milton, Oakville and Brampton.We know one Ontario political party wants to give $400 million dollars to other schools. Why won't we fix what we have first. Fix the public schools first you Queenspark blockheads.After all education is a right by law, the government of Ontario is meeting that right by providing public schools, so why do our tax dollars have to go to other schools. If you want to send your kids to private schools then you pay for it. Really the choice is yours.Now who to vote for...the promise breaker...because he's not a liar, McGuinty really was ignorant of the facts in the last Ontario election, he made promises, was elected, realised he screwed up and broke his promises.John Tory well...lets see, he wants to give lots of money away that we don't really have (but you can always t...
More About: Schools , General , Water , Thought

Public Schools in Ontario deserve more cash.
2007-09-12 05:52:00
Mmmm...let me see. Mr. John Tory has as a political statement in order to sway voters his way. He says he will pull $400 million dollars out of the budget for religious schools, which holds approximately 53,000 students within their walls.Now what eludes me at the moment is what will the annual cost be is it $400 million annually? Maybe someone out there knows?When it comes down to it - that is a lot of money. Money that a cash strapped public system could use for the betterment of the public schools and the millions upon millions of students within those halls. I look at the public schools now and I like them, but they need improvement, portables are being added to old schools, other schools are being closed, parents are forced to fundraise over and over again to raise the funds needed to perform various tasks such as yard improvements, new computers, new books, art supplies, sports supplies and yes some schools even pay for supply teachers. The line has become so blurred from scho...
More About: Schools , Public , Ontario , Cash , Serve

Two things: Elections Canada and Kyoto
2007-09-10 15:27:00
Two items got me excited and pretty pissed off this past weekend.1) Elections Canada has decided to allow robed women vote with the veil on. Last time I recall I still needed to provided photo ID! WHAT the hell do they think they are doing. This is not right. This is some cop-out due to some lobbyist organization. The people that allowed this to happen should be tarred, feathered and dragged out in the street for all to see, and maybe shot. next thing you know we'll be allowing veiled women to take passport photos that way. This is ridiculous! As far as I'm concernd if Harper and his party want to stay in power they better act on this yesterday and fire the blockheads responsible for this. Voting is right, wearing the veil (the name eludes me now) is a religious and cultural thing, and I don't want to take that away, but there is so many issues of people taking on other people's ids during voting time that to allow the veil is a travesty.2) Now what I read in the Metro paper on ...
More About: Stephen Harper , Things , Kyoto

Goodbye Ottawa Lynx
2007-09-07 21:42:00
Lets just face it. Baseball in Canada is shortlived. Except for the Jays of course.Labour Day 2007 we saw the end of the Ottawa Lynx .The following link provides a detailed story on what happened to the Lynx.Fan's say goodbye to Canada's last Triple-A teamThe truth to it all...a lack of fan support is ultimately to blame. Win or Loose the fans must support their teams, and Ottawa just doesn't do that.
More About: Goodbye

Shock, Dismay Horror! Dirty Politicians oh my!
2007-09-07 21:17:00
You'd think after the Liberal adscam and the millions of dollars they paid to friends for pens and pencils, oh, and we won't mention the use of office funds for trips around Canada or the world...oops just did!Well now we have the PC adscam? Or is it? Did they do something illegal by manipulating the system. The liberals say, through procedural loopholes the conservative party managed to spend one million extra in advertisement spending then they should have been allowed during the election. That doesn't sound illegal. However, it sure will be perceived that the Conservative Party led by Stephen Harper have done something totally unacceptable. Remember perception is everything. After all if you perceived me as a Liberal hater after this article then I am a Liberal hater. If you perceive me to be male or female after this article I am just that. Perception is everything. The masses shall decide what they perceive to be right from wrong. And for most of the population, they will pe...
More About: Horror , Shock , Politicians , Dirty , Conservative party

A Little Piece of Vietnam
2007-09-06 18:10:00
Hello all,I decided to visit a small little restaurant called the Temptation Tea Shop, located at324 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON and if you are interested in take out call 613-237-1291. Now with that said...The food was AWESOME. The portions perfect. The decor very nice and simple, not overbearing like some of those themed restaurants. No this was a great place to go if you like Viet nam ese food. I had the special and the price was right below $10.00 and it included a small very flavourful soup and small salad. My friend had a beef noodle soup...also very good.Would I come back.You bet!It was small so if you find yourself waiting around...you can do takeout. Now here I go on about the food. I must also mention the bubble tea they have - after all that is their namesake. The thing is I didn't have any, but if you like the bubbles in your flavoured drinks (and they have dozens) this is the place to be.
More About: Piece , Litt

Ottawa Mayor WANTS Control
2007-09-05 18:28:00
The Ottawa Mayor , Larry O'Brien, has asked the corporate services committee to allow him to oversee hirings and contracts in excess of $10,000 for the remainder of the year. I'm sure it will continue into 2008 and beyond as well.Why?To be more fiscally repsonsible he says!Really?Not that it would happen, but these are my thoughts. Larry, coming from the business sector knows a few people...people that can do contract work for the city. Personally I see some conflict of interest here, as I see situations were it will be you scratch my back I'll scratch yours. Friends will be called upon to do contracts instead of allowing the appriate due process (tendors) take place. Oh, the web we weave!Of course it may be just that, he wants to be fiscally responsible...but has he been responsible so far?Mmm...being more fiscally responsible...Here's a suggestion on cutting costs in Ottawa, reducing the councillor seats from 23 to 19. I'm sure that would save the Ottawa tax-payers some money....
More About: Control

Nuclear Energy Waste in Canada, Oh My!
2007-09-04 16:18:00
Let us see how this trip to Australia for Stephen Harper pans out.A Nuclear Energy summit of NCEP will occur in Austria later in September. And low and behold Canada was invited! Well good thing after all we are a top producer of uranium and I do think we have a few Nuclear Plants hanging aroudn this great country.Now back to the "Land Down-Under", some say their will be prologue in Australia to the discussions that will occur in Austria later this month, since the U.S., China, Australia and Russia are all in attendence. So perhaps APEC will put forth a brief discussion on nuclear waste. If they do the discussion will revolve around where does the nuclear waste go.To the country that sells it? Or the coutry that uses it?Really now our world leaders are actually going to have this discussion. Come on , it'd be like returning a digested hamburger back to McDonald's or Burger King. Once bought and used its the problem of the user to process the waste!! As in my example, a line up of...
More About: Nuclear Energy

Driving Drunk Must Stop
2007-08-30 17:52:00
Late Tuesday night it happened. 17 year-old Marie-Helene Primeau was struck down by a senseless and selfish act. A drunk driver, named William Comeau, spent the afternoon drinking at a strip club in Gatineau . Just across the river from my den.After an afternoon and evening of drinking, Mr. Comeau got into his vehicle and drove away. Eventually losing control of his vehicle and running down Marie-Helene.The story is tragic and in todays age of awareness campaigns and general knowledge why would anyone put themselves into a vehicle after drinking so much. Why? Because they are selfish individuals who have absolutely no thought for those around them.The worse part of this story is that Mr. Comeau had already suffered two instances of drunk driving and here he was doing it yet again, and this time he killed a young girl. The police have laid 7 charges against he drunkard and not one states the act of murder!Some will say it's not murder, but I think it is. Your drunk and you kill someo...
More About: Driving , Drunk , Stop , Stephen Harper

Ottawa Tax Hike
2007-08-29 16:52:00
Watch out people of Ottawa !It's not bad enough that a few years ago property taxes went up by as much 20% in some hotspots due to the wonderful property evaluation system we have in place. And we won't mention that most people receive an annual raise that matches only the cost of inflation. My raise doesn't match that!But now we are faced with yet another tax hike 5% for you Ottawa citizens. Sucks to be you! Sucks to be me!But really whose fault is it...O'Brien's or the many city councillors that are standing in his way at every turn. Lets face it the city office mayor and councillors alike are just telling the good old people of Ottawa to bend over one more time.Over the years there have been some attrocious decisions coming out of city all that just scream political incompetence.Lets recap some of my favorites:The O'Brien and Kilrea affair (will the truth ever really come out).Spending more and more money on study after study for the famous O train! We need a damn SKYway! A ...
More About: Hike

Kids Back to School
2007-08-28 21:06:00
Oh my! Oh my!How sweet it is, after a summer of seeing kids wandering the streets aimlessly without a cause. I can now say it is time to send them back to the halls of academia! In one weeks time a throng of ankle-biters with bags filled with pencils, erasers, rulers and packed lunches with day-old bread shall be biking, walking and driven to school. A population of parents will stand by the schools and wave to their offspring and say things like, "Be good!", "Listen to the teacher!", now we all know what happens then don't we. Don't we! After all it's the first day of the 2007-2008 school year.As soon as those little rascals enter the building, parents take the obligatory day OFF! No work, no kids, they head back home, for some much needed "Alone time", movies, junk food, a beverage or two, a nice luncheon out and who knows what else. And if you are one of those parents who goes to work, well you should change your calendar...for this is the day I declare as "ALL PARENTS DAY!" N...
More About: Kids , School , Back , Back to School

Mr Bean Vacation
2007-08-27 20:55:00
If you like Mr Bean go see the movie. You will enjoy the antics and silliness. If you're not a Bean fan, then I guess you can wait until the dvd.I needed a laugh this past weekend and the movie delivered. Worth my $10.00.
More About: Vacation , Mr Bean

Three Amigos
2007-08-24 21:01:00
Did you ever wonder what the "Three Amigo s " did in Montebello in August of 2007? Lets think about it for a minute, shall we. They talked and chatted about economic progress and North American security. Anything wrong with that...overall I would say no. After all we live in a capitalist society where the vast majority of people want to buy things and need to buy things; and the way to do that is by earning some good cold hard cash through an economic system of supply and demand. Were their discussions really a step toward North America spiralling out of control into a blackhole were the United States ruled everything and made all the decisions...for crying out loud we are already there. Now we had all these protestors, people with too much time on there hands, gathering around screaming shouting "Down with SPP and NACC!", ask the people and what not. These are the people that will scream foul one minute and then go back to their urban centres and drink their double-latte at Starbucks...
More About: Three Amigos , August 2007