Shut Your Pie Hole and Go Home

Gay Tourists not Market Niche, Report Suggests First of all, I didn't even know that there was a Gay Tourism Association.  Does Canada need one of those?  I think there are already plenty of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in our fair nation (105 out of about 2200 surveyed - 4.77% for the math geeks out there - I didn't realize there were THAT many, either). Second of all, do we really need to hype up our national treasures to make them more appealing to gay people?  Frankly, I'd rather have fewer people of the GLBT group out and about in the hot vacation spots.  What are good Christian parents supposed to tell their kids when they see two men snuggling on a bench at Niagra, or two women groping each other in Banff National Park?  Apparently nothing is sacred anymore. While I'm not going to tell gays and lesbians that they are wrong, I believe that freedom of speech allows me to say that I do not appreciate public displays of affection betwee...

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/12/29/cibc-banker-age-discrimination.html You bet, there's discrimination. As a former manager with one of Canada's big banks, I can attest to the fact that theses companies do indeed base their "redundancy" decisions on age and seniority. Why keep a long-term, middle-aged employee earning an $80K salary when they can pay $40K to someone fresh out of university. It's all about the bottom line. I can cite dozens of redundancy situations where excellent employees were terminated from their jobs simply because they were over 45 years of age and too high on the pay scale. During my tenure with the bank, I had the unpleasant task of down-sizing entire departments on several occasions.  I was given this verbal directive:  take a look at your staff and cut the ones with the highest salaries and the ones within five years of retirement.  Of course, this was never in writing and I was told not to refer to these measures in an e...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/12/18/bc-herpes-disability-claim-rejected.html Since when is an STD an accident?  Not that people mean to get them, but when over 50% of sexually active Americans (and assumably Canadians) have an STD, chances are pretty good that if you can't keep it in your pants, you're going to wish you had. Now, while I feel bad that Mr. Gibbens is now paralyzed from the midsection down, I can't really feel bad at how it came about.  If it had been a car accident where he'd been hit by a drunk driver, or been tripped and fallen down a flight of stairs, feeling of sorrow may stir within me, but the guy was sleeping around without protection.  Not that I'm saying he got what he deserved, but let's face it, it was no accident. I'm a fan of the Supreme Court's comment: "Such a conclusion would stretch the boundaries of an accident policy beyond the snapping point and convert it into a comprehensive insura...

CBC News - Money - Carney: Don't be seduced by low interest rates So six months ago, the government was telling us things like: "We're on the road to recovery." "Consumer confidence is the key to the turnaround." "It's time for business as usual." Basically, the message was to go out there and spend money. Now, backtracking faster than a hunter who came across a grizzly, the government is telling us to stop and think a little bit. (What??? They want us to think for ourselves? So much for the single-brained society I thought they were trying to acheive.) Why is anyone surprised that debt has gone up during this economic downturn? Where do they think people who had been laid off were going to get money from? Not the friendly Canadian government, to be sure. Oh, wait, let's go to our neighbourhood bank, who is more than willing to lend us whatever we need to get back on our feet. Has anyone else noticed the rising price of bi...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580405,00.html I'm impressed.  Go France!  Here is a country who knows who they are and what they are and they want to keep it that way!  Now, I'm not saying that I agree with everything that France is trying to do here, but I like the principle.  What would happen if we asked Canadians what it means to be Canadian?  (And by this I mean real Canadians - at least those whose parents were born in our fair nation.)  Would the Canadian idenity have to do with The Hudson's Bay Company?  Indiginous people groups? Metis?  French Canada?  Farming, fishing or forestry?  Christianity?  Or would it roll into Punjab and Hindi?  Muslim and Sikh?  While I don't believe in other faiths but Christianity, I'm not going to tell people they're wrong or that they can't worship which ever god they chose - it is a part of our rights and freedoms as Canadians.  However, when the world looks at our count...

http://www.windmobile.ca/WIND-news/detail/globalive-welcomes-govt-canada-decision-and-prepares-bring-wind-mobile-market/ I read an article several days ago in regards to the new Wind network that is making its way to Canada. The network and company were approved by the Canadian government and then denied after spending 442 million dollars on air rights by the CRTC. I was extremely happy to read today that the government has overturned the decision by the CRTC and the Wind network can now start providing service for the Canadian people! I, unfortunately, still have 2 years left on a contract signed with Bell Mobility, and I have not been impressed at all with their customer service. I have discovered a lot of blame placing and they have taken no responsibility for their own warranty and employees. I hope that the Wind network can create some good healthy competition in our wireless realm, so we can start paying reasonable rates for a good plan (like our neighbours to the South have ...

Socks Warm Your Heart How amazing is it that our kids are getting invovled in helping the less fortunate?  I know socks may not seem like much to some people, but for me, one with perpetually cold feet, a warm pair of socks are often very much appreciated.  While I would normally have something to say about the homeless situation, I want to focus on this precious little girl (and, well, a really, really ignorant comment).  I say way to go Sarah Lewis and keep up the good work!  I hope no one ever does anything to discourage her.  If she has already accomplished as much as she has at her age, imagine what she'll be able to do 10, 20 years down the road! Here comes my beef (comments on the above linked article):     Neil Gregory wrote: "venividivici wrote, "If a young girl of 7 yrs old..can do miracles for the homeless, why doesn't the government -- be it federal, provincial, municipal....can not come close to it? " Could it be that our govern...