Canadian Stuff

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
We've only had about a week of winter here, where there was enough snow to get a bit of exercise and shovel it. Although the John Deere snowblower was set to go, it's not been started - yet. Spring raking of tree debris is already finished, Tundra Swans have been seen overhead and the sound of Robin's was heard on Thursday. It's not been cold enough to walk on water, let alone go ice fishing. Motorcycles have driven by every month this winter.
Yup same here, although they have been out fishing here :o! Helped buddy pull side by out of water last week :o! Lucky it was only 2’ deep and 10’ from shore :). There’s about 5” of ice most parts but very dangerous due to currents from runoff. Never seen ice so thin in February, typically have 2-3’ by now. Sold all my gear in fall, no desire to sit out there anymore lol.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
It’s been amazingly snow free here and I love it! View attachment 53728368C yesterday -15C today :o!
We had another week or so of warm again that melted off all the snow then Friday I drove home from town in a white-out around 6pm but it only dropped a couple inches. Bit more snow and it's turned cold again forecast for a week or so. Barely a winter this year compared to just a few years ago.

Should be a another great forest fire season this year! :(

:peace:
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Alberta intends to opt out of national pharmacare plan

Danielle Smith sure is special, it's becoming comical.
Not so funny when you're living here putting up with her BS. Offered the nurses union a 2% raise for two years then less for the next two when they want, and deserve, 25% for the first year and 10 the 2nd. Screwing with doctor's pay too all to tear shit down and bring in private medical. Many more outrageous acts of fuckery and we're stuck with this another 3 years at least.

I'll stop now before I say something actionable.

UCP FiringCat.gif

:peace:
 

hanimmal

Well-Known Member
We had another week or so of warm again that melted off all the snow then Friday I drove home from town in a white-out around 6pm but it only dropped a couple inches. Bit more snow and it's turned cold again forecast for a week or so. Barely a winter this year compared to just a few years ago.

Should be a another great forest fire season this year! :(

:peace:
It is pretty scary, here outside of Detroit Michigan we have had about 2-4 weeks of actual snow on the ground so far the entire winter.
 

CANON_Grow

Well-Known Member
It's easy to forget the shit show happening in the North with the constant shock and awe with our neighbours to the South. It has been the perfect distraction for some real fuckery to happen up here that just slides under the radar:

According to insiders and a detailed post on Reddit, Shoppers has been charging the Ontario government upwards of $60–$75 for often unsolicited MedsCheck phone calls, often without clinical basis or need. The compensation figures sharply contrast to what family doctors typically receive for comprehensive, in-person physical exams: $38.


Shoppers Drug Mart, wholly owned subsidiary of Loblaws, so Galen Weston - the greediest prick in Canada. Why would Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario, allow valuable health dollars to be taken via fraudulent activities? Wonder if it has anything to do with the Ford family business, Deco Labels, the preferred printer for Loblaws. Sounds crazy, until you hear the Premier is also moving some Service Ontario locations into Staples retail centres, also a major client for Deco Labels. I know it may sound like a silly conspiracy theory, but it's hard to forget his failed greenbelt development that he had to back track on:

Special project G*: Ontario government staff used code name for Greenbelt carveouts
Documents released through freedom of information shed more light on secrecy measures used as Doug Ford government planned to open protected land to development

And now the dumb fuck wants to bring politics into the judicial system, sounds like a certain blowhard in the other shit show, right?

“I am not going to appoint some NDP or some Liberal,” said Ford. “I have made it very clear where I stand with judges.”

Ford reiterated his view that he wanted “like-minded judges” in question period on Monday. On Tuesday, he said he was “tripling down” and got a standing ovation from Tory MPPs. “We're going to triple down on making sure communities are safe,” Ford said. “I'm sick and tired of judges letting these people out on bail. We're going to hire tough judges. That's what we're doing.”



Well I certainly hope he appoints tough judges that punish criminals that harm others for their own benefit - because that dumb fat fuck certainly deserves to spend time in prison, just like that other DFF in the South is going to.



That was cathartic, I feel better now.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Another reason why I still hate Harper.

The Harper Connection

In this week’s cover story, Michael Harris looks at the global shift towards right-wing, authoritarian governments and cooperation between infamous figures to get those governments elected. And who do we find connecting India’s Modi to Hungary’s Orbán like a conservative Kevin Bacon? Why Stephen Harper, of course.

The International Democracy Union (IDU) is a global organization run by the ex-prime minister that’s dedicated to electing right-wing governments around the world. “If you want to see what sort of global club Canada will join if governed by a Poilievre-led Conservative party, a look at IDU’s membership — including the recently scrubbed — can be informative,” says Harris.

But it’s not just federal politics playing by the global far-right’s playbook. David Parker and Take Back Alberta are poster children for the anti-democratic assaults happening around the world.

“Parker warns that society is crumbling. He echoes the mantra of Trump — Poilievre, too — that everything is broken,” writes Harris. “For Parker, it is a crusade. The only way forward is a revolution — using democracy as a tool.”

The creation of Wood Buffalo National Park is often held up with national pride as a success story in preserving ‘wild’ spaces against the capitalistic impulses to mine and log them. But that origin story obscures the Indigenous People removed to make way for those pristine viewpoints. Ximena González writes about a new book of oral histories that tells the stories of betrayal, dispossession and erasure that enabled the creation of Wood Buffalo National Park.

“The oral histories compiled in this book illustrate the underhanded removal of the Dënesųłıné Peoples,” González writes, “and the Canadian government’s attempts to erase the essential role Indigenous Peoples played in maintaining a balanced ecosystem for the sake of buffalo conservation.”

Charles Rusnell has news this week about the whistleblower complaint made by five Edmonton surgeons against Dr. Daniel O’Connell — it’s been dismissed. After a 17-month internal investigation, Alberta Health Services associate chief medical officer Dr. Sharron Spicer told the surgeons in an email that their “concern was dismissed as unfounded.”

But University of Alberta law professor Cameron Hutchison, an expert in whistleblower legislations, tells Rusnell the terse email leaves little confidence in a proper investigation. “There is nothing here, it is really pathetic.”

Finally, University of Calgary education professor Maren Aukerman details how the creation of Alberta’s much-criticized new social studies curriculum went so wrong. “The recently released draft was created through an opaque process that effectively shut out Alberta’s foremost educational experts.”
Elsewhere...

 

CANON_Grow

Well-Known Member
Alberta's UCP, what are they up to now?

Below is just some of the reasoning being used to justify the bill giving the provincial government more power over municipalities, ability to remove councillors from office and repeal bylaws:

"...we had to go and quickly draft a piece of legislation to override that and put it through and that was fine then but what would happen if for example we were in the middle of the summer break when the legislature wasn't expected to sit for another three - four months, then of course we would have potentially would have had to recall the legislature at great expense and a lot of trouble and inconvenience for our staff and people that perhaps were on long planned vacations and uh we don't want to ever have that happen, so okay this doesn't expand our power but it does actually put us in a better position should we have to act in a short period of time."



The excuse that they always had the power and just want to make it easier is bullshit. It's not supposed to be EASY to get whatever they want, even if they always had the power to. Sorry that you may have to call people back for an afternoon in that three - four month summer break.

He also discusses banning the use of tabulators in municipal elections, because some people are concerned about vote fraud. They are concerned about great expenses in slowing their ability to override municipal decisions, but not when it comes to concerns about the use of tabulators because of conspiracy theories about voter fraud?

Yeah, MATA!

1714186234763.png
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Oh yeah. We could see smoke from the fire out by Grande Prairie Friday night and by about 10pm had to close up all the windows but that smoke was from the fires up in northeastern BC. Yesterday had to go help a buddy haul junk to the dump as he's moving out soon but the smoke wasn't too bad and today it's even a bit less tho still a light fog out there.

Was very windy and 27C on Friday but we had almost static air conditions and a high of 19 yesterday. Today it's breezy and 22C at 1:30pm.

I never click on google.amp links but check out https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/ . Wife says FB is bitching the map isn't accurate but seem it is to me according to what's outside now. Looks like we get smogged in around dinnertime tomorrow.

I just found this place that covers all North America but they aren't even showing the fire near Grande Prairie so not sure how good it is.


Another couple years of this and there won't be enough forests to cause big fires so we can all relax and breathe cleaner air. :(

:peace:
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Alberta's UCP, what are they up to now?

Below is just some of the reasoning being used to justify the bill giving the provincial government more power over municipalities, ability to remove councillors from office and repeal bylaws:

"...we had to go and quickly draft a piece of legislation to override that and put it through and that was fine then but what would happen if for example we were in the middle of the summer break when the legislature wasn't expected to sit for another three - four months, then of course we would have potentially would have had to recall the legislature at great expense and a lot of trouble and inconvenience for our staff and people that perhaps were on long planned vacations and uh we don't want to ever have that happen, so okay this doesn't expand our power but it does actually put us in a better position should we have to act in a short period of time."



The excuse that they always had the power and just want to make it easier is bullshit. It's not supposed to be EASY to get whatever they want, even if they always had the power to. Sorry that you may have to call people back for an afternoon in that three - four month summer break.

He also discusses banning the use of tabulators in municipal elections, because some people are concerned about vote fraud. They are concerned about great expenses in slowing their ability to override municipal decisions, but not when it comes to concerns about the use of tabulators because of conspiracy theories about voter fraud?

Yeah, MATA!

View attachment 5389091
These UCP tyrants now want to move the election day 6 months down the road on the flimsy excuse that it would avoid wildfire season. If that's the real reason then why not back it up 6 months so we can hopefully get them out a year sooner.

Three and a half more years of these assholes is 3.5 years too much!

:peace:
 

Nugnewbie

Well-Known Member
These UCP tyrants now want to move the election day 6 months down the road on the flimsy excuse that it would avoid wildfire season. If that's the real reason then why not back it up 6 months so we can hopefully get them out a year sooner.

Three and a half more years of these assholes is 3.5 years too much!

:peace:
Totally agree, 100%! F*ckers. They do what they want, gotta watch them. Unfortunately, what they are doing always seems to be bending away from democratic values, or just benefit themselves. :(
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Anyone else get their rebate? I'm pretty sure that's more than I contributed.

View attachment 5395226
We got ours a bit late as we were late filing our taxes. We get way more back that we pay out too so I don't know what all the protesting is about.

Somebody has to lead by example to try and get the rest of the world onboard with tackling climate change before it's too late if it isn't already.

:peace:
 
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