Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is the latest company to take advantage of Canada’s talent (and yummy, yummy tax incentives) for game developers and publishers. GameFocus reports that WBIE (WBI-oui?) will open a new studio in Montreal that will be lead by division president Martin Tremblay and employ over 300 people. The studio will be known as WB Games Montreal. We’ve contacted WBIE for comment on the new studio, but the publisher has yet to make a formal announcement.
In a previous professional life, Tremblay was the big fromage at Vivendi and Ubisoft Montreal. The executive also apparently claimed that the publisher would open a studio in another city soon. That could be a new studio, or it could be a developer WB has invested in, like Turbine — or a solid developer that’s recently tripped into some eye-catching success.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is the latest company to take advantage of Canada’s talent (and yummy, yummy tax incentives) for game developers and publishers. GameFocus reports that WBIE (WBI-oui?) will open a new studio in Montreal that will be lead by division president Martin Tremblay and employ over 300 people. The studio will be known as WB Games Montreal. We’ve contacted WBIE for comment on the new studio, but the publisher has yet to make a formal announcement.
In a previous professional life, Tremblay was the big fromage at Vivendi and Ubisoft Montreal. The executive also apparently claimed that the publisher would open a studio in another city soon. That could be a new studio, or it could be a developer WB has invested in, like Turbine — or a solid developer that’s recently tripped into some eye-catching success.
Apparently not everyone shares the US opinion on protecting endangered species. The US proposals to ban exports of bluefish tuna and protect polar bears was soundly rejected by UN delegates last week. Bluefish tuna have been the target of heavy commercial fishing in Japan, thanks to their succulent flavors and people’s love for sushi. This comes after the revelation of whale hunting in Japan exposed through the documentary move The Cove. While statistics clearly support that these species are on a decline, Japanese officials claim that the UN does not have the right to stipulate trade bans and this duty is delegated to International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or Iccat. However, at the heart of Japanese protest lies the fact that bluefish tuna provide a strong commercial market for the Japanese and an international export ban would sever this industry.
Another defeat was the proposal to protect polar bears, which have been on a decline due to hunting as well as global warming. Opponents which included Canada, Norway and Greenland argue that the population of polar bears are healthy and hunting by aboriginals is critical to their economies. The population of polar bears now lies between 20,000 to 25,000 according to the Polar bear Specialist Group. Polar Bears have long been treated differently than bears beginning in 1972 where Canada, Denmark, US, Russia and Norway signed the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears. This agreement recognized that polar bears constituted an important resource in the Arctic region and they required special protection.
While they are ‘protected’ they are hunted for their fur, teeth and bones. However, today only Canada allows their export, which is limited to 300 a year. However, it was not a total loss, as it provided a medium for exposure to the critical discussion of the impact of global warming and climate change on these species as well as a broader discussion of the detrimental effects of global warming in general.
This photo is of the Rockyview Hotel in Cochrane. Trash and a mud puddle add ‘interest’ to the inverted foreground. This is one from my ‘parking lot’ series. For some reason most of the photos from this series look ‘grungy’.
St Jean Baptiste Day- The annual procession took place yesterday morning in celebration of this national festival. The children belonging to all French schools, and temperance societies, together with the Association of St Jean Baptiste, assembled in the morning at eight o’clock to Craig Street, whence they started, passing through St Antoine street to Mountain, and thence to St Joseph street, and through Notre Dame street to the French Church. After divine service, the procession reformed in the same order as before, and passed round the Place d’Armes to Notre Dame street, thence to St Denis, and through St Catherine to the Union St Joseph where it dispersed. We regret to say from what we saw of the proceedings, the same unpleasant feeling of jealousy appeared to be manifested, as led to a disturbance on a recent occasion. It appears to us too, that the police somewhat exceed their duty at these times. Yesterday morning at ten o’clock they turned carriages and vehicles of every sort out of Notre Dame Street, because the procession was coming. This seems to be going too far. Notre Dame street was completely blocked up about noon, a busy part of the day, the street-cars, carriages, and foot passengers being unable to pass through. And in the morning, gentlemen coming to their places of business from the west end of the city were obliged to get out of the cars, and walk. The procession occupied just the portion of the street where the track is laid, and the cars could not proceed. The other National societies celebrate their festivals without putting the public to so much inconvenience; and it would be much better if all these celebrations could be conducted as not to interfere in any way with the right which every one alike enjoys, of free passage on the public streets.
We may also mention that a piece of unnecessary brutality was committed yesterday morning about a quarter past nine o’clock at the corner of Mountain and St Antoine streets, where a cowardly fellow amused himself by battering the head of a small boy who was driving a cart and wished to proceed down Mountain street. But the whole street was kept clear, although the procession occupied only about four feet. Of course we do not charge the conductors of the procession with being parties to the above assault, but we would suggest that it is not necessary to a proper carrying out of the procession and celebration of the day, to stop all traffic in the streets which form the line of march.
The 2010 Sundance screened and award-winning documentary “Last Train Home” is starting its screening at Calgary Globe theatre tomorrow Friday March 19, 2010. To me, Last Train Home indirectly exposed to us the heart, soul & meaning of those inexpensive “Made in China” goods and the human cost/impact of these goods through the eyes of one Chinese migrant family. Last Train Home is a film that I greatly enjoyed and found extremely touching and insightful.
In the beginning of the film, the viewers are informed that,
“There are over 130 million migrant workers in China. They go home only once a year, during Chinese New Year. This is the world’s largest human migration.“
Last Train Home is the debut film by Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan and he has done a wonderful job in telling an emotionally engaging story and the film was beautifully shot. As a documentary filmmaker myself, I watched the film three times over different days before I write this review. And I enjoyed the film more as I watched it.
I came away with the intense feeling that it is the Chinese migrant workers’ rights to improve their living standards, no matter how harsh it may seem to us Westerners. Yes, it came with a price, sometimes the prices can be very high. But, as I get older, I am reluctant to be judgemental and pronounce the western ways are the “best” for Chinese or other citizens of the world. There isn’t a single way to pursue a better life.
A great documentary makes us think and want to talk about the various issues discussed or not discussed in the film and it will make us care about the people in the film. Using these yardsticks, Last Train Home has succeeded and is definitely a great documentary. By chance, the film included one of the worst winters in recent Chinese New Years where train and bus services were seriously disrupted. And that added some urgency into the film.
There is one scene (when the parents had an argument with their child) in the film that shaken and touched me at the same time. As a documentary filmmaker, I kept asking myself, what would I have done if I were filming in the same situation? I finally came to the “uneasy” but “responsible” rationale that supported my instinct. I would have done the same thing and kept filming like Lixin. There was a story to be told and because of the trusting relationship that was built over months, it was ok to keep shooting.
By the way, please see the bottom of this blog entry where you can read an excerpted analysis/discussion by my economist friend Dr. Zhaofeng Xue (薛兆丰) about the problems associated with the Chinese New Year transportation nightmares (“春运综合症”).
Here is an excerpt from the synopsis of the film,
Every spring, China’s cities are plunged into chaos, as all at once, a tidal wave of humanity attempts to return home by train. It is the Chinese New Year. The wave is made up of millions of migrant factory workers. The homes they seek are the rural villages and families they left behind to seek work in the booming coastal cities. It is an epic spectacle that tells us much about China, a country discarding traditional ways as it hurtles towards modernity and global economic dominance.
Last Train Home, an emotionally engaging and visually beautiful debut film from Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan, draws us into the fractured lives of a single migrant family caught up in this desperate annual migration.
Here is a trailer of the film for the famous SXSW,
***
Economics analysis/discussion re chaos with train transportations around the Chinese New Years (“春运综合症”)
My friend Dr. Zhaofeng Xue (薛兆丰) has written for more than 10 years about the problems associated with the Chinese New Year transportation nightmares. In Feb 2010, he wrote about this topic again in this Chinese blog entry, “火车票低价造成了举国浪费“. Very insightful stuff if you read Chinese. Here is an excerpt,
Zhaofeng received his Phd from George Mason University and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Northwestern University School of Law. Here is a link to my congratulatory message to Zhaofeng when his book about antitrust was published in 2008.
The difficulties with finding cooperation on climate change were illustrated at Copenhagen, which resulted in a political ‘accord’, but where there remained too much disagreement to arrive at a binding international treaty. There has been an ongoing political debate about the role of the United Nations, and whether more could be achieved in negotiations involving smaller groups of countries. The Copenhagen negotiations may have made the latter more likely. The lead US climate change negotiator, Todd Stern, stated:
You can’t negotiate in a group of 192 countries. It’s ridiculous to think that you could.
but that
It is certainly premature to write off the UNFCCC. There is a credibility that is provided by the full group. So on the one hand, I don’t think you can negotiate in that grouping, but on the other hand, it’s good for there to be a larger grouping that the smaller representative group can come back to.
Some of the rules [of the UNFCCC] can be difficult. If you’ve got 185 countries wanting to do something and a handful that don’t want to, that blocks everything.
Nicholas Stern has offered a different perspective, stating that “The fact of Copenhagen and the setting of the deadline two years previously at Bali did concentrate minds, and it did lead… to quite specific plans from countries that hadn’t set them out before”, and that it was vital to stick with the UN process, whatever its frustrations. Stern also stated that the “disappointing” outcome of December’s climate summit was largely down to “arrogance” on the part of rich countries.
Other perspectives in this debate have been offered by Jonathan Pershing, Robert Stavins, and Andrew Light. Gro Harlem Bruntland, the UN special envoy on climate change, has said that there is likely to be a two-track process, with negotiations both within, and outside the UN.
I have written more on the role of different countries at Copenhagen (including ‘rich’ countries) here. A major deadlock in the negotiations is due to developing countries being unhappy with Canada, Japan and Russia not being willing to be part of a second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol. Another problem is that Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members (many of these countries could be considered to be ‘rich’, even though they are not Annex I countries) are blocking discussion of new legally binding protocols under the UNFCCC, sometimes using lack of progress under Kyoto as an excuse.
Game theory can provide useful insights when considering debates such as these. In fact, there has been a parallel debate in the game theory literature on whether cooperation is more likely to arise from a `grand coalition’ of all countries, or from smaller coalitions. The debate has been surveyed by Chander and Tulkens. An important contribution is from Finus and Rundshagen, who consider different ways to model coalition formation as a non-cooperative process.
In some ways the Annex I parties to the Kyoto protocol behave like a coalition — members behave more cooperatively with respect to each other than they do towards non-members. The set of Annex I Parties to the Kyoto Protocol is similar to the ‘open membership’ coalitions described by Finus and Rundshagen. Other countries are free to join the Annex I Parties, but generally they don’t want to. Many Annex I countries instead want to leave.
The European Union is closer to a ‘classical’ coalition. They choose their emissions in a cooperative manner, negotiate collectively in the UNFCCC, and participate in an emissions trading scheme together. Membership is not open, and decided collectively, in a manner similar to the ‘exclusive membership games’ described by Finus and Rundshagen. Processes where countries link their emission trading schemes may also work in a similar way to an exclusive membership game. In the cases studied by Finus and Rundshagen, although open membership coalitions are easier to join, the equilibria for exclusive membership coalitions involve larger coalitions and a more cooperative outcome.
A possible implication of this is that a process where a small amount of ‘major emitters’ negotiate a coalition, which others are then free to join, is likely to be less successful than a process that tries to find the largest possible group of countries who are willing to cooperate with each other. Carbon market linkage may also facilitate cooperation.
When Willie O’Ree stepped onto the ice of the Montreal Forum on January 18, 1958 in his Boston Bruins uniform he became the pioneer of a long line of trailblazers in the sport of ice hockey. Because on that day Willie O’Ree, the first black man to play for the NHL became the Jackie Robinson of the sport. In fact it had been 11 years since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in professional baseball but Willie’s barrier breaking moment barely registered a ripple. The Bruins needed a new player and he was the best that they had in the system. Nothing was made of his race by the Bruins; it was simply a hockey decision. But that does not mean that he did not receive barbs from opposing teams and fans. He did, but he handled those situations with great strength and dignity. Today Willie O’Ree is the NHL’s Director of Youth Development and serves as a hockey ambassador for NHL Diversity.
Since then society has made tremendous strides and groundbreaking changes; the civil rights movement and the election of Barack Obama our first African American President to name the most monumental. And the sport of Ice Hockey has tried to reflect those changes. Through its Diversity program the NHL is trying to demonstrate that it has been effected by, and is evolving at the same pace as society’s changes.
It is at this point that I must disclose on behalf of transparency that in 2005/2006 I worked for the NHL handling Community Relations, Corporate Giving and worked on Diversity projects. While there I saw first hand the NHL’s commitment to grass roots hockey and increasing the number of minority players within the sport. I also had the pleasure of working and travelling with Willie O’Ree while conducting youth outreach for the NHL. According to my former boss Ken Martin, Vice President Community Affairs & Diversity Programming, black hockey players are being drafted into the NHL at the rate of three per year. “For African Americans participating in non-traditional sports the challenge has been accessibility to that sport. Our ability to expand our horizons and to participate will deliver success on both the playing field and in the business field” said Ken Martin. Today there are 38 minority players in the NHL and of the 38 players 21 are Black Canadian/ African American. The numbers within the junior ranks are considerable and Ken predicts a ground swell of minority players to enter the League within the next five years.
Accessibility is the key and this future ground swell is in part due to NHL initiatives and the robust grass roots hockey efforts of USA Hockey and Hockey Canada, the governing bodies for the sport in the United States and Canada. Also contributing to this increase is the fact that Canada, hockey’s home, has become a much more ethnically diverse country with minority participation in Canadian youth hockey on the rise.
NHL Diversity is a part of the NHL Foundation, the National Hockey League’s charitable and community relations division. It is a major component of the league’s “Hockey is for Everyone” initiative. Since 1995, NHL Diversity has provided support to not-for-profit youth hockey organizations across the United States that are committed to offering economically disadvantaged boys and girls of all ages opportunities to play hockey.
The initiative is supported by NHL teams and players, NHL alumni, USA Hockey and fans. To date, “Hockey is for Everyone” has exposed close to 60,000 boys and girls to unique hockey experiences in the United States. Within this program, there are approximately 30 inner-city, volunteer organizations in various stages of development that receive support from the NHL with 3 more programs scheduled to debut this year!
Children enrolled in the NHL’s 30 inner city programs also attend and are afforded high visibility and clinics at the Leagues premier events. NHL All Star Game, The Winter Classic, NHL Awards and the Stanley Cup are just a few of the events that host children from Diversity programs. They also attend and participate with NHL visits to the White House and the Willie O’Ree Skills Camp. All life changing experiences for these children!
So who are currently the top black players to watch in the NHL? Jarome Iginla Calgary Flames, who is consistently ranked in the top 10 of NHL players. Ray Emery Philadelphia Flyers, one of three Black players to win the Stanley Cup. Evander Kane Atlanta Thrashers, the highest drafted Black Canadian player in NHL history.
RE is not portable, but there has to be some kind of osmotic price effect from one market to another. How long before Canadians get the message? -vreaa
This from ‘Half-price homes? Canadians pounce on the Sunbelt’, by Tony Wong, yourhome.ca, 14 Mar 2010 -
“Being in Toronto you become jaded at the high prices. There really is a bit of a disconnect to what is happening here and what is happening in the U.S.,” said Toronto buyer Lynn, who works at an agency representing photographers. Lynn’s first buy was a relatively new one-bedroom condominium in upscale Naples near the beach for $54,900. That’s about what parking would cost at a new luxury condominium in downtown Toronto. (An extra parking spot at the still-to-be-completed Ritz Carlton on Wellington St., for example, costs $55,000 Canadian.)
I owe you a thought-provoking post after the other one a couple hours ago.
So here you are.
A while back (a month, tops) I was watching the news. (I don’t normally watch the news, but my brother likes to so he seems civilized, and I was walking by.) There was a small segment where people on the streets were interviewed on their opinions towards immigration.
Several of these people shocked me with their territorial words, something like “You have your land, we have ours.” People with thoughts like that make me very upset.
But what moved me was a man that said, “We are all citizens of the Earth.”
As soon as he said that, I thought, Yeah! That’s true! We all have to share the world, it’s only proper.
The world is everyone’s home, and their country is merely their own little room. To not be allowed to leave is to be a prisoner in your own home. (I hope that was as clear as I meant it to be…)
Like, imagine you have this giant pie. Or turkey. Or something. Everyone sitting around the dinner table represents a demographic or country. The turkey or pie or whatever is the land and various resources on Earth.
Overall, the pie/turkey is wicked good, but there are small parts that aren’t as delicious as they could be. A couple people get massive, scrumptious parts of the pie/turkey, but most of them get what’s left over.
Some of them fight over the icky parts because the people who have the yummy parts are like the woman who’d said, “You have your land, we have ours.” (NOTE: I’m not saying non-developing countries are greedy! I’m just saying some people are, enough to stop us from helping as much as we could possibly.)
And they have a stronger (as in bigger and/or with more resources like ammo and/or money) demographic/country, so it’s difficult to stand up to them. Or if they do, they either fail, or they’re not standing up for themselves the right way.
As in they might resort to terrorism because the big countries aren’t listening. No one’s given them any better reason or way to get us to listen otherwise. Sometimes it’s difficult to realize how many people are truly innocent.
Anyway, I’m trying to get at the point that the key to peace on Earth is listening, understanding. Unless somebody is truly mentally unstable, (in which case they shouldn’t even be involved in politics) if you listen and try your best to understand where everybody’s coming from, you shouldn’t still feel ill will towards them.
We are really all the same. We all belong to the Earth. We are all human beings. (As far as I know…) We all look up at the same moon, even if it’s upside-down in your half of the planet. We were all just born and raised differently. But we’re all alive, we all have thoughts.
“We are all citizens of this Earth.” It’s ours to share. We may as well be pleasant about it.
Just because a couple of polititians don’t get along doesn’t mean we can’t, you know?
Alex Violet.
PS Damn right, this fifteen-year-old’s got a head on her shoulders and an opinion for every controversy.
I want to leave ya with another quote.
The ‘Third World’ is a term I don’t like very much, because we’re all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering.
When I first heard that the olympics would to be hosted in Vancouver I was skeptical and the last place I thought I would be in 2010 was Vancouver. But slowly over the first week I began to catch the olympic fever that was taking over the island. I figured, it’s here, it’s only here once, you might as well enjoy it. So the last saturday a group of us woke up bright and early, caught the first ferry, and spent our day making our way through downtown Van.
At Balzarini and Watson we are experienced in multiple Personal Injury Lawyers Pittsburgh and Medical Malpractice Law Suits. Our Practice Areas include Premises Liability, Work Place Injuries, Product Liablitly, Aviation Litigation, Pharmaceutical Litigation, Contaminated Food Cases and more. Below you can see all the areas of law that we concentrate on.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
The lawyers at Balzarini & Watson have vast experience in handling motor vehicle collisions of all types, including collisions resulting from driver negligence and from defective roadway design, construction or maintenance.
» Construction Site Injuries
» Electrocution
» Crane Accidents
» Falls
» Falling Objects
» Negligent Safety Training
» Scaffold Failures
» Lack of Fall Protection
» Demolition Site Collapses
Medical Malpractice
» Birth Trauma
» Delayed Performance of Cesarean Section
» Failure to Diagnose Fetal Distress
» Negligent Management of Labor & Delivery
» Delayed Diagnosis of Cancer
» Surgical Errors
» Negligent Emergency Care
» Nursing Negligence
» Paramedic Malpractice
» Nerve Injuries under Anesthesia
» Negligent Positioning for Surgery
» Nursing Home Negligence
» Medication & Prescription Errors
Product Liability
» Lack of Guarding on Machinery & Equipment
» Scaffold/Bleacher Collapse
» Body Armor Failures
» Defective Automobile Design & Manufacture
» Vehicle Rollovers
» Lack of Interior Trunk Release in Vehicle
» Automobile Tire Failures
» Crane Accidents
» Defective Farm Equipment
» ATV Accidents
» Defective Medical Devices
Aviation Litigation
The lawyers of Balzarini & Watson have represented the survivors of Western Pennsylvania residents involved in numerous aviation crashes, including the following:
» TWA Convair Crash, Cincinnati, Ohio
» Aero Air DC 8 Crash, Gander, Newfoundland
» Special Jet Charter Crash, Raton, New Mexico
» United Airlines DC-10 crash, Sioux City, Iowa
» US Air 737 Crash, Pittsburgh, PA
» Muth Aviation Helicopter Crash, Spangler, PA
» JB Express Charter Crash, St. Mary’s, West Virginia
Pharmaceutical Litigation
The lawyers of Balzarini & Watson are experienced in litigation involving defective prescription drugs, improper combinations of prescription drugs, and the failure to monitor the side effects of prescription drugs.
Contaminated Food Cases
» Food Poisoning
» Hepatitis A
» Salmonella
» E-Coli
» Gastroenteritis
» Foreign Objects in Food
While climbing Mount Cameroon was decidedly the highlight of our latest trip south – Greg’s 3rd, Caroline’s 1st since arriving 4 months ago – there was an actual reason for the journey. VSO Cameroon holds yearly national meetings in each of programme areas; we were heading down for the HIV-AIDS meeting where VSO staff and volunteers would get together to discuss priorities and activities for the new year.
just another bah-bah sheep getting a ride into town
On top of the business side of the trip, we had a few entertaining experiences we didn’t want to simply let pass by. Here are a few vignettes of the trip south:
- We shared the four-person train couchette compartment on the ride South with the head of the Emigration for the North. His office issued the Residency Cards we all have to carry as ID. We’ll remember him, though, from his well-intentioned lectures. Eating chicken with a fork and knife and not chewing the bones is a waste and therefore bad. Oh yes, we certainly agree that we lack Cameroonian manners. We’ll try to be better next time.
- The same night we arrived in Yaoundé was an open house BBQ at the Canadian High Commissioner’s residence. Hamburgers, fries, kabobs and Canadian VQA wine enhanced the experience of being guests at the residence. A little piece of home. The High Commissioner – a jolly and unassuming man– was a welcoming sight in a foreign land. Go Canada Go!
Catherine, Bronwyn, Greg and Caroline: hockey enthusiasts in Cameroon!
- With no TV up north, we’d missed much of the Olympic coverage. However, in Yaoundé four true Canadians caught the men’s gold medal hockey game late in the evening. With only 3 minutes left in regulation play, the Eurosport channel lost signal. Argh! Quickly, we found a German-language broadcast and finished watching the game. The switch in languages was amusing and entertaining – the style of commentating a blast to listen to. Luckily, the game spoke for itself. Go Canada Go!
- We journeyed by bus south to Buea at the base of Mount Cameroon. About 2 hours after leaving Yaoundé, a man carrying a little green suitcase hopped on the bus and immediately started “educating” the passengers. After a little while we caught onto his intent: he was selling ginseng powder to prevent HIV and cure everything from erectile dysfunction to the diseases women get from peeing after a man has peed in the same pot. He was also peddling an ointment made of garlic and ginger that he claimed would make skin stains disappear and cure any other fungus. During 1 ½ hours of his hard sales pitch he sold almost everything in his suitcase. Quite scary.
- We elected to book ourselves into a nice hotel the night before the mountain climb as a way to get a good start to the hike. It turned out to be a dump and Buea was under water restrictions. No water until the early morning hours. The power was also on an off for most of the evening, so no fan to cool us down. Our room was directly above a nightclub, so when the power was on the boom boom boom of the music echoed through the night. Fan or music… Couldn’t have one without the other.
Catherine, Caroline and Karine for IWD
- Back in Yaoundé on March 8th for International Women’s Day, we made our way to the centre of town to observe the festivities. Dressed in our commemorative pangs – hand tailored back in Maroua – Catherine, Karine and I, accompanied by Greg (who got teased for having too many beautiful women with him) got in position for the start of the parade. For an hour we watched hundreds of women march to celebrate advancement, achievements and hopes for the future. Awestruck by women marching in 4-inch high stilettos, we were also amused that some women tried to carry their purses in the parade. “No-no” presidential police would tell them: “you have to leave them behind”. Apparently Chantalle Biya -the president’s wife – was somewhere down the street. So piles of purses were dumped on unsuspecting journalists and other passers-by for safekeeping. We still wonder how the women found their bags again after the parade was over!
All in all, a good trip with many memories. Glad we could mix business with pleasure.
“I am trying to persuade a young Vancouver couple (2 young kids, self-employed) not to buy a house in Kingston, Ontario this spring, but to wait till the fall. They can’t afford to rent let alone buy in Vancouver, so they’re getting out. Good idea. Kingston is very affordable with a great quality of life. But the 5/35 mortgages and low interest rates mean even houses here are inflated. Because they’re in Vancouver, they think a midtown house is a steal at $250,000. I can’t persuade them they’re out of their minds, and they’ll see that price drop $50-70G over the next two years. This is one of the other bad effects of overheated big-urban markets. They bring their warped perspectives here and mess things up everywhere!”
“We give politicians the power of life and death over us; we authorize them to send us to war, imprison us, tax us, regulate our activity, expropriate our houses, discipline our children, supervise our conduct, our reading, and our speech. We let these men make the laws that restrict us, direct the policemen who arrest us, choose the lawyers who prosecute us, appoint the judges who sentence us. … And we absent-mindedly bestow these absolute powers over our lives and welfare on a handful of men, in elections dominated by fanaticism and gangersterism, generally without asking of them smallest guarantee of intelligence or of elementary honesty.” — Pierre Elliott Trudeau in Approaches to Politics (1970)
Interesting words, spoken as they are by one of Canada’s most renowned politicians. I wonder what eloquent outrage the old man could summon in response to our abusive government of today. A recent poll, reported here by the CBC, suggests that Canadians generally don’t care about any of our leaders. I find it interesting that Jack Layton is the only federal leader who is approved of by more people (40%) than disapprove of him (29%). Interesting because he leads the party considered by many to be socialist, and by many more to be a vote FOR the political-right in a two party race.
If neither of our country’s viable political entities is able to summon a leader capable of even a net-positive approval rating, what does this say of our system of government? What does it say about us, it’s citizenry? Even as so many cry out for real leadership, would we ourselves measure-up in the eyes of Mr. Trudeau?
“The price of liberty, say the English, is eternal vigilance … strict limits must be placed on the right of one man to rule another. This indeed is the domain of politics.”
True enough. Somewhere in the last few decades, however, the “domain of politics” silently re-located to a domain more suitable to the success of its endeavors. It’s in the distance now, on a hill-top far away. Too far away, really, to be convenient in a world where convenience rules. So far away, in fact, that even the technology that created a global community can do little but provide our apathetic population with a distant glimpse of a spectacle as absurd as it is incomprehensible.
The price, as Mr. Trudeau asserted, is our liberty itself. That this most fundamental value is trampled increasingly with each passing month should not surprise us. Mr. Harper’s refusal to talk to media or to face critical debate, his deliberate polarization of the population, his emotionally manipulative over-simplification of complicated issues and his annual brushing-aside of our democracy’s checks and balances are all par for the course for those in pursuit of power.
Who, afterall, would become a Prime Minister, but one with a desire to influence and control – with a lust for power?
The failure is not Mr. Harper’s. He is doing as he should. The failure is our own. We sit on our numb hands, waiting for spring, while our democracy is disregarded, our economy is radically transformed and our international reputation evaporates.
The things you overhear when you’re in charge: some Emergency Nurses, dissecting a colleague.
Nurse 1: That new nurse . . .
Nurse 2: The one that’s always late?
Nurse 3: Yeah, always!
Nurse 2: Not fair to her colleagues! I mean, we want to go home!
Nurse 4: So disrecpectful! And she dresses. . . inappropropriately!
Nurse 1: I heard she’s pretty good. . .
Nurse 2: If she’s always late, she’s a bad nurse.
Nurse 3: Someone needs to talk to the manager!
Nurse 5: Did any of you think to actually talk to her and finding out why she’s late before running off at the mouth and talking about her behind her back? Maybe she has home issues, child care issues, or something else you don’t even know about!
[. . .silence. . .]
Nurse 2: (indignant) That’s not our job!
Nurse 5: Sorry girls, that is our job.
I have to tell you, my sympathies are with Nurse 5. The older I get, the less patience I have with high-schoolish, adolescent, passive-aggressive behaviour from women in their 30s and 40s. Women, I might add, who really ought to know better.
Today was rather exciting, it snowed… on the mountains surrounding my home… and because we’re in the mountains, I got to see the snow start falling at the top, and then it worked it’s way down, coating the pine trees like a cake decorator would dust with icing sugar… *sigh*. Will post some photos when I am able to connect my camera up.
In other news, I replaced my ski pants – free of charge, after the serious, mountain top wardrobe malfunction that left a rip from the top of my left leg down the seam to below my knee – only from stacking it a few times… so now i have pretty off white ones, that match my jacket, and have suspenders to keep my pants up and the snow out. YAY.
Went to this cool little cafe, but i can’t remember it’s name, and had a pretty good hot chocolate, accompanied by an AMAZING organic chocolate brownie… (I’m sure you could almost only get these in Nelson, or maybe you’d find them in Nimbin too?)
The local credit union here is on strike, and I think its really stupid, it’s not affecting me, as I bank with a different bank. The community here seems to be quite concerned about doing the right thing with the environment – recycling, organic foods/produce, BC grown rather than imported etc. One of the issues that the bank staff is striking over is the introduction of paperless online statements, which means fewer hours for a few workers a week/month… The introduction of paperless statements is a great idea – the impact on the environment is significantly less. Naturally, when I’ve been offered it I’ve jumped at the opportunity, as it means that my bills/statements come to me, when I want them, and I don’t have to worry about filing them, because I can access them when I want to. So it seems that until people’s pay or working hours are being cut, they like looking after the environment. After that point, they’re more concerned with their pocket being full of cash…
anyway. that’s my rant about the bank. This week I need to get working on finding a job and a car…
So, if you’re the praying type, I’d love for you to pray for wisdom and guidance in my job and car search, and that God would provide the perfect solutions for both of these needs.
The village was hopping with all the nations. I particularly loved the Swiss House… that thing was made out of chocolate!
How funny is this! That’s Janie and Irving!
I fell in love with these Ice Wine Truffles! The sliding center was kind of hidden in between the Whistler and Blackcomb mountain valley, but we hiked up a trail to try to see some of it.
We weren’t able to see any of the track, but we did see the Bobsleighs all crated up ready to get shipped to their home countries. I thought this was so neat!
This was one of the bobsleighs!! We were so close to it!
We were really sad to see this Memorial for Nodar Kumaritashvil (The luge slider who died during a training run before the Olympics).
One day, we walked about 5 miles from Whistler Village to Creekside Village. It was a gorgeous walk around some frozen lakes to get there.
So much better than taking the bus there.
It was cold though. Good thing we had our mittens!
Creekside is where most of the alpine events take place.
Whooo Hoo!! Athletes Village!
At Creekside, we took the chairlift up to the finish line of the Downhill Ski events. So cool!!!
It was so weird to get off the chairlift without skies on. haha
These were the grandstands for the crowds watching the skiiers finish!
This is the finish line where all the skiers came in!
We thought this was funny. The sign says “Snow Tools”.
And then we rode the chairlift back down! (Those are Irving’s gloves and shoes. haha)
Our hotel was the home to “Camp Norway”. The Norway support team was there. We thought that was pretty cool.
We made sure to show our American Spirit in our room…. so our room went from this:
To this! PERFECT!
We TOTALLY lucked out. Our hotel was slopeside on Blackcomb Mountain. This is the view from our room… you can see the chair lifts! (Click to enlarge!)
We literally had to walk DOWN the ski slopes to get to the village. The road wasn’t really an option. haha It was awesome!
The village is great during the day, but really comes to life at night! They had these awesome “Fire and Ice” shows at night where snowboarders and skiers jump through a ring of fire. So fun!
Check out that moon coming up over the mountain! Those lights on the mountain are snow cats grooming the trails!
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global warming. Opponents which included Canada, Norway and Greenland argue that the population of polar bears are healthy and hunting by aboriginals is critical to their economies. The population of polar bears now lies between 20,000 to 25,000 according to the Polar bear Specialist Group. Polar Bears have long been treated differently than bears beginning in 1972 where Canada, Denmark, US, Russia and Norway signed the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears. This agreement recognized that polar bears constituted an important resource in the Arctic region and they required special protection.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=bbb8f929-0f48-4155-91a0-957be6953a32)
The sliding center was kind of hidden in between the Whistler and Blackcomb mountain valley, but we hiked up a trail to try to see some of it.
