There seems to be no end in sight to the Canada Post strike/lockout. The two sides refuse to talk and the NDP is stalling any legislation that might have forced the union back to work. For what? Who will be the winner in this? Well, the answer is - nobody.
There are only losers.
The union will have lower salaries no matter what happens and they will have lost the wages for the strike/lockout period. On top of that they will lose jobs in the long run, as the public will shift away from regular mail. They had cushy jobs, high salaried, with great benefits for unskilled labour. Now those jobs will not only be lower paying, they will slowly start getting phased out.
Canada Post, by locking the union out, has angered the public, who was at the very least indifferent to the rolling strikes and at most angry at the union. Now the blame has shifted largely to Canada Post. In due time, they will also have made themselves irrelevant, because people are starting to see that the mail service is not as necessary, as they initially may have believed. There will be an even larger shift to email and courier services for deliveries. Customers will not easily trust and forgive the Canada Post for this.
The NDP is causing the most chaos here and are largely contributing to the collapse of the mail service. Their stupid delay tactics are completely pointless, as the two sides are not even talking. They think they are defending the common man, the unions, etc. All they are doing is making people angry because they are not receiving important letters, small businesses are getting hurt by additional costs and are being forced to shut down operations, hopefully only temporarily. The party is slowly losing support and the ground they gained during the election. Canadians want this to end, not see it drawn out indefinitely and the NDP is hurting more people than they are fighting for.
The Conservatives will look like a villain no matter what happens. If they force the union back to work, they will be the evil dictatorship, anti-people, anti-union, anti-freedom. If the NDP delay tactics give the union and Canada Post enough time to resolve their differences, the Tories will still look bad for trying to pass the legislation and for having the strike take so long.
Finally, there are the Canadian people. There is a lot of mail being held that people need to receive, not just the bills and the cheques, but also government documents, immigration correspondence, Revenue Canada letters, etc. Small businesses that rely on Canada Post for shipping their merchandise have to use more expensive couriers and lose most of their profits, or close down shop completely. The longer the disruption takes, the higher the chances that they will not recover.
The NDP should give up their communist and outdated views and let the bill pass. If they cannot make real changes to it and there is no end in sight to the dispute, what's the point of this procrastination? It is damaging all of Canada. Enough, have some common sense, look after the majority of the people, not just the corrupt unions. I'm sure even the Canada Post employees want this to end soon, as they are probably already feeling the pinch in their wallets.
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Friday, 24 June 2011
Ryan Dunn - Jackass
So it appears Roger Ebert wasn't too quick in his judgment. Ryan Dunn was driving drunk and going more than 130 mph at the time of the crash. He got famous for doing stupid and irresponsible stunts, but this time he paid the ultimate price for it.
I don't understand why people are defending him and saying he deserves respect because he's dead. Are you kidding me? He was an idiot, he did something stupid and the only reason he's dead is because of this. This was not an accident, but an irresponsible act, with predictable consequences.
What makes it even worse is that he killed another person. He doesn't deserve pity, honour or respect. He got exactly what he deserved. What if he hit another car? A family? We are lucky he crashed into the woods and not into someone else.
The only victim in this case was Zachary Hartwell and even he wasn't entirely innocent - he should have stopped Dunn from driving, or at least not gotten into a car with him, especially knowing his reputation.
So instead of people complaining that Ebert was being insensitive, or whatever with his Tweet, how about nominating Dunn for a Darwin Award (http://darwinawards.com/darwin/). Thank you Ryan for taking yourself out of the gene pool.
I don't understand why people are defending him and saying he deserves respect because he's dead. Are you kidding me? He was an idiot, he did something stupid and the only reason he's dead is because of this. This was not an accident, but an irresponsible act, with predictable consequences.
What makes it even worse is that he killed another person. He doesn't deserve pity, honour or respect. He got exactly what he deserved. What if he hit another car? A family? We are lucky he crashed into the woods and not into someone else.
The only victim in this case was Zachary Hartwell and even he wasn't entirely innocent - he should have stopped Dunn from driving, or at least not gotten into a car with him, especially knowing his reputation.
So instead of people complaining that Ebert was being insensitive, or whatever with his Tweet, how about nominating Dunn for a Darwin Award (http://darwinawards.com/darwin/). Thank you Ryan for taking yourself out of the gene pool.
Montreal Police
On October 14, 2007, Robert Dziekanski was killed by the RCMP at Vancouver airport. I was reminded of his case, when Patrick Limoges and Mario Hamel were gunned down in downtown Montreal on Tuesday morning. Limoges was a St-Luc Hospital employee, who was killed by a stray police bullet. His case is another sign that police officers need more training and they need to be made accountable for their actions.
The policemen in Dziekanski's case overreacted and were not punished for their actions. The officers involved in Limoges's death also showed a lack of judgment, or possibly training and only time will tell whether or not there will pay for their negligence. However, it doesn't look good, as excuses are already being made by Public Security Minister Robert Dutil, who said they probably didn't have Tasers.
Here's where things get a little fuzzy for me. The officers are chasing and shooting at a man with a knife in downtown Montreal. Really? Shooting off your gun in downtown Montreal? That makes a lot of sense... There are several officers. A homeless man, Mario Hamel, only has a knife. Sounds like the old saying about bringing a knife to a gun fight. The poor officers were at such a disadvantage here... How far away were the police so that they missed him and hit Limoges? I guess learning how to use a gun is not part of the training. If they were far away, was using a gun really necessary? If they were close, why did they miss? Was he threatening someone with the knife? Was someone's life in immediate danger and that justified the use of a firearm? Even if no one had a Taser, couldn't one of the officers get close enough to hit Hamel in the leg, in his arm? Are the officers trained only to kill?
Gunning down a man with a knife is the same as Tasering a man with a stapler. It's a sign of stupidity, incompetence and improper training. Assuming these officers were not armed with a Taser, I'm sure they had batons available. I have no proper combat training, but give me and three friends batons and I'm sure we could take down a homeless man with a knife. How hard can it be?
Police officers are supposedly putting their lives on the line for us, but that's rarely true. In most cases they just go for the easy way out and their jobs are nowhere near as dangerous as many others out there. Construction workers, fishermen, loggers, miners and many others have much more dangerous jobs than cops and face death more frequently, but no one considers them heroes. Police officers are not even ranked in the top 10 of the most dangerous jobs. http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110394/americas-10-most-dangerous-jobs
Why then are they not made accountable for their mistakes? Why do they get away with things regular people wouldn't? Is their incompetence due to a lack of education? Then change their training program. It's not fair that they can kill a man and not have to pay for it. The system needs to change. The police have too much power and someone needs to start policing them. Enough is enough.
Also, enough ranting.
The policemen in Dziekanski's case overreacted and were not punished for their actions. The officers involved in Limoges's death also showed a lack of judgment, or possibly training and only time will tell whether or not there will pay for their negligence. However, it doesn't look good, as excuses are already being made by Public Security Minister Robert Dutil, who said they probably didn't have Tasers.
Here's where things get a little fuzzy for me. The officers are chasing and shooting at a man with a knife in downtown Montreal. Really? Shooting off your gun in downtown Montreal? That makes a lot of sense... There are several officers. A homeless man, Mario Hamel, only has a knife. Sounds like the old saying about bringing a knife to a gun fight. The poor officers were at such a disadvantage here... How far away were the police so that they missed him and hit Limoges? I guess learning how to use a gun is not part of the training. If they were far away, was using a gun really necessary? If they were close, why did they miss? Was he threatening someone with the knife? Was someone's life in immediate danger and that justified the use of a firearm? Even if no one had a Taser, couldn't one of the officers get close enough to hit Hamel in the leg, in his arm? Are the officers trained only to kill?
Gunning down a man with a knife is the same as Tasering a man with a stapler. It's a sign of stupidity, incompetence and improper training. Assuming these officers were not armed with a Taser, I'm sure they had batons available. I have no proper combat training, but give me and three friends batons and I'm sure we could take down a homeless man with a knife. How hard can it be?
Police officers are supposedly putting their lives on the line for us, but that's rarely true. In most cases they just go for the easy way out and their jobs are nowhere near as dangerous as many others out there. Construction workers, fishermen, loggers, miners and many others have much more dangerous jobs than cops and face death more frequently, but no one considers them heroes. Police officers are not even ranked in the top 10 of the most dangerous jobs. http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110394/americas-10-most-dangerous-jobs
Why then are they not made accountable for their mistakes? Why do they get away with things regular people wouldn't? Is their incompetence due to a lack of education? Then change their training program. It's not fair that they can kill a man and not have to pay for it. The system needs to change. The police have too much power and someone needs to start policing them. Enough is enough.
Also, enough ranting.
Brigitte Marcelle DePape
Well, by now I'm sure most people in Canada have heard the name. Brigitte Marcelle DePape is the Senate page who displayed a "Stop Harper" sign during the Throne Speech this week and later expressed her views about the Prime Minister to the media. I figured I might as well add my two cents to the story, although I'm sure plenty of commentary has been made and I don't know if anybody cares what I think. However, I like to write, I have an opinion, so who cares if someone reads it or not.
First of all, the act was extremely disrespectful - to the office of the Prime Minister, to Stephen Harper himself, to the Senate and last, but not least to Canada. DePape later spoke about Stephen Harper being disastrous for this country and her generation. She's exactly what's wrong with this generation - no respect, no discipline and thinks she can do whatever she likes. There is a time and a place for her protest and this wasn't it. She insulted all of us with her outburst, which was equivalent to spitting on the flag or burning it. Very patriotic of her.
Second of all, she clearly has no idea what she is talking about. She's an ignorant youth, a pawn of the media and extremists, who probably thinks she's a patriot and helping make a difference. She's a puppet, spouting out slogans she's been watching on TV and the Internet. Stephen Harper hasn't destroyed any social programs and if she had listened to the Throne Speech, instead of interrupting it, she might have realized he's not planning on doing it in the future either.
Third, she claims that Stephen Harper does not represent the majority of Canadians. She claims three out of four Canadians do not support Stephen Harper. Last time I checked, 39% of the popular vote is about 14% more than 1/4. Perhaps, instead of meddling in politics, she should go back to school and learn some math. Also, around 40% of the vote is standard for a multi-party system majority. DePape should look into the statistics from previous elections to confirm that. Even at their height in the 90s, the Liberals only had 43% of the vote. It seems that history is not her strong point either. If it was a two-party system, as exists in the U.S. the 39% would probably translate into around 60% of the popular vote.
Finally, related to the previous point, there is her call for an "Arab spring". We just had the Liberals and NDP start a little revolution by forcing an election and this time, the people of Canada spoke for stability, for the economy and for a stronger Canada. Any uprising now would be a small, but loud minority, definitely not representing the views and beliefs of Canadians and that should never be allowed.
DePape has no idea what the revolutions in the Middle East and Africa are about, but thinks she has a right to disrupt Canada's highest institutions to express her juvenile, uneducated views. Shame on her for this embarrassment to Canada. I hope that there will be consequences for her actions and that she learns something more from this, other than that doing something stupid in public can make you popular. If she really wants to make a difference in our country, she should get an education, volunteer, contribute, improve the laws, instead of making ignorant and disrespectful comments and gestures.
First of all, the act was extremely disrespectful - to the office of the Prime Minister, to Stephen Harper himself, to the Senate and last, but not least to Canada. DePape later spoke about Stephen Harper being disastrous for this country and her generation. She's exactly what's wrong with this generation - no respect, no discipline and thinks she can do whatever she likes. There is a time and a place for her protest and this wasn't it. She insulted all of us with her outburst, which was equivalent to spitting on the flag or burning it. Very patriotic of her.
Second of all, she clearly has no idea what she is talking about. She's an ignorant youth, a pawn of the media and extremists, who probably thinks she's a patriot and helping make a difference. She's a puppet, spouting out slogans she's been watching on TV and the Internet. Stephen Harper hasn't destroyed any social programs and if she had listened to the Throne Speech, instead of interrupting it, she might have realized he's not planning on doing it in the future either.
Third, she claims that Stephen Harper does not represent the majority of Canadians. She claims three out of four Canadians do not support Stephen Harper. Last time I checked, 39% of the popular vote is about 14% more than 1/4. Perhaps, instead of meddling in politics, she should go back to school and learn some math. Also, around 40% of the vote is standard for a multi-party system majority. DePape should look into the statistics from previous elections to confirm that. Even at their height in the 90s, the Liberals only had 43% of the vote. It seems that history is not her strong point either. If it was a two-party system, as exists in the U.S. the 39% would probably translate into around 60% of the popular vote.
Finally, related to the previous point, there is her call for an "Arab spring". We just had the Liberals and NDP start a little revolution by forcing an election and this time, the people of Canada spoke for stability, for the economy and for a stronger Canada. Any uprising now would be a small, but loud minority, definitely not representing the views and beliefs of Canadians and that should never be allowed.
DePape has no idea what the revolutions in the Middle East and Africa are about, but thinks she has a right to disrupt Canada's highest institutions to express her juvenile, uneducated views. Shame on her for this embarrassment to Canada. I hope that there will be consequences for her actions and that she learns something more from this, other than that doing something stupid in public can make you popular. If she really wants to make a difference in our country, she should get an education, volunteer, contribute, improve the laws, instead of making ignorant and disrespectful comments and gestures.
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