CANADA GETS TOUGH ON CRIME

(So why do I feel more paranoid than safe?)

     The multi-billion dollar new federal prisons being built in Canada should prepare us for the expected increase in the number of new criminals created by new laws such as mandatory minimum jail sentences, longer sentences, reduced credit for time served, mandatory jail time for Marijuana users/growers and the apparent number of "unreported crimes" that will be uncovered.  Here are some recent evidence to illustrate Canada's efforts to discover criminals everywhere.


Protecting us from heroin dealers:

     A 66-year-old Minnesota grandmother was detained at a Manitoba border crossing on allegations of heroin trafficking after they found a small container of a liquid in a storage area of her trunk. She suggested it was probably motor oil left over when a relative had changed her oil recently. Ever vigilant border agents tested it and the test was positive for heroin related material. She was then subjected to TWO strip searches and was detained in custody for 12 days while they had a proper test done on the mystery substance because she could not provide $15,000 surety for bail. Final lab tests at Health Canada indicated there was no heroin in the container. Border officials stated that in drug cases it is "reverse-onus" for proof - the individual is considered guilty until proven innocent.

Two letters in the Winnipeg Free Press (July 28/11) offer amusing but enlightening commentary on the situation:
     1) "Perhaps speedier results would have been achieved by taking the substance in the jar to any service station, where any employee would have confirmed that, yes, it was motor oil."  L.S., Winnipeg
     2) "Authorities should have realized that Janet Goodin wasn't a heroin dealer when she couldn't afford bail. What self-respecting drug mule doesn't have that kind of cash on hand?"  R.L,. Landmark

Illegal Canadians citizenships are everywhere:

     The Canadian Govt recently discovered that there are at least 1800 people (mostly living outside Canada) who have Canadian citizenship which are suspected of having been obtained without meeting the required residency requirement and hence are now being revoked by notification.  Fewer than 70 citizenships have ever been previously revoked since the Citizenship Act was passes in 1947.

Suspected criminals will no longer live among us:

     The Canadian Govt has publicly posted the names, description and picture of 30 people living in Canada who are suspected to have been involved in war crimes or human right violations. No information is available as to evidence of the suspected crimes or details To date five of these individuals have been identified, and at least one has been deported.

Smuggled Immigrants will no longer come to Canada:

      A recent TV news featuring an announcement from a Federal Govt MP stated that a ship (probably containing smuggled Tamils) was sailing to New Zealand.  He also said that someone had suggested there was a possibility that the ship had been planning to sail to Canada. Credit was given to Canada's new (and as yet un-passed) laws for it's supposed change of course.

NEWS UPDATE
      Harold Camping  has postponed "The Rapture" (commonly known as the "end of the world") until October 21st. I suggest you mark this date on your calendar. It would be a shame to miss it . . . again.


THE CANADIAN FEDERAL ELECTION
     I guess the election results have answered my blog heading question “Where Has My Canada Gone?” It has gone into a Conservative majority government under the leadership of arguably the most powerful Prime Minister in Canadian history.
     PM Harper has not only a majority in the House (and hence can get any bill passed) but also has a Conservative dominated Senate thanks to some 39 new appointments (unelected) and will have a Conservative majority in the Supreme court (after he fills the upcoming vacancies).
     And that isn’t even mentioning a totally inexperienced official NDP opposition, a decimated Liberal Party (34 seats) and the Bloc Party without even official party status (4 seats), and the establishment of the new Sun News Network to provide an easily controlled Conservative media outlet.
     On the upside, The Green Party now has its first seat elected seat in Parliament.

     The answer to where my Canada is going in the next four years can maybe best predicted by two quotes:
1) Stephen Harper's speech in 2004 when he won the leadership of the Conservative Party,
"We can create a country built on solid Conservative values not on expensive Liberal promises. A country the Liberals would not even recognize. "
2) Bette Davis (as commonly misquoted in the movie 'All About Eve'), "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy ride. "
                           FYI the correct quote is, "It's going to be a bumpy night".

UPDATE ON CANADA'S NEW "FOX NEWS" network
     After a couple of false starts, the Sun News Network is officially on the air as of April 18th, 2011,on a few stations/channels. Their start-up problems have been “resolved” and Kory Teneycke, VP of development for Quebecor and a former director of communications and chief spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is again at the head of the organization,
     The news program has two slogans: 'Canada's Home for Hard News and Straight Talk' and 'We're On Your Side'.
     I can accept the possibility of the first slogan but I have two problems with their second slogan. Firstly, how can they say they are on “my” side when they obviously don’t know me or what “my side” is on any given topic?. And, secondly, how can they say they are on everyone’s side a the same time?

THE CANADIAN FEDERAL ELECTION  
      I guess the election results have answered my blog heading question “Where Has My Canada Gone?” It has gone into a Conservative majority government under the leadership of arguably the most powerful Prime Minister in Canadian history.
     PM Harper has not only a majority in the House (and hence can get any bill passed) but also has a Conservative dominated Senate thanks to some 39 new appointments (unelected) and will have a Conservative majority in the Supreme court (after he fills the upcoming vacancies).
     And that isn’t even mentioning a totally inexperienced official NDP opposition, a decimated Liberal Party (34 seats) and the Bloc Party without even official party status (4 seats) Oh yes, and the establishment of the new Sun News Network which should make it easier to provide controlled Conservative national media outlet.
     On the upside, The Green Party now has its first seat elected seat in Parliament.


     The answer to where my Canada is going in the next four years can maybe best predicted by two quotes;

1)  Stephen Harper's speech in 2004 when he won the leadership of the Conservative Party,

 "We can create a country built on solid Conservative values not on expensive Liberal promises. A country the Liberals would not even recognize."
 2) Bette Davis (as commonly misquoted in the movie 'All About Eve'), "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy ride".
                              FYI the correct quote is, "It's going to be a bumpy night".
 
UPDATE ON CANADA'S NEW "FOX NEWS" network"
      After a couple of  false starts, the Sun News Network  is officially on the air as of April 18th, 2011,on a few stations/channels. Their start-up problems have been “resolved” and  Kory Teneycke, VP of development for Quebecor and a former director of communications and chief spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is again at the head of the organization,
     The news program has two slogans: 'Canada's Home for Hard News and Straight Talk' and 'We're On Your Side'.
     I can accept the possibility of the first slogan but I have two problems with their second slogan. Firstly, how can they say they are on “my” side when they obviously don’t know me or what “my side” is on any given topic?. And, secondly, how can they say they are on everyone’s side a the same time?

NON-POLITICAL NEWS

       In keeping with my plan for this blog to be unbiased I am ignoring the current election. In the present campaign any comment would be taken by someone as being partisan. 

REALLY?  2,564 miles per gallon?
    For the third year in a row students from Université Laval in Quebec, Canada, took home first prize in Shell’s Eco-marathon Americas fuel-efficiency competition, with a vehicle that was able to get 2,564.8 miles per gallon.


FOX NEWS NORTH?
A new 24-hour TV news station in Canada has been quietly launched by the Quebecor-owned Sun News Network. This is their second attempt. Their first run was held up when the CRTC blocked the use of “fake news”.
The specialty channel was the brainchild of Kory Teneycke, former spokesman for Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

INCOME TAX DATE RANT
Doing my income tax reminded me of one of my pet peeves – the lack of common sense in dates. Can you tell me what date 12/11/10  is? 12h of Nov 2010?  or Dec 11th  2010?   or maybe even  Nov 10th 2012 ?  And have you noticed that receipts, banks and income tax forms are nowhere consistent in their use even within their own forms?
How hard can it be for Canada and the USA to decide on a format? I have noticed that the bank cheque printers have begun this silent revolution by printing “yymmdd” under the blanks for the date. Maybe FaceBook could move this revolution along.
And while we are at it why not promote a slashed 0 to distinguish it from a capital O like early computers did. and maybe some way to distinguish more clearly the numeral 1 from the letter l. Airlines like to use a mix of capital letters and digits for your unique reservation code.
There are a few other examples too, but I have to finish sorting my medical bills by date for my income tax.


BTW , today is April 20th which`could be written as 20/4. A lot of younger people prefer to think of it as 4/20. You know – “420”?  If you still don’t get it ask anyone between the ages of 17 and 30. Or just hang out in a public park or place where kids gather at 4:20 this afternoon. And there are people who don't think it matters how you write dates !

Do We Really Want Fake News In Canada ???

         The initial stimulus for this blog was a discussion I had a couple of years ago with a fellow at a party in the USA about politicians telling lies. I, (being naively Canadian), felt that honesty was high on my priorities for a politician. His position, (being worldly American), was that he would never vote for a politician who DIDN’T lie.  At that point we became ships that passed in the night – never to meet again. However, it has given me much cause for thought. Should we really expect our politicians to be liars? Maybe there are cases where the end justifies the means? I’m not as sure as I used to be.
    But when it comes to our public news media being allowed to spew forth information they know to be false I would have said, “NOT IN MY CANADA. NOT NOW. NOT EVER.”
    
    I had always thought that there was a ban (legal, or at least moral) on allowing the Canadian TV and radio news media to spew forth false information. And I find I was right. The CRTC has had a ban on broadcasting false information on radio and TV, and the CRTC was content with that current ban on fake news.
    Then, late in 2010 the commission was “coerced” to approve a proposal to make "fake news" acceptable on Canadian TV and radio. One can only guess from where this political pressure came, but it is most likely related to the earlier move to establish a “Fox News North”.
" We never wanted to touch this thing. We put it forward because we were ordered to do it," von Finckenstein told reporters.
   
     The CRTC is dropping this proposal to allow fictitious news items thanks to on the support from a Parliamentary committee. "All I can say is, 'Thank you committee.' I will withdraw this proposal tomorrow. This is the end of the issue,’”Finckenstein  said.

     I sincerely hope this is “the end of the issue.” MY CANADA didn’t (and never will) approve of giving right to broadcast information that is know to be false or deliberately misleading.

But it scares me that this sort of thing was going on without the knowledge of the Canadian public.

A Perspective From The USA

      A few decades ago when traveling overseas, I discovered that Canadians were held in high regard most everywhere. A Canadian flag lapel pin assured one of a pleasant smile and a friendly everywhere because Canadians had a reputation of being quiet, friendly cooperative and accepting of the differences between cultures. Americans, by comparison, seemed to be loud, pushy and wanting things the way they were at home.
      On my vacation last week to California, I discovered that Americans seem to have mellowed with age (or maybe it is I who has mellowed).. Americans seem to have become more Canadian in deportment and manner.(or is it just that I have found that out current  government embodies much of what used to be annoying about Americans). And, by the way, our Federal Government is OUR government and not Harper’s Government to use as his personal chess game. The Canadian parliament is made up of the elected representatives of the people and IT (not Harper) should be making the rules as the governing body of Canada. But I digress.
       For example, I was in a hardware store in Redwood City and a sales person asked if I needed help.(apparently I have a perpetual look of confusion). I explained that I was looking for some kind of wax product to lightly wax a table. He suggested I could rub the table with a large brown paper bag instead of buying a commercial product. It was a marvelously helpful idea (and it actually works, although it will never replace Pledge). I never get that kind of useful assistance (without a sales pitch) in Canadian stores.
      It seems “My Canada” has gone south in more ways than one. I found everyone in California (and in Denver where I had a stopover) to be pleasant and friendly – well, maybe not as much when they are driving, but still much more polite, considerate and respectful than in Winnipeg. They even take a turn signal light as a suggestion for them to make room for the signaling car. In Winnipeg it is usually taken as a challenge to close the gap.
      Maybe I don’t really want my Canada back. Maybe I should just let it run merrily along on its present self-destructive course and move south. But I would miss our winters . . . less than you might imagine.