Monthly Archives: May 2010
We Will Remember Him
| 5/24/2010 | Posted by Patti under Brave Canadians |
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They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them
In memory of our fallen Canadian:
Tpr Larry Rudd – Afghanistan May 24, 2010
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays
We Will Remember Him
| 5/18/2010 | Posted by Patti under Brave Canadians |
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They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them
In memory of our fallen Canadian:
Col Geoff Parker – Afghanistan May 18, 2010
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays
Father calls for Canada to finish mission
| 5/15/2010 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan, Canadian News, Canadian Politics |
Just two days away from returning safely home, Pvt. Kevin McKay was on patrol in Afghanistan on Thursday. In an instant his life ended. Instead of returning home to a party, he will be returned to his family for a funeral. He is the 144th Canadian to die on this mission.
The father of this brave young Canadian has looked past his own grief to call on our government to stay the course in Afghanistan. He’s calling on the government not to set an end date but to set obtainable objectives and stay until they’re finished. He’s calling for the objective to be the training of the Afghan army and police.
Pvt McKay’s father is a deputy fire chief in Toronto. Firefighters in Toronto and along the Highway Of Heroes all understand the cost of this war, they have been a strong presence on every overpass between Trenton and Toronto every time Canadian soldiers are repatriated. I understand the cost of this war. I weep privately for our fallen and then join the firefighters on the bridges. (more…)
We Will Remember Him
| 5/14/2010 | Posted by Patti under Brave Canadians |
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They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them
In memory of our fallen Canadian:
Pvt Kevin Thomas McKay – Afghanistan May 13, 2010
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays
Pardon System to be Revamped
| 5/12/2010 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Canada’s Pardon system is about to see an overhaul. The Conservatives tabled a bill yesterday to make the changes. The most important changes and the ones I believe were absolutely needed is the deny pardons to those convicted of sex crimes against children and those with convictions of three or more serious offences.
In typical Harper Conservatives fashion, they are now trying to ramrod the bill through the house by raising the spectre of Karla Homolka being eligible to apply for pardon this year. Let me say quite clearly, that woman shouldn’t be even walking the streets let alone being eligible for a pardon.
It’s cleared the flawed system needed some fixing and quickly before another serious injustice occurs. So why wouldn’t the Conservatives table a carefully thought out bill with the most important changes included and leave the door open for other changes to follow? Now that would be a tad too civil.
An editorial in today’s Toronto Star says the bill goes too far. It finds that the move to change the name from Pardon to “Record Suspension” as mean spirited. Toews rationalizes that a pardon implies forgiveness and that the state is not in the business of doing so. (more…)
Local Pharmacist Needs to be Careful What He Dials Up
| 5/11/2010 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
In the last couple of weeks, on the Sundays to be exact, I’ve received a phone call which appears to come from an 800#. As I do during the week, I let calls like that go to the answering machine. When one arrives on Sunday though, I get rather irritated along the lines of do those bloody telemarketers have no limits!!
The two calls I’ve received came from a pharmacist in Port Hope which is west of where I live. I’m not and never have been a customer of his. I definitely will NEVER now be a customer of his. It’s bad enough he’s calling on Sunday but it isn’t even about whatever mundane specials he happens to be running in an effort to expand his business.
In an article in Northumberland Today the pharmacist indicates the calls could continue indefinitely. I’ve sent him an email from his website to advise him in no uncertain terms to stop making those calls to my home. He will do his cause more harm than good doing so.
In his call he urges people to call the local MPPs office to protest the cuts. I called to leave a message urging the MPP to hold the line and support the cuts. I called again today to inquire if others did the same. The lady in his office said yes, often, but was diplomatic enough not to say which was the greater numbers.
Police & Liberals Support the Gun Registry
| 5/6/2010 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
A couple of weeks ago, at a meeting of Police Chiefs, Ignatieff committed to a whipped vote on the Conservative gun registry bill. The bill is a private members bill and as such it is unusual for any party to whip (require a vote on party lines). It is also rather unusual for a bill that is part of a party’s platform to be brought to the house as a private members bill.
The bill has previously passed Parliament but had died on the order paper when Harper prorogued the House in December to avoid the detainee issue. The bill had passed the House in part as the result of 8 Liberal MPs giving it support in a free vote. The MPs had been targeted by the Conservatives as vulnerable to the issue. That doesn’t necessarily make it a free vote when the MPs in question vote as the result of political pressure.
The Canadian Association of Police Chiefs opposed the elimination of the gun registry. The consider it an important tool in fighting crime, something that the Conservatives claim as being their committed forte. In response, Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz dismissed their call to leave the registry alone as the chiefs being out of touch with the frontline officers on the street.
Guess what, the Canadian Police Association (the frontline guys), has now stepped up to call for the registry to be left alone. That sounds like a pretty loud plea from those who are sworn to serve and protect to leave this tool for police work alone. Do the Conservatives listen?
Of course not, that would be way too far off their ideological path. Government in Canada these days is not about the will of the people, it is about what Conservative ideology demands.
Ignatieff should have seen through the Conservatives ploy the first time round when they introduced the bill as a private members bill. He’s seen it now, he hadn’t better waver.
Conservatives claim that women in Canada want less crime. Apparently women voters haven’t bought that assumption of what we supposedly want, the latest poll shows a 10 point gap between the men and women who would vote Conservative.
Maybe women are more concerned about the huge cost of the Conservative’s plans for mandatory sentencing while at the same time seeing so many woman’s groups having their funding cut. Those groups meet needs in this country which work towards true equality between men and women, something Conservatives appear to be quite willing to impede.
As for this woman, leave that gun registry in place. The more tools the police have to work with to prevent serious crimes, the less we’ll pay later while the criminal lingers in prison. Prevention is way cheaper than cure.
UPDATE: Just after making this post I came across this link: Top 10 Myths About the Canadian Firearms Registry. An eye opening read.
We Will Remember Him
| 5/4/2010 | Posted by Patti under Brave Canadians |
They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them
In memory of our fallen Canadian:
PO Douglas Craig Blake – Afghanistan May 3, 2010
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays
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