PEIBlogs.com: the definitive Prince Edward Island blogroll since 2004.: General

Tim Banks.ca - Tim Banks is the CEO of APM, a Canada wide construction and property development company, with its head office in Charlottetown, PEI. My family has lived on PEI for over eight generations and I was born at the Prince County Hospital in Summerside, PEI. I am hoping someone will soon develop a blood test to authenticate when you actually become an "Islander" as I am still having problems explaining where I'm from? ^new
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Election Indigestion...
I was quickly scanning the Guardian today and I came across this article summarizing yesterday?s events on the Island Campaign trail and they summed it up as "Election Digest" but it just gave me "indigestion". Not one single good idea, just attack the other person or the other party...is this what our political system has come too? Occasionally I'll watch a report from the House of Commons and it is embarrassing and it appears that we the electorate are their training grounds during an election for all the mud slinging. Wouldn't it be "fresh" to actually see a candidate talk about some ideas and what they would like to achieve when they get to Ottawa.. I?ve had enough of this, I?m heading out to ?Dumb-darave? to see our Provincial taxpayer?s money hard at work and I?ll not going to attack anyone other than the golf ball?
Election digest
The Guardian
Harper out of touch with market crisis: Murphy
Stephen Harper?s comments on the stock market crisis representing a ?good buying opportunity?? shows that he is not in touch with average Canadians, says Liberal Shawn Murphy. ?A lot of people are struggling to make ends meet and are concerned for their future,?? said Murphy. ?They want a government that will help them ? advice on stocks is not the first thing on their minds.??Murphy said a government needs to support individuals and families during this economic downturn. ?We need to work together to weather the storm,?? he said.
Shea accuses rival of personal attacks: Shea
Gail Shea has expressed disappointment with the repeated personal attacks voiced by Egmont Liberal Keith Milligan."I am disappointed that Mr. Milligan has had to resort to personal attacks as opposed to dealing with the issues at hand,?? said Shea.Personal attacks towards Shea and the Conservative Party began with Milligan?s nomination speech, continued through the debates and up until Thursday?s article regarding the Prince County Horsemen and Summerside Raceway, Conservatives say. ?While Mr. Milligan says he supports the Prince County Horsemen, he has condemned my attempt to assist with this critical piece of Summerside infrastructure,?? said Shea.
NDP candidate urges voters to ignore myths: Pollard
Citing figures from the Department of Finance, Charlottetown NDP candidate Brian Pollard is urging voters to ignore the myths and propaganda promoted by the Liberal and Conservative parties regarding the issue of fiscal responsibility.?When the truth is told, New Democrat governments have produced fewer deficits than their rivals have,?? Pollard saidBetween 1984 and 2006, NDP provincial and territorial governments stayed out of deficit 49 per cent of the time, compared to 39 per cent for Conservative governments and only 23 per cent for Liberal governments.?As noted recently by the Progressive Economists Forum, there are times when governments need to act to protect their citizens. And sometimes that means running a deficit and incurring debt on a temporary basis.??
Liberal plan would hurt seniors, says DeBlois
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion?s plan to end pension income splitting for seniors is a bad idea for Charlottetown seniors, says Charlottetown Conservative Tom DeBlois.DeBlois made his comments in response to remarks by Liberal Leader Stephane Dion that pension income splitting was ?very, very costly?? and ?not our priority.??DeBlois also noted that the Dion Liberals had voted against allowing pension income splitting for seniors in the House of Commons.?Helping seniors keep more of their own money is important and pension income splitting is a good way to do that.??
Conservatives not party to fix economy: Murphy
The economy is in trouble and the Conservative party can?t manage the Canadian economic system, says Charlottetown Liberal Shawn Murphy.?They have been managing the government for only two-and-a-half years and in that time, they have squandered away the surplus, allowing hundreds of thousands of good jobs to disappear across the country and have yet to provide any plan or direction,?? said Murphy. ?The Liberal record speaks for itself. We inherited one of the worst fiscal messes under Mulroney and presented 10 years of good economic growth and fiscal balance. Canada needs a Liberal government . . . to clean up our current economic troubles.??
Conservatives offer nothing for future of ACOA, says Easter
Wayne Easter, Liberal candidate in Malpeque, says according to the platform released by the Conservatives, the Conservatives offer nothing for the future of ACOA other than what is currently allocated. ?If anyone believes that regional economic development is a priority for the Harper Conservatives, guess again. According to their release, the Conservatives commitment to ACOA and Atlantic Canadians for next year is over $150 million less than when they took over,?? said Easter. ?The Conservative platform promise of $300 million includes a southern Ontario strategy. ?They also have no intention of renewing the separate $400 million Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF) to increase our regions research and commercialization for our innovative industries. AIF is above regular ACOA programming.?I think it?s important for voters to know the truth ? that the Conservatives committed to reducing the budget to ACOA ? not increasing it as they now claim.??
Here We Go Again...
I get a great charge out of the Spin Doctors at Tourism...they would certainly fit well on George Bush's Speech Writing Team. Let's face it... look at the bridge numbers ...it's been a "Gentle Letdown" to say the least and to try and say Islanders travelling in our own Province is keeping us going is a bunch of crap...you could spin it another way - that Islanders are doing so poorly that they can't afford to get away, which doesn't say much for how our Government is handling the economy. A good start to the 2009 season would be to live up to the Premier's commitment and "sell the golf courses" and get some operators in that will reinvest and bring some new ideas and promotions to this industry that would lure more customers...Please, please, please stop the spin doctor crap and focus on some planning...
Islanders save P.E.I. tourism in August
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
CBC News
Despite miserable weather and a prediction of poor market conditions, tourism dropped only slightly on P.E.I. in August, thanks largely to people vacationing at home.
Overall, occupancy rates were down only 0.4 per cent in August.
The Island tourism industry appears to have been saved from disaster by Islanders travelling in their own province. Room nights sold to people from P.E.I. were up by a third over August 2007. At the same time, actual visitors appeared to be down, with travellers over Confederation Bridge and on the ferry dropping significantly. Air travel continued a long run of double-digit increases.
Travellers
By air
+17%
By ferry
-5%
By bridge
-9%
But results were mixed, depending on region and type of accommodation. Campgrounds in particular had a disastrous August, with occupancy down 15 per cent from last year.
"I knew it was down right from the get-go, really," said Bill Hogg, the owner of Sunset Campground in Cavendish.
"You keep hoping week after week. Like we would always say, it doesn't get going until mid-July, then third week of July. Then when it rained the first two weeks of August, I knew we were done." August ended up setting a P.E.I. record for rainfall in the month, with triple the average falling. "When you look at the report, you can see a mix of numbers, some good and some not as good as we would like to see," said Tourism Minister Valerie Docherty in a release.
"Global tourism is facing shifts in markets and visitation numbers. Prince Edward Island is very much holding its own considering the strong potential to break even at the end of the 2008 season. With that said, we must focus our sights on 2009 and address with industry how we get these numbers up."
Activities
Golf
-14%
Provincial museums
-9%
The South Shore region, which includes Charlottetown, was up 4.3 per cent and hotels, motels and resorts were up 1.3 per cent. Points East occupancy was down 7.5 per cent. Bed and breakfast nights sold fell 4.6 per cent.
The success of Charlottetown in August was reflected in the numbers for the activities in which people took part. The Charlottetown Festival reported its best season ever and visitors to the historic Beaconsfield home were up 42 per cent, while historic sites in every other part of the province suffered. Golf was down 14 per cent.
Wake Up IRAC...and allow competition..
Simply put, Sobeys, Wal-Mart, Loblaws, Canadian Tire, etc.. have all put a push on investing in new gas bars in Ontario and what do you get...LOWER PRICES through COMPETITION...but Islanders shouldn't worry. Once all the political appointees at IRAC are done working the election they might have some time to look at our gas prices...
Gasoline prices drop to double digits in some Ontario cities
THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY ? Pump prices are on their way down ? especially in Ontario, where some stations are posting prices below $1 per litre. The average across Canada Tuesday is about $1.14 per litre, down nearly three cents from Monday, according to the price-tracking website GasBuddy.com. Ontario has by far the cheapest prices, with Ottawa-area stations selling gas for around 99 cents per litre and Hamilton and Toronto averaging around $1.05.The oil-industry hub of Alberta normally sees the cheapest prices in the country because the product does not need to travel far to get to market. But in Calgary and Edmonton Tuesday, drivers were paying more than 10 cents more per litre than their Ontario counterparts. GasBuddy?s Jason Toews says fierce competition is what?s driving the steep price drop in Ontario ? Canada?s most populous province ? and that Alberta should follow suit soon.
Red, Covers Prince Edward Island Like The Dew...
Win or Lose, over the years I had a lot of fun working in the elections but now I'm just an armchair lackey. Back in the good old days we used polling as an important tool in helping understand what the issues were and what the electorate were looking for. Unfortunately I'll be the first to admit that once elected Governments tend to toss the polls away and start to work on their own agendas which ultimately gets them tossed out. But now-a-days a poll seems to be a tool to help the media predict the outcome of the election and in this case it maybe to sell some papers. Although this poll is a very small sample, I was predicting a similar outcome when the election was first called but about ten days ago I changed my prediction and called Easter safe and Milligan close if we were heading for a Harper majority. I don't think we're looking at any kind of majority Government so I'm now going to call a straight up Liberal Win here on PEI in spite of what this poll says. Surely if I'm right those high priced Editors at The Guardian will tap me for some free future advice before heading out to buy a poll... boys, how's Larry doing in Cardigan or do you need another poll....
Liberals on top across most of P.E.I.
BY WAYNE THIBODEAU
The Guardian
The federal Liberal party remains eight points ahead of the governing Conservatives across much of P.E.I., but those numbers may be deceiving, according to polling data. The Guardian commissioned Corporate Research Associates to find out which party Islanders are most likely going to vote for in the Oct. 14 federal election.Pollsters sampled 601 Islanders.The poll shows support for the Liberal party at 46 per cent province-wide. That compares to 41 per cent for the Conservatives. But when Egmont is removed from the polling data, support for the Liberals increases to 47 per cent while support for the Conservatives decreases to 39 per cent ? giving the Liberal party an eight-point lead. Don Mills, president and CEO of Corporate Research Associates, explains that there are wide discrepancies in the rest of P.E.I.While the sample size is too small to provide exact numbers, Mills said polling data indicates that it is a virtual dead-heat between Liberal Wayne Easter and Conservative Mary Crane.In Cardigan, Liberal Lawrence MacAulay appears to have a small but comfortable lead over Conservative Sid McMullin. But in Charlottetown, Liberal Shawn Murphy appears to have a substantial lead over Conservative Tom DeBlois. But Mills cautions that the margin of error is more than nine per cent in these riding breakdowns. ?It just says to me that there may be a couple of ridings that are going to be a lot closer than last time,? said Mills, noting that in the 2006 federal election Liberals won the seats with between 2,900 and 4,600 votes. Support for the NDP remains at eight per cent across Prince Edward Island. In Egmont, that support increases slightly to nine per cent.But the NDP remains far and away Islanders? second choice. When asked who Islanders would support if they could not support their number one choice, 31 per cent of Islanders picked the NDP. That compares to 13 per cent for the Green Party, 10 per cent for the Liberals and eight per cent for the Conservatives. The Green Party?s support remains at five per cent across the province. Support is weaker in Egmont, where only three per cent say they?re most likely to vote Green.In terms of leadership, support for Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper remains strong across P.E.I.When asked which one of the following individuals would you most prefer as prime minister of Canada, 36 per cent of Islanders picked Harper ? an 11-point lead over his Liberal rival. Liberal Leader Stephane Dion was the choice of 25 per cent of Islanders.NDP Leader Jack Layton came in third with 17 per cent while the Green Party?s Elizabeth May placed fourth with five per cent. The Guardian commissioned Corporate Research Associates to conduct the poll. There were 601 Islanders interviewed. The margin of error is plus or minus four percentage points 19 times out of 20.The interviews were conducted Sept. 29-Oct. 5. In Egmont, 251 interviews were conducted over the same time period. The margin of error is plus or minus 6.2 per cent 19 times out of 20. In 2006, Mills said Islanders gave the Liberals 53 per cent support while the Conservatives, who were shut out in the last election, had 33 per cent.Now, Liberal support has fallen to 46 per cent province wide while the Conservatives are at 41 per cent. ?There is an opportunity for the Conservatives to pick up a seat.?The Guardian will have more from the Corporate Research Associates? poll on Wednesday, including a closer look at what issues are on the minds of Island voters.
Only on PEI you say....
It certainly is a wonderful place we live in; a tractor trailer drives through our economy today smashing our world financial markets which will eventually impact all of us. So I get home tonight and I scan through our local CBC, Guardian and Journal websites to get some sense of just how bad it was and the biggest news from our Island media was some woman smashing into the courthouse. Nothing on the economy, WHY WORRY ABOUT THE ECONOMY.... In the old days we Islanders may have been somewhat insulated from what was happening in the rest of the world but I've got a sneaking suspicion that this is not the case now. Pretty soon we're going to get a lot of those people who moved out West coming back looking for jobs as the money out there is going to dry up...if we think our tourism has been down the last few years, think again as the rest of North America will not have the disposable income to travel... our farmers, fishers and manufacturers are like the rest of the Country with 75% of our exports to the US and they don't have any money... Maybe some stories on how we can work together to manage our way through this mess would be refreshing...

A Sparrow's Home - islandsparrow's journal
(Added: 17-Dec-2006 Hits: 200 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Thankful . . .

Joining Suzanne for Friday’s Fav 5
and Ann V. for Endless Gifts - they seem to go well together :)
“The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.”
Henry Ward Beecher
My thankful list - so many to choose from this week.
1. Living on an Island surrounded by tidy farmhouses
rolling hills
and the sea
2. A woodshed almost full and a hard-working husband who feels happy when he provides
3. The never-ending tomato plants … October and still producing!
4. Golden light of early morning
radiant light and deep shadow
5. Thanksgiving this weekend - time to worship and celebrate with family and friends
Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!
Warmest wishes for a blessed weekend.
of men and affections

Thoreau got this right: ?Every man looks at his wood pile with a kind of affection.?
(Walden, Or, Life In The Woods)
fun . . .

A perfect day to wander across an Island with a camera and a friend
click to enlargeNo plans but following country roads,
wide open fields,
stopping whenever something makes you smile ~ like this pumpkin parade
Finding little treasures ~ who knew that lupines bloom in the fall?
and of course, on a small Island, you are never far from the beach.
Click to enlarge
And if you know me
and my friend
then you know we’re never far from the beach :)
There is always something interesting happening there.
A spotted sandpiper
click to enlarge

Wild geese in flight
awesome cloud formations
click to enlarge
And of course you always have to test the water temperature for swimming.
Too cold today? Shoot!
Oh well …

Playing beach shadows is entertaining too.
Plan a fun day - everyone needs time to play :)
capturing beauty . . .

“Winter is an etching,
spring a watercolor,
summer an oil painting
and autumn, a mosaic of them all.”
- Stanley Horowitz
My friend Rinda and I are heading out today to capture some autumn beauty on film.
As I head out, I’ll be thinking of you, my blogging friends.
I like that about blogging.
It’s as if I take you with me - looking at the beauty around me with a new perspective, wanting to share it with you, and hoping that it blesses you.
It makes me happy.
May your day be rich and full of blessings.
Lovingly,
Kathie
Friday's Fav 5

1. My burning bush and learning how to do drop shadow in PSP - fun!
2. Watching the “Get Used To Sophie” project progress
Note Sophie’s resigned look - those kitties are eating out of her bowl!
Proof of success - eating together. Even Little Jack has been won over.
3. Just playing…

A basket of goodies.
click to view
click to view
click to view
click to view
A record of days
Tutorial on Visual Homemaking Journal
Thanks Ann!
4. little Fall beauties
5. Harp workshop tomorrow!
Making music with friends.
These are just a few of my favourites of the week
adding to my endless gift list.

Thanks to Suzanne and Ann!
Have a blessed weekend my friends!

Acts of Volition - General (mostly technical, but sometimes political) blog from SilverOrange's technical director
(Added: 9-Jul-2004 Hits: 485 Rating: 5 Votes: 0) Rate It

The island nation of Iceland is for sale on eBay ?
The island nation of Iceland is for sale on eBay - I bet the shipping will be a killer.
If ever a product was to be recalled before it ?
If ever a product was to be recalled before it was actually for sale, this would be it: Playskool's Kota the Triceratops.
X-ray art for your next flight.
X-ray art for your next flight.
Joshua Allen Harris' Inflatable Bag Monsters ?
Joshua Allen Harris' Inflatable Bag Monsters - very cool.
Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static ?
Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene - powerful (creepy?) video enhancement technique.

All Shanadian - 100% All Shanadian..er..I mean Canadian. Join me in adventures that promise to be absolutely shandalous! - Shannon Courtney
(Added: 21-May-2005 Hits: 411 Rating: 5.50 Votes: 2) Rate It

I'm Cheating..Kind Of
Well, I promised to write more often now that I'm settled in Kingston and apparently have loads of time to watch TLC's What Not to Wear, and discover the delights of indpendent shops in Kingston such as Cooke's Fine Foods, which provides a much appreciated venue for alleviating ALL withdrawal symptoms experienced since leaving Scotland. So, yes, I should have time to write a blog post, but as
TIME TO TURN THE PAGE
This summer I neglected the person who needs me the most: me. Somehow, amidst the endless summer engagements, my manic workload, and the whole 'wrap up one life, begin another one' saga, I forgot to look after myself. And, as I found out the hard way, there are all sorts of repurcussions to getting caught up in everything that's going on 'outside' and ignoring what's going on 'inside'. So here I
ACK!!
I can't believe it's been almost two months since I posted. I need only look at the last date of my posting to determine the approximate time when life went from being busy to being ridiculous. Seriously, I feel like I've not had a spare moment to breathe in the last 6 weeks. Both my body and my mind are in disrepair due to the lack of care I have been showing them. Well, what can I say?
Tip to Tip - More Than Half Way to Somewhere
Saturday night I have the luxury of sleeping in my own bed. I took my bike on the bus back to Charlottetown as a precaution. Just in case I get no sleep, I want the option of taking the short trip on Sunday. It strikes me that my propensity to commit to something is entirely dependent on the circumstances and, perhaps, amount of alcohol I?ve consumed. It took me about two seconds to commit
Tip to Tip - A Spirited Adventure of Spandex and Generosity
DAY TWO OF FOUR I cannot sleep. For the love of me, I cannot sleep. I spend the majority of the night tossing and turning, sneaking peeks at the bedside clock. At one point I even pull my sheets off the bed and try out the floor. Sleeping is normally not a problem for me ? I?m good to go once I?ve put my earplugs in and turned the light out. Fred?s company also helps, but there wasn?t room for

Anyone for Golf - Comments about just about anything I find interesting - binderpilot
(Added: 31-Jan-2006 Hits: 288 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Saw Something Stupid Today
Miles is away for a few days so I have been coming into the office. Parking is always a problem downtown so I decided to bite the bullet and use the Pownal Street parkade, pay my six dollars a day and avoid trying to figure out when the meter guy is coming around to spread his special brand of cheer.

This isn't a huge parkade with its 4 levels, probably room for about 300 cars. I think its pretty typical in design with the ends being open so the air can blow through, concrete construction throughtout, no decoration or paint. But it does have something that is pretty impressive, a full blown sprinkler system. And I mean a sprinkler system, pipes like you wouldn't believe, they go everywhere and the size of them makes your arse muscles tighten up. Through the centre there are these big 4" to 5" round pipes that go vertically the whole height of the building and then there are two extensions of 4" pipe that run horizontally the length of each floor.. From these, pipes of about 2 " branch out between the concrete beams with sprinkler heads about every 20 feet. There must be miles of the stuff in there.

Makes you feel so safe knowing that in the event that someones car catches fire the concrete won't get burned up. If the system ever goes off, hope you're not at houseparty in Charlottetown taking an emergency dump in their bathroom because there will be no water left to wash away the pile you have left behind.

I have never seen a car on fire, I must have driven a million miles and lots of it in traffic but have never come across smouldering heaps of twisted steel and glass with the tires burnt off them. When I look at this building I somehow think I must be missing something, because I can't envision anyone making a builder install a sprinkler system that would have the capacity to extinguish the Great Chicago fire unless there was a pretty high probability it was going to happen. And if it did happen the fire department is just around the corner, wouldn't they just haul a hose over and put it out.

Last time I checked CONCRETE DOESN"T BURN. I wish I hadn't seen the damn thing now because suddenly I resent paying the six dollars a day when 50% of the cost is in a sprinkler system that will never be used and if it wasn't there they would only charge me three dollars.

I hate bureaucrats and inspectors and regulators they are screwing up the world with their rules and regulations. In the paper the last few days there has been a story about a couple from Illinois who bought a summer home in North Rustico for themselves and there 11 children and grandchildren to use. They leased it over the winter to a family with an expiration date of the lease in April. The people refused to move out, they say the owners shouldn't have the right to use the property for their summer holidays. Apparently issues like this go to IRAC who are the rental enforcers. Guess what, the people are still there, but horror of horrors for them IRAC is going to send them a letter.

Same thing happened in Murray River a few years ago, people stopped paying but decided to keep living in the house.the owners couldn't get them out. It went on for a year or more and when the owners showed up with a truck to move the renters stuff out were told by the RCMP they would be arrested if they tried. The worlds a crazy place!!
-------------------------------------------------------- Talk is cheap, but it takes money to buy whiskey. Grandfather Bill Kinnee 1900 - 1977 --------------------------------------------------------
Svend Robinson
I came across this and realized I had never posted it after writing it, I'm not really a redneck but this guy has always gotten under my skin. This was when he was caught stealing the ring for his boyfriend. The next day I heard the former long distance runner Bruce Kidd on the radio going on about Todd Bertuzzi and Dany Heatly, there ws something about the whole thing that made me see red.

I see in the newpaper that Svend Robinson is going to challenge Hedy Fry in the riding of Vancouver Centre. Please, Please Hedy kick the daylights out of this guy at the polls so I never have to be revolted by either seeing him on TV again or listening to him spout his self serving and ridiculous crap again.

I was listening to Bruce Kidd the other morning on CBC radio as he was making the case for not allowing Todd Bertuzzi or Dany Heatley represent Canada at the Olympic games because they didn?t represent what he thought was the stereotype of a typical Canadian and their values. I get sick of these guys with their righteous indignations, but then I guess its our right as Canadians to have opinions, that is, its OK if your opinion happens to support the belief system of the touchy feely boys.

Ok Bruce you have the right to say you don?t think they are fit to be hockey players and represent Canada because of the rough tough life they live, well I don?t think that Svend is fit to be a Member of Parliament.

Todd Bertuzzi was one of the participants in an unfortunate accident where Steve Moore from Colorado who blindsided one of Bertuzzi?s teammates wouldn?t take the honourable route and settle things the way they have always been settled in Canadian hockey with a good old 30 second fight. And Dany Heatley as a young man with a Ferrarri was involved in a car accident in which his friend was killed, terrible thing and he has repeatedly said his irresponsibility is going to haunt him forever. So those two incidents make them unfit to play hockey for Canada. I watched the many press conferences these guys had to endure, and you know what, I was a heck of a lot more convinced that the tears these MEN shed were a lot more real than anything that Svend squeezed out. And you know the difference they weren?t crying over themselves, they were torn apart by what happened to someone else as a result of actions they took which they freely admitted they were responsible for, thats what real men do, not whine about themselves. Did I hear you say they should be in the same category as those using drugs?
Lets hear about Robinson and what his special personality traits are that make him a prime candidate for helping run our country from information I have seen the follwoing is pretty representative of this guy.

* Married his high school sweetheart but she divorced him when he cheated on her with a man.Way to go Svend thats what being a Canadian is all about. Don?t you think the RIGHT thing to do was to speak to her and tell her about your feelings for men instead of her having to catch you.
*Became an alcoholic as his way to cope with his mothers death.My mother died to but I don?t recall needing to have a drink 20 times a day to make me right. We all have major times of tragedy in our lives but the rest of us pick up the pieces and move on, its called strength of character Svend.
*Became a lawyer, but left the profession after a year.Way to stick it out Svend
* Was removed by his party as Justice critic after he publicly came out in favour of establishing red light districts and making whorehouses legal.Just what we need to help prop up the families of the nation, a whorehouse on every corner. Tommy Douglas, Stanley Knowles and David Lewis the architects of the core human rights we enjoy would roll over in their graves if they knew the causes their beloved NDP party was now promoting. Svend even you are way to far to the left for the likes of Jack Layton.
* Heckles President Ronald Reagan in the House of Commons after he has accepted an invitaion to address the MP?s.Most people learn on their mothers knee that you are polite to a guest. What a dork you are Svend to go headline hunting with such a cheap exhibition to a captive audience.
*Sentenced to jail for criminal contemptHelps kill Sue Rodriguez and my guess was this was more about publicity than compassion
* Gets hurt while hiking and credits his love for his boyfriend as the reason he survived by crawling 400 yards.What kind of a gooney bird is this guy, he sprained his ankle.
* Tables a petition in the House of Commons to remove the word God from the preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.Svend before I checked up on you I just dismissed you as being a bit misguided but now I am seeing a pattern emerging, I don?t think you are a nice person.
* Travels to the Middle East to try an see Yassar Arafat, who refuses to meet with him.Even Yassar knows a fruit cake when he sees one and he won?t even let this one in the country let alone in his office.
* After a few days in Israel and no one will give him the time of day he pronounces that Israel is guity of torture and murder. He then resigns as NDP Foreign policy critic.Wow Svend you sure showed them a thing or two.
* Svend steals a $64,000.00 diamond ring and after he realizes he has been caught on tape (anyone who doesn?t think he got tipped off please step forward - no one thats what I thought) he fesses up.His track record to this point makes me question a lot of things about this bird, this clinches it this guy is a cheating, lying, publicity seeking, unbelieving, man with no sense of morality, nothing more than a petty thief who is not above trying to use every ounce of political correctness to his advantage to have to get off. What a weasel
* Instead of standing up like a man and admitting his guilt he whines about how his love for his partner and the stress he was under made him do it, so he really wasn?t responsible.Come on Svend even an wanker like me knows from my limited exposure to Doctor Phil that there is some serious sick stuff going on in the head of anyone who can?t accept repsonsibility for their actions.

And you know what, I bet the NDP leadership is cheering Hedy on, come on Hedy, put on those stompin boots, get his raisins into those vice grips! I think the NDP leadership all got the same sick feeling in their stomachs when he announced his return as Lucy had when she moaned her famous lament, ?Aaaaarrrrggggh? my lips touched dog lips?

So Bruce baby I rest my case. This sick depraved, spineless piece of humanity isn?t suitable in my opinion to be elected to be a local dog catcher let alone be given a stage like the house of Commons.

But wait there is a special kind of disgusting reality called political correctness that will protect this puppy. He can?t be held responsible for anything because, if he is ever criticized for anything, he plays the ?you are discriminating against me because I am gay card?. PS I have some gay friends and they?re darn nice people, No wonder this country is in such trouble.
-------------------------------------------------------- Talk is cheap, but it takes money to buy whiskey. Grandfather Bill Kinnee 1900 - 1977 --------------------------------------------------------
The Big Apology
The world is filled with stories of good intentions gone bad and bad people put in positions of trust. There is nothing right about what happened in the past with the aboriginal schools, but the Canadian conscience once it became aware of the realities of what took place has responded correctly. The issue I have is not with the present Government, but with the spineless milksops that came before them.

But I can assure you I will not be dressing in sackcloth and pouring ashes on my head over mistakes made by others in past generations, but as a society my hope would be that we gravitate towards being a more understanding and thoughtful people because of those mistakes.

Having lived close to 4 reserves out west, Sweetgrass, Poundmaker, Red Pheasant and Cochin and daily observing first nations peoples I can tell you I have absolutely no understanding of why the conditions on many reserves are as they are when I saw the resources that were available to the bands. Sweetgrass and Poundmaker both had excellent farmland on them and it was available to any Indian who wanted to farm along with all kinds of assistance to get them started.

Housing was available to anyone who wanted it, the effort was minimal on their part. It used to burn me when I was working myself to exhaustion and barely keeping ahead of the game that many Indians I knew never seemed to do a days work but somehow had a better vehicle than I could afford. They started a plant on the one reserve to produce prebilt homes for the reserves in the area. This came along with training, good wages, the best of tools and working conditions but in no time at all, no one showed up for work, all the tools and lumber had been stolen and the place was left to rot.

There is lots of talk about the value of the native culture and tradition as being the good old days and how it has been taken from them. I can't see why anyone would want to return to the poverty, living conditions, disease from a past that is nostalgically looked on as the good old days of life as a hunter gatherer. But its hard to grasp how defined group of people can expect to enjoy the benefits of a modern society, with cars, 4 wheelers, ski doos, canned food, electricity, televisions sets, etc without fully participating in an economy and contributing on the same terms as everyone else.

But maybe there is a solution, the plains indian lived off the buffalo, well maybe we could start raising buffalo in captivity and provide the men in each reserve with horses, spears and bows and arrows. We could then turn one or two buffalo loose each day and they could hunt them down, hack themm to bits and lug them home. It might take a while to accumulate enough skins to make tents and clothes so we could provide them enough from a tannery to get them started. A couple of big stocked ponds should provide fish and we should make detours around the reserves so they could be isolated again. Make it easy to get back to living like prehistoric man again. maybe that would be the best solution, but somehow I don't think that is what they want.

What I have seen is indians who want everything modern, want it paid for by someone else and to put as little effort as possible into getting it. Think have you ever seen an indian with a job? My experience with the indian kids I went to school with was this, while going to school there was no difference between them and anyone else but after leaving school it didn't take long to catch onto the fact that you could do better by doing nothing than by working. Of all the Indians I knew only one worked hard enough to achieve anything, the rest just went onto permanent pogey.

Like I said I can't understand and am glad I'm not charged with the responsibility of addressing and finding solutions to the multitude of aboriginal issues that swirl around.
-------------------------------------------------------- Talk is cheap, but it takes money to buy whiskey. Grandfather Bill Kinnee 1900 - 1977 --------------------------------------------------------
Residential Schools
I see that Stephen Harper is doing the right thing, its about time Everyone knows how wrong it was and the Prime Minister is making an apology on behalf of the people of Canada. It is not any different from the unjustices done to the Japanese as a result of internment or the Chinese because of the head tax or the sterilization of individuals deemed to be slow by the Province of Alberta.

What repulses me is that a series of Governments did not have the fortitude to acknowledge that all these practices were wrong and do it in a timely fashion. Liberal and Conservative alike ignore taking steps to do the right thing until eventually it happens and then everyone jumps on the bandwagon. I don't give much serious credibility to those who attach them selves to what is now tainted with political correctness. The problem as we look back in history is that it is difficult to view these and many others issues in the context of the time and prevailing attitudes that existed. Governments and courts will continue to make grievous errors today that when examined in 40 years I am sure will be judged to be insensitive and harmful but will be supported today. A good example is the Provincial Nominee programs, it is nothing more than the 2000 version of the old head tax except now its not $500.00 but about $140,000.00.

The unaccountable will of Governments will continue to treat its citizens as only a cut above criminals if they feel anyone is infringing upon their agendas and will continue to do so. If anyone thinks that these apologies are driven by any thing more substantive than a tinge of guilt sprinkled on a plate full of political agenda you are much less skeptical than I am. But anyway, good for Stephen Harper he's more of a man than the busloads of pretenders that came before him.
-------------------------------------------------------- Talk is cheap, but it takes money to buy whiskey. Grandfather Bill Kinnee 1900 - 1977 --------------------------------------------------------
The Queen of Mean
Everyone leaves some kind of legacy behind them when they die. Its probably something that most of us don't think about until we are to old to effecively do something about it. But that legacy is usually going to fall into one of three categories, either positive, negative or neutral.

I've known some people who fall into the neutral category which may be the greatest indicator of a wasted life. Mostly because it indicates someone who never had any time for anyone but themselves, remained isolated and went through life with no passion or involvement, the best that can be said is they didn't do any damage, but then they never contributed either. There is a parabble in the bible about that its the people that were given talents and one decided to bury theirs and do nothing with it.

Unfortunately I know to many people whose legacy is negative. Lots of those people can be outgoing and pleasant to be around, but when it comes down to it they will have made the lives of others miserable. Adept at political correctness they are worse than those who make no bones about it and are plain unpleasant to people. One marchs down the street amd carries a banner and trumpet making the world aware to keep your distance or I will make you sorry. The other in sheeps clothing lulling everyone into a false sense of security but waiting for the opportunity to slyly spread their special kind of misery around.

I love to surround myself with positive people, those who honestly have a true sense of obligation and compassion for those around them. These people will have slips from time to time but its easy to forgive them because you know they have a good heart.

I hope people remember me for the good things I have done.

Leona Helmsly who recently died at the age of 87 will be remembered as "The Queen of Mean". she was given the tag name during her trial for tax evasion for which she went to prison. Even though she was a legitimate billionaire her true nature was so strong she couldn't help but try and put one over on the IRS. It was revealed that her style was to terrorize the people who worked for her and who needed a job. In the last few years of her life she tried to rectify things by giving away about $30. To little to late though, the "Queen of Mean is what her legacy will be, she should have thought about it earlier.
-------------------------------------------------------- Talk is cheap, but it takes money to buy whiskey. Grandfather Bill Kinnee 1900 - 1977 --------------------------------------------------------

CEOBlues - CEO of SilverOrange, and President of the Internet
(Added: 9-Jul-2004 Hits: 472 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

The Upside of a Down Economy

Apparently it has something to do with being a resource based economy. Whatever the cause, our dollar is loosing its value against the US dollar. Being a company that has a lot of US based clients this is a very good thing for us. We'll keep our fingers crossed that it will offset the downside. We're not quite sure what the downside of the economic crash is for us yet but we'll keep you posted.

1 USD = 1.16799 CAD

Handy Google Finance chart
Immigrant Investment - Hard to be Unbiased

I'm committing a bit of heresy. A fellow co-worker told me this morning that there was a piece in the Guardian this past weekend stating that many of those who have been reporting in the local news about the immigrant investment going ons have actually benefited (i.e. received money) from the program.

While the auditor general is investigating the program and the RCMP are investigating claims of fraud (limited to one or two individuals is my understanding) I'm still suspicious that the larger infractions will be swept under the rug.

Here on little ol' PEI almost everyone has been affected by this program. There have been thousands of investments in a province with only thousands of people in it. The people who have no doubt benefited the most from this program will be the business elite and the brokers themselves.

The press is targeting the wrong group. I personally do not care if MLA's businesses received funding through the program. If they were legit businesses that qualify for the program then they have a right to it. This is NOT where the majority of the abuse has taken place. The majority of the abuse is surely to be found within the brokers and within the business that do not qualify for the program. I would also suggest that some law firms/accounting firms may have gotten their hands dirty as well. I have heard unconfirmed reports of lawyers setting up shell corporations to receive investments and businesses specifically excluded from the program (i.e Real Estate & Professional Services) receiving investment.

This is not a political issue so please drop the "Liberal this" and "Conservative that" BS. This is a greed issue.

The real abuses of this program will more-than-likely never see the light of day as almost everyone, the press, the business elite, the fund-raisers, the politicians (in all parties), all have been involved. I suspect that only an all out RCMP investigation would be able to get to the bottom of this.

Start with the brokers and follow the trail from there.
Look Out Below

During the high winds we had on Friday a blower contraption launched off the roof of an abandoned building down the street from us and crashed into the sidewalk. Thankfully no one was hurt. I've shown a sketch of its path down to earth and what could have been.

What are the rules when it comes to buildings like this? It's been for sale for a few years but has been falling apart. The roof has been ransacked by teens. The shingles have been blown off by storms. The entire building is gradually falling apart. Short of someone buying it and fixing it up can the city do anything?
Immigrant Investment - Under The Microscope

The auditor general announced he's going to do a complete audit of the program. Hopefully he'll dig deep enough to find out if money was actually given to worthy companies, not just make sure all of the debits and credits line up.

I have a feeling that a lot of important and successful business people will not be too happy about this program being audited.
Immigrant Investment - Show Me The Money

So where is this $400,000,000? It would be very interesting to see the list of businesses that have received investment and how much they received. We don't need to know who the investors were/are just where the money went. Is this information made public in any way? Can we extrapolate it? Maybe make our own list? Request for it to be released?

Charlottetown | Ward3 | Brighton - Blog from Charlottetown city councillor Rob Lantz. See also his personal blog Freelantz.ca
(Added: 21-Mar-2007 Hits: 224 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Fri., July 25th, Get Out Your Picnic Blankets
Canada Day is coming back to Victoria Park. All the complaints that traditional family-oriented celebrations have taken a back seat to other activities at the Festival of Lights have prompted City Council to revive this popular event. We are not intending to compete with the FoL, but the idea is to run a parallel, scaled-down [...]
Thu., July 17th, Post-Festival Analysis
Members of the downtown business community recently asked for a meeting with City Council to discuss the future of the Festival of Lights. The meeting took place last Tuesday evening with about 60 to 70 business operators attending, as well as representatives from Tourism Charlottetown Inc., the agency that produces the festival. Council heard one [...]
Thu., July 17th, Commission Orders City to Rezone Property
The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission has ordered the City to overturn a decision last February to deny a rezoning application. The CBC reports that current occupants now fear forced removal from the property. The crux of the IRAC’s decision is a ‘Future Land Use’ map in the City’s official plan showing this property under [...]
Thu., July 10th, Letter from an Editor
The City has received many complaints about the recent Festival of Lights from residents of downtown Charlottetown. I’ve heard others call these people “whiners”. I can tell you, these people have very legitimate complaints. I’ve heard some horrible stories about the things residents had to endure over the course of this event. On the other hand, [...]
Sun., July 6th, Victoria Park Cycling Lane
My boys and I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony last week for the new bicycle lane at Victoria Park. We cycled from one end to the other and back, and as Brodie said, “We won.” I’ve used the lane several times in the past week and I’m happy to see that bicycle traffic is picking [...]

Charlottetown, PE, Canada - This community is for residents (and former residents) of the city of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The purpose is for users to share information about events, cool places to visit, fun things to do, cool people to meet, and any other pertinent information regarding the city.
(Added: 8-Aug-2005 Hits: 379 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Possible Move to P.E.I.
My husband and I are considering a move there when I finish college and I'm looking for opinions/advice from people that actually live there. Is the job market ok (doesn't need to be great) and what is housing like there also.

TIA

Fiona
Visiting Charlottetown this summer
Hi! I'm visiting Charlottetown this summer. I'm staying with some fabulous person via the Couchsurfing Project- it's a gambe but I've read great reviews about her.

I'm of course an Anne fan, yadda yadda, but I'm also interested in the natural beauty and environment of the Island. I'm interested in Canadian culture in general, after all, I'm American! We think everything you do is cooler.

Here's the rub- I'm super, mega broke. I'm driving up there with a few friends who will be able to share expenses for some things, but for others I'm on my own. I want to have the opportunity to eat some good seafood, see some of the Anne schlock, etc...

The host said she might be able to get me a comp for the musical, which ROCKS.

I'm looking for different ideas on how to save money. Are you a seafood catcher person? Want to take me clamming in exchange for, uh, something New Yorky?

I'm looking for various barters for things I can either bring to you or do. I can usher for comps to a show, for instance. I'm willing to bring you things you can't get in PEI, as long as they are LEGAL!!!!! perishables like NY bagels or pizza are probably out, since we're taking a week to get there.

Feel free to email me or AIM me (Astoriaunt) and talk NY or PEI. I'd love money saving tips! Where can we wash dishes for a fantastic meal? etc....

I'll be there from the 9th to the 14th of august, if that makes a difference...

THANKS IN ADVANCE!
charlottetownpe @ 2007-04-30T11:40:00
hi everyone,

i'm kelly and i'm 22. i'm a newfoundlander but now live in charlottetown with my boyfriend and chihuahua. i don't know very many people here yet, but would like to! i'm looking to add new lj friends and if we're compatible, perhaps we could hang out down the road. check out my userinfo and if you're interested, add me or comment on my friends-only post and i'll add you back!

♥
charlottetownpe @ 2007-02-01T07:02:00
Hi everyone - I hope this is ok. I have set up a community for Islanders or folks that are interested in PEI. Please feel free to join if that strikes your fancy. :)

peisland
Anyone??? lol
Wake up Charlottetown!!!!!

Cre8ive1 - A life on Prince Edward Island. Photos. A fine selection of music to listen to while you surf.
(Added: 3-Jul-2006 Hits: 236 Rating: 9.93 Votes: 17) Rate It

Indian Summer!
What a wonderful "Indian Summer" day it's been! I did a whole lot of gardening and outdoor chores. Friends dropped by unexpectedly and we had a grand time. We had refreshments on the deck as it was wonderfully warm and sunny. We took a drive to the beach and encountered two hang gliders playing in the breeze. They steered themselves up and down the coast. A couple in leathers, on one
In These Walls
I chose a random photo today. Closed my eyes, chose a file then chose a photo - eyes closed; A sunny beach at almost sunset time. I experienced a strange dream sequence last night. I had two dreams in a row about people with strong political ties and ties to each other politically and personally. There were two entirely separate dreams where I was actively participating in both. The
La Vie En Pomme
Today feels like my first day off. Monday was filled with cleaning and awaiting visitors. Tuesday was filled with cooking, then potlucking. (Is potlucking a verb?) Today the only thing I truly had to do was wash my hair. I've also cleaned and cooked but nothing or no one was making me do it. I have an apple crisp in the oven and some prep for supper done but could stop right now if I
Seaside Sitting
I am one stuffed woman. We had a potluck staff party this afternoon and let me tell you, the food was fantastic. I feel like I won't have to eat for a week. It's neat how it all works out at potlucks. No one discussed what they were bringing but everyone brought something different and all courses were covered. I brought appetizers. We had ribs, lasagna, a rice dish, cheesy scalloped
Halleluja
I am so upset. My friends from Australia and Summerside, PEI were here for a visit this afternoon and I didn't get a photo. Two of the women were taking photos and I was being photographed but forgot to pick up my own camera. I'm thinking of calling the house where they are having dinner and arranging to meet for a late night photo. I can easily drop in and make it happen. There were five

Doug Hall's Brain Brew Café - American Inventor judge and Eureka! Ranch CEO Doug Hall summers in Springbrook PEI. This is his Brainbrew blog.
(Added: 23-Dec-2004 Hits: 351 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Tue., November 6th, AUDIO: Using your Suppliers to build your Innovation Supply Chain

This week Doug talks to Bill Small from MMTC West - The MEP center for western Michigan about how to use your supply chain - your vendors and suppliers to help you think smarter about innovation. Bill has pioneered bringing together Big Companies with their smaller suppliers. It's a powerful concept that all companies large and small can use to accelerate their growth.
Tue., October 23rd, AUDIO - BBQ Co Finds Overt Benefit - Category Credibility Gap, Pakistani Co. Steals Sales
BRAIN BREW CAFE is a 10-minute weekly broadcast of ideas and insights to help you grow your business.

This week you'll hear...
1. A true story of how an Oklahoma company found their Overt Benefit Difference
2. New data on the CATEGORY CREDIBILITY GAP
3. How a Pakistani company stole half the sales of an Arkansas manufacturer in a surprising way
read more
Wed., September 26th, Begin With P-A-S-S-I-O-N!

Aretha wanted some R-E-S-P-E-C-T and I?d like to see some P-A-S-S-I-O-N! Where has it all gone? It?s missing from just about every part of our lives...

read more
Mon., September 10th, Are You Afflicted by E.L.K. Syndrome??

I once entered a client?s office and saw a picture very similar to this one?with one MAJOR exception?the herd of Elk was walking ? RIGHT OFF A CLIFF!

read more
Thu., August 9th, Buying Inventions!

Within the next week or so we will be announcing a new service where we purchase inventions on behalf of clients.

The idea for this service has been a long time in coming.

It grew out of my time as judge on American Inventor.

IT IS NOT an invention promotion company - rather we will be INVENTION BUYERS

What has happened is that Eureka! Ranch clients have in effect outsourced the cleaning, screening and licensing of inventions to us.

Doug

E.T. Concentrators - Stories and pictures of events and places around Parkdale from the early 50's to the late 70's.
(Added: 1-Sep-2007 Hits: 75 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Boarders
Here is an Email from our Cousin Basil.

Hi Carl
This happens to be one of the 'boarders' that you mentioned in your blog. I know that they were many but perhaps not many stayed as long as I did. April 1949 to Nov. 1951. In fact I was either there or heard about it shortly after it happened, that is the biting incident that you wrote about. You were without a doubt a little 'geezer'.
Thought the photo might interest your for two reasons. Firstly this is the working dress of the Mounties in the 50's. Quite different then the way they dress now. Secondly this is the Highway Patrol Car used at the Bridgewater Detachment. It was a 1953 Meteor 2 door, flathead V8 with standard transmission. I do not recall, in my time there, of anyone out running this vehicle. Lastly the photo was taken in Lunenburg County in either the fall of 53 or spring of 54.

I remember Basil coming to live with us, I was only 2 at the time, but boy was he fun to have around.
When Basil applied for the RCMP he had to write an exam and to prepare for it ,
he and Mother would sit at the kitchen table going over and over the work, as a kid I din't think he would ever finish and play with me.
The day Basil left for the RCMP Mother and I walked down to the train crossing to wave good bye.
Below is a video clip from Mom and Dad's 60th wedding anniversary, Basil is paying tribute to Mother "for being the first woman to pass the RCMP exam".
Every time Basil came back to visit and later with Nancy and their 9 children Mother and Dad would be so excited and proud of him.
One rainy day Basil showed up at our school to drive me home in a car he had just bought, I recall it being a coupe probably mid 30's.
Basil you never showed me which house Mr. Mount Stewart lived in, I don't think it was the one with the old man sitting on the front step that you yelled
"Hello Mr. Stewart".
Pex On CBC with Karen Mair "LIVE FROM THE 36"
That Was No Picnic For This Teddy Bear
Last night we went to the Confederation Centre to see a Charlottetown Rural High School play. It was very good with great acting, singing, music and of course costumes.
With a lot of things it triggered a memory of mine and a play we did at the WI Hall many years ago.
Our old school on Linden Avenue has been torn down, Bull Dog Demolition completed the job. Dick McGuigan?s company. A good Parkdale boy too!! Lucky for him "Chief" wasn't around.

In back of the school was the WI Hall which is long gone after catching fire some years ago.
As I related in previous stories, this old hall was the scene of many concerts and events for many years and was the centre of entertainment for Parkdale.
I?m thinking back now to a particular school concert we held there probably in late spring,
I recall it was quite warm in the hall.

Our class was putting on a play and I was to dress up as a Bear.
There was no Value Village or Froggies in this era, in fact there was no such thing as giving away old clothing. Even our underwear was handed down from oldest to youngest, thank goodness I had older brothers as well as sisters.
I remember telling Mother I needed a costume for the play and I was to be a Bear.
Mother had many things to get accomplished before worrying about a costume. We practised the play and my Teacher would enquire how my costume was coming along and I?d Say
?OK, I guess?
The day arrived and I still didn?t have a costume and I continued to ask Mom to make me one. Finally she sent me down to the store to but a 10cent package of RITT DYE, dark brown. At last I would get my costume.
Remember we were a family of 8 kids , me being the last, so their was neither extra time nor money for wasteful things like costumes.
Much to my horror Mother came down stairs with an old pair of Long Johns, you know the kind, the ones with the trap door on the rear end. She dyed the underwear brown and hung them on the clothes line to dry.

Next she sent me upstairs to fetch my old Teddy Bear, the one I was supposed to have grown too old to play with, does anyone ever get too old to love their Teddy Bear?
She took the Teddy and cut his head off and pulled out the stuffing.
I ?m still shaking at the sight of my Teddy being killed in front of my eyes. Off we walked to the Hall and mom and I went in the kitchen to get me dressed.
It was full of other kids putting on their costumes over their clothes, boys and girls. Mom told me to strip down to my shorts!
?No way not in front of these girls?!
?Don?t be so foolish, they can?t see you?!
Yea right.
I obeyed Mother and stripped down to my underwear, actually they were probably Niall?s or Gord?s old pair.
I pulled on my ?costume? knowing full well it was really an old pair of Long John?s dyed brown with a faulty trap door just waiting to open and expose me to the world .
This was not going to fool anyone!
I then placed the eviscerated head of my recently departed Teddy over my head and stumbled on to the stage for my bit part.
All I recall is realizing there I am , standing in front of all those people in my underwear wearing my Teddy?s head over mine.

It is an eerie feeling looking out from in side the body of your recently departed best friend feeling your warm breath filling the cavity and imagining your Teddy is coming to life and has eaten me in revenge.
I didn?t think I could make it through that afternoon with out dying of humiliation , but I guess I did, with a minium of mental scars.
I must Google Freud on this one and see if it explains any part of me.

That day was no picnic for this Teddy Bear.
Boy Bites Dog

BOY BITES DOG

I?m sitting here watching Clara play with our dog Kallie and smiling as I think of my childhood and all the puppies I had .That triggers a memory of play times I had with my Father.
Dad was born and raised in Bangor PEI in a large family of little means. The first part of the story is quite close to how my Dad told me.

One day when he was just a teen he was splitting wood using the axe that had been in his family for many years. It was his grandfathers axe, the same one he used to clear the land, the original family heirloom, even though the handle had been replaced 5 times and the head twice, such are poor peoples heirlooms.

Dad was one of seven brothers and one sister on a poor potato farm with one horse.
As he was splitting the wood, the trusty old axe bounced of the wood and stuck his toes, partially severing a couple. Dad yelled and his father came over to see what happened, took a look and said,
?That?ll teach you to pay attention boy?
He walked away leaving Dad in agony. As he was walking by the barn the horse coughed.

Grandad yelled ? Quick get the vet, the horse is sick?and one of the older boys ran into Morell to fetch the vet.

When the vet had announced
?The horse is fine Colin?

Grandad said to the vet
?You might as well sew the young fellows toes back on while you are here.

The story probably contains a little hyperbole but brings home the point of how valuable to the farm was the one horse in comparison to 9 boys.
I?m the last of eight kids which indicates that my parents were not young when I arrived, Mother was 41 and Dad was 38. The fun was pretty well used up in Dad after playing with 7 other kids and working as a linesman.
Like any other kid I wanted to play with my Dad as soon as he got home and my favourite game was for the two of us to get down on our hands and knees and pretend we were dogs, ( long before Cheech & Chong) and have a dog fight. We would growl and try to put the other down crawling around the kitchen floor.
I always played as hard as I could and thought Dad did also and that it was a real fight.

Dad tired quickly and said he wanted to lay down for a bit.
Our kitchen on St Peters Road was very large, suitable for 8 kids, 2 parents 2 grandparents and always a boarder. In addition to the big table and chairs we had a day bed underneath the driveway window. On the opposite side by the sink stood a floor model Singer Sewing machine. The machine was made of cast steel and iron housed in an Ash cabinet.
The cabinet was rectangular with four sharp corners.
Dad lay on the day bed and fell asleep in minutes, his feet were bare and were resting on the metal frame pointing skyward.
I was still in my playing mood, crawling around the kitchen floor looking for another dog fight, when I spied these two bare feet belonging to my dog nemesis, just waiting to be attacked.
The old axiom ?let sleeping dogs lie? at this moment was most apt, but sadly I had not head it yet.
Sneaking up to the foot of the bed , I heard the ?Dog? in deep slumber and knew it was time to finally win the fight. I slowly raised myself on my haunches and examined my prey. Here is were odds come into play , was it a 50/50/ chance or 0/100 that I?d pick the wrong foot?
I opened my mouth over Dads foot(The Bad Dog I had been fighting with) and chomped down with all my 5 year old might.

Worlds Collide

My world of make believe ended when my teeth struck flesh and didn?t stop.
Now in my own defence that foot was probably easy to bite through because of the blow from the axe years ago.
The next thing I knew Dad was rising up off that bed faster than Dracula could from an open casket. I?ve never seen such a look of anguish before on any mans face.
I let go and started to run backwards wondering what in the name of Heaven had I awoken?
Dad was yelling in agony and I was crying in fear as I ran backwards, fearing for my safety.
Here is where my luck changes for the better.
I tripped , while in full steam reverse, fell backwards and struck the edge of the Singer sewing machine with the corner of my head.

My head cracked open and blood began to squirt over the floor and I began to loose consciousness saving me from the perceived wrath of my father, which by the way never existed.
Dad immediately forgot about his pain , picked me up in his arms and hugged me while stopping the flow of blood from my head.
Being in Parkdale we didn?t have a horse , only chickens, so no reason to call the vet to ?sew Dads toes back on, and stitch the young fellow?s head.
A bit ironic that we both are there bleeding in front of a "Singer sewing Machine"?

Clara, who turns two tomorrow , is tugging at my arm to go and ?wrestle?with her up on our bed.
Do I dare teach her how to play ?Dog Fight??
Attack on America
Here is a short video I did on my feelings after 9/11. I did this a few years ago and am finally posting it. I found it very emotional to look at then and I still do now. That day we witnessed over 3000 people murdered.
The original is in DVD format and uses 5.1 surround sound.
It is eleven minutes long and is a history lesson as well.
It covers the initial attack on The Twin Towers as well as The Pentagon and the heroes of Flight 93. It concludes with a tribute to the Rescue Dogs who worked at the disaster sites.

Pex

Ed's Place - This is a page which is where I publish some of my opinions. - Ed Gaudet is a frequent contributer to PEIInfo.com.
(Added: 28-Sep-2005 Hits: 412 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

My postings have slowed some.
It would seem that I have posted less often then in past. I am now working full time again and finding the time to post has been a challange.

Hopefully, I'll have more to say soon as I adjust to my new schedule.
When is privatized medicine, Public?
I want to take this time to clarify my position on Private medicine delivery.

All hospitals must be public and must provide all necessary services to Canadians under the Canada Health act qith the cost covered by the CHA (Canada Health Act). Canada must return to a system where the federal government provides a full 50% of all medical costs.

Private clinics providing special services are not new and have a valuable place in Canadian medicine. Virtually all Medical centers, where one sees their family doctor, are private clinics. This allows doctors to share admin and equipment costs, resulting in greater efficiency and lower cost.

By the same token, as medicine advances, certain operations are highly specialized. These can be best offered at private clinics as hospitals have a limited number of Operating Rooms. This is fine if their services are available to all patients, using medicare for payment. An example is hip replacements. I have heard of a specialty clinic in Quebec that does most of these procedures in Quebec. They bost a higher success rate then a hospital and have dedicated surgeons that are far more qualified for this procedure then surgeons in a regular hospital.

Such clinics will allow operating rooms in your local hospital to be available for trauma work general surgery. Currently, long waits occur because there simply are insufficient OR's (operating rooms) available to handle the great many new procedures available to us. They will allow Canadians to get more services...services paid for by our medicare card. Such clinics can vastly reduce waiting times for services.

In some countries, most diagnostic imaging is done by private clinics specializing in this. There is NOTHING wrong with allowing a private corporation who wants to make money by offering additional MRI, or other similar services, as long as these services are universally available under medicare. Once again, such a system offeres enhanced diagnostics with shorter wait times, saving lives.

The key is to assure we have suitable services available to all Canadians...when they are needed.
Handgun ban
Todays shooting in Toronto, along with the boxing day shooting has made me consider a few details regarding gun control:

Statements from the Official Opposition?s critic for firearms and property rights:
Quote:
Here are a few of the more revealing facts from the Statistics Canada report, Homicide in Canada, 2001:

Of the 554 homicides in Canada in 2001, 31% were stabbed to death, 31% were shot to death and 22% were beaten to death (See Chart on Page 9). ?Trying to register all the firearms in Canada doesn?t make any more sense than trying to register all the knives and baseball bats,? said Breitkreuz.

Of the 171 firearms homicides in 2001, 64% were committed with handguns that the RCMP have been registering for the last 68 years, 6% were committed with firearms that are completely prohibited, and 27% were committed with a rifle or shotgun (Page 9).

Since 1991, handgun use in homicides has steadily increased from 49.8% to 64.3% in 2001. Over the same period homicides committed with rifles and shotguns has steadily decreased from 38% to 26.9% (Table 7 on Page 9). ?The Criminal Code has required the mandatory registration of handguns since 1934 and registration of rifles and shotguns doesn?t become mandatory until January 1, 2003. Why can?t Liberal MPs see what?s wrong with this picture?? asked Breitkreuz.

Between 1997 and 2001, 74% of the handguns recovered from the scenes of 143 homicides were not registered (Page 10) ? ?Liberal MPs must ask themselves two questions (1) Why were so many handguns not registered after 68 years of trying to register them, and (2) Why didn?t laying a piece of paper (a registration certificate) beside these handguns prevent 37 (26%) of these murders? Based on this statistic alone it defies all logic why the Liberals continue to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayers? dollars trying to register 16 million rifles and shotguns,? stated Breitkreuz.

Questions for Conservatives...since by their own figures, 25% of the murders were with registered weapons that were stolen, why do they not support banning handguns. Since 26.9% of these deaths were using shotguns or rifles, why are they against registration of them. The Conservative statement that since we do not register knives, we should not register guns...if this is the kind of logic we can expect from the harper people, can you justify voting for them?

Given the above, between 1997 and 2001, there were 143 Homicides involving handguns and of these, 37 homicides were by the use of registered handguns. Trends clearly show handgun crime is on the increase.

Of all crime, including homicides, the stats vary dramatically from those of the conservatives:
Quote:
Studies show that half of all the handguns and other restricted firearms recovered at crime scenes are registered and can be traced back to their original owner.
Source - Canadian Firearms center.

Additional relevant information:
Quote:
# Of all gun sales, approx. 9 % (3 162) have resulted in cases where the new background checks required further investigation. Of these, approx. 7% (216 cases) resulted in refusals. Primary reasons for refusals include:

* Individuals attempting to purchase prohibited firearms for which they have no privilege.
* Failure to comply with handgun regulations such as demonstrating a valid purpose to collect firearms or membership in a gun club.
* Buyer does not have an acquisition license.
* Public safety reasons and Firearms Interest to Police (FIP) ?hits? similar to examples described below. Police forces daily record violent incidents on FIP, which is a new database on the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC). Such database links are used as ?screens? for background checks. As soon as a new violent incident is logged in FIP, the system searches licence holders in the database for a match and alerts authorities of this new development.

Additionally, 469 licenses were revoked for public safety reasons while 579 were denied for Public safety reasons.
It would stand to reason that some of these weapons would have ended up in violent hands.

With the numerous deaths we are seeing with handguns involved, no logical reason exists to allow people to own handguns in collections, when 26% of homicides are a result of these weapons stolen from registered owners and 50% of all handgun crimes are using weapons stolen from registered users.

It just DOES NOT make sense to allow handgun ownership!

One of course must mention that about 1/2 of all crime involving handguns is a result of weapons smuggled into the country, the bulk of which come from the US. Increased border scrutiny is also necessary and this is part of the liberal plan, even though it may not go far enough.
MMPR - Binns has spoken.
If there was any doubt as to where Pat Binns stands on electoral reform, they have been put to rest. Not only has he clearly indicated his desire to keep things as they are, he has likely dealt a fatal blow to reform.

Binns has stated that he is considering what margin will be necessary for reform and speculates that 60% of the popular vote will be needed. He has also indicated that if voter turnout isn't high enough, the results will not be considered binding. At the same time he has also announced that he plans to run the plebiscite on the cheap by reducing the number of polling stations to 15% of that used for a normal election.

The Plebiscite act states that a vote should be run as similar as possible to a regular election. By reducing the number of polling stations, it would seem that Binns is stating the matter of reform is not as important as a regular election. This guarantees a lower voter turnout and will provide Binns an opportunity to ignore the voters wishes.

When all is said and done, Binns is going to possibly wish he had those list seats to fall back on. The electorate is currently unhappy about many issues. These are bound to get worse before they get better. People are justifiably upset at the deplorable condition of the PEI medical system. Education is suffering with our students getting an education which is considered substandard when compared to other provinces, The $31 million Polar fiasco is goint to blow up in his face when the forensic audit is released. Mismanagement of IWMC is an ongoing issue. Provincial employees are pissed off at their shoddy treatment in the recent reduction of positions. Even IRAC which Islanders used to point to with pride has taken a beating in popularity. If Ghiz was considered a potential replacement, Binns would be lucky to get elected as a dog catcher.

I can only hope that there is a high voter turnout. Unfortunately, most of those turning out will not understand what they are voting for since so few turned out to the meetings. If there is a high turnout, perhaps it may be a signal that people are unhappy with the status quo.
Seeding the ocean.
For years, I have given thought to something that would be something that would be viewed as the salvation of the east coast. It is an objective that is attainable and would have positive economic benefits in the Billions of Dollars.

I know this sounds like a pretty big claim and most big claims come with a big price tag?this one does not. I am talking about investing an initial $10 million and about the same amount for each of the following 10 years. This investment can restore the cod fishery to its past glory.

The science involved is proven. Some fine tuning is necessary and will require a couple of personnel from DFO.

The demise of the Cod fishery was the result of one thing and only one thing?over-fishing. This was allowed to occur because DFO did not understand the reproductive model of cod, or if they did, they caved in to political pressure in setting quota for the fishery. Some blame the seal for its demise but this too is a fabrication.

Cod is a powerful fish well suited to the north Atlantic environment. It evolved in this environment because evolutionary pressure gave it the ability to lay an incredible number of eggs. At its earliest stages of reproduction, a cod lays 200,000 eggs. At full sexual maturity a cod lays 1 to 2 million eggs. At full size, a cod lays 11- 12 million eggs. The reason such a prolific reproduction does not translate into a healthy fishery is the many predators at various stages in the life cycle of this fish. Only 1 egg in 1 million will survive to become a full grown cod fish.

The greatest majority of the eggs will be consumed before hatching or early in the larva stage. Many will be consumed as juvenile fish.

My idea isn?t terribly original. It marries an old idea with new ones and takes advantage of research that has been done around the world. In the very early 1900?s, long before Confederation, a fish hatchery operated in the Exploits Bay of Newfoundland. Each year this hatchery released a few hundred thousand small cod in hopes that this would help bolster cod stocks. Anecdotal evidence seems to support the success of this project but it only operated for about 8 years before closing due to lack of funding. Many of the cod caught by Newfoundland inshore fishermen today are decedents from the fish released during this program.

Today we have much more knowledge of what is needed to plan for success and monitor the outcome. It is obvious that since the vast majority of potential cod are consumed before they reach the stage where they return to the bottom as young fish, releasing a few million such small fish a year will guarantee a higher incidence of survival to full maturity. Hatchery rearing of cod until they grow into small fish of about 4 cm will avoid the natural risks faced when the eggs and larva are found in shallow water.

We know a lot about hatchery fish. For decades, we have been using the technique to see our lakes and rivers. One of the main reasons this is not often done in the ocean, is that the political will hasn?t existed. Releasing fish in lakes and rivers has a fast payback in ecotourism and attracts sports-fishermen. Releasing them in the ocean will result in mature fish after 8 to 15 years where they will be caught by individuals who did not necessarily pay to sow the seed.

The program is ambitious. It will require a carefully designed hatchery. Fish have to be screened carefully before release in the wild. Careful mixing of eggs from a large sample of wild donors, is required to assure a genetic diversity, that will not result in weakening the survival potential of the stock. Finally, modern techniques of microscopic tagging of the fish will be necessary to monitor the success of the program.

This is not something new. Projects have been operated with lobster and yielded good results with disease fish. Too many examples to count have been ongoing in fresh water species. Organizations all over the world are looking at this technique as a possible way to replenish declining stocks.

The reason most nations have not carried out extensive programs such as this are that most are exploring aquaculture as a means of fish production. In the short term, aquaculture has potential but has a much higher risk then what I propose.

Aquaculture attempts to rear fish to marketable size. This is done in pens in which fish are held in great density. It is well known, not only in marine biology, but in all life sciences, that such an environment is full of problems. Parasitic lice and disease, such as infectious salmon anaemia thrive in unnaturally dense populations. Such a disease can wipe out most of the industry in a very short time as has already been seen in Atlantic salmon farms.

New disease will develop at an unpredictable frequency because of aquaculture. The ocean is the world?s largest reservoir of virus and aquaculture is an invitation to spontaneous mutation of previously unknown disease.

Beyond the risk of disease from Aquaculture, there are ecological concerns associated with fish farms. For every ton of fish mass produced, more then 72 kg of fish waste is released into the bays housing their pens. Additionally, food and chemicals used in resisting disease are also released into the environment as pollutants.

I know many from DFO will tell you that there are risks associated with my proposal. These risks can be minimized and are shadowed by the risks of aquaculture.

Some state that plankton levels are too low to support a large cod stock, however the beauty of the ocean is that increasing pelagic stocks provide excrement which serves as the nutrient for plankton

freelantz.ca - Rob Lantz's blog.
(Added: 2-Aug-2005 Hits: 237 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Sat., August 16th,

PEIBlogs.com: the definitive Prince Edward Island blogroll since 2004.: General Blogs

Links:

A Sparrow's Home - islandsparrow's journal
(Added: 17-Dec-2006 Hits: 200 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Acts of Volition - General (mostly technical, but sometimes political) blog from SilverOrange's technical director
(Added: 9-Jul-2004 Hits: 485 Rating: 5 Votes: 0) Rate It

All Shanadian - 100% All Shanadian..er..I mean Canadian. Join me in adventures that promise to be absolutely shandalous! - Shannon Courtney
(Added: 21-May-2005 Hits: 411 Rating: 5.50 Votes: 2) Rate It

Anyone for Golf - Comments about just about anything I find interesting - binderpilot
(Added: 31-Jan-2006 Hits: 288 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

CEOBlues - CEO of SilverOrange, and President of the Internet
(Added: 9-Jul-2004 Hits: 472 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Charlottetown | Ward3 | Brighton - Blog from Charlottetown city councillor Rob Lantz. See also his personal blog Freelantz.ca
(Added: 21-Mar-2007 Hits: 224 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Cre8ive1 - A life on Prince Edward Island. Photos. A fine selection of music to listen to while you surf.
(Added: 3-Jul-2006 Hits: 236 Rating: 9.93 Votes: 17) Rate It

Doug Hall's Brain Brew Café - American Inventor judge and Eureka! Ranch CEO Doug Hall summers in Springbrook PEI. This is his Brainbrew blog.
(Added: 23-Dec-2004 Hits: 351 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

E.T. Concentrators - Stories and pictures of events and places around Parkdale from the early 50's to the late 70's.
(Added: 1-Sep-2007 Hits: 75 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Ed's Place - This is a page which is where I publish some of my opinions. - Ed Gaudet is a frequent contributer to PEIInfo.com.
(Added: 28-Sep-2005 Hits: 412 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

freelantz.ca - Rob Lantz's blog.
(Added: 2-Aug-2005 Hits: 237 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

PEIBlogs.com: the definitive Prince Edward Island blogroll since 2004.: General Blogs

Links:

A Sparrow's Home - islandsparrow's journal (Added: 17-Dec-2006 Hits: 200 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Acts of Volition - General (mostly technical, but sometimes political) blog from SilverOrange's technical director (Added: 9-Jul-2004 Hits: 485 Rating: 5 Votes: 0) Rate It

All Shanadian - 100% All Shanadian..er..I mean Canadian. Join me in adventures that promise to be absolutely shandalous! - Shannon Courtney (Added: 21-May-2005 Hits: 411 Rating: 5.50 Votes: 2) Rate It

Anyone for Golf - Comments about just about anything I find interesting - binderpilot (Added: 31-Jan-2006 Hits: 288 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

CEOBlues - CEO of SilverOrange, and President of the Internet (Added: 9-Jul-2004 Hits: 472 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Charlottetown | Ward3 | Brighton - Blog from Charlottetown city councillor Rob Lantz. See also his personal blog Freelantz.ca (Added: 21-Mar-2007 Hits: 224 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Cre8ive1 - A life on Prince Edward Island. Photos. A fine selection of music to listen to while you surf. (Added: 3-Jul-2006 Hits: 236 Rating: 9.93 Votes: 17) Rate It

Doug Hall's Brain Brew Café - American Inventor judge and Eureka! Ranch CEO Doug Hall summers in Springbrook PEI. This is his Brainbrew blog. (Added: 23-Dec-2004 Hits: 351 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

E.T. Concentrators - Stories and pictures of events and places around Parkdale from the early 50's to the late 70's. (Added: 1-Sep-2007 Hits: 75 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Ed's Place - This is a page which is where I publish some of my opinions. - Ed Gaudet is a frequent contributer to PEIInfo.com. (Added: 28-Sep-2005 Hits: 412 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

freelantz.ca - Rob Lantz's blog. (Added: 2-Aug-2005 Hits: 237 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

A Sparrow's Home - islandsparrow's journal
(Added: 17-Dec-2006 Hits: 200 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Acts of Volition - General (mostly technical, but sometimes political) blog from SilverOrange's technical director
(Added: 9-Jul-2004 Hits: 485 Rating: 5 Votes: 0) Rate It

All Shanadian - 100% All Shanadian..er..I mean Canadian. Join me in adventures that promise to be absolutely shandalous! - Shannon Courtney
(Added: 21-May-2005 Hits: 411 Rating: 5.50 Votes: 2) Rate It

Anyone for Golf - Comments about just about anything I find interesting - binderpilot
(Added: 31-Jan-2006 Hits: 288 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

CEOBlues - CEO of SilverOrange, and President of the Internet
(Added: 9-Jul-2004 Hits: 472 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Charlottetown | Ward3 | Brighton - Blog from Charlottetown city councillor Rob Lantz. See also his personal blog Freelantz.ca
(Added: 21-Mar-2007 Hits: 224 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Cre8ive1 - A life on Prince Edward Island. Photos. A fine selection of music to listen to while you surf.
(Added: 3-Jul-2006 Hits: 236 Rating: 9.93 Votes: 17) Rate It

Doug Hall's Brain Brew Café - American Inventor judge and Eureka! Ranch CEO Doug Hall summers in Springbrook PEI. This is his Brainbrew blog.
(Added: 23-Dec-2004 Hits: 351 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

E.T. Concentrators - Stories and pictures of events and places around Parkdale from the early 50's to the late 70's.
(Added: 1-Sep-2007 Hits: 75 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Ed's Place - This is a page which is where I publish some of my opinions. - Ed Gaudet is a frequent contributer to PEIInfo.com.
(Added: 28-Sep-2005 Hits: 412 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

freelantz.ca - Rob Lantz's blog.
(Added: 2-Aug-2005 Hits: 237 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It