cannuck

The whole moon and stars thing is fake. Shit, these Yankee guys even tried to tell us the world is ROUND!!!! If it ain't flat, how come my level works? And Stalin...er, I mean Putin must be behind it too.

In SK, "counties" are Rural Municipalities (RMs for short). They are governed by council led by a Reeve. Same in MB and AB as I recall.

The reason is that Norway is full of Norwegians. Take a look at Canada's most wanted lists and you will notice that they are almost all immigrants or clearly from easily distinguished minorities - not of traditional Canadian ethnicities. Let me refresh your memory: http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/wanted Oh, I should add: Norway RESTRICTS immigration to a large extent: https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/11/norway-is-hard-on-migrants-but-tough-love-works/

Just remember where you live. Downtown Hogtown is a very, very different place from the ROC.

I have many friends in Europe and what they tell me is radically different from what the looney left media reports. Of course, we mirror the same lack of regard for truth and reason from the left end of our political spectrum, so we will suffer from importing and promoting the same kind of culture within the immigrant stream to Canada's open borders.

They were also some of the most barbaric conquerors in history. One of my closest friends and business partners went through the Japanese occupation of China (he and his Mother could not emigrate due to the "Exclusion Act"). If you wanted to really understand the Japanese, you needed to know people who were captured, tortured, raped, murdered by the Japanese - mostly just because the could get away with it. The only thing my friend's Mother hated more than the Japanese was the Chinese Communists (yeah, they survived THAT as well). I will admit that both Japanese and Chinese immigrants from the immediate post war era SEEM to have been absorbed into the fabric of Canada, but IMHO the second generation is what we are observing. Most first generation immigrants simply do NOT. If we use Trudeau's poster boy for immigration and open borders, Omar Khadr and his sister are anything BUT a second generation Muslims who have assimilated.

Let's set the record straight a bit: First of all, there is no such thing as a functioning economy or society that does NOT have some social policies that one could easily consider "socialistic". Sick care and social welfare being at the very top of those lists. I would really like to hear/read the official Canadian public education position on the FSU. I don't doubt they teach THAT it failed, I would just like to know if and what they teach about WHY it failed. Similarly for China. Yes, the CPC currently rules there, but one's history knowledge would be very inaccurate if it did not specifically teach that the Great Leap Forward was a failure in policy and administration that resulted in the death of as many as one hundred million Chinese - I believe the greatest single human tragedy in the history of the world - conveniently ignored by the CPC and left of the West. If there was any such thing as accurate portrayal of the facts, Current Events classes would point out that the suffering and economic collapse of Venezuela is 100% the result of prosecution of a Bolivarian socialist strategy and policy for that country. Also worth noting that anything that even vaguely close to the reasons that China is doing so well is the fact that it's Communist government has seized (and manipulated mercilessly) the capitalistic policies of the developed world and has been permitted to exploit the open markets of said capitalist economies. How does that related to Islam in Hogtown? I think you need to distinguish very clearly between Liberal thought and liberal thought. The latter is pretty much middle of the road Canadian. Liberal thought seems to require complete disregard for anything that resembles the truth or reason. Accommodating Islam is one thing, but putting on some kind of pedestal as a thing beyond criticism by mere mortal infidels is the kind of idiocy that comes from the immigration policies that invite ideologies that are in no way compatible with what WAS once Canada's tolerance and drives otherwise reasonable people into a polarized opposition to what THEY (i.e. WE) can clearly see is a HUGE mistake for our country.

It is very easy to blame the ultimate demise of Western democracies on socialistic policies and parties, but reality is the giant elephant in the room comes from what is assumed to be the political "right". Remember the 1% movement that got squashed in the US due to lack of anybody knowing or caring WTF was wrong? The incredible inequity of wealth distribution is a symptom of where capitalism has split into two components of use of money - actual capitalism whereby money is used to add value to resources, CREATING wealth from productive endeavour and Casino Capitalism doing nothing more than re-distributing wealth in an endless volley of speculative transactions that sees debt instruments, equities, synthetic instruments and entire companies traded in an upward inflationary spiral. The latter is the playground of the globalist community (and others in finance) where investment is handled by institutions that end up with massive blocks of stock without actually earning it, and who then appoint boards of their own ilk who in turn hire finance friendly management that they corrupt with unbelievable compensation packages. CEOs in sane times might have earned 10x other employees, but in today's business world, they are give each other massive blocks of stock from nothing more than showing up for work. When you see execs in the tens and hundreds of millions a year, and occasionally BILLION$$!! you SHOULD know that something is really, really wrong. The 1% movement could sense it, but not understand it. THIS is what fuels the socialist agenda: you can no longer get your share by working, so just tax the rich and give it to them from government - many of whom today actually DID simply rob their shareholders of the bux. Until we understand this fundamental problem, we are doomed to keep running around in the same circle while the banksters continue to rob the world blind.

As is the problem with everything else for the last three years, we are trying to understand the reasoning behind the actions of people who don't have the mental discipline or capacity to be reasonable. $1.6Bn of loans of any kind are pointless in the oil patch. That is not even the cost of designing and permitting one single SAGD project. Government interfering in marketplaces with idiocy such as the "carbon tax" are a formula for absolute disaster. I have seen a lot of stupid people get into politics, but I have never in my life seen such a perfect storm of mental midgets being handed the keys to the country's pocketbook.

You are being too hard on yourself. I am just a composite of all of the people in my life - and that includes many of the thoughtful and well informed posters on this site - such as you. Seasons Greetings to all.

The Bank of Canada does NOT have some endless pool of money to lend at zero interest to government. When the government of Canada, or any province or municipality needs money it doesn't have it has to issue financial instruments (bonds, treasury bills) that are very much interest bearing. Two complicating factors: the idea of endless public debt came about back in the Trudeau Sr. years when inflation would dull the cost of interest on debt. Today with such low amounts of inflation, that is not the case - but since we have let the politicos get away with mortgaging our country and our children's future to fuel their mindless pursuit of ?????, a LOT of countries are indeed circling the drain. The PIIGS were just the most obvious. BUT: there REALLY big elephant in the room is the pent up inflationary and even financial disaster values of potential M2 growth when it slides over in to M1. This SHOULD have been wiped out by a collapse of the Casino Capitalist world in 2008, but instead of letting economic forces correct the stupidity as it did in 1929, finance was rewarded for its treachery by being bailed out to the tune of TRILLION$$$$$. Not understanding the difference between wealth being created by productive endeavour vs. being redistributed by speculative activity will eventually bite us ALL in the ass.

I should start by stating that I was borne and raised as a WASP, but haven't done the religion thing for half a century. Our children and grandchildren all also raised as Christians, but as kids are all scientists, hardly religious dogmatism in our family. My side has only been in Canada for maybe 150 years, but my wife's side goes to Selkirk settlers (her Father) and also back unknown thousands of years on this continent (Mother). Even though we are barely-to-not-at-all religious, we celebrate and appreciate Christmas as a very Canadian public holiday. It wraps up the year with a very commercial habit of gift giving - and since our job is to spoil children and grandchildren, we dig in and do our part. My two most memorable Christmas eves/days were one in the '80s when I was travelling into a war zone with my handler in a Muslim part of West Africa. We had spent the day with our in-country partners but were out in the Sahara on our own that night. We pulled into a roadside inn, checked into our rooms and received a knock on the door. In very broken English, we were invited down to their restaurant/"bar" (yes, there are places in Muslim countries where alcohol - mostly locally brewed beers - are served). They explained that since we were the only Christians anywhere within hundreds of klicks, they wanted to make us welcome and recognize OUR cultural/religious event. We spent a delightful evening been educated in Saharoui customs and lore. Though neither of us were actually Christian, we were touched by the sincerity of our hosts to respect what they assumed to be our belief. It was also the only Christmas I ever missed with my kids. The second was a visit with my business partner when we first opened up an office in Guangzhou in the early '90s. Even though China was barely out of its isolation (few citizens were allowed to travel and VERY few outside of the country) the newly built retail "malls" (very veritcal development) featured a lot of Western goods that few could yet afford, but most notable was the proliferation of Christmas decorations in a city with precious few Christians of any stripe. Christmas is more than just a Christian/pagan religious celebration (and even that part is the lesser of the whole). It is a globally recognized celebration of people's good wishes for their fellow man. That is, anywhere but in downtown Hogtown it seems where anything that promotes goodwill towards men is gauche.

Government has a very different motive for doing almost everything it does. #1 to get the person spending my great granchildren's heritage elected again before the bills come due, and #2 to justify the bureaucracy's reason to exist spending all of that money. The "careful study" is whatever the pollsters and back room boys think will get their party elected. Period. The more effective way to do "it" (whatever it is) is simply for government to keep their nose the hell out of everyone and anyone's business and back pocket. EVERYTHING that any government touches is done by people with no accountability, and is as a result totally screwed up. And expensive. We the sheeple are so stupid and gutless we just let them keep on pissing away now well over a trillion dollars of money we don't have, mostly on things they have no business doing.

The ranking in terms of safety would be: Can/USA pipeline, current tanker, old tanker, pipeline in Africa, truck/trailer and finally, the worst way of all to move crude oil - rail. What is also important is WHAT crude oil. You can NOT ship Athabasca Oil Sands crude down a pipeline - it is far, far too viscous, so you either put it hot into a truck/trailer for sort trip, or heated trailer to unload after a few days, load that into a heated tank at the marine terminal and load from there into a heated ship. OR: you dilute the heavy crude with naptha or some other light fraction or possibly even lighter crude. You really DO NOT want to spill "dilbit" (dilluted bitumen) if it uses a light fraction for solvent. Proper answer is to require only upgraded (synthetic crude) to be shipped beyond AB borders.

Never. The counter to their issues would be import requirements that require equivalent labour standards, environmental protection but most of all actual verification of things such as materials and proven product safety. We are not enough of an export destination for anyone to get too upset about, but the US is the absolute source of the incredible wealth of China today, followed by Yurp and distantly everyone else (including us). Our significant position is as an exporter - and to harm that business in ANY way would be for us to be cutting our nose off of our collective face. We simply need to learn how to aggressively pursue value added exports instead of just resources.

When it comes to trade, you can't separate economics from politics. When it comes to politics, though, I would much rather have China as a trade irritant than a military force with conflicting objectives. China has jointed the rest of the world thanks to Deng, but it still has not been able to put its authoritarian attitude of government and complete disregard for IP rights of others off to the side.

I opened my first office in China in the early '90s, and my business partner had been trading with China since the middle of Chairman Mao's reign. When we developed a product (in China for Chinese market) we were required to have Chinese national as business partner. When we were offered a plant to manufacture at the end of R&D, we were presented with a several page long list of bribe items that local and party officials required for us to begin manufacturing. When we completed research and had our Chinese patents granted, our government appointed business partner simply disappeared with the research, registrations, licenses, products and tooling. We have three companies in the US. My total loss to bribery, fraud, deceit and other BS to date adds up to a grand total of...let me calculate...THERE's the number - $0. Even our company in India has been far more subject to honest and fair dealings with government, clients, etc. than we ever encountered in China. If you for one moment think that China has a good record for human rights, ask the Tibetians, the Uyghurs or ANY political "dissidents". Don't get me wrong. I love the fact that China is now part of the world and doing business everywhere. I still have a lot of friends and business interests there. What I hate is people to ignorant or dishonest to admit the truth about what ACTUALLY happens there.

Our trade with China is very lopsided now. We export resources, but add zero value. China, on the other hand, has managed to monopolize several markets for junk, furniture (usually junk furniture), electronics, and on it goes. All very high value added imports. We shot ourselves in this foot when we and the Yanks decided we were too important to make the little things that China did/does, and one at a time, they managed to knock all competitors out of many different markets. Many of those competitors were Canadians. Now, for example, they are at the level of selling us cars that we can no longer make. We would be damned fools (what the hell, we elected a mental midget and a raft of his fellow travellers) to limit doing business with China. What our problem really is we simply don't want to bother learning how to BE in business. One thing we remain blissfully ignorant of is the fact that Canada is a trusted and even preferred source of things to import to China. We are just too lazy and stupid to figure out what products we can sell there and get off of our entitled asses and make them.

The job opportunities for aboriginal Canadians are exactly the same job opportunities that are there for everyone else. All you have to do is choose, get trained for the choice, and get a job. OF course, you are correct in that as long as there is a culture of dependence backed up by monthly cheques from the Great White Creator there is simply no need to get a job, or an education, or much of anything else. Government already HAS done a lot - which is why it is such a complete gong show.

Is there a vaccine for that?

Right, because a terrorist is not a terrorist until they come to Canada and get put on trial - and paid $10mm bounty for every Yank they have killed. Oh, no, wait a minute, if the drama teacher takes him as his class pet, he is no longer a terrorist, he's a hero. I forgot the Liberal directives here. Do you realize how ridiculous your position that police forces who have spend years in training and countless years of work to mark identified terrorists to watch you dismiss completely, but the results of some fleebag ambulance chaser who has paid enough political dues to get appointed to the judiciary is the ONLY thing that is worth belief? BTW: check with your good buddy Macron and ask him how those "not terrorists" on their list are working out for them in Strasbourg. Gee, those open border immigration policies are doing such wonders adding diversity.

Yes, a LOT of jobs, a stunning amount of investment and energy supplies needed for our own domestic needs are at stake. It is not right to say that we are not getting what our oil is worth - we get fair market value for our light oil and a premium for our synthetic crude. The $50 price that NYMEX futures for light crude in tanks in reference Cushing OK is a far cry from the $100+ of goofy years, but it is also 500% higher than what crude priced at 20 years ago. What "we" can't get a decent price for is our extra heavy bituminous crudes - simply because there is no practical way to get it to tidewater. Again, IMHO, the real anxwer is to ship synth crude only. Our x heavy reserves in the Athabasca sands are something between the largest single reserve on the planet - to maybe something as large as all other hydrocarbon deposits combined. We aren't going to run out soon.

The cause? Simple, just review the "most wanted" by RCMP list - http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/wanted and the Toronto version: http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/homicide/mostwanted.php Now, the cause should be very obvious: piss poor screening of immigrants for more than just the last few years.

Trudeau definitely gave handouts to the silver spoon crowd willy nilly (such as R&D tax credit scheme that paid out far more in credits than the supposed - and pretty much unaudited - project capital costs), but his left side was meant for the plebians to suffer. For instance: going half way there with the CDC (Canadian Development Corp) but right off the deep end embracing all that Karl Marx stood for with Petro Canada - genuine nationalization of private industry that would make even Tommy the Commy (Douglas, of course) blush.

I couldn't agree more. EVERYONE starts life as a socialist, because they are totally dependent and ignorant. However, some (and I include PET among this lot) stayed true to his extremely left leanings to the bitter end. Noting his love of cuddling up to Castro and other youth heroes but more to the point delivering the soft underbelly of the USA to Russia in the form of a border where the military was turned from a military ally to the US to a social service experiment, the anti-nuke protest groups had a welcome home (the focus of the cold war) and who knows how many other efforts to undermine the US were launched. He maintained some of those personal and military friendships from "walking trips in Eastern Europe" well into his years as PM.