August1991

I recently received a reported credit change. Huh? I went online to verify. I discovered that TransUnion has a personal, walk-in office in Hamilton, Ontario - but nowhere else in Canada. In Montreal, I pay my property tax in person. (The city sends me a paper bill/invoice to my address and I go to a municipal office where I pay.) For banking? My caisse has branches - I can talk to a real person. ===== Send me a bill/invoice. I reckon that we should pay all taxes the same way.

Strongly disagree. For centuries, we Canadians get along. And Europeans got along between 1815 - 1914.

At present, Canada is not in debt. We have potential. But we are like Argentina in the 1920s. -We favour local production -We vote for nationalists to protect ourselves against foreigners -We choose a leader who opposes America -We restrict trade on milk, eggs to protect our local production -We restrict foreign banks -We restrict foreign airlines -We allow our government bureaucrats to choose "winners" ===== Many older Canadians think that the State pensions and State health care system will protect them and their children.

A tattoo is a personal choice. Skin colour is not. In a civilised state, I see a difference. If McDonalds refuses to serve someone with tattoos or I choose to marry a dwarf, it is a private choice. In Canada, we have a bilingual federal State.

Agreed. A single visit to an urban vet is 500$. He's deaf - makes alot of noise. He can smell and he can see things far away. But he can't see things close.

Strongly disagree, for many reasons. In a single day, on a beach in Dieppe in Aug 1942, some 900 Canadians were killed.

Trump/Americans have no desire to take over, uh, Canada. But I can understand Trump's desire to take over Greenland. This is a dispute with Denmark. WTF? Faced with China and Russia and whoever, this is a no-brainer: You bought Alaska. Buy Greenland.

Run again? I think Mackenzie-King lost and then was elected in a Saskatchewan riding. Mulroney famously sat in the House because of a Nova Scotia seat.

So, in this war in Afghanistan, Canada lost some 500 people? We lost many, many more in the so-called "Great War". (You know, Vimy Ridge. Our green $20 money.) For what? ====== Let's avoid all this. Let's get along.

Driving 10 hours? 800 kms/500 miles in a day? And then again? My first understanding of Canada - the world - is that only we Canadians, Americans and Australians drive like that. My second understanding is that Russians also drive like that.

My father was a Newfoundlander. When there were too many kittens, they put them in a bag and threw them in the ocean. My mother was a farm person. She spoke about barn cats, house cats and mousers. My wife's brother lived beside a road. He named all the cats Grisou. I once asked whether it was Grisou XVIII or Grisou XIV. ==== My cat is a ginger. And male. (About 70% of orange/ginger cats are male. Did you know that some species identify sex/gender by colour?) Did you know that we judge the age of animals by their teeth? The SPCA of Montreal removed my cat's incisors before I adopted him. So I basically don't know how how old he is. The SPCA told me that he was 10 years old when I got him.

All US citizens, regardless of residency wherever in the world, must file an annual statement to the IRS. I reckon all Canadian citizens should do the same to the CRA, or Revenu Quebec. ===== At present, the Quebec government calculates, collects the federal GST - sending the money to Ottawa. It has precise rules on state pensions CPP/RRQ. It determines who can access the state health scheme. The Quebec government has its own bureaucracy to calculate/collect income tax. .

What a thread. AG, some 100 soldiers died in Afghanistan. For what? Chretien kept us out of Iraq. Pearson kept us out of Vietnam. St-Laurent sent us to Korea. Diefenbaker maintained our embassy in Havana. ==== If the question is whether Canadians will show up when it matters, as an Australian PM said, we show up when it matters.

People in Alberta and Saskatchewan cannot sell their oil abroad. And they cannot buy milk/cheese from abroad. This regime is not sustainable.

I kinda disagree. If every sitting member votes for something, I reckon the fix is in - certainly on a money, trade vote.

Not the issue, IMHO. At present, about 35% of Canadian tax filers pay no income tax whatsoever. At 16, they don't even contribute to the CPP.

Trudeau and Levesque did not have poker faces. But they always said something unexpected, enlightening. Levesque spoke this clear way in French. Putin speaks this way in Russian.

This first link reminds me of Trudeau, Levesque. It is not being bilingual. Watch to the end. ========== With a boss like Trump, imagine doing this. Toward the end, he's more free-wheeling. "Third grade notes... "

Robert Conquest famously said, I paraquote, every bureaucracy will eventually become leftist.

In its time, it was remarkable. But the Adobe model is wrong. Jobs got it right. Sad that Apple no longer posts this.

Years ago, newspapers relied on classified ads. Nowadays, they rely on older people doing crosswords in pen.

For those curious, google: create chatbot (At present, Microsoft offers free software to do this.) In effect, you can train a LLM on the text you provide. In effect, you can provide your own training data so your chatbot responds based on the texts that you submit. ==== I suspect this chatbot is known as Ptolemy because that is how it named itself - based on the various texts provided.

To win, Carney (and Trudeau Jnr) played the nationalist card. Trump is playing this card too, surprised? ==== Trudeau Snr played the nationalist card wisely, with care. Mulroney?

In these 2020s, Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly seem to think that America must confront/oppose Russia, China, Putin, Islam. I disagree. ====== I fear that we are closer to the 1910s. As then, we understand everything. Technology will solve our problems. The Titanic will not sink. The war will be short.

In 1979, it happened. In Iraq and Libya, it also happened. It recently happened in Syria. ==== I am a Canadian. If you Americans tried to change my complicated Protestant/Catholic/French/English/Alberta/Quebec Canadian regime, you would make a mess of it. Please don't.