overthere

Nope, apparently the cost is NOT a factor since so many continue to not be dissuaded by the well known penalties. Your points support the case for harsher measures. So lets make cost a factor. Seize the vehicle and sell it. Every time. No exceptions. We can give the money raised to victims of drunk drivers. I also like the approach used in Finland and elsewhere whereby fines are means tested, related to income. A rich guy pays a massive fine, middle class a whopper, poor folk not so much. The pain is relative and everybody gets hurt when they screw up big time.

That is either delibertaely insulting to the abilities of children, or illistrates a complete lack of knowledge about school curriculums. I recently helped my spouse set up their last major science project. It was one she does every year, and involves building bridges out of popsicle sticks. The kids design and build them in groups of three students. The final test is one of them has to stand on it and it has to support their weight for 10 seconds. In preparation, they study different styles of bridges as part of their program. Applied math and priciples of structural engineering...... She teaches Grade 3. In Alberta. Fingerpainting? Maybe your kids were in 'special' class. Fingerpainting is playschool stuff. I don't think you undertsand what social engineering means. Public schools themselves are a major chunk of coial engineering in themselves. eta: the bridge project is judged by a military engineer from the nearby base.

just two more games and our agony will be over for a few months

Please leave Mike Holmes out of this discussion. Some of the repair work he does is silly and completely over the top. It's TV and would be boring as shit without some invented drama. I think the current system of licenses and permits is fine. Around here, you need a building permit for work that is structural. It gets inspected. Fair enough.

Don't agree with either sentence. The fine is no biggie for the middle class. The suspension can be worked around unless you drive for a living. The criminal record is a nuisance, but it won't mean much for your future. I sperak from personal experience. But losing your vehicle gets peoples attention in a major way that nothing else will do. It takes the vast majority of the casual, furtive drunks off the road. And that group is the one that needs to be targeted, becauise they are the largest bunch of offenders. It also stops people from giving their keys to somebody marginally less drunk. Your second sentence makes no sense. No penalty stops the chronic offenders, so why not target a larger group that will be greatly influenced by an eye opening consequnce?

The dilemma of the oldschool leftist PQs- they want to love Peladeau but are revolted by him at the same time- reminds me of the eternal strife within the national NDP. They know they have to move to the center to get elected, but cannot get away from their grassroots folks who won't have it.

I live in Alberta. If employers don't pay whaterver is required to retain unskilled workers, they don't get workers. My friend is a manager and of those three retailers she has worked for Walmart has been the best overall. Now you've moved the goalposts. We were discussing public vs private/union vs non union at one point. Since we are now talking about only the lowest paid workers, that eliminates all public sector workers. It also cuts out most private sector wortkers, since they tend not to be unionized. Walmart only then?

One way to really. really cut down on the occasional drunk drivers(the majority) is to have mandatory seizure and sale of the vehicle involved. First offence, secodn offence, whatever, no exceptions. If you're over the limit, you lose your vehicle. And your licence for a while too. No penalty short of incarceration will ever stop the extreme chronic offenders- the guys who have 15 DD convictions sort of thing. But losing your car will slow down the guys thinking about driving home after a couple too many.

Walmart... a family worked there as a cashier. They didn't do any calisthenics or sing any songs. The pay was the same as everyhwere else: about $3 over minimum wage. The benefits were the same as everywhere else: basically nil for casual workers. She said the time flew because it was al;ways busy. Turnover- as in all crap retail work here- was high. I also have a friend who has worked as a department manager for a couple of years at Walmart. She previously did much the same job at Superstore, then Sears. According to her, Walmart is the best of those three. Money is a bit better, benefits were the same as Sears and much better than Superstore, management was friendlier to her and if she is willing to relocate she can move up the mgmt ladder. I agree that many union members are hard workers and superb employees. My point was that in general that makes no difference at all to compensation. I found the work environment to be a lot less collegial too.

I did not invent those two factors: performance and profitiability- as the basis of compensation(inclduing raises and bonus money) in the private sector. That is exactly what I had to assess as a manager in a medium sized business that was not unionized. If we lost money, the discussion was never about how much salaries would increase or what COLA was that year. It would focus on how we could return to profitability, or more accurately the return on investment. There is no point in breaking even over the longer term while risking large amounts of operating money or credit lines. If we achieved our profit targets, increases to individuals would be done assessed on how much they contributed as compared to their peers. Some people did not warrant a raise and did not get one. Others got an increase. Others got a large increase. If an individuals performance over time was below average, they'd be looking for a new job eventually. If we exceeded our profit targets(which were not onerous)there would be a bonus pool. People would be compensated in the same way they were for increases in salary. If your private sector experience was different- if your pay was dependent on something else- I suggest that company would and must have some financial problems. The above was in a non-union company. Our turnover was low. We had a really good, cohesive staff overall. I also worked as a manager in larger companies and government, both unionized. Different story there, for sure. Now I've been self employed for many years. Whew, finally found my niche.

Do they really? The rank and file, the core of support for the PQ are unions and in particular public servant unions. That reality has always hampered the PQ in managing the province when in power, they can't do anything to piss those people off. Peladeau is a union busting cheapskate penny pinching capitalist. It will be entertaining to see how those two reconcile and move the Republic of Quebec to greatness together. Somebody will have some serious compromises to make

Agnostic definition: A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God. Translation: I'll do anything to avoid thinking and/or decding what I believe.

Tortorella is a different case. No doubt at all he should get fired and may be soon, but even a rich guy like the Nucks Owner will gag on a $8 million payout for the 4 years remaining. If the rumours that the owner hired Torts over the wishes of GM Gillis, he may have to stick with him for at least a couple months next season just to save face. But... Tortorella lost the support of his players in New York and it appears he never really had the confidence of his players in Vancouver. His position with a new GM can only get more tenuous unless the Nucks win early next season. And that looks unlikely at this point. Even without Kesler they have a decent team, but it could easily all get worse fast. Speaking of Kesler, it is really ominous when a good player wants out because he hates the coach. New coaches are much easier to find than players of Keslers quality.

Certainly there are 'enablers', another word would be asskissers, people who suck up to ayuthority figures like cops. But the heart of the problem witht the cop mandate is that cops are jumped up civil servants with guns and attitudes. Their (sole source) employers are politicians and have few constraints on knuckling under to cop salary or manning demands- just raise taxes again to fight the big crime wave just around the corner. Of course, the lowdown on that imminent crime wave comes from guess who? Just this morning my local paper had a front page feature on the horror of 'labs' producing hash oil to be used in E cigarettes. It's weed. Big deal. Of course, they also used the opportunity to tout the grow op interdiction squad and all the busts they made last year. Next up, guaranteed: need more officers etc to fight the spread of teens smoking hash oil in e- cigarettes. Why not, since it's always worked before.

This news won't make the slightest bit of difference to anything I see and hear. About the only CBC I watched was HNIC and I'll get the same games on Sportsnet now. I wonder if Mr Morrisons pources included info he pulled directly from his own colon?

No doubt they are usually pragmatic to an extent not found in the ROC. That's why I see a shift to the Libs and PCs in the next federal election. Those parties are the fountain of federal gravy, not parties like the NDP and Bloc. Perhap one of the more sordid aspects of our journey as a nation is that all regions now take their govt relationship cues from Quebec. It has made regional self interest the standard, not the exception.

public safety is a very well established industry that will simply switch gears if you take away the cash cows of photo radar, other minor speeding infractions, distracted driving etc the businbess will simply refocus on somehting else to keep the cash flowing and the industry viable. It's not like the cops don't have excellent organization to make sure that nobody ever gets laid off. They all have professional communciators now too to ensure that there is a constant threat to our safety that needs lawyers guns and money. Serious crime has dropped in Canada, but has per capita spending on the police followed? hell no, there is always a new bogeyman waiting. Orwell covered all this long ago.

I've tried to add links to my posts but those strings of sausages get grease all over the monitor.

Clarkson is a poster boy for the extreme weirdness of free agency. He was a decent two way guy for the Devils, but not worth anywhere near what he's getting paid. There was no indication before that he'd be a dominant player, nothing in his stats to support monster bucks. But... I dont blame the Leafs, they did what several other teams were willing to do for Clarkson. It seems the only way to sign even journeyman guys on free agency is to overpay.

Why does the current govt need a breakthrough in Quebec to maintain a majority? They have a majority now without many seats there. And that is a startling fact that people in Quebec will have noticed: majority govt, no reliance on Quebec. Yikes. But to answer your question.... Losers of seats: Bloc Quebecois will come up with almost nothing again. NDP will lose seats. Quebec knows they have been outside the orbit of influence in Ottawa for quite a while now and they will acknowledge that the NDP are not going to be in government with or without their support and seats. Gains of seats: The Hair That Walks Like a Man will gain in Quebec because he's the best of bad choices from a Quebec perspective. Tories may also gain a bunch because they have done OK by Quebec despite having minimal support, and Quebec has just made a pretty strong federalist stement at the polls. Will they make another next year?

So sell the oil and gas to any of the many other Pacific Rim nations who want to buy it. End of problem. Continuation of prosperity. You(BC) sell filthy coal now to China and not a protester to be seen. You(BC) are about to pound numerous pipelines across waterways and First Nations territory and not a protester to be seen. But Alberta oil(which has been moved in vast quantities across BC for 50+ years without incident) is suddenly akin to liquid plutonium. Odd that.

thanks for the book timetable- good to know that it exists! Back to my concern- if the last book is out in 2018 and the last TV season is something like 2020- how on earth can the producers get the same cast together then and how would they manage to pay them if they can?. If the popularity of the series continues, the salary demands of the cast will be extreme.

I'd be surprised if either of them were still employed 24 hours after the Nucks go golfing after Game 82. Gillis has failed miserably to inprove the team for a few years and deserves to get fired over the goaltending fiasco alone. His public comments on Tortorella recently were also groubds for bye bye. I suspect he knows he's dead meat and is venting while he still has somebody listening. Tortorella failed in the most basic way: getting the most out of his players. The Nucks have some skill. Tortorella tried to impose his game of shot blocking and grinding styles instead of using what he had to best effect. You have to work to the strengths of your players, not to what you perceive as a system that works in all circumstances.

It is illustrative of the political chaos in Quebec that the Liberals- with the exposure of the massive corruption in their former regime- are still in the game.

I don't understand what that means. Why would you think China is the only market for gas and oil? I think that , unlike some of us, China India Korea Taiwan and many other Asian nations have looked at a map and thought: wtf is wrong with Canada? They have a huge market on their doorstep and are unable to build the standard delivery infrastructure in their own country.