Mark H.

Even more common is the belief that tougher sentencing and more jails will solve any of that

Caint pound book learnin' into dem unruly boys heads...

Do you have actual numbers for the police? The last two teacher contracts averaged a 2.25% increase per year, which covered a period of 8 years. That isn't very much more than the rate of inflation. The next increase for all public workers has already been legislated - 1.75% over 4 years. Yep, they should be able to start fixing the streets any day now...

Indeed - he is marooned...

Murray made a huge difference tonight - especially when the Sens were pressing early

You just can't replace your best puck moving defenders when they go down - those guys are pure gold in today's hockey (see Karlsson, Erik) They can always march next year - the Caps have proven themselves irrelevant for once and for all.

Next you'll tell us you call him 'a good Mennonite boy' you having worked for Golden West & all...

They were supposed to remain Leafs fans after their city got its own team? Well ok then.

Just a regular water cooler yawn fest

Next game will be interesting - they seem to find ways but tonight they had nothing

I'm sure you could get help for all of that...

Tonight's game is as good as you'll see. Passing, speed, hits & goal tending

Disagree - their passing is second to none.

Awwwwww, life is hard. IMO, Letang being out should have been all the advantage the Caps needed - completely different team without him back there.

When a friend and I spent a weekend in TO, we ran into Paul Lapolice three different times - he was working for TSN at the time. After the Argos game at the hotel, the next day at the airport and then on the flight home. The third time we asked him if he was following us. His response: 'oh ****.' I also sat between Henry Burris and Forrest Hightower on a flight to Ottawa.

I'm not familiar with the organic farming industry, but I do know what it costs to raise beef. If grass fed beef could be produced for that price, no one would be running a feed lot - the grass fed people would be putting them right out of business, Honestly, there is probably not a thing wrong with the meat you purchased. It just bothers me when people are not completely honest with the consumer.

Sometimes there's a fear of natural selection, with one culture rising to the top. Also inevitable

The organic / natural food industry is relatively new and is subject to very few regulations - I haven't a clue who you'd complain to. I don't usually buy steak but a 15 ounce sirloin has got to be worth around 20 bucks at most grocery stores - good cuts of beef are worth $15 - $20 per pound these days. Grass fed beef at $10 / pound is bloody unlikely (pun intended) I'll tell you my pork story too. Back when we raised hogs (commercial operation) a guy who sold 'natural pork' would buy young hogs from us, at the age where they had all their immunizations (2) and whatever antibiotics they would get. He raised them to slaughter weight in a shed on straw out in the country, then butchered and sold them as 'natural meat, free from drugs & vaccines.' As soon as we found out what he was doing, our business with him was terminated. When something sounds to good to be true - it usually is.

It takes 2 - 3 years for a grass fed beef cow to reach market weight vs. 18 months in a feedlot. Also, you need about 15 - 20 acres of pasture to feed one cow for one year, 20 - 30 acres if it's a cow - calf pair. There's a reason why cows are raised in feed lots - it's cheaper and more efficient. You mostly all know I'm a Hutterite. We raise about 10 beef cattle per year for our own use. They're on pasture with one feeding of barley or oats per day and hay in the winter, plus a mineral supplement. We typically buy newly weaned calves (6 - 8 months old) and feed them for about another 1.5 to 2 years. We know farmers who raise grass fed beef on a larger scale and have a great deal of respect for them - it's a healthy and sustainable way to raise food, but it is very expensive. Delivering a large grass fed steak to your door for $9.99 is highly unlikely, and they would tell you that too.

I think health care has seen plenty of cuts over the past two decades. For example, provincial health budgets were cut in the 90's as a consequence of Chretien / Martin slashing federal transfer payments. Even in Manitoba under the NDP, nurses had to take a wage freeze a few years ago.

IMO, NFL interest should bump a player like Muamba further down. There are several players who would have been far better value for the Bombers.

Truth be told, there are probably things y'all don't know about every single person mentioned in this thread.

That could only work if our agreements had class size & composition clauses - at this point they don't. They can't bargain something that's beyond the scope of collective agreements and controlled only by legislation. The K - 3 class size cap is an example of that - one government put it in place, the other removed it; in both cases it was at their discretion.

Yes, wage freezes have already been legislated. Next round 0%, 0%, 0.75%, & 1% As for taking away benefits, some of our most important benefits as teachers were negotiated when the Filmon Tories were in power No one will settle an agreement where they lose existing benefits, strikes and interest arbitration will happen first

This is where the cuts will happen. When you have salaries set to increase by 2%, with funding only increasing by 1%, something has to give. After the precedence set by the Supreme Court when the BC government stripped clauses from negotiated collective agreements, the Manitoba government will be very hesitant to touch existing collective agreements in this province. Considering most of the expenses in public sector are salaries (where else would they be?), expect further cuts to employees and staffing.