kelownabomberfan

This is what they are doing in Wisconsin, allowing union members to opt out of paying dues in jobs where being in a union used to be mandatory. The unions of course freaked out and have been fighting like crazy to get Walker out as governor, but to no avail. Something had to give.

Yup I have an aunt who is deaf and is now suffering early on-set dementia from all of the beatings and head traumas she suffered at a residential school. When I hear her stories I can't even imagine stuff like that happened in this country. Just heart-breaking.

Ever sit in the $5 McDonald's section in the old arena? I would watch Dale Hawerchuk go across the blue line on a breakaway but would have to wait for the roar of the crowd to know if he scored, as you couldn't see the visitor end of the ice from up there.

The unions in BC circulated blatant propaganda pumping the BC NDP here last election. I just couldn't believe they were blowing member dues on radio ads, print media and even TV ads, all to try and convince the electorate to put in a government that would just bend over on behalf of taxpayers and give the unions everything they want. Like how dumb did they think we voters were? I am not saying I favour an anti-union government either, but it should be illegal for unions to spend member dues on crap like this. It just basically says "we want the NDP in power as they give us everything we want, and who cares about the taxpayers". That's just not right. I heard a story from the Pawley era that the unions were so entrenched during Pawley's government that they even had representatives in the offices of cabinet ministers at the Legislature, and nothing could be authorized as a proposal without the union's consent. That really made me angry. Talk about having a lot of power without being elected! I don't know if that story is true, but it wouldn't surprise me, given how truly awful that NDP government was. Just the worst.

Is there anyone out there that he doesn't want to poke?

Let me guess they are all union honchos...

It's KBF, not Dee. I don't mention it because you sure don't see it. Old people may bring a lot of cash but they sure don't spend it. Other than walking in and buying houses for $600K cash. I am lucky I bought my house 15 years ago, I don't know how people here buy houses with the piddly Okanagan salaries that are paid. And Vancouver prices for houses are even worse, though at least there they pay half decent salaries to professionals. Anyway that being said ISO, come on out - it would be great to have someone else other just Tacklewasher to watch Bomber games with.

No thanks. You want Christy Clark?

LOL - I know you are an NDP supporter so that's why you are only mentioning Conservatives but no premier can hold a candle in terms of being downright the worst ever than Howard "the Coward" Pawley. His ultra-shitty NDP government in the 1980's - man they were some kind of suck. They are one of the main reasons I just can't stand the NDP, as I truly saw the hideous side of their tax and spend union first ideology in action with that government. They were just the worst. All governments are like diapers, they need to be changed or they start to smell. I wish here in BC we had someone else to vote for, but as bad as our provincial government is, no one wants the NDP back in power.

BC needs high taxes. We get all of the Prairie people moving here in their sixties and sucking down our health care. They earn all their money and pay all of their taxes in Alberta their whole lives and then come here and suck down our health care. I don't blame people for wanting to live here, but we could use some health care equalization payments. Or do what Quebec does and charge a tax when you move here. We were really smart here in BC too - we had converted to an HST so that everyone from Alberta was finally paying sales tax here, and then the boneheads voted it out and opted to go back to a PST, which Albertans are exempt from paying. Brilliant. So now every summer we get 1 million Albertans/Saskers/Manitobans flooding into BC for holidays and not one of them is paying a dime of sales tax. Just brilliant, the boneheads who live in this province.

Naheed's an old school chum so I don't want to put him down, but I hope he can walk the walk as good as he talks the talk here. He claims to be a big Stamps fan. It's not just about being a Stamps fan, it's about supporting your local sports teams for the good of the entire community. The Stamps could use a new stadium, so it's time for the politicians to step up and get it done. I hope he does the right thing here, and instead of playing politics, just gets these facilities built.

I don't think I'll ever say that one party knows what to do while others don't. It's not that black and white. Right now I think people choose their parties not because what their party is doing is totally right, but because their party isn't going to screw everything up as badly as the other guys. The NDP definitely knows how to screw everything up, and it can take a long time to undo a lot of their stupid ****. We still here in BC are trying to fix education, after the NDP bent over for the teachers' union and just handed over control of class sizes to the BCTF. SOoooo stupid. And a total conflict of interest. What a bunch of imbeciles the NDP are. LOL - yeah you are right, you aren't an apologist for the NDP...LOL With darn good reason. I really don't like how the NDP bends over for the unions, though I understand it, as they are funded by the unions, just as the Conservatives are funded by business, and so it's not really cool how the Conservatives sometimes give too many breaks to business. It's a product of our system, that special interests control the game. And when the NDP and the unions control the game, bad things happen to the economy.

I rented a house in Edgemont (area in Calgary) for a year back in 1993-94. That house had been slapped together by some construction guys in the late 1970's boom time and it was such a piece of ****. Crap was falling off the walls and the insulation was totally substandard, heating bills even in 1994 were a joke, can't even imagine what they would be now. And Edgemont at that time anyway was considered an upscale neighbourhood. That's one of the pitfalls of living in a boom and bust economy.

LOL - I think you need to look in the mirror Mr. Dee. You seem to be a pretty big apologist for the NDP. That being said, I don't want to make any enemies with political talk here, as I did enough of that on OB, and it's easy to let your emotions get the best of you on this topic. I don't see how you can compare Alberta and Manitoba, extremely different situations and totally different economic factors governing each province. BC has some similarities to Manitoba in that we're stuck with an entrenched party that has won 4 elections and no matter how many dumb things they do, they keep winning too, because our NDP here is so weak and stupid that they couldn't win an election by acclamation. Normally I am ok with the NDP having no chance of winning as I think the NDP are awful and their ideologies are brain-dead, but in BC that has left us with an arrogant dictatorship. I don't know what you do with that, but it's not healthy for democracy. Just like in Alberta, I was hoping the Wild Rose would really shake up the Conservatives, and I think it did a bit, but not enough.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2015/03/11/winnipeg-jets-ondrej-pavelec-trying-to-turn-the-page-after-giving-up-heartbreaking-goal

http://business.financialpost.com/2015/02/24/end-of-oil-and-gas-boom-shakes-oil-rich-norwegians-out-of-utopian-reverie/

I agree. I totally get that paying taxes is important. I've been to enough ****-hole countries where no one pays taxes, and the rich crush the poor under their heel like they are just maggots. I also don't like the engineered societies like Sweden and Norway where all incentive is taken away to better yourself. That doesn't work either.

So that's greater than France? Here's a great article on Norway I found. http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/why-norway-is-a-bs-argument-for-higher-taxes-8235/ Just one guy's opinion. Take it or leave it.

I don't think so re the vacation time requirements but I'm not sure. I do know when I worked there that no one paid me to go on vacation - that has to be a purely French "innovation".

I agree. Though the day a socialist teaches me anything is the day that pigs actually fly.

LOL - well I guess I should have prefaced the story with the fact that you could take it or leave it, or even worse, make a smart-arsed comment instead. Look - I see tons of propaganda in the media about how Norway is better than Canada because they tax the living **** out of everyone and everything, and I just don't buy it. That's not a society I want to live in, to be sure, and I don't like how that kind of society stifles all independent thought and innovation. I saw in one media report that 50% of Norway's population is on some kind of government subsistence right now, thanks to their incredibly generous social programs. That's not "healthy" in my view, and it is setting up that country for a big fall down the road. The point of my story about the Norwegian who wanted to stay in Canada was simple. Our society appeals to people who have an instinct to take care of themselves. Norway's appeals to people who want to suck on a giant government nipple. To each their own. The one thing I know is that you really have to travel around the world to see what works and what doesn't, and how other societies do things. I really like Australia, having spent a lot of time there. They are very similar to us, only their country is way warmer. They do a lot of things like we do, only some things I think they do better, such as health care. Anyway, just my two cents - take it or leave it!

When you are competing against Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal you really aren't saying much by saying you have the healthiest economy in Europe. That's like saying that you are the best hockey player in Equador. I don't get the Germans though, they bust their butts and pay all of Europe's bills just so Greece can elect a nutbar leftist who tells them that he won't pay back all the money they loaned him. Brilliant- don't like the fact that you have debt? Just vote it away!

And yet my buddy, who works for a Norwegian company, always has to bring suitcases with clothes and shoes back to the head office over there because the people ask him to, as their prices are so high they can't afford to buy new clothes and shoes. Norway is ridiculously expensive, and needlessly so, because their VAT are so high. It's just stupid. People who always go on about how great the Scandinavian countries are, and how "happy" they are, really should go live there so that they get some perspective outside of the socialist propaganda they are being fed. When my buddy got the job, the company in Norway sent over a Norwegian to supervise the set up of their branch office in Calgary. At the end of his one year term, he called the office in Norway and told them to stick it, he was staying in Canada. My buddy asked him why, and he said "Because here I can afford to buy a house and a car and a trailer and when I get my paycheque, there's still money left after taxes. You guys are doing things right here." So there you go.

I always shake my head at people who think this is a "good" thing, and even more at people who think this is even remotely sustainable. You can't keep an economy going paying people not to work.

I spent a year in Estevan called July and August in 1990. That town makes Honey Boo-Boo look like Stephen Hawking.