Be careful with that, we tried that in the 90’s and while it worked for Communications, I’m not sure it worked for power, and it was a disaster for TV, Airlines and Railways (and how!)
Oh, it would definitely have to be handled carefully, but the corruption couldn’t possibly get any worse.
I can answer that as well, having just received our bell mobility bill - C$263 this month. Last month was C$382 because the husband was travelling internationally and used his phone.
And then we pay an additional C$160 for Starlink. Our previous internet provider was about the same cost with abysmal service.
I guess my biggest gripes are infrastructure: especially roads & rural internet. It’s a particular problem in our province. And also in this province: health care. Yes, it’s ‘free’ but it’s in dire stress and the provincial government is sitting with their fingers up their butts.
Canada wide it’s bureaucracy. Having experienced it in the US and in the UK, Canada is the worst. The inertia is epic.
This seems to be changing, partly because of Covid, but it was already on the way out before the pandemic. Pubs were closing at the rate of 40 per week at the height of the disease, and 18 per week in 2018.
Ha! We thought exactly the same, but it turns out that corrupt private corps are worse than corrupt government run enterprises
Sure thing. Well, first, if you are interested in reading more about the first three points I raised, search google for 1. “Glen Wood paternity” 2. “Senaiho Hair police” and about trademarks I’m not sure anyone has publicly written about how Japan covers up their system with the Nice facade.
Now read this, written by a Japanese guy (so I am not Japan-bashing here!) on why Japanese lawyers aren’t what you might expect.
Here is another scholarly article about how Japan technically has a Habeas Corpus law but it doesn’t do what you might expect it would do.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=alr
The Japanese law says that foreigners who do not reside in Japan must show a passport ID when they book into a hotel. The police have changed that by telling hotel staff that all foreigners must show passport ID at check in. There is no reason for this racial profiling, it’s just a culture of bullying (Confucianism) - for a start Japanese can’t even tell who is a foreigner or not.
Mmm, I’d want to take a look at which pubs were closing before saying that- I mean, there are pubs and pubs; there’s those which are more foody establishments, with maybe a group of regulars who have a couple of pints. From what I’ve seen, it seems to be more them that are closing, not the bar type places where ‘lads’ go to get drunk.
I’d also want to see if the retail sales have changed, anecdotally at least, people are drinking more at home. Have the actual crime stats changed?
I’m living on a uni campus right now, so you’ll have a tough time persuading me that people aren’t drinking too much…
There’s no way it can possibly be any worse for us, even if they are run into non-existence, since they mostly don’t function now. The only difference, if private corruption happens, is that it won’t be the taxpayers whose money is stolen.
We don’t need a national airline, for instance, if it disappears we lose nothing. Similarly with the broadcaster, there are already better private competitors.
We do need power, but unless they start electrocuting puppies, no private supplier could possibly be worse then Eskom.
Well, so much for my plans for Puppy Power LLC. 
Not puppies, but you might be interested in this episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Most countries in the world have attempted the national airline thing, and I’ll be damned if I understand why. The evidence is rather overwhelming that private business will fill the need for commercial aviation, and will do it basically as effectively and as safely as a state-run airline.
I suspect it was a prestige thing and cost issue in the early years, having a shiny fleet of high tech aircraft that represented the cutting edge of technology would require enormous investment in equipment and infrastructure and perhaps that was initially best organised on a national basis.
Doesn’t necessarily make sense now though, and probably hasn’t for some years.
You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
Frank Zappa
Sunday closing laws. This isn’t much of an issue here in Canada any more, but I remember when I was growing up, everything except pharmacies and movie theatres were locked up pretty tight, at least in Ontario. Then it started to ease when I was a tween, in times hilarious ways. There was a grocery chain called Top Banana, and I can recall the family stopping in after church one Sunday and it was open, but two aisles were blocked off, because there was a specific square footage that was permitted because of…Jesus, I guess?
I traveled to the British Isles a few years ago, and I recall running around Belfast City Centre for literally over an hour trying to find any kind of eatery that was open for dinner. Jeez, a country with a long history of Christian sectarianism locked up tighter than a drum on a Sunday? Is there a connection?
This fall I’m planning my first overseas trip since before COVID began, and I’ll be visiting Germany for the first time. And in prepping, I’ve learned that Deutschland has some of the most rigid Sunday-opening laws in Europe. Which kind of makes me nervous. I’m an atheist, but not a “ha-ha, you rubes” kind, more of a “don’t try to convert me, or teach your kids that we were plunked down on Earth a week ago, one rib short on the left, and I’ve got no problem with you” kind. And one of Germany’s major political parties has “Christian” in their name, which makes me feel like I’m treading into a somewhat more theocratic territory than I’m used to. I guess I’m more worried about transgressing some social norm, and I’ll likely spend that Sunday traveling and doing laundry anyway.
I know this is more bashing other places than my own, but for a strict “separation of church and state” guy like me, it weighs on my mind.
I don’t want to add to your worries, because my “gut feeling” is that these countries are in some ways more secular than America, at least with regards to active interference in peoples’ lives from the religious, but some countries including Germany help some churches collect tithes (sort, they’re less than 10%), although it is very easy to opt out of them.
Yeah, German restrictions on businesses being closed on Sundays nowadays exist much more because of the influence of (secular and not always church friendly) unions, which are historically strong here. They just have adapted the churches’ stands, but to protect the workers, the Christian aspect has almost nothing to do with it anymore. And as for the (C)hristian in CDU? This party is more secular than American Democrats…the ‘C’ is only a historical remnant for most of the party. There have been proposals to get rid of it from inside the party in the last years. You can perfectly be a Muslim or an atheist inside the party.
Molson Canadian has won several beer industry awards, including: The “Molson Canadian Mega Keg” is the world’s largest monument to a keg of Molson Canadian.
Man, that’s an awfully specific award to be bragging about…
… but who knew Canada would be leading the pack?
.
Putin has a team of sculptors that he’s banished to Siberia until they finish their “Molson Canadian Mega MEGA Keg” (spoilered as part of a UN pinky swear…).
Misread MEGA. Doing keggers would definitely inspire, or at least allow you to emulate, the qualities embodied by my misread.