Exactly, well put.
I have no idea how these communities in the middle of nowhere are supposed to thrive, when there are no jobs, and no reasonable expectation of ever having jobs. There is (as you say), no economic rationale for them to exist.
We simply can’t keep funneling money into these towns. And for those who live in them… what a depressing life with no hope of having a productive job.
Unfortunately, whatever identity remains moves toward the negative ones we see on the news. Cultures change regardless of how much someone tries to maintain the original.
Those on the outside have only limited capability to suggest, and less to impose, positive changes. Assuming whatever they propose will actually have a positive rather than a negative effect as we’ve seen in the past which has led to where we are today.
If I had government support I’d be doing many things that interest me. None of which would involve drugs or alcohol or abusing people. Chronic boredom or lack of a challenge, which a job doesn’t necessarily resolve, is the real issue here, imho.
Thanks, MLS, Malthus and others, for your thoughts on this. Quite interesting to this Murrican.
I once thought that, too - that if I somehow ended on some sort of support payments, or won the lottery, or for some other reason did not have to work, I’d have the time to devote myself full-time to my interests. Sounds like paradise.
I have concluded that it is a rare person who can actually do that.
Friends of mine, many very intelligent people, have achieved this status in various ways, and it usually hasn’t ended as they expected - the sort of burning motivation necessary to truly focus isn’t easy for the average person to sustain.
Some days I regret reading the local headlines: “Thirty per cent of babies at regional hospital born to opioid-addicted mothers,” “Abused teens selling themselves on the street for $10.”
Further lost generations.
The headlines are not necessarily local, Muffin. They might as well be from here.
A friend who is an addictions counsellor (I sometimes do *pro bono *work for his clients who get in trouble), reports that a great number of his clients are FASD victims. And a block south of my favourite sports bar seems to be the local hooker track–they all look awful, but they also look awfully young.
Lost generations indeed.
An FASD matter is one of the two matters that made me decide to no longer practice child protection law. A young FASD + gas huffing mother recently out of prison wanted her FASD + gas pacified child back from Children’s Aid. When it was a baby, she had tried to stuff it head first down a floor drain, with some degree of success, causing severe brain damage.
I’m in Ottawa. We have had a strange winter so far, with no snow until after Christmas (we’ve had significant snow storms as early as October in the past). Now, in March, we’re getting major blizzards.
My theory is that the protracted Canadian election in the fall, combined with the especially acrimonious American presidential campaigns, generated an exceptional amount of hot air on the Ottawa-D.C. axis, and this has affected normal weather patterns for months. We can only hope that a return to normal levels in Canada and the end of the presidential primaries will reduce the effects of ongoing political bloviating in the U.S. and allow a return to normal weather. If not, we can look forward to a long, hot summer. 
Note that the number includes privately sponsored refugees. As I predicted, the government did not meet its target of 25,000 government-sponsored refugees (page 64 of the election platform) and conflated private sponsorships with government-sponsored refugees to pretend the target was met.
25,000 refugees from Syria are 25,000 refugees form Syria. I don’t care whether they are sponsored by individuals, groups or government. I am glad they are safely here, and I commend the government for making it possible for them to be here.
The promise was not 25000, it was more, and they’re now lying in saying they met their promise. That is not a good thing.
More are coming. That is a good thing. The short-term timing is immaterial.
Looks like Zoolanders 60 minutes segment airs this weekend where he insults Americans, and then says Canadians would like more attention from America from time to time.
Classic display of the Canadian Inferiority Complex, by our leader no less.
Freaking juvenile.
Law Society of Alberta Accepts Ezra Levant’s Resignation
[QUOTE=HuffPost]
Levant argued that he hadn’t practised law in 13 years and moved from Alberta years ago to pursue other interests.
He had been scheduled to face a week-long disciplinary hearing in front of the law society over the complaints, but he requested last month that it be turned into a resignation hearing instead.
However, he said he would not quit the society unless the complaints against him were lifted.
The column in question criticized the Alberta Human Rights Commission’s handling of a case involving a Muslim man who was claiming discrimination.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, I got an e-mail message from the Law Society with all the details. It sounds like it was more than just an “I quit.”
So tell me again why we voted for him? The NDP could have done the same thing, could they not have? Part of the Liberal platform was “more right away” but if in fact the actual flow is the same as under the NDP plan… well, then, that was all bullshit, wasn’t it?
And of course it’s material how many people the government is sponsoring. How is that not MATERIAL to the people they promised to sponsor and didn’t? You may, of course, choose to believe the government will continue to expend money for a long time on this now that it is no longer a political hotbutton. You may also choose to believe that Florida swampland is a wise investment, that the Pope is a Methodist, and that the cheque’s in the mail.
NOTE ON EZRA LEVANT: He’s like an ugly Kardashian: I am not exactly sure why he’s still famous, I’m not sure why he gets the attention he does, and when some detail about his leaks out, like that he was, or is, or kind of was, a lawyer, I’m honestly kind of surprised.
I don’t know if you saw this from 18 months ago: Judge found Levant had libeled a young lawyer by posts on his website; ordered Levant to pay damages of $80,000.
The article suggests Levant would appeal. Don’t know if he ever did.
If you have two parties with roughly the same policies, why wouldn’t you vote for the party with the more charismatic leader? Or am I misunderstanding your question?
I prefer a smarter Prime Minister.