Hello and welcome! It is now officially New Year’s Day 2012 in Canada - Happy New Year, everyone.
This thread is partly a continuation/reboot of The great, ongoing Canadian current events and politics thread. However, I also wanted to add a special invitation to all members of the SDMB. Many of our Canadian Dopers drop by this thread from time to time to discuss all things Canadian - politics, current events, sports, history, arts, literature, cultural institutions, the weather, places we have been and places we would like to go - and so, if any of you from any part of the world have ever wondered ‘What do Canadians think about…’, this would be an ideal place to ask.
I don’t guarantee any unanimity of opinion, mind you; there is a broad spectrum of viewpoints among the regulars here. Our previous conversations have touched on many issues, including questions of media bias, the relationship of Québec to the rest of Canada, the First Nations peoples, the CBC, the Grey Cup, the new banknotes, among many others. (I still haven’t had occasion to handle one of the new polymer $100. bills - if anyone would care to give me one, I would be most appreciative. )
As with the previous thread, I have one request to ask of you all - I hope to keep this in MPSIMS rather than Great Debates or The Pit, partly because there is no single debate to resolve, but also because I want to encourage some of our gentler voices to feel free to express their points of view. One of the great pleasures of previous Canadian elections and current events threads has been that, while I may continue to disagree with the opinions of other CanaDopers, I have come to have a great respect for the people themselves.
And here’s wishing a prosperous and happy 2012 to us all!
I would really like 2012 to be an improvement. I’d like to get a full-time job using some of my actual skills. I’d like to take French immersion and resume Japanese immersion. I’d like a car that works and that I can trust not to have bits fall off. I’d like my own place again, closer to transit. I’d like some savings. Heck, I’d like a girlfriend again, but I need to get a job first.
The people at YorkWorks, one of York Region’s job-search agencies, have generally been amazing. They’ve been teaching me some social moves in addition to the traditional “get your resume in shape and get organized” stuff. Yet that doesn’t
…The people at YorkWorks, one of York Region’s job-search agencies, have generally been amazing. They’ve been teaching me some social moves in addition to the traditional “get your resume in shape and get organized” stuff. Yet that doesn’t change the number of jobs actually out there. We can have all the skills in the world, but there needs to be demand for the worker as well.
I don’t expect to retire as well as my parents did. I fear that we here in Ontario are in the beginnings of a long-term contracting economy. There will be fewer and fewer jobs for the same number of people. But what is a job? Are we all supposed to become entrepreneurs and create our own jobs? Doesn’t that require a specific personality as well as appropriate training?
I was up visiting my cousins for the holidays, and it occurs to me that they lucked out historically. Born just after the Second World War, they came of age during the great boom that followed it, when Canada was buoyed on waves of ever-cheaper energy, national wealth was increasing, anj jobs were easy to get. They built their careers, families, and nest eggs. Now they are retired, have enough to live on, and cherish their new grandchildren. In those conditions, it was easy to make good decisions.
But today? Do companies even have defined-benefit pension plans any more? Unless you luck out on something that turns into a fad, like Angry Birds, or luck out by winning a lottery, there is no longer the certainty of stability or a better future. Yes, you can say that that is more like Humanity’s usual condition, but wasn’t the whole idea of progress that it would make things better?
I feel your frustration Sunspace. For most Ontarians, things will never be as good as they were for the last generation. Our province is saddled with debt and it doesn’t even seem possible that we will ever, EVER get out of deficit spending, let alone pay off the debt.
Happy New year to all. I hope this year brings me many positive changes. Some I have thought about and and am working towards, some I expect as side bonuses.
My wish for everyone this year is peace, balance, joy and fulfillment.
I’m reluctant to spend mine. I bet that’s the case for many others that are in circulation, they aren’t circulating because people are hanging onto the first ones they get.
I somehow missed this the first time around. Happy New Year, Canadopers! I’m in my second winter in Edmonton and there’s still grass showing, we’ve only had a couple of snowfalls and most of it melted away. It’s been way above seasonal all winter with most days going above zero. Not bad!
I offered a new hundred dollar bill to the old lady at the Salvarion Army Thrift Store cash register to cover about $90 worth of goods . She refused it because it looked and felt phoney.
That was about a month ago. I’m waiting for the new 50s in March.
Not to rain on your parade, but I’m very uncomfortable with a winter like this - I worry for all my plants that aren’t getting what they expect. I’m watering my evergreens regularly, but how many people know that they need to get watered when the temperature is above 5ºC? I hope we don’t lose a lot of evergreens this winter.
Happy New Year, everybody! I hope you all had a nice Christmas season!
I’m recovering from last night’s pub outing while watching football on our new television (46" is much bigger in the living room than it seemed in the store…!) Not a bad start to the new year!
My best friend is visiting from the UK (they arrived last night) and we will be having fun over the next couple of weeks, with several dinners and get-togethers planned with friends. In a way, Christmas isn’t over for us yet, as we have a few gifts left to give and I won’t be taking down the trees until at least next week.
I hope I can get a job soon, as I’m tired of being unemployed. I’m grateful that we are in a financial position that means that I don’t have to get a crappy minimum wage job and I can still be a little choosy, but I’m getting very bored. Tied in with a new job is the desire to get a new car and maybe buy a house. If I can get a career going, I can start thinking about kids, too…!
Anyone know if the Royal Conservatory of Music still has a brick and mortar book store on Bloor, or did that wander off once they started up their on-line bookstore? The last time I came across Rae was at that bookstore. Nice to see he has kept up his interest in music.
I don’t think they do - for the last few years, there was a book store in the building which was run by Long & McQuade, but that has closed. Examination materials and Frederick Harris publications can be ordered on-line, or bought across the street at Remenyi’s (which is apparently the Hungarian word for a high mark up). There’s also the Long & McQuade near Ossington.
Actually, I’ve had my best luck ordering on-line from Archambault.
So, what are the odds that Canada will come out of all the shit going down in the rest of the world unscathed? We’re pretty well situated in most ways, except perhaps for the average Canadian’s habit of spending way more than they earn and our debt loads reach dizzying heights.
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