I hope you meant maple leaves, in this context at least.
Oh man, that website is one lazy attempt at “satire” - it does not bring back fond memories of reading Frank magazine while listening to Jesse & Gene.
Ideally, yes. But it seems to be a big deal here in Alberta to have at least one rental (though it tends to be referred to as an “investment”) property.
As I recall my time in Ontario, there were few single-family homes for rent. Here, there are many. Most are owned by somebody who already owns a home, but who buys another in order to make money as a landlord. It sounds simple enough; you buy a property, and charge rent more than the monthly mortgage payment. Your tenant essentially buys the place for you. And you make a profit.
But sadly, many such landlords don’t know the ins and outs of leasing living premises, and I dealt with many disputes over living accommodations arising out of “handshake deals.” If they had more properties and proper legal advice and paperwork, there would be no problems; but many who buy an “investment” property just charge right in, without legal advice, without the proper paperwork, and without any clue what they’re doing.
Maybe. 
My parents were landlords for many years, and I think the only annoying, illegal, money-costing situation they didn’t run into was someone taking over their property and claiming it was their own. I would think very long and hard about becoming a landlord, after seeing what my parents went through. I can see where people who haven’t had front-row seats might think it’s an easy way to get someone else to pay your mortgage.
Lead story on last night’s news… replacing “all thy sons” with “all of us” in national anthem.
Wow, while arguably newsworthy, was this the biggest story in national, international, and local news yesterday?
As in leaving the playoffs?
It’s nice that this is the Canadian lead. Beats the hell out of “Gub’m’nt shut down.”
There was a glitch with my BBC mobile app yesterday. For a few hours, London only had one story: some folks having to swim for it when a duck caught fire. I thought “Is the news editor a Canadian?”
In London, the only female judge on their twelve judge Supreme Court made a call for more women to be appointed as judges. In Canada, Harper appointed a male to the SCC, such that it now has six males and three females. I think that systemic gender bias does need addressing, and to judge by law school gender ratios, it is being addressed and will have a significant effect in making the pool of judicial candidates more gender representative.
Where to begin, though? At bar admissions, or earlier at law school, or at general university, or high school, or elementary, or primary, or daycare or the womb? I think it comes down to addressing gender bias in routine matters, so that kids grow up being attuned to equality rather than mindlessly accepting gender bias. I’m on board (well, not on a duck anyway) with the proposed changes to the lyrics.
On the local 6:00 news they interviewed a few people on the street, maybe 6 or 8, and everyone said “Meh. Leave it the way it is.”
The original French lyrics are much better, in my humble opinion.
A quick article about Chris Hadfield getting photographed in the same style as David Bowie’s “Aladdin Sane”.
I have issues not with the concept of eliminating the gender bias, because I do think that should be addressed, but how stupid the proposed change sounds. Try singing it in your head, it makes no sense whatsoever.
“True patriot love in all of us command?” Clunky and dumb.
I agree with** Le Ministre**, the original lyrics in french are much better. Anyone feel like taking a stab a close to literal translation to english? Of course, we’ll have to alter that bit about “Il sait porter la croix” as Quebec’s C of V would forbid it and other religions might misconstrue the meaning…:eek:
Ô Canada!
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l’épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
O Canada!
Land of our forefathers,
Your forehead is circled with glorious flowers.
For as your arm knows how to wield the sword,
It knows how to carry the cross.
Your history is an epic
Of the most brilliant exploits.
And your valour, steeped in faith,
Will protect our homes and our rights
Will protect our homes and our rights.
(My looser translation owes a lot to this one from the Wiki page on ‘O Canada’. It’s interesting to note that O Canada was first performed on St. Jean Baptiste day in 1880.)
The Québec charter of values as it is currently being discussed involves keeping the cross on the mountain, the crucifix in the National Assembly, and keeping the thousands of place names and street names that derive from the province’s French Catholic heritage - a fact which I find more than a little hypocritical.
Apparently someone has done some very high-quality vandalism on the City of Edmonton welcome signs -
Welcome To Edmonton, Road Construction City,
Welcome to Edmonton, City of Speed Traps,
Welcome to Edmonton, City of Champignons (I couldn’t find a picture of it - imagine the “Champions” replaced with “Champignons”),
and my favourite,
Welcome to Edmonton, Suck It Calgary. 
It looks like photoshop, but someone put some time and effort into making some very good quality signs, which have already been taken down. 
“True patriot love in all of us command.”
Too fascist for my taste.
Looks like he’s gone through some ch-ch-ch-changes.
Surely sexual equality means equality of opportunity, not result? Surely you would want Harper to have appointed the best person - male or female - to the post?
It also doesn’t scan well as lyrics, as if a 5th grader wrote them.
Thinking of Chris Hatfield, I was struck by the fact that Canada has in the past couple of years seen both the best and worst in its Colonels … from a widely admired hero - Colonel Chris Hatfield (ret.) - to a total monster - Colonel Russell Williams.