# The great, ongoing Canadian current events and politics thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059 "2011-05-16T03:05:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 28
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/542 "2011-09-20T20:43:05Z")
Perhaps he wants to make the trains run on time? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/543 "2011-09-20T20:46:28Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Perhaps he wants to make the trains run on time? Memo from PMO: “Buy some trains!” ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/544 "2011-09-20T21:20:35Z")
Planes…trains…what’s the status on new automobiles? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/545 "2011-09-20T21:45:08Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Memo from PMO: “Buy some trains!” Reply to PMO: “We can get some nice Lionel ones. HO scale okay with you?” ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/546 "2011-09-20T22:04:01Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > And now, back to politics. 🙂 Why does everyone hate Dalton McGuinty? I can’t speak for anyone else but the two words that cross my mind every single time McGuinty opens his mouth are, “pompous arrogance”. I just get the sense that McGuinty thinks he is doing all of us a favour by running a Liberal government. I lived in Texas for years and the politics there were nowhere near a f’ed up as they are in Ontario. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/547 "2011-09-20T23:12:18Z")
McGuinty is just … he comes across as … sigh. The smug bastard seems to think he’s done a great job for reasons that completely escape me. Unfortunately. the opposition is just pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/548 "2011-09-21T00:58:05Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > Planes…trains…what’s the status on new automobiles? They’re under provincial jurisdiction, not federal. They’re safe from Parliament. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/549 "2011-09-21T01:32:22Z")
Except the [Ford Nucleon](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-atomic-automobile/). ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/550 "2011-09-21T01:47:07Z")
I expect that the feds would also have regulatory jurisdicton over the Ford Volante and the General Lee. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/551 "2011-09-21T02:29:17Z")
And Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/552 "2011-09-22T15:18:26Z")
Oh for fuck’s sake, Peter McKay. In the past three years there were multiple opportunities to have the military’s SAR operations demonstrated to you, and yet you cancel or otherwise ignore this until you decide to leave a private fishing camp on vacation, at which point _you call up the DND that very morning and [tell them to come get you](http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110922/peter-mackay-newfoundland-chopper-travel-logistics-reaction-110922/20110922/?hub=CalgaryHome)?_ Seriously? For a 30 minute flight from the lodge to (I presume) your home or another airport? It couldn’t be a regular old helicopter, it had to be a Cormorant? _If_ it turns out he spent some time meeting and greeting the pilots and flight engineers and maintenance personnel and regular SAR rank and file, then I’ll back off…a little. Even in that case, I still think it was a stupid, boneheaded move that just looks plain bad, and a selfish waste of money and resources of an expensive and specialized necessary national service. So go ahead, Mr McKay, pack on a few unnecessary hours and cycles onto aging aircraft just so you can have a bit of fun. Your government will be replacing those helicopters any day now…right? Right? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/553 "2011-09-22T15:38:19Z")
OK - I’ll correct myself on one thing. The Cormorants aren’t aging design, though they do have very high operational cycles and hours. It’s only the Hercules, Dash-5, Dash-6, Arcturus, and the lovely Sea King that need to be replaced. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/554 "2011-09-28T12:34:33Z")
Does the re-fit of BC Place to give it a working retractable roof make the people of Montreal feel like even bigger chumps? ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/555 "2011-09-28T16:42:40Z")
😃 I love the Big Owe; I think it’s pretty, but that roof is a feat of engineering incompetence rivaled only by our bridges and that building in Toronto that keeps dropping glass windows on unwary pedestrians. Thing is, the Big Owe has no tenants; the Alouettes can fill it for playoff games but it wouldn’t work for the regular season. They are so much better off playing a capacity crowd at Percival Molson than trying to make it worthwhile out in the (relative) boonies of the Olympic Stadium. The Expos left, and if Montreal were to ever get an MLB team again, they wouldn’t play there either. There was talk during the Centennial of a Heritage Classic-style game for the Habs being played there, but even if that ever happens and becomes a yearly tradition, it doesn’t address the rest of the year. There’s actually a call for public suggestions to try and figure out what the hell to do with the building. Tearing it down is not an option. I think at the least they need to spend the cash to put on a fixed, permanent roof that won’t collapse in winter (because right now the place is closed from January to April or somesuch!). I don’t know what to do with the actual space, though. The Olympic Stadium and the downtown skyline make me smile; whenever I’m coming home and see this city, I grin and tell myself “Wow! I get to live HERE!” I love Montreal, despite the fact that it’s a total mess. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/556 "2011-09-28T18:59:22Z")
Two of my favourite Aislin cartoons - one is the ‘O’ getting the roof, where the roof is shaped like half a lemon and the word 'Sun kist’ is divided between the two halves. Then there’s the one that quotes Jean Drapeau as saying ‘The olympics can no more run a deficit than a man can have a baby!’. Drapeau is depicted in his underwear with a giant, bulging tummy, talking on the phone. His only words are ‘Allo? Morgentaler?’ 😃 I have such a strange relationship with Montréal - it’s like we’re a couple that never happened, but every now and then we both wonder ‘What if…’ I must also be about the only Anglo who thinks of Montréal as ‘that city where I had so much work to do, I could never take a break. I wonder if they have any fun bars there?’ ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/557 "2011-09-29T18:20:12Z")
The company I work for did the BC Place renovations and, from everything I’ve heard, it kicks ass. Just sayin’. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/558 "2011-09-29T18:36:31Z")
What is the “O” primarily made of, and when was it made? What are the collapsing bridges and overpasses primarily made of, and when were they made? Why did the “O” have big chunks fall off of it in its first two decades? Just askin . . . ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/559 "2011-09-29T18:43:10Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > What is the “O” primarily made of, and when was it made? Cement. 1976, for the Olympics. > [@](#): > > What are the collapsing bridges and overpasses primarily made of, and when were they made? Cement. Probably around the same time. > [@](#): > > Why did the “O” have big chunks fall off of it in its first two decades? The construction industry in Quebec is rife with corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/560 "2011-09-29T18:54:54Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > 😃 > > I love the Big Owe; I think it’s pretty, but that roof is a feat of engineering incompetence rivaled only by our bridges and that building in Toronto that keeps dropping glass windows on unwary pedestrians. I work in that Toronto building (First Canadian Place) and it’s not windows - it’s great freaking chunks of marble cladding, weighing 300 pounds. That, falling from 60 stories, can really ruin your day :eek: … actually, fortunately no actual pedestrians were squashed. 🙂 They are replacing all the cladding as I write, and have for months - I can hear them doing it outside my window. > **[First Canadian Place | Cladding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Canadian_Place#Cladding)** > > The same white Carrara marble used on Stone's Aon Center (in Chicago) was employed as an exterior cladding and interior finish for First Canadian Place, with approximately 45,000 marble panels weighing around 200 to 300 lb (91 to 136 kg) each. Foreshadowing what would take place with First Canadian Place in 2007, one of the marble slabs of Aon Center, when it was named the Standard Oil Building, detached in 1974, falling and penetrating the roof of a neighbouring building, resulting in an eventua... ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059/561 "2011-09-29T19:07:47Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I work in that Toronto building (First Canadian Place) and it’s not windows - it’s great freaking chunks of marble cladding, weighing 300 pounds. That, falling from 60 stories, can really ruin your day :eek: … actually, fortunately no actual pedestrians were squashed. 🙂 Could be worse. Your neighbouring TD-Centre’s tenant Holden Day Wilson had one hell of a problem with stuff falling from on high. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059.md?page=27) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-canadian-current-events-and-politics-thread/582059.md?page=29)