Move Over RCMP–Now It’s The OPP That…

 

Always Get Their Man !!

This week, the OPP laid charges against Sudbury Liberal Supporter – Gerry Lougheed - ostensibly because he offered a bribe to - then Liberal candidate Andrew Olivier - to drop out of the February 5th 2015 By-election in favour of a Queen’s Park anointed replacement.

Let you be the Judge as to whether or not they – the Ontario Provincial Police - have sufficient cause for their action:

In a telephone call recorded by Olivier, Lougheed said the following:

“We should have the broader discussion about what is it that you’d be most interested in doing and then decide what shape that could take whether it’s a full-time or a part-time job at a constituency office, whether it is appointments to boards or commissions, whether it is also going on the executive.”

Looks pretty conclusive to me – don’t you think.  They’ve got dear Mr. Lougheed ‘dead to rights’ !

But of course those quotes were not made by Gerry Lougheed – local Sudbury Grit – but rather by Wynne’s Deputy Chief of Staff – Patricia Sorbara.

Below is what Lougheed was actually caught on tape saying -

“The Premier wants to talk to you. We would like to present to you options in terms of appointments, jobs, whatever,” .

And I guess, by mere happenstance, shortly thereafter Premier Wynne did in fact call and speak with Olivier.  Quelle Surprise.

So why dear Reader was Lougheed charged by the OPP and Sorbara not?

Excellent question – could it be connected with the OPP’s Union …’forcefully’ .. so to speak – supporting Wynne during the last election?

Even Ontario’s Chief Electoral Office when referring both Sorbara and Lougheed to the police for investigation called their attempts at bribery “unprecedented”.

To conclude – the OPP certainly ‘Got Their Man’ in this case but just a certainly ‘Not Their Woman’ or more correctly – ‘Not Their Women’.

As I see it…

“K. D. Galagher’

Don’t Grow Old …

 

Since there’s no room in the Inn.

My Elderly Aunt – in her 92nd year – admonishes me ‘not grow old’ since she has found it to be not so much fun.

I tell my Aunt that I will do what I can to avoid it and we laugh.

But what many of you may not be aware of is the fact that when you do grow old and sick  – don’t count on Ms. Wynne or her Liberal Ontario Government to come to your rescue.  Hence the ‘no room in the Inn comment.  I guess they are just too busy jacking up Hydro Rates and building Windmills.

My Aunt was diagnosed many years ago with Alzheimer's disease but with modern drugs and although her short term memory is totally gone – she still recognizes and is able to communicate with my wife and me but that is all.

My Aunt lives in a Seniors’ Retirement Residence and for the privilege she pays nearly $6,000 per month.

About a year ago, it became obvious to us that her health needs were no longer being met by the Residence despite its horrendous cost so we placed her on the Province’s list for a Nursing Home via the Province’s Watch Dog - CCAC. 

Nursing Homes not only are a third of the cost of a Retirement Residence they also are equipped with more staff and the ability to provide greater care to folks like my Aunt.  The only problem, it is virtually impossible to gain admission to one.

In my Aunt’s case, in addition to her long time Alzheimer's diagnoses she has become so frail that she no longer participates in any of the the activities of life – she does not participate in any of the Home’s activities, she neither reads or watch television.  She told me recently that she just “cannot understand what is being said”.  This is partly due to her poor hearing and of course to her Alzheimer’s.

But dear Reader – if you can imagine – it gets worse.

For the last month or so my Aunt has even stopped eating or drinking for the most part.  You could always count on Aunt Joyce to wolf down a dish of ice-cream but even that decadence has been lost to her.

And more recently my Aunt has been complaining of great discomfort and pain. This has been met by the staff and residence’s doctor more or less with indifference more out of not being able to do much for her than neglect.

Given this, my wife and I decided to have her admitted to a local hospital’s emergency ward this past Saturday to see what was going on.

The Parameds who came for her – made it clear that they thought my wife and I were wasting everyone’s time.  I suspect they have heard the message from on high (i.e. Ms Wynne and company) ‘don’t clog the system with the elderly’.  We met with a similar reaction from the Emergency personnel.

We told them that we really did not care what they thought – our Aunt was in great pain and discomfort and we wanted to know why.

We spend nearly 10 hours with her – through many tests and finally the results came in confirming that my Aunt was suffering from heart difficulties and was experiencing minor heart attacks.

Attitudes of the hospital staff changed for the better.

Her hospital doctor recommended that my Aunt be admitted to a Nursing Home ASAP and I told her that I would get on the phone this past Monday to let CCAC know about the deterioration in my Aunt’s health.

Monday came and I called – I advised the nice woman on call about my Aunt’s health deterioration and although she sympathized with me – she made if very clear that the dramatic deterioration in my Aunt’s health meant nothing insofar-as gaining access to a Nursing Home Bed.

Not only that, she advised me that my Aunt’s place on the Nursing Home Waiting list had actually gone down.

I was astounded to some extent albeit my wife Anne works in the Seniors’ Home Care Health field and the horror stories she tells me about the sad condition of our Province’s health care would truly frighten you even more than my Aunt’s case.

So thank you Ms. Wynne – the next time you hear her or one of her entourage brag about the great state of Ontario’s health care – think of my Aunt and 1,000s like her here in Ottawa who are so sick and suffering and yet shut out from proper care.

I don’t think it is too much of an exaggeration to say that our Provincial Liberal Government not only wants the elderly to die awaiting proper care – but is also actively helping that to come about sooner than necessary.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

They Treat Hardened Criminals With …

 

More Respect.

The ‘They’ in this case are the Airlines.

Take this past Thursday for instance:

But let me begin first by saying I hate flying- not out of fear – but about how one is treated …like criminals – like cattle.  I do not think I need to convince you of that but I now have an even greater example of this lack of respect and inhumane treatment.

Thursday past, at noon, I flew from Sarasota Florida to Chicago on route to Ottawa.  I got to Chicago at 1:30 pm central time and was scheduled for a flight out at 5 p.m. so I had lots of time to make my connection.

The Big Board said my flight was ‘on time’.

Great I thought – I would be in Ottawa by early evening.

But then the slippage started.  The Big Board, in hourly increments, set back departure timing claiming the delays on “awaiting an aircraft”.

After several of these hourly add on’s I was beginning to think that ‘They’ – in this case ‘United Airlines’, had more than enough time to drive the damn plane to our Gate.

At around 5 pm, with our departure now scheduled for 9 pm – the O’hare Airport was hit with a thunder and lightning storm – it was quite a display and went on for the best part of … one half hour - giving ‘Them’ another excuse – “weather” now added to “await aircraft” as reasons for the continuing delay.

We remained positive throughout given that we were still scheduled to fly out – albeit much later than we had planned.

At 10 pm a plane rolled up to our gate and it soon became common knowledge that yes indeed it was our long awaited – lost?- bird.  Problem though – it came without crew, but not to worry an announcement over the speaker indicated that a replacement crew was on route from Dallas Texas.

11 pm still no sign of the awaited crew so time of departure was once again set back … this time to midnight.

Midnight came and with it - our hopes were finally dashed – the flight “was cancelled”.  Throughout we had no personal contact from Airline staff and were offered not so much as a bottle of h2o.

A voice over encouraged us to head to ‘Their’ Customer Service Desk – so off we rushed where we found an existing line-up of more than an hour – our group added a second. I could still count so I figured it would take until 2 am before I got to speak with a live person. 

I then noticed a sign which offered help via ‘Their’ 1-800 number which I quickly dialled.

A nice ‘Lady’ answered and she advised me that ‘Their’ computer had already rearranged for my return to Ottawa by 1:30 pm – problem being – for Saturday and as you will recall, we were now in the early hours of Friday morning.

Not to worry ‘Nice Lady’ said – “we can do better” – a 6:15 am flight out of Chicago that very morning bound for Baltimore – then to Newark and finally to Ottawa.  In desperation I said I would take it.

All the while – we most unfortunate passengers were offered zilch – no meals, no drinks, no hotel, no compensation – zippo.

I was though offered a COT.

And with that Dear Reader the real fun began.

I had to walk miles to reach the COT Encampment – which when found consisted of hundreds of COTS – each about 6 inches shorter than my height.

It gets worse.

The COT area was lit up like the 4th of July.

And not only that – Public Service Announcements carried on – every 5 minutes; No Smoking, No Restricted Items Thru Security … and so on.

These announcements shook the Room.

My mind thought back to the movies where Spies were subjected to Sleep Depravation in an attempt to get them to break.  Our COT Area had been reduced to that.

It was now 1 am and I was given a blanket – thread thin with a pillow – 6 inches by 6 inches.  The former was problematic since the COT Room was kept at subarctic temperatures.   The latter was of little use.

So let’s recap – Flood Lights, Constant Noise, A COT too small, a blanket too thin – nighty night to one and all.

But Dear Reader there is more.

These 100’s of COTs were placed end to end – side by side – so that you were quite literally sleeping with the guy or girl next to you.

I remedied this somewhat by finding a COT Space – beside an aisle so I only had a COT beside me, above and below me.  I felt pretty smug.  That would soon disappear since the Aisle refuge turned out to be an artery to the main Bathrooms.

All night long; well really ‘not all night’ as I will  explain shortly – a constant stream of humanity passed by me on their way to and from the toilets. It felt like Time Square.

It was also like a gulag with some pretty strange characters cruising about.

To finish my inmate analysis – special security personnel, dressed in what would easily pass for jail guard uniforms – stalked the Halls of COT Area continuously.  They looked upon us as the enemy and we considered them … well like jail guards.

But the final insult was yet to come – at 4 am it as UP and At’em – Rise and Shine – and the Jailers did not take no for an answer.

COTS were literally pulled out from under tardy risers and that included the infirm as well as the healthy.

If you are counting – that is 3 hours sleep – bearing in mind of course that no one in their right mind could have slept in that din anyway.

Finally, I was given a tooth brush and tooth paste on my was out – the brush was less than 3 inches long and the tooth paste … well you get the idea.  I guess ‘They’ were afraid we would carve a larger one into some type of a weapon.

So no – I don’t like flying.  Maybe next time I will ask for a nice comfortable jail cell – Inmates have it better.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

He Just Cannot Take ‘Yes’ For An Answer..

 

I am speaking of course about the former Prime Minister of Greece … Alexis Tsipras.

Tsipras, as you will recall, was elected P.M. earlier this year – January 25th to be precise.  He and his Party literally came out of nowhere – from left field as it were, to seize this coveted post.

We all know why – Greece was struggling under European sanctions designed to get Greece’s finances under control.  The average Greek did not like it and turned surprisingly to Tsipras and his left wing Party for relief.

So if anyone had a mandate to deal effectively with those mean spirted  Europeans – it was Tsipras.

But no – that was not good enough for Alexis.

He needed a Referendum to give him real authority and a concrete mandate to tell Europe to go to blazes.

The Referendum came and went and low and behold Tsipras got what he wanted – overwhelming support to take a tough stand with the EU.

Two strong ‘Yeses’ within months of one another.

So off to the EU within days of the Referendum and what does he do … why of course he capitulates – that is to say, he totally surrenders to Europe’s demands.

You may ask what was the purpose of the January Election and the follow-up Referendum?  And you’d be right.  What was their purpose.

It gets even more bizarre.

I said in an earlier Blog that we could now expect his party to revolt and kick their leader out for his outlandish betrayal.

And indeed, that is just what happened this week – Tsipras resigned after calling another election.

But surprise, surprise – he is not riding off into the sunset as he should – rather he is running for the Prime Ministership once again – within 8 months of being elected to the same post.

Incredible.

I cannot wait to see what happens.  Shoudl he wins – he calls another Referendum to be followed by another election.

He just gets too many Yeses – hopefully this time he will get his no and Greece can begin to move on and do what they need to do to get their house in order.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

 

So It Was All About The Students’ …

 

Welfare …. AFTER ALL !!

Or… Maybe Not !!!

Two Big Ontario Teachers’ Unions – The Ontario High School Teachers Union and the English Catholic High School Teachers Union have tentatively settled with the Province pending approval with their respective memberships which is thought to be a mere formality.

This is indeed great news, since the benefits for our students must be most significant – after all, was it not the Unions and even their respective membership who said that the students’ welfare was paramount for them in the discussions with the Province?

But wait, what I have read so far in regard to the proposed settlement this week include bonuses, increased wages (apparently the current top level- after 10 years of teaching – of $95,000 was just not enough), another PD Day and no change in class size.

If you count another PD as a benefit for students – that is to say – another holiday for them (I know, I know) there really is zippo for our kids.

But lots for the Teachers.

Imagine !

In a blog last week on the subject of the bargaining I laid out as follows what I had been told the real issues of concern to the Teachers and their Unions:

• Class sizes are too high - 30+ class size cannot be properly managed;
• Classes include numerous ‘special needs students’ which often disrupt the class and always slow the learning process for the non-special needs children;
• The old core curriculum has been replaced by politically correct studies;  and,
• Students are not allowed to fail.

I could add to this list the inability to properly discipline and the need for more teacher assistants to help manage the huge class sizes and lack of effective training material such as computers.

As an aside dear Premier Wynne is quoted as saying while the teachers receive more under the agreement – they really didn’t because it comes out of the education envelope and it will not increase.

I guess translated this means the teachers are getting bonuses and wage hikes but the over all budget for things like teacher assistants and computers etc etc is reduced.  Seems hard to understand since these were included in the issues of concern to the Unionites.

But not too worry dear reader – the memberships of both Unions have yet to vote on these deals and of course they are most likely to turn the proposed settlements down given their sincere assurances that increased wages / bonuses / and more PD Days were the last thing they either wanted or expected.

Again, to translate this for you – ‘like a snowball’s chance in Hell’.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

MAY BE SOON TIME FOR A ‘TRUMP’ MOMENT …

 

IN CANADIAN POLITICS.

The National Opinion Polls, leading into the dog days of August, are not all that favourable to the Conservatives; indeed, some show the Tories mired in third place but even if split is even, with the other Two Major Parties, it means at best Minority Government status for the Tories.

And that dear reader, would end up in their defeat as since as sure ‘God made the little green apples’; the left leaning Liberals and the New Democrats would team up to form the Government.

That said, these are still early days but if this trend continues into late September … watch out.

I say that because, as bad as Harper and company are – the other two are far worse.

So that leads me back to the title of today’s blog which I could have also called ‘Is It Time For A Hail Mary Pass’ and in that regard, two possible subject matters come to mind:

The First, is in regard to the annual $1.2 Billion Dollar subsidy Canadian taxpayers pay to the Canadian Broadcast Corporation more widely known as the CBC.

Harper should have already ended this subsidy over the course of his 10 year stint as Prime Minister but could pledge to do so if re-elected.  The Lefties would of course go wild but the majority, like you and me, who find it unfair to subsidize one broadcaster over others such as Global and CTV would cheer Harper on.

A ‘Trump’ moment if there ever was one.

But there is even a bigger area where Harper could promise action which would also sit well with the majority of voters but admittedly would take even more guts on the part of Canada’s Ruling Party. That dear Reader would entail Harper promising to de-unionize all public servants – including the armed forces and the RCMP.

We have long ago reached the point in our country where we have two classes of employee – the haves who form the public service and the have-nots who work in the private sector and pay the salaries and benefits of the former.

There are many reasons this has come about but I do not have the time to itemize them here - but have dealt with them in previous blogs. The bottom-line is that the public servant needs no union – they are not working in coal pits suffering from black lung.

But the reason to see Public Service Unions disbanded go way beyond this. 

Simply stated they are undemocratic.

And not just because they often act without their membership’s approval.

They are undemocratic since they take taxpayers’ money via their membership and spend that money to politic against parties – like the Conservatives – which many voters / taxpayers support.

It is unfair, it is undemocratic and it needs to be addressed.

As a concrete example of what I am referring to is the fact that 3rd parties can advertise during the current Election under the Federal Elections Act. I was even surprised to learn that this was even possible since I suspect like you I had been led believe that once the Writ was dropped and the Election called – all 3rd party involvement ceased as of that date.

In that regard, The National Post published recently a list of nearly 2 dozen outfits – mostly Public Servant Unions and supplemented by other left-wingy groups that have been granted the right by Elections Canada to spend their membership’s money to defeat the Conservatives during the current campaign. Included in this list are the following:

Third parties registered with Elections Canada (as of Aug. 19):

§ Animal Justice Canada Legislative Fund

§ AVAAZ

§ BC Government and Service Employees’ Union

§ Canadian Health Coalition

§ Canadian Media Guild

§ Canadian Medical Association

§ Canadian Union of Postal Workers

§ Canadian Union of Public Employees

§ Canadian Veterans ABC Campaign 2015

§ Diane Babcock

§ Dogwood Initiative

§ Downtown Mission of Windsor Inc.

§ Fair Vote Canada

§ Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec

§ Friends of Canadian Broadcasting

§ IATSE

§ International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada

§ Leadnow Society

§ Les Sans-Chemise

§ National Citizens Coalition Inc.

§ NORML Canada Inc. NORML Canada Inc.

§ Ontario Public Service Employees Union

§ Open Media

§ Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario

§ UNIFOR

§ Voters Against Harper

----------

Do you remember several weeks back that a right wing group formed to advertise in favour of the Conservatives.  Well the Media and the left wing went ballistic- “no fair” they spewed – but you will not find even one conservative group in the above list of those approved by Elections Canada.  All of the above have as their goal to see Harper and the Conservatives defeated and not so much as a whimper.

This is not democracy and if Harper fails to take this Trump Like Initiative – you will certainly not see the other parties do.

Do I expect Harper to do either of these?

No I don’t.

But if the polls hold for another month, I would also not expect him to win.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

HEY CABBIE …

 

Cabbie ?

The World’s Cabbies are in Uber Trouble as in Big Trouble.

The cause …Uber – as in the Uber ride service.

And Uber itself is not some small outfit – recent reports indicate it has a worth in excess of $40 Billion Dollars.

Cabbies here in Ottawa are suffering along with their world confreres;  Estimates say that their weekly income has dropped as much as two-thirds.

One would think that the public would have great sympathy for them … but you’d be wrong.

Comments like the days of ‘the Horse and Buggy’ are over they say to explain that the time has come to put to pasture the once famous yellow cab.

And when Cabbies protest, they are uniformly vilified and told that they are only hurting their image and hastening their demise. 

As a bit of a contrarian, you might well imagine that I do not share the general public’s negative opinion of the Cab and its Driver.

The Cabbie is caught in the proverbial middle – he or sometimes she is totally powerless in what has transpired:

The Cab industry is regulated by the Municipality – in our case by the City of Ottawa which issues scarce licences which in turn are bought up by a small number of millionaire owners.

The owners then pass along to the hapless driver the regulatory costs of running the cab which includes public liability insurance which is most expensive together with the rental of the cab itself.

Then ad the cost of paying the company which operates the ?

Hence my analogy of them being caught in the middle.

For the pleasure of driving cab, they world 12+ hours a day often realizing much less than they would have received, had they worked 9 am to 5 pm somewhere for minimum wage.

So when your meagre wage is suddenly slashed by 66% how are they to manage – to keep house and home – to feed their families – to send their kids on to university …to even keep the cab on the road.

Some lash out – wouldn’t you?

Just imagine you work for someone and your pay is $60,000 per year and all of a sudden that amount is reduced to $20,000 or less.  Likely to be somewhat annoying – n’est pas?

And yet I have heard some people say – “they should just then seek other employment”.

Dah – but do you really think that they would be driving cab if they could easily get other employment?

Most are recent immigrants with poor domestic language abilities – easy for a native canadian to say – well go seek other work…

Rather, these chaps and gals are stuck in a soul destroying job – long long hours, poor pay, dealing day in and day out – night in and night out with congested city traffic, dealing with drunks / druggies, and too often with other obnoxious patrons.

Just imagine and as for me – I do not blame them for striking or work to rule.

The blame rests with the municipality but many municipalities like our own here in Ottawa – fail to take responsibility – indeed the Mayor himself has called some Cabbies thugs.

Our City has kicked the ball down the road by establishing a commission to study the issue … all the while these guys … and gals are bleeding.

The fair haired Boy or Girl in all of this is Uber.  And yet Uber is not registered to provide taxi or ride service to the public, it is breaking both Municipal and Provincial laws by not being registered and it has been established that many Uber drivers are doing so without any public liability insurance for commercial driving. They can also use their own uninspected vehicles.

So no wonder they can charge much less than the once proud yellow cab.

Okay so that is the issue and those are the problems.  In such cases I try to leave you with a solution and put forward the following for your consideration.

1. Ottawa cancel all existing licences (some are selling for a half million and more due to their scarcity) and enter into a modest compensation for their millionaire holders;
2. Licence all ride services to ensure that their vehicles are safe, the drivers are responsible and that they carry public liability insurance for commercial activity.  These licences should be unrestricted in number and be issued at a modest price.
3. If a company wants to organize a dispatch system and charge drivers for joining up so be it …by the same token if they want to take their fares over the internet via an Uber or similar arrangement …they are free to do that too.

It doesn’t seem to be all that complicated to me and certainly not worthy of an in-depth study – just get the interested parties together in a room and use my suggestion for the basis of discussion. I bet within a few days a settlement favourable to the majority will be reached.

And along with it – the dignity of some fine men and women will have been restored.

As I see it…

“K.D. Galagher’