IT IS TIME TO DITCH SOME GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES...

 For example the Department of Veterans Affairs is long past its Best Before Date and so is Canada Post. 

DVA  for another time save for saying the Volunteer Veterans from WW II are fewer by the day and today are mostly no longer with us.

With regard to the Post Office though ...no one sends mail anymore.

When Justin Trudeau came to power in 2015 he promised faithfully ...as he did for several other things...to restore door to door mail delivery.  Seven Years later we are still waiting but this is one area where his inaction has proven to be a blessing.  As I said ...no one mails anything, anymore.  Computers / Internet have mostly replaced it.

We go to the local drop off box every other day ...sometimes longer and often there is zip there...not even a flyer.  And speaking of flyers ...if we did not receive them there would be virtually nothing left to get.  In fact, I just got in from checking out the box and there was not even a flyer waiting for me and I of course I had gone there yesterday. 

But the Post Office knows full well that no one is mailing letters any more.  In fact it was not that many years back when it started to cry the poors for that very reason.  It then went headlong into the parcel business buying controlling interest in Purolator in 1993.  Prior to that, Canada Post claimed that it had to be a Crown Corporation since no private body could be trusted with the delivery of Canadian's Mail from Coast to Coast to the USA Border.

With internet and the many modern ways of communication this argument no longer holds water. And to make this same claim for parcel delivery is utter hogwash.  In fact the parcel delivery business is full of private companies delivering here and there and everywhere....Fedex, UPS, Old Dominion to name but a few.  And that does not even take into account the delivery prowess of the Amazon Behemoth.

But despite this parcel pivot of Canada Post ...it still loses money - big bucks actually,  In 1918 it lost $270 million, in 1919 a further $153 million and for 1920 the Conference Board of Canada predicted a lose of a Billion Dollars.  I tried to find what the actual amount was online but was unsuccessful but tend to think the Conference Board knows a thing or two about profit and loss.

In addition according to Wikipedia, Canada Post employs a staggering 64,000 Employees.

Would it not be great for the hard-pressed Taxpayer to get back into their own hands some of that dough?

If a political party was astute enough to call for its end I believe that one promise alone would go a long way to getting it elected or re-elected whatever the case may be.

As I See It...

'K.D. Galagher'

 

ARE THE DAYS OF THE FAMILY DOCTOR OVER ?

 Well yes they are and they have been for some time now.

I drove past our Family Medical Clinic the other day and it looked like it was part of a ghost town.  In the past, the place would have been packed...but not since Covid.

It got me to thinking...if we the patient can get by without an MD's help for 2 years + maybe it is time to consider doing so permanently.

That said, I have thought for the past many years that MDs are no longer needed...better they go into Specialties which with advances in Medicine there are more and more of. 

I have not heard from my GP for sometime now even though I have several serious health conditions. One day I called for some advice and was told that my Doctor was working from home.  Begs the question does it not...how can a Doctor work from home.  Anyway that is what I was told.

Friends of ours with serious health issues do not even have a Family Doctor but have been assigned a Nurse Practitioner and they appear to be getting by okay...medically speaking.

And when I was attending at my Doctor's office...it would usually end in being given a requisition for some test or other or in a referral to a specialist.  Nurse Practitioners can do that as well at much less cost.

The other thing we use our GP for is for prescriptions but I would argue that Pharmacists could do that and in fact are better placed to do it. 

And as we all know, for more serious complaints the GP is by-passed in favour of going directly to Emerg. 

Canadians used to bragg about how great our Health Care System is and many still do despite international studies which show our system is the pits.  Covid has exposed this reality even more. 

We need to radically reform our Health Care System as Canadians collectively grow older.  We are in big trouble now ...just wait til us Boomers get into our late 70s and 80s.  

You ain't seen nothing yet !!

As I See It...

'K.D. Galagher'

INDIAN IN THE CABINET

 By, Jody Wilson-Raybould

Your Mother got this book for me for Christmas...I know she too reminded me that I am on the Right side of things so to speak as the name of my Blog attests.  So why would I ask Santa to bring me a book written by a former Liberal Cabinet Minister?

Good Question which I will try to answer and do not worry ...the following is not a Book Review:

You may likely think the Reason that I would request this book is to get the down and dirty on the Lavalin Affair which led to her ouster from Cabinet. But no you'd be wrong since I know as well as you do what transpired with respect to this Scandal.  And the same goes with the issue of learning the inner workings of Government since I am quite familiar with that too.  Trudeau Senior got it right when he said the ordinary MP was a nobody 50 feet off Parliament Hill.  Since then this can be said of Ministers of the Crown.

So why did I want to read Ms. Wilson-Raybould's Book?

It goes back to when I was but 11 or 12 years old when I first got interested in Politics ... I was well and truly bitten at a very young age.  It was then that friend Allan Armit and I began putting up Election Signs (sometimes taking a few down) and hanging out in Election Rooms and their in Back Offices.  The old pros did not seem to mind and even seem to get a kick out of it.

So I have been steeped in politics - Riding President for the Conservatives, In Organization for the National PC Party and then working for my Member of Parliament - George Hees when he was Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister of State for Seniors.  But the one thing I lacked was to explore the insight of someone who came to power from the outside of Canada's Political Milieu.  Jody Wilson-Raybould possessed that something.  

She was not new to politics per se - since politics is everywhere but the politics she well knew was due to her active involvement and participation in Affairs of the Assembly of First Nations. She explains in her book how it was like Night and Day different from the way things are handled here in Ottawa.

She explains the difference as follows: 

The Liberal Party and indeed All Federal Parties focus is on keeping and holding onto power ...which causes them to move away from core values and principles they profess earlier on.

Indigenous Politics, in contrast, is focused on the collective way of doing things better - seeking consensus not division and one up-man-ship.  Securing the best outcome for their people. 

The former Justice Minister does not say so specifically but her analysis applies equally to any and all Parties throughout the world that labour in our ever-becoming more delicate Democracies.  The bottom-line here is that it would be far better we adopted the Indigenous Way of Conciliatory Politics. Sadly, it will not happen at least in my time.

To better illustrate what I mean here is to reproduce the following passage from her Book which deals with the time after she had left Cabinet and was sitting in the House of Commons as an Independent Member of Parliament:

Looking around at the empty posturing and game playing that is unfortunately all too dominant, I feel like I am in an environment that has lost its soul.  The sense of purpose that many hard-working and well-meaning members bring to Ottawa when first elected is obscured in an environment that feels more like the worst reality show than a place where people are truly trying to effect the best change for Canadians.

Amen to that.

Though I share Ms. Wilson-Raybould's opinion on this I do not though share her Progressive Views on many and numerous other topics.  For instance she states in her book that one of her proudest moments was in seeing the MAID Legislation pass into law.  MAID of course stands for  Medical Assistance in Dying which is anathema to me.  As a Christian I view life as Sacred and would think that given her Aboriginal Background that she too would be of that belief.

So I would never vote for her but do respect that when the time came to Protect the Rule of Law here in Canada she stood up to the Powers That Be and paid the price for having done so.  It also makes me wonder that had she come from the common background for politicians would she have made that same decision.

I fear not.

In closing it brings to mind an exchange I had with another at a Seniors' Discussion Group.  He had often razed me for being Christian while he professed to be an Athiest.  I could handle the razing and often the issue of MAID came up - he was a big proponent because he said no one needs to suffer pain as part of dying.  I said I agreed with part of what he said - in that no one needed to suffer pain and that medications have advanced to the point where that is not necessary.  He would shrug that off.

Move ahead a few weeks and he led of the day's discussion bemoaning the fact that his mother-in-lay in a nursing home had been cut off her pain medication because our Province made it very hard to prescribe due to its misuse in the streets.  "She was suffering" according to my friend and that it "was not right nor fair".

I shot up my hand and said to Him - 'you have the solution...it is called MAID'.

The colour drained from his face and he never raised the issue with me thereafter.

As I See It...

'K.D. Galagher'

LET THE REBELLION BEGIN...

 As in protesting Governments' recent shut-downs and closures.

With the great number of Omicron Viruses, the Experts are besides themselves with new suggestions on how to tighten things down even more than they currently are.

These 'Experts',  as I pointed out in a recent Blog have yet to be right and with their recent fearful announcements they are keeping to true form.

Parents expecting to send their kids back to school on Monday here in Ontario were told just yesterday that this will be delayed until Wednesday.  Some notice.

But worse than that - the reason given is to ensure Schools have the time to install air filtration.  First off - 2 days extra time will not accomplish this and Secondly, they won't work even when installed due to the high contagion of this new variant.  It will only amount to a colossal waste of money and will only give parents and their kids a false sense of protection. 

In Quebec, it is even worse.  New Year's Eve Partiers were given but 1 day's notice that there will be no partying even in their own homes.  I'd tell the could Premier (President?) of Quebec what he can do with His directive.  Worse - restaurants are to be shuttered - food to be wasted and another nail in the coffin of private enterprise.  Talk about Scrooge even he wasn't that mean. 

When the Experts look at the growing numbers with horror on their faces...they are doing so from the wrong end of the looking glass.  Granted, Omicron is more contagious but it is far less severe...so less severe that it actually is of benefit for those of us who have received their prescribed vaccines.  I cannot wait to catch it. 

Every hour it seems another business reports it is being crippled by lack of staff who have to isolate due to the sniffles.  It cannot go on like this...Air Lines need to operate, Police need to Police, Firemen fight fires, Nurses / Doctors need to keep Hospitals open and Home Support Workers need to help the frail and elderly..  Simply stated we are shooting ourselves in the foot - both feet actually and have the Experts to blame for it. 

You know that I am the last Person to call for a Rebellion but as for the Nonsense taking place before our very eyes - I say ...To The Ramparts.  Are you with me?

As I See It...

'K.D. Bell' 

GUNS AND ROSES

 WELL MAYBE NO ROSES BUT LOTS OF GUNS....

TAKE OUR CITY OF OTTAWA FOR EXAMPLE:

With 2021 ending, our Police Department reports over 80 incidents of shootings in our fair city this year...A New Record. 

Granted, American City Chicago has that many shootings each and every weekend but for us here in Canada our number is sobering for us.   B.T.W., Chicago is not even America's worst example when shootings per capita are taken into account.

The number 80 above came out earlier this month and since then there have been several more. So our record year continues to grow to its bitter end. 

It used to be the weapon of choice was the Knife and before that... one's bare fists... but guns and gangs have progressed more latterly even here in our more friendly and safer environment.  

But that said, and as noted, this trend is increasing and most certainly will continue to get worse.  We are not a Safe as we once were. 

Which brings me to our recent Federal Election where our Esteemed Prime Minister continually mocked the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition - Erin O'Toole for being soft on long gun owners such as Farmers, Hunters and Target Shooters. You knew, I knew and yes Justin knew full well that the real problem for the rising trend in gun crimes was and is gangs illegally smuggling hand-guns in from our neighbour to the South.  

But our Progressive Electorate turned a blind eye and voted the cad back into power. 

The handgun issue though is one area where I do agree with the Progressives in their effort to ban them. I have never owned a handgun nor do I have any wish to do so.  I have owned various rifles from time to time most recently when we owned a hobby farm on the outskirts of this city.  I was glad to dispose of them when we moved back into the city.  Fact is...I do not like guns but as a hobby farmer I understood why farmers have need for them and I can understand why they are in safe hands with both hunters and target shooters too.

But handguns are a much different 'kettle of fish'.  Simply stated, they exist solely to kill people.

So until the United States out right bans them...they are going to be an ongoing problem for our Police too.  But this of course will not happen - even in your younger lifetimes - since the 'Right To Bear Arms' is embedded in America's Constitution ...in fact it is its Second Amendment.  So there is little we can do on this side of the border to effectively stop the flow.  In this it mirrors our War Against Drugs ...also coming to us via the USA, a war which we lost over 50 years ago. 

Ironically, when criticizing O'Toole, Trudeau promised to get tough on guns and gangs post Election.  So how has this worked out? 

In the brief period that our Parliament was allowed to resume, His Government introduced legislation to reduce sentences for serious gun crime including weapons trafficking and importing.  This includes getting rid of mandatory minimum sentences even for those convicted multiple times of gun offences.

Boy that will certainly put a dent in this vicious activity...NOT.

Trudeau takes us all for Fools and so far he has gotten away with it and there is no indication that that will change anytime soon.

As I See It...

'K.D. Galagher'

And Another Infamous Bill...This One Federal...

Bill C-4 an Act to Criminalize Conversion Therapy was passed into law at the close of  the Canadian Parliament this December where both the House of Commons and the Senate unanimously voted in its favour. 

This was the Liberal Government's 3rd attempt (third time lucky) to bring this obnoxious piece of legislation into being. 

At this point, it is helpful to point out that despite what our Governors say, there are two sides to the Conversion Therapy Issue:

The first concerns blocking attempts by the well intentioned to persuade others to be satisfied with their sexual lot in life...i.e.  if they were born male or female they should be okay with that. This is the one that is being criminalized.

The second side of this controversial coin is far more damaging in that it actually changes an Individual's sex.  Our Government does not legislate against this one...in fact it pays and is delighted to see it happen. 

Bill C-4...it reads:

Conversion therapy, is defined as a practice, treatment or service designed to:

        (a) change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual;
        (b) change a person’s gender identity to cisgender;
        (c) change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the sex                               assigned to the person at birth;
        (d) repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour;
        (e) repress a person’s non-cisgender gender identity; or
        (f) repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not conform to                    the sex assigned at birth.

The problem with this is with respect to the wording "practice, treatment or service ...".  It can mean anything.  In fact, it casts such a wide net that it captures parents, clergy, school guidance officers, medical professionals and other well intentioned people. That said, you and I are apt to think and picture Conversion Therapy as involving the hooking up of some poor bloke to electrodes and having his or her brain rewired. 

Despite the fact that this type of inhumane treatment went out of vogue in the 1950s and was the stuff of rogue CIA agents... if the elimination of this type of this was the only likely outcome of the new Law we too would all be most supportive.

But sadly and recklessly as noted, C-4 goes far and away beyond that.

So that leads me to the unanimous nature of the Bill's passage.  Not one Leader, not one Member of Parliament nor any of our Esteemed and over-paid Senators had the courage to stand up and tell Emperor Justin Trudeau that he has no clothes. The Government has a duty to do what is in the best interests of Canadians and in this sad case it has failed miserably.  So too did the Opposition since it is their job to point out deficiencies in what the Government proposes and here they were all missing in action.

And the blessed Senate - the Body of Sober Second Thought was anything but Sober in their hurried enthusiasm to get the legislation into law. 

If ever there was a draft law that required sober serious second-thought and amendment ...it was this one.

Shame, Shame on Them All. 

I mentioned that the other form of Conversion is the truly dangerous and damaging one and sadly is the one that our Government actually encourages....it involves the change of an individual's sex.. the loping off of parts that will not be coming back despite the many who live to regret what they have done. Studies show that depression and suicide are common effects post operation.

But I am a Libertarian and fervently believe that an Individual is free to do whatever he or she wishes to do to with their own body and long as their actions do not directly injure others.  So if someone wants to cut this and that and replace it with that and this...be my guest.  No law should exist for or against it.

A Big However ...the Individual must be of Adult Age to make such a major decision.

Until Adult Hood - let the Children be Children and if they think they are of a sex different from their birth sex...So Be It.  They have lots of time left to make irreparable change - for good or bad.

As I See It...

'K.D. Bell'

 

THERE IS REWRITING HISTORY AND THEN THERE IS...

 PYSICALLY DESTROYING IT.

A recent front page headline in the National Post contained a picture with the heading 'Demolishing History'.  It was quite sobering for me.

We know how the Progressive Left has worked feverishly to rewrite history so Up becomes Down, In becomes Out and Frontwards becomes Backwards.  And sadly, by and large we the unwashed masses*have let them get away with it. *(their words...not mine and also used phrase...useful idiots).

Well they have now gone one further:

The Post story states in a matter of days, the Peace River Homestead located in the renowned Royal British Columbia Museum will be ripped off the face of this once proud country.  The article reads: "Starting January 2, crews will start taking crowbars to life-size dioramas of a Peace River homestead, a Vancouver Island coal mine and HMS Discovery the flagship of British explorer George Vancouver."  The reason given by the Museum's Pin-Heads is that this sacrilege is being done in the name of "decolonization".  

Ranked as one of our Country's 'most-visited' museums it is now most likely to cease being so and for all the right reasons.

The fall-back position for the Museum is that they are 'doing this for the aboriginals' however B.C.'s First Nations have come out strongly opposed.  They do however acknowledge that Museums such as this one need to be more inclusive and focus on their history too and in fact that is what the Province has been moving toward in recent years.  They want to show how their lives 'intersected' with the lives of non-aboriginal without destroying the early presence of the latter. 

This nonsense must stop.

Several years ago your mother and I went on a trip by car across Canada and when we returned we crossed the Alberta border and headed to Custer's Last Stand in Montana on June 25, 1876.

We were ready to hear of the daring do of Colonel Custer and his brave band of soldiers but were pleasantly surprised to have a young Crow Guide walk us through this most famous battle.   This young woman was very reserved...almost shy but when she began to recall what had occurred that day so many years ago- she became animated. Proud even since it was her people who had defeated the undefeatable  George Armstrong Custer the Yankee Hero of the Civil War.

She told us where Custer was at the end...where the rest of his officers were too but not only that ...she told us where the Indian Braves where ...their names and where those who were killed fell.  White Crosses for the Army dead...Red Crosses for the Indians.  It brought this famous battle to life in a way we never expected and it was all due to her.  

Of note, Custer went headlong into battle even though his Indian Guides told him not to.  There were other cavalry coming shortly to their rescue but Custer wanted all the glory himself.  He paid the ultimate price along with over 260 troopers. 

Crossing over to Canada, Chief Sitting Bull surrendered to North West Mounted Policeman Inspector James Walsh with but a handful of Mounted Police.  That too is an important part of our history that should not be forgotten and it involved natives and non-natives alike.

As I See It...

'K.D. Bell'