What do you think about these and other issues? Write to Canadian Senior Years at ideas@senioryears.com and let us know. We will post your responses on this page.
Such a waste of life! We spend billions of dollars in national defence systems, such as the Dew line, Norad, etc. to attempt to protect us from harm from our own species. Yet when a disaster strikes, we are caught with our pants down. Tidal waves, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, continuously, take a devastating toll, of human lives. No rhyme or reason, in place to control mass exodus of populations. We spend years teaching our relief resources, firemen, medics, doctors, etc. how to treat the injured, but no world class plan to initiate a proper response, to impending disasters.
Here are a few suggestions: When people are warned well ahead and you know that the masses will be leaving an area I would suggest setting up highway patrols at approaches to freeways. Insure that every vehicle has adequate fuel, before allowing it on the freeway. Passenger trains, can carry thousands, while private autos, only a handful. Once the disaster has struck. A Cruise ship can feed & act as an emergency centre. Politicians playing their little games, by refusing the medical assistance of another country, in order to keep their macho image, just plain sucks! Maybe I'm a dreamer? What about setting up disaster relief centres in strategic locations around the world? Huge manned warehouses set up close to Air, Rail, Road, & Sea with dispersal ability and having computerized control. Each warehouse would have a variety of necessary equipment to deal with different types of disasters, one to deal with flood, one for earthquake, one for fire etc. When disaster strikes, they need only to enter the problem on the computer and the needed manpower and equipment, is shipped out. New Orleans had plenty of warning. When a dyke (levy) breaks, instead of trying to plug the break by dropping huge plastic bags of fill by helicopter (which mostly gets washed away) simply chain together however many steel barges are needed to bridge the weak spot. Lay them up against the dyke and pull the plug. Then they will have much better results at placing the bags of fill. When the dyke has been stabilized, pump out & remove the barges. I suppose there are many folks out there who like myself, are a little critical of failed responses, as it's always easier to be on the outside looking in. But it just seems that it's high time that our world leaders look a little closer to teamwork to establish some kind of defence system and forget the petty political stuff, for once. Possibly working & pulling together, will bring us together a little more? Hank Rempel, Chemainus, B.C.
Recently, a bus tour of seniors from Dundas, Ont went the Home and Garden show last Thursday. I don't understand, if they don't want to spend some money at the show, why bother to come? I was an exhibitor and talk to other exhibitors their sales were down that day. I know the seniors are on a fixed income, so is the exhibitors...we paid high dollars to set a booth there...
My peeve is that if they want an outing please goes somewhere it will not hurt peoples business...it is not fair to sit at a booth and have seniors smile and say no thanks...I am not forcing them to buy my product...but why bother if you are not going to buy? Why should I bother to smile and sit back, see my money go down the drain... Joan
Response:
In response. I suppose 'Joan' does not understand that perhaps some of those seniors who visited might just return later - a day or week or month later or to another show - and purchase something. One of the 'perils' of being in business [either in a booth or elsewhere] is to suffer the slings and arrows of those who just want to look. I used slings and arrows not in any negative sense but to illustrate that there are times when sales will not be over the top. One of the joys - at least this is what my dear bride tells me - is to just look at what vendors have to offer. She and I often see things that we like and occasionally we return later to make a purchase. One other point that seems to have escaped your writer is that by having seniors [or others] 'just browsing,' they - the browsers - are potential advertisers. They might see an item that attracted them and they might tell someone else about it. That someone else might pop along to the vendor and purchase something. Word of mouth advertising is free and rather effective, especially so when a group of seniors arrives at a booth 'just to browse.' Bob
In April of the year 2000, my wife & I were driving up a logging road in central British Columbia. I noticed that I couldn't see the road properly. The next day the doctor told me that I had, had a stroke. He wanted to helicopter me down to Vancouver immediately. Since it was a holiday weekend, I talked him into letting me see a specialist in Prince George, the following Monday.
I was diagnosed as having aortic valve problems. I had 5 laser operations to restore sight in my right eye. After a zillion tests of every kind, they were slating me for an aortic valve replacement. My eyesight was quite a bit better, but I still had a lot of raindrops on the windshield. Well, at least that's what it looked like to me. Plus when I looked at a clock, I could not see the lower left quarter of the clock, & definitely I could not see the number six.
A neighbor of mine told me about a concoction of herbs that he had taken & it had totally restored his heart. It was called Kardovite. Soon I ordered a bottle of the stinky, foul tasting stuff, began taking it. I had mentioned it to the cardiologist, & he said, go ahead, but you will still be having your heart valve operation. Three days after I began taking it, I could see the whole clock, & very few raindrops!! Within several months, the tingling in my fingers, numbness in my left arm, squeezing of my chest, severe angina pain, & shortness of breath, ALL went away.
The heart specialist that had given me the refraction test said that they must have made a mistake. He said that it must have been bronchial problems. They would not recognize that I had cured myself, by choking this stuff down faithfully. I had offered myself to be used as a test case, since they had very accurate documentation of every phase of testing & results. Their response was, "Because you are not a medical emergency, we cannot spend taxpayers money on experiments like that" I went ballistic!!! I said "You were ready to stop my heart, take out parts of it, then replace them with pig parts, & with a ten percent chance of me dying, hopefully restart my heart". To me this is not an ingrown toenail!! This is my heart! And that definitely is a medical emergency. I could not climb a set of stairs; I had made out my will, & was preparing myself for a departure from this place. Now, several years later, I am strong, willing to wrestle most any lady under 125 lbs., as long as my wife approves. I recommend this route, & they can be found on a web page, www.kardovite.com. I also have been taking co-enzyme, Q- 10, plus vitamin B & E. I do believe also that the one single thing most folks can do, is to get down to a reasonable weight, I think that this & this alone will save more lives than anything else. Best Regards Hank Rempel Anyone wanting to phone me can call 1-250-245-0206, or email me at rempel@island.net. Hank Rempel Ladysmith B.C. As a resident of Vancouver Island, for most of my life, I find it very difficult to sit quietly & let the huge rip offs regarding transportation to & from Vancouver Island continue without at least squawking a little. Back in the glory days, when this wonderful country, was being developed, a railway was needed to bring development into fruition. The Canadian Pacific Railway was given a right-of-way across Canada, Tax Free!! Also a deal was made that this same company, supply "Adequate transportation", to & from, plus up & down the Island, as well as a link crossing the centre of the Island. Ferries were built, in the home of this same company -- The British Isles. This was the beginning of the money & benefits from this huge organization causing the cash to forever flow from Canada to the pockets of the company shareholders in Britain. They were given surface rights, timber rights, mineral rights, twenty miles either side of the rail line, totally tax free. They built a rail line that ran from Victoria to Courteney plus a spur that crossed the Island to Port Alberni. Things went smoothly, for a long period of time. Then as transportation began using highways rather than rails, the company began complaining of losing money. People used the highway, in cars instead of taking the train. In order to wriggle off the hook that they were committed to supplying transportation, they cried, poor. Soon the politicians allowed them to shut down the ferry system that they had been obligated to operate. The trains were removed & a single, "bud" car was put on the rails to take the place of the train. Then they continually cried that they were losing money on that & wanted to shut that down as well. Folks like to go the city from the country for a day or two of shopping, so they have operated the train backwards for fifty years. The train leaves the city in the morning, & travels up Island to Courteney, returning at about 5 in the afternoon. My position is that allowing this to happen has ripped off the Canadian taxpayer. The millions of dollars that this company has collected over the years from selling timber rights, & loss of taxes, plus mineral rights income, would very likely pay off the national debt. All the company's assets should be seized, & returned to the taxpayer, as they have blatantly disregarded the original obligation.
The next rip off is the British Columbia Ferry Corp. If you look at any road map of Vancouver Island, you will see mile "O" at Beacon Hill Park, in Victoria. It then travels up the Island to Nanaimo, across Georgia Straight, to Horseshoe Bay, Then on down the upper levels highway to Vancouver, & up the Fraser Valley. The height limit on a number 1 highway in Canada is 16 ft, however the Ferry Corp. saw a good way to create a cash cow, by setting a height limit on the ferries at 7 ft. 3 inches. Anything over that is deemed over height, and you pay a high penalty for that. On top of that very often folks with a long object on the roof of their car, pay for over-height, plus over-weight One native got my attention, when he parked his truck, carrying a forty-foot war canoe; the got out & had a big argument with a parking attendant who wanted to park a car under the overhanging canoe. The Native won out, because, he said," I paid for that space, & I want a refund if somebody is going to park under it". We sure got a chuckle out of that one.
The right-of-way was logged 30 years ago; a four-lane highway 1/4 mile long is on Mudge Island, part of the proposed system that was to be built way back then. This right-of-way still exists, & if put to use would cut the ferry crossing time from 1 hour 35 minutes, to only 35 minutes. The traffic would disperse right near Vancouver Airport, & relieve the terrible traffic problems now existing with Vancouver rush hour traffic. However a bunch of folks living on Gabriola Island blocked the plan & the politicians caved in to them. Such a waste. Hank Rempel Ladysmith B.C.
Will Our Cars Always Be Powered By Gasoline?
by Jack M Peaker------
with technical assistance by Ann Oaks-
(our Writers Club Professor Emeritus)
Many Seniors will recall hearing about various inventions for replacing gasoline powered vehicles.
But when, the invention was never heard of again, it was rumored that the big oil companies, or the major auto manufacturers, had bought out the inventors, and hushed them up. No changes wanted.
So, carbon monoxide continues to pollute the air-greenhouse gas emissions change our climate-------------"POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD"-----------
Was the oft repeated phrase at Ballard Power Systems Annual Meeting in Toronto. Pictures of buses, powered by fuel cells, already in use in Europe(30 ordered for Madrid,Spain)were shown on the big screen. Following the meeting shareholders were invited to a drive in a Ford Focus-POWERED BY THEIR FUEL CELL ENGINE-------my drive revealed -0 emissions-silent---plenty of pick up---
POWER IS DERIVED from the hydrolysis of water
1)2h2o yields 2h2and 02 (this process is reversible)
2) gas, coal or oil also can supply h2-this process is less damaging to the atmosphere than the combustion engine currently used in cars, buses, etc
3)algae, nitrogen fixing bacteria also produce h2 (but at this point in time in amounts insufficient for our potential needs---could we breed for higher yields of hydrogen just as we bred for higher yields with conventional cereal crops?)
HYDROGEN, obtained from any of these sources is used in FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGY to produce energy and water-the attraction is two fold:the source of hydrogen is everywhere; thus reducing competition for localized and eventually limiting supplies of fossil fuels. At present more energy is used in the production of H2 than is recovered and there is a problem in storing large quantities of hydrogen.
(find above confusing---you are not alone--)
FOR INVESTORS---Ballard Power Systems has been as volatile as any stock I have known--bld(ticker symbol)-- on the Toronto Stock Exchange has fluctuated from as low as about $6 to as high as $192 per share---
You could have made many $$$S or lost many $$$S----AND THAT------IS THE STOCK MARKET FOR YOU----
Where is the government funding for long term care nursing homes?
In 1999 my daughter bought a seniors residence in the Montreal area. Her dream was to have a long term care nursing home with lots of good care and love. A home - not an institution. She has more than accomplished her dream and the home is known throughout the area for the wonderful care the residents receive and for our palliative care. I say we as, at the young age of 61 and having retired from 20 years in the law enforcement field, I went to work at the home when it opened and am still there. We have 35 residents ranging from autonomous to non-autonomous and our sole source of income is from the rents we receive. We do not charge an arm and a leg and are constantly receiving calls from hospitals, CLSCs, social workers, etc. for seniors who need 24 hour care but cannot get into the CHSLDs (government long term care facilities) because there are no beds available.
I have written to Finance Minister John Manley, the Regie d'Assurance Maladie du Quebec, the MP for the home's riding (he is the only one who responded that he is looking into the matter) and many others inquiring about grants/loans for a facility such as ours. I have found out that if we manufactured toothpicks and other commodities we would have a choice of all kinds of grants available to us. But, because our commodity happens to be elderly human beings, it appears there's nothing out there for us. Right now we need to replace our roof and we need a new, and bigger, elevator and emergency generator for the elevator. Too bad, but we are not a manufacturer of a product(s) - we only keep bodies and souls together and that doesn't count. When I read of the millions (billions?) of dollars that governments give out to fly-by-night companies and legit ones it makes my blood boil.
So, perhaps you could get some feed-back from your readers about how seniors and nursing homes are ignored by our elected government(s). I know that private nursing homes have received a bad name because of those that have neglected and/or abused their residents. But, believe me when I say that not all homes are like that. I for one would like to change people's ideas on that subject. One visit to our home would dispel the myth. Joan Charron
Doodleheads
That’s what Canadians are. I’ve been searching definition for ages,
that’s what we are.
Nobody on this planet can say I’ve met a Canadian, I know what they’re
all about……..
Except…
What are we all about?
A haunting question.
I’ve heard it’s spending half your life explaining to Americans you’re
not British and the other half etc.
or…
Having fun is trying on gloves at Late-night at Eatons.
My favourite is, “I’m quite un/comfortable with that”…
It’s a comforting thought that people can be so comfortable, but I
associate comfort with good-doctor-speak
Prior to certain physical examinations
We were quite comfortable last week apparently while welcoming the Bush
Administration’s Colin Powell to Canada.
Why is this?
Why do I see smarmy double-fisted Ottawa handshakes with a future
war-criminal?
He belongs to a belief that any interest held contrary to that of USA
will be bombed into submission. Sadly, it’s not a belief,
it’s a dedication.
Take a look at post-USA Afghanistan, or post Desert-Storm or whatever
current Bush-hegemony theme-park horror they can
bomb on people whose language or culture they have no curiosity about,
and at a great distance.
If even 5% of what we see is true, we should all hang our heads in
shame.
Bill Mahler was right, what a bunch of cowards.
But no, we are comfortable with it. Anthony McCann
Reply to Doodleheads
My, what a comment! As a Canadian who can recall when this country was a great country and when Canadians could hold their heads high no matter where in the world they travelled, and as a Canadian who saw this great country reduced to ashes through a idiotic Liberal government under the direction of a Fabian Communist, I see only a youth who has yet to find his niche in life and who eats ideology and drinks naivety daily. I fought for this country and am damn proud of having been afforded the opportunity to crush evil. I, along with the hundreds of thousands of other Canadians who did likewise, did not do so for the sole purpose of begetting whining, idealistic, self-serving anti-American Canadian citizens who see only doom and gloom all around them. No, I fought in order to provide those same Canadians with a future and a promise of living in a world better than the one I was born into. Gone is the Great Depression, gone are the long line-ups as thousands of men look for non-existent work, gone are the thousands of citizens who had to pack up their meagre belongings and hit the dusty road in a diminishing hope that down the road or around the next corner they might find a place to live and a bite to eat. Today, the citizens of Canada complain about just about everything. What I see when I look over the Canadian landscape is a country peopled with losers who continually have their hands out looking for government to put a few hundred dollars in them just so that they might escape the humdrum of looking for work. I also see a land where the youth are more prone to 'experiment ' with drugs and alcohol and tobacco all the while nattering that they are owed a living. Moreover, I see a place where the few who do rise above the common rabble are put down by a government more intent on destroying than on building. I see failure at both the local level and at the national level. The greatness of this country has been drained out of it by successive governments that want more and more of less and less that Canadians have. The few entrepreneurs - of all ages - who do shuck off the silliness that passes for government in Canada and who push a rather large stone up a steep hill to success, are to be commended. They are the exception among a people of whiners and losers who feel sorry for themselves.
Why do so many Canadians dislike the Americans so much? Probably, it is an inferior complex being played out. I do not recall the Americans whining and crying and running off at the mouth saying nasty things about Canada when our dollar was worth $1.10 U.S. Nor do I recall them comparing our prime minister to an evil thing just because we had a higher standard of living than they did. Well, that has changed and the change came about primarily because of idiocy that passed for government in Ottawa. For those who can recall the pre-1960s, and then compare those years to the post 1960s, will see when the 'great divide' came about.
So, let's stop nattering about the Americans and try to understand their point of view; they are the most powerful country in the world; they do have the most progressive system of government in the world; they do take chances and they do succeed. They do not whine and complain bitterly about trivial things. In a word, they get on with the grunt and get the damn job done. That some others in the world might not like their approach is just too damn bad. I imagine those same people who complain about the US and its foreign policy would be first in line to run under the American umbrella if this country were to be attacked by one of the several evil empires that exist worldwide. Iraq is but one of them.
As a person, I have taken umbrage at the Americans and do today feel that their arrogance and 'made in America' stance toward all things in the world is incorrect, but at the same time I try to understand 'where they are coming from.'
The words, "The true north strong and free" will continue to have meaning only as long as the United States is our friend and sees us as a worthwhile entity worth supporting. Why cannot we in Canada support the U.S and see it for what it is; the world's only superpower and clearly the world's policeman. I was always taught that a policeman is our friend. Am I old fashioned? No, just sensible. Cy
Doodleheads (Continued)
The Romanow report on Healthcare is news, so Ipsos-Reid conducted a poll last week on how Canadians
feel about increased taxes versus increased healthcare efficiency and got a resounding NO.
So it was reported in the usual survey-talk which closed by saying, this survey was within 3% accuracy ten
times out of twenty.
I think I heard it right. Which means, 97% true 50% of the time, right?
Then I thought back to my algebra days. ab=ba, doesn’t it?
So if two factors are multipliers of the same function, it doesn’t matter which comes first.
In which case, they are telling us something is 50% true almost all of the time.
This is why politicians cakewalk all over us. Who other than a Doodlehead would pay for a survey which
tells you absolutely nothing?
Kyoto Protocol
As more information is made available and as more Canadians take notice of the 'injustices' in the Kyoto Protocol, it becomes clear that sensible governments are taking a long, hard second look at implementing the Protocol. Canada, however, is not among those sensible governments. Canadians are being asked to buy a pig in a poke simply on the say so of a discredited politician who has shown time and time again that he cannot and should not be trusted.
One must ask if the Kyoto Accord is so darn good for the earth, why are such international stalwarts as the USA and Australia not signing on? If Kyoto will be so beneficial to the world, why have such countries as Russia, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and most of the other Kyoto signatories with emissions limits, been designated by the UN as 'economies in transition'? These countries produce a heck of a lot of emissions - the very type that Kyoto is supposed to end - and yet they have been given an escape clause because they are economies in transition.
Canada, on the other hand, is not an economy in transition. Over the past few years, this country has expended much time and money in cleaning up its emissions to the point that if Canada were to sign on to Kyoto, it would mean that the country would suffer enormous harm because the 'base line' is 1990. In case those who beat the drum for ratification have not noticed, we are now in the waning days of 2002, twelve years on.
If the Kyoto Protocol is so grand a scheme, why are so many nations dropping out of the thing? At the moment, Canada stands alone as the only nation that will be required to make serious economic sacrifices.
If the Kyoto Protocol is all that it's cracked up to be, why, of the more than 160 countries to the protocol, have only 38 agreed to emission limits? And worth noting is that only one of those 38 countries will suffer for the limits imposed. That country, in case people have not been paying attention, is Canada.
So, let's stop buying the silliness that a discredited prime minister spouts, take the blinders off and see the economic crisis this sham of a prime minister is leading us into.
My prayers go out to the youth of this country for, if Kyoto as detailed is proclaimed by Canada, then they will be in for a rough time as they try to eek out a living in a country penalised by stupidly. Cy
Response to Cy Your Kyoto-bashing contributor Cy laments... it will be bad for coming generations......."they will be in for a rough time as they try to eek out a living in a country penalised by stupidly.....etc"
Sad indeed that so many of our youngest and finest will be reduced to a lifetime of work as Mickey Mouse impersonators. Cheers. Lord Anthony
The ultimate rhetorical question...
In the aftermath of September 11 countless grieving and shattered
Americans tearfully asked, why do they hate us so much?
Yet I have seen no credible answers; you can’t ask such a serious
question and walk away just like that.
This horrific event was unique, devastating. If it happened in a game of
darts, it would be like throwing two bullseyes to win the final.
There IS no coming back from that kind of overkill. It IS time for
soulsearching, a word not available in the current loony-right US
administration, unless it crops up in a Pat Robertson TV-evangelist
racist/ homophobic tirade.
Should Canada support the US in their current whipping-up of global
paranoia? Absolutely not.
I think Canadians are thinking their way through this and taking action
as I did.
I called my Federal MP to complain when I saw Ari Fleischer, White House
mouthpiece saying, it only takes one bullet to solve this. There doesn’t
have to be an Iraq war, he said….
He was advocating assassination, thousands of miles from USA. He thought
this was how Americans deal with such challenges.
Outrageous. No reflection of what America thinks.
And….
I climbed my TV tower yesterday, I hate doing it, it scares the crap out
of me. But this time it was to fix a peace-flag (a stars-and-stripes,
except the stars have been replaced with a peace symbol). I hope drivers
will see it as they head north on #21.
I like to think this is the Canadian way.
Incidentally, my son is presently at sea with RCN so my awareness is
somewhat heightened.
I’ve visited UK 3 times this year and I think Blair is making a big
mistake banking on the historic “special relationship” when Britain
steps forward to support USA. It may have worked in the past but there
never has been such a dimwit in charge of our giant neighbour.
Shrub couldn't find Britain or Canada on a globe.
How did this happen? I bet Americans will never be as apathetic again
about elections. I would also bet thousands of bright young Americans
are flocking to the Democrats.
(The Dow has dropped 5 months in a row).....
Finally….
I don’t want to hear another word from the international community about
Saddam Hussein until it have spoken about Pol Pot and other uncensured
monsters.
ps...has anyone seen Osama lately...? Anthony from Port Elgin
Should Marijuana be Legalized?
In regards to marijuana, I think it should be legalized and distributed like alcohol.
The fear that it would lead to the use of harder drugs by more people, I think, is erroneous.
The reason marihuana use leads to harder drugs in most cases that I have seen, has been the marketing ploy used by its present distributors of creating shortages periodicaly and offering the harder drugs as an alternative. If shortages were to occur in a legal distribution system, the user would probably buy a bottle of wine rather than find a source for a heavier drug.
Also they add harder drugs, or suggest they do, to marijuana as a way of introducing users to these substances. If a user believes he/she has tried the harder drug through marijuana without great harm, then the harder drug doesn't seem so bad and therefore the person is more willing to use the harder drugs.
Also, by legalizing and distributing marijuana, controls can be placed on the T.H.C. levels as they do on alcohol levels.
I think our underage users would be far better off finding a way to get legal pot (as they do now with alcohol) than, as under the present distribution system, dealing directly with organized crime.
I think a legal distribution system is by far the lesser of two evils. Alvin from Ontario
Another opinion on the subject of pot ....
My wife & I just returned from the Philippines. We travelled through dense population areas, remote countryside, far & wide. During our stay there, we did not once see an intoxicated person, nor did we see any sign of drug usage. In a city of 22 million people, not once,any drug sign. We also noted that most people were a lot more industrious, than other parts of the world that we have seen. There is a warning on every persons paper that you must fill out. It clearly states that the laws of the Philippines,embrace the death penalty, for drug infractions. Period. That's It !!
Hence there is no awarness of drug abuse. Back in the sixties I had friends who were hard working industrious people. They started a commune on a tiny little island in the Gulf Of Georgia, here in B.C. It was a beehive of activity, with pioneering spirit everywhere. Houses springing up, gardens, carved out of the underbrush, a tramway system built that would lift there commuter boat, right up out of the water, carry it 300 feet up a steep sidehill, & park it on their sundeck. They could then unload the groceries, & carry them into the house. Very much the result of clear minds thinking, & hard work, producing deserving results.Winter no's 1 & 2 came & went. The place thrived, more houses, people, electricity, by generators, run by diesel engines, not just a little wind turbine, real progress !! The following spring, a party was held on the beach, beer& wine ,were the usual, except that one guy, a newcomer,brought in pot. Marijuana !! Yee !! Haww !!! What a party !!!! The huge concrete breakwater that was now 75 % complete, only needed a few more days work to put the concrete cap on it. This created a lovely sheltered bay for boat moorage & a place for kids to swim. The next winter came along & everybody decided that life was too harsh, living on this island,so they rented a place in town. They partied the days away , they partied their lifestyle away, some went on to heavy duty drugs, but the breakwater never got finished. The houses no longer exist,the place became a ruin, & so did the lives of what once had been a group of industrious people. These folks comprised of two university proffessors, a bank teller, the manager of a huge lumber exporting/ ship loading facility, postal clerk, several self employed fishing vessel operators, carpenters, housewifes, etc.etc. The people that were in this group, that I've been able to keep track of, in general lost their initiative to be productive human beings. Nearly all of them are now dead, & those that aren't may as well be because, there is nothing left of this once vibrant soul. What a waste of life !! So go ahead & legalize pot, then later, crack or coke, or whatever, with luck I won't be around to witness the result. For those who suffer pain through health problems, & it can numb that pain, fine, & God bless them, but to those who want to numb their brains ,& worst of all assist in numbing the brains of the young kids in our country, I suggest that you take your cravings & go to the Philippines for a long stay. Hank Rempel Chemainus B.C.
Steps to Improve the Environment
It is my opinion that Canada should ratify the Kyoto accord. The dangers of the world not taking positive steps to help the environment and to improve third world living conditions will be fatal for millions of people and eventually for the world economy.
It is to obvious to me that with the billions of people on this planet now, and with projected population growth, our planet is going to need management that does not have $$$profit as its first priority.
I think ratifying this accord would be a good place for Canada to start in its participation in this management.
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