Messin' with the Conservatives

Michael Ignatieff says that he is going to "mess" with the Conservative attack adds that have been bombarding televisions. These attack ads, Ignatieff claims, are unnecessary. In Newfound land yesterday Ignatieff says that "If you mess with me, I will mess with you until I'm done." The Conservatives attack adds are attacking him in a personal manner, which is also unnecessary. "Don't trifle with me. Don't try this rough stuff with me," He continues on today. The attack ads say that he will go back to school because that is what he has been doing for 34 years of his life, in the US or Brittan, and he will go back to Harvard.

I think that it is completely wrong for the Conservatives to even think of these kind of attack ads. I think that one of these parties are just going to loose it one day. To attack a specific person is unorthodox and immature of the Conservatives. When ever I see any of these political attack ads on TV, usually before election time, I always demise the people that created them, because making that kind of ad makes you look like a little kid and I bet if one of them stands up and takes it and makes an ad that doesn't spend an entire 30 seconds making fun of the other guy and at the end says; "vote Conservative." The respect that one of these parties would achieve would win votes for sure. In my opinion the NDP earn the maturity award, there ads were great this past election. I think there should be a law put in place to control themselves but, one of them will hide the way to bypass the law. The bottom line is that Politicians are running a country and are some of the most immature people it is unbelievable. Period.

Reference:

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090524/ignatieff_ad_090524/20090524/?hub=TorontoNewHome

Missing Passports

55 people have been told to look out for identity theft in Vancouver after a truck caring all the passports didn't have them. Passport applicants have been warned before that their applications could go missing. They can include things like bank account numbers, credit card information, and birth certificates. Canada post has taken action and as launched an investigation on the matter. Although now one really knows what has happened to these documents, they just could be lost in the mail and will show up again, there just assuming the worst. Canada Post is responsible fore delivering 40 million pieces of mail per day and is a very secure system, says John Caines, spokes person for Canada post. There is 61 applications that went missing so that means that there are 6 people that do not know that there application has gone missing.

I have done a passport application myself and have found no real threat that someone would steal my identity, but I do not have any credit cards or any information that would be a big deal if it went missing. Even though this is a terrifying incident why don't people look in the big issue here in mail delivery. These items sometimes get lost, and sometimes there are expensive things that are in those boxes. When one of these gets lost in the mail it is a big loss if they do lose something. This is why most people do not send cash in the mail because of the fear that someone will take it. These companies especially Canada post should take even more care than they already are when dealing with consumer belongings.

Reference:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090520/passports_090520/20090520?hub=Canada

Tamil Protest

For days now there has been a protest going on to get Canada involved in the war in Sri Lanka, and one civilian says that the Canadian government acted quicker in the events of 9-11 and twice as many people have died in Sri Lanka. The national spokes person for the Tamil congress said that it is now more than ever that the Tamil Canadians need our prime minister to step in and tell them what the judicial and human rights that all countries should abide by. Even though the military conflict is over they will not stop protesting on the issue. The goals of the group include to get medical aid, media, and independent monitors over to the conflict in the southern tip of India. The Sri Lankan Government has declared victory over the liberation of tigers of Tamil Eelam.

In my opinion I think that the Canadian government should take a stand on this issue and should treat it no differently that the events of 9-11. In not doing this this shows that the Canadian Government does not treat other countries as fairly. In this case the Government is saying how much it cares about other countries. I think that there are some countries that we definitely should care a lot more about. But there is a point where it is insulting to that country that you don't treat fairly. There is an issue that I don't think is right, meaning that the Protestors should give it up, they should realize that the conflict is not as bad as it was at all. This has some very important characteristics to their respect as a community and respect to Canada. Also there is no comparison to 9-11, those events are still being debated today. As I see it there isn't one good argument that the Tamil citizens have on why we should go to war.

Reference:

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090519/Tamil_canadians_090519/20090519/?hub=TorontoNewHome

The Wheel Deal?

The ZENN mortar car is a small electric vehicle that is 100% electric. Ian Clifford, a very smart business man has created this company after realizing the smog in the air one day, sitting in traffic in his SUV. The big hype to these cars is that they are really efficient, but the Canadian government is not allowing them to drive legally on Canadian roads. The bigger Hype is the Ultra Capacitor that EEStor Inc. has claimed to come out with and this is what will give ZENN its big break. This Ultra Capacitor is said to have a charge time of 5 minutes, is 300 lbs, and most importantly can make an electric car go 400km on a single charge. This sceptical item has been kept very secretive, and no one actually knows if it works. Clifford has invested almost $4 million in EEStor, and coming from a camera background knows exactly the capabilities of this item is. The basics of this capacitor is that it has the charge time of a capacitor and the discharge time of a battery, not tom mention it can be charged over a million times without deterring, and is way more environmentally friendly because it uses something that miners use to bore hole with as a lubricant. Barium titanate is this special substance that is hopefully going to replace lithium. Clifford says his goal is to have 1 million electric vehicles out on the roads, and only then will he of accomplished his goal.

I have heard of the ZENN car for a while now and as far as I am concerned there are two main issues for this situation, one is that the Canadian government isn't willing to let these very efficient vehicles on the roads because they are too small and can't travel at high enough speeds. This is no the way to a "greener" world by disallowing these very "green" vehicles onto the roads. I think that this law should be changed as soon as possible, and our society to accept them for being the slower, greener vehicle. Even though the typical mileage of these cars is about 30 - 50mi per charge, it is still enough to get from point A to point B. The other issue is that the makers of the Ultra Capacitor aren't releasing anything and are keeping it TOP secret. To me this is a bit over the top, and I think that it might be that there isn't one, when they say that there is. And even to me the specs of this capacitor is a bit out of reach. It's explainable but a bit controversial. I mean how much electricity could you store and put through your home wires in 5 min, to me being able to run 400 km on a 5 minute charge is sceptical but remarkable and unbelievable if they do pull it off.

Reference:

The Wheel Deal

By: Andrew Nikiforuk
Canadian business

March 30th 2009

LCBO Freebees

An ongoing problem in LCBO locations all across Ontario is that distilleries and breweries are offering freebees such as sporting event tickets, concerts and other entertainment for the store to put their product on the shelves. The Ontario liquor board has been allowing there employees to accept these for years. Employees report that they get at least one freebee a month, others as much as once a week. The board has not reported any face value of these freebees, nor made any estimates. Agencies said that these freebees are good for a company to improve their employee satisfaction and to promote a positive business relationship. A total 268 suppliers were reported to been giving away freebees to the employees. Ontario MPP's are also prohibiting these tickets from entering employees hands under the Members' Integrity Act.

I think that these tickets should be still available to the employees. Think about it, if you aren't paying anything and your employees are getting free tickets from another company why wouldn't you want this happening. It’s a good thing as far as I am concerned, the employees are getting rewarded with out the LCBO paying for anything. This also improves the relation between these businesses because they both benefit. The LCBO has allowed this to happen for years and I do not see a valid reason to stop this from happening. I think that this is not a logical decision, there are not many negatives, if any, and there are so many things on why this is a good thing for the LCBO.

Reference:

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090511/LCBO_freebies_090511/20090511/?hub=TorontoNewHome

Balsillie offers $212.5 million for Coyotes

On Tuesday Jim Balsillie offered 212.5 million to the phoenix Coyotes to move to a location somewhere in southern Ontario. The Coyotes general manager Jerry Moyes who has now filed for bankruptcy. The only way that Balsillie will buy the franchise is if he can move it to Canada, there have been other offers but Balsillie's offer is by far the highest, mostly because he wants to move the team north of the boarder. He also said that he would give 17 million USD to keep the Coyotes in operation until he can take over. The NHL board of governors is questionable about this and even more is commissioner Gary Bettman who has shot down Balsillie down twice already, first with the Pittsburgh penguins, second with the Nashville predators.

I think that this is a great thing, first, why should Phoenix even have a team, I don’t think that they ever can fill a arena until it's sold out unless they are in the sanely cup final. Southern Ontario needs a team, Toronto can fill the ACC even with a team that is not eve close to making the playoffs. Intern this will enable more fans, more opportunities to see the games. I think that the commissioner is not doing the right thing, there are plenty of fans in the Hamilton area and there will be a huge area there to make money with a new NHL franchise. I don't see what the conflict is because clearly Phoenix is not making any money if they are filing for bankruptcy.

Reference:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/05/05/spphoenixbalsillie.html

$4.5 Billion for Chrysler

Today the judge that is handling the Chrysler bankruptcy case is giving the company $4.5 billion. Fiat, the owner of Ferrari and Maserati has agreed to buy Chrysler's assets to stay in business. The biggest obstacle that is keeping Chrysler out of this recession is that the company's lenders currently hold almost $7 billion of the companies debt. This has come after the Ontario government said that they would own 2% of the company for a price of $3.8 Billion. The liberals are very confidant the seat at the boardroom table and the 2% share will make sure that the plants in Brampton and Windsor will stay open. When Ontario is doing this Washington is pumping in an 8% share in the company which is equal to $13 billion dollars.

Chrysler and all the other auto makers are not doing that well at the moment and right now I think it would be a good idea to give some of these companies bailout money. One of the big three automakers is going to be gone at the end of this depression and at the moment I do not know which one it is going to be, but it will either be Chrysler or GM because Ford is doing really well. While all this is blamed on the depression Audi, the German car company, has reported that there sales have jumped 14% since september last year. So maybe it's not the recession, it's just that people are realising that people can get more for less with these imported cars. Because I know for a fact that even 2 years ago there were not as many German and European cars on the road as there are today.

Reference:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090504/Chrysler_Bailout_090504/20090504?hub=World