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Efforts underway to help poor people in Stettler
By Paul Cowley - Red Deer Advocate
Efforts are underway in Stettler to create a fund to help those struggling to make ends meet or even pay for critical medications...
Are we doing enough here in the Crowsnest Pass to help our poor? Do we care? I know we care at Christmas with our FCSS food hampers and such, but what about the rest of the year? Do we have any supports in place for emergency help for people?
Lots of questions, I know, but here is one more. Stettler being relatively the same size as the Pass is trying to do something about it i.e. helping their poor... are we?
The gap between the wealthiest and the poorest in Canada has become greater than at any time since Imperial plutocratic Rome.
Every night, one out of every six (1/7) children go to bed hungry in this country.
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Saturday, January 2, 2010
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8 comments:
All while the ordinary person tries to do something about the poor in Canada, the government will sit on their hands regarding it. It's a catch 22 from that angle. No one but no one ought to be living in poverty in a country like this. I wonder how many Canadians know how many Canadians work overseas. For example, there 200,000 working in Hong Kong and I know from experience there are 33,000 Canadians working in South Korea. Imagine if all Canadians living overseas returned next week. That would add drastically to unemployment and perhaps increase poverty. It would be interesting to see what the government would do then.
Anon,
Good comments! To answer your question.
Nothing! Unless it affects their and their friends bottom line, it don't matter the human cost. Otherwise, our government would not be sending our people to Afghanistan to have their lives 'wasted', for oil and pipelines. Affect their bottom line and you'll see action. People should start working collectively at boycotting corporations and worthless politicians. Make them accountable, or put them out of business, in more ways than one.
Someone on my blog a while back mentioned the same thing you did about Canadians working overseas. It’s a good point... We should call them home... to start the Revolution! Take our country back from the 'hidden hand'.
We could sell off the Yukon (pop. 37,000) to the South Koreans or China and pay off our national debt. Debt free, we can create the Canada, we the people want, free from being debt and wage slaves to living lives we were meant to, until capitalism and consumerism enslaved us. It’s a plan.
Just some thoughts... I’m sure others have some too???
John, a few things about the comments -- of the 200,000 people working in Hong Kong, how many are native born Canadians? Bet the majority are of Chinese descent who came here or were sent here as children/students during the "period of fear" when Hong Kong was being turned over to China. They headed back to Hong Kong when things didn't go sour there. Or they are of Chinese descent and went back to be in a free enterprise system so as not to have to do business in the socialized red tape we have created for doing business in British Columbia. You won't get any help here for your Revolution. Canada is now their escape mechanism --much like the Lebanon fiasco a few years back was for the expat Lebanese.
If you want to improve things, take a real GOOD LOOK the the Yukon. Extravagence several times over. The Federal Govt gives them 1.2 BILLION $$ to operate the Yukon govt. There are 33,000 or so people living there with the majority living in Whitehorse. Good paying, non productive Govt jobs make up a good portion of the Yukon economy. The smaller towns still suffer from unemployment and wallow in poverty. Whitehorse is booming with Guvmint $$ and there is no recession there for sure. To boot, the Greenies have taken over the government, and are keeping the Yukon as a Park for the Americans.
Trouble is, except for a few mines, there is no industry in the Yukon. The timber industry was shut down by the Greenies and their outside environmentalist supporters. The mineral deposits are now being sold to and being built into mines by the Chinese as we speak . So you won't have to sell the Yukon, the Chinese are already buying it. Don't blame the Conservatives; the Liberals did the same.
The hope now is that PM Harper will put together a work program that assists small business and helps them to create jobs. This will get the economy going. Merely adding more non-productive government jobs won't help; we now have WAY TOO MANY GOVERNMENT JOBS proportionately in Canada.
Ask the govt workers, and they'll tell you that the economy is doing quite well -- of course. Ask the umemployed people and you'll get a different answer. Lest one get the impression that I am anti-government worker, I'm not. I just think that Govt has become too big a share of the Canadian economy. (In the USA now, the average government job pays $71,000.00 vs the average private one that pays $41,000.00. Wonder what it is in Canada? Something is dreadfully wrong with this picture.)
We have to get private business going again in Canada. If the Conservatives won't or can't do it, no one will. We'll see what March and the new Federal Budget brings. If nothing comes out of it, then John, you will likley see the unrest start. Hope not.
Jose
Jose,
Having travelled the Yukon from Whitehorse to Dawson City and back, and learning everything you speak of, I am confused as to how you think my suggestion of selling the Yukon off to completely pay off our national debt, and thereby give us a fresh start, would add to the government payroll? When in fact, it should be obvious that it would reduce it. We would no longer be the owners and therefore we would not have to manage, nor govern the territory, and so much of the 33,000 people living there on the government payroll, who choose to stay, will be getting their future paycheques from someone else, other than the Canadian government. This plan allows us to have our cake and eat it too.
With respect to Harper’s conservatives (the ones that gave us pork-barrel/partisan politics over economic stimulus) helping small business to create jobs, you must have skipped over my earlier post on 'The Facts of Community Futures', otherwise, you would know that a conservative government(s) giving our money to their friends at Community Futures does not reach the people, but instead, in too many cases, goes only to a select few within their inner circle. As a result, only a trickle ever gets to the people by way of real job and small business creation. This organizational structure and way of doing things is not the solution, but rather the problem instead... and replacing the conservatives with the liberals, just gives you more of the same.
No, what is needed is a complete overhaul of our system. We need a Revolution by way of a paradigm shift in our way of thinking and governing.
The ‘unrest’ as you call it will be here this summer... if not sooner? That is the one thing, in my opinion, the conservatives will be able to deliver on.
John, therefore the quickest and easiest solution is to SELL OFF THE CROWSNEST PASS to the highest bidders, rather than to sell the Yukon. The Chinese and Koreans will take the coal mines; the Chinese the timber; the Europeans will take the land and houses; and the Yanks will buy the water rights and ship the water South. No National debt.
Then the locals will all have jobs, servicing these outsiders (new owners) so everyone will be working. The only thing is that the locals will have to mind the signs to "Please Use The Service Entrance" when they enter the Pass or report to work. They may get to hunt, camp and fish -- on the non-posted land. Those lucky enough may even get to live in the Pass. Good luck! But heh - everyone will be working and happy. Look at Montana and Idaho to see how this works -- NOT!!!!
In the meantime, I think that the Harper government will come through and hope that your fears concerning who is helped this time around are unfounded. If Harper can't see what is happening South of the border, and in his own country, and doesn't react accordingly, he should get the boot. Prentice would do fine. So far Harper and his "advisers" have blown it. Something about having an Economist in charge. They are always wrong and know nothing, just guess, pontificate and usually make the wrong decison. But the lawyers are just as bad re: the Liberals.
John, if you took all the money from selling the Yukon, paid off the debt and distributed the remaining proceeds to the citizens, it would only be a few short years before that money was back in the hands of a few, and the masses were back to where we are now. That's the way it has been, is and will be under ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT.
The objective of the present Illuminati (our present rulers included I'm afraid) is to wipe out the middle class in North America so that a few have total control over the many. When we all have to depend on a Government that is in bed with a few big Companies, and they dicate our everyday lives and tell us what to do and where to work, I guess you'll have your "ism" - communism, fascism, redistributive socialism, etc -- take your pick, they are all the same. I'll keep what we have, thanks.
Get ready for the influx of "refugees" into Canada from the South when things go sour in the USA over the next two or so years. Keep your powder dry for that event...
Jose
Jose,
Stay with it, and stop kitchen-sinking and comparing apples with oranges. No, the quickest and easiest solution would be to sell off the Yukon. But you’re right; Harper and the conservatives have blown it big time, as will Iggy and the Liberals. These parties do not work in the best interests of Canadians, but for corporate and political masters elsewhere. We need to take back our country, and what I am proposing is a way it can be done. All that is missing is the Will... the Way is clear.
At the risk of repeating myself, I'm talking about taking back our country before it becomes a fait accompli, with respect to Government in bed with a few big companies who tell us where to work and what to do. Being wage and debt slaves to foreign Slave Masters is not a life.
History has shown us, we can and will do better. All it takes is a spark... Got a match? :-)
John, to go your way, there needs to be a "Tea Party" movement similar to that now gaining strength in the USA. However, the powers that be there - Democrats in this case - have vilified the people for voicing their opinions, calling them unAmerican, kooks, etc. Intimidation is the name of the game, and this group is dealing with dirty-style Chicago-style politics which gives no quarter. Oby knows that well.
I just don't see this type of "uprising" happening here, since there are no cross-country right wing talk show hosts who sparked the movement. The Tea Partiers there have now moved BEYOND political parties and are proceeding much like you want to, i.e., we are going to take back the country.
John, the Conservative and Liberal Blogs appear to be straight party liners bashing the other guys. The NDP has appears to have disappeared. There just ain't anyone to light the match, nor any powder to light if there were. Nos sommes fini, je pense. Sad but true in my opinion.
Jose
Jose,
The match has been lite...
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=260348091419
In just 4 days, already over 30,000 Canadians have signed up to voice their displeasure with Harper and his conservative government.
I'm sure that in another few days we will be storming the Bastille. Freeing ourselves from despot rule, while at the same time ushering in a new age of freedom and enlightenment.
Viva La Revolution!!!
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