A Note to Terrorists

A note to terrorists who want to target Canadians – do you know who we are?

A Canadian can be English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek.

A Canadian can be Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, Arab, Pakistani or Afghan.

A Canadian may also be a Cree, Métis, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Sioux, or one of the many other tribes known as First Nations People. 

A Canadian's religious beliefs range from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or none. 

In fact, there are more Muslims in Canada than in Afghanistan.

The key difference is that in Canada we are free to worship as each of us chooses. Whether we have a religion or no religion, each Canadian ultimately answers only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

A Canadian lives in one of the most prosperous lands in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which recognize the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

A Canadian is generous and Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. Canadians welcome the best of everything, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services and the best minds. But we also welcome the least - the oppressed, the outcast and the rejected.
These are the people who built Canada. You can try to kill a Canadian if you must as other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world have tried but in doing so you could just be killing a relative or a neighbour. 

This is because Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. We are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom.

Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, can be a Canadian.

15 Big Differences Between Acting Like a Boss and BEING a Leader

In fast paced, high stress business environments it can be all too easy sometimes for leaders to slip into what is often called “Boss” mode, meaning that people managers stop being a leader, and start acting like a boss.

• A boss who supervises a staff.
• The staff reports to the boss, just like it says on the organizational chart.
• And they do exactly what the boss says, because, of course, “S/He’s the boss!“

In other words, the leader becomes a not-so-pleasant person that creates a not-so-enjoyable work environment, and brings progress to a screeching halt.  Therefore it’s really important that we recognize the 15 most significant differences between acting like a boss and being a leader, so we can avoid a rapid descent into mediocrity or failure.

1. A boss only sees things in black and white, while the leader also sees the grey
2. A boss likes to tell, while the leader prefers to teach
3. A boss likes being on a pedestal, above the fray, while the leader likes to be among those they lead
4. A boss gets lost in the details, while the leader keeps the big picture
5. A boss rules by fear, while the leader inspires with trust
6. A boss displays great hubris, while the leader shows quiet humility
7. A boss likes to talk, while the leader prefers to listen
8. A boss wants to dictate, while the leader would rather collaborate
9. A boss outlines the “What”, while the leader also always explains the “Why”
10. A boss thinks first about profit, while the leader thinks first about people
11. A boss gets lost in process, while the leader gets absorbed in performance
12. A boss is a disabler, while the leader is an enabler
13. A boss criticizes, while the leader coaches
14. A boss manages to an end, while the leader serves for a purpose
15. A boss demotivates with impassiveness, while a leader inspires with caring & empathy

BE a leader, not a boss!

What is YOUR leadership style? 

Held for Ransom

I was under the impression that holding a person for ransom was against the law in Canada. Apparently this does not apply to co-parenting couples who live apart. This applies even when the Dad is hyper-vigilant about paying support for the child’s cost to thrive, takes an interest in the child’s school, and wants to be an involved parent. 

Mom can take her child and move to another province without so much as a bat of an eye, and once there move every few months without ever once informing her husband where they are living, but still expect her husband to keep up payments for the child’s “upkeep” which amount to far more than if the child were paying room and board. 

While “Gypsy Rose Mom” is flitting about, uprooting her child from a static, if not squalor existence every few months, Dad can have a stable management position, with a home where the child can have her own room (rather than sleeping with Mom), the positive influence of a two-parent household with a step-sibling in residence, but still be held to a higher standard of being responsible for travelling thousands of kilometers to see his child. 

When work is necessary to assist to cover the “Child Maintenance Costs”, Dad is accused of making choices to work, rather than spend hundreds of dollars to see his child. Keep in mind; it was a Welfare Recipient Mom who moved thousands of kilometers away to help guarantee that her husband would have difficulty seeing his child.

Keeping the child as a subject of ransom against her husband is contradictory to her position that she refuses to give her husband a divorce, therefore prefers to keep a relationship legally alive although emotionally and physically, the relationship has been dead for many, many years. 

The only choice the husband has to pay an additional ransom of several thousand dollars through the Supreme Court of Canada to force the divorce as a contested process.

19 October 2015 - National Election Day

Let’s get one thing straight from the upstart.

I personally care less about HOW you vote than IF you vote.

I have a challenge to people under 30 at the end of my tirade with this regards.

Political knowledge is a democratic value. It is also an important ingredient in democratic citizenship, influencing public attitudes and opinions and, thus political behaviour. Please get educated on the candidates in your area and the political platform they represent, then on 19 October, vote as you please but PLEASE vote. Thousands of men and women over the last 148 years have fought and many died to give you the right to choose your representative to Ottawa. To make a conscious decision not to vote flies in the face of one of the most precious gifts we have as a democratic nation.

That being said, it is a sad footnote in Canadian history that voter turnout for general (Federal) elections dropped from 79% in 1963, to 58% in 2008, while the election for the current government was chosen at the behest of only 61% of eligible voters.

Every age bracket votes differently which is why it is important to have a cross section of eligible voters voice their opinions. Voters over 65 who make up the majority of people at the polls (90% of seniors vote) voted Conservative which is why the current government has a majority of the seats in Ottawa. The next highest set of voters are between 30 and 65 tend to vote more to the left in the political spectrum resulting in the NDP, Liberals and BQ holding the balance of power in a minority opposition to the conservatives. The smallest number of voters (37% of the eligible voters between18 and 30), trend towards the Green, Independents and NDP, leaving Elizabeth May as the sole seat for the Green Party in Ottawa. In a decade or two, the younger voters will be in the prime of their lives and paying for the political choices of their now departed grandparents which are not likely to reflect the priorities or, one could speculate, the needs of next Canada.

Interestingly, respondents from age 22 to 29 with household income of under $20,000 showed less voting behaviour than did those with household income of $60,000 or more. The young adults in low-income households had almost 50% lower odds of voting than those in high-income households. Low income was also a predictor of not voting, with 22.9% (of non-voters) who claimed to be “too busy” to vote. 

I don’t buy the “too busy” excuse.

According to the Canada Elections Act, a general election is be held on the third Monday of October in the fourth calendar year following polling day for the last general election, to elect members to the House of Commons. That is day, every four years, to get yourself to the polling place to voice your opinion. If you cannot make it on Election Day, you have the option of participating in an advance poll which are generally held a week or two in advance.

If you choose to vote on election day, you are entitled to four hours between 8:00AM and 8:00PM to vote, which means if you are working 8:00AM - 5:00PM, your employer can let you off at 4:00PM (the last hour WITH pay) so you can vote before 8:00PM.

If you are 18 to 30 years of age, you are in the age group least likely to vote in a general election.

My Challenge

1.     Do 15 minutes on-line finding out about each of the political parties. Learn something. Find out which party you agree with the most;

2..       If you are conflicted between two parties, write to them (they all have contact pages) in either English or French to find out more information. When you have resolved your questions, make a decision to vote for the local representative of that party;

3.       If you have never voted before, find two friends who have never voted before and all three of you go together to vote;

4.       If you voted in May 2011 you are at least 22 years old. Find two friends who have never voted before and two friends who voted last time, and all five of you go together to vote.

5.       Challenge every other person you know between 18 and 30 years of age to do the same.

See you at the polls!