Arrests at Oshawa City Council

For anyone that hasn't been following the events of this incident lately, two people were arrested at the Oshawa city council meeting after they refused to leave. They were protesting the elimination of the Auditor General position and the firing of the AG Ron Foster. Its the AG's job to oversee public spending and make sure everything is spent correctly. Essentially, to make sure there is no corruption by the members of government. I am totally for having the AG position since it is so easy for members of any government to abuse the public purse. This whole situation just stinks and its funny because its so obvious to anyone who reads a couple articles why Oshawa is actually doing this.

First of all, a motion to eliminate the AG position was was put forth by City Manager Bob Duignan. The AG Ron Foster had accused Bob Duignan in a formal report to the city of impropriety when it came to a real-estate deal. Apparently an investigation was done by the city into the deal and found nothing wrong with it. After Duignan is exonerated he then tables a motion to have the position eliminated. The city defended the motion by saying they were only letting the positions contract expire. Its so absurdly obvious looking at the series of events that the city just didn't want this guy looking into any shady deals they have going on. If Bob Duignan was mad at Ron Foster for reporting him he could have just tabled a motion to have him replaced but instead tables a motion to have the position eliminated. Come on, how much more obvious can you get.

Now we get to the council meeting where they are going to vote on whether to eliminate the AG position or not. Oshawa council votes 8-3 to eliminate the AG position or as they are saying allowing the contract to expire and not renewing it. So, in other words eliminating it. During the meeting there are several protesters who are against the elimination of the AG position sitting in on the meeting. What exactly they were doing leading up to the moment they were confronted by security is disputed. The first one that was arrested, Daniel Hammond says he was "clapping on his neck" to encourage the speaker. The city claims he was "heckling". Eitherway, in the video he is confronted by a security guard and asked to leave, at first he argues and says no, then when the guard insists he then says that he will leave. It was at that point the security guard grabs his arm and the fight ensues. Another protester, Bill Steele, gets absolutely mugged by plainclothes police later on. Its pathetic police work.

What a mess. For any security guards out there, don't put your hands on people. You have no more power than a normal person. Plainclothes police? Absolutely pointless. Big props to Daniel Hammond and Bill Steele for drawing attention to the issue. Videos are below.

Urban Fishing in Oshawa

Urban fishing is getting more and more popular these days. For people who dont know what urban fishing is, its fishing inside a city. Usually when you go fishing you take a long road trip up to a lake or river well away from civilization. With urban fishing you find a spot inside your city which has an advantage since its really close by. Also, if you have kids you dont have to pack for a long road trip.

Since I live in Oshawa I tried to find fishing spots within the city limits. Surprisingly, there are a few in Oshawa which people use with mixed results. The one is McLaughlin Bay which is down behind the General Motors headquarters and the end of Colonel Sam Dr. McLaughlin Bay used to be connected to Lake Ontario by a mars but has since been blocked off. The Bay is pretty large and its a good place to go hiking and look at the wildlife. As far as fishing goes there are pike, catfish and tons of carp. Sadly, the good fish which are the pike and catfish are hard to catch. The water is murky all the time and there is an over-abundance of carp. If anyone has any experiences catching fish out of here I would like to hear about them.

The other obvious spots in Oshawa are the creeks. The Oshawa creek is good only when the Trout or Salmon are running. Trout season just ended. Salmon will start running in the spring. Ive been told Bowmanville creek is good most of the year. Bowmanville creek is just outside Courtice before you get into downtown Bowmanville. I had a person tell me that Bowmanville creek has Brook Trout for most of the year which makes it a good place for fly fishing.

There is probably other spots around but fisherman are notoriously secretive about their favorite spots. If you want to share let me know.

Summer is Here! Time to Start Back up With Those Outdoor Hobbies

Im pretty excited now that we have been getting this warm weather. Since I dont have any winter hobbies I have to wait until Summer. This Summer is no different. I may have mentioned previously that I play paintball usually up at Camp X, which is a great outdoor field. Now that the weather has turned I am busting out the gear and cleaning it up for the season. Im a pretty cheap guy and hobbies like paintball can get expensive if you're not careful. I try to operate on a low budget. I was actually able to pick up some hardshell knee pads at Star Thrift store at the Midtown mall for $4.00, which is an absolute steal.

Also, I plan to do some fishing. I did it a lot when I was a kid and I miss it. My initial startup cost for this is peanuts compared to paintball. Bought a decent medium action rod and reel at a garage sale for $10.00 last year and I have some old basic gear. Fishing license will cost around $40.00 and maybe a bit of updated tackle and im done. For anyone interested in doing some fishing, do some research and look for some spots. If you find a good one, keep it to yourself. I have a few spots Im going to check out to see if they are promising. Maybe I'll post the results later.

Random Visits Around Oshawa

Currently. im off school for a week with not a whole lot to do which isnt too bad since I need some time to relax. Unfortunately I get bored easy so when my next door neighbour asked me for a ride to a few places I thought it was a good way to get out of the house for a bit. First, he wanted to go to No Frills. Grocery shopping isnt too exciting but I was in the produce section and just stopped to look around and felt so fortunate that I lived in a country like Canada with access to all this food. So I took a picture to better illustrate this point. Its amazing that a "cheap" grocery store like No Frills can have such a mountain of beautiful produce to choose from. We really are lucky to be in a place like this. Second, we went to a thirft store at the Midtown Mall. I sometimes go into thirft store. That is to say that I rarely go into them but my neighbour is a little down on his luck so I went in with him. Everything was what I expected, mostly clothes, lots of books and lots of outdated stuff. Then I saw something that piqued my interest. I found a large oil painting hanging on the back wall. Im not really big into art but I took a closer look. I know enough to look for a few things. First of all it was original, oil on canvas. The frame was ornate wood and pretty old. Also, it had a signature of the artist. Finally it was large, probably about 3.5 feet long. They had a price of 19.99 on it. So I bought it. For 20 bucks I really cant lose much and I get a really nice original piece of art. The only problem is I have I have no clue who the artist is since its just initials. Here is a couple pictures. Im not expecting to make a million dollars but I cant really lose that much. I really didnt buy it to make money anyway. If anyone knows who painted it please message me.

Occupy Toronto

Yeah, I know this doesnt have anything to do with Oshawa but any changes that these protesters force will affect the whole province anyway.

I usually make a point not to talk politics with most people because it always turns into an argument and most of the time yelling too. But with Occupy Toronto going on right now people really have no choice but to talk politics. Most of the protesters at Occupy Toronto are self proclaimed Marxists or Communists and really its plain to see that even if no one says it. If you dont know what Marxism is all about then you need to read about it. I know quite a lot about Marxism and Socialism and let me say, I am absolutely against it. It is one of the worst systems of governance ever.

These people protesting down in Toronto have no clue what the hell they are protesting for. Im baffled at how clueless they really are. They rail against Capitalism and Corporations then complain that there are no jobs. They obtain useless University degrees in something like Art History and complain that they cant find a job in their field and that there student loans should be forgiven. It doesnt work that way, nor should it. I saw on the new a guy complaining that he took Political Science in school, has like $40 000 in debt and cant find a job. If this guy took any actual Science he would easily find a job. Biology, Chemistry, Bio-Tech, Lab Tech. There are pissloads of jobs available for that but he just took the easy way and somehow its a "rich" person's fault, come on put in some hard work, some effort, some late nights and early mornings and some responsibility.

I busted my ass to get where I am and I bust my ass everyday to improve. Im not rich by any means but hopefully some day I will be and that's not a bad thing because as much as these fools protest against the "rich" they would trade it all to be rich themselves. Hard work and sacrifice is a part of life and builds character, it drives people to be better,

In closing I will address some of the blanket statements made by the protesters that I have seen and heard at Occupy Toronto.

"We are against Income Inequality."

Income Inequality is the difference in what people earn at a given job. Not the same job but overall difference in top and bottom incomes for any job. There is an organization that measures this in most countries and it is given a number between 0 and 1. 1 is completely unequal and 0 is completely equal as if every person in the country earned the exact same amount of money for any job in that country. The number is called the GINI Coefficient. In a developed country such as Canada there are so many different jobs that there cant be perfect equality. Here is a link to data published in 2009 on world-wide GINI Coefficient

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Gini_Coefficient_World_CIA_Report_2009.png

Canada Ranks near the bottom with a score of 0.25-0.29 which is pretty damn low. When compared with a country such as South Afica with a score of "greater than" 0.60.

"Rich people pay less tax."

Completely untrue and nonsensical. Rich people pay more tax as a total and as a presentage as stated here on the government of Canada website.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html

Also, if you own a business you are paying an additional tax on your profits as shown here:

http://www.canadabusinesstax.com/corporate-income-tax-rates/

If you are against something then you better know your enemy.

Oshawa Waterfront and The Purposed Ethanol Plant

Well, it seems like a busy news week for Oshawa, what with IQT shutting down and the growing protest against the purposed ethanol plant that the Federal government wants to build in Oshawa.

Now, I hate jumping on bandwagons. Especially when I haven't done any research into whatever it is im jumping on to. Its fine if you have an opinion either-way about an issue but do yourself a favour and research. Read and look at the facts and decide on your own what your viewpoint is.

Around town lately I have been seeing a lot of flyers and signs saying "No Ethanol". At first I didn't understand why this Ethanol plant was so bad, so I decided to do a little reading and look into it further. Well, the biggest problem people have with it is the fact that it will be built on the Oshawa Waterfront. Ok, now I get it. For people that are new to Oshawa or don't know, the Oshawa waterfront has been such a big issue for so many years. Oshawa cant figure out what the hell to do with it exactly. Currently the Oshawa waterfront is designated as "mixed use" which means its used as part commercial and part recreational. Here's a little background info from the city's website:

"In 1966, the City of Oshawa transferred about 61
acres of land to the Government of Canada (“Crown”)
specifically for harbour purposes and the growth of
the local economy."

So basically everything that wasn't Lakeview park was owned by the Government of Canada. In 2010 Oshawa filed a lawsuit to get some of the land returned to the city and they were successful. The area of land that is to the East of Simcoe St. and South of Harbour St. where the Oshawa creek empties into the harbour was returned to the city. Everything east of the harbour was retained by the Federal Government. Finally the city of Oshawa can start building a nice waterfront which is currently one of the worst ive seen. If you want a good comparison, go to Port Hope, its gorgeous.

Im all for bringing jobs to Oshawa but I have to admit I had a little problem with this Ethanol plant. The only problem I have with it is that it backs on to the Second Marsh area which in my opinion is an amazing area. Earlier I talked about doing things in the city "on-the-cheap" and this is a good one. Go to Colonel Sam Dr. and walk the trails its really awesome that a place like that exists in Oshawa. I just wish Oshawa would promote it more. Farewell creek runs through the Marsh and empties into the Oshawa Harbour too but on the government owned side.

So, whats my opinion. Its both good and bad. It will bring jobs to Oshawa but it will create a big eyesore and be potentially harmful to Second Marsh. But that's what life is about in an industrialized country. Its hard to strike a balance. The Federal Government has made a lot of promises (legally binding ones) regarding the Second Marsh and minimizing the environmental impact. My hope is that there is no environmental impact if the ethanol plant get built and that all we are left with is just an eyesore.

IQT - A Little Inside Info

So, recently IQT here in Oshawa totally shut down permanently. No reason given, no warning, crazy. I used to work for IQT when it was still called Durham Contact Centre (DCC) and I still know some people that still worked there at the time. I met up with a guy that had worked there for about seven years and I asked him to tell me everything that happened. He was more than willing to tell me because he was pretty upset about it.

So, the story goes like this. Weird things were happening before the day of the shut-down. Paycheques getting screwed up was the first clue. For about two months before things such as holiday pay stopped showing up on paycheques. Employees vigilant enough to see this went to payroll. Payroll would agree that it was a problem and that would fix it. On the next paycheque where they thought holiday pay would be showed up instead as a lieu day. Sometimes they would see their paycheque short hours, nothing big mind you, just 2-3 hours. Whoever complained got it corrected.

The next situation is a weird one but offers a big clue as to how much the brass at IQT Canada Inc. knew about what was happening and what was about to happen. The call centre's manager, Bob just finishes up a meeting with a company executive. He walks the executive downstairs. Before the exec. leaves he says to Bob: You know im a little surprised that you guys haven't packed anything up yet. Bob responds confused: Why would we be packing anything up. Exec.: Well, you guys are moving aren't you? Bob, now really confused: What do you mean moving, no one told me anything. Where are we moving? Now the Exec. is kind of panicked, he starts looking around nervous and finally says: Oh. Well, if no one said anything then I guess its not important. With that he quickly turns around and gets out of there.

So, now it comes to the day of. My friend pulls into the parking lot for the afternoon shift which starts at 3PM. In the parking lot is eight police cars. He starts to walk up the the front doors and a cop says that he cant go in. He asks why and the cop says because IQT is close permanently. He said at first he was obviously shocked, then everything that had been happening for the past two months started making more sense: the screwed up pay, the strange conversation with the Exec. and his latest paycheque was late. He is standing there watching his fellow co-workers walking out, some crying. That day they had even scheduled the day shift. One hour before the start of the afternoon shift the whole system went down then police started showing up.

His conclusion. They knew. IQT Canada knew at least for a couple months that this was going to happen. They kept a lid on things or at least tried to until the call centre in Nashville was completed and then they dissolved their operations in Canada completely. They planned to nickel and dime the employees as much as possible before going into bankruptcy and hiding behind it. The employees are still owed a months worth of pay and they are told that they wont get it because IQT Canada no longer exists.

Brutal story. I wish the employees all the best on their future endeavors.