Embarrassed to sing “O Canada”? It’s only a ”Pittance in Time”!

national Flag of Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Toronto Catholic District School Board had to pass new guidelines, forcing students to “sing” O’Canada. I just listened to the news and heard students state that they will not sing “O Canada“, or that they were “embarrassed” to sing it. Also heard one say “I will not be singing it because its my right not to”, with a very disturbing tone. How did we get to this point? What happened to our patriotism? Do we care about Canada? It’s only a “Pittance in Time”, to those who fought and died so we could enjoy it. Just saying!

Read more “Students must sing O Canada, school board rules”

Related articles

• Students who don’t sing O Canada appear ‘unpatriotic’: Toronto school trustee (calgaryherald.com)
• Toronto Catholic students to sing O Canada without music (thestar.com)

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Wildroses in Alberta – but the grass is not always greener on the other side

Danielle Smith and the Wildrose Caucus, (R to L) Guy Boutilier, Heather Forsyth, Danielle Smith, Paul hinman, Rob Anderson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In an interesting twist of fate Alberta, long a stronghold for the Conservatives, is going through some family issues. Till death do us part is not the motto for conservatives today. Alberta is going through growing pains. With an influx of Canadians, of all stripes, change seems to be affecting the province as a whole. The Wildrose party has surged in popularity, but will it last? Cracks in the foundation are already apparent; with Wildrose members sounding both intolerant of immigrants and out of step with Canadian values. In some sense we can draw a comparison to the Republican Party in the United States. With forces split between what is seen as moderates, like Mitt Romney and The Tea Party elements of the Republicans. I sense that this is more of a protest vote; similar to the ADQ in Quebec. The Progressive Conservatives are holding true to the name “progressive”, but will the residents of Alberta give them another chance. With the election near Wildrose party members are under close scrutiny. Can the Wildrose Party grow into a sustainable political force? Or will they continue to bloom and show their true colours?

http://www.thestar.com/mobile/news/canada/politics/article/1164711–tim-harper-alberta-s-wildrose-leader-danielle-smith-s-bumpy-road-to-history

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Poll shows that we want subways and we are willing to pay for it

The Toronto Transit Commission's bus #1303, a Daimler Buses North America/Orion Bus Industries Orion 07.501 "VII" NG HEV, travels west along St. Clair Avenue East on the 102 Markham Road route in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Greater Toronto Area supports a local sales tax dedicated to public transit and other infrastructure by 74%. Just when you though the transit debate was over in Toronto, we may be in for another round. In one corner Mayor Rob Ford who wants subways without taxes and on the other side council who wants taxes but no subways. As I said before there must be some compromise, but so far egos are prevailing. Both sides want to win, at the expense of others. If we plan on creating subways, with taxes, we should first look into a Downtown Relief Line and get something to help the Yonge line. I remember a while back wondering why council never looked into sending the Sheppard line south, through the Don Valley overground and running express to downtown; connecting at possibly York Mills, Lawrence, Eglinton and then express downtown. It should be interesting to see what debate turns up in Toronto council regarding this poll. Maybe we should forget Toronto and just fund transit initiatives in Peel, York and Durham region. It should be another interesting month in the G.T.A.

Related articles

• 74% support small sales tax hike if money goes to transit: poll (theglobeandmail.com)
• Subway or LRT for TTC: Prime Minister Stephen Harper prefers subways (thestar.com)
• ‘It’s all about subways,’ Rob Ford tells City Hall scrum (news.nationalpost.com)
• New Light Rail Line Approved In Toronto Over Mayor’s Objections in the Continuing War On The Car (treehugger.com)

Oprah in Toronto

Oprah Winfrey in Denmark on 30 September 2009 to promote Chicago as Olympic host (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Die-hard fans lined up at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to see Oprah Winfrey bring her life-class north of the border. The event had motivational speaker Tony Robbins, spiritual healer Deepak Chopra, Iyanla Vanzant and Bishop T.D. Jakes. The event aimed to inspire and help individuals change their world.  It was the first-ever Canadian broadcast and it will air live on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

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• Oprah takes Toronto (theglobeandmail.com)
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• Oprah Winfrey adds second show to Toronto event (ctv.ca)
• Oprah Winfrey’s Lifeclass tour draws thousands to Toronto shows (thestar.com)

A great source for transit information – The LRT Information Blog

my photo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With transit in Toronto taking a back seat to casino expansion and red-light districts it’s nice to see that there is still action taking place outside of the G.T.A. In particular York Region and expansion of the Yonge line, north of Steeles and LRT expansion in Peel. With the Yonge line I am still a bit concerned about the load factors affecting affecting travel along the route. Toronto needs to seriously look into expansion of a Downtown Relief Line, as soon as possible; to ease the congestion on the Y-U-S. The Toronto LRT Information Page provides updates and commentary on both the Yonge Subway extension and the Brampton / Mississauga LRT expansion plans.

Read more

Related articles

• Subways for the Downtown Relief Line (thegtapatriot.wordpress.com)
• Toronto transit: ‘Downtown’ relief line could be the subway suburbanites crave (thestar.com)
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• Subway the clear choice at loud Scarborough transit meeting (thestar.com)
• Mississauga mayor says Ford transit plan can’t come at other cities’ expense (thestar.com)

Voyage to Pandora: First Interstellar Space Flight

Found this interesting video on YouTube. If you like science, space and our possible future, please enjoy!

Pandora is the idyllic blue world featured in the movie Avatar. Its location is a real place: Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to our Sun and the most likely destination for our first journey beyond the solar system.

The year is 2154. Our planet has been ruined by environmental catastrophe. In the movie Avatar, greedy prospectors from Earth descend on the world of an innocent hunter-gatherer people called the Na’vi.

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• Solar System Is Slowing Down! (weeklyworldnews.com)