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alberta child labour continued…

Alberta’s Human Resources and Employment Minister told reporters yesterday that the Tory Government would not revisit changes to the province’s employment rules that make it easy for 12-14 year-olds to work in restaurants.

From an interview with the Edmonton Journal: Minister Mike Cardinal said Albertans as young as 12 should have the opportunity to work if they want to.

“Albertans are very hard workers,”

“You have to give them credit. They work hard, including the young people.”

“Some parents may be in a position where the children don’t have to work, but not everybody is like that.”

“There are some areas where some parents are not in a financial situation where they can afford to completely support the children without the youth going to work. I think that option should be there.”

Cardinal said he worked his first job at the age of five, earning a nickel once a week for emptying a slop bucket for the store owner who lived next door. Then at the age of 12, he worked for $2 a day skidding trees for a sawmill on horseback. He went to work full time at the sawmill at the age of 15 to help support his 12 brothers and sisters.

“Thank God I had the ability to work (at a young age), because we wouldn’t have survived, probably,” he said.

“Work is healthy, it doesn’t hurt. That’s what keeps our high standard of living in Alberta and in Canada,” he said. “People work, everybody works.”

How about improving social programs to help low-income families so their 12-year old son or daughter won’t have to go out and find a job? How about allowing 12 year-olds to concentrate on their schooling so that they can increase their chances of one day attending a post-secondary institution? What happend to childhood?

Quotes from the story: Child labour law will work, minister says
Cardinal notes some families need cheques from 12-year-olds; child advocates say education should be bottom line
in the Edmonton Journal.

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calgary here I come…

I’ve decided that it would be a good idea to go to the Calgary Stampede this weekend. So, away I go.

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money money money

According to the CBC, the Federal Tories raised twice as much as the Federal Liberals in 2004.

The numbers, released by Elections Canada show that the:

Conservatives raised $10.9 million.

Liberals raised $5.2 million.

New Democrats raised $5.19 million.

Bloc Québécois raised $897,000.

Look at the Liberal-ND numbers. Wow. That is quite close.

In the spirit of money, here’s an appropriate zinger…

 
For The Love Of Money

By: The O’Jays

Money, money, money, money…MONEY!!! (repeat 2 times)

Some people got to have it
Some People really need it
You wanna,
Do things, do things, do things, bad things with it!
Well, you wanna,
Do things, do things, do things, good thing with it!

(For the love of money)
People will build from their minds
(For the love of money)
People will right their own wrongs
(For the love of money)
People can’t even walk the streets
Because they never know in the world they’re gonna meet!
Oh that mean…oh mean, mean green!!!

On my Desire!! My money!

(For the love of money)
People will laugh God’s name and cheat!
(For the love of money)
People don’t care if they turn on me
(For the love of money)
A woman will show her precious findings
For a small piece of paper, it carries a lot of weight!
Oh that mean…mean, mean, mean, mean green!

Oh my desires! Talking ’bout, talking ’bout…
Whoa that…money, whoa!
People do wonderful things!
Some people, give me a nickle, brother can you smell now?
Money can drive some people Out of their minds!

(For the love of money)
Got to have it, I really need it!
(For the love of money)
How many times have I heard you say,
(For the love of money)
Don’t have, don’t have, don’t let money rule you!
(For the love of money)
How many times have I heard you say,
(For the love of money)
Don’t let it, don’t let it, don’t let money fool you!

People dont let money,
Don’t let money take you!
Oh my desire! Keep on tellin you
People want their money,
But don’t let money take you!
Oh My desire!

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fox’s tart

John Gibson, you suck.

UPDATE: John Gibson still sucks.

UPDATE: One of the four Dark Horsemen has joined in with some Canada Day bashing of his own.

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alberta 100 & student debt

I thought this was pretty cool.

I also thought this would be interesting for anyone with a load of student debt.

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back in the edmonton groove

I’m back in E-town and I’ve become addicted to Johnny Cash.

More later.

PS. Check out Civitatensis for the latest edition of WILD ROSE ROUNDUP!

UPDATE: Because I feel like sharing… I spent my weekend in the bush up in northern Alberta at a cabin that had no phone line or electricity. It was great. Nature rocks. So does Alberta. It was so nice up there…

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blogs of the week alumni

The morning of June 11, 2005 began what was then was and now is known today as the ‘blog of the week.’

The idea of specially singling out a blog was something that I thought would be a neat feature on daveberta. In choosing the blog (sometimes bi-weekly, sometimes by-monthly), I use four main criteria.

In order to qualify for this prestigious position in blogdom, the blog must be:

1. Smart
2. Entertaining
3. Informative
4. A blog I enjoy.

BLOG OF THE WEEK ALUMNI

2005 Alumni

June 12 – 18 – Buckets of Grewal
June 19 – 25 – Ahab’s Whale
June 26 -July 2 – Grandinite
July 3 – 9 – Little Man in a Toque
July 17 – 23 – Canadian Expatriates: The Expat Blog
July 24 – 30 – GoPolitical
July 31 – August 6 – Folk Fest Blog
August 14 – 20 – Section 15
September 4 – 10 – The WingnutererSeptember 18 – 24 – Doucheblog
October 16 – 22 – John Gushue…Dot Dot Dot
November 6 – 12 – Ponies and Pachyderms
December 11 – 17 – taracool

2006 Alumni

March 19 – 25 – Phendrana Drifts
March 26 – April 1 – Practical Pragmatism
April 9 – 15 – Gauntlet.ca
April 16 – 22 – Summer’s Daydream
May 14 – 20 – Walking the Four More Blocks
May 21 – 27 – Capitalist Pig vs. Socialist Swine
July 23 – 27 – The Daily Canuck
September 3 – 9 – What is the Point of this Story?
September 17 – 23 – Swing State Project
December 3-9 – Ken Chapman

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happy canada day!

Since I’m skipping town tonight and won’t be back until Sunday… HAPPY CANADA DAY!

I’ll leave you with this…

Statement by the Prime Minister for Canada Day

June 30, 2005
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Paul Martin today made the following statement for Canada Day:

“Today we celebrate Canada’s 138th birthday. This is a time to reflect on the values we hold dear as a nation.

Already in 2005, we have witnessed events and anniversaries that remind us of these values and how they define us as Canadians.

We have honoured Canadian veterans during the 60th anniversary commemoration of VE Day for their tremendous sacrifice in preserving freedom and democracy. We’ve celebrated the 20th anniversary of equality rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And we have joined Albertans and Saskatchewanians in the festivities surrounding the centenary of these two provinces.

Canada is a success story – and we take immense pride in that. A country bound together by values of family, community, respect for one another, and a commitment to equality of opportunity. Our future is bright.

Canada Day is a time to celebrate that success. One gigantic birthday party across the nation, as the summer begins and we relax in the company of family and friends – at the lake, traveling, camping, enjoying the warm summer days and evenings.

Let the celebration begin! To all Canadians – I wish you a very Happy Canada Day!”

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Tory Regional Health Boards

Apparently there’s a market for this sort of information… (i’m looking at you Robert)

Examples of Alberta Tory appointees to Regional Health Authority Boards (as of a couple of months ago)…

Jack Ady – PC MLA Cardston-Chief Mountain (1986-1997) & Provincially appointed Chair of the Chinook Regional Health Region

Ernie Isley – PC MLA Bonnyville (1979-1993) & Provincially appointed member of the Aspen Regional Health Authority

Wayne Jacques – PC MLA Grande Prairie-Wapiti (1993-2001) & Provincially appointed member of the Peace County Health Region

Dale Johnson – Provincially appointed member of the Aspen Regional Health Authority & President of the Whitecourt-Ste. Anne PC Association

Sylvia Kennedy – President of the Peace River PC Association & Provincially appointed member of the Peace County Regional Health Authority

Wendy Kinsella – Failed PC Candidate in Edmonton Riverview (2001) & Provincially appointed member of the Capital Health Region (Edmonton)

Len Mitzel – PC MLA Cypress-Medicine Hat (2004- ) & former Provincially appointed Chair of the Palliser Regional Health Region

Marvin Moore – PC MLA Smoky River (1971-1989), former PC Campaign Chair & Provincially appointed Chair of the Peace County Health Region

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for the record…

…over 75% of eligible Alberta voters did not support these guys.

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blog of the week – grandinite

Yes, it’s that time again!

This week’s ‘blog of the week‘ is none other than Grandinite.

Aaron, the author of Grandinite was the driving force behind the creation of Alberta Blogs and runs a pretty spiffy blog himself. Aaron is working on his Masters in Economics at the lovely University of Alberta and is a former writer for The Gateway, but we’ll forgive him for that… 😛

Oh, and by the way…

Take the MIT Weblog Survey

PS. Zorph has a blog! (well, kind of…)

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C-38 passed

I thought the beginning was pretty funny – the first time the Speaker asked for yeas and nays, the yeas most definately out yelled the neas. The second time, the nays sounded like they had added 50 or so vocal cords…

The vote results:
Yeas: 158
Nays: 133

Nothing out of the ordinary. The Liberal God Squad voted nay. Dipper Bev Desjarlais voted nay, as did Kilgour and O’Brien. Tories James Moore and Jim Prentice voted yea.

I hope someone asks Stephen Harper if this means Quebec is going to separate 😛

What a goofball.

And so ends the story of how Canada legalized same-sex marriage.

PS. The sky never fell! 😛

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t-minus 17 seconds

until the 3rd reading of Bill C-38 the Civil Marriage Act… more commentary to come…

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WILD ROSE ROUND UP #4: a day late and a record surplus short…

Well, it’s my first time, so be gentle…

Phil at 8—Track Mind has posted about his love of Su Doku and gives readers some valuable Su Doku advice:

“Assuming your Su Doku pusher is a reputable one, each puzzle only has one answer and can be solved by logic — no guessing required.”

Phil also blogged about his recent honeymoon to the Cayman Islands. Sounds like fun!

Alberta Propagandist listed of reason #2, 345 why the Martin government is the worst thing to happen to Canadian Politics. Bow Valley Blog posted a link to Bow Valley area singer/songwriter Chris Nettleton (check it out!)

Speaking of musicians… BumfOnline caught one of those nasty versions of blog music tag. Now the entire blog-o-sphere knows that BumfOnline owns 6069 songs, which translates into 17 days or 23.25 GB. Wow.

Russ at Burkean Canuck blogged about the finances of the nation and the suprise C-48 vote last week. Calgary Grit wrote about Anne McLellan and the floods and Justice Minister Irwin Cotler’s secret ping-pong talent…

Calgary Observer used translation talents to decrypt some recent political speak from Ottawa… and of course, what would a Liberal blog like CO be without a post about everybody’s favorite right-wing blogger, Peter Rempel. CO is no exception.

The Canadian Perasma
(also from Calgary…) blogged some political observations about Quebec politics and Mario Dumont’s ADQ, as well as an interesting post about transgenderism in Canada.

The Canuckistan Chronicles (also from Calgary…) blogged a bit about the SSM debate and also reached his 10,000th blog hit last week! Congrats Richard! Capitalist Pig & Socialist Swine (also from Calgary…) just got back from a trip to Rome and blogged about reverse-culture shock (welcome back!). Senator Catalyst (also from Calgary… i’m sensing a trend…) posted a fun parliamentary game that everyone should check out!

CIVTATENSIS blogged on a wide-variety of topics from Live 8 to Kyoto to southern Alberta flooding… Colby Cosh (who from what I can tell is some kind of blogging guru) posted some interesting info on cancer incidents in Canada…

Harlem Spanish over at Cosby Sweater wrote an interesting post on communism and wristbands (I asked the same questions…) Crittermusings blogged about the 5% of Canadians who are under 25… daveberta went to Clay Aiken…er…Lyle Oberg’s leadership announcement and wishes he were in Grenada….

Doucheblog doucheblogged about the Emperor Palpatine…er… Karl Rove and US Senator John McCain. Dust my Broom posted a fun cat pic and a post about Paul Martin’s trip to what could soon be known as the South Alberta Ocean

I %100 agree with Elephants with Wings (also from Calgary…) when she recently wrote

“…why sleep is more important than breakfast. Focusing on kids, but I imagine it carries through to adults as well. God knows I’d give up breakfast if it meant getting an extra hour of sleep.

Good call.

Last week, Essential Idealites Nicholas and Michael posted about Bob Geldoff and the recently released Pew Global Attitudes Survey. Lex Luthor of Going Green in Alberta (also from Calgary…) continued the Bob Geldorf theme of blogging (I hadn’t even heard of this guy until last week…)

The Godfather of Alberta blogs, Aaron from Grandinite filled out the MIT Web Survey and discovered that his blog is the number 1 google search for ‘Ivor Tossell.’ Over at Hanger 19, Bert posted an interesting quote from a recent Gwynn Dyer article and a funny billboard. I think Bert and I would get along just fine : )

Another Calgary blog… Herbinator! This blog is the proud owner of a new banner! The Herbinator also blogged about some recent campaigning he did with Green Party leader Jim Harris as a Green Party candidate for the next federal election. (Good luck, Herb!)

Ian had a funny letter on his messy desk! Idealistic Pragmatist had an insightful commentary on blogs that don’t allow comments. Ricia (also from Calgary…) at the Impetus Java House links to websites she wishes she had time to rant about… Matt (aka Jerry Aldini) commented on the most recent Licia Corbella ‘plagiarism scandal at the Calgary Sun…

Kevin Powell has written a great post putting a little perspective into the same-sex marriage debate… Eugene at Le Revue Gauche blogged about the Alberta Government’s decision to allow kids as young as 12 years-old to join the workforce… Lectio just finished (sewing or knitting) a Trellis sweater and is thinking of finishing up an Angora Tweed vest (named Tweedy!). Check out the pictures!

Firefox wouldn’t let me open Little Man in a Touque… I hope we didn’t lose you!

M.K. Braaten spent some time blogging about the recent health-care related Supreme Court ruling and the sneaky budget vote in OttawaMaple Leaf Blog has a fun pic from Toronto‘s Pride Parade and writes about Calgary and flooding… Will, who’s making some Noise from the Right is currently in Ottawa and hasn’t posted in a while! Our Thoughts contributors Kim, Mary, Mike, and Larry blogged about a new LDS blog, a new wiki debate, and an interesting post titled ‘Serving the Sacrement.’

Phendrana Drifts… ah, comrade Duncan’s blog. Duncan, who’s a raging Star-Wars-a-holic may have to buy a new computer! arg. He’s also thinking about buying the new game, Star Wars: Empire at War.

Over at Points of Information the hacks are back posting on a regular basis… the lord of hackdom, Steve Smith (who seemed to be hogging the POI blog benches last week 😛 ) blog-ponders why the Tories don’t take down the government and posts…

Political Cycles wrote a very interesting post on Christian Activism in Canada along with 10 more ways to prove that CANADA IS COOL! 🙂 I agree. Canada is cool! Props to Canada. 🙂

Tamara over at Rantastic (the host of last week’s awesome Wild Rose Round Up!) is gearing up for her M.Sc. defence in September! Let’s all send tones of good karma her way!

Red Between the Lines is written by the same author of Le Revue Gauche. In RBL, Eugene blogs about oil prices, criminal capitalism, and poor bashing. Red vs. Blue covers the politics of the same-sex marriage debate and the Evolution vs. Evilution spat in the Calgary Herald….

And now… Rempelia Prime…. One of my favorite right-o-wing blogs… Peter has been in a full fledged epic blog war with many of the Progressive Bloggers this past week… see the action here and here….

Simian Farmer has a great post about his new dog, Farley! Check out the post and the great picture! Laurie Hawn over at Strong and Free is also the Tory candidate in Edmonton Centre. In a lot of cases, being a Tory Candidate can generate enough controversy on its own, but some of Laurie’s recent comments seems to be generating a storm of their own… check it out and feel free to join in on the debate…

stupidangrycanajun explains what “Pog mo thoin” means… thanks… 🙂 The Black Kettle posted an interesting post about the number of children in the UK who are starting to be home schooled… the Murgatroyd Blog continues with some great contributions to the Live 8/foreign aid/Africa debate…. Robbie from Voices of a Distant Star blogs about the sweetest thing I have ever heard of: a freaking ROBOTIC VACUUM!!!! That is too cool…

Candace from Waking up on Planet X continues the Bob Geldoff debate. She also doesn’t think Rick Mercer is very funny anymore… (Sorry Candace, I still think he’s funny 😛 )

Allie over at Walks like Summer Rain (with the cool template) has a neat post about last week’s constellations:

“Look to the west tonight as the sun sets and you will see three planets, Mercury, Venus and Saturn, in very close conjunction with each other. It should make for an interesting looksee – and it has been reported that this will be the best conjunction we will see until 2030. Conjunctions of 2 or 3 planets happen often, grouping them together so it appears as one large star in the sky. In ancient times people thought them to be omens, and it is likely that the “star in the east that the wisemen were said to have followed was actually a three planet conjunction.”

Last, but not least… Vitor from What it Takes to Win wrote about Ottawa‘s recent decision to grant travel visas to family members of a Syrian general…

So… there we have it… WILD ROSE ROUND UP #4… it took longer than I had expected, but here are some trend observations….

– Since I agreed to do this, Alberta Blogs has grown by what seems like 5000%.
Rick Mercer is getting a lot of blog coverage in Alberta.
– Bob Geldoff is getting about the same amount.
– There’s a lot of bloggers in Calgary! (I stopped counting about half way through!)
– Alberta Blogs hosts a pretty diverse bunch of bloggers… keep it up!

UPDATE: Any thoughts? Comment like heck! Jason Cherniak got over 60 comments in ONE POST last week, I’m sure we can beat him! 😛

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kick ’em jenny

I’d just like to send a BIG HELLO out to jentario, who’s now residing on the Caribbean Island of Grenada! Hey Jen!

The island in the picture is a volcano known as ‘kick em’ jenny.’ It’s located north of Grenada.

UPDATE: Heaps and heaps of props to yingyang who pointed out to me that the picture above is not in fact ‘kick ’em jenny,’ but Diamond Rock (still near Grenada). KEJ is an underwater volcano. Very cool. Thanks yingyang!