What do you do when your child turns to you fresh after watching Ian Miller ride to yet another victory at Spruce Meadows and say they want a horse?

What do you do when your child turns to you fresh after watching Ian Miller ride to yet another victory at Spruce Meadows and say they want a horse?

Over the last 30 years that Spruce Meadows has been quietly growing on the south edge of the city, many have dreamed of winning a small piece of the $55.6 million of price money on top of one of the magnificent horses in the main ring.

It’s considered cute when your child says they want to ‘do horse jumping or showing, but when it is your father, who is an electrical engineer working in the corporate cement jungles of Toronto, decides he wants a horse, is may be not.

Cliff MacRae, with three young girls, a wife and good job, decided he wanted a change that included being around horses and the lifestyle they can bring.

That meant picking up and moving to a picturesque 160 areas butted up against the Rocky Mountains just northwest of Cochrane. To complete this change Cliff knew he needed to learn about horses, so went and worked as a gopher with a dude ranch. That in turn lead to him becoming, a very successful real estate agent with ReMax West Real Estate in Cochrane specializing in the land, homes, and facilities you need to raise a horse and a family. www.cliffmacrae.com

Those three young daughters are now 18, 19 & 21, up to their eyes in horsing and all things that go with horses. Their involvement includes the 4-H progressing to be current leaders, riding English and western, show, trail, gymkhana, rodeo events and now cutting and reining. ‘

Cliff’s middle daughter went on to complete the equine science course at Olds College and is now working with thoroughbred, standardbred, Peruvian and quarter horse trainers.

Horse trainers, as Janis Cook and Lisa Osachoff of Equi-Products will tell you, come in all sizes, shapes, types, and styles, but mean everything in the success of your child’s progression in the sport of horses. www.equi-products.com

To get started with a home and land in the Cochrane area Cliff suggests you are looking at spending around $500,000 for a basic 20 acre property with a starter home on it. If this includes the barn and fenced coral, it will need work to make it into a place that both child and horse can grow together in.

If you want some comfort in the home you buy or build, along with decent horse facilities that are more than the basics, you are looking at starting in the $700,000 to $800,000 area, northwest of Calgary.

When looking at getting into a sport, hobby, or past time with your children like horses, it is always best to talk with someone who has been with horses since he was 12, like Burt Strandburg. Burt can be found minding the family business for his daughter and son-in-law, at the Grand Saddlery store across from Cliff’s office in Cochrane. www.grandsaddlery.com

Burt will tell you that horses are not bullet proof, need attention and work to bring them to the point where you can even think of riding them, let alone anything else. A horse that is ‘green broke,’ may not have had a human riding on them yet, and may not let a human ride them.

Finding a horse that is green broke is only the beginning.

Buying a basic quarter horse can be as cheap as $2,500. Like that first car, the purchase price you will find, is only the beginning. There are monthly boarding costs of the horse if you do not plan to move to an acreage that can start at $300.

There are vet costs that can cost as little as $200 to $300 per year, but not stop there. Remember the horse is a living being, with all of the associated systems, with no way to tell you what is wrong, in a 1,500 to 2,000 pound package that is difficult to load into the car to be taken to the local medical walk-in clinic.

The horse has feet with hoofs that are growing and need to be trimmed and maintained every 3 or 4 months at a cost of $60 to $75, with shoes running around $200 plus. All being done by a qualified Ferrier.

You will have to become bi-lingual and learn a new philosophy. Words like withers, mane and forelock, dock, fetlock, cannon, coronet, gaskin, flank, and stifle, are part of the new vernacular.

Just so you know, the Coronet refers to the part of the hoof that connects the hoof to the pastern, which in turn is the connection between the coronet and the fetlock.

According to Janis Cook and Lisa Osachoff of Equi-Products, a key piece to this puzzle can be the saddle. Not only the type, but also how it fits, the rider and horse.

A poorly fitted saddle, which finding the cure is a specialty of Janis’, can lead to a rider who is green, getting frustrated, and hinder in them becoming a good rider, and enjoying and moving ahead in the sport.

This is exactly like buying your child the right runner or ice skate for the right purpose.

A basic saddle for barrel riders will cost you $795, $1,695 for a Penning Saddle, and for the cowboy or girl in the family who want to do some real work with the horse you can look at spending $3,995 for a Cutting Saddle by Cowboy Tack.

At Equi-Products they specialize in the English saddle, and a good saddle can be in the range of $2,300.

Jenny Simpson of Carrots and Cocktails is an example of someone who had her fate with horses pre-determined for life, with a maiden name of Horsey.

Jenny’s life with horses has led to travels of the world with her dressage horses, earning many awards, accolades, and life long friendships, basically following in the footsteps of mom, who is also an accomplished dressage horsewoman.

This part of Jenny’s life, which started when she was 9, is still with her in the career she has enjoyed with CIBC Wood Gundy.

How or where else could a country girl travel to places as far a field as Maui and New Zealand, but with her horse?

Now with two young children she has decided to go back to horses and help young horse people to develop their skills and abilities to move to the levels she has been at, and above all benefit as she has.

Like so many things that come about from such auspicious beginnings, members of the Carrots and Cocktails committee are giving back to the young people on the way up, what they themselves have learned and enjoyed.

Jenny’s idea is to develop what is called ‘school stables,’ or ‘schooling shows,’ which are similar in purpose to the various community and organized junior hockey programs through out Canada are to the NHL and professional hockey.

There is no real organized system to help young horse people to start in and progress along so they can one day appear in the main show ring of Spruce Meadows, or maybe ride for Canada’s Olympic Equine team.

When you get past the business end of horses, you will find Jenny to be a huge supporter of what a child can learn from being around horses, having one, and becoming involved with the horse. Jenny fully believes that the fact the rider has got to become one with the horse, by learning to work as a team with something else that cannot talk to you to explain what is wrong, is a life-long lesson that no money can buy.

As well, she has yet to see a horse hitch at a 7/11.

If you want to check things out for yourself, or show your child some internet resources about horses, what is needed and expected a good site is http://www.albertaequine.com/careb001.asp in an article titled Needs of the Acreage Horse.

Ms Simpson is a firm believer in the idea of joining up with a School Stable where your child can rent a horse, and get involved in the riding, caring, and learning about and of a horse slowly and at their own speed. Her web site is www.carrotsandcocktails.com.

Having a horse in your back 40 to be cared for is not like buying a pair of figure skates, that are tossed in the corner because the interest is no longer there, or as Jenny says, ‘boys and girls are discovered to be more interesting than a horse.’

Rick Dalton the Managing Director of the Calgary Polo Club, is another part of the equine sports that a child can start in and work up to becoming either a hobbyist in the sport or a professional that can play polo around the continent or the world. www.calgarypoloclub.com

In fact his son, Steve Dalton is now a professional polo player who lives and plays in Florida and California and comes to Canada during the summer months.

The highest rated Canadian polo player comes from the Calgary Polo Club, in the person of Fred Mannix Jr at a Handicap of 7 Goals (10 Goals being the best in the world).

Rick will tell you that polo is a sport like hockey, tennis and baseball, and needs good eye hand coordination, physical stamina, and where size is not the dominating factor.

This also means like dressage and horse jumping, girls as well as boys can learn and compete together in polo too.

The typical path in polo is to start in the arena where the ground is a little softer, and you get to know how to ride and handle a horse.

They then move you to the, ‘stick and ball,’ field to advance to the next level. This is a chance to play a game or practice with the professionals, in a gentle non-competitive way, similar to a pick-up game of softball or hockey, on top of 1,100 pounds of polo pony.

Calgary Polo Club has a school, where anyone can come to learn, and get started, without buying a horse. The horses used in polo are thoroughbreds and can run from $5,000 to $50,000. These are not the race track rejects, but horses that are fast, agile, and bred and trained for polo.

At the Calgary Polo Club they also have things such as the teaching league where a beginner can go to play with the pros in a game that is designed specifically for the new polo player to learn, and grow from.
If you are thinking that to embrace the sport of polo requires to move to the country, then there happens to be the perfect solution in a home and property right on the way to the Calgary Polo Club, listed by Debbie Laliberte of Sather R.E. Pro Brokers Ltd. in Okotoks, with 2700 square feet on the main floor, and 2200 square feet on the lower level with a walkout, built by Ashley Custom Homes all on 6.8 acres with no barn or corral. The price is $691,000.
Raw land to build your dream home in the Okotoks area is possible.
Dale Glover of ReMax Classic in Okotoks has 47 acres on Highway 549 just west of the town that is perfect and waiting for a home, barn, horses and family. The price for the land is $10,000 per acre.
A little farther to the west and south, closer to Spruce Meadows there are homes of a variety of sizes, ages, and prices that can be bought.
In Woodvalley Estates a bungalow nestled with a stunning walkout nestled in the trees, that has been designed o capture the amazing valley views with the use of an open vaulted plan to capture the amazing valley views. The home sits on 4.62 acres, which is enough for a horse, although there may be restrictions in the development that may not allow them. There are farms and horse boarding facilities near by. The price on this fine home is $744,900.
Further down the road Nadine Faule of Sutton Canwest Vista has a stunning home listed for sale in the Country Horizon development, sitting on 4.2 acres with only 9 other homes, built in the European Country Manor style as opposed to a more rustic feeling acreage. About the only thing this home doesn’t have are the horses. It does have a separate 4 bay shop the current owner uses that can be turned into a horse barn and stable in no time. This home has 4400 square feet on the main floor with a completely developed basement to add another 2700 square feet. The price tag is $1,450,000. www.nadinefaule.com

Across the road from this new home is a vacant lot of 4.2 acres for sale at $373,000. Down the road Summerbrae Homes is building a brand new 6,000 square foot home at a cost of around $1,300,000 with the lot costing about $380,000. The house includes things such as radiant heated flooring control panels, 2- three car garages, granite kitchen cabinet tops, and a trip of about ¾’s of an hour to downtown Calgary. www.summerbraehomes.com.

Like hockey, tennis, golf, skiing, sailing, or flying, horses can bring a whole new lifestyle, social calendar, and experiences for both the child and family who want to just dabble in horses as a hobby, or go into full tilt.

Book Reviews For Calgary Living/July 12, 2005

Book Reviews For Calgary Living/July 12, 2005

Books discussed in this review:

Romancing the Rockies
Mountaineers, Missionaries, Marilyn and more,

By Brian Brennan
Fifth House, 212 pages
What's So Funny About Alberta?
Mike Kerr

Fifth House, 224 pages, $19.95
The Collapse of Globalism:
And The Reinvention of the World

By John Ralston Saul
Viking Canada – 309 pages - $36.00


“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.”

Truer words were never spoken, and Sir Francis Bacon who lived between 1561 and 1626, as an author and philosopher, first spoke these words.

The kind editor of Calgary Living as agreed to make this the beginning of the new Book Review section. It will be different than the book review in the New York Times, your Saturday Globe and Mail, or even the growing section in the Calgary Herald.

We will specialize and focus on local home grown talent, whether that is the writer or publisher, or subject matter. At the very least it will be Canadian talent.

There will be the odd diversion off the road to look at books published elsewhere in Canada, when their ideas, issues, subjects or words have a connection to the people reading this magazine in Southern Alberta.


The always innovative and local Calgary publishing house, Fifth House under Charlene Dobmeier’s tutelage, gives us our supply of books for this month’s column. The first is a new book from Mike Kerr, which may prove to be one of the most unique travel books about Alberta, is What's So Funny About Alberta?

It is a project that started out as a part-time project for Kerr.

From the giant perogy in Glendon, to the Torrington Gopher Museum, Lacombe Corn Maze, a Star Trek convention at which Klingons down glasses of potent Warnog and then along with details on how you could arrange a foodstuffs tour of Alberta ending with the enormous sausage including Pinto McBean, Sam and Sandy Potato, among others.

Kerr through out the book is telling us size may be everything to Albertans. In much of the book Kerr does an interesting job in trying to show the world and Albertans that Alberta is not all about large foodstuffs made of fibreglass or the Calgary Stampede, or Banff.

The book shows us that we have Canmore, Badlands, Writing-on-Stone and our provincial parks but we also have the Giant Sausage in Mundare, or a giant toque in Morinville, or the Giant Mallard duck in Andrew, and the Big Rocks in Okotoks.

My personal favourite is the Gopher Museum in Torrington built to worship the some 600 million gophers, or to give you the perfect jumping off point to head to the UFO Landing pad in St. Paul.

One of Calgary’s, in deed Canada’s, writing gems, is Brian Brennan. Brennan moved here in the 60’s from his native Ireland as an actor, radio news reporter, musician and union activist. From his time at the Calgary Herald, Brian went on to telling the stories of the lives of local people that were famous or infamous, but missed the glare of the camera or the attention of the reporters’ pen.

In Brian Brennan’s new book from Fifth House, Romancing The Rockies, with a subtitle of, ‘ Mountaineers, Missionaries, Marilyn and more,’ we get the stories of the lived lives of those who faced the Rockies to settle in what we now call Alberta.

It is a journey that is uniquely Albertan, giving us insight into what happens when the early Alberta settlers meet the mountains.

While we survive the 2005 floods, Romancing The Rockies shows us that we are not the first to discover the affects the mountains have on everything we do and what it is like to live at the behest of the weather they create.

Brian gives life to dead people who have much still to tell us, picking up where Grant MacEwan left off.

Romancing The Rockies begins with an overview of the past 100 centuries of Alberta with the stories starting as earl as the all but forgotten Peter Fidler and ends with stories about Jon Whyte, as well as people like Don Forest.

Peter Fidler was a young Hudson Bay chronicler who was sent out to set pen to paper as he followed the men who searched for the Northwest Passage in 1790.

It would be sad to see Romancing The Rockies not find its way into the libraries of the provinces schools and towns. It is crammed full of local history that not only made Alberta, but Canada as well, as seen from the eyes of average people trying to tame the Rocky’s in order to make a new life for themselves.

Essayist and novelist, John Ralston Saul’s, newest book is, The Collapse of Civilization published by Viking Canada, and has managed to maintain the top spot on the bestsellers list at Kensington Pages, an independent bookseller in Calgary.

The book could be portrayed as just another epistle from a verbose philosophy professor, or it could be looked at as a direct look at some of the misgivings many are having about the globalization and Canada’s path and position in it.

Saul makes the point that, the exponential increase in trade are often misleading,’ as this trade is simply moving goods from one branch office to another with in the same company. At a speaking engagement hosted by the people at Calgary’s WordFest held at Knox United Church in June, Saul spoke of a new era, that can be called the, ‘the unknown era,’ that would be a time when this world enters ‘internationalism.’ This is based on watching the actions of countries such as Brazil and India who are embarking on their own paths, which are going to challenge the current body of thought on global economics.

Seeing that Calgary trades with the world, Saul’s The Collapse of Civilization should be a good read for us that like to watch the world as it evolves, and knows there is a world outside of Calgary.

Minute changes won't rock health boat

Here, here.

Its time Albertan's take back their health care system, and tell the politicians what we want. Followed up by a demand at the voting booth for the changes we want. Not what they want.

We have through their round tables, MLA's tours, summits and polls.

It is time we organize our own round tables, with the help of the media, to get our wants and needs out.

Unfettered, unmolded, unspun and unscripted.

It is time those of us with no vested interest in maintaining the status quo be heard.

To a T, those that are complaining about these tiny changes, are those that are profiting from the status quo.

Most of them, are doctors or healthcare providers, who profit by billing the health care system for your visit, as a private business.

Potter books pulled after sales breach

Enough of the Potter stuff. Who cares, if the book comes out early or not?

What should be more important how the media seem want to put a page and a half on yet another pandering to the lowest common denominator, yet no reasoned debate on the important issues of the day.

Why not devote the same energy to real health care reforms, instead of going to the same old tired advocate spin for those that want the status quo to be our only way?

Why not devote the energy on where Calgarians want to see the downtown go in the next 20 years?

Why not raise your standards beyond pandering to the money making industry called Harry Potter?

Why not show how the parents who insist on following the latest and greatest minute lasting trend to appease their whining kids?

I know. A whole section on the next Grey Cup winners, the B.C. Lions.

Green Party Blues

In the July/August Walrus' (www.walrusmagazine.com) Green Party Blues, Murray Dobbins does a masterful job of showing Canada just why the environmental report card from the North American Commission for North America was so poor, and how outdated his knowledge of the political playing field in either Canada, or even the world.

The use of terms, like right wing, and left wing, are the tell tale signs of the latter. There is no left or right wing in politics anymore, there is a whole group of people on the outside of the political game looking in, and waiting for a change. They do not sit on the left or right wings, but on the outside somewhere waiting for a party and leader that understands their want for change, and a need for someone who looks past the next election cycle for the sake of the world's future.

Those on the outside represent about 75% of those under 35, and about 50% of the average Canadian eligible voter.

The story also goes a long way to explain why the various environmental groups have failed so badly in getting solid intelligent change made to the way the Canadian government looks at protecting the environment.

If there are 2,000 environmental groups in Canada, who do not want to get political, or consider themselves lobbyists, then the problem is defined in that paragraph. It certainly gets no solutions provided by Elizabeth May, and all others think that by working in small unorganized groups will affect change.

What is needed, is to get into the power centre, and make the changes that are needed. To do that you need to get elected. To do that you need some money. To do that you need to think.

Jim Harris did that. Yes, Jim employed some tried and true political campaigning tools and ways.

They worked, and now the Green Party of Canada is creeping onto the political, public and finally media agendas at the same time.

Some people don't like that. Some people are scared of that. Some people are scared that they may be asked to put up or shut up.

The membership is where the policy and sweat for the success of the party has come.

The Green Party of Canada is different than most others in the world, because Canada is unique.

The Green Party of Canada is just different enough to pull those from the outside into the centre of the political stage and actually make a difference.

Maybe Dobbins should have spent more time looking at those on the outside looking in, instead of displaying a lack of real knowledge of just what the political playing field looks like, and the new players waiting to suit for the game.

Letter To The Editor - Poll Question on Marketing Magazine site

There should have been another response for the current poll on the Marketing Magazine site.

The question was in part, 'My company is spending more effort connecting the customer experience to the brand promise.' You are asked to agree with that. Right after that you are also asked, 'do I look fat in this honey?'

A response like, 'huh,' should have been allowed for.

With words like this, no wonder the company is having problems. It probably spent way too much for the consultant that cut and pasted the words out of a text book somewhere.

What exactly does having a ' customer experience to the brand promise mean?'

Can we discuss that at the family supper table?

I bet the author of the question has absolutely no idea what it means either.

Could it mean the customers you buffaloed with false promises masked with big nefarious words, finally found out that the customer experience to the brand promise was nothing but hot air and have gone elsewhere for what they really wanted?

CALL FOR PAPERS: Jewish Women in the Economy

In Jewish history as throughout human history, women have always played central roles in the economy. How has Jewish society, in different parts of the Jewish world, in the past as well as the present, constructed those roles? To what extent have these constructions enabled Jewish women to gain access to money and property, prestige and power? Issue no. 13 of Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies and Gender Issues (Spring 2007), under the consulting editorship of Sylvie Fogiel-Bijaoui, of Beit Berl Academic College and the Academic College of Management, will be devoted to these central questions. Submissions in all disciplines, in the social sciences, the humanities, the arts, and media studies are encouraged.

Topics on which submissions are invited include (but are not limited to):
· Women and globalization
· Gender and economic activity in the Jewish world, past and present
· Women's paid and unpaid work
· Old and new forms of slavery (prostitution, trafficking in women, economic migrants)
· Women as financiers, philanthropists, and heiresses · economic relations within marriage and the family
· Women as caregivers and as volunteers
· Craftswomen and artists
· Small business women, big business women, and entrepreneurship
· Women and the trade union movement
· Women in the economy of utopian communities
· Women's work and religion
· Profession and education
· Women's work and the welfare regimes
· Jewish migrant women in the economy
· The legal status of women's work
· Women entering "masculine professions"; men entering "feminine professions"
. Proposals for submissions of up to 15,000 words, not previously published or under consideration for publication elsewhere, should be sent to:

Managing Editor of Nashim by February 1, 2006, by e-mail (preferably) to nashim@schechter.ac.il; by mail to Nashim, The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, POB 16080, Jerusalem 91160; or by fax to +972-3-7256592.

Final date for submission of articles: May 1, 2006.

All scholarly articles will be subject to academic review. Academic Editor of Nashim: Renée Levine Melammed. Nashim is published jointly by the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, and Indiana University Press. _________

Saturday's Globe Coverage of London Bomb

Edward:

Again the Globe and Mail do a class job on a subject that was abhorrent to the world.

Your Saturday Globe rose to the occasion.

Too bad more Canadian reporters could not have been on the scene.

What about a special Focus section on the real state of our national security preparations?

I would bet you a Stampede beer that setting up 10 of your reporters to show how poorly our country is prepared for being number 5, or a list of 5 as likely targets would wake the eyes up of the public and the politicians who think all is well.

You up for it?

A suggestion

Julie:

I am now getting three or four newsletters from Canada West Foundation. You are quickly approaching the edge of the cliff by sending out so many newsletters, e-mails, and such. There is a saturation point that people reach with e-mailed newsletters and such, that puts them in the category of spam.

If you get too prolific, people tend to ignore you, turn you off, and or block the e-mail from you.

As someone in the e-mail/new media marketing area, I know there are many people who think more is better. Better messages, sent on a regular basis, as a newspaper, does, is more. With proper e-mail newsletter programs, you can also track the information that is being read, clicked on, or being forwarded to others.

I would think the reason for the onslaught of newsletters from Canada West is that you are not able to track the activity of the newsletters and have no way of measuring what is happening with them. Hence you send more, and more often.

Combine that with Permission Marketing, you could do far better, with fewer newsletters filling fewer mailboxes.

RE: BELOW (30) July 10, 2005

My statement, 'The western world is the source of the fuel that fosters the terrorism,' has nothing to do with the foreign aid we send abroad.

We fuel the terrorism by exporting our ways of doing things to the countries where the terrorism is festering.

When heroin is bought on the streets if New York, Toronto, Vancouver, and Amsterdam, we are fuelling the terrorism and terrorists in the Middle East. Most if not all of the infrastructure for getting the opium to the streets of our Western World, and into the arms of our junkies was build by American money being funnelled in to Afghanistan through the CIA.

The wars in Kosovo, or the old Yugoslavia was funded by the sale of of opium, by the CIA.

When we insist on continuing our exorbitant use of petroleum products from the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, and Indonesia we are sending our money right the radical Muslims, via the Saudi's. With the help of the American government.

When we buy diamonds from Africa, we fund the war lords.

We fund terrorism by thinking the people in the Middle East want our brand of democracy. They don't. They want to raise and feed their families, send them to school, go to church, synagogue, or temple, and enjoy some free time free from murder and mayhem. They may not want to elect anyone to lead them, but know that when they go to bed tonight, they will wake up tomorrow with their family all around them.

Al Gullon seems to have bought into the US government propaganda being spoon fed to the American's through the agency of lies, the Fox news network. The American's are in Iraq for the oil. The Americans are as guilty of genocide as Hitler ever was, and will continue to be as they have only one purpose for going anywhere in the world with their armies or democracy. It is purely for the interests of the USA. No other reason.

The USA's economy is not booming. It is created on a bubble. If China, India, or Europeans decide, they can bring down the American empire in one fell swoop. The American's do not have the assets to back up their debt.

The USA is running on empty, both economically and morally. All that is left, is for the rest of the world to realize that a country of 300,000,000 is less than 5% of the total world's population.

Canada is fast following the Americans down the same rabbit hole. We must start to look at the other 95% of the world's population to trade with, to work with, and to live with.

RE: "They will not change our way of life"

With all due respect, I disagree to some extent with Joe.

If used properly biometrics can work wonders for both national security and in our health care system. More on the latter, later.

I have seen my father's identity card from his four years in the RCAF being stationed in Great Britain.

I have seen the identity card that several of my British relatives that lived in London during the war.

I have also seen the numbers tattooed on an elderly Jewish friend, and the card held by the grand father of a Chinese childhood friend, and the Japanese family that were moved out of Richmond even though they were business partners with my Great Grand Father.

Somewhere in between is what is needed now. Unfortunately, but yes we do.

Unfortunately today, we as a tax paying citizen do not want to pay what it will cost to make this country secure, nor do we want to be good civic citizens.

Am I giving into the slippery slope? Maybe.

We need a way for people to be identified as Canadians when they travel, visit a hospital, or make an application with their government.

We need a method to tell who is entering the country, and whether they are someone here to build a new life for themselves and add to Canada as my grandparents did, or to tear down the country.

Let me give you and example of how biometrics would work.

At the airport you provide the entry gate personal a fingerprint, and it matches the one on your passport. All know who you are, and that you are a Canadian citizen, or landed immigrant. The fingerprint is checked against a databank to see if you are running from standing up in court and facing charges, or just running to Cuba to escape the in-laws.

The fingerprint can then be expunged from the system, never to kept or used again. The next time you visit the departure gate, you have to give them a new fingerprint sample. Much like as happens if you are arrested, charged and found innocent now by a law enforcement officer.

Carry this one step forward. Your father shows up at the emergency ward disoriented, or even with severe Alzheimer's.s He is suffering from what looks like a heart attack, but in fact it is just indigestion and a quick scan of the embedded chip in his medical bracelet would give the ER Doctor or Triage nurse a picture of his most recent EEG, medication, and the number of his doctor. The team can then compare it to the results of the test they just took, and decide the best route to take. This took one or two hours, instead of the 10 hours it will take today to find the specialist on the golf course or at the Stampede, and have them call their nurse or staff to fax over the results of the latest tests.

Yes, this kind of system is open to abuse, theft, or such things. So is my drivers license and birth certificate.

So were the identity cards of the Jews in Germany and Poland, the Chinese and Japanese on the west coast, but in England it may have help identify people to know whether they should be on the waterfront or on the fences that surrounded the RCAF base while they prepared the planes for D-Day or built the plywood decoys.

I agree with Joe in that we must be very careful and vigilant with the biometrics, especially with the band of idiots we have running the government now, but we must keep an open mind to finding a secure method of making sure those that should be in Canada are, and those that should not be aren't.

This deserves a national and open debate at the grass roots, and an examination to find a Canadian solution, that is made in Canada, with Canadian technology, and the data is stored and secured in Canada, by Canadians.

My biggest beef, are people who are too chicken to become true Canadians, and give up their dual citizenship and travel as a Canadian on a Canadian passport. To me, you are either a Canadian or you are not.

Sitting on the fence leads to neutering.

Blasts hit London's transport network

RE: Blasts hit London's transport network

I hate to be an opportunist in the face of tragedy, but now is a prime time for Canada to take centre stage in the fight against the root causes of terrorism and stop the terrorists from feeling as if the only route they can take to affect change is to blow up trains, busses, or buildings.

The route of much of the terrorism comes from people living and dying in poverty and destitution It comes from the families having no security, and no ability to set down honest roots in the soil, for both their families and their food.

This is the real root of much of the terrorism in the world.

It is where you can nurture the victims to use as tools of terror around the world.

Funny thing? The western world is the source of the fuel that fosters the terrorism.

George W's, fight against terrorism is not working.

The war in Afghanistan was for naught. That country has returned to is drug lords days, as it was before the Taliban took hold, with the aid of the American's both times.

The war in Iraq has done nothing to stop terrorism, nor to find the heart of the terrorism. In fact it has stoked terrorism to a level we have never seen before. It is directed at us in the West, because we are the ones driving them to destitution so we can have our play toys and comfortable life styles.

The heart of the terrorism exists because it can exploit people who have had the hope of a better life taken from them. It is easy to exploit that, now as it has been since men started to wage war against each other.

With Canada's extensive network of CBC Overseas, and CBC on the Shortwave, as well as connections to all public radio and television stations, we can be a true agent of change and help to bring a positive message, affect the growth of real democracy around the world as it is wanted or needed, and not in a cookie cutter fashion that our friends to the south seem want to bring.

Canada can use our intelligence, abilities, knowledge and experience in the fight against terrorism, by going to its root causes, and move back into the centre stage in the world as Lester B. Pearson was able to put us in his short reign, with a minority government at times.

Canada has a friend in Kazakhstan that we can foster to help in this fight against terror.

The potential for Canada and Canadians is vast, with an upside that knows no limits. Canadians are craving someone with a vision of the world that includes more than the USA, and its false wars on the hot button issues of the day.

The potential for Canada to return to the place it once enjoyed on the world stage as being a sober second voice to the world's super powers, and hold them accountable for their actions, is for the taking.

It is going to be tough slogging.

So was building a railroad.

So was everything we have achieved that has been worthwhile in this world.

Why are we chicken to do this now?

Results Canada

I met someone last night that told me about Results Canada.

In reading your web site, and talking to this lady, I do not see, nor did I hear any sort of information on how best to influence your elected officials to do better at the ballot box, or through more than just writing a letter. Writing a letter is easy, getting involved so real change can be made is where the rubber meets the road.

Why no mention of that?

Yes, getting political is the real way you will affect change. Citizen empowerment and leadership begins with letter writing, it has affect when you show up in the political process with a pencil and ballot, to either elect the people we need in our government or run yourself.

It is nice to think that letter writing, sign virtual petitions, and going to Live 8 concerts will work, but you need to convert those 30,000,000 people who did visit the Live 8 website into ballots at the voting booth. That is what the politicians understand.

Why not develop a How To page on getting people back into the democratic process to send people to Ottawa and provincial legislators that will put Canada back in the position it grew to in Pearson's era?

Writing a letter, sending a virtual card, or faxing a letter is the easy part.

Thought this might be a brief outline of how I see Schumacher's theories

Thought this might be a brief outline of how I see Schumacher's theories:

Generally smaller scale operations are less destructive than larger ones.

"The Buddhist point of view takes the function of work to be at least threefold: to give a man a chance to utilize and develop his faculties; to enable him to overcome his ego-centeredness by joining with other people in a common task; and to bring forth the goods and services needed for a becoming existence. "
Technology is highly dependent upon the societal context in which it is used. Improving the productivity of a rural African farmers is not simply a matter of sending him the latest mechanical tractor - the farmer won't have the necessary fuel to run the vehicle, the knowledge to operate it and access to the parts required to maintain the machine. Furthermore, the introduction of the machine might disturb a culture woven around manual agricultural labour. Appropriate technology (also known as intermediate technology) addresses the need for context-dependent technologies in developing areas of the world.
Most of the world's population is not in need of the advanced technology that seems to be the focus of engineering research and design. While there is some trickle-down effect from the western world's technology, this trickle-down effect often serves to disrupt traditional cultures and create and unequal distribution of power and wealth. In contrast to the high-tech focus of North American engineering, there is a real need in many areas of the world to design technologies that provide people with safe shelter, clean water and sufficient food within their own cultural context. This is the basic idea behind appropriate technology.

I am guessing that about 75% of the world's population is not in need of a new pager or Lotus notes, but there is a need for clean drinking water, more efficient education systems and improved shelter. Our current economic system does not recognize these needs because the poor do not have the basic infrastructure required to participate and exchange with the western markets. If we measure developing countries needs from a capitalist perspective (how much money can we earn by developing technologies for developing countries) there doesn't appear to be much of a need.

Spreading the gospel of political evangelism

Frankly I could care less if religious people, members of a particular religion, or atheists become involved in politics, political parties or the very least vote. In fact it is their civic duty to do so.

Politics is not new to Christianity. The reason for Christianity today, is the execution of Jesus Christ was purely political.

Whether the current packaging, branding, business and marketing of Christianity is what Christ was prodding us to do is another question.

It would be a concern if the various religious sects and cults expect by getting into active politics they can exclude or prevent others that are either non-believers or disagree with them from participating and exercising their rights as they are set out in our Bill Rights, the very same ones that give Rev. Tristan Emmanuel's right to do what he is doing.

(Word Fest + Calgary + Edmonton + Michael Ignatieff) - Talk of Toronto Liberals' Anointment of Philosopher King= Good Exposure

Re: (Word Fest + Calgary + Edmonton + Michael Ignatieff) - Talk of Toronto Liberals' Anointment of Philosopher King = Good Exposure

The dates of the Word Fest here in Calgary this year are, October 12 - 16. They are prepared to work with us, to see if there is some sort of connection we can build with them, for Michael Ignatief's tour to Calgary, Edmonton, and maybe Red Deer.Either as an event as part of their plans, as a complementary event, or an event to help promote their event prior to it starting.

What you have got to do is subdue the talk or spin of Michael Ignatief being the darling boy of the Toronto Liberal Chattering Class.

If Michael Ignatief has the chops, have him run in a Calgary riding. Calgary South Centre or Calgary North Centre are ripe for the pickin's. If done right, and not with Daryl Friedlander, or ' Freedloader,' in the way.

Having him run as a Liberal anywhere outside of downtown Toronto, is like asking the guy who was setting the tables for the last sitting in the dining room of the Titanic to go arrange the chairs on the poop deck.

If you and Michael are serious about him being a national Liberal Leader, which means the bits of the country between downtown Toronto and Downtown Vancouver, give me a call.

I am sure we can make this a hit, and I could see fit to doing it for a reduced fee.

If John Ralston Saul can sell 1,000 books and 800 tickets at the downtown Knox United Church here in Calgary I am sure Michael can do the same.

Ignatieff would shake up politics

Oh great.

Just what Canada needs to hear, 'Ignatieff would shake up politics , ' Having Michael Ignatieff, the writer and intellectual setting his sites on 24 Sussex Dr. , is just what Canada does not need. Canada needs a person like Michael Ignatieff, to set his sites on finding out what Canadians want in their next leader. That means Canadians outside of the rich chattering class of Toronto.

It will give the Globe and Mail a problem in trying to decide if they will be able to fawn over two stars in the Liberal Party at the same time .

Or will they drop their current darling for producing mindless copy, Belinda Stronach ?

As it goes Michael Ignatieff will do well , as it is easy to become the captain of a sinking ship when no one else wants it.

He can spin it all he wants, but his eyes are still fixed on a sinking ship. The Liberal Party of Canada.

By meeting with an informal group of influential Liberals in Toronto, he already has sent a message to Western Canada, but he does not realize or maybe even care that the Liberal Party of Canada is all but dead west of Manitoba and all we are waiting for is the death announcement in the newspaper.

His greatest coup would be to connect with the 50% of the voters in Canada that do not and did not show up to vote. That rises to 80% of people under 35. Many of who do not watch, read, and listen to the mass media.

His next greatest coup would be to realize to do this is not by some ivory tower job at the University of Toronto nor by addressing influential Canadian audiences.

He would be better served if he got out among the great unwashed and talk to them on their level. I doubt if he understands much about the concerns, needs, wants, and desires of the vast Canadian voting public who could careless about his attempts to produce a four-part TV documentary series and companion book with the CBC. Nor watch or read it.

It does show that the Liberals urging him to enter political life and the senior Liberal with extensive election campaign experience, advising him still have their heads buried in the past and away from the mainstream Canada.

If Ignatieff truly believes he has the moxy for the job, he should choose the lesser of two evils and run in a Calgary riding for his seat in parliament.

I doubt it if he has the spine for real politics outside of the ivory tower though.

AMEN!

I am noticing a greater outcry from the far right wing about how bad it is in Canada. It seems to come from their pundits, politicos, and those that think they know what is best for Canada.

Between whining and carping about high taxes, left wing ideas like same sex marriage, gun control, health care gone to hell, and our armed forces having been left to die on the vine, it has always amazed me as to how these people still live in Canada, or come back here from their new countries of choice, for our health care.

Especially the snow birds.

Out here in Alberta, these are also many of the same people with their hands out at the farm gate looking for government hand outs when they supposedly can't make a living on the farm.

If Canada is so bad, tell me where it is better? Yes it is not perfect in Canada, and there are things I would like changed.

Carping about it is not how you change it.

Roll up your sleeves and get to work to change it. There are far more people who don't or haven't voted, than voted, that are ripe for the plucking if you have the vision for Canada that they want.

My father has always maintained that when he went to war, he did not go to protect my freedom to whine, he went so I had the right to get off my ass and work for a change to something I did not like.

Let's stop the whining. Lets get to work.

Right now the argument given by the American lumber industry for the softwood lumber tariffs added at the border

Right now the argument given by the American lumber industry for the softwood lumber tariffs added at the border is that our stumpage fees and program is government help or are subsidies by another name.

The funny thing is, we are shipping more raw logs off the west coast to lumber mills in the USA than we ever have before.

I don't think we even charge the GST because they are an export. The stumpage fee is charged and levied on the 'stump,' not the 2 x 4's.

That means we ship the raw log and don't keep the logs in Canada for value added processing. Why do we do that? That great NAFTA or FTA deal we negotiated left out forestry, and made us commit to supply the American's with their energy with out fear of us selling more to another company and taking that away from the Americans.

We got screwed, and with our lack of tough negotiators in Ottawa, we continue to get screwed.

The real issue is that the lumber industry in Canada is more productive and efficient than the Americans. The American's are also running out of, or out of the much need log supplies. When the problem of the cedar shakes came up on the west coast there was a levy placed against the importation of Canadian cedar shakes for the California market.

The mills in Canada just became more productive, and increased their exportation of the shakes, despite the levy. Why?

The Canadian shakes are superior to what the California housing industry could find anywhere else. Canada has got to get out of this mind set that anything we do is second class or second rate, and anything the Americans do, say, or make must be the best in the world.

We are as competitive, innovative, and effective a producer of anything in the world, as any one else.

We just need to grow our pride in what we do.

I believe there is a need for a North American Security and Economic Zone

Joe: I believe there is a need for a North American Security and Economic Zone, with Canada's best interests kept at the fore front in the negotiations, which did not happen with FTA or NAFTA.

We need to keep in mind that 80% of our trade is with the USA. That means we supply them with much of their automotive needs, 25% of the energy needs, lumber, coal, and many other things. All of the trade comes from a secure and friendly nation. Canada.

We need to make sure that Canada is getting the respect we deserve, and if need be demand it. We are the best friend the USA can have or has.

We do need to secure our nation from outside threats,which in return will secure the American's from threats on their northern border. We need to make sure the security is done as Canadians, not to react to some idea that we own anything to the USA.

Frankly the northern border on the USA is more secure in everyway than their southern borders.

Either from Cuba or Mexico.

In fact the USA ports are like sieves, and they need to take care of their own problems while we work on ours. Securing a port or coast is not an easy matter. It is much like herding cats.

If anyone thinks the American ports are anymore secure than ours, they are talking to you with their heads in the sand. It is virtually impossible now to make shipping totally secure. With the advent of the large container ships, large oil tankers, and the problems around the Singapore shipping lanes, there is nothing we can do if someone wants to rain terror in one of ports.

It is virtually impossible to stop the ship at sea to board and inspect, and deal with what ever maybe on the ship.

As I asked one of the Alliance M.P.'s who was spewing idiocy during the time we had people being smuggled into a our ports aboard rust buckets, 'which Canadian or American naval commander is going to sink a boat at sea, under suspicion it has an illegal human cargo on it?'

That is what you must do if you want to stop a ship from entering a harbour, beaching itself on a coast, or continuing on. Our security should include a navy that is suited to coastal patrols, interdictions, search and rescue and keeping the world's shipping lanes open and safe. Everything else is secondary. This also means all three coasts, and the Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes.

Don't forget that Canada sees most of the world's trade pass by it or in its coastal waters. This enforcement and protection also includes enforcing environmental laws.

Our Air Force would have the same goal and purpose with an increased effectiveness in the north and on the coast. We need an army that can react in fast and effective ways to civic and civil needs in Canada. There needs to be an added purpose of helping around the world to bring peace, and establish true democracy with all that brings, in areas of the world that want their own kind of democracy and not a cookie cutter style that our friends to the south think about.

Considering my father and 1,000's of his buddies went to England at the beginning of the 2nd World War on a private ship, and returned after doing his duty, no worse for the wear, why do we think we need a armada of ships to fit all sorts of needs we do not know what they will be? Chartering ships or planes to get our people and equipment to where they need to be in a timely fashion is nothing new and should not be overlooked. Canadians should ask the Federal government to withdraw us from both the FTA and NAFTA.

We should then ask our government to negotiate a sector by sector trade agreement in keeping with GATT and WTO. We should build in to the agreements enforceable penalties that we will inflict and enforce.

Even if that means turning off the tap on the flow of natural gas and oil, or raw logs.