Notes

I know, as someone would say, blogging has been ass lately, but that's because of work and travel and stuff. But a few notes:

1. I just listened to Stéphane Dion on CJOB with Richard Cloutier. Dion is a dead-ringer (voice wise) for Roch Carrier.
   
2. What's the deal with the Wheat Board? It's an anachronism from earlier times used to fortify the marketing power of individual farmers using a collective. But in the current time of half-million dollar tractors and most farmers working 8 or 10 sections of land, as well as marketing know-how gained either in University or in the real world, how relevant is it? But fine. Keep it. But how about opening it up to choice--or even better yet, how about making it at least fair--so that farmers in western Canada have the choice to sell outside of the wheat board, as do eastern farmers. Or if you make it a law that you must sell through the wheat board (wow, even typing that made me see a hammer and a sickle), then make it so that eastern farmers must sell through them, too. Actually, I was kidding about that. Don't make Canada more communist. Open it up and if the Wheat Board is so good as they say it is, then it'll be able to run all by itself. There has been plenty of heated debate over at SDA about this one.
   
3. A private clinic in Winnipeg is selling MRI time to the public health care system. Good for them. And no, you Henny Pennys out there, the sky isn't falling. The only result is that everyone is getting MRIs more expiditiously.
   
4. The Senate is, by and large, not happy with plans to make it representative. Nor are liberals and Liberals. As a Simpsons character would say, the ironing is delicious.
   
5. Give the Green Party leader time in the debates. I think there should be a mechanism to allow party leaders if either the polling numbers or the numbers in the previous election are over a certain threshold--let's say, 4%.
   
6. Give it up, people. Kyoto is nothing but a wealth-distribution scheme. Essentially, if I want to pollute more, I pay another country to buy their "credits" so that my pollution is within "targets". I'm all for pollution reduction, but let's go about it smartly, rather than just giving money to other countries so that we can pollute. Say, for example, financial incentives to industry within the country to cut emissions.
   
7. Finally, kudos to Kate over at Small Dead Animals. She won Canadian blog of the year, and rightly so. I read her blog daily, even when I'm out of the country. Keep up the good work, Kate!