[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Barrister]

Here's what I don't understand.

When I was with the Feds, I had bilingual cards (I just double checked).  English on one side, French on the other.  But the thing is - I'm a unilingual anglophone, who was hired into a position for unilingual anglophones.  What exactly would be the point of me having a bilingual card when I couldn't actually answer anyone in French?

[crazy canuck]

Here's what I don't understand.

When I was with the Feds, I had bilingual cards (I just double checked).  English on one side, French on the other.  But the thing is - I'm a unilingual anglophone, who was hired into a position for unilingual anglophones.  What exactly would be the point of me having a bilingual card when I couldn't actually answer anyone in French?

Its the law.  Makes no sense but there it is.

Why Viper doesnt rant against this kind of waste of tax money is an interesting issue.

[viper37]

The story:
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/3923317-language-czar-asks-john-baird-to-dump-english-only-business-cards/

But Fraser's final report rejected that argument, saying that "providing bilingual business cards on some occasions and cards in English only at other times does not foster the promotion of linguistic duality in Canada and abroad."

he went out of his way to order english-only business cards.  That is Graham Fraser's report.  It wasn't a mistake, he never claimed before today it was a mistake.

He should refund the cost of the cards and the cost of the report out of his own pocket.

[crazy canuck]

You are missing the point Viper.  All the cards were purchased at the same time.  He didnt buy one shipment of bilinual cards and one shipment of English cards.  There was one fee for all the cards.

What I find quite revealing, is that for all your talk about being offended at government waste, you are quite happy to advocate for the cost of destroying perfectly good business cards, not to mention the cost of going though the beaurcratic process over such a frivolous issue.  It is things like this that do make my blood boil at the senselessness of it all.

[viper37]

Here's what I don't understand.

When I was with the Feds, I had bilingual cards (I just double checked).  English on one side, French on the other.  But the thing is - I'm a unilingual anglophone, who was hired into a position for unilingual anglophones.  What exactly would be the point of me having a bilingual card when I couldn't actually answer anyone in French?

Its the law.  Makes no sense but there it is.

Why Viper doesnt rant against this kind of waste of tax money is an interesting issue.

seeing how the unilingual cards cost more than the bilingual ones, having two sets of cards is unpractical and seeing as there is no "french-only unilingual" positions with the Government of Canada, I don't see the problem.

The cost of bilinguism are insignificant for big corporations such as government.  Or at least, they would be if there wasn't significant obstruction from the population.

[crazy canuck]

Only in a insanely regulated language state could double sided biligual cards cost less than one sided unilingual cards.  Either that your you dont have your facts straight.

[Jacob]

Only in a insanely regulated language state could double sided biligual cards cost less than one sided unilingual cards.  Either that your you dont have your facts straight.

Not necessarily.

If the printer of the cards is set up for doing bilingual cards then there's likely an efficiency, whereas the English language only ones require someone to go in and fiddle with the settings; something which they'll charge for.

[crazy canuck]

Only in a insanely regulated language state could double sided biligual cards cost less than one sided unilingual cards.  Either that your you dont have your facts straight.

Not necessarily.

If the printer of the cards is set up for doing bilingual cards then there's likely an efficiency, whereas the English language only ones require someone to go in and fiddle with the settings; something which they'll charge for.

Like a switch to print on one side only....

The cost of the ink alone would make that up pretty quickly.

[Barrister]

Only in a insanely regulated language state could double sided biligual cards cost less than one sided unilingual cards.  Either that your you dont have your facts straight.

My unilingual GOA business cards have some writing on the back as well...

[crazy canuck]

Ok, then that is just wasteful

[crazy canuck]

To take the performance of Baird as a Minister of the Crown in a more meaningful direction I have heard gay friends of ours comment that they wished Baird would make it better known that he is gay.  Well, I am not sure Baird is the type who would make his sexuality an issue but our friends may be more appreciative of the position Baird is taking, as Foreign Minister, with Russia and their anti gay laws.

[Jacob]

To take the performance of Baird as a Minister of the Crown in a more meaningful direction I have heard gay friends of ours comment that they wished Baird would make it better known that he is gay.  Well, I am not sure Baird is the type who would make his sexuality an issue but our friends may be more appreciative of the position Baird is taking, as Foreign Minister, with Russia and their anti gay laws.

Yeah. I saw his response to the REAL Women ( ) statement the other day and thought he gave a good response.

[viper37]

So, what is it with Toronto and clown mayors?  Is it a pre-requisite of some sort?  Montreal has blind&deaf mayors, Toronto has the crazy ones?

[Jacob]

Hey CC - are you familiar with this issue?

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/the-wild-west-of-groundwater-billion-dollar-nestl%C3%A9-extracting-b-c-s-drinking-water-for-free-1.587568

Is this article overblown hysteria (and if so, on what points); or does it have some legitimate points?

[crazy canuck]

Part of it is accurate.  But the interesting bits suffer from a signifant lack of fact checking.

"No permit, no reporting, no tracking, no nothing," said David Slade, co-owner of Drillwell Enterprises, a Vancouver Island well-drilling company. "So you could drill a well on your property, and drill it right next to your neighbour's well, and you could pump that well at 100 gallons a minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and waste all the water, pour it on the ground if you wanted to ... As far as depleting the resource, or abusing the resource, there is no regulation. So it is the Wild, Wild West."

Completely false.  That would violate a number of exiting common law property law principles and provisions of our Property Law Act which are currently relied upon to "regulate" the usage of ground water.  I am not sure what kind of regulation the groups quoted in the article are calling for.

Its also very funny that the article makes a big deal about the cost of bottled water for the people living in Hope.  The real story there is why would anyone in Hope buy water that they can get for free from their tap?  Something the reporter fails to mention since it doesnt fit well with the evil corporation angle of the story.