In Canada, people have many views and are passionate about many things. If protesters were allowed to shut down our roads and rail service for any cause, Canada along with law and order would cease to exist. Treating one group of people differently because of race is exactly what Canadian society is striving not to do, in order for this to work it should not matter if this treatment is positive or negative.
Every Canadian has there say at the ballot box and the government is merely a reflection of the majority. People who disagree are free to voice their opinions but must respect the implemented views and opinions of the majority.
The expropriation of land in Canada by the government is nothing new. Although often emotional for anyone affected, it’s important and lawful purpose is necessary to allow the government to complete projects in the interest of the nation. Anyone in Canada could have their legally owned land taken by the government at any time. During the construction of highway 407 in Ontario, many people lost homes and farms that had been in the family for generations.
For those protesters that believe kidnapping of public roads and rail is necessary to bring awareness and support, they are only half right. I am aware but will oppose any cause that resorts to extortion and the torment of innocent people to get there way.
The first day of kindergarten usually marks a child’s transition from the love and security of the family home to the outside world and society. In an ever-increasing number of schools, it is also the start of appalling physical and psychological abuse from other students that for some, will eventually lead to depression, suicide, gangs, and crime.
Since the elimination of physical force, there has been a lack of an effective deterrent to keep a very small percentage of children from disrupting and terrorizing the rest of the class. Over time, this small percentage affects the entire class, creating an environment that enables kids that would normally behave to act out, leading to widespread bullying, fighting and mental abuse between students the teacher is often unable to control.
Modern techniques and psychology have had a dramatic effect on controlling the behavior in most children without the need for physical force. Because these methods work on the vast majority of children the general belief in society is they will work on every child. This false widespread belief has put pressure on schools that can not control a student to cover it up. Not only does this make the classroom unsafe for the other children it disrupts and impairs the teacher’s ability to teach.
Between raising my own kids and knowing someone that has worked in the Toronto District School Board for over 30 years I know of too many disturbing incidences and procedures happening in schools today that much of the public is unaware of. Some of the most concerning are:
It is difficult to control or remove a violent student from a class for specialized placement even if they have previously injured other kids or staff unless the child’s parents agree (parents are often the last ones to admit any problems with their child).
Assaults in schools are rapidly increasing, including to staff
Staff are hesitant to physically break up a fight even if an innocent student is being seriously injured in fear of being injured themselves, sued by the aggressive child’s parents, or fired from their job.
An ever-increasing number of support staff are hired on a 1 on 1 basis for problem children that could be a danger to themselves or others.
In some cases, if a child decides to leave the classroom they will not use physical force to stop them but rather have someone follow them as they roam the halls.
Staff are taught not to confront behavior problems with students but to distract the child into thinking about something else.
The biggest deterrent currently available to schools now is expulsion. Think about it, dozens of teachers with hundreds of years of combined university training, experience and resources still can’t control a student so they send them home to a parent/parents that are often already overwhelmed or part of the problem.
There are countless incidences as a result of the above practices, such as a grade 1 elementary student, after being sent to the office had a violent temper tantrum and began smashing phones, blinds, and a fax machine, the principal stood by and watched, unable to use physical force to stop him, they had to call the police (not the first time). Another incidence where a bullied student was shot by a pellet gun in an elementary school by another student. Before he was shot twice in the leg the shooter told him it was a real gun and he had 3 seconds to run. A well-adjusted adult would be mentally traumatized for life by such an experience, and it got worse. When the parents reported it to the school nothing was done so they called the police. The student was charged but because of the young offender’s act, he was released. The bullied child was tormented again by the shooter a few days later at school and told: “See, your parents and the police can’t stop me, now that you told on me I’m bringing in a real gun and I’ll be looking for you”. The parents had to move him to a different school. How can we allow this to happen to an elementary school child? These stories along with thousands of others never make the news so the public is kept unaware.
Evidence exists that this small percentage of problem kids besides disrupting and bullying, also influence other kids to exhibit the same behavior. Toronto Guns and Gangs unit estimate that 90% of gang members would not be there if not for the other 10%. Their findings are based on gang member arrests. They found 90 percent of kids arrested for the first time in gang-related crimes break down when faced with the possibility of going to jail. In fact, they are traumatized so much, they are unlikely not to re-offend even if the charges are dropped with no jail time. The other 10% show no remorse and even with jail time are likely to re-offend.
Until we get over our ignorance as a society that all children respond to the current deterrents for unacceptable and violent behavior, we allow thousands of innocent children to suffer unspeakable abuse we can not imagine. If not a physical deterrent, we need some form of other much stricter behavior consequences. Until we make all classrooms safe and equal for everyone, schools, gang prevention, crime, mental illness, and many social programs will remain bottomless cash pits, ineffective regardless of how much money the government throws in.
Although I support most aspects of unions, the right to strike is not one of them. Walking off the job and shutting a company down in a contest to see who can hold out the longest has absolutely nothing to do with getting a fair deal. In fact, in any other case, it would be called extortion. On top of that, often it is unionized and lower-paid people that end up suffering the most.
There is nothing wrong with workers uniting and walking off the job in protest if they feel it is warranted, but the right to form picket lines or other actions that would interfere with company operations should be illegal. Also, if employees have the right to walk off the job it makes sense the company should also have the right to replace those people permanently if they can find new employees to work under the same conditions and wages. This would make it fairer because if the reason for the employees walking off the job is sound, then the company will have trouble finding anyone to replace them with. If the employees walking off the job feel their skills are worth more than their current pay and conditions, they should have no problem finding a better job elsewhere. Issues over job safety should be settled by the labor board.
For most of us workers it’s hard to get perspective or care about a company’s point of view so imagine this: You hire a baby sitter to come to your house to look after your kids while you are at work. Both of you agree to a wage, hours and working conditions. After 6 months the babysitter demands more money, wants you to pay for a pension for them and wants more time off. There is no way you can afford there demands so you refuse. The next day they are at the end of your sidewalk with a picket sign blocking your car from leaving the driveway and holding up friends and visitors trying to enter and leave your house. You call the police but are told the babysitter is not breaking the law and there is nothing they can do. Not only that even though there are many other qualified people that would be happy to do your striking babysitter’s job for less, you are not allowed to hire them and must come to an agreement with the striking babysitter. The babysitter has other financial means of support and is able to stay on strike for 6 months or longer.
The worst part of a strike however, is not about being unfair for companies. The real victims are the less fortunate ones that have nothing to do with it. Farmers that can’t get their harvest to market because of a rail strike. Single parents scrambling for daycare once again because just after school support workers avert a strike the teachers threaten to walk off. Or people making minimum wage that can’t get to work because of transit workers making multiple times their salary walk off the job.
Imagine all of a sudden one day, across the entire country, everyone’s bank account is emptied, business and government computers become inaccessible, power grids shut down, no internet or communications, our defense weapons and power plants become inoperative, cars stop dead in the street, and planes and trains become unsafe to use. How hard would it then be for another country to just walk in and take over or even remain anonymous demanding hundreds of billions in ransom to restore? With world tension on the rise and nuclear weapons not an option without counter strikes that would destroy the planet, will the next major confrontation be digital?
The news is more frequently reporting business and government hacks where computers are encrypted and data held hostage until the company forks over a ransom. The relativity small amounts of ransoms indicate they are most likely done by lone basement hackers. Now imagine a foreign country with thousands of highly trained computer experts spending years secretly hacking into another country’s computers, preparing for a sudden digital Pearl Harbour type attack.
At first it may sound far fetched but consider the following. Keystroke recording spyware can already secretly record every key pushed on your computer including user name and passwords to your accounts. Spyware able to secretly track and turn on cell phone microphones and cameras has also exists not to mention Google Home and Alexia that if hacked can allow someone to listen to conversations undetected. The list of possibilities goes as far as our imaginations. Hacking of companies like OnStar would allow someone to activate the antitheft software on all their vehicles and shut them down. It could take years to fix the damage. Boeing’s Max 8 aircraft have been grounded for months with software problems and they weren’t even attacked with a virus.
Countries like Canada being digitally attacked by another country may at first sound ridicules but consider this, we buy items from countries that are made, assembled, shipped from the other side of the world and sold for a profit here at $1.25. These third-world conditions combined with increasing populations and ever-dwindling resources and food are slowly turning these countries into hungry sharks. Canada with its abundance of natural resources, fertile land and wealth combined with complacency when it comes to peace and trust make it the perfect unsuspecting seal.
Now is the time to improve and tighten up our cybersecurity as well as backing up the countries critical systems with computers on offline sterile closed loops.
The biggest threat to the environment is rarely talked about and easy to fix but unless it’s addressed soon, nothing else we do will keep us from destroying the planet.
The damage we do to the Earth is simple math. The size of the average persons carbon foot print, times the number of people on the planet. Since 1970 the worlds population has doubled. At the present rate kindergarten students today will see it double again in their lifetime, doubling the damage we’re currently doing to the planet. If left unchecked a generation later will see the Earths population double again making are carbon foot print 4 times what it is today, and so on. Just look around and you can see how fast cities and towns are expanding.
As we sit on the tipping point of catastrophic disaster even if the population stopped increasing today we would be lucky not to loose this game of Jenga we are playing with the worlds ecosystem. Left unchecked we will soon realize all the science, carbon taxes and government policies in the word won’t put a dent in fixing the damage done by this rapid population growth.
Even skeptics of climate change can’t ignore the logistics of providing enough food and energy for a world population multiple times larger then todays not to mention dealing with the waste. The more the worlds populations grow the greater the threat of conflict between nations over resources.
Having children is one of the most fulfilling and important parts of being human and no one has to give that up to save the planet. If every couple had an average of 2 children the worlds population would stop growing and become neutral, that combined with current programs and scientific advances might give us a chance at survival.
There is no time to waste. “World population” needs to be at the top of the list for combating climate change. The people of the world need to understand that controlling population growth is the only thing that will save us. Only then will governments be able to to make it work by phasing in policies like eliminating child tax breaks for large families. Changing current values will not be easy and it will take brave politicians with our support to implement the policy’s necessary.
A slowing growth in population will also effect many other issues. Although it would solve some problems like easing the housing crisis and transit problems it will also most likely have a negative effect on the stock market and countries with deficit based pyramid type economy’s.
We can no longer foolishly believe electric cars, carbon taxes, recycling, bicycling, and renewable energy will save the planet. Until population growth is brought under control, nothing else we do matters. Effects of biblical proportion from are actions are no longer generations in the future but will be felt within your or your children’s lifetime. After reading this, It is now up to you to do your part to help save the planet by getting the word out about population growth, through friends, school, work, social media, political lobbing or simply passing on this post. People are already beginning to focus on the science behind climate change but it is much more important to focus on the math.
