95th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge-Lest We Forget

Mulder

When the question “who is the most important figure in Canadian history?” comes up, very few think of the name Arthur Currie. But he is probably the one name that should come up. Because on this day 95 years ago, April 9th, 1917, the name Canada was barely known. But a scant 24 hours later, the name Canada was on the lips of countless people.

For on April 9th, Canadians fighting as a single unit for the first time in history, utilized Currie’s “Creeping barrage” to take Vimy Ridge from the Germans. It was the first time a nation had taken land back from the Germans and held it in the Great War. Canadian casualties numbered less than 10,000 taking the ridge when British and French troops took tens of thousands each in previous attempts to take the ridge.

Last December, I was lucky enough to visit Vimy Ridge. A few pictures are below. If you are a Canadian who is proud of your country, I highly suggest you make the pilgrimage to this wondrous monument. The battle defined Canada as a nation. It put us on the world map. It is the essence of who we are.

Approach view from backside of the Vimy Memorial
Approach view from backside of the Vimy Memorial

Me at Vimy Ridge
Me at Vimy Ridge

I brought a poppy with me and left it in the name wall at Vimy Ridge
I brought a poppy with me and left it in the name wall at Vimy Ridge

The tomb of the unknown solder at front side of Vimy Ridge
The tomb of the unknown solder at front side of Vimy Ridge

LinkedIN Selling Your Privacy

Mulder

In a move that has me concerned, LinkedIN has released LinkedIN Sales Navigator, a premium version of the website that let’s you view full profiles of people you are not connected to. Sounds awesome right?

But if you sign up and can see other people’s full profiles, then others can pay and see your profile without your permission. Does this have you concerned? Discuss below.

Click image to view larger version.

Happy Greek (un) Independence Day

Mulder

As many of you know, my background is Greek. I was born here in Canada to immigrants from Greece who worked hard, made an honest living and taught me great values that they brought with them from the homeland back in the mid 1960’s.

Well today, March 25th, is the day Greeks celebrate breaking free from the Ottoman empire. It is more affectionately known as Greek Independence day.

So I would like to congratulate Greece on being independent and for standing up on it’s own two feet and for working hard to become a proud, stable, secure……oh wait….I forgot about the €110 billion bailout from the EU and the failing economy and the huge public sector with the overtaxed private sector and the giant bloated retirement packages…

Nevermind. You’re not independent anymore.

ORNGE Boondoggle Audit Report Highlights

Mulder

Last week the Ontario Auditor General released the report on ORNGE, the air ambulance agency that is deservedly under scrutiny. Here are some highlights to make you see red.

We noted in this regard that the funding Ornge received for air ambulance services increased by more than 20% between the 2006/07 fiscal year (Ornge’s first full year of operations) and the 2010/11 fiscal year. However, over the same period, the total number of patients transported by air decreased by 6%.

Nice eh? How about this one?

Ornge received $65 million to perform inter-facility land ambulance transfers, projected to number 20,000 annually. However, Ornge is currently providing only about 15% of the projected transfers.

Do the math on that one. To transport a patient, over land not air, was estimated to cost $3250 per transport. So if you were to be driven by Ornge from North York General to Sick Children’s Hospital, we were GOING to pay $3250. But instead Ornge took $65Million and only transported 3000 people. The math there is over $21500 per transport. Seriously???

Ornge management, with approval of its board, created a network of for-profit and not-for-profit subsidiaries and other companies with which Ornge has entered into complex financial arrangements to deliver air ambulance services. In fact, much of Ornge’s operation is being delivered by these other entities, which bill Ornge for those services.

And I guarantee each tier took it’s chunk of our flesh in dollars. How about the sweet deal below for some company. I would LOVE to be the landlord for ORNGE.

The building that houses Ornge’s corporate head office was purchased for $15 million using funding borrowed through a bond issue. Ornge then entered into a complex arrangement with some of the other entities it created to sell the building and lease it back to itself. An independent real-estate appraiser
we engaged estimated that, under its lease with a related Ornge company, Ornge’s rent payments are 40% higher than the fair-market rent. Over the first five years of the 25-year lease, this amounts to Ornge paying $2 million more than it would pay if the building’s cost per square foot were comparable to that of similar buildings in the area.

Can we say Chaching?? I am sure the landlord for ORNGE was saying it.

After buying 12 new helicopters for US$148 million, Ornge arranged to install seating for 12 people in two of them. As a result, these helicopters could not be used to transport patients. Ornge told us it was considering selling these two helicopters.

Sure…AFTER they got caught.

The report goes on and on. And after they take a big chunk of our tax dollars and blow it left right and centre, the top employees refuse to disclose their salaries on the Ontario government sunshine list of people who make more than $100K.

Ontario Tax Payers….Officially Screwed….again. Thank you Dalton McGuinty, George Smitherman and Deb Matthews.

Bob Rae Sucks at Correlating Things

Mulder

From Hansard Feb. 28th, 2012

Hon. Bob Rae (Toronto Centre, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, I have just learned that a court document has been produced from the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections saying that there were 31 phone calls between the Conservative campaign in Guelph and RackNine and that there were 40 calls between Conservative operatives in Ottawa and RackNine.
Could the government explain that information in conjunction with the statement that was just made by the parliamentary secretary?

This is like me saying:

Mr. Speaker. Police LUD reports indicated that there were 31 phone calls between MP Bob Rae’s House and Pizza Pizza in 2011 and that there were 43,000 calls between stoned teenagers and Pizza Pizza. Could Bob Rae explain that information and how it relates to him?

To quote Bugs Bunny….What a marooooon.

Laim Stream Media Not Telling Whole Truth

Mulder

A big thank you to Brian Lilley for doing the dirty work that all the other news media outlets failed to do when it comes to the robodialling accusations flying these days.

Brian did his homework and has dug up a gem that no one else seems to be pointing out. The Elections Canada report that investigates all the shenanigans reported regarding the election and election day includes the following quote:

There was no conduct reported that would bring into question the integrity of the election result overall or the result in a particular riding. Although misconduct was reported in several ridings, there is no complaint that it affected the final result. There is some speculation in the media that the dirty tricks may have affected the result in some close contests.

So the same report cited by news agencies used to call the robocalling problems a scandal clearly states that none of the 191 pages of reported problems would have changed the results. And furthermore, the report only discusses robocalling on 3 of those pages.

I would be very interested to know of ALL the shenanigans reported, how many occurred in ridings won by the various parties in a scoresheet format. Let’s look at the WHOLE election and ALL the shenanigans and figure out where the most problems occurred.

And once again, Kudo’s to Mr. Lilley. He does the true work that so many other reporters fail to do and he gives us the facts the other reporters fail to notice.