Canadian breaking news and politics and hats and general sexiness

[Truly Scrumptious]

From The Globe And Mail today:

On Dec. 15, the Governor-General gave royal assent to Bill C-18. This means that the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, the legislation that ends the Wheat Board’s monopoly of wheat and barley sales, is now the law of Canada – or is it?

The question arises because on Dec. 7, Federal Court judge Douglas Campbell ruled that the way Bill C-18 was introduced into Parliament violated the Canadian Wheat Board Act. Section 47 of the act requires that the Minister of Agriculture not introduce in Parliament a bill that would end the Wheat Board’s control of all wheat or barley sales without first consulting the board and holding a vote to determine whether farmers favour such a change.

In the May election, the Conservatives ran on a platform that promised to end the Wheat Board’s monopoly. When polls indicated that a majority of both wheat and barley farmers favoured retaining the Wheat Board’s “single desk,” the government realized it might fail to honour its election commitment if it followed the procedure laid down in the act.

The government could have avoided this issue by asking Parliament to repeal the entire Wheat Board Act, or at least Section 47. Instead, it took the position that it did not have to comply with the act’s requirements because one Parliament cannot bind another. So, in its view, it could simply ignore legislation passed by a previous Parliament.


Read more here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle2286544/

[Truly Scrumptious]

As of noon on January 3, Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs have already pocketed $44,366. It takes the Average Joe an entire year, working full-time, to earn that same amount.

[Truly Scrumptious]

Marketplace returns tonight on CBC at 8pm EST, with a story on the worst customer service in the country. It's hard to imagine there could be a rival for the absolute lack of anything resembling customer service here in Montreal, but I'll keep an open mind!

[EnderD_503]

^ Honestly, I saw the ad for the new Marketplace in the lunchroom at work yesterday...and in a way kind of pissed me off. I wish there was a show that revealed how horribly employees are treated by customers. A lot of times when customers claim that employees are "rude" to them, it's because the customer was more than rude from the get go. I've had customers make racist comments about my co-workers, sexist comments about my co-workers, I've heard all kinds of homophobic comments by customers who "aren't getting what they want," and yeah I might act a little "frigid" toward them because my company won't allow me to outright refuse service to the jackasses...which I would if it didn't jeopardise my job. Honestly, I feel more companies should be like Ikea where they allow you to refuse service to customers who are more than distasteful as far as their treatment of employees. Maybe then, people would get better customer service. Keep your employees happy by empowering them to refuse service to some idiot who sees fit to cuss up a storm just because they think you should be licking their boots.

Let's face it, Canadian society is not as "polite" as we claim to be, and when people go shopping they can often be downright assholes. A lot of the employees they deal with are getting paid minimum wage in a shit job where they are regularly treated like crap by both customers and their employers. If I'm going to work a job where I get treated like a piece of shit on the bottom of a customer's shoe, they're going to have to pay me more than minimum wage, and the government should at least raise minimum wage rates to an amount that actually allows people to survive and not have to work more than one job.

Marketplace claims to be "protecting Canadians" yet fails to realise that its a lot of low income folks that get stuck in these jobs that are accused of "not giving good customer service." Fuck that. When I go out to a store I actually make sure to treat employees there with respect because I know what they have to deal with a hundred times a day...and in return I get respect back the majority of the time. Yes, there are some people that just don't give a shit, but I'd say they aren't the majority.

[Cin]

I don't know anything about Market Place. This was the first time I've ever watched the show and it did clear up something for me. I always wondered if the rather rude treatment I would receive from many store clerks was a uniquely Quebec thing, or even a Montreal thing, or perhaps a French thing, which I doubted since many store employees were not French, although it might be cultural, an unconscious mindset that seeped into the psyche of all customer service employees. What watching the show last night did for me was make it clear that the 'I'm blind to your existence' thing that I experience from most employees in most stores appears to be Canada wide. I've never made a racist, sexist or homophobic comment about anyone, let alone a store employee that I was trying to get help from. I was certainly never rude from the get go. But I've been treated so poorly, so often, that I've learned not to bother asking for help.

However, there are other aspects that would fall under the umbrella of poor service that I've never experienced outside of Quebec, although having only shopped in Ontario and Nova Scotia, I don't know if i have enough data to make that claim as reality. It's just been my experience.

In Montreal I've learned to jump out of the way when employees are walking down the aisles with stock that they are replenishing the shelves with. I've been hit on three separate occasions and never received as much as an "I'm sorry." As a matter of fact I was screamed at and followed around a grocery store by an employee who was angry because I complained that he hit me with a pallet of groceries.

I've also given up trying to look at anything where an employee is putting up stock. In the Dollarama I was trying to reach something just behind two employees with a cart who were reticketing some items. I explained I needed to get something and asked if they could move the cart just a tad. They were talking to each other and just ignored me. I reached over the cart to grab the article I wanted to purchase and one of the clerks pushed the cart into my arm and scrapped the skin on my forearm. I complained but they continued to ignore me. I told the woman she had scraped my arm and it was bleeding. She just started to talk to the other women and continued to ignored me. I couldn't understand the language they were speaking so I don't know if they were talking about me or about the weather. I kept on pointing to my arm and saying that she had hurt me. Finally she said and I quote, "Well, you shouldn't have tried to reach around the cart." I went to find a manager. When I did find the manager, I explained what happened. She looked blankly at me and my arm, didn't offer any advice, any sympathy for my experience, or even a band-aid. However, when it was clear I wasn't going anywhere until somebody addressed my issue, she asked if I had told the clerk I needed her to move. I said I did but she ignored me, just like she did when I complained about how she scraped my arm with the cart. And then she blamed me for reaching over her cart even though I had no way of knowing she would choose that exact moment to move the cart. I explained that a simple "oh, I'm sorry." would have ended it right there, I didn't even need a band-aid as I have some in my car. So the manager dutifully apologized in the most uninterested monotone one could imagine. Still since it was the first one I had ever received since coming to Montreal, it would do. Now I just walk on by if an employee is stocking or working around something I need. It just isn't worth it. Whatever I wanted to buy can wait or I can try to buy it some place else.

When I first moved to Montreal from Boston, other than the fact that people actually use their directionals, drive even faster than we do in Boston, and that Montreal is the only place in Quebec (maybe even in Canada) that you are not allowed to turn right on red because we can't be trusted, this rude thing from store clerks was the most different experience. And also the most jarring and difficult to get used to.

I get that people are overworked, that companies need to save money and put more work on their employees as a way to do it. I am always mindful of this. I am a working class stiff myself. I cut my teeth on dead end customer service type jobs and if I had not stumbled into human services and fallen in love with the population I work for, I would still be doing them. However, I have never treated anyone the way a large number of employees seem to feel comfortable treating me. I don't get it. And I don't deserve it.

And as far as not having the right not to serve customers, I certainly don't think that is the case here in Montreal. Everywhere I go, from grocery stores to hospitals, there are signs hung clearly explaining the kind of behavior they will not tolerate and can refuse service for. I was rather surprised when I came here and first saw these signs. I wondered to myself why would people have to tell other people not to swear, or be verbally or physically assaultive. Then I experienced how customers are treated, how frustrated you can get and I immediately understood the need for the signs everywhere. Although I believe simply treating people better might also work.

[Truly Scrumptious]

From the commercials for Marketplace, I thought the show was going to be about which cities had the worst customer service, not which stores. As for the 3 stores they chose to investigate, I have to say I think Zellers is the absolute worst. (Now, I can only speak to the service in Montreal though I have to say that we spent a week in Halifax a couple of months ago and had great service straight across the board.) Zellers here is atrocious. You have to fight to use a coupon (never mind what happened with their own coupons last week which was all over the news, that’s a special case), you have to fight to be charged the price listed under the product on the shelf, because they have a nasty habit of putting the wrong prices on the shelves, and it seems like every experience requires a guest appearance by the manager just to get them to honour their own policies.

Long ago I gave up ever expecting help finding anything in a store in Montreal, the clerks are few and far between and avoid you as much as they can, just as shown on Marketplace last night. So really, any complaints I have are not about that kind of help because if it exists here, I don’t know where. Walk into the Future Shop and try to get some help, and you will be disturbing the employees who are hanging out talking together. (Best Buy, on the other hand, is better. Weird, since they are the same company.) Ask for something at Walmart, and you will be treated to a shrug. Try to get some help at Canadian Tire, and you'll still be standing there an hour later waiting. Ask for something at a grocery store, and you will be told if they have it, it's on the shelf. Eventually you give up asking. If it takes me too long to find something, I am going somewhere else.

I wish Marketplace had investigated grocery stores. In Montreal, Loblaws is by far the worst, and as they also own Provigo and Maxi, it’s pretty hard to avoid them. Chances are when you walk down an aisle in Loblaws, an employee is going to be stocking shelves and blocking the aisle. You can either turn around, or you can stand there and wait, but he/she is not going to move, and if you ask him/her to do so just so that you can get what you need, you are going to be rebuffed. (By contrast, at the Atlantic Superstore in Halifax, a girl stocking the shelves saw me coming and said “let me get this out of your way”. I almost had a stroke.) Long check out lines at Provigo are the norm, one Saturday afternoon at 2pm in November, I counted 42 people in line, and there were only 2 registers open. I’m sure some of those people were angry by the time they got to check out, and I can’t even imagine how frustrating it is for the cashiers who have to handle that kind of volume of (annoyed) customers and I am always mindful of that . . . it is not the cashier’s fault when this happens. But still, it happens and the company clearly doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings, including their employees. (What I don’t understand is that Loblaws and Atlantic Superstore are the same company, so why is there such a contrast in their customer service?)

Loblaws stocks mostly President’s Choice products wherever possible, and with good reason . . . they make them, they are usually better than any other brands, and they are cheaper. But they seem to have absolutely no quality control . . . . we have had an alarming rate of incidents finding things like bones, pieces of what might be wood, and other debris in products that are not supposed to contain bones, pieces of wood, or other debris. And the thing is, they don’t give a crap. Call or write the head office, they are not one bit interested in resolving your complaint. You can bring it back to the store and they will replace it, but really, it would serve them much better if they just worked on their QC.

Honestly, the great customer service I see is in New York or Vermont when we go cross border shopping. The difference is startling. Maybe they have more employees, maybe they are better trained, I don’t know. I do know that it seems they want to make their customers happy, whereas here, it seems they just want to make you go away.

[Cin]

Originally Posted by EnderD_503

^ Honestly, I saw the ad for the new Marketplace in the lunchroom at work yesterday...and in a way kind of pissed me off. I wish there was a show that revealed how horribly employees are treated by customers. A lot of times when customers claim that employees are "rude" to them, it's because the customer was more than rude from the get go. I've had customers make racist comments about my co-workers, sexist comments about my co-workers, I've heard all kinds of homophobic comments by customers who "aren't getting what they want," and yeah I might act a little "frigid" toward them because my company won't allow me to outright refuse service to the jackasses...which I would if it didn't jeopardise my job. Honestly, I feel more companies should be like Ikea where they allow you to refuse service to customers who are more than distasteful as far as their treatment of employees. Maybe then, people would get better customer service. Keep your employees happy by empowering them to refuse service to some idiot who sees fit to cuss up a storm just because they think you should be licking their boots.

Let's face it, Canadian society is not as "polite" as we claim to be, and when people go shopping they can often be downright assholes. A lot of the employees they deal with are getting paid minimum wage in a shit job where they are regularly treated like crap by both customers and their employers. If I'm going to work a job where I get treated like a piece of shit on the bottom of a customer's shoe, they're going to have to pay me more than minimum wage, and the government should at least raise minimum wage rates to an amount that actually allows people to survive and not have to work more than one job.

Marketplace claims to be "protecting Canadians" yet fails to realise that its a lot of low income folks that get stuck in these jobs that are accused of "not giving good customer service." Fuck that. When I go out to a store I actually make sure to treat employees there with respect because I know what they have to deal with a hundred times a day...and in return I get respect back the majority of the time. Yes, there are some people that just don't give a shit, but I'd say they aren't the majority.

You certainly make a good point. I know from experience that customers can be difficult and employers are generally unsympathetic. I remember getting suspended for three days at a job I had just out of high school where I worked as a telephone operator. A customer asked if this was the asshole operator and I said as polite as pie, "Why no sir. She went home at 5:30." It was just anther incident of my smart mouth, my supervisor explained, when they suspended me. It sucks how businesses don't care about their employees or their customers. Seriously, what can an employer expect an employee to say to a question like that?

I think businesses don't care about customer service that much because there's no reason for them to care. A good many of the corporations have close to a monopoly or share a monopoly with another corporation. In Montreal, grocery stores are all owned by the same two corporations. If you don't buy from one particular store because of some incident, you still have to buy groceries and chances are they will get your business anyway. Eventually it gets so you hate them all equally so you shop according to sales. You can't win so you learn to ignore the poor service. So they can cut back on how many employees they have on per shift with impunity. They put the burden right on the back of employees and the consequences of being served by overburdened employees right on their customers. And they continue to reap the profits. Pisses me off.

[Truly Scrumptious]

[betenoire]

I just need to put out there that I appreciate not being hassled by sales clerks when I am in a store. It makes me feel pressured and I will often leave instead of taking the time to browse and buy something.

For crissakes if I want help finding something I will go ask you for help, leave me alone.

[betenoire]

First: Abortion, gay marriage could be next on chopping block because of the Conservative government, Chrétien warns. Afterall - we've already pulled out of the Kyoto accord and aren't able to do gun control the way we need to do it.

My boyfriend Jean Chrétien. This is a very smart fund-raising effort on the part of the Liberals - I approve.

And, incidentally, he's absolutely fucking right because

Second: Some Lesbian couple from outside of Canada got married in Canada. Now they want a divorce and were unable to get one because Canada does not divorce non-residents. So instead of changing the rule to allow for divorces of ALL people married in Canada regardless of their country of residence...some douchebag government dude is all "well I guess since you can't get get divorced here and your country doesn't recognise your marriage anyway you're not really married and don't need a divorce - have a nice day!" And Harper is all "I promise I'm not going to bring same-sex marriage up for review!" - but I do not believe him.

and Third: Some shitstick backbencher is all "blah blah blah we have a duty to debate the rights of the unborn!"

I swear to blog, the Republican Primaries in the US are making Canadian Conservative act like bigger assholes.

[betenoire]

A series of studies in Canada and elsewhere over the past decade has found that the children of lesbians aren't just well-adjusted – they excel. On average, kids with two moms seem to be more confident and less aggressive than those raised by a mom and a dad. They are open-minded, affectionate and less susceptible to anxiety and depression.

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by betenoire

A series of studies in Canada and elsewhere over the past decade has found that the children of lesbians aren't just well-adjusted – they excel. On average, kids with two moms seem to be more confident and less aggressive than those raised by a mom and a dad. They are open-minded, affectionate and less susceptible to anxiety and depression.

I hate how a lot of the comments on articles like this study take it out of its context.

Instead of looking at what there is to be said about families that are not made up of "oops babies" (as it was put in the article). Or families that may not put as much emphasis on certain forms of normativity/authoritarian gender roles, sexual expectations for the sake of normativity and so on. Or families who simply don't have parents who believe in being authoritarian for its own sake, due to parental insecurity or values affected by an unexamined patriarchal upbringing (do what daddy says because he says so and he's the boss, instead of do this because xyz).

Instead they rail on like traditionalists often do, which is to whine about how society is oppressing white men who just need everyone to fall into their proper roles damnit! And what do you mean my son doesn't need a male role model/father figure!? You can't raise a duck and tell it about duck stuff!!!

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by betenoire

I swear to blog, the Republican Primaries in the US are making Canadian Conservative act like bigger assholes.

I wish they would all just move down there to join their Tea Party/Republican buddies and leave us alone...

[Soon]

http://www.sorryworld.ca/

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

http://www.sorryworld.ca/

woo I posted that to my G+ last night

love it.

[foxyshaman]

Originally Posted by betenoire

and Third: Some shitstick backbencher is all "blah blah blah we have a duty to debate the rights of the unborn!"

I swear to blog, the Republican Primaries in the US are making Canadian Conservative act like bigger assholes.

Interesting. I am sure we can agree that we will never ever see a repeal of the abortion laws in Canada.... and I am grateful otherwise I would be well on my way to Gramma. However, to nit pick, and I like nit picking sometimes, (I blame the Aries in me) I wish we could open the debate on fetus vs. living being insofar as wanting to give rights to an unborn child to be born safely. I would, in my perfect Aries world, love to see laws where if the mother is endangering the life of her unborn child, that we have the right to a) abort said fetus or b) confine her so that her gestating fetus has the right to a perfectly formed brain. And not one riddled with holes due to alcohol or drugs.

But, it is not a perfect Aries world.

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by foxyshaman

Interesting. I am sure we can agree that we will never ever see a repeal of the abortion laws in Canada....

There ARE no abortion laws in Canada TO repeal. And that suits me just fine.

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by foxyshaman

I wish we could open the debate on fetus vs. living being insofar as wanting to give rights to an unborn child to be born safely. I would, in my perfect Aries world, love to see laws where if the mother is endangering the life of her unborn child, that we have the right to a) abort said fetus or b) confine her so that her gestating fetus has the right to a perfectly formed brain. And not one riddled with holes due to alcohol or drugs.

No and no.

See the thing is - if the government meddles enough to call a fetus a person with rights and the government can control the behaviour of the mother...the government then gets to decide that a fetus is a person with rights who can not be aborted.

You can't have it both ways.

Either a fetus is not a person and I can have an abortion if I want one, or a fetus is a person and I am not allowed to have an abortion.

[Cin]

It is interesting to note that while there are no laws governing abortion in Canada, arguably a good thing, and that the Canada Health Act has been interpreted by the federal government as requiring provinces to fully fund abortion clinics, the reality is women seeking abortion in Canada, depending on their location, can be literally out of luck. Several provinces make it extremely difficult for women to get an abortion. New Brunswick pays nothing toward funding abortion clinics. Nova Scotia has very limited funding. It’s impossible to get an abortion in PEI, however, the province will pay for hospital abortions in other provinces, coincidentally (or not) hospitals in the Maritimes will not perform abortions on women from out – of – province. The only option available to women in PEI are expensive private clinics in NB or NS and that is only as long as they get service in 16 weeks. Other than that, they need to go to Montreal or Toronto.

The number of Canadian medical schools that give instruction in abortion procedures is decreasing, which could potentially create a shortfall in medical personnel skilled in this area. Third-trimester abortions are not generally available In Quebec women seeking third-trimester abortions are sent to the US.

Abortion is the only medical procedure in Canada that does not meet even the most basic requirements of the Canada Health Act, which states that “insured medical services must be universal, accessible, portable and comprehensive.”

Many poor and especially rural women must depend on hospitals, yet it is very difficult to obtain an abortion at a hospital for a variety of reasons. Only about 1/3 of hospitals actually perform abortions. Some hospitals put women through illegal approval processes. There are also quotas, parental consent for surgery on minors, and long waiting lists (yet most will only perform first trimester abortions.) Hospitals also require a doctor’s referral for an abortion, which can be difficult to obtain. Often women have to face anti-choice medical staff who disapprove of their decision.

British Columbia is the only province in the country to have an Access to Abortion Services, or a bubble zone law restricting anti-choice protesters from areas around clinics, doctor’s offices and homes. Other provinces make it incredibly difficult for a woman to obtain an abortion, although if you live in Montreal or Toronto finding a clinic isn’t difficult. In the prairie provinces access is concentrated in the larger cities. In the Yukon there are no private clinics, but the province pays part of the cost for a woman to travel to BC to obtain an abortion. In Nunavut, there is one hospital that provides tax-payer funded abortions but if a woman is pregnant past 13 weeks she must travel to Ottawa. In the Northwest territories there are no private clinics but abortions are provided at two out of the three hospitals there. Nationally there are 151 abortion facilities available as opposed to 197 of the so called crisis pregnancy centres.

In conclusion I must say that although obtaining an abortion in Canada is not a crime, depending on where you live it might just feel like one.

[foxyshaman]

Originally Posted by betenoire

No and no.

See the thing is - if the government meddles enough to call a fetus a person with rights and the government can control the behaviour of the mother...the government then gets to decide that a fetus is a person with rights who can not be aborted.

You can't have it both ways.

Either a fetus is not a person and I can have an abortion if I want one, or a fetus is a person and I am not allowed to have an abortion.

I totally get that. I was musing out loud how in a perfect world we could protect the life of a fetus from a damaging set of circumstances. I work with damaged kids day and day out. I do realize, legally there is no way to accomplish this. Again, when I, the Supreme Aries, rule the world....