Missed the Apology

She missed Harpers apology to Chinese Canadians.


Alberta's oldest person dies at 110
Raised children alone in wartime China, finally joined husband here in 1958
Mrs. Fong Ping Mah, who died Sunday, lived a long and varied life.

Amber Shortt, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Tuesday, June 27, 2006

EDMONTON - Fong Ping Mah lived in a bamboo hut at the end of the 1800s. She wore silk dresses in the '20s and hid her family in caves when the Japanese occupied China during the Second World War.

When she died Sunday after nearly five decades of living in Edmonton, she was 110 -- Alberta's oldest person.

Family members sat by her bedside at Capital Care Norwood on Sunday, recounting their favourite stories of grandma and holding her hands as she slipped away due to pneumonia.

Mrs. Mah was nine years old when Alberta became a province in 1905. Last September, she met then-prime minister Paul Martin during Alberta's centennial activities and fell asleep during the speeches.

Winnie said her grandmother's greatest advice was just to have faith.

Mrs. Mah was born on Sept. 28, 1895, in Kwangtung province of southern China. Around 1920, she married Lip Gar Mah in an arranged marriage.

He had emigrated to Edmonton in 1910, doing menial jobs to make a living that would have been a small fortune in China. He was forced to pay a $500 head tax under Canadian law and leave his new bride behind.


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Another Dick in Alberta

King Ralph is now advising the Republicans on their election strategy. Klein is inviting the ultimate Halliburton bad boy to visit Alberta.

Cheney could boost popularity by visiting Alberta: Klein

Hey if Dick does come to Alberta maybe Ralph can take him bear hunting. But if they do go hunting, Ralph better stand behind Dick.

See:

Halliburton

Cheney

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Criminal Capitalism Blog

Here is a great blog , after my own heart as the saying goes.
White Collar Crime Prof Blog


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Fiscally Challenged

The Harpocrite government suffers from a literacy problem. Must be from having so many hayseeds in the Conservative party. So we are gonna trust these folks to pass a law on accountability when they admit they don't understand the existing election laws? Too rich.

Tories caught in donation dispute
- The Conservative party may have illegally accepted millions in unreported donations last year because it didn't understand political financing laws.

Indeed, registration forms for the convention show that the party even charged a $750 fee to professional groups and outside associations, generally lobbyists, who sent representatives to observe the convention.

For such fees, the registration form also noted that payment could be made using corporate credit cards and corporate cheques.

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City Council Gets Its Cumupance

Gee I could have told ya this would happen.

13% sounds fine!
City employees want their pay hikes to match those taken by councillors
Thousands of city employees are expecting a pay hike similar to the 13% boost councillors gave themselves, says a union official.

And the cops are not too pleased with the City's current offer either.




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Tory and NDP Agree: Education Minister Useless

Alberta's Minister of Education, the Liberal turn-coat and opportunist, Eugene Zwozdesky had a bad day yesterday.

First off Tiny Tory Leadership contender Dave Hancock kicked off his leadership bid announcing that his sole platform was the education crisis in Alberta. He denounced Zwozdesky and the government for failing to fully fund public education.Alta Tory leadership hopeful blames education minister for short school funds Hancock can't take the high ground since he too was in cabinet, this is a case of the kettle calling the pot black.

Then a school roof collapsed in Calgary forcing Zwozdesky to rush to Calgary to hold an impromtue press conference saying all was right with the world. While CUPE held a press conference saying that schools in Calgary were unfit for human occupation.

Late yesterday afternoon public school unions in Edmonton held a rally at his office in the afternoon with opposition NDP MLA and former Edmonton Public School Board Trustee Ray Martin calling for his resignation.


Ironically Hancock is running against another former Education Minister; Lyle Oberg, who is also out for Ralph's job. And even the heir apparent in the Leadership Race Jim Dinning leaped unto the bash Zwozdesky bandwagon.

Our education funding crisis goes back over a decade leading to crumbling infrastructure, staff cuts and the need to close schools. Why should we trust any of these guys now.

If it walks like a lame duck, and quacks like a lame duck then it must be an Alberta Tory.


Also See:

Yes We Have No Bananas

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The End Of Workplace Drug Testing?

Here is a victory for privacy, and a condemnation of the unholy alliance between the Construction Industry in Alberta and its unions who collaborate on invading the personal privacy of workers with mandatory drug testing. And guess which company fired the worker involved, why none other than the notoriously corrupt Halliburton subsidurary; KBR.

Casual pot use a disability, Alberta judge finds Human rights legislation cited

EDMONTON - An Alberta judge has ruled that a construction company discriminated against a man when it fired him from an oilsands project after his pre-employment drug screening tested positive for marijuana.

Instead, Justice Sheilah Martin said the man -- a recreational user -- should have been treated the same way as someone with a drug addiction, which is considered a disability in a growing body of human rights case law across Canada.

It is the first time that Alberta's Court of Queen's Bench has addressed the issue of pre-employment drug testing under the province's human rights legislation.

And while the judgment is specific to one company's policy, some are calling it a significant decision.

The decision could place new legal limits on when workers can be tested for drugs.

"It is important for all workers," said Leanne Chahley, an Edmonton labour lawyer who regularly represents unions.

For one, she said, it means that a worker does not have to be disabled to challenge a policy as discriminatory. It also means that companies cannot use drug tests as a tool to automatically weed out potential employees who test positive, she said.

"No one wants to encourage impairment at work, but a drug test is an invasion of your privacy," Ms. Chahley said.

Judge Martin also said that the fact that KBR allowed Mr. Chiasson to work before receiving the results of the drug test called into question both the claim that such testing was essential and that he worked in a safety sensitive position.

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