CFN – April 1st. Sadly this year my mood isn’t on pranks and I’ve pulled some good ones. It’s normally one of my fave days of the 
year. It’s hard to come up with whoppers that work.
Over the years I’ve pulled my share, but not this year; maybe that’s the joke?
Mother Nature is playing her own gag today as our lovely Spring weekend is turning cold. And there’s a cold buzz floating around Cornwall as I type this; a tension, a quiet tension, but it’s there.
There are a lot of people waiting for a shoe to drop; different shoes. Some waiting for our Mayor to finally disclose his conflict of interest; some feel that there’s a shoe to drop on CFN.
Frankly the world is a bigger place with far more important issues than the corruption of Mayor Bob Kilger and the cabal that support him at City Hall.
Maybe I’m just getting that Spring urge to move about and travel a bit, garden, get more Vitamin D? Maybe because I don’t come from a journalism background I’m just sick by what I see of how the system works. As horrible as things are here in Cornwall it’s not unique. Just look a little way down the road at Montreal and you can see that there are far worse cases of corruption, influence peddling, and voter apathy.
Because deep down what really bothers me aren’t the Bob Kilger’s of the world; but the people that allow him to exist. Fear, greed, apathy, ignorance are all factors; from media that take cheques to hide corruptions true face to the public, to a system that literally stomps the life out of Whistle Blowers. It’s all ugly.
And too much ugliness is never a good thing whether it be for scribblers, artists, or anyone.
They say that you get the government you deserve. Could that be any more true than here in Cornwall Ontario?
The big question is what will we all do about it?
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Many people have the attention span of a kitten, or escape with entertainment shows leaving real issues unattended. Politicians and special interest groups must love that about us. Don’t give up the fight.
since you started by saying april fools prank, I too have pulled a few good ones. Last year, I typed a letter requesting every employee at my work to come in 1 hour earlier three days a week for the same wage. Now I’m not the employer so I did this discretely by sliding the letters beneath their office doors after hours on the 31st. It was hilarious my boss had 4 people at her office complaining of the change of hours within minutes on the 1st of april. She laughed and said someone had gotten them good. My colleges were mad at me for 1 hour or so then they found it funny.
Nothing Jamie. Absolutely nothing will be done about the status of this town or others in the political sphere’s.
It is endemic in our culture. It is artful of fools who believe they can get away with bribes for favors.
Oh, we will see a change in the people we elect for sure. Yet my faith in the new ones will be tentative and guarded.
New ones in two or more terms, if not sooner will begin to see themselves in the same way the ‘old boys networks’ have always come to be over time. They become a self sustaining club of protectionists for the gang. It starts ever so small, in a subliminal way. Then before you know it they are in too deep that the edges start to show themselves.
Again and again we watch every ‘set of councillors and some Mayors caught up in some secret mission to cover up for the sake of the ‘city’ or some other mythology.
Happy Easter and thanks for the ‘no’ prank. We have had our fill ot the games people play.
OK, i’ll bite.
And the reason?? You mentioned government and the fact that we get the government we deserve.
I had some friends over for hop hop day dinner this past weekend and the conversation, as it normally does, rolled around to the “French issue” and politics in this country.
The essence of — the problem — that came out of the conversation was two fold.
One being the fact that it is no longer a matter of simply just voting for — the other party — as a way to make things right. As we have come to be aware, they are ALL just as bad as the other, only in different ways.
What is one supposed to do when one is not happy with the values (and thus the policies stemming from those values) of the conservatives in power and your buddy is saying, “that’s good cause they are hurting this country, so you should vote for the Libs.”
The immediate natural response was “yeah, the PC MAY VERY WELL BE hurting this country in ONE WAY but, they are at least not literally giving this country away to the French. As a matter of fact, they are the ONLY PARTY that pushes back (in their own ways) against the incessant French take over of this country.
What, am i supposed to vote for the Liberals (the party with the French accent above the letter “e” in their party name?
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ER99jxZtgjY/UVm5BU_bQRI/AAAAAAAAAeI/99gdr9W31mY/s620/Liberal+-+accent.jpg
An accent which, one has to admit, to the Anglophones, is a bit of a slap in the face. Not to mention we all know they are a party that has been in bed with the French since the beginning of time in this country
A party that is assisting the French minority (both financially and with political power) to slowly and gradually turn an
— majority English dominant — country
into
— a minority French dominated — one.
“But wait”, my guest say’s, there’s always the NDP. “Anyone but the horrible Conservatives,,” he adds. Yeah right. Many are calling the NDP the new “mini Bloc Quebecois party” and ya know, it’s really hard to discount that.
I mean c’mon. There former interim leader was after all, a card carrying separatist. Not to mention many of their “clan” are self professed separatists (or, at the very least supporters of the — French first, French dominant, or French only — concept.
The other “fold” of the problem is that even the conservatives (as pointed out by my guest) are NOT doing anything to quell the French push for dominance and control of this country. To which, based on sheer fact, all i can do is sheepishly agree while adding the slight caveat that i simply cannot just sit back and vote Liberal knowing they are in full compliance and are openly assisting with “THEM.”
Even though the Conservatives are really not doing much to stop or reverse this “takeover”, and even though many of the conservative policy’s are really not up my alley, i simply MUST keep doing — anything i can — (including supporting the lesser of the two evils) to push back.
The analogy i came up with is,
even though i am in a car which is headed straight for a brick wall and the brakes ARE NOT working. I MUST keep trying. Even though the brakes are not working, i cannot just relax and take my foot off the peddle. Something inside of me is pressuring me to jam down on that brake peddle with everything i have within the slimmest of hopes that it will, in some way and at the very least help, to slow this whole thing down.
I am willing to put up with the Conservative tactics for a little while if only to buy a little time for perhaps, a miracle.
And, the ONLY two THINGS i can see that would fit into that “miracle” department and thus give this country a chance would be…
1) A great new leader that could be the drive of a new political party that has the liberal values, which i believe most Canadians share, but without the push to cater to the French any more than they cater to any of the other provinces in this country.
AND/OR
2) a mass hundreds of thousands (if not a million or more) Anglophone tax paying citizens of this country converging on the hill to demand that they no longer are forced to support and fund — official bilingualism —
A failed policy & and concept that is costing us billions for what amounts to a ZERO benefit for this country as a whole, all things considered. And further dis-engenders very deserving Anglophones Canadian citizens from even considering to aspire to be the leader of their own country.
THERE IS SOMETHING — MOST GENUINELY & DEFINITELY — WRONG WITH THAT.
And further more, based on practically ALL of the real world examples of what “bilingualism” means to the French —
(which is French first, French dominant & ultimately French only in practically every application where we have allowed bilingualism to be the case)
— it is clear that this policy is basically the act of forcing the majority anglophone tax paying citizens of this country to literally pay for and subsidize the demise of their own language and culture.
Why would any clear thinking person wish to go along with something like this?
Guess that’s it.
Oopps, almost forgot… April fools 🙂 — NOT … any longer —
Jamie wrote: Frankly the world is a bigger place with far more important issues than the corruption of Mayor Bob Kilger and the cabal that support him at City Hall.
Absolutely Jamie!!!
If you haven’t all the things you want
Be grateful for the things you don’t have
That you wouldn’t want.
Life is too short to be swimming upstream your entire life. Take time to live and enjoy.
What does language have to do with this article?
It’s government Stella. Jaimie said, “you get the government you deserve” and that is exactly the problem. A government that is forcing it’s citizens, by virtue of an embedded falsehood, into drinking the bilingual cool-aid.
But, i know. You and yours don’t think there is any problem at all with that concept.
Tell me (anyone), why is it that when the French push for an institution to be bilingual (ie: University of Ottawa, or the university in New Brunswick or the Montfort hospital) why is it that even though these institution find themselves outside of the “French only province” of Quebec and in places where English is the dominant (IE Ontario with an 86.3% Anglophone population) what started as a “bilingual concept” simply ends up with either French on top, or first, or as in the case with the Montfort hospital, French ONLY for all intents and purposes?
I suppose i should use the so called, “the French common sense argument” and apply it here and say, well if English and French exist in the same place then the French will be swallowed up and they will be assimilated. Is that the right answer why these places end up as french ONLY?
I said that once before that people get the government that they deserve. The people of Cornwall, Canada, the US and around the world expect that miracles are going to happen, that they will all get fed, clothed and put to sleep and no worries or responsibilities to take on. Well I can tell each and everyone of you that a wake up call is on its way and people are going to be more than shocked to find out that they have no house left of their own, no money in their accounts, no food on the grocery shelves or prices beyond what they can afford. All this is coming and more.
Jamie you lived a great deal in Montréal so you know what is going on and I know that it goes well beyond the French language. My husband read in one of his newspapers back home where a man from his country who holds French citizenship of France and married a French Canadian girl from Montreal has had run ins with the mob in Montréal and a lot of the mob has to do with Haitians as well as our Canadians, etc. He made quite a bad reputation for Montréal. He was running a pastry shop and he said that he was finished and was leaving for France.
Yesterday my husband contacted his sisters in Lebanon and I spoke to them in French and they told me how bad things are and that gangs run the country. This is world wide – yes even in little backwater Cornwall. Things are a great deal worse overseas and they said that they don’t go out and lots of kidnappings, murders, etc. They only go out for what is absolutely necessary and back home again. A few years ago the best friend of my husband’s sisters had food delivered to her house and she was a woman in her 70’s. A Syrian man (young man) went and raped her and slit her throat and she died. She was living with her brother at the time and he discovered her body and the police arrested the murderer and he was to be executed.
Well when the economy gets worse than what it is now and it is really bad at present time many things are going to happen and it will shock the life out of people and many will not be able to take the hard knocks of life. Don’t spend a dime more than you have to and kick the living hell out of Bare Ass and his dirty gang out before you lose Cornwall for good and I don’t just say that I mean what I say.
Jamie one has to live very frugal and that is how people survived the Great Depression. The Jewish people are savers and they know how to live and my contratulations go out to them. Canadians know nothing about how the rest of the world lives. One day it is going to come as a mighty rude awakening for everyone and it isn’t very far off. You take care Jamie and never give up. We feel mighty down at times but we can’t let it get to us and we have to keep up the fight in order to survive.
Jules wrote: One day it is going to come as a mighty rude awakening for everyone and it isn’t very far off
I agree!! Coming faster then anyone may think. So why sweat the small stuff when there is so much more to be concerned about. Instead of wasting energy on trivial issues we should be focusing on what is happening around the world and be thankful we live in a peace loving country.
Exactly Stella. We have so much to be thankful for and don’t appreciate it until one misses it. It is hell on earth around the world and my sister in law poured out her heart. On what my husband and I make we help them out financially trying to keep our two families going. My brother in law in Australia does the same thing and has purchased the apartment for them some years ago so as they would not be stuck with high rent that they cannot afford.
We need to look after one another and it is God’s wish that we do just that.
You see Stella I push for what is important in life and not something that is stupid. It is important to have food on the table and a roof over one’s head and it doesn’t have to be fancy but practical. I want to see our seniors looked after who can no longer look after themselves. I want to see Jamie prosper and continue his fight. I want to see the people wake up to what is real and get out there and help and get rid of Kilger. These things have to be done and cannot wait at all.
Jamie about April Fool’s day – when my son was in grade school here in Ottawa he had a teacher and a teacher’s aid. The teacher’s aid was mighty fat and my son and his classmates went and took a woopie cushion and placed in on the teacher’s aid’s chair and she literally deflated that thing down to nothing. The teacher himself had to leave the room to have a good laugh since he couldn’t do that there so as not to encourage any more monkey business from the herd. LOL LOL. ROLF!
Some years ago when we first came back to Ottawa my son visited another school where the teacher’s aid was working and she told my son that he didn’t change – the same little monkey that she helped teach. The teacher’s aid contacted the teacher who is now retired in PEI and they both had a good laugh on all the old memories.
I laugh every now and then on what my son and his classmates did. I have made a scrapbook with some very good memories and I will cherish them for as long as I live and beyond.
Jamie life is mighty short and we must not let the little things get in the way and enjoy each minute that we possibly can. Take care and keep on trudging.
Well Jules I did get one AF’s joke, but arrived on the 2nd. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCnqZ85dxs0
Wow admin really ?hmmmm…..interesting
admin, stella and jules: Yes, right on! Too much navel gazing, not just in our neck of the woods but all across the country….and this suits Prime Muzzler Harper and his pea-brained conservatives just fine. So the question is: What are we going to do about it?
Jamie I just looked at your video and I laughed so much that my table was shaking and I had to delete and retype. This is great indeed. I posted on your video as well.
I think that if Bob moves here in Ottawa I may move back to Cornwall. This town isn’t big enough for both of us. Sounds like what they used to say in the old west US. LOL LOL. ROLF! Jamie you are good – you have a good one for sure.
P.J. Robertson speaking about pea brains that fish hook nosed Peter MacKay has been sniffing up a lot and you know what I mean without making a description here. LOL LOL. Yes so many fall into the category of what Jamie posted – so very funny.
Our economy is in very big trouble and Harper is hiding the truth from the Canadian people. My daughter has been unemployed since November 30th and a friend of my daughter’s who works as a cashier across from us in a grocery store was telling us that her sister just became unemployed and her son has been looking for work and cannot find anything so far. All the people who worked with my daughter are out of work and no luck. Like Anna said that if she didn’t work they would go down. We said how mighty expensive things are and it takes two and more big incomes to keep one’s head above water. My husband hates it here with a passion and so does my daughter. Well it may gradually happen that we may be going back to Cornwall – not right away but eventually.
What Ottawa used to be like is gone now and gone for good. Bob would suit this town well – full of crooks and corrupt like himself so he would feel at home. I just hope that he takes his corrupt gang out of Cornwall and that Cornwall can be cleaned up.
My daughter and I went out across from us to get a few things at the mall and we noticed ribbons across that prevent all of us from going through since they are going to tear down the mall and are building individual stores. One lady who is disabled didn’t know what to do and paid over $14.00 for taxi to go there and the store that she needed was closed and we took her around where the store will be. We then spotted the store opened from the other side which normally was closed and took her there. It is going to affect the elderly and disabled. She always buzzed on the door to open and now she cannot. She was in a wheelchair and was worried that the battery in her wheelchair would not work. We took her in and left her there to get the staff to help her. This lady was fed up about what is going on. I told her this morning that we are fed up about many things and that we may be moving back to Cornwall eventually. She even said that Ottawa has gone downhill.
Jamie I fell on something that might interest you as a story of NON CORNWALL and it is something that concerns Canada and the US with N. Korea.
I just came off your site and fell on this and it is no April Fool joke so I wanted to tell you what I saw on Yahoo and there is a video for you to see. You can post this if you wish and where you want it.
Vancouver Island residents do double-take when trainload of US missiles cruises by
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew
The nutcase that runs N. Korea wants to fight S. Korea as well as US bases in Hawaii, Gwam, etc. This is real news. WWIII has always been predicted even for the Middle East and it is in the Bible as well. This is more scarry than Bare Ass and his corrupted bunch of crooks.
@PJ….vote Harper out!! Thinking Justin could do much better.
OMG !!!
That figures. I guess it makes sense this would be said by THAT person.
After all, Justin DID SAY this country is better off with “more French Quebecer’s in power” running it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDNKcLea8Cw&hd=1
Yup, a whiff of something but i don’t think it’s superiority.
“Cest payeee Canada et at nous.”
Yeah right !!!
Guess again there Justin…
Oh and BTW Stella, i didn’t — “make” — this video You pal Justin DID… I just posted it…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDNKcLea8Cw&hd=1
Jamie as for that chicken place with that woman in the video joke you could have named it THE BEST LITTLE CHICKEN HOUSE IN TOWN. Remember Dolly Parton’s movie and I don’t want to use the W word but it suits it so well. That is a good one and I want to look at it again.
Yes vote Harpo out!
I would like the readers to know that I recently approached Jamie
to seek his advice on a subject far removed from CFN and Cornwall-related issues. I received a balanced and informed response to my questions and several hours of his time to cover the issues. Jamie and I don’t know each other and he certainly doesn’t owe me any favours.
I’m awfully impressed with the man’s sense of ethics and willingness to help out someone who is basically, a total stranger.
I don’t encounter this kind of generosity very often and I don’t take it lightly
Michael that’s the film biz. As sleazy a rap as it gets I was given the same courtesy by some very accomplished and dare say famous filmmakers as I was working my way up the food chain.
stellabystarlight
April 3, 2013 at 4:56 pm
@PJ….vote Harper out!! Thinking Justin could do much better.
Try not thinking Stella it not becoming of you .
If Justintimeformedia gets in ,it will surly divide the country the west remains resentful of his fathers policies and as well many Quebecers remember Pierre’s legacy there as well.
Garneau would have been a better choice ,well educated, experienced and did not grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth.
But the liberals want to utilize his popularity with the media (mainly cbc) to get those popularity votes.
He remains without substance and in the end I see the liberals paying a big price with his leadership as his has foot in mouth disease.
With Justin’s belief that Canada is Quebec’s and with that he will continue to push Quebec policies on the rest of the country -if that were so expect a revolution.
Last time I checked there was more then one province and territory in Canada and all have equal say!
I too would have much preferred Garneau and yes a great deal more educated, more experienced, older in years, and was right for Canada. Young Justin as you see I do call him young Justin and he does not have what his father had. Don’t forget Pierre Trudeau was Minister of Justice, was a professor of Law and he had a lot of experience in politics long before he was PM. Pierre Trudeau had a personality that his son does not have nor will have and is way too young and inexperienced to be PM and has a very long time to go before he would get anything of real importance.
Young Justin is a nice young man and is intelligent but in no way is he ready to be a PM not yet. He has a long time yet to be more mature and experienced before undertaking such a job. I don’t care for Harpo at all and never have and I didn’t vote for him at all but voted NDP so as to not give my vote to Harpo nor to the Liberal idiot that they had running. There was no other alternative but to put my vote to NDP. Now I do not have a choice again – SHUCKS!
highlander wrote: If Justintimeformedia gets in ,it will surly divide the country etc
If anyone is trying and wants to divide this country……..IT IS YOU GUYS…..ca-vas? It has been repested ad nauseum during the language debates…….it’s sickening
@ jules
Understandable doubts about JT. However, winning and holding a blue-collar seat in Montreal is no mean feat. Nor is thumping cocky Patrick Brazeau in the ring, against the odds. Plus 14 years growing up alongside PET in 24 Sussex is experience you can’t buy. Also he takes after his mother, who does great work for mental health. JT may surprise us all in very welcome ways.
@Jules
I’m surprised that you would feel you have to hold your nose to vote NDP.
After all, they are the party who cares, the most, about social justice and taking care of the little guy.
Don’t you think that the Liberals are very much like the Conservatives, once elected?
Pierre I think the NDP being a party that cares died with Jack Layton. I can tell you from our local experience that I’ve never seen such collective hypocrisy.
Pierre when I voted NDP I thought a great deal about Jack Layton and he died without seeing himself win.
About NDP representing the little guy well Bob Rae was supposed to represent the little guy and instead he turned his back on the little people and then became a “turncoat” and went Liberal. Bob Rae put the province of Ontario in a big mess.
Yes the Liberals and Conservatives do have a great deal in common – they are all liars and cheats and steal from the public.
P.J. Robertson you are right when you said that Justin Trudeau is like his mom – he looks like her and he takes care of her as well. She has a house in Ottawa and a condo in Montreal across from Pierre’s mansion.
My husband used to drive taxi many years ago and he met Margaret Trudeau and even drove Jean Chrétien one time when Jean had his own driver and decided to take my husband instead. Jean is very down to earth in those days. Margaret Trudeau is a very nice person according to my husband and she sat down next to some people and my husband was there at the time and she was very beautiful and very friendly.
I liked Jack Layton and he comes from a family of “blue bloods” and he has no nose sticking up in the air like a lot of the rich and is down to earth. I admire the way he lived and he believed in the little people but not all people are like that.
I saw that John Manley quite a number of years ago and he is so mighty stuck up that you would hate the guy.
As for Justin Trudeau yes he lived in the political arena with his dad as PM and he learned a lot from his dad which is very true indeed and he is well travelled but he is still very young and does not have the same experience as his dad had. Justin is a very nice person and I wouldn’t mind voting for him but that man Garneau had more experience of life in general compared to young Justin.
Yes Margaret works hard for mental health and I sure do salute her for that. Margaret has travelled to Africa to make wells for the poor people in villages. She has something called “Operation Watercan” and if you would like to see her she is on a program called “The Hour” on youtube.com being interviewed. Go down the names or type in her name and it will come up. She is a lovely person to talk to.