We're mad as hell

[Driving Rain]

Pent-up anger unites the land
Majority share bond of frustration, poll finds

Richard Foot
The Ottawa Citizen


Monday, July 28, 2008


Gilbert Murphy could take it no more. The price of diesel had topped $1.40 a litre, and he knew it would get more expensive a week later, thanks to British Columbia's incoming carbon tax.

Mr. Murphy was mad. The 74-year-old horse rancher and former oil rig worker couldn't understand how gas prices could climb so high, so fast, in a country so rich in oil.

"But I figured I can't bitch about it if I don't do something," he says.

So on June 21, he and a posse of irate neighbours near Williams Lake, B.C., hitched up their horses -- six wagon teams and 24 outriders in all -- and rode 32 kilometres down the highway into town and back, to protest the rising price of fuel.

"We're going back to the old ways," the horsemen hollered. The protest parade slowed traffic on the road, but only one passing motorist gave them the finger, says Mr. Murphy. Everyone else "honked their horns in support and cheered us on."

A homemade sign on one of the wagons said: "Born free. Taxed to death."

Taxes, gas prices, lousy airline service and ticket surcharges, text messaging fees -- even Tibet -- you name it, Canadians are angry about it.

We are a nation united by our simmering, pent-up piques and frustrations. In this summer of our discontent, a rash of consumer resentments -- led by gas prices -- is fouling our mood as surely as a swarm of mosquitoes on a sunny afternoon.

According to a new poll on the national temperament by Ipsos Reid, carried out for Canwest News Service and Global Television, 71 per cent of Canadians are "really angry or upset" about skyrocketing gas prices.

Consumer complaints aren't the only thing making us hot under the collar.

Of the 1,022 people surveyed in the poll, 62 per cent say they're angry about inaction on environmental issues, 53 per cent are angry about taxes, 51 per cent are upset about neighbourhood crime, and 47 per cent are upset over Canada's mission in Afghanistan.

On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, 43 per cent are even angry about the Chinese government crackdown in Tibet.

In total, 55 per cent of all poll respondents say they're angry or upset about one of these six issues, compared to only 26 per cent who say they're content, or 18 per cent who aren't happy, but are "resigned" to the current state of affairs.

The angry majority consists of two volatile groups: one -- 20 per cent of the total -- made up of people who are doing or planning to do something to show their frustrations, and another -- 35 per cent -- those who are bottling up their anger because they can't "do anything about it."

Ipsos Reid senior vice-president John Wright says the second group was an unexpected discovery.

"We found something that I think is deeply concerning -- this pent-up frustration. It's out there, it's a significant proportion of the public who don't have an outlet for their concerns or their anger," he says. "We expected to find fed-up people, but not pent-up people.

"It's like having natural gas in the air, and if there's a spark of some kind, it can explode."

Mr. Murphy says too many folks keep their frustrations on simmer instead of taking action, as he did.

We weren't always such pushovers, he says.

"In the early days, when the Second World War was on, nobody wanted to fight Canadians. We had a reputation as a fierce bunch of fighting people, proud people. But politicians have made us into a wimp nation," he says.

"We've got no backbone anymore. I know my protest parade won't change the world, but I felt I had to say something. People are just so passive now."

Mr. Murphy has a soulmate in Terry Blake, a retired gas station operator in Port Dover, Ont. In 2004, when gas prices were still under $1 per litre, but rising fast, Mr. Blake decided to make a statement. He drove to a nearby station, pumped $25 worth of fuel and gave the attendant only $20 -- saying that's what the gas was really worth.

"The woman said to me, 'Don't do this.' I said, 'I'm doing it. You'll probably call the police, but give me 10 or 15 minutes to get away. If they want to come and get me, that's fine.'"

The Ontario Provincial Police said he'd be arrested if he didn't hand over the remaining $5, which he later did. But Mr. Blake had made his point, and soon he was being interviewed on television and radio stations as far away as California.

In an interview last week, Mr. Blake said he wanted to "raise a little hell and embarrass the oil companies a little." He says they deserve to make a profit off their business, but not "the billions they rake in."

"They'll destroy the country, as far as I'm concerned," he says. "The cost of gas and diesel are going to push up the costs of everything from transportation to food. I honestly think the economy of the country is going to fall apart from this, but the oil companies don't give a damn."

The Internet is where Bob Baker parked his anger following a nasty experience with Air Canada. After a rare weekend away with his wife in Ottawa last December, their flight home to Newfoundland was disrupted by a winter storm.

They were kept overnight at the Halifax airport without hotel or food vouchers or much information from the airline. In the morning, they were told Air Canada couldn't get them home for another two weeks -- after Christmas -- which prompted Mr. Baker to fork out $915 to buy extra tickets home on WestJet.

After the ordeal, Mr. Baker started a Facebook site, "Air Canada screwed me," and invited other passengers to share their own nightmare stories.

Mr. Baker's case was one of several that convinced Newfoundland Liberal MP Gerry Byrne to introduce a motion in Parliament this spring calling for an "airline passenger's bill of rights." The motion was passed unanimously by the House of Commons, but has yet to be acted upon by the government.

Mr. Baker says more Canadians need to stand up and shout when something makes them mad. "I know there's a lot of anger out there," he says. "But most Canadians, especially consumers, prefer to smile and shake hands and just try to get along.

"After being treated the way I was, I decided the airline had to be held accountable. And I feel what I did actually did make a difference."

The Ipsos Reid poll for Canwest News Service was an online survey of 1,022 Canadian adults, conducted from May 22-26. Its findings are considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

[Hedley]

It is part of the oddly Canadian character that we
so quickly bend over and take it from the government,
or anyone else that wants to shaft us.

Weirdly, Canadians get very angry when you point
out their willingness to take it up the rear from
anyone that wanders up with a stiffie.

Do keep in mind that the gov't is making buckets
of tax money on high gas prices. Taxes are NOT
cents per liter, they are percent-based, so every
time gas prices go up, there's a celebration in
the government - more tax dollars, that they
can spend to buy votes.

But you can't point this out. No, that's rude.

Keep bending over, Canada. You keep telling
me that you like it, so who am I to disagree
with you?

[2R]

I am not mad ,I am crazy

If i have to explain the difference to you,you must be mad

If i was rich and owned a pitts they would politely call me eccentric

[Edo]

why is diesel more expensive than gas?

Gas is is lighter (and contains less hydrocarbons?) and requires more refining - is doesnt make sense.

[C-GGGQ]

always USED to be cheaper, don't know why the switch now

[Driving Rain]

Diesel always had price swings. The winter months fuel oil which is basically diesel had increased demand so the winter price was higher. In the summer it usually dropped. The new diesel which now contains only 15 parts per million sulphur is causing the refineries headaches on the switchover. Guess who takes it UTA.
BTW, Europe has had this diesel for years now. Thanks to GW Bush and company North America is finally getting on board.
When the new diesel fuel finally gets distributed everywhere we should see a modest price drop. Of course many more clean diesels will hit the road and then we can be expected to take it UTA all over again.

[Edo]

Low sulfur - A buddy of mine who farms said the stuff is so dry its hard on seals in the equipment, but a liter of 10W30 added to farm tank makes the problem go away.

[bater]

How about this novel idea....
STOP paying Oil Rig workers with a grade 10 education as much or more than a family doctor for doing mindless labour!!! Some of these guys are making 120K plus a year from what I'm told. It's driving a false economy in AB, and it's the rest of us that are paying through the nose for these morons enormous trucks and 300-400K dollar CONDOS!!!! The bottom has to fall out at some point and things like housing will start actually costing what they are worth. The oil companies know the golden rule of business: pass the cost along to the customer, which is one of the reasons for high prices. If only the airlines would figure this out, conditions would improve, pay would get better, days would get shorter and there would be a general improvement in morale.

[North Shore]

A homemade sign on one of the wagons said: "Born free. Taxed to death."

Buddy should drive his wagon up to the YWL airport, and look at some of the pictures on the wall, paying specific attention to the one showing the Cariboo Wagon going up the dirt highway back in the day. Then he should complain about his taxes.

How about this novel idea....
STOP paying Oil Rig workers with a grade 10 education as much or more than a family doctor for doing mindless labour!!! Some of these guys are making 120K plus a year from what I'm told. It's driving a false economy in AB,

+1

[200hr Wonder]

How about this novel idea....
STOP paying Oil Rig workers with a grade 10 education as much or more than a family doctor for doing mindless labour!!! Some of these guys are making 120K plus a year from what I'm told. It's driving a false economy in AB, and it's the rest of us that are paying through the nose for these morons enormous trucks and 300-400K dollar CONDOS!!!! The bottom has to fall out at some point and things like housing will start actually costing what they are worth. The oil companies know the golden rule of business: pass the cost along to the customer, which is one of the reasons for high prices. If only the airlines would figure this out, conditions would improve, pay would get better, days would get shorter and there would be a general improvement in morale.

Here is the problem: THE WORK SUCKS. It is cold wet or frozen, long hours, away from home and family, up to your boots in mud, it is dangerous, then you get to back to a shitty camp shack, eat shitty food, wake up and do it all over again or 12 hours. Now if the rigs where paying the same as say a construction job or factory labour in major center where do you think a guy would work? Bingo and get to go home to the family every night. The simple fact is that these guys go there for the money only. No money no workers. And 120K is for a drill man who actually runs the drill and is a relatively skilled job. A new labourer makes maybe half that a year. Not a bad salary but a shit job.

[Driving Rain]

How about this novel idea....
STOP paying Oil Rig workers with a grade 10 education as much or more than a family doctor for doing mindless labour!!! Some of these guys are making 120K plus a year from what I'm told. It's driving a false economy in AB, and it's the rest of us that are paying through the nose for these morons enormous trucks and 300-400K dollar CONDOS!!!! The bottom has to fall out at some point and things like housing will start actually costing what they are worth. The oil companies know the golden rule of business: pass the cost along to the customer, which is one of the reasons for high prices. If only the airlines would figure this out, conditions would improve, pay would get better, days would get shorter and there would be a general improvement in morale.

Well the graduation rate has been hit pretty hard out there.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... ional/home
Oil boom batters Alberta graduation rate
Economy helps province post Canada's only enrolment increase - but lure of jobs means fewer than 68% complete high school
MICHAEL VALPY

July 29, 2008 at 2:56 AM EDT

Alberta's hot economy is putting money into people's pockets. But it's also pulling the kids out of school, leaving Alberta with the lowest high-school graduation rate of any province, according to a Statistics Canada report released yesterday.

Alberta shows the only increase in school enrolment in the country, because young people with children or of child-bearing age have moved there in search of good jobs and in sufficient numbers to trump the effect of the falling birth rate across Canada.

But the same enticing job prospects also appear to be luring young Albertans out of the classroom, said Patric Blouin, author of the report entitled Summary Public School Indicators for the Provinces and Territories, 1999/2000 to 2005/2006.

Only 67.9 per cent of young Albertans in 2005-06 stayed in school long enough to graduate, somewhat better than the 63.6 per cent in 1999-2000. Only the northern territories posted lower percentage.
This is particularly galling in a province that has been able to boast having one of the country's most innovative public school systems.

Kathy Telfer, a spokeswoman for Alberta Education, said the numbers aren't as bad as they look, because many dropouts later return to complete high school. For example, if young Albertans are tracked for five years after they enter high school in Grade 10, their graduation rate is actually 79.5 per cent, Ms. Telfer said.

But she also acknowledged in an interview yesterday, "We knew we had to do better." And she said the province and local school boards have done a lot of work in recent years, developing programs to keep young people in school.

The national high-school graduation rate was 72.1 per cent in 2005-06, down slightly from the 1999-2000 figure of 73.8 per cent.

The highest rates of all were in the Atlantic provinces, where Mr. Blouin suggested young people are more inclined to stay in school because there are too few good jobs to tease them out. In other words, where money to be made in the fishery once lured the boys of Atlantic Canada out of school, now, on the other side of the country, money to be made from the tar sands is luring the boys - and the girls - out of Alberta's schools.

Mr. Blouin's report has other things to say about Canada's socioeconomic demographics.

In a country with one of the lowest birth rates in the world, the decline in numbers of school-age children - down 3 per cent from 1999-2000 to 5.2 million, despite an overall population increase of more than two million - in all provinces except Alberta is not surprising.

In Ontario, the decline is a mere 0.6 per cent, reflecting the countervailing impact of immigration. But in the Atlantic provinces, which have low immigration and continuing economic uncertainty, the decline in enrolment and in the number of school-age children is horrendous - nearly 20 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador, the highest in the country.

An education official in the province who asked to speak only for background said it is increasingly common to find outport communities without any children under 5.

He said the decline in enrolment is starting to smooth out after the catastrophic out-migration from the province in the 1990s. The economy is improving, and more young Newfoundlanders are choosing not to leave. But the schools will continue to experience declining enrolment for some time to come because so many people of child-bearing age have left the province.

[PopnChipper]

Just a thought on the original article here.

The BC carbon tax was meant to persuade people from burning fuels that emit carbon into the atmosphere. So, by hitching up the old mare in the yard, and taking the wagon to town instead of the F150, or the Silverado, we have a cleaner (not counting the dung piles along the road side), more relaxed method of transportation. I am not sure about the rest of you, but it seems to me that the tax is working if these are the results we are going to be seeing.

[MUSKEG]

200 HR. Don't know where you get your info but I have spent many weeks in camps and I have not run across a shitty camp. They are clean, each room has it's own TV, and internet hookups, FREE I might add. The food is better that most restaurants, and you can eat as much as you want, whenever you want. (there are a few hrs where you need to help yourself) ah such a hardship. There are those who are working to help finance some other goal they have in mind, yes they will miss their family. For the rest the only thing they miss are the peelers and the bar scene. As far as being dangerous, workers comp has inforced changes that has taken some of the stupidity out of it and it's a lot safer than many other occupations. These guys are well paid and most overpaid to do what they do. I see them come pennyless and 2 weeks later leave with thousands in there pockets and 1 week later they are back ....................pennyless. Wish I owned the airliner hotel, on second thought no amount of money is worth that.

[JakeYYZ]

When you live in a country were one man elected by 41,000 actual votes the PM, is allowed to appoint all judges for the whole country, appoint all Heads of State, the Gov. Gen's and LT. Gov.'s, appoint 50% of the Government the Senate. Appoint the 4th Order of Gubmint the Privy Council. Appoint the Heads of all Crown Corporations. What other outcome can you expect? Canada is nothing more than a modern day Kleptocracy. This corruption started with the passing of the Statute of Westminister 1931. At that time each Province was to get the citizen's of the Provinces to agree to a new Federation. That never happened. The bureaucracy now runs the country, through the PM. who has usurped all power from the Royalty of England. Until Canadians finally say enough and Demand a Constitution of the people, by the people and for the people this corruption will continue.

[Dust Devil]

How about this novel idea....
STOP paying Oil Rig workers with a grade 10 education as much or more than a family doctor for doing mindless labour!!! Some of these guys are making 120K plus a year from what I'm told. It's driving a false economy in AB, and it's the rest of us that are paying through the nose for these morons enormous trucks and 300-400K dollar CONDOS!!!! The bottom has to fall out at some point and things like housing will start actually costing what they are worth. The oil companies know the golden rule of business: pass the cost along to the customer, which is one of the reasons for high prices. If only the airlines would figure this out, conditions would improve, pay would get better, days would get shorter and there would be a general improvement in morale.

Anyone who thinks it's a dummy job is a fool. The guy who earns that big 6 figure salary has likely spent the last 10 years + working his way up from low man on the totem pole. Sure just to move pipe it doesn't take a high school diploma but if your useless your not going anywhere. It amounts to a trade with a 10 year apprenticeship attached to it. I remember Engineering students coming out to work who absolutely knew jack shit about how to kill a well or even understood how the tools work down hole.

It's hardly a false economy as labour is a commodity just like anything else and when there is a labour shortage like we have out west you are going to see the price tag on that labour go up. But there is alot more to these jobs than just Labour. If you don't have a head on your shoulders you won't go far. Just like any job. Unless it's government of course.

[Dust Devil]

200 HR. Don't know where you get your info but I have spent many weeks in camps and I have not run across a shitty camp. They are clean, each room has it's own TV, and internet hookups, FREE I might add. The food is better that most restaurants, and you can eat as much as you want, whenever you want. (there are a few hrs where you need to help yourself) ah such a hardship. There are those who are working to help finance some other goal they have in mind, yes they will miss their family. For the rest the only thing they miss are the peelers and the bar scene. As far as being dangerous, workers comp has inforced changes that has taken some of the stupidity out of it and it's a lot safer than many other occupations. These guys are well paid and most overpaid to do what they do. I see them come pennyless and 2 weeks later leave with thousands in there pockets and 1 week later they are back ....................pennyless. Wish I owned the airliner hotel, on second thought no amount of money is worth that.

If they are overpaid why don't you do it? personally I don't think the pay is enough. that's why I hope I never have to go back. I do agree that most camps are pretty sweet. Steak and lobster night were always good. A few camps down the chin road were a little sketchy last time i was down there though. I think Paramount had one of the nicest camps around Bistchu Lake. I've never been to one of the massive camps they have up noth. Most I've been too had a dozen trailers or so.

[SkyWolfe]

BC Carbon Tax is a load of crap. Where EXACTLY is the money going? Secondly, the transit system is expensive, inefficient, dirty, unsafe, shall I go on?

I'm not gonna haul around 6 bags of groceries pregnant, I'm not going to move closer to work, because then I pay rent through my nose...

Sorry, that stupid tax might work for some, but I think most people have reason to drive around.


On topic now - I joined the "Screwed by Air Canada" group.

Wolfie

[altiplano]

-

[xsbank]

Wolfie, are you carrying around a freeloading passenger? Have you got something to tell us, besides Hawaii? Are you finding a plentiful source of dill pickle ice cream in Yellowknife?

[SkyWolfe]

I ate a pickle the size of a cucumber the other day... Man, I never wanted a pickle so bad!

Don't tell Air North and Air Canada, or West Jet, Ive been ripping them all off for the price of one passenger

[. ._]

We are NOT MAD at all!

We keep electing the same old Liberals and Conservatives that are bought and paid for by the corporations.

If we were mad, we'd elect someone else to @#$! us over.

People LOVE to get fucked, that's why they keep getting fucked. They WANT to be lied to. They WANT TO BE FUCKED!

That's why they're so content.

-istp

[xsbank]

"I ate a pickle the size of a cucumber the other day..." Umm, Wolfie, ever read the ingredients on a pickle bottle?

Well, well well, congratulations to you two - stay safe, stay healthy and keep us apprised of when the tiny Wolfie arrives!!

[SkyWolfe]

I also have pregnancy brain LOL

Usually the pickles are smaller was kinda what I was trying to say

Yeah, Due New Years mwhahaha

Wow, totally Hijacked this thread

[JakeYYZ]

While no system is totally perfect I much admire the Swiss system where the people can veto their members of government voting themselves a pay raise, exceeding their budget, raising taxes and any major decision.
My preference would be for government to be forced to go to a referendum on, SSM, multiculturalism, official bilingualism, immigration, foreign aid, and any major issue having a major affect on Canadian society. I am sick and tired of the destruction of traditional Canada and the social engineering by government and its bureaucrats. In order words I am sick and tired of this elitist top-down decision making.
I'm dreaming in Technicolor, I know.

[2R]

I also have pregnancy brain LOL

Usually the pickles are smaller was kinda what I was trying to say

Yeah, Due New Years mwhahaha

Wow, totally Hijacked this thread

Baby will not be able to log the flight time until fourteen years old for the purposes of issuing a licence