Canadians REALLY don't like guns

[HotelSecurity]

If I may ask- why did Quebec want to secede anyway?

Because there are 350,000,000 English speaking people in North America & only 7,000,000 French speaking people. Quebec businesses operated in English. A lot of Québecois felt that one day they were going to loose their language. They feel that the best way to protect it would be to set up their own country where English & French are not offical languages & they could protect French better.

BTW in the 2 referendums we have had on looking at independance the most the separatists ever got was 49%. It is a lot but shows that "Quebec" did not want to secede, only 49% of the population & thanks in part to Loi 101 this percentage is way down. I believe hard core separatists hover around 20%.

[Ron Jessee]

Yeah, my ex girlfriend moved there for about 6 months to work at a studio last year. She had taken french lessons but just doesnt have the tongue for it (no remarks please fellas). She got deported the WEEK after flunking her class.

If I may ask- why did Quebec want to secede anyway?

[sgtnewby]

Duh...

When was the last time anyone saw a video camera or a communications repeater jump off the wall and subdue a gunman? Just wondering...

[HotelSecurity]

Speaking of liberals, did you see this week Dion said the Quebec bill 101 was good for Canada?

Well Eric I have had to live with it for the past 30 + years (there was Bill 22 before it) & unfortunately I almost have to agree. If it were not for 101 Quebec would certainly have seperated. The fact that the federal govermentS (Liberal & Conservative) did not strike it down took the wind out of the sails of the seperatists.

As for the Liberals at least Trudeau fought the separatists. Malroney brought them into his cabinet (Bouchard).

For the non-Canadians, Bill 101 is Quebec's French Language law that was adopted 30 years ago to protect the French language in North America. It severly restricted the use of other languages in Quebec, even Canada's other offical language, English. It has become less oppressive over the years.

[Eric]

The Police associations carry a lot of weight when deciding rules for Security, and will protect their own high paying great benefit roles in society. We have been seeing that in Ontario over the last few years leading up to a revamped Security Officer act.

Speaking of liberals, did you see this week Dion said the Quebec bill 101 was good for Canada?

Heaven forbid that we actually be given the tools to perform our job correctly and then when we are prevented from safely detaining and arresting a criminal we are held to further derision and ridicule for being ineffective.

Sadly, most citizens of this country would only nod and bow when the liberals want to give the criminals more rights than law enforcement.

[Eric]

Agreed, all countries have problems. I wonder about the Russia take over thing though. Canada was in WW2 in 1939 and the US in, was it 1943?..because any earlier was not the political right time. Canada was a big part of the DEW Line (distant early warning) and NORAD, which I thought were because of the pesky Russians. We also had people in Afganistan before it was reported, along side the US and Briton etc. We are in that same sand box now freeing up other soldiers to tackle other areas.
I have American relatives, and have met many good people over the years as well. If we just get rid of some of these special interest groups with full time paid organizers.....and the few idiots who bad mouth the US, because those are the minority that are picked up by the media.

DITTO, although I can't say it's the only reason. There's also the little problem of their immigration policies. As bad as our own policies might be, there are even worse ones, and Canada has 'em in spades.

Nice folks, most Canadians, but to me they're a bit too much like your lovable, loony Uncle George who thinks the world is a big cotton-candy factory, that dogs never bite, and that wee fairies will protect him from boogey-men while he sleeps. Of course, we are the ones who have given them the luxury of entertaining their delusions. In a very real sense, Canada has never had to grow up and live in the real world, thanks to us.

There's one thing that I don't think most Canadians realize. It's a 10-minute walk from Russia to Canada. Had it not been for the US throughout the Cold War, we'd be talking about Torontoskoya, Winnipegski and Ottawaskow right now. Believe it. The only thing that the Soviets probably couldn't have taken would have been Quebec, as there's still some of them little buggers there that know how to fight...and the meaning of the word "liberte".

[Ron Jessee]

After seeing video footage of Canadian ops in Afghanistan, I will never talk bad about their military. And as to their views of the US, Their media is attacking US policy. I don't take offense to media. It's not like their first priority is factual events anyway.

[HotelSecurity]

Born and raised Canadian, I feel almost a stranger living here in my own country at times.
The sick, sad Liberal government and citizen sheep over the past 50 years have almost wholly neutered our military and killed a good portion of spending on defence.
What our current Conservative government has been doing is trying to play "catch up" and trying to undo the misdeeds of the eunuch Liberals.
Most recently, our Customs agents at the border were permitted to be selected and trained for carrying sidearms.

In a world where the rules only apply to the lawful, the lawless seem to be free of any restrictions and when caught are sentenced to a slap on the wrist, given credit for time served in custody and freed to re-offend at will.

Most private security that I know of in Canada cannot carry even pepper spray or batons in their work. I'm not talking armored car guards, I'm talking front line security guards at hospitals, airports, malls, industrial, commercial and construction sites. Here, if you carry a baton or pepper spray (Mace or OC or any type of aerosol weapon or defensive device), you are opening yourself to criminal charges (moreso if you use it).

I've seen the quality of many guards in what can often be seen as a "warm body" industry and I wholly support any sort of legislation that would enable mandatory testing and licensing of any security officer in carrying a baton, pepper spray or handcuffs in the performance of their duty. Included in that would be any testing for re-qualification to carry any of those items.

Heaven forbid that we actually be given the tools to perform our job correctly and then when we are prevented from safely detaining and arresting a criminal we are held to further derision and ridicule for being ineffective.

Sadly, most citizens of this country would only nod and bow when the liberals want to give the criminals more rights than law enforcement.

I didn't see any changes under Clark, Malroney & Campbell (ok she was Prime Minister for a week, wasn't she?) & they were/are Conservative aren't they?

BTW the no baton thing is I believe a BC law. I can carry & use a baton in Quebec. I can also buy pepper spray. The Canadian Criminal Code makes it illegal to spray a human with it.

[Maelstrom]

In a world where the rules only apply to the lawful, the lawless seem to be free of any restrictions and when caught are sentenced to a slap on the wrist, given credit for time served in custody and freed to re-offend at will.

Sadly that seems to be the world all over, the more enlightened human beings we try/claim to be... the opposite of that reality becomes ever increasingly apparent

In short, there's far too many oxygen thieves in the world, assisted by political correctness gone insane!

[metalgolem]

Born and raised Canadian, I feel almost a stranger living here in my own country at times.
The sick, sad Liberal government and citizen sheep over the past 50 years have almost wholly neutered our military and killed a good portion of spending on defence.
What our current Conservative government has been doing is trying to play "catch up" and trying to undo the misdeeds of the eunuch Liberals.
Most recently, our Customs agents at the border were permitted to be selected and trained for carrying sidearms.

In a world where the rules only apply to the lawful, the lawless seem to be free of any restrictions and when caught are sentenced to a slap on the wrist, given credit for time served in custody and freed to re-offend at will.

Most private security that I know of in Canada cannot carry even pepper spray or batons in their work. I'm not talking armored car guards, I'm talking front line security guards at hospitals, airports, malls, industrial, commercial and construction sites. Here, if you carry a baton or pepper spray (Mace or OC or any type of aerosol weapon or defensive device), you are opening yourself to criminal charges (moreso if you use it).

I've seen the quality of many guards in what can often be seen as a "warm body" industry and I wholly support any sort of legislation that would enable mandatory testing and licensing of any security officer in carrying a baton, pepper spray or handcuffs in the performance of their duty. Included in that would be any testing for re-qualification to carry any of those items.

Heaven forbid that we actually be given the tools to perform our job correctly and then when we are prevented from safely detaining and arresting a criminal we are held to further derision and ridicule for being ineffective.

Sadly, most citizens of this country would only nod and bow when the liberals want to give the criminals more rights than law enforcement.

[Maelstrom]

Nice folks, most Canadians, but to me they're a bit too much like your lovable, loony Uncle George who thinks the world is a big cotton-candy factory, that dogs never bite, and that wee fairies will protect him from boogey-men while he sleeps. Of course, we are the ones who have given them the luxury of entertaining their delusions. In a very real sense, Canada has never had to grow up and live in the real world, thanks to us.

Canada is a self determining Sovereign Nation, who has contributed it's own citizens as troops in all the major conflicts of the world and continues to do so (as they see fit), just because they live next door doesn't mean they have to agree with everything the US does... nor does the US have to approve of their actions (or inactions), isn't democracy also about tolerance toward others?

There's one thing that I don't think most Canadians realize. It's a 10-minute walk from Russia to Canada. Had it not been for the US throughout the Cold War, we'd be talking about Torontoskoya, Winnipegski and Ottawaskow right now.

Surely it take more than ten minutes to cross Alaska? thus it would be fair to say that Canada benefited from the US merely protecting it's own territory?

[HotelSecurity]

Getting back to the point

The POINT of my post was about Canadian additudes towards guns. It became Canadian bashing, how we did not live up to American expectations.

I still think an apology to our military is in order but if you can't, well life goes on, I am not going to loose sleep over it, I've heard your remarks many times in the past, usually by drunk American kids on spring break, mouthing off against Canadians while surrounded by Canadians. This is when one Canadian usually has to intervene to save the butt of an American!

[SecTrainer]

You need to inform yourself. When Canada refused to join in the invasion of Iraq there was a Liberal government in place. There is now a Conservative one whose thinking is VERY similar to your present government.

Your post said that Canada did not do anything on it's own we relied on the US to protect us. There was no mention of before or after World War II. I still maintain that you have insulted the memories of the Canadian soldiers that fought in this war, Korea & the present one in Ahganistan as well as our many PEACEKEEPING missions. You owe them an apology.

If you will insist on misreading or extending my remarks, you will have to take responsibility for any insult that you find in your own words, as they are not my words.

And, I do try to keep myself informed. As I said, these are not simply opinions I just dreamed up last night. There is a very real problem here and, again, I would urge you to discuss it rather than finding insult where no objective reading of what I have said would show any to exist.

Getting back to the point, however, I want to make sure I understand you correctly. You yourself excuse Canada's schizophrenic behavior during moments of crisis, when the US needs you to step up to the plate, on the basis of whether there happens to be a Liberal or a Conservative government in power at the time.

I can't see that you've diminished anything that I have said. You've only offered an explanation (and probably a good one) for the very behavior that I commented about. In other words, the US can only count on Canada as a responsible partner when there's a Conservative government in power. Any other time, the deal is off. If I am saying that Canada is undependable as a partner, it seems to me that you've said the very same thing.

[HotelSecurity]

WW II is long past, sir, and if you'll notice, my post was addressing Canadian behavior in the years since then.

No, sir. It is we Americans who have been insulted, and are regularly insulted, both in your press and your media (calling the US a "global threat", etc.), and by the voting behavior of your diplomats in the United Nations on matters of grave concern to the United States. Save your outrage for your own leadership and the electorate who egg them on. These are not my opinions - I'll be happy to provide references. The term one researcher used to describe Canada's attitude toward the US now is "passive-aggressive", which I think says it beautifully and expresses the dysfunction as well.

I'm sure you're a fine person, and I know from living in Canada that there are many fine Canadians, but there is no question that there are many ways in which Canada can no longer be considered America's "good neighbor". I take no pleasure in saying so, but I am simply saying what most of us already know. We should deal with the problem instead of becoming insulted about it.

You need to inform yourself. When Canada refused to join in the invasion of Iraq there was a Liberal government in place. There is now a Conservative one whose thinking is VERY similar to your present government.

Your post said that Canada did not do anything on it's own we relied on the US to protect us. There was no mention of before or after World War II. I still maintain that you have insulted the memories of the Canadian soldiers that fought in this war, Korea & the present one in Ahganistan as well as our many PEACEKEEPING missions. You owe them an apology.

[SecTrainer]

The difference is that americans like to talk about their military exploit and show it on the news etc.We canadians fight and die in silence.

Oh, puhleeze.