Happy Holidays!

Pride & Prejudice

As expected, Harper's motion to reopen the same-sex marriage debate was easily defeated in Parliament today.

Dion allowed a free-vote for the Liberals, and overall 175-123 MPs voted against the motion. Now Harper, can you leave it alone? Will you sink so low as to invoke the notwithstanding clause, or do you know when it's over?

So, now that everyone is assured of their right to marry, let's get on to the next item: Ban Marriage! [I saw the Hidden Cameras last night..... how i've missed them!] Back in 04 when gay marriage was first allowed, the band had to make more ban marriage pins, this time with a same-sex version. nice.

Dion is On

How does one prepare parliamentary diatribes while spending the weekend sweating and speeching for votes? I have no idea, but somehow Dion has done his homework, and today he began his role as the new leader of the Liberals with exciting and important criticisms. Ignatieff also stepped up with excellent follow-up questions regarding the cuts to Status of Women.

As reported by the G & M:

“When the government is posting a multi-million-dollar budget surplus, thanks to the previous Liberal government, why has the prime minister closed 12 of the 16 Status of Women offices across Canada, if it is not to cripple those who dare challenge his government's neo-conservative ideology?” Dion said.

Mr. Harper responded by assuring the House that the funding cuts would be redirected and reallocated “to make it more effective for ordinary people, not to flow it into party coffers.”

Mr. Ignatieff picked up the baton, asking the government to detail the specific programs and commitments that would gain from the reallocation of funds. Minister for the Status of Women Bev Oda said $5-million would be made available to community organizations across the nation.

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Maybe the Liberals could also ask Harper why he has refused to introduce equal pay legislation?

that's weird...

A poll group has created a Relative Happiness Index (RHI) to gauge the level of happiness experienced by Canadians, with special emphasis on finding out whether money actually guarantees happiness or not.

Apparently money really doesn't matter, because New Brunswick scored the highest out of the whole country... We're the happiest! Followed by Newfoundland and PEI.

The Atlantic provinces were the happiest, with the score getting lower and lower in the western provinces. Oddly, Nova Scotia was unlike the rest of the Maritimes and scored the lowest in the country. Why so unhappy NS?

I find NB's results fascinating. How can this be? High unemployment, low wages, constant governemental complaining about the mass-exodus of workers to Alberta, the lack of daycare spots, the unattainable abortion situation (unless you can afford it/have medical approval), the obesity of the population.... and we're the happiest? I wanted to see what questions the survey agency posed, but they were not listed on the website.

Maybe the high Atlantic rating is the result of all that balmy Atlantic weather. It's hard to feel elated here in Edmonton when it hasn't been above -8 since the last week of October....

Happiness is freedom of movement, is being able to speak to the person you are walking beside without having to perform full-body turns because your neck and head are so bundled they won't rotate.

See the article below, or visit their website:


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The New Brunswick Paradox

More than a paradox, New Brunswick shows all the characteristics of a distinct society and serves up a few lessons on life.
Despite having one of the lowest provincial GDPs and one of the lowest proportions of individuals declaring very high incomes, New Brunswick recorded the highest RHI in Canada.

The paradox is even more evident when you consider the fact that the residents of this province also have a number of the characteristics that normally are associated with a diminishing happiness index. More of them come from large families and, as we saw before, members of large families tend to have lower-than-average RHI values.

The same is true for people who generally find it more difficult to accept life today as it is and those who are concerned about the future. New Brunswick has the greatest proportion of people with these characteristics. A similar trend exists with technological advances: New Brunswick seems to have more trouble than the other provinces in keeping pace.
Then where does this optimism and greater propensity for happiness come from? Probably from the attitude of New Brunswickers, because their province is the place in Canada that agrees the least with the idea that modern society makes it more difficult to achieve happiness. Furthermore, New Brunswick has the greatest number of individuals who think that people in the past were just as happy as people are today and will be tomorrow. This is definitely a positive attitude.
Although they find it more difficult to accept life today as it is, more of them state that they are living the lives that they dreamed of.

Above all, New Brunswickers appear to be more in touch with their feelings and turned in the highest scores for most of the twelve happiness influence factors. In this regard, and perhaps this is where we should focus our attention, New Brunswick is the only province that did not rank spiritual life last among the happiness influence factors. In fact, they gave it a score of 80.50, which is 12 points over the Canadian average. Another positive attitude.

Will New Brunswick be able to hold its slot when the next RHI is revealed? Is it too early to talk about a trend? While these figures may be indicative of a trend, a number of signs are not very encouraging, including the province's low differential between improvement and deterioration of the state or happiness of people last year (24 versus 26 for Canada) and the fact that there are far fewer New Brunswickers (47% versus 57%) who indicated that they were satisfied with what they had accomplished in their lives up until now.

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Interesting:
- that NBer's report feeling left behind by technology. Hmm?? Wasn't it Frank McKenna's legacy to entrench NB with IT and communications companies and programmes, and wasn't Fredericton the first "Wireless" city in Canada?
- being collectively happy makes us a distinct society?! sweet. better get rolling on our secession platform.
"Welcome to Irvingville, the capital of Happyland/ Terre de nos Joyeux; We accept Alpine as currency. Bring your own abortionists." [insert mi'gmag & maliseet trans here].