Runaway Future

Going home for Thanksgiving was good. Plenty of food, some hard working around the house, drinking with Daniel and Chris until the wee hours of the morning. I got a couch cover that doesn’t really fit right, but that’s ok. I also got the rest of my stuff up here from home, hello three more boxes of books. Couldn’t ask for much more.

They tore down my high school. I feel all sentimental about that. I mean, that building housed a crucial part of my growing up, my formative years. Not like they would have kept the building there, but it’s rather shocking and dramatic.

Another shocking and dramatic development is that Nova Scotia Justice Peter Richard’s opinion is worth more then the rest of Nova Scotia! Yeap, the whole province voted on Sunday shopping a few years back, and with a few words and strokes of pen, that democratic opinion was rendered null and void. Ah, democracy at work.

The Sunday shopping flip bothers me for two reasons, one is that there was a plebisicite and it has since been ignored. Sure the No side won by 2 percent and a large number of eligible voters chose not to (probably busy shopping at Pete’s), but in the end the question was put to the population and an answer found. But apparently the views of the majority of the province who gave a damn, those views just don’t matter. I know using the plebisicite as a measure is short-sighted but you have to assume that those who did not vote do not care for Sunday Shopping one way or another. If the plebisicite didn’t go in your favour…sour grapes folks, welcome to democracy.

The second reason is because the province’s labour laws don’t protect employees enough. So while Sunday Shopping works like a charm in other provinces, their labour laws are a lot more helpful to the working poor than ours. Telling them to find another job that doesn’t make them work Sundays isn’t an option, it’s not about religion, it’s about workers rights.

Go to Pete’s any other day of the week and it’s empty. And the same people who cram into the Frootique on a Sunday are the same white-collar nine-to-fivers who don’t have to worry about working on a Saturday, let alone a Sunday to begin with. Shopping on Sunday is being pushed by those who are far too concerned with their own convienence to think of those less fortunate then themselves: the people who are really affected by this move.

Just food for thought about Nova Scotia finally “joining modern society”:
Many Western European countries are moving towards restricting Sunday shopping as an attempt to improve quality of life. Hrm…

So yeah, I’m going to keep doing what I’ve done for a while, since I’ve informed myself properly on the issue, I’m going to avoid shopping on Sundays. The province will be fine and we’ll all accept this change, it just saddens me to see democratic process overturned so quickly and workers rights trambled on so needlessly. There’s been rumblings about changing the labour laws (after the fact, of course). Meh. Apparently it’ll cost taxpayers about 1.7 million to have public transportation bumped up to handle the new load on Sunday. Joyful.

Keeping with the I hate everything vibe: Here’s a good editorial on the Stones visit.

In other news, Jon Stewart dispelled the notion of following the plot of the new Robin Williams flick and running for President with Stephen Colbert in 2008.

Sticking with that, the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL debuted Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle, a new mascot named after Stephen Colbert. However, all is not great for the Saginaw Spirit, now that five of their top players are under investigation for an incident with a 15-year-old girl.

Some of my co-workers want me to call a girl who used to work with us. I am unsure.

And may lightning shoot out of my ass.