The Maple Leaf Lounge

[Timewalker]

Well, the U.S ordered the border between U.S and Canada to be closed until August 21st.

I'm not unhappy about that.

I don’t know how it was for others around the country, but where I am the moon was a real dark red Monday night, so much so that if it had been full, I would have been checking to see if there was a lunar eclipse I somehow missed hearing about. It was quite an interesting sight, but it turns out it was apparently caused by all the fires out west.

I'm on the wrong side of the building to see the Moon at this time of year. The Sun has been freakishly red at sunrise, though, and if I still lived on the west side of the building, it would be red as well.

The weird thing about the border closure during the pandemic was that it wasn’t entirely reciprocal. We barred Americans from entering the country for non-essential purposes. They barred us from entering the country at land crossings. So if you tried to drive to the States, you couldn’t get in, but if you flew, then no problem, assuming you met whatever health screening requirements were in place. I never really understood why one was OK, but the other was not.

I have a button that explains that. It says, "It doesn't HAVE to make sense. It's government policy."

Yeah, I'd heard about the wildfires out in Northwestern Ontario, and those out of Alberta too, with the winds blowing them all the way. It was bad several nights ago because I had watery eyes and had trouble focusing them which happens at times due to allergies.

We've got some fires, but BC has it worse. Lytton basically burned to the ground, and there are a lot of places on evacuation alert.

In all the years that my family spent at our cabins on Okanagan and Shuswap Lakes, or when we were driving around the province going to places like Barkerville, Fort Steele, down south to Wenatchee, Washington for some cross-border shopping, or out to the Island, we never encountered forest fire issues, not even when we drove through the area where Lytton was.

Avalanches? Yeah. Floods? Check. The cottagers actually had to get together and rebuild part of the road, the year Six Mile Creek and Okanagan Lake flooded. I've got pictures of my grandfather's motorboat tied to the porch railing of our cabin, since the pier was underwater. If memory serves, this was back around 1970 or so. I'd have to check the photo album to be sure. There's a photo of me sitting on said porch railing with a fishing rod. I didn't catch anything, but it was a novelty that I could practice casting without leaving the porch.

As for why we'd stay out there in those conditions... we had no electricity or indoor plumbing anyway, so it didn't make much difference. And if things did get problematic we could always go stay at my great-aunt and uncle's place in Vernon, or find a campground to stay at (it is possible for two adults, a kid, and a dog to live for a few days in an Econoline, though it's very crowded).

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Well, the U.S ordered the border between U.S and Canada to be closed until August 21st.

That should keep the fires from spreading south.

 

[Marc]

made a comment earlier about the never ending saga of the renovations at Union Station.

Well it looks like a miracle has happened and they have been completed.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...-824m-union-station-reno-is-finally-done.html

not that I'm plannig a trip to Toronto anytime soon

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

This is probably a stupid question, but…

I was at the White Sox game last night, in Chicago, and there were Canadian banks (BMO and CIBC) advertising in the ballpark. I wasn’t aware those banks did business in the US? I couldn’t figure out why Canadian banks would be advertising in the US…

 

[Timewalker]

This is probably a stupid question, but…

I was at the White Sox game last night, in Chicago, and there were Canadian banks (BMO and CIBC) advertising in the ballpark. I wasn’t aware those banks did business in the US? I couldn’t figure out why Canadian banks would be advertising in the US…

For the benefit of ex-pats, I'd guess, just like there's a ton of American advertising here (not banks, though, that I noticed; any advertising from those that arrives in my email is automatically assumed to be a phishing scam). And if the game was televised, I'd imagine there would be Canadian viewers.

 

[Avro Arrow]

This is probably a stupid question, but…

I was at the White Sox game last night, in Chicago, and there were Canadian banks (BMO and CIBC) advertising in the ballpark. I wasn’t aware those banks did business in the US? I couldn’t figure out why Canadian banks would be advertising in the US…

Both BMO and CIBC run subsidiary banks in the US. Both are in fact headquartered in Chicago.

 

[Owain Taggart]

^ And TD Bank (which is short for Toronto Dominion) is also widespread in the U.S, as a result of a merger several years ago.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I knew about TD (my brother works for Ameritrade) but I honestly didn't know about CIBC and BMO.

 

[DEWLine]

RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) has also had US holdings in recent decades.

 

[Timewalker]

So...

Anyone else seen this gem? Should British Columbia change its name? As we reckon with history, some say it's time

This is getting ridiculous. Yes, I agree that renaming schools and other buildings that used to bear the names of politicians and church officials who had a hand in creating or administering the residential school program is valid.

Removing - not vandalizing - statues of Sir John A. and others (Queen Victoria, Winston Churchill) would be tolerable. Vandalizing a statue of the current Queen? Uncalled-for, and an act unlikely to garner sympathy from anyone who wasn't already anti-monarchy.

But now they want to remove the name of a province and substitute some other name they can't even agree on. I realize this is unlikely to happen - there are constitutional issues involved - but good grief. I guess we should all pack our bags and head "back" to whatever European country our ancestors came from, assuming we know which one(s) to choose and assuming they would welcome us... even though most of us had nothing to do with the residential school system and are appalled at what we're learning about it.

Let's say that the politicians and people of BC agree to this. What's next?

Alberta, of course. After all, we're named for a couple of members of Queen Victoria's family. So is Prince Edward Island.

I'm not defending Columbus or his actions. They were reprehensible. But trying to guilt-trip us into going on a "let's rename everything" spree is pushing too far.

 

[Timtamttime]

I, for one, have never really connected BC’s name with Christopher Columbus. I mean, if you trace it far enough back, sure, but we’re talking about naming things after things that were named after things that were named after Columbus. And while he was absolutely a terrible guy, he did spark the interest in the New World, good or bad. Colonialism is bad, and we should make amends, but renaming BC, Alberta, and PEI seems a bit far. We’ll also have to change the names of Queen Charlotte Island, Victoria Island, Lake Louise, and probably a whole lot more, too. Maybe the explorers should all get changed, too. So no more Vancouver, etc. If there’s someone who’s really, really offended and hurt by these names, I’m okay with changing them, but if it’s just to whitewash something without really talking about it, then leave it be.

 

[Timewalker]

I, for one, have never really connected BC’s name with Christopher Columbus. I mean, if you trace it far enough back, sure, but we’re talking about naming things after things that were named after things that were named after Columbus. And while he was absolutely a terrible guy, he did spark the interest in the New World, good or bad. Colonialism is bad, and we should make amends, but renaming BC, Alberta, and PEI seems a bit far. We’ll also have to change the names of Queen Charlotte Island, Victoria Island, Lake Louise, and probably a whole lot more, too. Maybe the explorers should all get changed, too. So no more Vancouver, etc. If there’s someone who’s really, really offended and hurt by these names, I’m okay with changing them, but if it’s just to whitewash something without really talking about it, then leave it be.

It's Vancouver Island. Victoria is the capital.

But yeah, this is beyond ridiculous. I guess I should be thankful that the city I live in is the English translation of a local indigenous word so we won't be targeted, but even several years ago there were half a dozen indigenous bands arguing over what to rename the city of Calgary.

Sorry, but Calgary's name is good enough.

There are more place names than I can count that are based on European locations and people, but there are also a hell of a lot of place names that are indigenous (either never changed, or changed back).

Call it even and let's get on with addressing the residential school system and getting the Pope to haul his anatomy over here to make his personal apology, to satisfy one of the 92 items on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's list.

 

[Timtamttime]

It's Vancouver Island. Victoria is the capital.

Yeah. I was referring to both the city and the island, but Victoria Island (NWT) and Victoria city would be targeted.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

As a lefty anti-imperialist I think this is taking things a bit too far, like off-the-planet too far.

Unless they take a word from each First Nation language and put them together into one word, without spaces, that is effectively unpronounceable and impossible to spell without cut-and-paste. That would appeal to my twistedabsurdism philosophy.

 

[Timewalker]

As a lefty anti-imperialist I think this is taking things a bit too far, like off-the-planet too far.

Unless they take a word from each First Nation language and put them together into one word, without spaces, that is effectively unpronounceable and impossible to spell without cut-and-paste. That would appeal to my twistedabsurdism philosophy.

The suggestions are already unpronounceable and unspellable (on a standard keyboard).

 

[Marc]

well the reports are that we're looking at Sept 20th as the election date which means trudeau will be going to the G-G any day now in order to meet the requiement for a 36 day campaign.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/election-call-trudeau-1.6138794

the ndp and tories have been going on that we shouldn't be going to an election at this point in time but you're either blind or naive to think they wouldn't so the same when the polls pointed the possibility of a majority.

when the legislation was passed to set fixed dates for the feds, the ability to go early for political expediency could have been removed but harper didn't want that.

but truly a shit sandwich choice. the socialist nutters of the ndp, the boy blunder trudeau and o'foole who's still got a chunk of harper's nasty tories behind him (though some of them don't want him to win either).

 

[Avro Arrow]

the ndp and tories have been going on that we shouldn't be going to an election at this point

They’re not wrong.

I mean, I know it’s coming, but I really don’t want it.

 

[DEWLine]

No, Harper really wanted the option to break his own rules for himself and his preferred successors.

@Marc, I expect that there's people from most of the mainstream parties here.

 

[DEWLine]

As for the name changes proposed for what we were raised to call "British Columbia"...S'ólh Téméxw and Illaheechuk are interesting options.

 

[DEWLine]

Here's a thing that worries me, care of the EFF with some advisories from Michael Geist at UOttawa Law Faculty:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/...ates-filtering-blocking-and-reporting-rules-1