Conference kaosws::canada

    I don't agree.
    
    These guys are not facing the reality of the situation. And, from where
    I'm sitting, I haven't noticed a single thing, which tells me a lot.
    They've been on strike for almost a month and I haven't noticed.

    Its hard to notice due to the fact that" half_worktime=coffee::break".
    
    

    I haven't noticed either except for the picketers I pass on the way
    home. As far as I am concerned they need a reality check. No private
    sector worker is getting the job security they are looking for. Its
    time the Government does what the private sector has had to do for the
    last 5 years.
    
    Orval

    
    As an Ontarian, keep saying to yourself, "I'm saving 10M$/day". These
    people are single handedly reducing our deficit. I'll dodge a pothole
    or two for awhile(!).
    
    /PR

    A friend of mine is on the management team.  When I asked him if about
    the impact of the strike on him, he said that he and 4 other managers
    were keeping up with the work.  They have 65 people on strike!!!
    He and the other managers were working about 10 hours overtime each
    per week.
    
    On the other hand,  we might see some impact soon as I expect the price
    of meat to increase because the meat inspectors are involved in the
    strike.  Several processing plants have had to shut their doors as a
    result.
    
    Bernie.

    OK ... shows that we haven't heard all of the news ...
    
    Seriously though Bernie, are these 5 people doing the work of the
    65 on strike or are they just doing the absolutely essential work
    (ie there is other work that their not worrying about) and also
    what work is actually redundant /
    
    What proportion is 13000 out of the entire Ontario civil service these
    days ?
    
    Stuart

    Obviously the writers of the previous replies haven't driven on
    the Queensway lately.  There are potholes there big enough to 
    swallow a Suzuki Swift whole.
    
    What peeves me is not that management isn't repairing them but that
    they aren't marking them with "bump ahead" and "bump" signs.  Yesterday
    my daughter counted hub caps along the centre divider on the westbound 
    lanes starting at Island Park Drive and quit counting when she got
    to 70 and we weren't even at Pinecrest yet, a distance of about two
    kilometers.  I wonder how many were on the outside shoulder.
    
    
    Robin
    
    
    

    If it was Toronto, those potholes would probably be fixed right away!!
    
    pete

    
    Yes, we fill them up with strikers.....
    
    Actually the potholes are getting huge here too.  There was one a week
    or so back that swallowed a whole car.  The elderly couple almost
    drowned.  (It was an undetected water main break).
    
    Marshall
    
     

    RE.5
         Its high time we turned vegetarians afterall beef is transimiting
    brain virus from cattle to humans"that's in the UK"may be will soon 
    reach canada.
    
    RE.7
        For the potholes;hear the price of 4x4,s is skyrocketin',my advise
    is to adopt the third world way of driving.
       

    the more potholes the better. for a walker like myself, they (the
    potholes) add an interesting topography to the landscape. not to
    mention the plethora of irate drivers who go barreling down the road at
    god knows howmany miles an hour and slam over a huge pothole, apply
    their brakes as if they could still do something about the broken tie
    rod that dangles like speghetti from a cold pot, then they get out of
    their car, scream about the taxes they pay and how it's a sad state of
    affairs when...of course i'm sympathetic and all, saying "too bad, and
    really, you should sue the city it's there fault, really you had
    nothing to do with it it's not your fault not at all, sue the city, man
    it is your right, you pay enough taxes don't you, go gittim bigguy
    sue them till they leak."
    the driver then calms down and perhaps start to weep, thinking about
    the increase in insurance, and quite possibly have take the bus to get
    home, and they haven't been on a bus since they were kids, as if the
    bus was only for kids, and then there is the denial stage: i can still
    drive it, it is just the tie rod, so they get back in the car, feeling
    the pride of ownership as they smooth their hands over the wheel and
    slowly, lovingly, almost erotically turn the key to ignite their baby:
    it doesn't start; the wailing begins and i have to leave because i cant
    bear to see people in such anguish over such a silly little hole in the
    road.

    >>the more pot holes the beter.for a walker like myself....<<
    
    
    -:if you miss the ball,don't miss the leg.....
    -:if you miss the pothole,don't miss the pedastrian....

    re: if you miss the pothole; don't miss the pedestrian.
     
    i never met a motorist with enough guts to blatantly hit a pedestrian.
    so what's yer point :)

    If you ask me, the problem is the new asphalt they started using, with
    the rubber mixed in. It's supposed to expand and contract thus
    preventing heaves. My observation is, it's a porous as hell and lasts
    about six months. Go back to the cheap old hard stuff, it lasted
    longer.

    there are some stretches along old highway 17 (north of superior) that
    have been there for a very long time and not even weeds have got
    through the hard ashphalt surface. so i agree with the last noter that
    there is indeed a quality difference between the old and new ashphalt.
    
    speed is an important factor in road deteriorization, perhaps
    automobile manufacturers could limit all the vehicles produced to a
    speed of 40 km/h. wouldn't that be great! save on gas too!! and ooooo
    isn't gas getting a wee bit expensive? 

    
    40km/hr!!!,that will be taking us back in the 1900's when the car
    could only go 30km/hr. Soon you are gonna complain about the speed
    of the pentium chip.
    
    the price of gas depends on the daily day to day cost of oil
    per barrel plus the canadian tax...try to befriend the middle east.
    
    Why would a walker worry about speeding and gas prices anyway 
    

    Back to a really interesting question:
    What are the most significant contributing factors to asphalt quality.
    Is it the formulation ?
    Is it the application process ?
    The speed and weight limit it is subjected to ?
    I personally think it is the color and the taste. But don't let this
    prevent you from expressing a different opinion. I think, and I hope
    the moderator will follow me on that, that we are breaking some new
    (non-asphalted) ground and record in the category "the weirdest
    sequence of replies ever..."

    Perhaps a flat tax will improve the pavement?

    
    A slightly cambered tax would improve the runoff.
    
    /PR

    Once you drive in Michigan or NY state, you won't ever bitch about the
    potholes in Ontario.  bad there; good here - relatively speaking. 
    Besides, we should be building more rail lines anyways, like dem
    Euro's.

    I81 through NY used to be bad. It's been fixed up.  Try the 401 between
    Prescott and Gananoque, pretty bad.  Or the 17 between Carp and Antrim.
    That stretch is incredibly hard on the back and neck.  
    
    Looking at your nodename, I can understand why you think that the 401 is 
    in good shape.  For some reason, highways around Toronto are 
    in significantly better shape than anywhere else in the province.  ;-)  
    

    walkers pay taxes for roads too. %*)

    Heard on the way home that they have settled, then in the very next
    breath, the announcer said government was at this moment, sitting down
    to work out who was going to be let go.
    
    The minister said " It's sad that we have to do this so soon after the
    agreement is signed, but it has to be done"
    
    
    Don't get me wrong, I think there are far more people working for the
    government than is needed, I just think that statement is not going to
    endear the powers to be with the rank and file.
    
    joan

    re. .16
    
    	The price of gas should not reflect the daily price of oil. Canada
    and the federal gov. had (When?) a 90-day delay on gas prices.
    Therefore the prices we are seeing are gas companies trying to make a
    huge profit rather than the true reflection of the current gas prices.
    What is inronic is that Petro-Canada seems to have fallen suit with the
    other gas-stations. I thought the federal government bought British
    Petrolem and turned it into Petro-Can for protection against
    price-gouging we are seeing today. It seems we get the shaft from
    everywhere in Canada. 
    
    Sean
    
    PS Did you hear that Saudi Arabia is tax free? Imagine that, True
    Freedom.
    
     

    RE. 989.16  POLAR::KYOBE
    you seem to assume that progress means better, faster, harder, etc.
    perhaps there is a place for slower speeds in a progressive
    environment. i do not agree that it follows that since i would like to
    see cars going a little slower, that therefore i want the whole world,
    including pentium chips, to go slower. in fact, i would like to see
    computer chips get faster and faster. cars are big, dirty, noisey,
    expensive. there is no doubting the significance of the car to those of
    us living in the 20'th century; they have changed the way people see
    the world: expanded the world. cars have just about run out of
    usefulness for us, that is what do most people do with their cars? They
    drive to work and back, shopping and back, sunday dinner and back. How
    many people can honestly say that there car is a positive source of
    income and not a drain? IMNSHO cars are finished, used up; let's move
    on. Remember horses? How is a car like a horse?

>        The price of gas should not reflect the daily price of oil. Canada
>    and the federal gov. had (When?) a 90-day delay on gas prices.
>    Therefore the prices we are seeing are gas companies trying to make a
>    huge profit rather than the true reflection of the current gas prices.
>    What is inronic is that Petro-Canada seems to have fallen suit with the
>    other gas-stations. I thought the federal government bought British
>    Petrolem and turned it into Petro-Can for protection against
>    price-gouging we are seeing today. It seems we get the shaft from
>    everywhere in Canada. 

PetroCan always seemed to be a market leader in pricing gas upwards for as
long as I can remember.  Around us in Colorado, Texaco seem to hold that
honour.  PertoCan wasn't bought to protect in price gouging that has gone
on for decades, but rather, to take part in it so Joe Public could feed the
tax coffers in a different way.

    Is some one going to start a "Conspiracy" note in here now?
    
    
    On the lighter side, I have never understood the wild price swings of
    gas.
    According  to the people who should know, it should take a lot longer
    for the barrel price to affect the price at the pumps than we see most
    of the time.
    
    joan

    re. -1
    
    	As I said before in a previous note, the Federal Government in
    Canada put a 90-day moratoruim on gas prices. So when the price of
    crude oil whent up last week, we should have seen the price increase in
    June. The gas companies are just price gouging. I think the petrolem
    sector weilds alot political power. Just look at the price-fixing
    investigation in the Ottawa area, they fined only one gas station, thats
    it.. Maybe a consumer group can rally the population again to start
    boycotting certain gas companies. In a free market, competetion should
    prevail, yet where is it? Today, I saw at least 10 stations with the
    price of 57.4, is this competetion? or is it price gouging and fixing?
    
    Regards,
    
    Sean
        

Gas in Colorado goes up and down like a cycle ... When prices go up, I go
and buy gas at about $1 - 2 at a time ... gets the stations cheesed off!
The usual response is "is that ALLL???"  I reply yup ... your price is too
expensive ... when it comes down to where it should be, I'll fill up!

Stuart

    How much is gaz in Colorado?  $2 bucks here takes me to the next gaz
    station.
    
    Bernie.

>    How much is gaz in Colorado?  $2 bucks here takes me to the next gaz
>    station.


Used to peak 1.199 for 4 litres ... now 1.299 for 4 litres

    Re. -1                          
    
    	We are paying $2.30 (give or take a penny) for 4 litres, and this
    is with our precious after tax income (30 - 55% tax rate). As you can
    see, I really hate taxes! actually I don't mind paying some taxes, but
    I hate watching politicians squander our money.
    
    Sean
    
    
    LONG LIVE THE HARRIS GOVERNMENT!
    
     

    1.29 per gallon is high compared to the Eastern states.  I drove to
    Florida three weeks ago and I paid from 1.22 to .95 (Georgia) for gaz.
    The average price was about $1.05
    
    Bernie.

>
>    1.29 per gallon is high compared to the Eastern states.  I drove to
>    Florida three weeks ago and I paid from 1.22 to .95 (Georgia) for gaz.
>    The average price was about $1.05
>    
>    Bernie.


Your darned tootin' it's high.  Colorado gas prices are usually amongst the
highest in the land.

Price fixing seems normal.

It's just like being in Ottawa!

Stuart

    Well, now that the strike is over, has anyone noticed an improvement in
    government services?

    It's obvious that there is an awful lot of waste here. 13,500 in cuts
    really needs to happen. We can't pay all of these people to surf the
    net and play solitaire anymore.

    I didn't notice a reduction in services while they were on strike....
    

    Re.31/32:
    $2.30 per 4 litres !
    You don't know how "lucky" you are.
    Overhere in the Netherlands we pay some $1.65 per litre for gas and
    $1.10 per litre for diesel oil (and of course most of this is tax).
    Over the last 7 to 8 years prices of fuel have doubled.Wished may
    income had changed that much aswell!
    But one can also slow down a bit and drive some 60 miles instead of 75.
    For me this has changed my fuel consumption with 10-15 % and I'm
    driving more relaxed (most other people go much faster overhere on the
    motorway - max speed is 75 miles) because one does not have to overtake
    othere that much anymore .
    Cees  (who's traveling 100 miles a day to work and back home again).