Canada Day Special: 10 Things I Love About Canada (also) What You Love About Canada, Road Crew Firings and Young The Giant

Issue 5, Volume 1
Friday, July 1, 2011

This special Canada Day Issue reviews some of the great things about Canada. Above photograph for the On The Street section is from Ottawa, circa 2008. This is myself, on the Lester B. Pearson statue.

10 Things I Love About Canada
I've been a Canadian all my life. And although there have been many times that myself, and others that I know try to discuss our cultural heritage as if it belongs to the Irish, German, French, Ukranian, etc. - in the end, we are all Canadian. I am Canadian. As much as I rag on our patriotism, where's mine? Well I'd like to show a little by including the 10 things I love about my country. This is in no particular order.

1) The Music
We are all a part of The Canadian Sound: the interesting isolated and frigid music that we identify as having a sound all our own. The Tragically Hip, for example, have used a ton of references or written about, specifically Canadian things. It's one of those things where you have to live here to get it. In terms of our independent musicians, Canada cranks out some of the best indie has to offer. Think about Arcade Fire's international success, for example. Our music is good, thoughtful, and has a certain sound that we all love.

2) The CFL
I've heard people complain before about how 'Canada is the United States of the North' and that we let too many franchises like McDonalds or Wal Mart set-up on our soil. The CFL is an example of an unwavering Canadian institution that is uniquely ours. Most of our CFL clubs date back to the turn of the last century, which is more than the NFL (AFL/NFL formerly) can brag about. Through time, we have always kept the CFL consistant by requiring a certain amount of non-import players (and if you think this can't make the CFL good - look at the Riders' former canadian air force of Fantuz, Dressler et al that ate defenses alive). We have also stuck to our own rules, field size, and amount of men on the field.

3) Our Alcohol
We've got some of the best booze on the planet, which is strange for a relatively young country. Our microbrewed beer is always the best; and the less mainstream labels like Sleeman's and Keith's are decidedly better than most other countries in the world. Canada has always been able to brag that we have good beer. But hey, look at Crown Royal. We've got some great other stuff too.

4) Our Geography
Where else can you go that has prarie, frozen tundra, mountains, glaciers, two different oceans, boreal forests, rain forests and technically a desert zone. Yeah, okay, the States, but ours is all way closer. In Alberta alone we have prarie, grassland, mountains, foothills, forests, lakes, rivers, tundra, desert, and if you keep driving into BC, you can also see rain forest and the pacific ocean. Not bad. Not bad at all. The great thing about our geography is that we have so much of it for only 35 million people or so. In other words, we all get to use it quite a bit.

5) Canadians
I've been able to work with Torontonians, party in Ottawa with their locals in a sports bar while the Sens were making a cup run. I've gone to Karaoke at a Legion with Vancouverites. I've worked with a lot of Newfies (and haven't we all). I've got friends from big cities and small towns. And everyone, when it comes down to the fact we're Canadian, gets along. There is some question of how we treat each other lately, unfortunately, but for the most part, we're all awesome.

6) Our Famous People
I'm not talking about Celine Dion, Justin Bieber or Michael Buble here. But for the most part, our internationally known stars always stay Canadian. We're always proud of them for all the things they do. Michael J. Fox, Ryan Gossling, Mike Meyers - these are people we see, and go "hey he's Canadian you know!" And they always do us justice by being great, polite, well mannered and behaved ambassadors from our Country. When was the last time you heard about a Canadian star being on house arrest for drunk driving?

7) Our Economic System
We are lucky to live in a Keynesian economic system. Our partially socialist state allows post secondary education to be affordable for most people (I priced out UCLA, that stuff is messed compared to here), to have the ability to have free health care, and to have social programs that help assist us through rough times. In addition to this, our Keynesian system means that our country will always attempt to adjust interest rates and stick a hand in where they feel they might help us economically speaking. Now, of course, I am a very critical of our system, but that's only to prove on the great stuff we already have, or to keep what we have from falling apart. But ultimately, we do have a high quality of life.

8) Our Political System
We live in a place where we have the ability to vote for our elected leaders, and are free from persecution for our political beliefs. Post election, there are a lot of you that are upset, especially about the ruling to withdraw funding from parties on a per-vote basis. However, we aren't in a bi-partisan system, a dictatorship, or a pretend-democracy like so many other places around the world. We had a socialist 'communist' party run in our riding. They didn't get shot by military personnel. Their members didn't get blacklisted and put in jail for possibly being communists. We're free to express our political nature, our religious beliefs, our sexual orientations, our outlook on life, and I can freely bash the government on here all I like. In China, I probably wouldn't have access to a blog.

9) Literacy
Although rates have fallen in the past few years, we're still one of the most literate countries in the world. What goes with this? Not only do we know the capitals of our own provinces and territories, but we also know the capitals to a lot of states and provinces in other countries, and find them on a map too. We can sing the US anthem, when a lot of their own performers forget the words. We are smart people. But - we are also humble about it. Canadians don't need to brag.

10) Our Armed Forces
Now and in the past, our Armed Forces have always done the best we could to not only uphold our country's freedoms, but uphold the freedoms and human rights in other countries with the UN and in peacekeeping missions. Of course, our greatest achievements, and something we should never forget, are our victories in World War I and World War II, where we sent many a brave men to die on the field of battle, and in spite of America's late entry in to the conflict, so many battle victories can be pinned squarely on the Canadian Forces.

Things You Love About Canada
What exactly do other Canadians love about Canada? Aside from hockey and beer. Jamie indicated, "that I have the freedom to leave it behind me, to not participate in elections and to say I fucking hate the way this country is run without being subject to the threat of violence by our authorities." There is a lot in that one statement that represents the type of freedom we have here. While a lot of the time we blatantly insult or ignore our federal system, this is okay for us to do, because we live in Canada, and freedom of speech, without commiting hate crime, is acceptable. Commentary is the biggest thing. We can talk about our country as poorly as we want, but the worst someone can say is, "maybe you should move." Being critical of our own political system does not constitute treason here. On a more positive note, Craig simply wrote, "the people." I indicated the same earlier. That no matter where you go, you can find polite people and people who could potentially be your friend; and that we're all united by that one simple fact that we are Canadian. On a lighter note, Ashlee wrote that, "they have the best ceasars." True to this fact. I know that Ashlee has tried Ceasars in Mexico and in the States and the taste there has come up short of however we happen to make them here (slightly different than anywhere else apparently). Hey, sometimes it's the little things that mean the most.

I Have No Editor - Road Crew Firings
So I read this in the Metro, I know, great source right? But then I saw it later on Global, so it must be true. Apparently Edmonton felt that so many projects were not taken care of on time or on budget, and too much meandering was done, that most of the individuals in charge may be sent packing. Meanwhile, city infrastructure is reporting that they realize that there are too many projects right now, and that Edmontonians are frustrated, but we are in a period of low construction costs, and therefore are trying to get as much done as possible.

What I'm hearing is essentially two conflicting stories. On the one hand, the city is blasting their infrastructure department because things were ill planned, and on the other hand, you have the infrastructure department saying that we're doing this because the city told us to get as much done as possible while the price is down. The city is saying these officials have f'd around enough to be paying too much for projects. The department is saying they are doing so many projects to avoid paying too much. So who's right?

I agree with getting things done on time, and on budget, and if budget means a specific time, then so be it. It's better than us living with a giant infrastructural mistake for several years, as we often do in this city. But 'recognizing Edmontonians are losing their patience' isn't enough. It takes me 45 minutes to make a drive home that usually should take me under 10 minutes at non peak times. And if you recommend transit to me, I don't see how that's a fix. The bus has to sit in traffic just the same as I do.

Ultimately the city might just be blasting the department so we all feel a little relieved. "Oh, the city gets our pain now, thank God." Yeah, well, that doesn't mean anything's being done about your ridiculous commute.

Music This Week - Young The Giant
I was going to do Matt Good, I really was, but actually there is a good reason I'm saving it for next week. So instead, I wanted to listen to another chart topping artist, and tell you if this one is really worth it or not.

Young The Giant hails from Irvine, California (that's in Orange County) and their self titled debut was released in late 2010. Strangely, on Roadrunner records (formerly mostly metal), YTG has found most of it's success with their first single My Body on the Canadian Charts, where they reached as high as #2 on the CDN Alt Rock charts and #4 on the CDN rock charts. They rose only to #5 on the US Alt charts and #16 on the US rock charts.

One of the reasons for this is that YTG has a little more in common with bands we seem to love alternatively here in Canada. The quieter and more subdued tracks on this album draw a parallel to Pilot Speed, like in Islands or perhaps the Shins or the Stills. There is even a little disco-rock sound on the track St. Walker reminiscent of Finger Eleven.

Ultimately though, I find this album fairly boring, and something that would make great background music. Sure the album has a great lead off single in My Body and their next single Apartment will probably be decently well received, but aside from tracks like St. Walker and Cough Syrup, the album begins to sound very sonically repetitive after a while.

Great work for their debut, but all in all, I'd have to give this album a 6/10. In other words, getting this album on vinyl is a waste of your money. But downloading it and putting it on as background music during dinner with your friends works.

Letters To The Editor
Write me at rbw2@ualberta.ca and I will post and respond fairly to your letter.

Next Week
-Pushing Singles: The State of the New Music Industry
-The AutoShare Revolution: Don't need a car all day, every day? Share it.
-Matthew Good and The Foo Fighters
-All New Art

Have a fantastic Long Weekend, and Happy Birthday Canada!

What to Riot About (also) Idiot Dean, Awolnation

Issue 4, Volume 1
Friday, June 24, 2011

Our On The Streets photo comes from 99th avenue and 104th street, overlooking the Palisades building. I got soaked getting the image, but it was a good descriptor of how the weather was over this past week. I started to feel after a while like I was in Vancouver. Note that lack of vitamin D makes you go crazy.

Canadians: Where are our priorities at?

I can't help but talk about this, and even though it was a week and a half ago, I don't think it should be dismissed. Now, everyone is on to talking about the Boston Bruin's $156,000 bar tab (yeah if you charge $100,000 for one bottle of wine, and $300 per bottle of bacardi that costs me ten times less at liquor depot that's an easy bill to run up), but the black mark of what happened in Vancouver still resonates.

Do we have nothing real to riot about?

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what happened in Vancouver just about a week ago, and although it's a black mark on Canada, I think we need to look into the situation more in depth. Why does a 'safe' big city like Vancouver need to do something like this? Why did we do it in Edmonton in the summer of 2006? Why did we do it here for Canada Day celibrations in prior years? Would Vancouverites have rioted if we screwed up in the Olympics? I came up with a few possible answers.

1) Our Priorities Are Messed Up

Canadians are actually that dumb that they'll riot over a hockey game, but not over, say, 150% tuition increases, or the payoff of medical staff by government officials. These should be things that have us burning cop cars in the street. Instead we accept that governments have scandals, and if we're lucky, 30% of us will go to the polls and expect change; the rest of us will sit on our fat asses and watch hockey, and then get pissed off when our team doesn't win. Then we'll go out and burn cop cars. Seriously?

2) We Are Secretly Oppressed

I've heard the idea that 'Vancouver would have rioted either way' - whether they one or lost - from more than a few people. The environment was there to begin with, like putting gas and matches in reach of an arsonist. Is it that we're too polite to ever effectually express our disdain for regular political events, that we need a big, faceless event like a hockey game where it is acceptable to gather in the street to start a riot? We actually need permission to come on down to a big event where authorities already expect that we will riot to actually have a riot and get our frustrations out? Think about it for a second...it's almost like we wait for permission to riot to go and do it, and if it's a hockey game, we don't have to get too upset and the riot doesn't have to last too long, because after all it's just a hockey game. Maybe there are tons of things we'd like to riot about but don't because we are just too damned nice. Just like G8, they give us a place to riot and a time, and we'll go there and riot at whatever they let us riot at. But if they aren't setting up an area that's cordoned off and policed to riot in, we're not going to coordinate one ourselves.

3) We Are A Culture Of Violent People And Unpatriotic

I've heard Vancouver be called a 'soulless city devoid of culture' and the 'most depressing place to live in the world.' Now if it rains all the time, maybe people aren't getting their vitamin D. But maybe it's something else. They talk about 'a few individuals who were down there to riot and nothing else.' After viewing the notorious video of the guy who tries to put a stop to the breaking of windows, and gets gang beat by about 7 people, some people just walking by joining in, I have a problem accepting that. I think there were a lot more violent people that could have done a lot worse. I think the problem comes from a lack of patriotism and national identity from our citizens. When I think back to grade school, I always think about how we were tought that Canada was a cultural mosaic and that we valued other people's cultures, rather than the Melting Pot of the United States, which looked to assimilate all individuals to become Americans. However, I'm not sure this is the best thing. Of course it is great to remember your roots, but I believe the cultural mosaic theory has its' inherent problems. Imagine you emigrate here, to be told that you are now a Canadian, but as a Canadian you are to hold on to your previous culture. So you do, but you don't live there. And in doing so, you never really feel Canadian. Imagine you were born here and told to be proud of your roots, and being Canadian meant doing that. Where is our national identity of being Canadian? I feel like it's been blanded. This kind of thinking eventually makes everyone an individual less so a part of a group to the point where everyone can only really care or think about themselves. National identity and patriotism allows at least for you to care about your fellow man in that, no matter who he is, he is a Canadian as you are. (And sorry, I'm not trying to be mysoginistic in using 'he' and 'fellow man' - it's just an expression)

Ultimately, yeah it's a black eye, but we all need to continue questioning why this happened, and what is at the root of the destructive behaviour, rather than saying, "it wasn't that wide spread, it was contained, facebook will bring all the rioters who commited crimes to light, and it'll all be good again."

Great, but what about the underlying socioeconomic issues that caused this in the first place?

Bad Dean, Worse University

I figured that these news items weren't really enough to be seperated, so I'll speak at each one by one. First of all, let's talk about University of Alberta faculty of Medicine Dean Philip Baker, who plagerized his speech to the graduating class. That is first class stupidity. Lazy is one thing; he could give the same speech to every graduating class. No big deal. You technically can plagerize yourself, but that wouldn't be the case here (see the Red Hot Chili Peppers v. Themselves - Alan Cross Episode #whatever). What can I tell you about this man that doesn't wreak of arrogance. The University buttered it up when they indicated he was a, "practising obstatrition and a renown researcher of pregnancy complications." You know, I work at a rental car agency, washing cars. I think I'm a, "master detailer and expert in trends in automotive sales in various markets" you know because I ponder why we buy some cars for the fleet and not others. The way in which this guy was a practicing OB was allegedly to waltz in to the OR maybe once every two weeks, demand he was taking charge, not scrub in properly, and then butcher the procedure. He apparently treated all staff as if they were beneath him. Talk about letting it go to your head.

But this, like a Vancouver riot leaves a black mark on Canada, leaves a mark on the University. How did they get to hire such a prick? In my previous semesters taking nursing courses, we had one lovely practising MN whom the department chose to teach a course at the last minute when they didn't have any alternates to fill the vacancy. What resulted was a woman who was dedicated to teaching her students; but knew nothing of the course. Now that didn't make her a bad nurse, or a bad instructor. If you told me to teach you how the market works, I could tell you, but if I was teaching Econ 101, I'd probably need a brush up on what that course entails at an entry level, or else you'd be like, "what the fuck is this guy talking about?" I know why prices move the way they do, but if I have to show you on a graph, it's going to take me a second to remember that. That's what happened to her. The university, I believe, brought this on themselves. There are lots of qualified, able, and distinguished physicians locally that could take on the role of Dean of Medicine. But we all know, anyone who has a friend that's a grad student, that the university does not hire it's own. So you studied there. So what? Go get a job at another university, because the university does not hire it's own. This strange, unwritten policy has gone on for a very long time. Why they needed to import some stuck-up-to-the-point-of-epic-fail UK import makes NO sense to me whatsoever. But then again, we all know that our beloved U of A, who fell from 3rd to 6th to 37th in the span of 3 years in Maclains university rankings, is going down the shitter. That is unless you count the Engineering departments funded by suncor and syncrude, or anything that Katz is pumping money into now. Thank you third party funding for keeping our university from doing a giant faceplant.

I hate to say I told you so; but the U of A had this coming, and it does make their reputation stink worse than the garbage I just found left in 3 feet of standing water in the cans behind my house. The Dean, well he had it coming too. If you think your shit doesn't stink, soon enough you'll be buried in it.

New Music - AWOLNATION

Took a listen to Awolnation's release Megalithic Symphony this week, to see if the album could live up to the hype of 'Sail' and was pleasantly disappointed. No wait, I was angrily disappointed. Of course, this could happen, right? Now 'Sail' is an amazing track with a very angry lead singer, songwriter, player, and recorder Aaron Bruno. The music is described as Aaron as a type of music for life, something that describes what people feel every day. Unfortunately, most people must feel average or boring. That's the feeling I got from this album. It was average and boring, and I think, poorly put together. 'Sail' is definitely the best single on here. Followed by 'Not Your Fault' and finally 'Burn It Down' - which will be their second single off the album. 'Burn It Down' is a pop-indie-electro-blast with a fast beat and some great chord changes. So what will effectually happen is people who never listen to the whole album will think that Awolnation is great through and through. Really, this album should have been a three song EP made of the songs I indicated above. Awolnation is a far cry from Bruno's other groups; the now defunct Hometown Hero (which was awesome in my opinion) and the still-going Under The Influence Of Giants indie powerhouse. Considering the iTunes iteration of the album had 15 tracks, I'll mark this one out of 10, and give it a 4/10. That's two for sail, and one point for the other two songs I thought were half decent.

I Have No Editor - Ryan Dunn, Boston Bruins

First of all, RIP Ryan Dunn, but Ebert was right. You had a blood alcohol level of something like 0.173. I don't give a rats ass that you were speeding and it was in a porsche. That's not how people die. From speeding porsches. Unless you're James Dean. But people do die when you get behind the wheel at over two times the legal limit. When Bam Margera's family took offense to Ebert saying that "friends don't let friend jackasses drive drunk." they should have instead said, you know what, you're right. It sucks that our friend and beloved is dead (by his own idiocy) but we're sorry. We're sorry that he could have killed you, your family, your girlfriend, your wife, your daughter, your son, your 9 month old child, or whomever else might have been on the road at that time. Jackass goes out with the ultimate jackass move.

And then there's that nasty Boston Bruins' club tab of $156,000 which included a $24,000 gratuity and a $100,000 bottle of Ace - Ace of Spades wine. So really it was more like $32,000 or something, and ultimately the club was overcharging. If I had to pay $300 for a bottle of Bacardi, I'd say to my teammates, "we're out of here, let's hit the liquor barn and then party at Recchi's house!" But really, that sounds like it was a fun night.

Page Art

I went with a 'rain and riots' theme for this week. That's obviously the contrast in the background. I purposely left out the photo of the couple making out, of course, disputed to whether or not it's a photoshop.

Letters To The Editor

rbw2@ualberta.ca

Don't be afraid to send me something. I'll publish it and respond to it fairly without flaming you, I promise.

Next Week

-Edmonton firing their road planning and infrastructure crew?

-10 things I love about Canada

-Canada Day edition; expose on patriotism. What does it mean to you? Write in!

-Matthew Good review still coming...

Thanks

Thanks for Reading, and as always, RSS, or repost as many times as you'd like. I'm grateful I've had so much support to have nearly 150 hits at the time of publishing this fourth edition. Thank you to all my friends who read and support my endeavour.

The Unemployment Issue

Issue 3 Volume 1

Friday June 17, 2011

The above photo shows economic disparity currently in Edmonton. While many people are currently unemployed or underemployed, seeing a Ferrari on Edmonton streets is rare. This one is down Walterdale Hill. Edmonton has no dedicated Ferrari dealership, and this car was likely purchased in Calgary or Vancouver. However, if you've noticed, there are many more Ferrari's where there used to not be. This would indicate two things. First is that there is becoming an increasing disparity between the wealthy people and the rest-of-us. Second is that people are having a difficult time utilizing their credit for responsible purchases. In this day in age, you can finance anything, even a sandwich. Unfortunately, just because something exists, doesn't mean that it should be used.

The car appears to be a 360 Modena Spyder. The 360 Modena was the successor to the popular mid-engined and mid-priced (hah) bread and butter F355 model, as seen in Golden Eye. Its successors have been very popular, which include the F430 and the 458 Italia. The car is built on Ferrari's 'RMR V8' platform. The 3.6L V8 revs high and shares formula 1 technology, making 400hp, with performance figures of 0-60 in 4.2 seconds and a 1/4 mile in 12.8 seconds. Funny enough, that's slower than my Mustang GT 5.0, but you buy a Ferrari for more reasons than its straight line performance. I think that reason has to do with being a pretentious prick who needs validation by way of his car. I would cite Ferrari's visceral experience, but I believe you can get that from a Mustang as well.

UNEMPLOYMENT

INTRODUCTION

When Edmonton says they are expecting a labor shortage as early as 2012, it baffles many who are either not currently working in their field, or are not working at all, and perhaps haven't for a long time. Examining why this is, it isn't something that is specific to our locale. Let's go back in time.

2008, I was a burgeoning, young Economic graduate. That fall I took a trip to Winnipeg to learn how to be a financial consultant at Investors Group's head office. Between breaks in the classroom on how we could get people to contribute more to their retirement, we'd stand under these state of the art speakers that looked like alien-mind-sucking devices, but were meant such that the volume of the television would only be funnelled to a certain area to keep the rest of the office quiet. It looked pretty funny with 8 people huddled under a strange shower-head looking dealy so we could watch, on the plasma screen on the adjacent wall, how the market was collapsing right in front of us. Later, that collapse would be felt, and felt hard. I had to leave my job at IG because I simply could not make enough commission to pay my student debt. People could not be convinced to contribute money to investments; in fact they were pulling their money either because they had lost faith in the market, or they needed it for something else because they had fallen on hard times. At Axe Music I scraped by paycheck to paycheck, but we were told that our business would still be fine; people only wanted to sit around and drink, and play guitar when there was a recession. Eventually I thought I had found a career position at another financial institution (unnamed) where I was consistently asked to try to extract more money from individuals in financial trouble by getting them to invest or by putting them in even more debt, while being paid a used car shy a year north of the poverty line. This by a company that made a record profit that year of $988 million. I left because I thought the economy was good enough that something better would be easy to find.

And I would have spent 43 weeks on EI, if it wasn't for the decision to go back to school last January, and the job I currently work at Budget (who I must give certain props to my cousin for helping me get) where I humbly wash and service rental vehicles. In spite of that, I'm not in the most dire-est of straits, but at 28, I'm feeling a little behind of where I should have been. And I'm not the only one.

THE STATISTICS

Currently, Statistics Canada shows that about 2.8 Million people in Canada are on EI, and where previously the national unemployment rate was around 5%, and as low in Alberta as 0.7% during one quarter in the last decade, this is a staggering 8.4%. At an average wage of $45,000, benefits are calculated out to be around $800 to $900 a month on average. That totals to $2.52 billion in benefits being paid out for temporary aid to the unemployed, where usually these individuals would be paying, on average, 554 million to income tax. While our government provides a fantastic assistance to those in need, it can't do it forever.

WHY?

What most people want to know is, "why is this happening?" Mainly, while faith has returned to the markets, it has not been enough to stimulate the proper kind of business. The TSX may be up, but it may only be certain markets that are up. This fares well for you, say, if you're in the oil industry, but does not fare well for you, say, if you are a project manager with a business degree. Think about it: companies will try to recover their lost potential earnings for earlier quarters by focusing strictly on manufacturing and selling to gain market share back. Expansion starts happening when you have additional money over budget, not when you run a deficit or not on budget. That is when anyone can get a job doing just about anything. We aren't at that stage yet.

There is another answer to 'why' this is happening. Some companies realize the opportunity for expansion is now. Canada has held interest rates low to avoid drowning overextended consumers into bankruptcy. This has led us to be economically more powerful than some other struggling nations. Take our dollar over the US dollar, and our financial sector over theirs. TD bank has recently expanded to 700 branches in the US market. They'll be hiring local Americans to field these new branches. That means Canadian brain power jobs, like for accountants, analysts, consultants, advisers, heck even tellers, will have to wait. Any of their extra money is all going to expand into foreign markets.

In a normal pattern of recovery from recession; the central bank increases interest rates and therefore lower our currency value comparatively. It hurts for a while, but it starts export positions moving again, and brings money from foreign markets to our domestic businesses. That leads to jobs, and leads to stability in the economy, which leads to upswing. The problem is that so many people spent so much credit-wise, specifically personal loans, lines of credit and mortgages, that the Bank of Canada can't do this. It'd bankrupt nearly half the nation who's net worth is in the negative.

WHEN WILL IT END AND WHY

Analysts predict soon. Alan Mullaly of Ford says his Economic staff says that the second half of this year will note an upswing. I have a job now, so that must mean things are improving. Right? Right? Ultimately I think people were tricked by the fact that the TSX recovered so quickly, only assisted by the low domestic interest rates. Typically it takes 5 years for people to notice things are finally better, and it's been three. So we're on the upswing, but it means a long way to go. Slowly companies will find themselves in better positions to hire as they make up ground. As well, Canada's changes to mortgage rules mean people can stop overextending themselves, and it also sparked the real-estate market to get a little hotter as people tried to get in before the rule changes. The first sign to an improving economy is better real estate. Think of the biggest purchase you can make...every domestically-effecting purchase you make filters into the economic cycle and goes back to you. So if you, say, are an accountant, and buy a new house, that money goes to domestic laborers, aggregate manufacturers, etc, who pay it out to their individuals and as well expand internally. Maybe these individuals spend it on new furniture for their living rooms, and a local furniture chain starts doing more business than expected and needs to hire a new accountant. Because you're so good, you can upsell yourself. Bam, you've got a new job, and maybe some entry level bugger who has no experience and can't find one gets your old one, and then he/she can afford to buy a house. Know what I'm saying?

WE'RE NOT THERE YET

Again, expect two years to begin earning a competitive salary again; one where you can keep up with your bills.

STORIES

You've heard my story. What about others?

Jamie indicated that she hadn't had an interview in six months after incurring large student debt after many years of postsecondary education. Some insight she shared was the feeling she was overqualified. It makes sense: some companies do not want to hire you because they know you'll leave as soon as you find something better, thus you can't even find an entry level position just to make ends-meet.

Jen had a great quote for me, "Getting my degree instead of working during the boom was probably a bad idea...I'm in debt and too smart." That sounds like something a lot of students of the last few postsecondary graduating years can attest to. Jen did not want to take time after her last position, indicating she wanted to find a job as quick as possible. Not wanting to ride the EI train, she is on her second week of benefits, stating that she hasn't had any callbacks after aggressively seeking positions in just about any line of work. "I'm a toxic blend of over and under qualified." she states. Most recent graduates from the last few years have enough education to fill requirements of a lot of postings, but don't have the 5 years of necessary experience.

Tim indicated he recently spent 7 months on EI after being laid off due to his company's global downsizing. In 2008 I saw him promoting his company at a career fair. I wonder what kind of sick feeling it must have been to be promoting a hiring company, to getting laid off due to downsizing yourself. At that time we both felt like we were on the verge of becoming fantastic young executives who play golf and have nice houses and musclecars. I believe we both have decent houses and musclecars, and that's what our EI contributions are going to keep the bills up on.

Jessica had no quote for me, but blogs frequently at http://prematurenostalgia.blogspot.com/ about her current employment status, and the results. These are comical quips about saving $40 using coupons alone.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE

Like Jen indicated, going to school during the rough patch is probably a better idea, then you come out with the ability to gain jobs and experience immediately. I didn't have trouble finding a smaller sized entry level position as soon as I went back to being a student. There were suddenly many more opportunities when I was going to get the government to pay my way. There have also been several more opportunities recently, it seems to me.

There will be recessions in the future. If we keep on the same path they're sure to be much worse. Excessive use of credit has seemed to have made this recession much worse. In other words, save, and spend, but reasonably. Purchase what you can afford in cash, or to pay off in a short term. You wouldn't walk into a store and see a shirt, and think about how the payments on that shirt would work into your budget? We need to stop doing that with smaller and smaller things. 35 years ago it was ONLY houses that you financed. Then about 25 years ago it started to be cars. Then 20 years ago it started to be living room sets. And 15 electronics, and 10 began the reward credit card phase, and now you literally finance everything. You buy your groceries on a credit card to get the reward points. You are effectively financing your groceries. First of all, financing things doesn't give you anything you can sell off if things get really bad. It forces you to pay bills for things you can't afford when the going gets tough. It forces the government to keep interest rates low and prolong the recovery period.

I wish everyone out there prosperity, health and happiness.

GOOD LUCK

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

rbw2@ualberta.ca

PAGE ART

Includes the unemployed storm trooper poster 'sucks when your job gets blow'd up' and the joke about "jobless men keep going: try wall street: they pay bonuses" of course poking fun at the wal street exec bonuses post bailout for the US. There's plenty of money to go around, just not to us.

NEXT ISSUE

-Are Canadians aware of the real issues? Vancouver riots explored.

-Bad Teacher: The dean that stole was always part of the problem.

-Sonic Boom Backlash: Are we getting spoiled or is modern rock just bad?

-New Music from Matt Good

-New cover art and more from On The Streets

Florida Piss Test, Poor City Planning, The Souvs and '68 GTO

Florida Piss Test, Poor City Planning, The Souvs and a '68 GTO...

Issue 2, Volume 1
Friday June 10, 2011

Our On The Streets segment this week is a photo of a 1968 GTO in the Whyte Ave Southpark GM lot. It's obviously there to attract some attention, just as Don Wheaton's warehouse is a fantastic gallery of rare and expensive vehicles that might just get you to buy a Cruze. The old neon lights and the crazy dealership flags that still exist on Wheaton and Southpark got me thinking about how much our city changes, and not always for the best. This car stands here as a reminder of what the lot looked like in '68. At that time there weren't that many car dealerships to go to. I was once helping my friend look for a new vehicle, and had a discussion with a salesman who was uncertain about his future. "We have a new website up if you want to take a look. Eventually going online will pretty much replace us in the used car department. Thirty years ago, you made friends with your car salesman and came back to see him if you had a good relationship with him. Also people only drove Chevys or only drove Fords. Now people will go pretty much to anyone who will either finance them or give them the lowest payments." That doesn't always mean the best or most personable service. I was pretty happy with my service at Healy Ford. Of course, they haven't been owned by the Healys in a good long time. The dealership picked up and moved to Sherwood Park and became Sherwood Ford, now meaning if I want to get my annual maintenance I have to drive all the way out there, when I used to be very close do their downtown location. After it closed, they tossed a lot of stuff out. At my friend's barbecue, me and another gentleman jumped into their commercial dumpsters and found a few cool remnants of the old times. I'm not going to say which signs I have and where I keep them, but let's just say they're super old, and from Ford's oldest dealership, that's pretty cool. Healy actually moved to the 103rd street location in 1963, after abandoning the lot on Jasper and 105th. Their old showroom is now the Boston Pizza downtown location, and their old lot is just a parking lot. Many people on Connect To Edmonton mourn the loss of the downtown dealership for possibly more downtown charge parking, which is unsightly. For more about city planning, see the feature below.

The 1968 GTO above was the first year of the 'endura' cars - called that for the 'endura' plastic/resin front nose. You can tell the 1968 from 1969 most easily by the grille. 1969 GTO's have a horizontal slat that runs about in the middle of the grille on each of the two grille divisions. In 1968 you could have gone to Southpark and ordered a GTO (GM's A-Body) with either a 3 speed auto, or a 4 speed manual. You could have had a 400 cubic inch V8, or the massive '455 Super Duty' 455 cubic inch engine. You could have also had white-wall radial tires at no extra charge, but there are rumors that very few cars came with this option, as B.F. Goodrich had some sort of manufacturing problem. So the majority of the cars came with bias ply tires. Pontiac had some interesting options, such as the hood mounted tachometer, or the 'endura delete' option, which would have given you the unholy looking iron mask sort of front (it was all chromed) that appeared on the LeMans in 1968. Basically the same car without the whole performance persona, and the ability to be a 4 door sedan, convertible or station wagon. Also it didn't have the same big block options, the smallest was a 3.5L I6 (230 cubes) and the largest was GM's old reliable 350 V8. Pontiac is somewhat special to the Canadian heritage. Pontiac insisted on rebadging cars to sell only to the Canadian market. So for example, unlike our southern neighbors, you could order a Pontiac Acadian. It was the Pontiac version of the Chevrolet II Nova, and there was also an A-body Pontiac Beaumont, which was a Chevrolet Chevelle rebadged. The name was supposedly to help sell the Canadian built cars to Canadians, by giving them Canadian names, and by offering packages supposedly more in tune with Canadian buyers. My neighbor has a purple Beaumont that looks like it drove here straight from 1976, with purple flecked paint and machined centerline wheels. He likes to rev it a lot. We have a lot of cars over here on this side of the street that can rev right back at him.

Florida To Screen Welfare Recipients - Causes Canadians To Hate Own System
Florida passed legislation, effective 1 July 2011 that will see welfare recipients need to be drug tested (or piss tested) just like Minnesota Vikings players, in order to receive their checks. I say 'checks' because we're talking about an American issue. The recipients will have to pay in advance to get their money, but will be reimbursed as long as they pass.

Why does this matter to me? Well it matters to all of us. Although some have called the bill 'profiling' because of the vast amount of certain cultural groups on welfare, it seems more just that taxpayers don't want their money going to pay for someone else's contraband. And can we blame them?

This spawned an all out debate on one of my friend's facebook wall. She said we should do something like this in Canada. In fact, while Florida is making it harder to get aid money, the NDP successfully voted in, last term, to decrease EI waiting times, ensuring individuals get money faster. EI is a bad example however, because your entitlement amount and duration are based on what you've paid into it. So you if you are effectively snorting or rolling and smoking your EI cheques (CDN issue CDN spelling) then you might be rolling and smoking your own contribution. I couldn't, however, believe the brazen and arrogant attitudes of some individuals on the wall. "I can think of a bunch of friends I wouldn't have to pay for." Wrote one person (corrected for spelling and grammar). "We'd be better off doing that here...we all got the same chances in life." (Corrected for spelling and grammar again). I couldn't believe my eyes when I found out that some individuals that had used social programs said they should be abolished. Is it because they found out first hand that Canadians were wasting their money?

HRM Canada reported that the unemployment rate was at 7.1% as of 1 May 2011. That is approximately 2,343,000 Canadians out of work that, as to be considered 'unemployed' should technically have jobs. That is potentially 2.3 million Canadians (think if all of Edmonton plus all of Red Deer were all unemployed) on EI. Approximately 5.1% (as of 2009-2010) of Canadians are on welfare. However, the government of British Columbia reports that 80% of those that leave, do so because they have found a job and do not require social assistance as their new employment income is substantial.

What would 2.3 million Canadians do if they had to piss test before every EI, Welfare, or Subsidy cheque? What if you had to piss test before you got a student loan?

You have to understand that I was shocked not because people were indicating they didn't want social welfare to go to individuals who were using it to buy illegal drugs (not that addiction is an illness or anything) but calling for abolition to all these programs entirely. What would 2.3 million Canadians do without any assistance at all? One of these people indicated they had been both on EI and in subsidized housing. I inquired what he would do if he didn't have that. He replied with 'it was only for a month.' In that month, didn't it help you? 'I would have sold stuff if I needed to get by.' - So in that case you knew you were only going to be on it for exactly a month?

Whilst I applaud this ignorant individual for being able to find himself out of whatever hole he found himself in, the rest of us know that unemployment can happen at any time. What if your union strikes, or you work for a major company that lays off a ton of people during an economic turndown? What if you decide to pursue further education? What if you become injured or sick?

There's no doubt that social assistance is required, and social assistance in Canada is expected; we are a country that employs socialist tendencies. We expect these things to be there for us when we need them, and for the most part, we don't mind paying for them. Mostly, we just don't want that money going to 'some junky' or 'some prostitute' or 'some single crackhead mom who doesn't know what a condom is and keeps pumping out kids.' These aren't things I just made up on the spot.

So do we cancel ALL social assistance? No. Do we piss test people and deny them if they fail? No. Do we piss test people? Maybe.

Social programs can be stimulating to an economy if done right. The old adage about teaching a man to fish? That applies here. Perhaps a person needs assistance to get off drugs and could use employment training. Pay for that with tax dollars, and you have a functional worker that is contributing to the economy and ta-da taxes too, that allows his 'debt' to be repaid while also helping others.

There's only one problem with this. You can have a skilled worker...but you have to have a job to put him in. And there aren't that many. More on this next issue.

Ultimately, social programs need to be monitored for efficiency and efficacy. Could we upgrade in Canada? Sure. But we don't need to deny based on drug screening to know that we could have a better teach-a-man-to-fish system. Of course, with our prisons already being revolving doors and some of our justice system a joke, how do we expect this change to be made? Write your MP, ladies and gentleman, write your MP.


I Have No Editor - Poor City Planning
The I have no editor section is where I rant about something, possibly incoherently, that wouldn't make a real magazine.

Here is an issue that's close to my heart. I was once told, after ranting about the inherent infrastructure problems in YEG, specifically the planning, that I should be happy about where I live or move away. It was from a person who lived in Sherwood Park. Yeah.

I don't think it's wrong to complain or bitch about what's going on in your city, or how poorly your city was planned. If you don't complain...if no one complains, how are things supposed to improve?

Let's talk about the recent Edmonton developments in planning and what Edmonton has up their sleeve, good and bad, as rated by me.

Downtown Arena
A lot of individuals are saying that 'I don't want my tax dollars to go to pay for this thing from any level of government.' Granted, I understand that. But you don't give yourself a lot of credibility when your protest sign reads 'I DO NOT WANT TO LIVE IN KATSVILLE' and the person who has been investing in Edmonton's name is Katz. First of all, what's wrong with Katz? He's put a ton of his own money into Edmonton. I have had the privilege while taking my nursing prerequisites to pass through the Katz center on campus. It's beautiful. I wish the University was given private money from all wealthy capitalists. Trust me, you'll hate the idea until you're using one of the facilities, and then you'll change your mind. Ultimately though I don't think these people who are protesting understand what's happening here. For one, redeveloping an area such as the area of 107th street isn't just a good idea, it's needed. This has degraded to one of the worst areas in the city. Don't believe me? Drive by 'Milla's pub' on 101st at any time during the day, and you should be able to see Edmonton's Finest overworked. Ultimately there doesn't need to be low-rent districts with a ton of crime. There are ways to redevelop areas so that they are still affordable and don't turn into 'slums' so to speak. But I'm getting off topic here.

Imagine that someone told you that you would pay for part of a house, but the house would be yours, and then they'd rent the house from you. So you pay for a part of the house, and you get to own the whole house, and then you're going to make revenue because the person that helped you pay for it and renovate it is also going to rent it from you. That's the whole idea with the downtown arena. The city gets to keep the arena, and the development that they're partially paying for, and Katz is going to lease it from them.

Let's face it, Edmonton has dropped the ball on a lot of things by stalling. I know people wanted to wait, but when you're saying that "construction costs are going up, and everyone will have to pay more." I get that some people are suspicious that Katz is forcing the city's hand, but we also remember about construction costs related to the 23rd ave overpass. Did USL force the city's hand by increasing material costs? Or did Edmonton just wait to long.

In my view, people who don't want a downtown arena (which isn't just an arena but an entire area redevelopment) DON'T GET IT. Investing in your city for its' own benefit is a good thing. I feel like these are the same people who say that, "that money would be better used on healthcare" not realizing that healthcare is funded not by municipalities, but by the province and federal government.

Bike Path Routes
There's something to be said for on-street bike path routes. I'm beginning to think that 'transportation engineer' is another word for 'moron' just like 'pump attendant' is another word for 'pump jockey' and 'mentally disabled' is another word for 'retarded' and on and on. Apparently Edmonton is getting 16 new bike routes. These are on street bike routes though. So that's kind of like adding a bus route. All it means is that the bus goes down another street. So all this means is they're just painting lines on an existing road that mark it as an on-street bike path. Usually this means that this takes away a certain lane for a certain amount of time during a commute, but not always. If they're wide roads, sometimes it can be a dedicated lane. But if not, it's just some signs and some paint. So how is this a bike path? Isn't it just now basically a promotion to ride your bike on the road? You can do that anyway, it's not illegal. You just have to give hand signals and behave as any other vehicle. You know what we could use? REAL bike paths!

In Conclusion
Mandell has done some great things while in power. But the scariest quote was when he was heard about two weeks ago saying that 'if they don't have the money to do the LRT right - right now - that we would do sections and plug in when we have the money' AHH. WHAT? So isn't that the same kind of thinking that left the transit system the same for 18 years before another stop was added, and like 22 years for Clareview station NOT to be a temporary platform?

New Music
Rarely to I get a chance to actually talk about a local YEG band, or Albertan band, but I have the fantastic chance to talk about one today.

The Souvs are a local group from right here in Edmonton, and sure, I might be a little biased, because I happen to have been introduced to Sarah Martens at a friend's barbecue, and of course, as musicians do, we started talking about music.

Their self-titled release EP (well you can call it Souvs EP) is a 6 song work that, as Sarah put it, was a year in the making.

The initial poppy riffs have a great clean-tonal quality, albeit low-fi, but it will remind you of old Eric's Trip releases, again just cleaner. The lead off It's A Start is a Stars type number with male and female vocals both, but the album builds from there. Rather than just being a one dimensional keyboard/telecaster pop pony, this horse ends up as one of a darker colour. By the time you get to Is Is Is you see the more serious side of the Souvs. That in contrast to Connecting Flight which gives me more of a Tokyo Police Club vibe.

The album is available from their website at:
http://souvs.bandcamp.com/album/souvs-ep

It's a 'pay what you can' download of the entire album, and I recommend you pay something. We all know that local musicians generally do not get paid for live shows, and don't get paid for their recordings, but actually have quite a few expenses. So if you love the music, support it in any way you can. Also, feel free to support the band when they play at the Electric Sloth Festival on June 24, 2010 in Borden Park. Remember Borden Park? Did your elementary school class ever go there for your end of the year party? It's the one with the ampitheater, wading pool and it's got the big swings.

Letters To The Editor
rbw2@ualberta.ca
I haven't actually received any letters yet. But send them to me, and I'll take them into consideration.

Last Week's Art

This was the background for last week's page. It includes, among other things, a Schlitz ad that says, "don't worry honey, you didn't burn the beer!" As well as a mustang replica ad of a model T ad. There's an ad for an Oldsmobile Hearse, and an incredibly bisexual-swinger type advertisement for the Opel Kaddett. This week's art is a tribute to the new 'Pepsi Throwback.' The story behind throwback goes like this. In about 1985, when Coke released New Coke; most soft drinks changed to high fructose corn syrup. It was in response to government tariffs on cane and cane sugar. Coke went back to its' coke classic after a short time, while Pepsi evolved to add citric acid and continued using HFCS. The Pepsi throwback might make you feel young again, like all diet Pepsi claims to do, simply by giving you the flavour you remember. Although made with real sugar, it actually contains 1 gram less sugar than standard Pepsi per serving. And the citric acid is gone too. Pepsi says they'll continue to sell it as long as people continue to demand it. Considering PC has to say 'limit 4 per customer' - I don't think that's going to be a problem.

Next Issue

Next issue is the (un)employment issue. Feel free to send in stories of unemployment and barely scraping by. We'll be joined by a few guest editors of fairly high fame who I am not going to yet disclose, just in case I don't receive anything from them. Read the next issue on Friday, June 17. By the way, our last issue got over 50 hits. Thanks readers! RSS or add us!

YEG Slutwalk Is Like Fighting To End Retard Jokes (also) AMC Concord and Rural Alberta Advantage

ISSUE 1 Volume 1
Friday June 3, 2011

First Post
That's right. A new blog. Smell that new blog smell?

The above photo was taken from inside of Mousy Brown's Salon at 10240-124 Street, YEG. That's my Mustang down there. I thought for the first post I'd introduce the aim of this blog. In this blog, I will post interesting sights I see, I will post sociopolitical and socioeconomic commentary (which can be funny, angering, nail biting, irrelevent, etc) and I will post about music, films, and current issues. I will also post thoughts that come into my head, because I have a lot of them, and I can't seem to keep them in. I welcome as much commentary as possible in return. I even welcome guest columnists (hey, it's a great way to get more readers for both of us - if blog fame is what you're out for). Without further ado, I bring you Issue 1 of what I hope will be a regular occuring read in your RSS feed.

Edmonton to host YEG Slutwalk
Saturday June 4, 2011 will see Edmonton host its very own 'slutwalk' and hope not to be first annual. If you're like me, you're curious what slutwalk is all about. I thought at first, that slutwalk was something like zombie walk. Instead of dressing like zombies, everone dresses like sluts. Well it is. But the undertone of the walk has a powerful message. That is that victims of sexual violence do not deserve it because of the way they were dressed. I get that. I've always gotten that. See, I'm opposed to Slutwalk. I applaud anything that brings awareness to sexual violence, but Slutwalk to me is akin to dressing up like mentally or physically challenged people, to advocate that we shouldn't make fun of people by calling them retards or gimps. Did I just say something inflammatory? Of course I did! It is important to note that anyone who dresses a certain way doesn't deserve sexual violence thrust upon them, and that dressing a certain way is not an invitation to be raped. But I feel that this is something we've always known, or at least that this walk maybe could have been more meaninfgul in the late 70's. Like my handicapped comparison, when do we ever say it is okay to call a mentally or physically challenged person a retard? We all know it isn't, and we've known for a long time. Slutwalk should just say that, by dressing up like this we are opposing sexual violence. It's that easy. I think the ironic thing is that there are probably some actual perverts who will go to the event, rah-rah support everything, and take a ton of photos of every day girls, including their friends, dressed up like sluts to add to their spank-banks later. Count on it. Slutwalk is like saying, "you know that off coloured comment you make in your home sometimes when watching the news...don't say that comment anymore."

I'm scared, however. Call me prudish, but I'm frightened that the Slutwalk will have unwanted side effects. I'm scared that the awareness called to sexual harassment and violence based on dress will give younger and more naiive women the idea that it is okay to dress however you please in any setting and you shouldn't be commented on it. Some outfits are inappropriate for a business setting. And as long as we live in a society that says your breasts shouldn't be exposed as they are an object of sexual obsession, you should probably put them away. How's this for backwards? Facebook probably will publish tons of photos of slutwalk, featuring semi-exposed breasts, but photos of breastfeeding mothers are still deleted from their pages prompting probably one of the biggest usergroups on facebook ('hey facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene').

Maybe I'm missing the point of Slutwalk. No, wait, I read it again. "No one is responsible for violence perpetrated against them, no matter what they where, who they associate with, or who they are." Um, gonna have to disagree. I get that the entire thing is about not blaming victims, but really, if you're hanging around dangerous offenders, shouldn't you take a step back and think maybe that, "this is dangerous." I have news for everyone. Humans are animals. A very sophisticated animal, but an animal nonetheless. If you broke into a tiger pen, and the tiger mauled you, are they going to blame you or the tiger? Yeah, so if you hang around dangerous and unpredictable individuals that act more like wild animals than 'civilized humans' (<- what exactly is that anyway) don't you get a little bit of the blame?

Slutwalk, I applaud thee for your work. It is, however, in my opinion, misplaced.

New Music
Leave it to Rural Alberta Advantage out of Toronto, ON, to take a song about something so close to Albertan's hearts and rip it to shreds. This is effectually the second single off of their sophmore release Departing, after 'Stamp'. Although, depending on where you live, it might even be the first song you've heard from them. Unless you have CBC Radio 3. If you don't where you live, I recommend Sirius/XM (Channel 152 on Sirius).

RAA have been praised as having the signature sound Arcade Fire is known for, and were given critical acclaim for their debut album Hometowns.

What is Departing to me? It is great background music that you can fall asleep or chill to, but is it relevant in the long run? Probably not. However, it's nice to see another Albertan band kicking ass in the Indie seen, and being heard on major market radio (such as Sonic 102.9FM here in Edmonton, or perhaps Sirius' Alt Nation). This after Tokyo Police Club and U.S.S. have had fantastic success nationally and even internationally. Nils Edenloff, guitarist, frontman and songwriter grew up in Fort MacMurray, Alberta, which is where he is said to draw his influence from. In that respect, I'd expect to hear something along the lines of Rocky Votolato; dark and dirty lovesongs relating to endless turmoil of hard labor. However, there is something about RAA that is even more stripped down than even Votolato's solo efforts, and something seems to be missing. I question what 'grew up' refers to. I grew up in Clareview, and that doesn't influence my songwriting at all. I'm sure I could make some great stories about it though. This is my biggest problem with the song 'Tornado 87' - a title and song imagry which makes reference to the F4 tornado (although analysts discuss that it should have been an F5 classification) that hit Edmonton in what we call 'black friday' - Friday 31 July, 1987 where 27 people were killed, and over 1000 left homeless. The imagry in the song does paint a wonderfully bleak picture relating to a romance gone bad, but it makes light of a deeply personal Canadian tragedy for some. I imagine this was not the band's intention, but someone relatively new in their career should not make such mistakes, in my opinion.

Rural Alberta Advantage, although they sound a bit thin, and Edenloff's voice can become trying at times, is not difficult to listen to, and in my opinion mostly well written. I wish I could say more, but quite honestly, their music does not jump out at you as much as their colleagues in Tokyo Police Club or USS, or their comparitive comrades like Arcade Fire.

Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing (Paper Bag Records 2011) - 6/10

Check them out here: http://www.theraa.com/

On The Streets
On the streets is a section where I take pictures of interesting things and share them. So a lot of the time they're going to be cars. But sometimes they'll be things like bylaw officers speeding, or a cop talking on his cellular phone while driving. This is the whole point, after all, of Out My Passenger Window.

This was spotted on 81st Avenue behind Sanctuary. It is indeed a 1978 AMC Concord D/L Coupe. It has the original vinyl landau roof, and colour keyed interior. These cars were available with a 3.8L V6, 4.2L V6, or the 304 AMC V8. Judging on how low keyed this car was, we're willing to bet it's the standard 3.8L V6 with a 3 speed automatic. These cars were built in Brampton, Ontario by American Motors before their bankruptcy and takeover by Chrysler in 1986, who dropped all vehicles except the Jeep line, and revamped the Eagle line to suit their own needs. These cars were based on the predecessor Hornet, and went on to become the AMC Eagle; essentially the world's first 'crossover' car/SUV. In a survey by Popular Mechanics in 1978, when asked if new owners had any complaints with their cars, 30% of Concord owners responded 'none' thus creating a new record for PM's survey at that time. I just love the idea that this car is still driving around with no problems after all these years. It's not your usual collector car by any standard, and it is in amazing survivor shape.

Letters To The Editor

rbw2@ualberta.ca

Thanks for reading!