Perplexing

Life is perplexing, Recently a relationship has come into my life that I never saw coming. Ironicly when I used to mope around, deprest at how I was single and alone. And I would never find anyone my closet friends used to tell me “Just wait and it will come to you”. Bullshit I thought, those fuckers were just trying to get me to shut up, I thought. But one night on a random misadventure I meet this amazing person. A rocky start I must say, me being uneasy about any guy and mistrusting of almost everyone always. I can be my own worst enemy when it comes to new encounters. But this person seemed right and looking at things now I could not be happier. So I guess my friends were not just trying to get me to shut up, I guess things really do just take time. I'm sure glad I waited…..

Love you always CR

Bye bye Canada?

I am very much a proud Canadian. I think as a nation we have so much to be proud of. But recently I feel like were losing our identity as a nation. I watch the action of this poor excuse for a government let our nation loss its identity and feel very much a sense of anger. I’m a believer in free markets, because this is how the economy works. But in the same respect we need to protect our interests as a nation by limiting foreign ownership of Canadian owned corporations. The conservatives have done nothing to protect our interests as a nation allowing an alarming number of companies be completely bought by forgin interests. And not doing enough to promote new investment in Canada. Yes in most cases the government has no say in the ownership of publicly/privately owned companies, but the government does have the power to make it more attractive to stay in Canada. Something this government refuses to do; in fact this government in some cases has encouraged this buy out trend.

The more I see the ways of this government the sicker I feel. This so called prime minister is no Canadian. That man hates this country and his actions as leader have proven this. He has done nothing to help cities which are in desperate need of federal cash for ageing infrastructure and growing population numbers. Pleas for assistance from cities and provinces alike are faced with no response from the federal government. With global warming being a serious issue, being met with serious action over seas this government has chosen to ignore the fact and back out of our Kyoto commitment entirely and replacement it with a conservative plan which was also watered down.

The only thing this government has any interests in is pleasing the big companies which line the wallets of the Conservative MP’s most of which have vast interests in the Alberta oil sands. Keeping the American government happy and Alberta industry happy are the only two things Harper is interested in. If the current government was in fact interested in the well-being of the nation would it so blatantly ignore the needs of the largest city in the country? The city which is the economic backbone to Canada. Would the finance minister really say “Ontario is the last place any business should invest” Of course not!

The federal government is in place to make the nation as a whole run smoothly, not berate and ignore parts of the country. As Harper slowly dismantles the foundation Canada was built on we will ultimately be left with something that won’t be recognizable as Canada but some generic American blend with less social programs and a 2 tier health care system or an entirely private system.

Personally I'm an NDP voter. But the liberals lead Canada for many years. Yes many shady things took place but the fact remains they insured that Canada was a strong nation. They delivered balanced budget after balanced budget year after year. The times were in now are not the times to be cutting taxes left right and centre, Harper is setting us up for failure just as Harris did with Ontario.

To the people who voted for Harper you should be ashamed of yourselves. Especially those who lived in Ontario during the Harris Erie.

Society on the downhill slid

The more and more I read the news paper, and watch the news. And ultimately watch the worlds events unfold around me. I’m left wondering when things will be positive, when we will be less fearful of what disaster, economic or natural is going to hit us next. After World War II the world had just recovered from a horrible experience. But following that awful event came a time of renewal, and a general sense of well-being and hope. People saw a future and there was no stopping us. Jobs were created at home and a blueprint was made of the "Ideal" way of life. The suburban way of life, people were happy the government seemed to be doing a good job for the most part. Cities got larger new technologies were being developed at an amazing speed. Civil rights and freedoms were breaking new ground and democracy was being expected of all nations.
But then something happened that sense of invincibility soon faded. But why and when did this happen? Personally I don’t know I was born in the 80's this trend of things going downhill was well in motion by 1986. But that’s what history is for, to educate us on the past. It seems that in our hast to move forward, to enhance our, at the time conception of "Quality of life" we made some very short sighted and stupid decisions. Not considering what the implications of the decisions we made at the time would be. But why should we have? Everything was good at the time.
North Americas over zealous embrace of the automobile and the suburbs were probably the most miss guided moves we made. Creating a state of belief that in order for our lives to function we needed cars and big houses cut off from the city. That highways were a better investment then public transit.
It all happened so fast no one could really even see the implications till it was too late.
As our markets became more and more intertwined with the production of oil the option to back away became less and less ascertainable. As corporations tightened their chokehold on the public and government alike our ability to say no also went out the window.
The United States of America was the power and dominate force in the world markets. And it was a situation of "Our way or the poor house" Other nations ultimately had to follow suet with the Americans so be successful in the world markets, no matter how detrimental the actions of the USA were proving to be.
So here we sit in the year 2008, Global warming is no longer a myth but an outright pending disaster. Crude oil has surpassed an earlier believed impossible $100 a barrel. We have used over 50% of the worlds accessible oil reserves and considering when we began using oil on a large scale that’s pretty scary. Drinkable fresh water is getting to be something fewer and fewer nations have a plentiful supply of.
And the almighty US dollar is sliding and with no sign of bouncing back.
The former most powerful economy in the world is now facing a serious resection.
And has the largest deficit among any developed nation in the world, over 2 trillion dollars most of which is owed to China. The only thing keeping the American economy afloat is its spending on the military and its oil companies over seas, Which I might add are in politicly turbulent areas vulnerable to a vast assortment of issues. Should one of these entities go under, so too will the entire US economy.
Other nations are looking at ensuring their social safety nets are strong enough to buffer an economic down turn which is being forecasted. As well as dealing with massive shortfalls in infrastructure repair. And the ageing baby boomer population.
Alas nothing looks promising these days, and there does not seem to be a 1960's coming up anytime soon. I hate to seem like a dooms day sayer but this is the world were faced with, just starling at how we went downhill so soon so fast.

In defense of the mistakes we made in the past, The only way we learn is by trial and error. With many of the things that today are proving to be horrible ideas. The suburbs as an example, no one had tried this concept before, It seemed like a logical idea large residential areas with wide streets safe from heavy traffic for families to grow up in. But these became a wasteland devoid of a real sense of community and very much separated from everything. Making owning a car a necessity not an option. Cities like Mississauga are struggling to develop bus routs that will be able to function in these mazes of subdivisions that were not designed with public transit in mind. Who knew filling your car with gas would cost so much it would become prohibitive. Who knew that commute that was designed by city planers 30 years ago to take 20 minutes would today take 1 hour, and “Rush hour” itself would ironically become 3 hours long. What a difference a few decades can make.

The real story

Anyone who knows me knows what I do for a living. For those who don’t I'm a security guard. Despite what most may think right off the bat I love this industry. And I wish to debunk some of the common misconceptions and stereotypes that all so often accompany the job title “Security Guard”.

I started with Intelligarde a company which likes to think of itself as a private police force, which it most certainly is not. But it holds contracts with some of the worst buildings in the city, to work for Intelligarde you need to be in the job because you have a genuine interest in law enforcement. Otherwise you won’t be able to handle it. When people think security they think that fat guy behind the desk in their building or office who probably could pass for hire the handicap. Or the slow witted immigrant guy who can’t speak English and is yelling at his wife on his cell phone as some thugs break into a car behind him.

Unforchintly this is the reality of the industry. There are many companies and many positions that need filling. Until recently these were the qualifications for the job according to the government of Ontario:

Must be 19 years of age or older

No prior criminal convictions for which a pardon has been granted

Legal resident of Canada

Legally entitled to work in Canada

Completion of secondary school

Needless to say there are allot of people in the industry who fuel the stereotype. But there are also the men and woman who take the job seriously and work in high risk sites requiring lots of training. These people have to deal with situations that the police are faced with day to day. But were not police and we have to rely on the limited power the Criminal code gives us to do our job. We don’t carry guns, but if you receive the training you can carry a baton and handcuffs. When I worked high risk sites my standard gear was 2 sets of cuffs a straight stick baton, Mag light, level 3 bullet proof vest, Kevlar lined leather gloves and a small first aid kit. I had received training in handcuffing self defense, tactical baton, advanced patrol techniques, communications and negotiations, and the list goes on. These courses were all offered by the company but provided by former police officers or military personal. In order to make an arrest the company wants to know you won’t be a liability. They want to know you know the Criminal code and proper arrest techniques so in the event you get in a confrontation you’re not at risk physically and the company is not at risk legally.

There are many large building projects in the city, the police are not large enough to patrol inside them or deal with the crime inside the properties. This leaves property managers using security as a way of keeping things under control. In many cases tenants will call Security before the police knowing security will be faster. This puts security officers at risk for being put in high risk situations.

Security guards may deal with everything from domestic disputes to psycatric patients off their meds, medical emergencies, fights, drugs and gangs, break and enters to even clogged toilets and sinks.