"Allgender" washrooms - what's next?

Before I start, I need to emphasize the fact that I have the utmost respect for transgendered people. I have a good relationship with a local group and have enjoyed working with its members over the past ten-plus years.

Having said that, I have great difficulty processing my thoughts after reading a National Post article published this morning. It explains how student groups at University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg and Ryerson University are lobbying for what they call allgender washrooms. The Vice President of the student federation at University of Winnipeg states in the piece that "Gender-neutral washrooms are important because it deconstructs the idea of gender as a whole."

What exactly does "deconstructing the idea of gender" mean?

I am male. No matter how you look at me, that won't change. I realize that there are some sensitivities that need to be kept in mind when dealing with certain issues such as those concerning transgendered people, but when it comes down to it, you cannot "deconstruct" or change the fact that I am one gender or another.

Are these student groups taking political correctness a bit too far? I fear that I believe that they most certainly are. Why? Nowadays male school teachers are advised to avoid any risk of being alone with female students for fear of sexual-related offense accusations. North America is at such a point that people will file lawsuits for just about anything and even the most innocent of situations could be mis-construed, resulting in accusations that could forever ruin someone's career.

My point? These politically correct zealots might want to renovate washroom facilities to remove the so-called male/female "barrier"... but will they step up and defend me if and when I am accused of looking at a pretty girl in what she may view as an inappropriate manner when I walk in to the bathroom as she's coming out of her stall?

Like it or not, there are some lines that just simply cannot be crossed. With litigation coming close to replacing lacrosse or hockey as Canada's official sport, I'm not so sure we should be so quick to entertain the idea of "deconstructing the idea of gender" and help the cause along by allowing bathroom free for alls.

In the National Post article an anonymous student at one of the three universities muses about how many transgendered people actually attend his or her university. According to some quick research I just did, some studies estimate that "1 percent of the population may have had a transgender experience". Again - I know that some might quick to accuse me of being intolerant, but at what point must a society change fundamental values for groups that may not even amount to one percent of a given population?

For me, I am 100% against this change to washroom usage simply because I do not think that I am prepared to risk a lawsuit every time I have a need to pee when I'm in a public building. Like it or not, conditions are such that it's not impossible - especially when there are no other witnesses around. We're not ready, as society as a whole, for this brand of change. Sorry.

Crude oil falls yet another $1.15 - can ANYONE explain pump prices?

Short and sweet today. I just checked to see where oil prices are going today - as of 2:24pm the price was down another $1.15 at $56.40 a barrel. World market prices have been steadily falling for a good amount of time now.

Imperial Oil announced this morning that the Nanticoke refinery is back to 100% production capacity. Rail workers are back on track. It's been a mild March and according to the Bush administration, the early onset of daylight savings time means we don't have to heat our homes as much... once again, saving energy.

So, Petro Canada, Esso, Sunoco, Shell et al, what's it going to take to get the prices back where they should be? Or will you all jump onto Imperial Oil's bandwagon and decide to enjoy the higher retail profit margins that will ensure that favourable quarterly results are posted in the weeks to come?

No price fixing, eh? Suuuure.

TD Canada Trust fees going up again - new staff position will help convince the public it's a good thing!

Before I begin, I was driving home yesterday thinking about what I have recently written. Most recent posts are attacking a multi-billion dollar industry or another. Others seem to be addressing one political issue or another. I wondered if I was being too negative and whether I should look at "happier" things to write about.

Then this morning I got my monthly TD Canada Trust bank statement at work. Attached to the statement was a "Notice of Changes to Fees and Hold Funds Policy". If TDCT is doing something effective May 1, chances are extremely good that all other banks are following suit or have already implemented the same changes.

Before I get into the details, you must be reminded that the major Canadian banks earned in excess of $19 billion dollars in profits last year. Also, I learned last year that when these same banks announce changes to "remain competitive" they don't mean from the client's perspective, they mean for the shareholders. Their profits must be bigger than the others'.

Now... what wonderful changes are TD Canada Trust clients able to look forward to? A 16.6 to 25% increase in stop payment fees. PLUS system ABM foreign exchange fees going to skyrocket by 2 1/2 times!! Safety deposit box fees will increase by 20, 21.4, 22.4 or 33.3%, depending on the size of box. I guess $19 billion in profits this year won't do so these banks are doing their darndest to come up with "new and innovative ways" to earn even higher revenues. I guess they figured they can't raise day-to-day fees until next year for fear of really aggravating people after what they did in 2006. Oh, they're also making changes to ATM/ABM deposit holds as well, of course not to the customer's benefit.

Now, as if this all wasn't enough to really tick me off, I am once again invited to speak with someone. That didn't get me anywhere last year - nobody cared. Sure, the branch manager looked like she did, but even she invited me to go elsewhere and find a better deal. Of course, she knew that wouldn't be possible. Anyway, I'm told in this notice that if I have questions I can contact my Relationship Manager in my branch.

Huh!?

What the heck is a Relationship Manager? The clowns that run these banks really have to stop believing the crap that is fed to them by image consultants or whoever it is who gives them tips and tricks to make customers believe that change is "good" and that they will "like" paying higher fees, because after all, the Canadian banks need to stay competitive and services improve with the additional investments.

Right. And I'm Napoleon.

Oil companies came up with a new one over the weekend!

I guess I've been oil company bashing a bit more than usual in recent weeks, but with what is going on out there, I just can't help it. I mean, a small fire in southern Ontario has seemingly caused prices to rise from the low to mid-80 cents per litre price only weeks ago to the dollar mark - in no time flat! Wasn't there a small fire out west last week as well? Unfortunately (OK, now I'm being overly cynical) firefighters on staff were able to put the fire out before any damage of consequence had a chance to occur.

The price of oil has fallen below the $60/barrel price today. It has traded in the low sixty dollar range for quite some time now. It was trading in that range when we were regularly paying less than eighty cents per litre late at night in Ottawa a month or so ago. If the world market prices are stable, how can an almost 25% increase in prices at the pump be explained?

Don't forget my quoting a Hamilton Spectator article last week where Imperial Oil had announced that despite lower sales due to the Nanticoke fire, quarterly profits would likely increase due to increased retail margins. Hmmm...

But this one takes the cake. I was listening to the morning business report at 6:25am today. I can't seem to find any written articles on the subject but if this story were to be aired a little under three weeks from now, I would swear it would be an April Fool's joke.

What's so funny? CFRA picked up a wire story where speculators warned that prices at the pump were unlikely to fall any time soon. They further warned consumers that they might even go up because of increased demand due to the additional hour of sunlight we're getting every day due to the changes in implementation of daylight savings time.

Um, OK.

First of all, days get longer at this time a year, at the rate of a minute or two a day. Regardless of what we do to our clocks - heck, we could have moved our clocks up three hours (meaning sun down would have gone from around 6pm on Saturday to 9pm on Sunday) - but we would not have one more minute of sunshine than we would have otherwise.

Secondly, I don't know about you, but I am not planning on doing anything different in the coming days or weeks as a result of the early onset of DST this year, nor will I when we roll the clocks back to standard time a bit later than usual in November. Will I drive hundreds or thousands of more kilometres because of the change? No.

Finally, it's three weeks!!! We "sprung forward" three weeks early. Three weeks. Twenty one days. Yes, it's nice that we won't have to turn our headlights on as early tonight as we did last week, but in the overall scheme of things, it's not that long a period of time. Even if you did buy the absurd idea that we have "an extra hour of daylight" as a result of the change, it's twenty one hours out of 8,760 we have in a year.

So tell me, Mr. Oil Company CEO, how will this change in Daylight Savings Time have any impact of consequence on world oil trading prices or at the retail pumps? I thought so. Not much, if any at all.

It's sad, however, that it is possible that prices will fluctuate per today's early morning report. Once I find a link to a story along those lines, I'll post it. Even more sad is the fact that if it does come true, we'll take it and won't utter one peep.

So why not raise the prices? At the end of the (so-called longer) day, nobody cares. Ain't apathy grand? Apparently it's worth a few hundred million dollars, and don't Shell, Imperial Oil, Petro Canada, et al know it...

Help convince PM Stephen Harper not to award the Victoria Cross to the Unknown Soldier

The Globe and Mail reported on Saturday that Queen Elizabeth II would give Prime Minister Stephen Harper a new Canadian-designed Victoria Cross medal in April. According to CBC news reports this afternoon, no decision has been made as to whether or not it will be awarded to the Unknown Soldier (as it seemed to originally be planned.)

Bob Butt, spokesman for the Royal Canadian Legion, has stated that given the circumstances that, the Victoria Cross medals were typically awarded, it would not be appropriate to the Unknown Soldier.

As such, I have started an online petition asking Primer Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General Michaelle Jean to opt not to award it to the Unknown Soldier. One option might be to have it displayed at the Canadian War Museum, another would be to have it travel cross-country with the goal of educating a new generation of children. As the numbers of WWI and WWII veterans continue to decline, it is conceivable that our young ones will grow up not knowing the significance of the Victoria Cross medal and of those who received it so many years ago.

Please take a moment to follow the link below and sign the petition. At an appropriate time I will bring it to my Member of Parliament, Mauril Belanger, hoping that he will present it to the House of Commons in the spring session - should there be one.

Thank you.

www.petitiononline.com/cvc/petition.html

Imperial Oil profits likely to increase due to refinery fire

A report out of the Hamilton Spectator today states that it is very probable that Imperial Oil's profits are going to increase due to the Nanticoke fire. According to the article, a Desjardins Securities analyst estimates that Imperial Oil will see a 6% decrease in refining capacity in the first quarter of 2007. On the surface, that doesn't sound like much... but take a look at the price of gas at the pump today and see how "minute" an impact this 6% decrease is actually having.

Perversely, this same analyst speculates that "lost volumes could be more than offset by increased profit margins" -- as Eddie Murphy would say: "SAY WHAT?!"

As I mused to myself in my post last week, the ever-changing deadline to getting Nanticoke back up to 100% production is a hard target to find, let alone hit. They said that things might be back to normal two weeks from now last week. I see today that the aim is still two weeks from now. Who are we to believe, and why should we believe them? After all, operating at reduced production rates is pumping up the profits - why bother fixing anything at all?

Even more perversely, I suspect that each and every gasoline company in Canada will see their profits rise as a result of this Imperial Oil/Esso fire. Shell, Petro Canada and others certainly didn't try to capitalize on the temporary closure of Esso stations last week by wooing customers with the goal of keeping them once Esso gets back to normal. Noooo... they jacked up their prices too! Why not?!

Crude oil closed at $60.07 on NYMEX today. Crude oil was around $60/barrel in the first days of October. Anyone know what we were paying at the pumps that week? Around 83 cents per litre according to historical data on www.ottawagasprices.com. It's still over a buck a litre tonight in Ottawa, same in Toronto. It's more expensive here than in Montreal where gas is currently selling at about 98.4 cents per litre! When was the last time Montreal was cheaper than in Ottawa or Toronto? It's still 89 cents in Calgary and 91 cents in Winnipeg...

I know there's no point in investigating these turkeys - the federal Liberals sure make it look like they tried, to no avail. No price fixing there. No price gouging either, apparently. Consequently, I won't be leading the pack demanding that Stephen Harper and his "new Conservative government" try again. With his Alberta origins, I seriously doubt he'd do anything to draw the ire of the oil industry.

When hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast, conspiracy theorists were blaming the onslaught of extreme weather on George Bush. I'm starting to wonder if they had a point but were pointing their fingers in the wrong place... could it be that it's the oil companies that are creating these odd weather patterns and rogue refinery fires that are popping up here and there?

I know, I know. The answer is NO, but what else are we supposed to think at this point? Imperial Oil is sure not doing itself a PR favour by appearing to be capitalizing on this incident. Let's wait and see what the quarterly earnings report comes out. Once again, we'll see they've got us by the and there will be absolutely nothing we'll be able to do about it.

Sometimes I wonder how much of a radical capitalist I really am!!!


Hamilton Spectator source article: http://tinyurl.com/39k3od

Gas over $1.00 at the pump this morning - oil companies rejoice!

Canadian oil industry executives must be doing cartwheels today as Ottawa residents wake up to $1.01/litre pricing at the pump for regular gas. What's the cause for celebration? They have managed to capitalize (in Ontario) on a fire at a southern Ontario Imperial Oil refinery and create a province-wide fuel shortage. They must be trying to figure out how to leverage it and turn it into a nation-wide pricing crisis right at this very moment!

In spite of the fact that crude prices are relatively stable (around $62 a barrel, much lower than the $75+ high crude prices we saw when we last paid over a dollar a litre at the pump), prices are spiking at the retail level because of this fire.

If raw material costs are still low - the way world markets work the crude oil being turned into gasoline this week was likely produced weeks and/or months ago when crude prices were even lower - and world market conditions are relatively stable, is this "perfect storm" of a rail strike coupled with a fire at a refinery resulting in Petro Canada, Shell Oil and other companies padding their profits thanks to Imperial Oil?

Of course, oil company officials will claim that nothing untoward is going on, but when news of the fire hit the wire, we were told that refining capacity would be coming back on line by "mid next week". Then it was "some time the week after that". As of the middle of this week, we were told "some time mid-March". Huh? What will we be told next week?

I don't know if things are different in Ottawa as compared to the rest of the province, but I'd be surprised if the majority of gas stations were Esso-owned. There are three within a 5-6km radius of where I work but there are more Shell, Petro Canada and Sunoco stations in that same area. I can understand some of these stations temporarily running out of fuel when the "Esso across the street" is closed because I understand how many retailers operate - they base product orders on previous years' sales numbers. I cannot understand how their inventory stock all of a sudden would either appreciate in value by up to 20 percent virtually overnight or how their shipping costs would go up by astronomical numbers to justify the hike of pump prices.

Gas is currently selling for about 90.4 cents per litre in Winnipeg, 85.5 cents per litre in Calgary, 90.4 or 93.0 cents per litre in Fredericton. It's selling for $2.45 a gallon in Syracuse at this moment. Oh - could anyone explain why it's still selling for 95 cents per litre in Prescott right now? Why did their prices not go up overnight like they did in Ottawa?

The bottom line? Many parts of the country are chugging along just as they did two weeks ago. I am familiar with the concept of supply and demand but common sense dictates that if a competitor is failing to provide service as expected, another will and should try to step in and capitalize on that. Increased sales volumes would increase the profits of that intrepid competitor. But increasing prices at the same time should be viewed as nothing more than price gouging. There would be overtime costs associated with getting more Shell gas to Shell stations, but not to the point that product prices need to be raised by 10-20 percent. Again, remember, raw material prices have not increased.

So what's going on? Time will tell... or will it? We've never been able to figure out how these corporations work. In the meantime, life goes on - we still need to drive and we'll keep buying gas. I guess they have us where they want us, whether we like it or not.