Are they lying to us about the "real" inflation rate?

Rob Snow, CFRA's afternoon drive host, routinely snickers on the air each time Canada's inflation rate numbers are released by the Canadian government.

He usually wonders aloud about how it can be that the inflation rate magically hovers around 2% - the latest release in November is 2.5% - while commodity prices continually creep or skyrocket upwards with no end in sight. Gasoline prices are 17.6 percent higher than they were in November 2006, and they went up 4% in the past month alone! Coffee is getting more expensive (Tim Hortons hiked their prices this past summer) and fruits and vegetables regularly spike. Statistics Canada pointed out in its November release that mortgage "interest cost index" has increased by 7% and restaurant meals are close to three percent more expensive than they were one year ago. Let's not even mention the increased hydro rates and property taxes!

Apparently, one "justification" for inflation rates remaining "stable" in recent years (according to the government, that is) is the fact that car purchase costs have decreased by 3.9% year to year. Costs associated with buying a computer have fallen through the floor in recent years, 14.9% in the last year alone! Sure, but how many times a year does an average Canadian buy a car and a computer? Compare that to the frequency of gasoline, citrus fruit and coffee purchases made by families from coast to coast and you can see how ridiculous this comparison scale really is.

It's all a scam, Rob Snow has speculated, and I think that a key indicator to show that he's right on track is a CNNmoney.com report today. Statistics Canada says that fruit and vegetable prices are down by 6.2 to 11 percent as compared to the previous month. CNN states that food prices have gone up 4.7% since January 2007 (led by an increase in fruit, vegetable and milk prices), "outpacing the 4.3% overall cost of living increase", led by a 23.2% increase in the price of milk alone. If their fruits and veggies are "leading the upward charge", how come our prices are down so much for the same products? It doesn't make sense!

Can both governments be telling the truth? Might Rob Snow be right? Are we being "snowed" by the great economic leaders of our country?

If milk, vegetables, cereal, beef and poultry are on the rise just a few hours south of here, how can it be that vegetables have decreased by 11% and fruits went down by 6.2% here in the great white north? Are we buying cheap fruits and veggies from Cuba (which would obviously be illegal in the States) or have we started growing our own oranges, bananas and carrots somewhere in the snow up here? Where's the discrepancy coming from?

It just doesn't add up. Who suffers? The first people who come to mind are our seniors who have seen their Canada Pension Plan benefits go up by about two percent (if they're lucky), based on what seems to be fudged CPI numbers. Many seniors are on fixed incomes. The Government of Canada bases their "raise" in pension rates on CPI numbers.

It's a shame, really, for anybody who signs personal cheques, keys their PIN numbers into debit machines or forks out cold, hard cash for goods and services knows that living in an average Canadian village, town or city costs more than ever. I'd love for someone from the Bank of Canada or Statistics Canada to justify their numbers - when property taxes alone are going up by 5% or more in cities from coast to coast, it's a farce to expect us to believe that things (overall) are only about 2% more expensive this year as compared to last.

All that when an economy far larger, yet pretty much identical to ours just a few hours away is up by at least double that amount? What's going on!?

No politically correct BS here - MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

So the principal of Elmvale Public School says we should be "inclusive" and celebrate the "festive day" that is coming next week. The "day before Boxing Day" is called Christmas. As far as I know, the vast majority of Canadians celebrate Christmas. Who's agenda is this principal putting forth?

Members of the Jewish community celebrate Hanukkah - but nobody demands that the Jewish community change the name given to the occasion they celebrate. Another segment of the population celebrates Eid. Does anyone dictate that they rename that particular day? No!

So why should we, the majority of Canadians who still hold on to the "Canadian tradition" of the Christmas season, bow to a so-called group of "progressive" people who relentless try each year to make us "accommodate" everyone while compromising our own culture and beliefs?

These so-called progressive people (who, incidentally, rarely are minorities themselves) tell us we must be inclusive. I have no problem with Hanukkah, Ramadan or any other religions or cultural celebration... as long as I can have mine too, thank you very much! We must be "inclusive" as long as we "exclude" ourselves from the list of politically correct celebrations.
Look - I'm all for being inclusive as long as I, someone still in a vast majority of Canadians who celebrates Christmas, am INCLUDED.

It is OK, acceptable and ENCOURAGED to yell "Happy Hanukkah" at the top of one's lungs or wish a follower of Islam whatever one does at Eid (forgive me, but I haven't seen anyone say "Happy Eid" before, but I'm sure there is a greeting of sorts for that holiday), but it is seemingly unacceptable to say "Merry Christmas" on the air anywhere, for fear of someone filing a complaint with the CRTC. Why? More people in Canada celebrate Christmas than every other group put together.

Wal-Mart jumped on the PC bandwagon two years ago and were soundly criticized and even boycotted last year. Guess what - the largest corporation of the world decided to re-introduce Christmas to its stores this year! I must remember to go buy more stuff there this year.

So MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone to whom it is applicable. If you don't celebrate Christmas, it's your right - but don't infringe on my right to enjoy time with friends and family in this festive time of the year. Oh, and by the time I have a kid in school, I'm telling you, they better wish me Merry Christmas too. And have a good "Christmas Pageant" too...

The snow is coming... ARE WE GOING TO DIE!?!?!

"Environment Canada has issued a severe winter storm warning for Eastern Ontario."

We've heard this a million times the last few years or so in spite of the fact that we have had below-normal accumulations of snow. Some say that the declining snow amounts have been the result of global warming, explaining that our traditional snowfalls have been replaced with more freezing rain storms than we have ever seen in the past.

We're still in the dying weeks of autumn right now, and if forecasts for this weekend prove to be true, we might see more snow fall so far than all of last winter! And Christmas isn't even here yet!

Now... what exactly has a "severe winter storm" been in recent years? Pretty much any "storm" where 10cm of snow might fall. 4 inches. One-third of one foot. Barely over the tops of our shoes - if we were stupid enough to wear running shoes outside in the snow.

Not so long ago, we made fun of cities like Washington DC, Vancouver, or even Toronto for grinding to a halt any time a sprinkling of snow dusted the lawns of those fair cities. So, now that a "severe storm" really amounts very little to worry about, a forecast predicting up to sixty centimetres (yes, that's TWO FEET) of snow between some time after midnight tonight and around the same time tomorrow, what are we supposed to do? All hell breaks loose when we see an inch or three, what about twenty-four inches? Dust off your bomb shelters, folks!

The snow is coming tomorrow and tonight, Environment Canada is warning us that a "near-crippling snow storm" is approaching. It goes on to tell us that: "This massive snow storm has the potential to cause near-paralyzing conditions as road travel on any unplowed streets may become next to impossible on Sunday."

Near-crippling, near-paralyzing... Next to impossible to drive...

Whatever shall we do?! My wife has to work tomorrow night!

What has happened to us? I've seen pictures of my father's house on Baseline Road some thirty-five years ago. The snow was up to or beyond the roofline! How did people get around back then? Everybody drove big boats with rear wheel drive! Did thousands upon thousands of Ottawans disappear that winter? Have their bones and skeletons been found in local snow dumps? Come on, give me a break.

When area golfers were chasing their little white balls through New Year's last year, David Suzuki and Al Gore were falling all over themselves warning us about global warming, alerting us that "winter" as we knew it was becoming a mere memory and predicting that snow accumulations we once saw would never be seen again. Yep, that snow would inevitably turn to more and more freezing rain... seeing Ottawa's climate become more like Victoria, BC.

What are they saying this year? We can't find them on the air anywhere! Scientists are starting to come out of the woodwork and are calling out the "Nobel Peace Prize" winner on the junk science in his movie, The Inconvenient Truth.

This winter is starting to be kind of inconvenient, isn't it, Mr. Vice-President? Perhaps the so-called warming we've seen in recent years was another example of temperature and climactic fluctuation that the world has seen over hundreds, thousands and perhaps even millions of years.

Well, I'm going to gather the pictures I have of my wife tomorrow when she heads to work. I will pray that by some stroke of luck I might see her again some day... or maybe even later on in the evening. Meanwhile, folks, let's make sure we all head to Wal-Mart to buy water, batteries, canned goods and generators. THE SNOW IS COMING!!!!

Please... it's Canada, for God's sake. It's going to snow. Deal with it.

Customer Service: Chapter #3 - AVOID Primus Home Phone!

Boy, do I wish I had been anywhere other than at home one fateful night about three weeks ago. I was watching television, minding my own business when I answered the telephone. Boy, do I miss the sound of a ringing home phone, but more on that later! My caller ID told me that it was an 800 number with an unknown name.

Maybe it was Ed McMahon calling to tell me I had won a million dollars. Nope. It was Primus. I was a Primus (formerly known as Magma Communications) customer for over ten years, so I figured I'd talk to the guy.

Magma Communications became my internet provider in early 1997, at first through a dial-up line and eventually through a very good high speed service. When I needed to downgrade for eighteen months when my wife-to-be moved to Ottawa burdened with a punitive Bell Sympatico contract, they allowed me to maintain my e-mail address while we both waited to get Magma High Speed back in my homestead by temporarily downgrading my service. Anytime I needed anything, Magma was there.

Then Mr. Byers sold his company to Primus. Magma was becoming a part of a nation-wide company. At first, I was afraid that the locally-owned company would degenerate into a one with spotty or questionable customer service like Rogers and Bell seemed to have at the time. While this pair of giants has continually worked on its customer service offerings, it still lagged behind Magma. Would Primus drag Magma down to the other national competitors' level?

For the longest time, I'd have to say that it didn't. To this day, I am still the proud owner of a "magma.ca" e-mail address with no danger of losing it any time soon. Given that I haven't yet been disappointed by Primus, I figured that I'd take advantage of their offer to provide home phone service at a 25% discount. Better to have the money in my pocket rather than theirs.

A week or two passed and one day I discovered that a voicemail had been left for me by Primus. It informed me that my line would be converted from Bell to Primus on Monday, December 3rd. It cautioned me that if I ordered "personalized voicemail", I should be ready to spring into action that afternoon and "set it up" as soon as possible. I was also assured that the transition would be seamless.

That couldn't have been further from the truth. Problems began while I was away at work. When I got home some time around six, I picked up the phone. SILENCE. For almost thirty years, each time I've picked up a phone receiver I heard a dial tone. Not this time. What happened to the seamless transition? I'd soon learn that seamless couldn't be diametrically opposed to what I actually would experience in the days to come.

Figuring that the "transition" was in progress, I eventually went to bed hoping to hear the reassuring sound of a dial tone the next morning. Much to my chagrin, none was to be found. Off to work I went, eagerly anticipating the resolution of the situation after a call to the "customer service" department.

I could go on and on about how the conversations went on Tuesday, but let us say that I was promised a swift resolution to the problem at hand. Three conversations later I was told that due to whatever complication, I could expect to get my service activated (I'd say restored) within 24-48 hours.

Wednesday morning came and no dial tone was to be found. A handy supervisor named Kelly tried to help me by assuring me that the predicament had been brought to the "executives" at 6am. Whether that was supposed to impress me or not, I'll never know. By noon, no change. At about 5pm, I called and reached another person who tried to tell me that service could be back within 24-48 hours. I loved the revolving window idea... but it didn't help me any. When I expressed my disgust for what had transpired to that point and complained that I'd been promised updates and had never received one call, he insisted that they did try. Maybe they tried the very home phone number that they disabled, but the number they should have tried was my cell phone. Verification of my call log confirms that no call had been placed. Please don't lie to me, folks!

I got home late on Wednesday night and the first thing I did was try the phone. No dial tone. Day three has come and gone and the "seamless" transition had a hole in it bigger than Larry O'Brien "zero means zero" plans.

Thursday morning came along and, surprise, no dial tone! I placed yet another call to yet another "customer service" staff member. This person was able to tell me that the case had just been forwarded to Bell Canada. Why it took them three full days and change to do that, I'll never know. When this person told me that it could take 24-48 hours to resolve this newest tribulation, I went ballistic as kindly as I could.

What really gets me is had I known what a couple friends would have told me about switching to Primus before speaking to the sales guy on that fateful evening, I would have stayed miles away from them and would have hung up the phone (while it still worked!!!) That is why I am writing this today.

When will I get phone service? Who knows! 48 hours from now takes me to Saturday morning. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: I received a call at 11:27am from someone at Primus who did not identify herself. She told me that my service had just been activated. Either Bell Canada is really quick or they fed me yet another line to keep me at bay for a few more hours. I dialed my home number and discovered that the old Bell voicemail message was gone, so it seems that the lady might be right. Do I have service? I'll see when I get home. The challenge will be to find a dial tone AND a working DSL connection. Is it too much to expect that the four day journey might be over? I'll find out in an hour or so. But regardless, if they phone you, DON'T SWITCH TO PRIMUS!!! It's not worth the aggravation.