From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #578 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Wednesday, October 15 2003 Volume 06 : Number 578 In this issue: Police commission gets new digs Exports prove wealth creation is no inside job Re: .43 Mauser Loads Spirit Bear banking on those warm fuzzies Police lay new charges in addiction-centre probe Police in Orillia bungled situation Editorial: Speaking the 'D' word Why the `D' word should stay dirty ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 01:35:07 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Police commission gets new digs http://www.canada.com/edmonton/news/story.asp?id=86460F20-9738-4285-BCFE-12EE0FC1CF51 Police commission gets new digs Storefront office will offer better access to residents Sarah O'Donnell Civic Affairs Writer Tuesday, October 14, 2003 EDMONTON - The city's police commission is taking its business to the street. Come the end of October, the commission is moving its office from a hard-to-find corner on the ninth floor of a provincial government building to a highly visible, street-level location on 101st Street. The move, chairman Martin Ignasiak said, is in keeping with the commission's new aim to be more open about the business it does on Edmontonians' behalf. "No. 1 was to make sure the new commission office would be way more visible and more importantly, accessible, to the public," Ignasiak said. The commission is a nine-person civilian review board that oversees the Edmonton Police Service. It hires the police chief, works with the service to establish policing priorities and deals with any complaints about the police. Working out of a 1,600-square-foot office in the Brownlee building, on the corner of 99th Street and 103A Avenue, was becoming increasingly difficult as the volume of paperwork grew and the commission added staff, including a full-time complaints monitor. The boardroom also was "completely inadequate," Ignasiak said, since it did not seat the entire commission and was not soundproofed, a serious concern for an organization that sometimes has to discuss confidential information. The final push came when the commission learned the province planned to increase its rent. Although the commission expected the increased visibility of "storefront property" in the same building as the Sheraton Grande Hotel would cost more than remaining in its current space, that has not turned out to be the case. The commission says it is bound by a confidentiality clause in its new lease and cannot reveal its cost. But Ignasiak said the deal amounts to 1,000 square feet more space for less rent. More importantly, Ignasiak said, is the fact the commission hopes citizens feel like the commission is a more approachable organization. The commission's public complaints monitor Larry Jackson said he hopes Edmontonians will feel more comfortable stopping by the new office to lodge complaints or kudos about the police service. "One of the biggest problems, if you look at any of the literature that's out there, is the lack of knowledge on citizens' parts as far as what the commission can do for them," Jackson said. "The fact that the office is storefront -- it's awesome, because people can just walk into the commission's office, put the concerns out and hopefully have them dealt with." sodonnell@thejournal.canwest.com © Copyright 2003 Edmonton Journal ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 01:35:27 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Exports prove wealth creation is no inside job http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/columnists/story.asp?id=FE383893-4F9B-4BCE-8535-FAF19253D8F9 Exports prove wealth creation is no inside job Dwight Percy Special to The StarPhoenix Saturday, October 11, 2003 At the heart of much that will be debated at great length over the next few weeks is the issue of wealth creation in our city and our province. But you will hear that particular term quite infrequently. In all likelihood, that's because we have a history in this province of being averse to the use of the "W" word. Unfortunately for us. While you will hear candidates debate back and forth across ideological and party lines about their game plan for managing or expanding the economy, rarely will you hear them refer to the issue by its real name -- plain and simple, wealth creation. By way of example of what wealth creation really is, let's step back about 40 or 50 years, and look at what fuelled the economies of small-town Saskatchewan. The economy of virtually every small community in this province centered on farmers growing grain and livestock, and shipping both of those far outside their community's borders. That is what provided the cash flow that made the economy of small town Saskatchewan work. For families --such as ours -- who operated retail outlets on main street, we quite simply divvied up the economic activity that resulted from the export of farm products. We provided a service, and obviously it was a valuable one, but we did not create the local economy. Farm product exports did. Fast forward to the past decade when we have seen many small communities struggle for their survival. In the many communities where I have had the opportunity to work with economic development groups, they will point to the one thing that sustains their town in the face of a host of pressures. Invariably, it is some form of business that manufactures or processes a product that is shipped far outside the borders of that community. Again, that community is saved or resurrected by virtue of its export activity. It's the same story, of course, for the cities in which the majority of the population of Saskatchewan now lives, and it's the same for the province as a whole. Our economy will live or die based on the degree to which we focus on the sale of products, services or expertise outside our borders. No amount of tinkering, managing, realigning, redistributing or otherwise pretending, will replace the importance of wealth creation. So the question is, what is the pathway to the level of wealth creation that provides the things we value, like health, education and so on? I would suggest a few steps. First, we need to get over the idea that talking about wealth creation is somehow inherently evil, insidious or inappropriate. Secondly, we need to get past the idea that those who have accumulated personal wealth are somehow equally evil or inherently dangerous to the common good. Thirdly, we have to abandon the idea that we can make a living by taking in our own laundry. We will make a living only by capturing "other people's money." Lastly, all who would hope to govern us should explain precisely how the policies they espouse will create real wealth for our city or our province. We are not talking about simple redistribution here. Hell, that's easy. I can do that at home by giving my kids different levels of allowance. But it doesn't make our family any better off. The real question is how we get more cash flowing into our house, or our city, or our province. That's wealth creation. And until we focus on how to turn that tap on higher, we will continue to stew about how to pay the household bills, and for that matter, our health care and our education systems. What much of the business community is looking for is someone to stand up and say that creating wealth here in this city and in this province is Job No. 1 for the mayor or the premier. We can plot, plan, re-divide and try to micromanage all we want in order to keep our kids here. But that, on its own, won't work. All that we are accomplishing is the equivalent of dividing up our kids' allowances differently. Only the creation of real wealth, which converts itself into opportunity, the very thing that attracts far too many of our kids away, will do the trick. And this cause needs a champion. Dwight Percy is a Saskatchewan-based business writer, commentator and strategic planner. His e-mail address is percycomm@shaw.ca © Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 01:36:34 -0600 (CST) From: Rick Subject: Re: .43 Mauser Loads "Todd Birch" wrote: > Like I said, give it up and shoot blackpowder. Make someone a present of > your Varget. > > Shiloh (makers of modern Sharps reproduction buffler guns) advises buyers to > do just that. If you wanna shoot smokeless out of one of their rifles, their > advice is to buy it chambered in a smokeless round. Don't make an historic > rifle into something it wasn't intended to be. With all due respect to Shiloh, if the old boys were still around, there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that they would be shooting smokeless. They were pragmatic, not nostalgic. Many black powder rounds do equally well - and better - with smokeless powders. Foremost among them is the .45/70 that you love so much. As far as that goes, many of the best BPCR shooters out there do their practicing with smokeless powders to keep the hassles and annoyance at bay for practice purposes, and then go to the black powder loads for competition. They can do just as well as smokeless using their grease cookies, wads, etc and black powder - but practice ammunition made by simply dumping a load of smokeless and seating a bullet is a lot faster and easier. > By shooting paper patched blackpowder rounds in your Mauser, you will > experience what it must have been like to be one of the Kaiser's truppen. > That's what makes shooting era rifles fun. That is true. If the thrill of simply shooting old service rifles is good enough, then smokeless will usually do the job. If you want to explore what it was truly like, then you dive into the black powder, grease cookies, wads, paper patching, etc. If nothing else, learning about stuff like paper patching and old loading methods can be a hobby in itself. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 01:58:45 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Spirit Bear banking on those warm fuzzies http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20031015/SPIRIT15/National/Idx Spirit Bear banking on those warm fuzzies ALEXANDRA GILL talks to a young environmentalist who is working with an ex-Disney VP and Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson to produce a major animated film they hope will save British Columbia's rare white bear By ALEXANDRA GILL Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - Page R1 VANCOUVER -- On a remote stretch of British Columbia, in a small swath of temperate rainforest on the northwest coast, there lives a very rare, endangered white bear. His name is Spirit Bear. And now he's on his way to Hollywood to star in his very own animated film. "This film will help save the bear for us and for future generations," says Simon Jackson, the 21-year-old leader of the five-million-member Spirit Bear Youth Coalition. After eight years of tireless campaigning on the bear's behalf, Jackson has joined forces with Max Howard, a former Walt Disney senior vice-president, and Kevin Richardson of Backstreet Boys, to produce the first major motion picture with the specific philanthropic purpose of protecting its namesake. According to the plan, a portion of The Spirit Bear's profits will help the provincial government compensate loggers, forest companies and local aboriginal groups that could be affected by a continued moratorium on logging in the spirit bear's habitat. Jackson and his partners will also create an endowment trust to promote economic diversification in the region. The goal sounds grand, but Jackson is confident that the The Spirit Bear has what it takes to become even more famous than the The Lion King. And that little cartoon creature grossed more than $300-million (U.S.) "From what I've seen so far of the preliminary screenplay and drawings, there's not a shadow of doubt in my mind that this will be a remarkable film," says Jackson, one of Time magazine's 60 Heroes For the Planet, in 2000. Slated for release in the spring of 2006, this feature-length, CGI movie-with-a-mission will follow the fun-filled adventures and perilous escapes of a cute and clumsy cub on his journey to adulthood. And although the story will tell of the dangers to the bear's survival, it won't preach or turn loggers into villains. "Our goal is to inspire and entertain," Jackson says. The Spirit Bear will be set in the Great Bear Rainforest, where this unique white subspecies of the black bear has roamed for thousands of years. Revered in ancient legends of the Tsimshian people, who believe the Raven created the white bear as a reminder of the last ice age, it is said that good fortune will come to anyone who encounters the animal. Today, however, there are less than 400 spirit bears left in existence. And they can only be found on B.C.'s north-central coast, a triangular, 250,000-hectare region bordered by the towns of Bella Bella, Stewart and Hazelton. Although commonly known as the spirit bear, this unique creature is officially called the white Kermode bear. It was named after Francis Kermode, the scientist who conducted the first studies into its origins and the double-recessive gene believed responsible for giving one out of every 10 black bears in the area a pure, snow-white pelt. Simon Jackson was a 13-year-old, West Vancouver high-school student when he heard about the bear's plight. Already a seasoned environmental activist who set up his first lemonade stand to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund when he was only 7, Jackson founded the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, in 1995, to protect the bear's natural habitat. "It made for an awkward teen life," Jackson says, recalling years of being picked on by peers for his futile good deeds. "I didn't have a girlfriend until I was in Grade 12." The efforts paid off. His letter-writing campaign has now grown into the world's largest youth-led environmental initiative, a five-million-member coalition that spans 50 countries. The group's supporters include Jane Goodall, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Charlotte Church and Richardson, who will be overseeing the soundtrack. And Jackson, now a preppy young man who lives in Toronto, is in a solid relationship with a woman he affectionately calls "the most fantastic girlfriend in the world." On April 4, 2001, around the same time that Jackson was preparing to graduate from high school, the then provincial NDP government in B.C. struck a landmark agreement with forest companies, first nations and environmental groups that called for the protection of 603,000 hectares on the central coast, including half of the spirit bear's habitat. The deal, which has yet to be made law by the current Liberal government, also called for a two-year moratorium on logging another 537,000 hectares (including the other half of the bear's habitat), pending a land-use study by a committee of scientists. The moratorium ended on June 30. And although the timber companies have agreed not to resume logging in the area until the land-use assessment is completed (by December, it is hoped), the provincial government is losing patience. Stan Hagen, the provincial minister of sustainable resource management, told Jackson that the government simply doesn't have enough money to compensate loggers, logging companies and the first nations people who would be affected by a continued moratorium. He advised Jackson to come up with some of his own ideas. Enter Italia Gandolfo, a southern belle from Louisville, Ky., with a Rolodex as big as her heart. The former assistant research director at Creative Artists Agency (the largest talent agency in Hollywood) got fed up with the phoniness of La-La Land and headed back home a few years ago. An animal lover who now works in children's book publishing, Gandolfo heard about the spirit bear's plight about a year ago. After doing some research on the Internet, she found Jackson's group, and tracked him down at the University of Toronto, where he had just completed the first year of a political-science program. "I was really drawn to his passion," Gandolfo says. "He called me back almost immediately and we were instant friends. I wanted to help. And between the two of us, we planted the seed for this film." Together, Jackson and Gandolfo have established Hé ladé Productions. As co-executive producers of the film and director of the Hé ladé Foundation, their goal is to turn the The Spirit Bear into the world's most lucrative children's franchise. Graham Currie, a spokesman for British Columbia's Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, says the government can't even begin to estimate how many millions would be needed for the compensation package until the land-use recommendations are made. Gandolfo, nevertheless, remains relentlessly optimistic about achieving their goals. "If you look at The Lion King and how much money it made from home videos, toys, games and miscellaneous items, this could be huge. "We've got this beautiful white bear. Kids and adults all love bears -- the teddy-bear market is phenomenal. And the real-life plight of our spirit bear will just melt their hearts and make them all warm and fuzzy." The Lion King comparison isn't all that far-fetched when you consider that Max Howard, the Hollywood producer Gandolfo helped bring on board, is the former president of Warner Bros. Animation and senior vice-president of Walt Disney Feature Animation. "The Lion King was the most successful animated film in history because it combined an epic landscape with a life-affirming story of loss and redemption," Howard explained at a Vancouver press conference two weeks ago. "In The Spirit Bear, I see all those same elements woven together with a very real, urgent issue of global importance, which gives me confidence that it has the potential to be as groundbreaking a film." Howard, who was in Hartley Bay last week to meet with first nations to discuss the spirit bear and see one in its natural habitat, will not disclose the movie's budget. He does, however, promise it will be the biggest budget of any independent animated movie ever made. Although no one has actually come out and criticized the film's goal, Jackson understands that some environmental groups might be wary of involving Hollywood, or perhaps fear that this project might shoot the rest of the rainforest issue in the foot. He respectfully disagrees. "Even if the film doesn't make millions, this will still provide us with an opportunity to stimulate global debate and raise awareness around the world. The more people who hear about the spirit bear, the better chance we have of creating a lasting solution to this issue." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 01:59:10 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Police lay new charges in addiction-centre probe http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20031015/UNATSMSB/National/Idx Police lay new charges in addiction-centre probe Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - Page A9 Winnipeg -- Police have laid more charges in a fraud investigation involving Health Canada and a native addiction centre in Manitoba. Charges against Perry Douglas Fontaine, 50, former chairman of the Virginia Fontaine Addictions Foundation, now include eight counts of giving a benefit to a public official. CP ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 02:11:49 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Police in Orillia bungled situation http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1066128677973&call_pageid=968332189003&col=968350116895 Oct. 15, 2003. 01:00 AM Police in Orillia bungled situation Re: Why this young bear had to be shot to death, Oct. 14. Not only was I disgusted by the lack of sympathy for the lost life by the team of officers who shot the trapped bear cub this weekend, but I was also disappointed by the manner in which they handled the situation. The officers' defence was simply that the bear posed a threat to the gathering children who had come to watch the bear. Why not ask these people to kindly go back to their homes and stay there until the cub has retreated? Police are trained to deal with crowds of uncontrollable sizes all the time, so I doubt a few kids would have caused a big to-do. While there is nothing anyone can do to bring this cub back, we can learn to be prepared for next time. Mercedes Featherby, Toronto ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 02:29:48 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Editorial: Speaking the 'D' word http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1065823810384&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795 Oct. 14, 2003. 01:00 AM Editorial: Speaking the 'D' word For two decades, governments across this country ran sustained deficits, causing damage that all Canadians will be paying to repair for years to come. The lesson was learned. But the correction has been taken too far, and made far too ideological. Governments are seemingly unable and unwilling to bend from the dictate that it's better to slash programs than to run even a small deficit in any given year. With money pouring in to treasuries over the last half-dozen years, governments were able to live by that ideology, able to support services with growing revenues. This year is a different story. With SARS, the slowdown in the United States, the high Canadian dollar, Ottawa's big surpluses have dried up, while Ontario has slipped into a deficit. So it is welcome to see politicians jettison the rigid, right-wing ideology, and discuss the choice between running a small deficit for one year, or slashing spending merely to make a point. Premier-designate Dalton McGuinty does not yet know the precise size of Ontario's deficit. But he suggested last week that if it is large enough to force deep spending cuts for the remainder of this year, it may be better to accept a deficit than to slash spending. Ontario will be more than halfway through its fiscal year by the time McGuinty takes over. In the months remaining, the cost of erasing a big deficit would almost certainly outweigh any benefits. Far better for McGuinty to deliver on promises to restore services, while maintaining a balanced budget over the life of his mandate. By the same token, federal Finance Minister John Manley also mused last week whether it's worth considering a return to a small deficit, if it meant Ottawa could free up $2 billion more to give the provinces for health care. Money that would normally be set aside in Ottawa's rainy-day fund might instead be spent on health care, Manley said. But to do that, Ottawa could either risk a small deficit, or have to withhold money from the fund to pay off the national debt. If the demands for the additional spending on health are strong enough to sway Parliament, then then risks could be taken, Manley said, adding that those are "political choices." And he is right. It strikes us as far more responsible to accept a small, one-time deficit to fund essential services, than to see Canada's hospitals further erode. What sense does it make to impose hardships on Canadians merely to prove the budget can be balanced, regardless of the economic conditions that prevail? We need political leaders in Queen's Park and Ottawa who are fiscally responsible, not doctrinaire. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 02:30:13 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Why the `D' word should stay dirty http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1066128677988&call_pageid=968332189003&col=968350116895 Oct. 15, 2003. 01:00 AM Why the `D' word should stay dirty Re: Speaking the `D' word Editorial, Oct. 14. Your editorial on the politicians "who are fiscally responsible" to go into a deficit, even a small one, misses one important point: interest payments on the debt. Thirty years of successive deficits in this country have left us with a $535 billion debt federally and $117 billion, provincially. The federal government pays some $36 billion per year in interest payments, while Ontario pays $9 billion. Let's put that into some perspective. Interest payments for the federal government are the second largest expense of all programs, more than it spends on education, health and the environment combined, or three times the defence budget. Ontario's interest payments are one half its education budget. All government debt applied to everyone would be $28,051, thus a family of four would need to be taxed an additional $112,204 just to pay off all government debt. Over the past 15 years, both Ottawa and Ontario have paid more in interest payments on their debt that they owe in principle. That is, Ottawa has paid more than $600 billion and Ontario has paid more than $120 billion just in interest payments. Those are tax dollars gone forever. And there is no end in sight for how much longer future money will be lost. This is only interest on the debt, not paying down the debt. At least in the last eight years, Ottawa and Ontario were able to pay down some of the principle, freeing up some interest payments for programs. But that will all be lost if both these governments run deficits, which just increase the debt more and increase interest payments. In fact, a small increase in the deficit could increase our interest payments enough that we lose more than we gain in going deeper into debt. Those who are truly fiscally responsible will strive to eliminate the debt as soon as possible and free up those interest payments for more government programs and less taxes. The big question is, though we and, eventually, our children are paying huge taxes to pay the interest payments on the debt, who is going to have to be taxed to pay off the debt and when? Richard Wakefield, Mississauga ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #578 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:akimoya@cogeco.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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