ccmtcanada

Does anyone else think their boat looks tiny and made of styrofoam? Lol Oh yeah....the reel...that just sucks!!!!

Or plug it into a surge protector power bar. My tv, computer etc are all plugged into them. Breaker trips before it makes it to your electronics.

Hope you had a great day Lew. Happy birthday!!

I get those calls once every two weeks or so. Depending on my mood I will: 1) after having them go thru their pitch I say I only have macs so how can windows be infected. This comes after I pretend to turn on my computer....tell them my internet isn't working and hold on as I reset my modem. Then I ask them what website to go to. Have them repeat it over and over because I type it in wrong. 2) answer their questions with my own questions like "where are you? Is it nice there? What do you like to do in your spare time? What tv shows do you watch". I'll even ask where they are (they always say some Canadian city)?ask the weather then check online to see if they are even close. Them ask why did they lie to me about the weather. 3). speak Japanese to them very loudly and insert "no engrish. you speak a japanee?" They usually hang up on me. lol.

Brutal!!!! Stay warm and safe down there!

My dad at Lake Simcoe circa 1960 My uncle stream fishing in the 60s

My trailer is fine...can see it when I back up no problem. When I fish with Fishnsled, I've had to learn to use the mirrors when driving his truck. I'm not perfect but getting better with practice. I told him to buy those poles....he said I had to learn using mirrors and I'm glad he did!

I'd also try to plug it into a different receptacle. Would be strange, but maybe your wall receptacle is doing weird things.

Cliff...I see no reason for an apology either! I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter and the health issues with Sue. I often think of her and hoping she was holding her own. Let me know if there is anything I can do help out ok?

x2 Old Ironmaker!!!

Hey Lew. Great news on the surgery! I'm happy to hear they got it all. Im literaly 5 mins away from that hospital....if you need anything just let me know. I'm not working at the moment and I am a stay at home dad for the next while. Take care!

Have a great birthday Terry!

Cliff. I hear you. This is not a "simple" problem. The other kind of immigration is Family Sponsored immigration. There is no job requirement here. Many times someone will enter on a work visa and work to get established and then apply to bring their families over once that's done. A young wife may come with the kids and she is considered unemployed. Or say I had a relative who I brought over from Japan because they are immediate family. They would also be considered unemployed by the calculation of they are looking. What's not widely known is that for a family sponsorship to occur, the person in Canada sponsoring must prove they can care for them financially. They are not eligible for welfare when they come. They also just pass a medical and do not inmediately get Ohip coverage. I think when you strip those numbers from the 13% you'll see it's much smaller a proportion. That's my understanding anyways. People who come on work visas...their jobs aren't considered "new jobs" as they typically replace someone who has left the position. The job isn't "open" if that makes sense. That's why there are more immigrants than jobs created.

The people who come here on work visas already have jobs lined up in areas where Canada has a shortage. This is a requirement before they are given permanent residence in Canada. They also must have a minimum amount of cash on hand when they land in Canada. They will support themselves and pay taxes like everyone else who works here. A person who is granted permanent residence also is not able to use health care for free or any welfare of any kind for a certain waiting period. I can't remember how long that is. But that stops the people who try to come with the intent of abusing our system. There is a perception that we let anyone in and immediately give them welfare and healthcare. This is not the case at all. Yes there are some bad apples, but the majority of them support themselves and their families.

It's about how the population age is distributed. It's been an issue for decades on how to increase the number of children per family. It's a huge positive that medicine has increased lives longer than ever before but it comes at a societal cost. This is a world wide problem for all countries who are considere "advanced". That meaning as education increases, people having less and less children etc. This is a thread about immigration in Canada....how to solve the population issue as a whole has been studied by sociologists for decades and there is no true answer yet. The other option if we don't want immigration is to drastically increase taxes for the working population....take your pick...

It's been a while since I took sociology, but I do remember the following. Canada's natural growth rate (births minus deaths), although still positive has been declining since the 1950s. Our population on average is also aging....meaning more of our population is no longer in child bearing years or working age. Couple that with people having on average less children and we are headed for economic disaster if we do not have immigration to help our country grow now. Canada also has a very low population density so we have the "space" to grow. So here's the situation. Our natural increase is declining. Our population is aging. In order to take care of our aging population we need growth in the work force to stimulate the economy and generate taxes to pay for everything from health care to pensions. We cannot do this without immigration. We need those increases (increase the tax base) to fund our future. In order to immigrate to Canada, part of the process is to make sure people are healthy at the time of application so they do not burden out health care system right away. There are designated doctors who are qualified to do these physicals by country around the world. There are basically two ways to immigrate....one is a family application and the other is work. The family application happens when a Canadian citizen sponsors someone living abroad to come live in Canada. Or if a Canadian wants to marry a citizen of another country. The other is work...where they must prove they are in demand because of a shortage in Canada. They must also have a minimum amount of their own money so they can support themselves once here. Without immigration now, we would be in BIG trouble a few decades from now....declining workforce because natural increase is slowing, people having less kids on average coupled with aging population means we need to beef up on immigration now. Hope this made some sort of sense....

My daughter's school in Whitby had a costume dance for the intermediate students and the younger students did a parade to every classroom and portable.

I think we need to be careful to paint other customs and beliefs with one colour. I am a visible minority and have fully integrated into Canadian society and our ways. I like to think I'm a benefit to this country. But I know my grandparents and great grandparents who immigrated here from Japan lived the only way they knew. Following and practising their Japanese customs and beliefs. Because they were "different" they were interned during WWII. They were painted with one brush stroke as enemies because they "looked" like them. They were in fact Canadian citizens. Anyhow...this has been a terrible tragedy no matter who did it and what beliefs the shooter had. What's important now is how we respond. We are strong. We won't let this make us cower in fear. I am proud to be Canadian and I am proud of how everyone responded to what happened yesterday.

Wow Lew. I'm so sorry to hear this news, but glad it's been caught early! She is in my thoughts for a speedy recovery! I'm in Whitby...half way between Toronto and the Kawarthas. If you are in need of a place to crash for a little bit please let me know. I was laid off a while back and I'm always here at home. Good luck with everything!

Hey! Welcome back! Brian B would have been Misfish when you were here last.

I'm sorry for your loss. My deepest condolences.

This was my brothers place earlier today. He's southwest of Calgary...

No problem Joe. Like I always said....what's mine is yours. You're that good a friend. By the way, I'm feeling much better today.

Mike...that was hilarious! Hilarious and accurate! Rubin...we did miss you up there! We almost called you to gloat. Lol

The time has come and gone for our weekend at Bernie's. As always, a great time was had by all! This year's cast included Will, Joe, Mike and myself. We met at my place at 9ish am for the drive up. With all the rain in the forecast, we were racing against time to get to the launch and try to get to the island before all our stuff got soaked! We skipped our usual lunch in Powassan and headed straight to the launch. The rain was half way across the lake and we knew we'd be close!! We launched the boat quickly and Will and I took off to the island while Bernie picked the other two up at the boathouse. As it turned out, the rain quickly dissipated over the lake and we made it there no problem. The 10-15mm of rain turned into NOTHING!! At least when the weatherman got this wrong it was to our benefit!! With the weather clearing, we decided to hit the lake for some bonus fishing time! Here's Bernie, Joe and Mike... We caught a lot of walleye this size over the weekend... I got the big fish of the day....although the wrong species. I think they caught a fish or two as well....hopefully they have a few pics to add! Not to be outfished, Joe had to prove he could catch his favourite species as well.... We headed back and began talking about dinner. We chatted a bit about how well we eat when we are there and Bernie says "Chicken isn't my favourite". Mike looks up and buries his head in his hands and says "Damn...I brought chicken for tonight" LOL With that cloud over our heads, we got through dinner and were treated to an amazing sunset. Later that evening we relaxed and chatted by the fire. The next morning we got up bright and early and hit the water by 10ish....LOL. No big fish, but we had a good time with the walleye and perch! That afternoon Mike, Will and I headed back out and decided to try for some bass and pike. Mike with a monster... Will (AKA Nighthawk), with a great largie! Mike with another monster...with Will being a smarta$$ in the background... We headed back in for a steak dinner and decided to try for the night bite. Again, lots of little guys, but I did manage one nice one! Another great sunset...every time I went to snap a picture, I'd miss a hit!! haha The next morning we hit the water for a few hours before we had to pack up and leave. It always turns out that the best day of the weekend is the day we leave!! Will caught a nice one that last morning... Then he caught a surprising sucker! LOL We headed back for some lunch and then packed up. I found this guy checking out the firepit area... Another great chapter in the Weekend at Bernie's story...as always we have a lot of laughs, a few fish and an amazing relaxing weekend. Thanks again Bernie!!