Rose's Cantina

Embed from Getty Images My life -- or should I say my career -- flashed before my eyes yesterday as I got down to apply for my Canada Pension. I want to take it when I turn 60 in July instead of waiting for the full amount in five years. I've seen too many people get to pension age, then croak a year later. I'm not taking any chances. As expected, my contribution form is a hot mess. From 1974, when I first started working part-time to now, I only maxed out my contributions 12 times. Usually, I was too poor to qualify, and so the other 32 years were marked "S" for sad and self-employed and "B" for below average. I felt like I was back in public school and I was failing. So my CPP will be a drop in the bucket, and the only person who will benefit will be Scott, at which point I will be dead. He'll have just enough money to incinerate my old ass, while he's enjoying his CBC pension (paltry because he's splitting it with his ex...

#165066088 / gettyimages.com This might make some people uncomfortable. Canadians don't like other people knowing their business especially things like how much it costs to bury their beloved relatives. Oh well, the cost of this particular funeral is in the public record. In other words, you and I paid for it. Most funerals that are paid for by the state are for people on welfare, or for the homeless to give every family some dignity in their time of grief. But this funeral was not that kind of funeral. It was a state funeral, the kind usually reserved for kings or queens, prime ministers or Governors General. I'm am writing, of course, about the state funeral for Jim Flaherty, the one we paid $400,000 for. Frankly I was shocked when I saw that number. And I think Jim Flaherty would have been shocked, too. In fact, I have no trouble saying that if he'd heard about it when he was alive, he would have died of shame. Jim Flaherty was a well known penn...

Hello young Canadians. We know that the Senate scandal that threatens the Harper government may be confusing to you. You don't read newspapers. You don't watch the all news channels. We'd like to explain to you, in a way you can best understand, what the Senate Scandal is all about. The yellow figure is Senator Mike Duffy. The others are staff members of the Prime Minister's Office. Please note: The Prime Minister knew nothing about it. Really. A message from the Government of Canada  

Last November 11th, after watching the ceremonies on Parliament Hill, Scott and I ventured over to Costco to pick up a few supplies. Normally, Scott would be selling Subarus instead of shopping, but Monday was his scheduled day off and a trip to the big box store is part of our routine. When we peeled into the Costco parking lot, we couldn't believe our eyes. The parking lot was absolutely packed with so much overflow, shoppers were spilling over into the Brick parking lot. Cart after cart came out filled to the brim with Christmas paper, wreaths, toys and electronics. Shoppers with glazed eyes were slurping ice cream and hoovering down hotdogs. It truly was a sight to behold. For many in this government town, Remembrance Day is not a day to reflect upon the good deeds and tragedies of battles past and wars fought. Instead it has become a day off without the kids -- who are spending it hopefully in their classrooms or assembly rooms reflecting on the good deeds and trag...

For the first time in my long life, I'm not sure I want to live in Canada anymore. The country I love is beginning to be unrecognizable. The values we have shared oh, these many years, are being questioned. Our government says we can't afford our health care system. It can't support our senior citizens. It's tossed off Canada's hard won reputation as a peace-maker. Canadians have a new image abroad. We are war-mongers, buttinskies in the politics of countries not our own. The even more stern daughter of God. Our ministers are standing up and telling Europeans -- my ancestors -- what to do, how to behave. Once proud of the legacy of Lester B. Pearson, I'm now embarrassed to be a Canadian. We're taking our  resources and selling them to the highest bidder. We're flogging seal meat to China so we can lock up precious Panda Bears at the Toronto Zoo. We're letting the Americans kill a Canadian on death row. And we're building prisons...