Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
After Christmas Depression
For many people, particularly single seniors who are not wealthy, the celebration of the New Year, after the festive Christmas season, signals the beginning of a debilitating three and a half months of dreary winter, an interminable letdown of mammoth proportion.
Those who aren't rich enough to go down south to spend the winter in Florida, are relegated to spend their time in front of the television with trips to the local mall representing their only major interaction with other people.
For these people, it is without a doubt the most depressing time of the year. This is particularly true in the small towns across the province that offer few free programs or public facilities for seniors.
My job takes me to malls all across the province and I get to observe shopping centre life on an ongoing basis. Come mid-January the malls empty as consumers face the stark reality of the approaching credit card bills after a month of shopping excess and tone down their purchases to the bare necessities of groceries.
For the next three months the malls are taken over by bored seniors, who use the food fair as a playground, a place to gather, interact and generally kill time in a convivial and friendly atmosphere.
The shopping Centres may not be the Facebook of the seniors, but they are the chatrooms.
Food fairs are choked with nicely dressed seniors, passing the time with friends or perhaps flirting with the opposite sex, nursing a coffee for hours on end, much to the consternation and chagrin of merchants.
There was a time when "NO LOITERING" signs were meant to keep annoying teenagers away from business areas. Now the signs target seniors, who are admonished not to use the mall facilities as a social gathering spot.
It's a bit sad and humiliating to see signs like the one below.
Let's hope that April speeds its way here!!
Those who aren't rich enough to go down south to spend the winter in Florida, are relegated to spend their time in front of the television with trips to the local mall representing their only major interaction with other people.
For these people, it is without a doubt the most depressing time of the year. This is particularly true in the small towns across the province that offer few free programs or public facilities for seniors.
My job takes me to malls all across the province and I get to observe shopping centre life on an ongoing basis. Come mid-January the malls empty as consumers face the stark reality of the approaching credit card bills after a month of shopping excess and tone down their purchases to the bare necessities of groceries.
For the next three months the malls are taken over by bored seniors, who use the food fair as a playground, a place to gather, interact and generally kill time in a convivial and friendly atmosphere.
The shopping Centres may not be the Facebook of the seniors, but they are the chatrooms.
Food fairs are choked with nicely dressed seniors, passing the time with friends or perhaps flirting with the opposite sex, nursing a coffee for hours on end, much to the consternation and chagrin of merchants.There was a time when "NO LOITERING" signs were meant to keep annoying teenagers away from business areas. Now the signs target seniors, who are admonished not to use the mall facilities as a social gathering spot.
It's a bit sad and humiliating to see signs like the one below.
Let's hope that April speeds its way here!!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Bell Centre versus Air Canada Centre
On a lark, I ventured out to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Boxing Day to take in the Canadiens/Leafs post Christmas clash. Using some free tickets provided by a supplier and cashing in some frequent flyer points, my guest and I flew out at 4:00PM and returned home at midnight, spending not one minute too long in the Kraft dinner city!
2. Could you imagine selling a Leafs jersey at the Bell Centre? Arrrgh!.......
3. The Air Canada Centre provides nifty drink holders between seats. Points for them!
4. Both the ACC and Centre Bell are too snobby to have cheerleaders, ergo these lame-ass boring middle aged ice cleaners. It's a tie!
4. There is a bigger variety of food offered at the ACC as compared to the Bell Centre, but everything I tried was awful. Cold and tasteless. At least at the Centre Bell you can always eat a decent hot dog. The ACC ran out of draft beer in the first period and the only thing on tap was Lite. Eccchh! Both arenas score poorly on the food front. It's a tie!
5. The big screens in the Bell Centre blow away those in Toronto. There are too many little screens and the whole thing is a confusing assault on the eyes.
5. Some corporate boxes are so ridiculously high it's a wonder that any company would lease them.
Wait a minute it seems that they aren't all sold!
6. The ACC looks a little tired and a bit less elegant than the Bell Centre. It seems to me that the building is steeper and thus has many more seats in the 'nosebleed' sections. Checkout SECTION 306, possibly the worst seats in the NHL.
If you're expecting me to say that the fans are lame or unenthusiastic, you would be wrong. You would be right if you called them masochists, because its gotta be painful. If you're a Leafs fan and under 45 years old you've never celebrated a Stanley Cup victory......aargh....
We were sitting beside a grandfather who brought his six-year old grandson (bedecked in Habs gear?) to his first game.
When the game went into overtime the grandfather rose and bade us good-bye.
"Aren't you staying for the overtime?" I asked.
"Nah, we gonna lose anyways and it's just too painful!!!!"
Of course he was right...(sigh..)
Oh....The Leafs...
It was touch and go, the weather barely co-operated, but we made it. Here are some random observations, made in the spirit of objectiveness.
1. Tickets cost a helluva lot more in Toronto than Montreal, if you can believe it! Here's a comparison between my season tickets in Montreal and the season tickets of my supplier in Toronto. Wow! What a diff!
2. Could you imagine selling a Leafs jersey at the Bell Centre? Arrrgh!.......
3. The Air Canada Centre provides nifty drink holders between seats. Points for them!
4. Both the ACC and Centre Bell are too snobby to have cheerleaders, ergo these lame-ass boring middle aged ice cleaners. It's a tie!
4. There is a bigger variety of food offered at the ACC as compared to the Bell Centre, but everything I tried was awful. Cold and tasteless. At least at the Centre Bell you can always eat a decent hot dog. The ACC ran out of draft beer in the first period and the only thing on tap was Lite. Eccchh! Both arenas score poorly on the food front. It's a tie!
5. The big screens in the Bell Centre blow away those in Toronto. There are too many little screens and the whole thing is a confusing assault on the eyes.
5. Some corporate boxes are so ridiculously high it's a wonder that any company would lease them.
Wait a minute it seems that they aren't all sold!
6. The ACC looks a little tired and a bit less elegant than the Bell Centre. It seems to me that the building is steeper and thus has many more seats in the 'nosebleed' sections. Checkout SECTION 306, possibly the worst seats in the NHL.
If you're expecting me to say that the fans are lame or unenthusiastic, you would be wrong. You would be right if you called them masochists, because its gotta be painful. If you're a Leafs fan and under 45 years old you've never celebrated a Stanley Cup victory......aargh....
We were sitting beside a grandfather who brought his six-year old grandson (bedecked in Habs gear?) to his first game.
When the game went into overtime the grandfather rose and bade us good-bye.
"Aren't you staying for the overtime?" I asked.
"Nah, we gonna lose anyways and it's just too painful!!!!"
Of course he was right...(sigh..)
Oh....The Leafs...
Monday, January 4, 2010
Montreal Police Lose Public Relations War
As the Fredy Villanueva saga drones on interminably, it's clear that the Montreal police have taken a public relations beating, a self-inflicted wound for which they have nobody but themselves to blame.
It has been Montreal police policy, for as long as I can remember, to clam up after an officer-related shooting incident and to offer no comment or explanation until after the investigation into the matter is completed. These investigations usually drag for months, sometimes years, leading the public to surmise that the police have something to hide.
Many years ago, I remember an incident wherein a Montreal police car was flagged down by a downtown merchant, who told the officers that he had just been robbed by a man who was running down the street. The officers gave chase and caught up with the robber on Bleury street where the suspect struggled with police while being subdued. Because of the aggressive reaction by the suspect, one of the officers drew his service revolver and in the fracas, shot the suspect, who subsequently died.
It turned out that the 'robber' was a shoplifter, nothing more serious than that.
The officer was shocked. He freely admitted that the shooting was a colossal mistake.
He told investigators that he had made a tragic error, one which he could not explain. He quickly admitted that the situation was well in hand and it was never his intention to pull the trigger. Perhaps it was a case of nerves, a hair trigger or lack of training, it was what it was.
In a rare admission of fault, the then police chief Jacques Duchesneau apologized profusely for the mistake and offered sincere regrets to the family on behalf of the police. Throughout the entire interview, he never mentioned the officer by name or offered him his support.
I knew Jacques Duchesneau quite well at the time, we worked together as members on the board directors of one of Quebec's largest volunteer organizations. I also got to know most of the senior staff of the Montreal police and have forged friendships which I still maintain.
I caught up with Jacques (I think it was at a Canadiens hockey game) soon after the incident and laced into him.
"How could you not publicly support your officer!" I berated him.
He was surprised, to say the least.
"Whadda you mean? The officer was clearly wrong. It would have been wrong not to admit it." he answered.
"Of course he was wrong, but it was a mistake and it's something he'll have to live with the rest of his life. He deserves your support. You should of said something."
"Like what?" he asked.
"You should have gone on the attack. While offering condolences to the family you should have reminded them that their son was a criminal, who rolled the dice when he decided to struggle with the arresting officers.
You needed to show support to your officer and defended him as having committed an unfortunate mistake, a mistake that would never have happened had the criminal not taken the unfortunate actions that he did. The rank and file would have appreciated your support. You shouldn't have thrown your guy under the bus, it wasn't right."
I know many of you don't agree with my assessment, but consider this. When you or I make mistake on the job, even a big one, nobody gets killed, not usually, at any rate. When an armed police officer makes a mistake, it can have tragic consequences.
When criminals set in motion a confrontation with police, there is always the possibility things can go tragically wrong, sometimes for the officer, more often for the criminal.
Fredy Villanueva died because his brother Dany decided to 'test' the officers.
It will be two years before it's determined whether the shooting was justified or a result of the actions of a panicked officer. That's too long an ordeal. At any rate it makes no difference at all to me and it shouldn't matter to you.
In the meantime it's galling to see the members Villanueva family strut around like innocent victims, even as Dany resumes his life of crime as a member of the "Bloods," a Montreal North street gang.
Many people have told me that they can't understand why the officers confronted the gang members over a trivial game of dice. They tell me that this indicates the officers were looking for trouble.
They are wrong.
The war between the police and the gangs is a battle for control of the streets, either the police own them or the criminals do. In the battle for control, the gangs don't play by the rules, but unfortunately the police have to.
One of the tried and true methods of keeping gangs off balance, is to disrupt them by rousting them at every opportunity. It's a legitimate tactic practised by all major police departments across the continent.
Stopping gangsters and conducting a physical search is a productive way to catch them in possession of illegal weapons, drugs, stolen goods or discovering those who are breaking parole conditions. Of course, the police cannot stop and search anyone, including gang members without justification. Police can't pull a car over on a whim or conduct stop and search operations without justifiable cause. It's the law.
So the police look for any valid reason to stop and search gang members.
Jaywalking. Aha!
A broken tail light. Aha!
An illegal dice game in the park. Aha!
Credit these two officers for doing their job. They observed a legal opportunity to make life miserable for the gang members and they took it. Bravo!
By the way, the criminals know the drill, they are used to being hassled by the cops and they hate it.
On this day, Dany Villanueva decided that he wasn't going to take it anymore. He decided to confront the cops.
Not a very bright idea, but these type of thugs usually have violent tempers and impaired reasoning and decision-making faculties. It is likely that it was more galling and humiliating that one of the officers was female. He lost his temper and fought back. Bad mistake....
Witnesses admit that Dany refused to cooperate and was actively resisting being put in handcuffs. Things escalated and the officers drew their weapons.
Fredy either participated in the swarming of the officers or as witnesses told the inquest, was coming to Dany's aid by yanking the officer's hand.
What happened next is an open question, a question that is decidedly beside the point, the shooting that the occurred was the direct result of the actions of Dany and his cohorts.
They rolled the dice and lost. Too bad.
The current police chief of Montreal Yvan Delorme should have gotten out in front of the story a long time ago. He should have made a public statement explaining that while the exact circumstances of the shooting are to be determined, the death of Fredy Villanueva was the direct results of the decision taken by the street thugs to resist his officers. The public would have probably accepted the argument and moved on.
The fiasco around the investigation of the shooting can be laid directly at the feet of the Montreal police who were too timid to defend their officers and too mistrusting of the public's ability to understand and empathize with the officers predicament.
It has been Montreal police policy, for as long as I can remember, to clam up after an officer-related shooting incident and to offer no comment or explanation until after the investigation into the matter is completed. These investigations usually drag for months, sometimes years, leading the public to surmise that the police have something to hide.
Many years ago, I remember an incident wherein a Montreal police car was flagged down by a downtown merchant, who told the officers that he had just been robbed by a man who was running down the street. The officers gave chase and caught up with the robber on Bleury street where the suspect struggled with police while being subdued. Because of the aggressive reaction by the suspect, one of the officers drew his service revolver and in the fracas, shot the suspect, who subsequently died.
It turned out that the 'robber' was a shoplifter, nothing more serious than that.
The officer was shocked. He freely admitted that the shooting was a colossal mistake.
He told investigators that he had made a tragic error, one which he could not explain. He quickly admitted that the situation was well in hand and it was never his intention to pull the trigger. Perhaps it was a case of nerves, a hair trigger or lack of training, it was what it was.
In a rare admission of fault, the then police chief Jacques Duchesneau apologized profusely for the mistake and offered sincere regrets to the family on behalf of the police. Throughout the entire interview, he never mentioned the officer by name or offered him his support.
I knew Jacques Duchesneau quite well at the time, we worked together as members on the board directors of one of Quebec's largest volunteer organizations. I also got to know most of the senior staff of the Montreal police and have forged friendships which I still maintain.
I caught up with Jacques (I think it was at a Canadiens hockey game) soon after the incident and laced into him.
"How could you not publicly support your officer!" I berated him.
He was surprised, to say the least.
"Whadda you mean? The officer was clearly wrong. It would have been wrong not to admit it." he answered.
"Of course he was wrong, but it was a mistake and it's something he'll have to live with the rest of his life. He deserves your support. You should of said something."
"Like what?" he asked.
"You should have gone on the attack. While offering condolences to the family you should have reminded them that their son was a criminal, who rolled the dice when he decided to struggle with the arresting officers.
You needed to show support to your officer and defended him as having committed an unfortunate mistake, a mistake that would never have happened had the criminal not taken the unfortunate actions that he did. The rank and file would have appreciated your support. You shouldn't have thrown your guy under the bus, it wasn't right."
I know many of you don't agree with my assessment, but consider this. When you or I make mistake on the job, even a big one, nobody gets killed, not usually, at any rate. When an armed police officer makes a mistake, it can have tragic consequences.
When criminals set in motion a confrontation with police, there is always the possibility things can go tragically wrong, sometimes for the officer, more often for the criminal.
Fredy Villanueva died because his brother Dany decided to 'test' the officers.
It will be two years before it's determined whether the shooting was justified or a result of the actions of a panicked officer. That's too long an ordeal. At any rate it makes no difference at all to me and it shouldn't matter to you.
In the meantime it's galling to see the members Villanueva family strut around like innocent victims, even as Dany resumes his life of crime as a member of the "Bloods," a Montreal North street gang.
Many people have told me that they can't understand why the officers confronted the gang members over a trivial game of dice. They tell me that this indicates the officers were looking for trouble.
They are wrong.
The war between the police and the gangs is a battle for control of the streets, either the police own them or the criminals do. In the battle for control, the gangs don't play by the rules, but unfortunately the police have to.
One of the tried and true methods of keeping gangs off balance, is to disrupt them by rousting them at every opportunity. It's a legitimate tactic practised by all major police departments across the continent.
Stopping gangsters and conducting a physical search is a productive way to catch them in possession of illegal weapons, drugs, stolen goods or discovering those who are breaking parole conditions. Of course, the police cannot stop and search anyone, including gang members without justification. Police can't pull a car over on a whim or conduct stop and search operations without justifiable cause. It's the law.
So the police look for any valid reason to stop and search gang members.
Jaywalking. Aha!
A broken tail light. Aha!
An illegal dice game in the park. Aha!
Credit these two officers for doing their job. They observed a legal opportunity to make life miserable for the gang members and they took it. Bravo!
By the way, the criminals know the drill, they are used to being hassled by the cops and they hate it.
On this day, Dany Villanueva decided that he wasn't going to take it anymore. He decided to confront the cops.
Not a very bright idea, but these type of thugs usually have violent tempers and impaired reasoning and decision-making faculties. It is likely that it was more galling and humiliating that one of the officers was female. He lost his temper and fought back. Bad mistake....
Witnesses admit that Dany refused to cooperate and was actively resisting being put in handcuffs. Things escalated and the officers drew their weapons.
Fredy either participated in the swarming of the officers or as witnesses told the inquest, was coming to Dany's aid by yanking the officer's hand.
What happened next is an open question, a question that is decidedly beside the point, the shooting that the occurred was the direct result of the actions of Dany and his cohorts.
They rolled the dice and lost. Too bad.
The current police chief of Montreal Yvan Delorme should have gotten out in front of the story a long time ago. He should have made a public statement explaining that while the exact circumstances of the shooting are to be determined, the death of Fredy Villanueva was the direct results of the decision taken by the street thugs to resist his officers. The public would have probably accepted the argument and moved on.
The fiasco around the investigation of the shooting can be laid directly at the feet of the Montreal police who were too timid to defend their officers and too mistrusting of the public's ability to understand and empathize with the officers predicament.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
RDS Unable to Accept Swiss Hockey Win Over Russia
Watching this afternoon's hockey game between Les Glorieux and the Buffalo Sabres, I was happily reminded that the Canadian junior team is back in action later this afternoon in pursuit of their sixth straight world junior championship.
As all real hockey fans already know, the team from Switzerland pulled off a humongous upset by beating the Russian team to advance to the semi-finals against the Canadians.
Too bad the Reseau de Sports Network presumed that it could never happen. Here's a graphic promoting this evenings game, shown during a first period commercial break during the Canadiens/Sabres game..... Hmmm....
For those of us old enough to remember it is reminiscent of another fine gaffe; Ha!!! Ha!!!!
As all real hockey fans already know, the team from Switzerland pulled off a humongous upset by beating the Russian team to advance to the semi-finals against the Canadians.
Too bad the Reseau de Sports Network presumed that it could never happen. Here's a graphic promoting this evenings game, shown during a first period commercial break during the Canadiens/Sabres game..... Hmmm....
For those of us old enough to remember it is reminiscent of another fine gaffe; Ha!!! Ha!!!!
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