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Mailbag Day
 Posted
5/24/2013 4:07:00 AM
It’s Friday. Let’s have a look in the mailbag.
About the idea of taxing unhealthy foods, Richard says only if we drop the price of nutritious food by the same amount.
About Nigel Wright, the PM’s aide, who gave Senator Duffy ninety grand and then left his job: Several want to know how much severance he’s going to get.
About homes in tornado alley being required to have storm shelters, Lorne says that would take a tough building code, because some builders only work to the letter of the law, not to safety requirements. Paul says insurance in disaster-prone areas quickly becomes unaffordable, and people depend on the taxpayer and the Red Cross to bail them out.
Cheryl is an emergency care professional and sees a lot of children injured every summer. She wants inattentive parents to pay the whole medical bill and then justify themselves to a judge.
NewDivide ...
Bob Layton
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Give Me Shelter
Posted
5/23/2013 1:53:00 AM
Whenever there are natural disasters that destroy homes, we always hear how resilient people are in re-building. I always wonder, why? When an area is known for flooding every few years, why do they re-build on the same spot? Maybe if they put their house on stilts to accommodate the water, it would make more sense. I’ve seen that in a flash-flood area in Nevada.
Then we have the thousands of people who live in tornado alley in the U-S. I wasn’t going to ask why underground storm shelters are not part of their homes because I didn’t want to appear to be blaming the victims.
But now the mayor of Moore, Oklahoma is asking. As those thousands of homes are rebuilt, Mayor Glen Lewis wants safe-room shelters required in every new home.
You can build an underground safe room below your garage for about four thousand dollars. He expects to ...
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Bob Layton
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No Small Town Mayor
Posted
5/22/2013 4:05:00 AM
I grew up in small town, Alberta. I heard the old folks lamenting that so many of the next generation were moving away, because there were no opportunities for them. Things were better in the city. That’s why Mayor Mandel’s comments about building Edmonton for the next generations hit home with me.
Over the years, you’ve told me what you thought of the mayor and our current council.
Most of you think there was far too much time and money lost on ideas like Indy and Expo, and not enough consideration given to potholes and snow removal. You like the expanded LRT and help for the homeless. You like the arena complex, but not the risk to taxpayers. You are split on the loss of the City Centre Airport. I’m with you on all of the above, and the airport was a personal convenience for me.
One thing Mayor Mandel ...
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Bob Layton
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Questions, Questions...
Posted
5/21/2013 4:40:00 AM
We live in a time of questions that may never get answered to anyone’s satisfaction.
Three years from now, when the contractors and the accountants are done, how much will the new arena actually cost?
What kind of a mayor does Edmonton prefer, one with vision and grand ideas for the future or one who concentrates more on roads and things the ordinary taxpayer can appreciate on a daily basis?
Will the polls in October telling you who will be the next mayor, mean anything to you?
Did Nigel Wright really give Senator Mike Duffy $90,000 out of the goodness of his Tory heart, or was he prompted to do so, and by whom? Why do some senators not understand the term, “principal residence”? Do we really need this senate?
Was Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford, smoking crack cocaine? Will he offer more of an explanation than just saying, ...
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Bob Layton
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Bereaved Boating
Posted
5/20/2013 1:49:00 AM
So, how many families will be heart-broken by the end of summer, because someone out in a boat drowned? Every newsroom knows we will soon, sadly, be announcing the first one.
We have a ridiculous law that says you have to have enough life jackets in a boat for each passenger, but they don’t have to be wearing them. What? We are ordered to wear seat belts and bike helmets but not life jackets.
I remember reporting how a person riding on the bow of a speedboat fell off and drowned, her lifejacket safely tucked away in the boat. Mounties looking for a body at one of a lake got a call that someone else was under water at the other end of the lake. No life jackets on.
I went for a ride in a friend’s boat. We were jacketed. The friend at the controls pointed out all ...
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Bob Layton
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