Congradulations to Stephen Harper and the Conservative party of Canada. They won the election yesterday. Stephen Harper will become Canada's 22nd Prime Minister. Hopefully he can help redirect Canada in some of the bad choices we made over the last decade or so. Canada is now under a Conservative minority government after being led by the Liberals for 12 years. I'm actually very excited about the change. Harper pledges to reduce our federal tax of 7% to 6% immediately and then aim to reduce it to 5%. Wow! That would be huge for the average Canadian. Hopefully he can fix the mad cow disease problem too. I own two cows and don't want them to catch that horrible disease and I want to be able to ship the meat across the border whenever I choose. Anyways...now anyone who reads this will know Canada's prime minister. Oh...and God bless Canada!

Ok...so Canada is having elections today and no one told me about it. This has always been a frustration for me because I hear nothing about it in the US. I'm not mad at the US...its really not their fault. I'm supposed to be a good Canadian and pay attention. I heard something about it from someone or some webpage awhile back, but today I was reminded about it thanks to the Barrett's and their blog. Unfortunately I missed the registration deadline which was January 17th. Its funny that whenever the US is having their elections everyone in Canada knows about it...when Canada is having elections not a word is said about it in the US. Anyways...I did a bit of browsing about Canada's political parties. We have some parties that I think you all should all be aware of. Here are a few interesting ones: The Marxist-Leninist Party, The Communist Party and yes...the Marijuana Party. In our new territory of Nunavut, the Marijuana Party has a chance to do some damage. There is only one electoral district in Nunavut and the Marijuana Party is present there. Go Canada!

The Canadian - USA border is an interesting phenomena. First of all, our border is the oldest and longest unguarded border in the world. I think that speaks volumes of the great friendship and trust there has been between these countries. BUT...there have been some problems with this. As Rob pointed out, its easier for terrorists to come to North America through Canada and then they can easily hop across our friendly border and enter the big cities of the USA. Should we blame Canada for this because they are not as careful in their openness to foreigners OR should we blame the USA because they are assuming its a "friendly Canadian" crossing the border. What do you think?

"Going Canadian"
Last night on Letterman, his guest said something that triggered a thought. He said that when he was traveling in Pakistan he thought he should disguise himself as Canadian. Interesting! Do people overseas see Americans as a threat OR are Canadians seen as friendlier?
In 2004 T-shirtking.com was selling "Go Canadian" kits. The Canada kit contained a T-shirt, flag pin (top right), patch and window decal (lower right). A quick reference guide titled "How to Speak Canadian, Eh?" was also thrown in.

OK...the Newfie jokes are in. Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949 and there was actually a point in time when they were given the opportunity to join the US. But the US declined the idea. Another tid-bit: Newfoundland is a 1/2 hour ahead of people in the Atlantic time zone. 12:00 in Charlottetown, 12:30 in St. John's.

The Newfie joke is a very unique form of joke, usually in two forms. The first is the Newfie outwitting the mainlander:

What's black and blue and floats in the bay?
A mainlander telling a Newfie joke

or:

Newfie Waiter: Would you like to try the beef tongue?
Mainlander: No, I do not eat anything that comes from an animal's mouth.
Newfie Waiter: Would you like an omelette instead?

The second form is making fun of a Newfie, such as:

A Newfie is going icefishing. He starts to drill a hole with his auger when a loud booming voice says "THERE'S NO FISH DOWN THERE!" So he stops drilling and moves a little ways and starts to drill again. The same voice booms "THERE'S NO FISH DOWN THERE!". So he moves a little further and is about to drill again, but the voice
immediately comes again "THERE"S NO FISH THERE EITHER!". The Newf looks around and says "Who are you anyways? God?"

"NO I'M THE ARENA MANAGER!"


"Roll Up the Rim!" (Roll up the Rim was a contest at Tim Hortons...a Canadian donut/coffee shop - which is far better than Duncan Donuts)

A Newfie goes into a coffee shop and notices there's a "peel and win" sticker on her coffee cup. So she peels it off and starts screaming,"I've won a motor home! I've won a motor home!"

The waitress says, "That's impossible. The biggest prize is a free Lunch."

But the Newfie keeps on screaming, "I've won a motor home! I've won a motor home!"

Finally, the manager comes over and says, "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. You couldn't have possibly won a motor home because we didn't have that as a prize!"

The Newfie says, "No, it's not a mistake. I've won a motor home!"

She hands the ticket to the manager and HE reads... "W I N A B A G E L"

Hunting with a Newfie
An Irishman, an Englishman, and a Newfie had decided to go on a hunting trip and were staying in a cabin in the woods. They decided to go hunting one at a time, while the other two stayed and guarded the cabin. The Irishman goes out first and comes back with a fox. He says, very simply, "I see tracks, I follow tracks, I catch fox.". Then the Englishman goes out and comes back with a rabbit. He says, "I see tracks, I follow tracks, I catch rabbit.". Then it was the Newfie's turn. He goes out and comes back limping and badly beaten up. He says, "I see tracks, I follow tracks, I get hit by train."