Not in MY backyard

With the existing remand centre holding 750 people when it was designed to hold up to 338, Edmonton is definitely in need of a new facility. Prisoners convicted of crimes routinely get double or triple credit for time served awaiting trial at the downtown centre, guards complain about working conditions and prisoners call the facility inhumane.

Issues such as this one are always NIMBY issues. Thomas Lukaszuk is the prime example of this. He was talking up the issue so much with the previous government, then the site decision was made and he found out it's going in his constituency. Now, all he can do is complain.

The province consulted many people to find what the ideal remand centre would look like, and then looked at the four possible locations and determined the site on the north side to be the most desirable. Plus, the province already owns the land that the centre is to be built on, so it's saving money that way. And, it's much further from residential areas say, than downtown. A lot of people don't even know where the centre downtown is. Because it looks like a high school.

Personally, I quite like this guy...

...Andy Bordush who operates a small furniture manufacturing shop across the road had no worries about the remand centre plans.

"In society, we have to have these things unfortunately," he said. "It will just be a big building. If it was a dump or sewage plant, I would be concerned."

From there to here: the [abridged] story of my life

"You have brains in your head,

you have feet in your shoes,

you can steer yourself

in any direction you choose."

-- Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

_________________________________________________

I have contemplated my own decisions before; however, I have been doing this more often as of late due to recent events. I have thought about what would have been different had I stayed in Ontario. The chances I would have had. The opportunities to build relationships with those I'd known. But not once had I been made to feel guilty about those choices. Not until now.

I'm come from a farm outside a town of 5,500 to a city of about 333,000 to a city of over a million. From the dribble of a river called the Maitland, to the great Thames, to the majestic Saskatchewan. From Coles notes to briefing notes. From theoretical discussion to strategic planning. From an overabundance of Tim Hortons to a lack thereof. From jeans and flip flops to business suits and heels. From taking classes because I had to in order to attain my degree, to taking classes simply for the sake of learning. From politics courses, to being involved in political groups. From women's studies classes, to groups promoting women in politics. From a Liberal government to a PC government. From a province rich in water to a province rich in oil.

Along this journey, I've built friendships and strengthened the bonds with my own family. I visit less, but talk to them more. I've taken to calling home to ask for my mother's advice -- something I never imagined as I left home as a teen.

I've worked hard and faced many questions from those who didn't understand my path, finally to get here and hear those words I'd long since given up on hearing -- "I'm proud of you."

I've gone from a student's life of uncertainty, traveling down a road of unknowns, finally to come to this place. This place, though still moving along that same road, has afforded me stable ground and less questions. For the first time I can see where I am and where I'm going. Rather than being on a neverending path of uncertanty, this path has purpose in and of itself. No longer am I aiming to get a job -- just any relatable job -- post-graduation. Rather, I have found a career and am involved in my community. I have found my place.

I've gained a different perspective. I've lived another way of life. As the bus returning from work nears downtown, the view of the skyline gives me a boost -- I truly feel like I'm going home.

I've taken a lot of risks to be here. Within a week, I moved. Solely on the hopeful basis of a writing test -- not even yet an actual job interview. I took a huge leap and became the top choice of hundreds. Not just a job to pay for school, but a career. The career. The career I had been working towards through all of those all-night cram sessions and the endless essay writing.

And it was scary. It was terrifying to call up housing ads -- sometimes up to forty per day -- only to hear there were no vacancies. To interview for an apartment like my Ontarian counterparts interview for jobs. Sitting in that empty apartment, waiting for my sole piece of furniture -- my bed -- to arrive, wondering what I'd gotten myself into. Being flashed back to those first days in that old city, surrounded by people and yet feeling so completely alone.

It was all worth it.

Because of the people I've met, the friendships I've built, hearing the fabulous things coworkers have said about me. Because of small victories like figuring out the transit system. Because of weekly [early-afternoon] "brunches" with the girls at our little bakery, with the sweet-as-sugar man who greets us by name and regales us with stories of his own world travels. Because of the happiness I feel when taking the train across the river -- seeing the lights of the city reflect on the surface. Because of the fresh Alberta air and exploring the city with my partner-in-crime roomie.

I swore I would never move to any one city because of someone else. Likewise, I couldn't stay for that very same reason. I am satisfied that I left each place, each stage of my life, when I had finished learning. I have taken all that I could from these places, to stay and become stale was not an option.

Perhaps certain friendships are only meant to span periods of time. Perhaps they're only meant to add to us and help us grow when we need them, only to move on when we no longer do. True friends are the ones who are there no matter the distance between. They have proven their worth in late-night phone calls, surprise packages in the mail to aid homesickness, and the excitement they show in the tales we swap of our individual journeys.

Edmonton may not always be the place for me, but it is where I need to be right now. It's teaching me new things in the classrooms at the university, in my cubicle at work, in the organizations with which I'm involved and in my own living room.

Right now, I am home.

Oh, Suzuki.

Mel Knight, Energy Minister, announced that the government is prepared to help pay for a project into Canada's first wind forecasting study. The study will analyze varying wind patterns from the mountains to the prairies and substantially contribute to developing a made-in-Alberta solution for wind power that will work for the system operator, wind developers, the competitive power market and citizens of Alberta. Currently, there are 360 megawatts of power in Alberta's grid from wind generation, with a further 185 megawatts expected to enter the system by the end of 2007.

Knight said, "As a renewable energy source, wind power offers an environmentally friendly way to generate electricity for Alberta's homes and businesses."

Baby steps to environmental-friendliness are better than no steps at all. This is particularly interesting since on Friday, David Suzuki said in Calgary that if the premier "doesn't realize not doing anything about greenhouse gases is going to wreck the economy," he doesn't deserve to be a leader, according to a story in the Calgary Herald.

Even more interesting was Suzuki's response when questioned about it in Edmonton.

During a stop Saturday in Edmonton on his "if you were prime minister tour," Suzuki attempted to distance himself from his controversial remarks. "That was written by a headline writer, not me," Suzuki told about 800 people who packed a theatre at the University of Alberta. Suzuki said he was told by reporters that the premier, whose name he didn't know, was not going to do anything about the oilsands in order to slow economic growth. "I said: 'For the richest province in Canada to be saying we've got to bring onstream this very, very polluting oil development, well, you don't need that for your economic well-being.' It just doesn't show any economic vision or leadership as far as I'm concerned."

In my opinion, Suzuki is losing some credibility. I agree that being environmentally responsible will increase economic well-being in the long run, however, if Suzuki really wanted to make a difference and make change, he'd be up on the issues rather than simply making comments to what other people have told him. He's been known for years as an environmental expert and it's not like the oil sands has never been an issue (and it's increasingly an issue now). Maybe it would be good to look into the facts before traveling to Alberta to speak? It's poor preparation on his part.

Things that really blow about Alberta: #1

Premiums for health care.

Going from a province where you have a health card and don't worry about it to a province where they charge you over $300 since October just for having a health card sucks.

Honestly. If you're going to charge me an exhuberant amount simply to have a health card and not even use it, you could at least give me a real card rather than a slip of paper. If that is too much work, it could at least be laminated.

This is CANADA. The land of supposed free health care.

Apparently not.

Harper looks better; Harper's wife, not so much

This does not entirely make up for skipping the International AIDS Conference in Toronto last year, but it is a good step regardless of the [political] reasons behind it.

This collaboration between Canada's new government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is going to contribute to the global effort to develop safe, effective, affordable and globally-accessible HIV vaccines," said Harper on Tuesday.

He said the benefits from the joint partnership will be numerous. "(It) will allow us to accelerate the pace towards the discovery of an HIV vaccine, construct a facility to manufacture promising vaccines for clinical trials, move vaccines to the clinical trial stage more quickly, (and) improve access to an eventual vaccine."

He also said the initiative will help coordinate the activities of Canadian and international researchers so that information can be shared effectively.

Ottawa will pledge $111 million for the AIDS program, while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will offer $28 million.

However, later on in the article, Harper does not do very much for the social image of his wife, Laureen.

Harper said his wife, Laureen, considers Gates "the world's sexiest man."

"When she first said that to me, I said really, is that true? I think he's the richest but I never thought of him that way. Laureen said to me, 'when a man has that much money, he's sexy,'" Harper told Duffy.

When a man has that much money, he's sexy?! Ouch. Laureen does not come off well with that quote.