Justin Trudeau, his wife Sophie Grégoire and their three children, Xavier, 7, Ella-Grace, 5, and five-month-old Hadrien ((Web Photo, October 2014)

This family represents The New Face of  Canada, a country where everyone who becomes a citizen knows they have made the right choice, a country where the mosaic of culture was stitched together in manner that sets us apart and a country were people care about helping others be it on the home front or around the world.

Link to Photo Album

Heading towards a New Era.

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Photo (Web Source): With great fanfare we sent C-18’s from Cold Lake winging their way to fight scattered bands of terrorists in Syria and Iraq.  Many believed it was a worthy cause, but what did we really accomplish?

(Note: For the three people we met by the breakwater at lunch, I thought this article
might be of interest (February 29, 2016)  Go to the Tim Horton’s Post for more Editorials.

Canada’s War Effort: By the Numbers

There is little firm data about the damage and death inflicted upon our enemies, but various press articles provide some front end details:

Estimated expenditure: Conservative Government estimates rounded to $600,000,000

Missions Flown: 250  (5 into Syria and 245 into Iraq)

Bombs Dropped: 600

Let’s do the math if the costs were applied equally in relation to each item:

Cost per Bomb dropped: $1,000,000 

Cost per Mission: $2,500,000

Costs per each of the six CF-18’s: $100,000,000

Discussion: Why do we fight?

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A lot of fun last night with a few of the gang for a birthday dinner at the old homestead.  To put a little perspective around the extended family and gang, I grabbed these photos for a slideshow, then dialled in some of the favourite music a lot of young people in our lives have been playing for several years. It’s funny how Frank and many others from back in the day, continue to speak a language that resonates through the decades.   I suppose the music speaks to their love of life and the people who surround them.

For our extended family, take a little trip into times past as many of you have been included.  For those I missed, and there were many, you will most certainly appear in future slideshows, as I continue to draw out more of those old photos from a variety of sources.

Cheers,
Harold and Lynn

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March, 2016.  A few of the CPC potential leadership candidates.
Canadian Press Background

It’s refreshing to see that even when out of office the Tories continue their efforts to cap spending as demonstrated in the current leadership race. Some party members argued the $5,000,000 cap might prevent erstwhile contenders from challenging for the leadership.

While that cap is five times higher than $1M limit set by the Liberals for their 2011 race and ten times what the NDP allowed in 2012, it is double that which the Conservatives set when Harper took over in 2004. Party insiders don’t think five million is enough money to stage a leadership race.

Well, they are the ‘free enterprise’ party, so why do they even want a limit? Let the potential leaders spend away and if the contender can buy the leadership through attacks such as Harper staged on his way to control of the party, why not let others? (Michael Harris, Party of One)

Party insiders pushing for higher limits argue that creating the dozens of attack ads and media buys needed to sideline competitors has ballooned in recent years so they are just keeping up with inflation. The higher figures are based on what the party spent on similar strategies in the past few elections.

Poster (Web Source): These ads are small sample of the successful ‘attack ads’ created by Arthur Finkelstien.  Just think of the material he could develop when the targets were other Conservatives. It would be better than waiting for the Super Bowl commercials.

Also, any potential leader wanting to hire an effective strategist such as Finkelstien, the Merchant of Venom, who so effectively managed the Conservative comeback ten years ago, does not come cheap.

Tory leadership potentials must learn to effectively use these tactics and what better place to practice than within their own leadership race. Digging up dirt and presenting it in an effective manner is expensive and if no dirt can found, it is even more expensive to build that dirt from scratch.

In order to achieve an open and fair free-market system in selecting their leader, some
Conservatives think the US Super Pac (independent expenditure-only committees) is ideal. This provides wealthy independent Conservative backers and big business, a reasonable opportunity to get their man (perhaps a woman – this is 2016) in place. As these PAC’s operate outside party control, they can be extremely effective in targeting political opponents both inside and outside the party.

Web (Photo) What earthly use is it to have earned all this money and then not able to spend it in helping to get people you like elected?

While a few suggested Robo-Calls is much less expensive and can be used to good effective, the party Executive thinks the tactic should be reserved for general elections.

From an outsiders viewpoint, it would be a lot easier and less expensive to just let the public and press jog the memberships memory of how some of those men and woman handled their jobs over the past 12 years.

In any case, many of the leadership hopefuls will find it different walking into a public meeting or standing in front a camera where they have to think for themselves rather than being fed every word by their party leader.

Harold

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Louise and Karena?

Over the past while I have been working on several older photo files (both prints and electronic) and in the history of our families have noticed many astonishing similarities.  For example this one of my sister Louise at about fifteen, and comparing it with her daughter Karena, who I suspect was in her early thirties. the resemblance (to me at least) is extremely close.  If they were the same age I think it would be even closer.

When I first posted the two photos on Facebook, Louise’s hairstyle was not all that flattering and tended to distract from the similarity, so I simply updated her style to match that of Karena.  After doing this, one could be led to believe they were twins.  While photoshop works well at changing various features such as hair, glasses, etc., I still have much to learn about smoothing the edges (for example when eliminating the background on Karena’s photo).

As time goes by I will add other photos to this post.  If you have any suggestions (or photos) of look-a-likes in any part of our extended family (at any age – grandparents, etc.), please pass them along and I will work to bring them together as with Louise and Karina in this photo.

As I match more photos, I will move the current lead photo down and and replace it with another.

Cheers,

Harold

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Meet the Whole Gang
Victoria B.C. January 13, 2016.
(Double Click for Full Photo)

(Top Row) Lucas, Drew, Andrew, Harold, Gery, Linda, Garth, Cory, Patty
(Second) Shary, Lynn, Esther, Shea, Alysha, Madeline, Norma,
Bjorn, Ingar, Svend
(Front) Gery, Graham, Sean (and Lexi), Erika.
(Missing) Kia, Mike and Kyle (and Toby)

Thank you everyone for the wonderful evening of family, friends, food, wine and
good times at the Dunn’s home.

Here is a short slideshow of the evening events.  I will post the photos in Facebook.

Link here to the full set of photo’s posted on McNeill Life Stories FB Page

Cheers,

Harold

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Photo (Web Source – Gerry Kahrmann, PNG).  Marihuana dispensaries across the B.C., including the Weeds store in Vernon (photo above), were on High Alert after recent RCMP raids in Nanaimo, Mission and Sechelt.  In the Nanaimo raids sixteen people were arrested and a considerable quantity of cash and drugs seized. ((Vancouver Sun).

In cases like this the RCMP usually take great pains to display photos of the  seized drugs, paraphernalia and cash (often in millions) however, this time they were photo shy and tight lipped. Neither did they mention how many guns, cars and homes were seized under the Civil Forfeiture Act, as such seizures are common practice in cases of multiple co-ordinated busts across the Province. Perhaps something else prompted these raids?

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