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(adhdcanuck@gmail.com)
It’s time for an update, and a snowy December afternoon is the perfect opportunity. Thank you Alberta winter! I thought I would share some of my more consistent ideas and views, and my intentions.
The beardless Michael, my usual state.
I started blogging a short time ago and it has exploded into this phenomenon. I’m thrilled so many people are taking an interest in whatever it is I am writing about day to day. The whole ADHDCanuck effort has given me a way to articulate a lot that I otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to express. Writing about everyday issues emboldened me to branch into more serious personal and broader social issues. I intend to keep up the pressure.
Inside every cleancut guy somewhere lurks a supersaiyan!
I believe elected officials should be accessible to people, and I make it a point to make sure they’re all accessible to me. So far I’ve been able to demonstrate many positive ways for anybody to get meaningful attention from powerful people. They’re only powerful because we empower them, and don’t ever let them forget it!
It really seems to me that people these days are more interested in actual issues than in broad ideologies. People fight about left, right etc as though those words represent values. Actions represent values. I try to get people involved on issues, whether its child care, health care, environmental stewardship, labour rights, snow removal or a dog pooping on your lawn. Any event large or small is an opportunity to get engaged. There is no need to blindly buy into any particular group-think. If more politicians acted on the issues instead of the ideology the last generation or two would be involved in the process. The system needs changing, there is no reason to demand that everyone buy into what we have as though we can’t shape it according to our needs. I am for helping empower people to make those changes.
Don’t be put off by the scale of what needs to be done. The environment needs to be saved, all of politics needs reform, corporations need to be controlled, apathy needs to be overcome, people need jobs.. These things will never go away. Focus on what you can do, and help others do. If we keep getting lost in the magnitude of what we face no one will ever take concrete action. It’s really easy to take action that makes a difference. I refuse to fall into despair, or be discouraged. I’m not responsible for the whole world but I can make a change to what I AM responsible for.
ADHD is real and chances are you have very little clue what it’s about, even if you think you do. However that sounds, it’s basically the truth as I’ve experienced it my whole life. I hope to change that through advocacy and sharing my experiences. It isn’t a disease, it isn’t even necessarily a disability but it does have a dramatic impact on peoples lives. Some aspects of life are very difficult, others perfectly fine and most people don’t understand which or why. So just try to have a little tolerance, greatness comes in all kinds of weird packages.
I think people can make a difference to the environment, there is so much more out there to do than people realize. I believe strongly in renewable energy, in core components of our society owned by the people, and in corporate rights as long as that doesn’t mean infringing on peoples rights. The balance has swung too far one way, and I believe we can find equilibrium if more people speak up and get involved. We can control policy and protect whats important to us for future generations. It is not lofty thinking, its feet on the ground and ballots in the box. Save water, reduce your chemical use, become energy efficient, make ethical purchasing choices where possible and support larger efforts to make change.
This is going to be blunt, religion is evil. Any system of belief that impacts the rights of everyone around them so negatively whether they share it or not cannot be allowed to continue. That statement is particularly true of any beliefs that demand (and unfortunately receive) respect even without standing up to any of the same criteria that other areas (such as science and reality) must withstand. What exists in other peoples minds is their business, but the right to believe does not mean the right to set policy that affects me based on those beliefs, or the right to spread those beliefs through indoctrination and harassment. Literally every piece of evidence ever discovered leans towards the nonexistence of any deity. There is literally not one single shred of evidence supporting the existence of a deity. So just live your life according to what is right for yourself and your fellow man. Otherwise, I demand that the flying spaghetti monster be given its proper time being taught in schools, and that the Marinara story of creation be taught in schools alongside the fact of evolution and the bizarre myth of creationism/intelligent design. The red sea was in Europe and it was an endless supply of sauce for early pasta worshipers. About as likely as a zombie who was his own father wanting us to drink his blood and eat his flesh while telepathically inviting him inside us, or a pedophile that rode to heaven on a winged horse who believed in violently murdering anyone who didn’t think the same way as him. We can all get along, just stop screwing up the world for those of us willing to actually live in it together. Fair?
- Thumbs up for TAKING OVER THE WORLD.
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Dear Mike:
It’s been a year and your posts in this section seem to be dated to that time and event. Hi. I don’t know if you remember me. We shared a table in the lunchroom for a time at Firebag. I read your account of the camp and found it on the whole pretty accurate and fair minded. I’ve been to a lot of camps (about a dozen all together) and would rate MacKenzie in the top half. That said; I don’t disagree that many things need to improve.
Here’s why they likely won’t MIke… Ten years ago all the big jobs were run by the big Union contractors: KBR, Fluor, Bantrell, etc. This is increasingly not the case. Ledcore, Flint and Keiwit have overcome the lack of skilled tradesmen by various means and by now are our equals in numbers and are favored by the oil producers. Big union contractors, seeing the writing on the wall are starting up non union sides.
The obvious strategy by big business is divide and conquer. The Conservative government has seen fit to ship unprocessed bitumen to the U.S. so we’re building extraction plants as fast as we can but when they are done (and it won’t be long) the upgraders we should then have built will be built in Texas and Illinois. The well paid operations and maintenance jobs that go along with them (not to mention the billions of dollars in profits) will likewise go stateside. At that point we’ll have a surplus of guys like you and me and big oil can do what they like.
I look forward to your comments.
Your friend,
Bob
I agree with you bob. The industry out here has changed and not for the better.. The Unions have to change too, and hopefully for the better. Right now the old mentalities rule, and it isn’t doing us any favours. It’s a struggle to get people to modernize, change the way we interact with jobs, diversify into new sectors etc.
As for the standards, well… thats a matter for the workers as well. Its just so rough here that you cant get together and do anything. It’s not even legal for a bunch of guys to get fed up and quit together over the shitty conditions without the company being able to sue you for a job action.
No matter who you look at, us, our halls, the contractors, the oil companies, it ALL comes back to our provincial government.
We are likely going to have to suffer until we change that. We can plan, train, diversify, modernize, and be ready… but the real gains wont happen til they’re gone and I have no idea when that will be. Though i hope for soon.
Cheers man, always good to hear from people I worked with. Email me any time and let me know how you’re doin!
Dear Mike:
I have a couple more years before I can draw a small pension from my Union. More would be better but for me, the work will likely last through my career. For you I’m less hopeful. Here’s the thing; people don’t take drastic measures until they have nothing to lose. There’s still enough relative prosperity to keep the masses in line.
I blame the CEO mentality (not exclusively of course but for the sake of this discourse, largely…) Money is a created commodity. Governments print it based on their GNP. The amount of money in society remains relatively constant. Where the money sits determines the state of the economy. It’s simple. When working people have a large percentage of the money in a given society it moves through that society rapidly and the result is a boom. When more and more money rises to the top of the societal pyramid, (the rich get richer) we have a depression.
Our government supports big business. It’s not a secret. Our corporate taxes are much lower even than the United States. It’s not well known but large American corporations who make money in Canada must pay Canadian taxes but those taxes paid here are deducted from the taxes they owe in their own country so it isn’t even an incentive for the company but rather a subsidy to the United States. Corporate taxes need to go up! In fact a tax overhaul is long overdue. It has always bothered me that a businesman can deduct lunch, hockey game tickets, etc. as entertainment expenses while I can’t.
But aside from the obvious, replace the government, what to do? I look forward to your comments.
Your friend,
Bob
Evolution is A therory, not fact.
I respect your right to hold this opinion, but evolution is empirically proven fact. The word theory is a scientifically defined term not a conversationally defined term. The systems and processes and fine details do not need to be 100% explained for the theory to have been proven in essence. Gravity, for example is a fact, but in scientific terms it remains a theory and we constantly learn more about it.
Hey Mike,
I dig this site! Definitely with you on the ADHD thing — I particularly liked the “even if you think you know, you don’t” bit, because that’s definitely true. I’ve had to leave conversations where people told me they don’t “believe” in ADHD before because I feared I’d break their kneecaps.
I’ve got a blog focusing on ADHD and a few other issues as well. I’d really appreciate if you checked it out and maybe followed it — I’ll be following yours and giving shout-outs when I can! The blog’s at http://bezuidenthustra.wordpress.com/
Thanks,
Hannes
Loved your site, with all of Suncors lip service with words like Integrity In their mission statments . Please Goggle : No Soul at Suncor : The buck is supposed to stop with her.
Keep Kickin
Bill Visscher
some good stuff comming at you
You certainly managed to generate alot of lip service from all of us “living the dream”. Thanks man for standing up and shaking the provebial sugar tree!!!!!!! Keep going, your in for a penny now, might as well go for the entire pound!
Im currently in Millenium .The only thing that bother’s me is co-workers at Black Sands/Noralta get nice lunches and good food and we get unhealthy crap.Our only choice for lunch is brown salads,processed meat sandwhiches,green raw banana’s,apples etc.Why do workers at Black Sands get fresh fruit and packaged leftover’s, nice lettuce and tomatoe sandwhich’s,grilled burgers etc.?We all work at Suncor so should there not be a standard?I know its not a hotel,but come on,its difficult to sit and watch at lunch time and smell a co-workers good food.Realley the only meal I eat is dinner,which they drown in salt and msg.I eat 2 plates cuz Im so hungry and 3 hours later Im hungry again.
Good one Mike. For what its worth you have my support. I have thought about getting a rant / update site for construction trades in Alberta but do not have the web skills.
I have been a union industrial insulator for 35 years and have seen our power focused and applied wisely in the early years only to be usurped by government agendas( corporate controlled) and castrated to the point that non union have more rights then unions. Not that I am against non union. Ying and Yang. Each side when in proper balance keeps the other honest. At least it usd to.
As for the camps I know exactlly what you describe. I am at Albian Village. The other thing that really bothers me is the use of carpeting in all the rooms. We thought this was great when they started putting it in years ago but now they are just dirt magnets full of dust, mould and whatever. They do not give the cleaning staff any time to steam clean and disinfect. All they can do is vacumn it, when they have the time which is to say only if it is really dirty.
As for temporary camps, Milleniium camp was only temporary back in the 90′s and its still in place with various creatures using the ductwork systems as a highway network, as they do in all the old trailers. Its all well and good for Shelll and the like to say or imply they are doing the best they can but words are only a cheap delaying tactic to bury the problem and squelch the source or pass blame till the problem gets forgotten( they hope)
Keep shining that flashlight of yours into the Oil industries dark places. I love watching and reading about them scurry like rats for cover.
Thats enough of my rants….hang in there …fight the good fight…my generation is just hanging in till retirement….we seem too tired to fight anymore and seem resigned to the status quo….mores the pity.
I read your articles on camp conditions up north. I couldn’t believe that companies like Suncor would allow this on their sites. Especially, when they are always promoting safety as number one priority.
It would seem to me that having a happy, healthy workforce would make for a safer work environment for everybody. I guess maybe their attitude is if somebody has a incident, just don’t do it on their site.
Hi Mike,
I met you at the Clarview Community gathering last June 19th. I’ll stop by from time to time.
Merle
Fantastic article. I really like it