Yellow Ribbon Idiocy

I've said before that I feel that, as a gesture, yellow ribbons are somewhat stupid. I think they probably afford more than a few of those that tack them on their cars the ability to feel good about themselves without doing anything to materially support Canadian troops.

Many on the right also seem to try to have it both ways by suggesting that ribbons are just a nice thing to do for the troops regardless of political opinion and that they are a sign of support for the mission that the troops are obliged to undertake. Additionally, Canada has had its own perfectly good symbols to show appreciation to soldiers without needing to import ones from the US (will we put an American flag on the Vimy memorial next?)

Anyway there was a silly mess over Toronto removing these magnets from city-owned vehicles. The usual suspects blamed this on the crazy "Taliban Jack Quislings" of Toronto City Council. Today though we find out that Calgary, the heart of Conservative-land, home to Steve Harper's riding has not and will not put these same things on city vehicles. I await the indignation.

Work Camps

Eugene Plawiuk dug up this story about efforts by a Calgary business to create labour camps to deal with Alberta's labour shortage. I can only wonder at the consequences of such a program of labour camps over the long term. Of course the company, Lehigh Inland Cement, is insisting that this won't be like the bad old days of the 1930s when labour camps were dreadful affairs - no they insist this will be totally different.

By the sounds of this quote, it looks like it will be some kind of trailer park:

"There is a location down south of where we are that really has already a structured facility and had been permitted for trailers, I believe."

Great. Now, this company is doing this because it believes that people are turned-off of moving to Calgary because of high housing costs. What about, instead of making a work camp, actually paying such a wage that people could afford housing? This company seems to be taking the decision that it is actually cheaper to construct some kind of living quarters where workers would be housed than it is to pay them. I can only imagine what kind of living conditions one might enjoy in such a work camp.

If one's employer is also one's landlord, what kind of other conditions might one expect in the camp? This looks like a play for control over the lives of employees. If you live in a work camp, can you drink? Is there a curfew?
Picture: Julian, Bubbles, and Ricky contemplate whether Lehigh's trailer park would treat them better than Lahey's