When Is Spring Coming

I do wish that spring was coming as early as predicted. I thought it was supposed to appear by now. Oh, I know that it is not snowing as much as one might expect but it is still quite chilly outside. It means that I do not go out for a walk as I usually do in the warmer times of the year. In fact, I generally go out three times a day to get lots of exercise to help myself feel better.

I must admit that I do not feel all that bad about it because I have not seen too many of my neighbours going out for walks either. I guess that we are all being “smart” and not taking a chance of getting sick by going outside these days. As you know, dear reader, I do take on lots of exercising within the house at this time of the year to make sure that I try and stay in shape as much as I can. I am also very careful on what I eat. Or let me put it another way. My wife is very careful what she produces for my meals!

I am looking forward once again to going for walks. I do enjoy going out for about 30 to 40 minutes each time in different parts of the neighbourhood. It is just fun to do the walking but just as importantly to look at how different parts of my area are being developed. Oh, I do not mean seeing new homes being put up, although there is a big project going on down the street that I will want to take a look at. Rather, I like looking at how my neighbours are fixing up their homes so that it will give me some idea of how to improve mine.

It should also be interesting to see some new people around this area. I have noticed some of the units have been sold in the neighbourhood and that new people have moved in. I will enjoy meeting them once they start coming outside and going for walks as well. I also noticed that some of them seem to be doing some major reconstruction work in their homes as well. Now that should be interesting for them to invite me to take a look at I hope. It might give me some ideas about how to improve my home.

Oh, I just thought of something. I better write some stories now and post them on my website so they will have something new to read once they have met with me and know what I do.

WHO WILL GO SHOPPING

As I have told you in columns here before, dear reader, there are certain grocery stores in which I enjoy shopping. However, I cannot truly believe that their management may be acting so bizarrely that it makes no sense to me whatsoever. Why would they want to make customers find some other place to buy their goods! That is the only alternative that I can see considering the way some of them may be experimenting in doing some things.

Take a look at this story and wonder what the mentality is:

“Superstore, Shoppers Drug Mart customers say they were forced to use self-checkout” (Sophia Harris, CBC News, March 17, 2019) 

Of course, this does not make any real sense does it, dear reader. Here is what Loblaws said about all this:

“Loblaw Co., which owns Real Canadian Superstore and Shoppers Drug Mart, said it expects stores to always give customers the option of checking out with a cashier.

"We've now heard from a few customers that some [Shoppers] stores are encouraging those using credit or debit to use self-checkout," said spokesperson Catherine Thomas in an email.

"It is not our intention that customers feel they do not have a choice, and we have reminded all stores of this expectation."

Mind you, there is nothing in those comments that the number of cashiers will not be drastically reduced so that one has to wait in line for a very long time.

I have to admit that I like the local Superstore here a lot as I have written before. I do not want to leave there and shop somewhere else. I would though if I had to because of the poor checkout service.

Just think of it, dear reader. How bad would the service be if it is set up the new way now and I am checking out on a Saturday at a self checkout centre after buying so many groceries that day for my next week. Imagine the line of people behind me waiting to check out. Of course, they would have to wait for me to unload my cart, pass it through the pricing system, pay the bill and then reload it after putting everything into a bag. What would that do, double or triple the time I spend now!

Accordingly, if my grocer foolishly decides that it is going to change the system it has in place now, and then even reduce significantly the number of cashiers it has available, then I will look for an alternative store to buy my products.

ARE THEY GOOD RENTAL PRICES IN WINDSOR 

I am afraid that only you can make that decision, dear reader, based on your own position.

It appears as if the Windsor area may still be a good place for people to rent apartment units. Well, that may not be exactly correct.

It is a lot better to rent in Windsor than in other cities in Ontario, especially Toronto. After all, if one wanted to buy a housing unit there, the price of a house has gone up rather dramatically over a relatively short period of time even if it has gone up here quite a bit. More importantly, look at the cost of a house there compared with a similar unit here. It is so dramatically higher.

Here are some interesting numbers I have seen however that tell you how much the rents have increased here and lets you see see how it compares with other locations:

“Windsor’s rental rates are up from the same time last year, including a 10-per-cent hike in the price of two-bedroom apartments…

While Windsor rental prices may be on the upswing, it is still listed as the most affordable city of the 24 polled and has more than a $1,500 difference in rental rates to Canada’s most expensive city, Toronto.” (Lindsay Charlton, Windsor Star, March 16, 2019) 

I trust you understand a lot better my position now.

SHOULD IT BE A PRIZEWINNER

Here is an interesting announcement in a News Announcement for the $5.7 billion structure where its Ambassador Bridge competitor is putting up something similar in a different location, but close by nevertheless, at around $1 billion:

“IJGLOBAL AWARDS GORDIE HOWE INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE PROJECT ROAD DEAL OF YEAR

WINDSOR, ONTARIO – Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA) today announced that the Gordie Howe International Bridge project was recognized by IJGlobal Project Finance and Infrastructure Journal as its 2018 Road Deal of the Year at an awards gala held in New York.’

I have to admit that I do not understand how the WDBA could be the prizewinner when its cost is about six times higher than its competitor. Isn’t that taken into consideration when one looks at its position to determine how good an approach it has taken financially?

I just find it so funny that anyone thinks that the Government bridge can make any sense financially. Here is what I mean by that in a statement set out in that Announcement:

“The Gordie Howe International Bridge project is significant both in its scope and complexity and will bring positive economic, social and environmental benefits to communities on both sides of the border.”

Bryce Phillips, CEO - Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority”

Seriously, what positive benefit could possibly be provided by the Government Bridge? How could it truly remain in business, if it was not a Government Bridge, when its costs will be so much higher because the traffic volume has already reduced dramatically from what was projected before when it was claimed that it was going to rise dramatically in the future. Has anyone seen anywhere recently any projections that the volume will increase now so that it will somehow cover those costs? Of course not!

The reality in all of this is to wait until the federal election is over in the Fall and see what deal is made between the Ambassador Bridge Company and the Federal Government. If one can be made.

If not, litigation lawyers will be involved for at least another decade in all kinds of jurisdictions to decide this matter.

My Newest Blog

As I wrote a short time ago, my life has changed rather significantly. I will not go into it in a lot of detail but obviously my illness that I suffered some time ago really was the cause of the transformation and not just because I was adding on a few years to my birthdate. What I am experiencing is different now compared with what it was before. 

To be direct, until I got ill, nothing really changed too dramatically in how I carried on. I was lucky when I was admitted into hospital that the Emergency doctor had some idea about what my illness was and started treating me until his diagnosis was confirmed. Yet, for several years after that, I did not seem to experience a big change in how I was living. Oh sure, I was no longer “working” anymore but nothing hit me really about how my life had changed. Why would it? I was spending most of my time getting better from, as examples, learning how to walk again to how to eat the proper food and then helping my wife as we went shopping to our favorite outlets around the area.

I finally only discovered much less than a year ago how dramatically my life had changed. I am not really sure why I did not know well what was going on in the way I was now living but I think there were some reasons for it. Clearly, the biggest one was recovering from the dramatic illness that I suffered. The doctors in this area were very unfamiliar with what I was experiencing but worked very hard to help me out. Fortunately, for me, they did a great job. Their efforts took me quite some time to fully develop. I believe that I am about as recovered now as one could expect with someone who was as ill as I was with this virtually unknown disease. Yet, this took up a lot of time and effort on my part.

As I have said, my life is not the same at all compared with how it was before. I really do not have any goals any longer that I had to reach the way I did when I was working with others in a very professional way. I do not have to meet my requirements that were set up in a company for which I was an employee. Nor do I have to accomplish the objectives of mine set up as part of the media outlet in which I was involved for so many years. It seems as if I had to pass through that kind of a life before and now can just enjoy getting up every day to accomplish whatever seems to make sense to me at that time.

Sure, I still write articles but this time I do so for my own, personal Blog site. I do it not for financial gain or as a “power” tool. I do it because I like to write about matters that go on around me and to let others know about what I think about them. I really have no idea about how many people actually read the articles nor does it really matter to me. I just write them to set out for myself how I feel about different subjects. Naturally, I still want to have a number of persons taking a look at what I write but I doubt that there are all that many who do these days.

I still have objectives that I would like to reach. However, they are not at all like the ones I had in the past when I had to focus so much on my financial side to make sure that there was enough money around for my wife and children to do well if I was no longer here. No, my life is so much different now that what I am trying to accomplish is no longer the same as well. I do not intend to talk a lot about my personal side but just let you know that I have changed.

I appreciate that this Blog section is very personal. However, I have not gone into a very detailed conversation about it. I do not think that I have to do so. Whether you agree or not with the tasks that I am doing these days is not all that important because you may never carry on similar matters in your life. You have your own goals to reach.

All I wanted to let you know is that I believe that I am a different person compared with my past and that there are reasons for this. Who knows, you may experience something similar yourself. Best of luck if you do so.

Now I had better write about a few news matters that I trust are of interest to you.

IS $5.7 BILLION REASONABLE

I am sure that you recall that, back in September, the price for the proposed Government border crossing between Windsor and Detroit was set at around $5.7 billion. That seems to be a pretty high cost considering that the cost by the Ambassador Bridge Company is around the $1 billion mark with only about $500 million of it being required these days.

Here is one interesting comment that was made:

“Duncan said an outside review suggested the final price would have been more than $6.2 billion if the Canadian government had decided not to partner with a private-sector consortium and foot the entire bill itself.” (Canadian Press, Windsor Star, September 29, 2018) 

That was a bit strange to me. I thought that the stories I had read in the past suggested that the private Company bridges that were to be built were more expensive than those that could have been built and run instead by the Governments. In any event, I saw this story recently which seems to confirm that:

“Contracted work at MDOT cost Michigan an extra $90M, study says

An analysis by a University of Michigan researcher has found that the state spent $90 million more to hire private contractors for engineering and design work than it would have if it had maintained that work in-house over just one three-year period…

“It really shocked us on the amount of money spent on the private consultants. It’s hard to imagine how that money was justified” (Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press, February. 15, 2019) 

DOCTORS GET MORE MONEY

I am sure that doctors will be very pleased with the decision made with respect to the money they are supposed to be receiving from the Ontario Government:

“An arbitrator has awarded Ontario doctors a new contract in a ruling that puts no hard cap on the physician services budget, a decision that comes after a years-long fracture in doctors’ relationship with the government.

Placing such a restriction on payments to doctors for publicly insured services would be unfair, arbitrator William Kaplan wrote in the decision released Tuesday.” (CANADIAN PRESS, February 20, 2019) 

I wonder what this is going to do for doctors now. I believe that a number of them have reduced the amount of work that they did because their salaries were effectively maximized by the “cap” placed on them. Will they now work longer and harder to earn a lot more or will they continue to work less because they are now more used to doing that?

I am pleased that it seems that both sides have accepted the decision that was made. As an “older” resident in Ontario, I like many others will require more appointments with medical people. I am pleased that it appears that there will be doctors around who can see us when we need their help:

“Alam said the arbitrator’s decision acknowledged that with an aging and growing population there will be more demand for services.

“What that means for patients is that every single physician service is fully funded by the government,” she said.”

Regretfully, I can see some significant difficulty arising as the Government has to consider ways to cut costs. Benefits that people received today may well be cut back in the future:

“a working group will be established to look into restricting inappropriate or overused physician services or payments to try to find $100 million “in changes” for the period of June 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020. For the next year it is to find a further $360 million.”

What that means may well give rise to new disputes in the future.

Time To Write Another Blog

Please bear with me in my conversation about the weather. I know that I should not be writing that much about it but it still just seems so strange to me again this year. One day it is quite cold out, the next the temperature warms up and then again on the third day it is chilly again.

I can remember last year that it was so cold that I did not go outside once for a walk as was my custom in the other seasons. This year is pretty much the same except I did go out once for a short walk.

Anyway, it should be interesting to see when spring comes and what the temperature becomes. I do expect it to come relatively earlier than I thought it would because, unfortunately, we are seeing a whole bunch of bugs entering our house these days. While I am never very pleased about that, at least what it suggests to me is that springtime is coming a lot sooner than I would normally expect.

I believe that I have mentioned this before but perhaps I should do it again. This ought to be one of the big reasons why people of my age are selling their homes and moving into places like mine. I live in a condo in an attached townhouses area. In my particular part, three townhouses are attached. In other sections, there are four townhouses attached. We are quite fortunate that our units are of a good size and especially well laid out. More importantly, none of us any longer has to do any of our outside work. In the wintertime, when it snows, none of us has to worry. Once the snowfall has stopped, a short time later our maintenance firm comes in and cleans up not only our homes’ driveways but also our roadway with their snowplows. It makes life so much easier that it is enjoyable.

I am hoping that we truly have a relatively short winter this year and that springtime does come earlier than it did last year. It should be very interesting to see how the plants grow and what flowers come out quickly so that we will know that spring is here. I want to compare with last year because my recollection is that we seemed to go almost immediately from a very long winter into a relatively hot summer. I wonder what is going to happen this year and whether it is going to give us what has been projected. You may remember that there were supposed to be four years of very cold winter weather and this is the second year.

Let me now close the subject of the weather for this Blog and talk about some other matters that I think are very interesting.

THE REAL REASON FOR THE NDP ATTACK

Quite an interesting news release that the NDP issued about what is going on with GM in the automobile industry Canada.

I am sure that you may have seen the headline to the article written by the NDP on the subject:

“Windsor-essex NDP MPs Work to Protect Jobs and Call for "Made in Canada" Procurement Policy”

It was in an article posted on the NDP website on February 18, 2019.

Quite an attack by two of the three NDP representatives from our area, Cheryl Hardcastle and Tracey Ramsey. You should go and read it yourself. The attack by these two MPs was quite political against the Liberal Government and quite focused on this subject.

I found the comment by MP Brian Masse slightly different. Oh sure, he made a brief mention about this matter. However, his approach was much wider than his colleagues. He did not talk merely about the auto industry but about politics in general:

“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is showing himself on the side of corporate greed, and not on the side of Canadians,” said Masse. “Canadians deserve a government that is willing to stand up and fight for their jobs and their interests.”

I have to admit that I am of the opinion that his attack was much wider than those of his colleagues. His was an NDP attack on the Liberal Government not just because of their position on GM but rather going against the Government in a much broader way. Sure his comment was rather general but I believe that it means that we will see a lot more attacks on different subjects involving the Liberals between now and election day. I expect him to lead as well in that strong opposition in the fight, supported by his colleagues, to at least maintain the elected positions of the NDP members in this area.

“OUR CURRENT INTENTION”

Gee, it may only be relevant now. It might be the timeframe before the next election not necessarily afterward. After all, why not get people on your side before they vote in the next election so that they support you:

“The federal government is working towards scrapping tolls for pedestrians and cyclists crossing the future Gordie Howe International Bridge.

Canada’s Minister of Infrastructure, Francois-Phillippe Champagne, made the comment in Windsor…

“This would be our intention, that there’d be no tolls but, we still need to finalize a few things — but this is our current intention,” said Champagne...

Minister Champagne wouldn’t fully commit to anything final — except that he would be the community’s voice at the table.” (CTV New, February 21, 2019) 

Did you see the emphasis on the word “current” in the quotation above? Moreover, the Minister made it clear that there was no final decision made yet.

I really wonder how many people are going to walk or bicycle all the extra distance to get to the new bridge in the first place and then to get to their location on the other side of the river. Seriously, how far is it to walk across the river and back? How much time would that take if one wanted to go for a nice stroll on the other side of the river? The location of the new Government bridge is not exactly so wonderful is it.

Of course, after the election, if the plans are changed, who can get very angry then? And even if one does, there is not that much that can be done then to the newly elected Government.

Oh well, perhaps the population will not be all that upset to spend $5.7 billion, or more, to build a Government bridge rather than being pleased that the Bridge Company will spend only another $500 million more themselves for their bridge which should be completed relatively soon.

Here Are More News Stories

Wow, was it ever snowy the other day! My recollection was that there was just supposed to be “snow flurries” falling but instead there seemed to be a mini-snow storm taking place.

I had read a weather forecast saying that there was going to be some snow in the morning but when I looked out around 9 AM, I did not see any falling. Accordingly, I asked my wife if she wanted to go to the grocery store nearby just to buy a few products that we might need until we did our full shopping on the weekend. I must admit that I suspected that if we got any snow it would come later in the day so we had enough time to buy some groceries that morning.

I was wrong, really wrong! I looked out a few minutes later and all I could see was snow falling, heavy snow. My wife had suggested that we not go right away and she was absolutely correct. As usual! I think that she really did suspect that the snow was going to fall.

Unfortunately for me, it meant staying at home again. Oh I know that I do not go out all that much in the wintertime but I did like at least to go to a store just so that I could walk around. Not only would it allow me to buy necessary items but I could walk through the whole store just to get some exercise.

By the time it finally ended, my hope of going out shopping was doomed. Too much snow had fallen and I was just not in the mood to take a chance to get stuck, even after going only a short distance to get to the grocery store and back.

I am sure that you know, dear reader, that I had to do something to fill up some of my time. I also am absolutely certain that you knew what I would be doing to do so. Yes, you are correct. Just take a look at the new articles that I have written.

IMPROVE YOUR COGNITIVE HEALTH

I saw a very interesting article that you, dear reader, may be interested in reading. It is useful for senior people themselves or those who are supportive of them:

“How to improveyour cognitive health” 

It was published by Kintell Limited a company in the United Kingdom that just started out in business. It produces equipment for senior people to make it easier for them to live at home rather than going into places like old age homes.

Take a look at their website to learn more about it. https://kintellhome.com/

WINDSOR’S FUTURE

An interesting article in the Windsor Star that tells you a lot about the City of Windsor and what they want to carry out over the next twenty years, not just in the next term of office. Take a look at it:

“Basement flooding prevention, tree coverage top council's priority list” (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, February 13, 2019) 

Here are the main items that are long-term solutions that the City believes are necessary:

“implementing the sewer master plan, ordered following disastrous floods in 2016 and 2017, and increasing the city’s tree coverage and eliminating the long wait time for tree trimming. Projects with eight stickers included: improving the city’s branding, such as the Welcome to Windsor signage as motorists enter the city; economic diversification; and implementing the soon-to-be-completed Active Transportation Plant which will lay out network of bike lanes and paths to increase cycling and walking”

The amount of money involved is not small for some of the projects. Here is one of them for sewage projects:

“I can guarantee it will be a $300-million to $400-million plan, in addition to the $90 million we’ve already approved for the first phase,”

Looks impressive doesn’t it, dear reader. However, I suggest that you go to the article and read what has been accomplished in the past. I am not sure that you would be all that impressed with what was done.

I would assume that the money was not there because of all of the expenses that were paid out on the major projects in the relatively recent past that were constructed. I guess that money must now be available for larger projects since cash presumably is available now.

I would suggest, especially if you are going to run for office in four years, that you keep track of what is actually being spent to use compared with what might be spent. It could form as part of your election campaign depending a lot on the work that was actually undertaken.

BUY OR RENT

Does it makes sense for people to rent real estate properties these days? Alternatively, should they figure out a way to buy a new residence instead?

Based on some articles that I have written recently, you may wonder how people can possibly afford to buy a house. The ownership costs have risen so dramatically in a relatively short period of time.

Nevertheless, one must understand that rental costs are going up very high as well. Those monthly rental fees have risen rather dramatically I believe. Here is part of an article that I read a little while ago. Take a look at this Toronto rental price set out recently:

“Toronto took the top spot for the most expensive rent in the country. This month, one bedroom rent increased 0.4% to $2,270 and two bedrooms remained flat at $2,850.” (Daily Hive Staff, Feb 13, 2019) 

Yet, that monthly rent payment of $2,850 would also go for mortgage amount at around $560,000 for a 5 year period for a mortgage amortized over 25 years for the two bedroom unit. I am sure that you believe that to be a large sum of money on a purchase, dear reader, but remember that the average Toronto house price is $800,000. What it does mean is that house mortgage on it at over half-million dollars may not be enough money to fully fund an average house in Toronto.