1:42 a.m. - 2003-10-26
Details
Just turned back the clocks - an extra hour of sleep tomorrow. I haven't been able to get near the computer this evening. My youngest was scanning photographs into his folder. They're the ones taken over the summer, mostly of Miss Kitty and her kittens as they grew. I'm not a gold member of Diaryland yet, because they still don't have a system that allows you to pay their fee by anything other than credit cards. I don't have any. They are promising to set something up; when that happens I'll join and then I can post pictures too. Some of our cats and maybe of the granbabies and my guys, if they'll let me.
Spent quite a bit of time on the phone with a couple of support people from Elections Canada this afternoon. First with K who is one of the IT people. Did the tests and checks necessary after loading all the new software and data I received last week. It required 10 diskettes to save all the old data I had generated in my assignments up to now. The A drive isn't large enough to hold the zip disks one can purchase, so I had to keep non-compressed files. No matter. Next up, talked with the technical specialist about the assignment itself. I had some time to check some of the data loaded on to one of the CDs and I had some issues that needed clarification. I should be able to actually start working tomorrow, if all goes well in the morning.
There was a story in the paper today about the legislation necessary to affirm the changes in boundaries and the creation of new ridings being passed by parliament yesterday. The speculation is that when the new leader of the party in power is confirmed on November 15, it will allow him to call an election early in the spring. However, the bill still has to be reviewed and passed by the Senate before final reading into law can occur. Apparently, some of the senators aren't fussy about being pushed to hurry to fulfill the new leader's promises to his supporters. They may take their time processing it, before it goes back to the House of Commons. Until it is published in The Canada Gazette it isn't official. The Canada Gazette is in three parts. Part I is a weekly digest of all the business completed by parliament. Part II contains regulations and statutes recently brought into law and Part III contains the text of new bills passed in their entirety. In part I this week there were the amendments to the Nuclear Power regulations that are to tighten security around the facilities we have here in Canada. Looked as though troops would now be stationed nearby to respond instantly to threats. There were more substances added to the Environmental Protection Act that are now banned for use here and all companies incorporated under the Federal Corporations Act must post any major changes to their incorporation documents/agreements there as well. The Bank of Canada also posts its weekly stastements there. It's the one unfiltered source that average citizens can go to to read exactly what the federal government is doing at any given time. The link is: Gazette.
Also in the newspaper was a story about the second emergency diversion in two days of a civilian passenger airplane from landing at Toronto's Pearson airport, because of threats of a missile strike by terrorists. Both planes are from the same airline and were both on their way to Los Angeles, after their regular stop in Toronto. In addition, there were comments in the media a couple of days ago about the British Harrier jets that had been practicing manouevers over Calgary last week. Military activity is never announced in such a way and it is rarely acknowledged, unless the activity is for show - you know when heads of state come calling. This time it was presented as an explanation of all the noise - and yes they were - but most Calgarians wouldn't likely know the difference if it hadn't been discussed. Unless you've lived by the airport long enough to recognize the regular flights there wouldn't be a reference point for one to compare it to. Curious. I think I'll go to bed and sleep on that information before I try to make much out of it. Maybe they're not connected.
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