weener

Hi

Just reading through a old thread of yours and noticed your a engineer, can I ask in what line of trade?

Wayne

iaink

My, that is an old post! PM sent.

Canada Bob

Although I went straight from school {at 15} into a 6 year apprenticeship with De Havilland over here, when I was 21 {and a free man, sort of thing} the first job I took was as a settler for Gus Demmy {another Bookie I knew socially}. Gus gave me a job, and I learned a LOT from that, the main thing being, the less often you bet, the more often you win, seems absurd but the thing is if you bet {almost} every race, {almost} every day, as millions do over here, yer knackered, you've no chance... They split their money into such small amounts that even a 10/1 winner pays them nowt... so they can't do any harm to a book.

If you bet with more discipline then you bet less often, but in bigger stakes, and 50 quid at 10/1 or even 7/4 can mess up a book, they don't want large single bets, the bookies count on the mugs being disorganised, the losers money paying out the few winners there may be.

Even though I like a bet, I hate to see the lads losing year after year, but that's their way of life, and they are addicted to it, a Bookies shop is the only place of hope for those who don't have any hope.

I don't think that betting is in the pschye of Canadians, maybe in some of them Chinese and some ex-pats, but when a country affords you a decent life what's the point of gambling ?

I've never placed a bet yet in Canada, but when I'm over here I'll have 2-3 bets a week, when in Rome sort of thing...

I'm not saying that I've not seen tough times in Canada, once had 6 oz of C4 attached to my car to blow me away, but that was an exceptional situation, certainly not typical of what most folks might experience in Canada.

Canada Bob.

iaink

Haven't we all

mugginflapps

depends on where you live, as to whether it is winter for 8 months of the year.

car insurance is expensive, but there is no road tax and if you can prove no claims for 8 years, the difference is minimal.

depends on what job you do as to whether the pay is bad, we know some well paid people in the big cities. Don't know what you do in IT but I don't see a problem. Yes there is the canadian work experience thing, but then again it depends on what you do, if they want your services they will pay.

I live in Kelowna, there are no tornadoes or earthequakes, just sunshine and vineyards!!!

We had all the same doubts especially leading up to coming here. It's swings and roundabouts, property is cheaper, utilities are cheaper, again depending on where you live. Calgary is booming and can't find enough people whatever you work as!

Kelowna is beautiful and well worth the changes.

Canada Bob

Aye, I suppose it is an unbelieveable saga Iain, none the less a true one.

http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmart...s/Norburn.html

Canada Bob.

dormy

Wow! what a 'story', major karma sent your way, followed by major respect!

dbd33

You don't have to buy a plate sticker in BC?

Canada Bob

Thanks Dormy...

It was a hell of a bl**dy time, at least they made me the 6 Million $ man !

Odd how they did that, don't tell me that God don't have a sense of humour, I mean, why 6 Million, why now 4, or 2.8 or 12 ??? why 6 Million $'s !!!

5 years that bl**dy lot went on, during which time 13 Canadian F18's crashed, 8 pilots killed, 10 Blackhawks fell out of the skies, and the whole fleet of them were grounded 3 times while they investigated, 52 people died in the Blackhawk crashes... all of these "accidents" could have been avoided, but no one would listen to me until it became obvious that there was a major problem.

It was an odd time that's for sure, took me to the limit, and almost beyond it, near drove my car into the Welland Canal that night when my son was beaten up and his arm broken, it was a hellish time.

We even had 24/7 protection from the Mounties for 6 weeks, that's how the C4 was found, but no charges were ever laid against the folks behind the conspiracy to murder, that's Governments for you, Brian Mulroney at the time.

I could tell you a LOT about what went on at Government levels in those days {and probably still does go on, cover ups etc}.

I remember the first time the Defense Inspector Generals Office {a Division of the FBI} came across the border from Buffalo to Thorold then escorted me back to Buffalo, then flew me down to Washington D.C. where I met Casper Weinberger {Secretary of State for Defense} at the time {a great.nice guy}
and was shown around the State Dept, and passed Olly North in the corridor !
that's something for a lad from Wigan hey...

They had a Senate Sub Committee inquiry re the airplane crashes, and I was the "qui tam" witness for the U.S. Government, that's why the company would have preferred me dead than alive.

As part of the inquiry I was questioned by several Senators including, Sam Nunn, Carl Levin, Neil Armstrong {first man on the Moon} and Edward Kennedy ! you've no idea how odd that felt, these were guys that you'd only expect to see on CNN !!!

There's a LOT more to the story than you see in that article, it was covered by just about every newspaper in Canada, and even the NY Times, latest thing is, CBC are interested in doing a Docudrama of it, now that the dust has settled...

Folks have no idea how tough those times were though, when they sued me for $6 Million they wrote to my mother {still in the U*** and sent her copies of the news paper articles, about me being sued... she read them and had a stroke, she was found by the neighbours the next day {curtains undrawn and all that, milk still on the step}, but she died in hospital a couple of days later.

How do you think that feels, mother dead, son broken arm, no money to feed my family because I was blackballed by the company. I was clearing snow from driveways to earn a few $'s, but you can't feed a family of what you make doing that with a spade and a pick axe, so after months of no money, and being unable to claim UIC {as the company said I'd quit the job}, my wife got sick and was diagnosed with scurvy {we were almost starving after 6 months without a wage}, this was how bitter this battle was...

Took me a LONG time to get over all that, and what I've said here, is still only the tip of that ugly iceberg...

But, nothing to do with Canada {as such}, even though the Canadian Government did it's best to cover it all up, that's just how Governments are, can't blame Canada for that, these were extra ordinary circumstances.

I do recall and respect the folks who rallied round when they found out how bad things were for us, it's hard when your in need to tell anyone of your need, we all have pride, but when it got out about Pauline being in hospital with scurvy almost the whole of Thorold rallied round for us.

Odd though how {as they say} "I was just doing my job" I was the guy who signed off civilian and military aircraft as "fit to fly" and I knew they weren't
but like the Challenger episode {that was going on at the same time, 1986} I was over ruled by Managers with no Engineering knowledge at all. Difference was, in NASA they let them get away with it, and it cost lives, I fought against it for all I was worth, but it still cost lives, what can you say...

We all have to face tough times in our lives, my Dad fought in WWII, folks were trying to kill him too, every day for 5 years, if he could stand his ground for what he believed in, then I'm bl**dy sure I won't be rolled back or intimidated at the cost of the innocent end users lives.

Ah well, rant over... as you will see {between the lines} it's still a sore point for me.

Canada Bob.

iaink

****ing hell, you are a bona fide hero! I'll take my rather flipant comment back then, but I'm glad I made it, or I would never have read your story. Respect, My hat is off to you.

Has whistle blower legislation changed any since then?

Madmac

Wow CB. That's one to tell the grandweans.

I left a domestic goods company after 6 hours in the job as they wanted me to sign off materials that were coated in toxic paint with high levels of lead and other nasties.

Needless to say I told them to stuff it but can't say that they stuck explosives to my car. Well, not that I noticed.

Life can only get better for you now.

Canada Bob

Hello Iain...

Don't know about bein' a hero, the way I saw it was I was doing my job, I've never worked in anything other than QA in military & civilian aircraft.

One thing that made an impression on me early in my career was on a crash investigation scene, where a Lightning Fighter had crashed, and going through the bits that were left I had the misfortune to find a piece of the pilot, his finger, with the wedding ring still attached. Stopped me in my tracks that did, and since then I've been diligent to say the least when inspecting aircraft.

The thing is with military aircraft they can usually jump out if things go wrong, try doing that if you're flying Air Canada !

It was my job to ensure that when innocent folks take to the air, that I would
make sure they wouldn't lose their life due to neglect, incompetence or criminal abuse by Company Directors et-al.

Most folks never realised that when they get in an aircraft their life was in my hands, even though I wasn't there, I could be thousands of miles away, but if I'd signed the 'plane off you could "bet your life" that 'plane was safe to fly.

I've literally signed off hundreds of aircraft {and a lot of submarine stuff} in my time, and there's never been a loss of life due to mechanical failure on anything I've signed off. Some folks think that I'm "lucky" that in over 35 years there hasn't been a black spot on my pages, but I know that I never let my guard down, if I did it could cost hundreds of folks their lives.

I've had folks tell me I shouldn't be so "concerned" {yea, really} other QA Inspectors !!! I've had them say to me, "well, if the worst come to the worst the F18 pilot can eject", fair enough, but is there any guarantee where the 'plane will crash, could be a school or a mall, and from that kill scores or even hundreds of people, no on my watch...

Whistle blower legislation hasn't changed much at all, not in Canada, except if your a Government employee {we have to protect their jobs I guess}.

In Canada the focus is {sadly} on misuse of Government funds etc, tells you something when loss of money is of greater concern than loss of lives, but again I don't critique Canada for that, it's not a Canadian thing, it's the wrong type of folks running many of out Countries and Companies, pigs are attracted to troughs World Wide.

In the U.S. they have had Whistle Blower Law since the Civil War...

Here's the thing on that, after being involved with the US Senators, I was told that whatever they recovered from the delinquent companies, I would be entitled to 10% of it, and in 1999 they were looking to sue for $400 Million !

At the end of the day it was all settled {quietly} before it went to Court, and although I didn't get the 10% that I would have had {hey, who couldn't find a good home for $40 Million}, I was "retired" put out to grass so to speak, sent home to "walk the dog, for the rest of my days", can't tell you all about that, otherwise I'd have to be looking under the car again...

Tell you this though, when Mulroney was ousted, I was sponsored {by the Media, certain Politicians and folks in the Legal Profession} to be awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, the highest award a civilian can be awarded in Canada. Got all the way up to the Governor Generals Office, I even had letters advising me of their consideration... but along the way some old enemy put the spoke in, and I got nowt for my troubles, Governments again hey. I might have had a better chance if the C4 has vapourised me, that's what one of the Mounties said it would have done, 6 oz of that stuff is enough to blow a bleedin house down, let alone blow me away...

Tough old world out there at times hey, but when you step on a 'plane take confidence that there's other folks out there equally as diligent as I was.

As for me, I haven't worked in my trade in over 16 years now ! I consider that a loss to me, and to an industry that would have benefited by me training up other QA guys to hold to the same integrity...

Canada Bob.
PS... glad you did respond Iain, no offence taken, its not a saga that's easy to believe, thankfully it was an extra ordinary occurrence. Whenever I talk about it I'm always conscious that to some folks it reflects badly on Canada, but I never saw it that way, there's skunks in every community...

Canada Bob

Yep, I'm not on my own, folks have gone through similar things, some folks a lot worse, but it's good when folks stand their ground, nice to know yer not on yer bl**din own...

As for life getting better, well, that another story, grin...

Finished up flogging CK Perfumes into the Grey Market, buying them straight from CK Canada by the tractor trailer load {15-17 Tons} a month, and shipping them to folks like Walmart in the US... made a bl**din fortune !

How odd is this World !!!

Don't want to take up too much bandwidth in here, but "the rest of the story" can be found on... http://www.moderngent.com/site/ultra.php read the threads that start from the Ultra Shave thing.

If the C4 wasn't enough to cope with, I was diagnosed with terminal cancer in May of 2004, given 6 months to live, hence the move back to the UK.

But so far I've beat the odds again, don't know how long this battle may last though...

Tell you what, if any of you want to try that Ultra Shave stuff drop me PM and I'll ship some to you, no charge free from me...

Canada Bob.

mugginflapps

yes you do but the cost is much less than road tax

Ruby Murray

I paid just $70 for a year - less than 35 quid....and that's cheap!! No MOT's either (although I do wish they would implement some regulations on compulsory annual vehicle checks - have you seen some of the rust-buckets on the roads here :scared: )