Ha! Vital infrastructure in Canada...

[gcomeau]

The PM apparently gave a speech today talking about the Canadian government's economic stimulus plans going forward. I was giving it a read through then almost burst out laughing when I hit the midway point.

Before continuing, let me point out I am Canadian myself so I'm not trying to mock or anything, but I've been living in the U.S. for 8 years (lovely 8 years to pick... gah) and have become somewhat acclimated... so every once in a while I get reminded about some of the cultural differences back home and it's a bit jarring. Anyway, the section that caught my eye:

"In terms of public investments, we have launched the Building Canada Plan.

Through this plan, we are making the largest infrastructure investments in this country - in highways, roads, bridges, sewers, public transit, ports, harbours, community facilities, rinks - in over half a century."

Only in Canada are rinks mentioned in the same sentence as port upgrades and highways as vitally important national infrastructure priorities. :D

(If anyone's interested in actually reading the whole thing, there's a transcript here: http://blog.macleans.ca/2009/03/10/the-speech-minus-the-power-point/ ).

[JuniperLea]

1. That's hilarious!

And completely believable!

[SidDithers]

2. We have to replace all of the old single ice pad arenas...

with two and four pad arenas. Single pads are huge money losers now.

Also, new arenas need both NHL and international sized ice surfaces.

But, yeah, completely Canadian, eh?

Sid