Election Day

Well, it's Election Day up there in Oh Canada. Did you check out Google.ca? Isn't it cute? Anxious to see how it all turns out. I encourage everyone to get out there and exercise your privilege to vote.

My thoughts are with my former boss who is the Sudbury Liberal candidate. Having worked for her for 20 years, I know the kind of person she truly is. Sudbury would certainly benefit if she were to be voted in. Good luck Carol! I must admit that I wish I had been around to experience her campaign in person. :(

My prediction: Another Conservative minority government. We'll see.

On the topic of voting, being a US permanent resident, I am entitled to all of the rights offered to US citizens, except that I cannot vote. That right is reserved for US citizens only. Should I choose, I can apply to become a citizen after being here 5 years. I was surprised when at the time of obtaining my Oklahoma driver's license, I was presented with a form where I was obliged to check off "Yes" or "No" as to whether I wanted to receive a voter registration form. Now, I'm supposing that a lot of immigrants would probably check off "Yes" to this question, not being aware of the fact that it is illegal to vote unless they're a citizen. Of course their application could, and should, be denied once it reaches the appropriate office, but I wonder??? And what business is it of theirs what your political affiliation is? That question actually appears on the application form. Why bother with the secrecy on election day then?

Another issue that I thought was messed up when I applied for my Oklahoma driver's license was the fact that if you did not have a Social Security Number, they would not grant you a license ... if you had already applied for a Social. However, if you had NOT applied for one, they would grant the license to you. Now, does that make sense? So at first, they weren't going to give me one because at that point in time I had applied for it, but hadn't yet received it. In the end, they did grant me a temporary driver's license and once I received my Social Security card, I brought it in and had the temporary designation removed. Silliness.

Once the guy did grant me the temporary license, I had to then go to another office where they actually print off your license (what a rigmarole). Because he'd entered "CA" as the license I was surrendering (I assume he was thinking CA for Canada), they wouldn't do it because CA stands for California! I had to go back and get that fixed. When I did, the guy asked his co-worker what the abbreviation for Canada was. I was just about to say it was Ontario that he needed to input when she answered him with something like, "Isn't Canada divided into parts or something?". That's when I educated them about Provinces. Guy was nice enough, just didn't get many Canadians transferring their licenses over I guess. He told me with enthusiasm that he one day would very much like to visit Canada.

Another issue I had was with getting a prescription filled down here. Prior to leaving Sudbury, I obtained all of my refills except for one! Somehow I forgot about that particular one, so I had my pharmacist transfer the repeats to here. That was a process and I still don't think I have the right ones...they look different and cost a whole heck of a lot more! But anyway, the guy serving me when I picked them up tried to get me a discount. He had to call the doctor's office to obtain a certain number to input into the computer. He too didn't have a clue as to Provinces! Gee whiz! But he was thrilled that he actually got to call Canada. Said it was his first time and he just couldn't believe it (lol). He had a big smile over that one.

In summary, it appears most Americans don't have a clue about Canada, but they do seem to like us Canadians at least. :)