Law and Government

by

Lightbulb Moment

My friend Sarah followed me across town yesterday and informed me that one of my brake lights was out! Thanks for the heads up! I wouldn’t want to be pulled over right now, when I have an interim Alberta driver’s license, Yukon registration, and seemingly expired Yukon insurance (hopefully pink slips are in the mail…)! I decided to get a new bulb today since it was getting really late last night. I asked Gary to show me how to get to the bulb (thanks!) and I drove straight to Canadian Tire this morning.

The bulb was a #1157 and came in a two-pack for $5, not bad since I would be able to install it myself. I had brought my screwdriver with me, so I changed the bulb immediately in the parking lot. Before reassembling everything, I flagged a lady down and asked her to confirm that the bulb was working. “You did it!” she said, so I slid the thingamabobs into the thingamajigs until they clicked and then screwed the assembly back into the body of the car.

And not a moment too soon since I passed a bunch of police keeping watch on a parade immediately after pulling out of the Canadian Tire parking lot!

by

Shock and Grief on a Monday Morning

I awoke to news that Jack Layton, chief of the National Democrat Party and Leader of the Opposition, died early this morning after a lengthy battle with cancer.

I truly feel that this man was Canada’s last and best hope for a cohesive, sensible, transparent, and just government. His victory at the last federal election, sweeping through Quebec and forever changing its political map, not to mention gaining the keys to Stornoway, shook many Canadians out of their political torpor.

Now, the party is in the hands of an interim leader, Nycole Turmel, whom I have never trusted. She will not be getting my vote for new leader of the NDP! I wish the reins had been handed over to someone else, perhaps Thomas Mulcair.

It will be strange to no longer get the orange emails from ‘Jack’, to not see that handsome and trustworthy face speak so eloquently and with such passion, to not have someone at the near-helm of this government that I believe actually truly gives a damn about the Canadian people.

Rest in peace, Jack, and may someone worthy of you pick up your fight.

by

Thankfully, I Don’t Look Like a Mule For Everyone

I’ve had problems with anemia since the late ’90s, so I take a daily iron supplement. Every few months, I walk into a pharmacy (usually the one at Walmart) and ask for a bottle of ferrous gluconate. Said bottle is handed over each time with few other words. I’m asking for the pills by a specific identifier, not as generic ‘iron supplements’, so pharmacists assume that I know what I’m doing. I’ve thus bought my pills in Quebec, Ontario, BC, the Yukon, and even Oregon without incident for about 12 years.

And then I came to Alberta.

Tonight, I went to the Shopper’s Drugmart (I just love that name, incidentally, it makes me laugh) and nonchalantly ambled over to the prescriptions area where, after a moment’s wait, I was able to place my order.

“Have you filled a prescription here before?”
“No. I don’t have a prescription…”
“Oh, that’s fine. I just need to register the sale. Name and address, please.”

I gave the information, using Rae rather than my legal name, and Jody’s address, none of which matches any of my ID. That was fine because I wasn’t asked for any! I mustn’t have looked like a drug dealer to this person!

At least, the pills are super cheap in Alberta, $6.50 for 100 tablets! I haven’t paid a price like that since the 20th century!

by

At Least One Cost Keeps Going Down

Except for one practise I thought was frowned upon in developed nations (all I’m saying on that matter!), Alberta is going to be the cheapest province for driving costs.

When I hit the road in ’08, I was registered in Quebec. Yearly costs there:

-registration for Miranda: $650

-insurance for Miranda: $750

-registration for the toad: $250

-insurance for the toad: $1,500

-driver’s license: $50

Total: $3,200

I then moved to Yukon and my yearly costs there were:

-registration for Miranda: about $125

-insurance for Miranda: $750

-registration for the toad: about $70

-insurance for the toad: $1,500

-driver’s license: $5

Total: $2,450

Now, I haven’t crossed all the T’s for Alberta, but I’ve been promised that the insurance estimates are pretty firm:

-registration for Miranda: about $75

-insurance for Miranda: $750

-registration for the toad: about $75

-insurance for the toad: $630 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

-driver’s license: $17

Total: $1,547

Notice the one constant, the cost for Miranda’s insurance! The Alberta broker I’m going with thinks the amount is outrageous. I still can’t believe it’s that cheap.

As a reminder, Miranda is insured by Aviva Elite, the only entity in this country to have a product specifically tailored to full-timers. Brokers might scratch their heads when you say you live full-time in an RV, but just send them off to Aviva who will cheerfully come up with a quote that will cover your rig (and then some), your contents, and give you a good amount of liability coverage.

Toad insurance is tough (they don’t like it when you take the car out of the province…), but you can travel freely with your rig. I’m not sure I’d have the strength to push on with the other challenges if I didn’t have these understanding folks at my back. When the worst happens and you have to claim a total loss of home and possessions, or you get sued by someone who trips on your stairs, lies and half-truths just won’t cut it. Aviva allows me to be fully open in disclosing my lifestyle so that I can get the right policy. I am very grateful to them.

(Psst, Aviva, do you need a spokesperson?!)

by

Red Tape Exhaustion

I’m in the process of switching to Alberta residency and I’m just about done with this whole full-timing in Canada thing. It’s probably easier to request, and get, refugee status in the States than it is to move from one province to another.

I’m no longer comfortable spilling all the details of how I handle the legal red tape in this country. I am tired of all the lies and half-truths I have to tell to be able to drive and have some semblance of health coverage, and I grow increasingly concerned by the abundance of information that I voluntarily give up that could be used against me.

There was a time not so many months ago that I thought I was strong enough to be the full-timing martyr in this country; that I could live openly, proclaim from the rooftops that I screw the rules and do things my own way, consequences be damned, but that isn’t me anymore. The stress is gnawing at me and my resentment of my government grows exponentially with every hoop I have to jump through. I am exhausted. I bet if I were to grow out my hair it’d be grey!

I won’t let the government win. I’m not giving up on this lifestyle that I love so much, but I am going to go into hiding, so to speak, for a while, and say a lot less on the blog for the time being about the infrastructure aspects of my life.