if I could set the rules...

• no more stupid pennies
• bury the sales tax in the sticker price: no more guessing if you have enough change to buy something or time wasted counting pennies at the cash
• state broadcaster would air shows about the wrongs english canadians did to french canadians on ENGLISH channels, and vice versa on french channels. We don't gain much by them showing same-sided propaganda.
  
• french canadian film crews would spend more effort publicizing on english media (try to find "les invasions barbares" at a Kanata blockbusters, or even a clerk there who's heard of it). There are a lot of great french canadian movies; english canada could learn a thing or two.
• Increased funding for sistering cities across the country and student exchanges between them - we have a lot to learn from each other.
• Put municipal power back into city council - city amalgamations made the reduced number of councillors a bunch of high-profile rubber stampers who don't have time to actively get involved in real decision-making, resulting in more bureaucrats preserving their self-interests.
• No more splitting utility bills into fourteen different line items - just show me the bottom line. Ditto for marketing campaigns - advertise the bottom line dammit!
  
• Governments at all levels should remind us gently that we all have a responsibility to share what we can with society to make our cities great places to live.
  
• If I wanted our governments to be run like private businesses, I'd live in a timeshare.
  
• I'd have a closer look at companies that post record gains and multi-billion dollar profits quarter after quarter, while their clients (us) have to pay more and more for less and less so their shareholders can further fatten their own pocketbooks. I call that gouging.
• I'd also want to take a closer look at the benefits ratio between CEOs and their lowest employees. As mens' hockey Team Canada proved in Torino, you don't necessarily get someone's heart into something if you only lead them by the chequebook.
• No more celebrity TV shows, if nothing else at least stop the "star sightings". Why are we discouraging multi-million dollar movie stars from leisurely touring and shopping (i.e., redistributing some of their wealth)? To benefit pre-pubescent girls? c'mon! After all, they're real people who happen to be connected, and no matter how much you follow them and shop in the same stores, you won't be any more famous. Get real.
• Everybody should lighten up, not take themselves so seriously. It's ok to be wrong sometimes, it's even better to simply admit you're not sure in the first place. Oh and don't trust anybody who says they have "the truth". Turn around and run. Run like hell. Screaming. And make sure everybody else notices so they remember not to get suckered in next.
• More to follow...