Bringing home the bacon

This column by Andrew Coyne (The cheques aren't the real scandal) has a simple and important message about the role of members of Parliament, and how this role has been compromised by self-interest. I highly recommend it.

Election heat is off, but the soup is still simmering

Today, I had two experiences which suggest to me that our government still has election plans afoot. First, I received yet another useless flier from my MP at taxpayer expense. They had stopped for a while, but this is the second in a week. Then I received a phone call from the local Conservative Party asking me if I would be supporting my local candidate in the event of a federal election. Guess what I said.

Here we have another example of spending money outside of the election period so that it won't count in the election limit. My MP is being cautious, since Elections Canada caught him in 2006 $4,000 over the limit.

There are no limits on spending outside the election period. Perhaps there should be.

Hot Air Blogloons

Apologies to those who revere the English language .. I thought I had coined a new term. When I looked it up through the search engines, it has been used elsewhere with the same meaning as my intention. I could not find a definition, so I will attempt one.

Blogloon: (i) Someone who posts endlessly about their particular little issue while either (a) grinding an axe, (b) drawing attention to themselves, (c) rewriting history or (d) demonstrating that they are correct while the rest of the world is wrong; (ii) an unbalanced and entirely negative stream of posts; (iii) a blogger whose only engagement with their issue is through blogging, rather that doing something constructive about a solution.

My good friend pointed out to me that when I read the policital blogs, I generally come away with a higher level of anger and frustration. As I reflected on this observation, I realized that I am not prepared to give away my time and energy to the blogloons. I trust my own company and my own judgement, and I will begin to prioritize my reading in order to maintain my orientation to active solutions.

Everone on the internet has an opinion. Very few of them are actually worth reading.

Electoral reform - we need it - how to make it happen

I still think there is hope for electoral change. The Green Party has to work to win with the rules the way they are.

It is telling that we don't hold referendums on going to war, changing tax structures, creating or changing the constitution, adjusting federal / provincial powers or any of the contentious issues of the last few years - capital punishment, abortion, gay rights. The government chooses not to be encumbered by the people in making its decision, claiming that the electoral system has imbued it with the will of the people.

Then, instead of asking people, "should we make the electoral system more proportional or not", and then leaving the details to experts at Elections Canada and parliamentary committees, we instead task uninformed citizens to form an assembly and make a complex recommendation which most people don't understand. Then we ask them to vote on something which resembles legislation. If people had to vote on legislation, such as the last budget, for example, most (a) wouldn't bother or (b) reject it because it was too complicated.

The referendum is simply a process to stall change and continue to entrench the power of the two parties that have ruled this country since Confederation. They know a good thing when they see it.

My suggestion: Just do it. The government is empowered to do everything else, why don't they just do it. Answer: They don't wish to bite the hand that feeds them with our money and our power.

It won't change until we make it change. We need to push and push and push until the voices of the people are truly heard in the corridors of government.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

I still don't understand why so many people ponder this question: should I vote Liberal or Conservative next time?

I say, it doesn't matter. They are basically the same party. Both leaders wanted Canada to join the war in Iraq. Both leaders think that giving our sovereignty to multinational corporations through the security and prosperity agreement is a good idea (never heard about it? I wonder where our media was for the last few years .. google it to find out). The Conservatives campaigned on no deficit, and when they were backed into a corner, they came to love the deficit. Of course, in the budget bill, they decimated the navigable waterways act, rendering useless the consideration of the impact of dams and hydro projects on the people who live up river. Similarly, the elimination of environmental assessments, which are painted as being impediments to the necessary investment in infrastructure that will save our economy. Suddenly, it would seem that protecting the environment that protects us is suddenly out of fashion. I fear that we will choke to death on the decisions that are being made today. The Liberals supported this, and they agree with it. Each the same as the other.

In the entire history of Canada, we can look to alternating Liberal and Conservative governments to see the evolution of our democratic systems, our government and institutions. It is time that they were held to account for the abysmal management of our natural resources (where did the cod go, anyway?), for the continued repression of aboriginal minorities, for decimating the water tables in what we euphamistically call the Athabasca Tar Sands (as if there was nothing else there).

Liberal, Tory, same old story. If we continue to vote the way that we always have, we will continue to get the same results we have always gotten. Isn't it time for a change?

Glimpse of an image

I happen to catch a glimpse of the Prime Minister last Friday when he was at Fanshawe College to make an announcement about a $2B in job retraining and other infrastucture investment. With him were the Conservative MPs from the surrounding regions, as far away as Haldimand-Norfolk. Notably absent from the stage was Irene Mathyson, the MP whose riding Fanshawe College is in.

This makes sense if the event is a partisan event. But an announcement from our government about spending $2 billion of our tax dollars (which we don't have and will have to borrow and eventually pay back with interest) seems to me to be an event which should include the local dignitaries, even if they are with other parties.

Of course, the Prime Minister does not want anyone to think that anybody in Parliament does anything for the people except the Conservative party. If only that were true ....

In person, the PM looks much like he does on television. His hair is perfect. His government, not so much.

Update on a government

Wow, how time flies!

Since my last post the government asked the Governor General to prorogue parliament for six weeks, presumably to let things cool down. She granted this adjournment and in the meantime, the Liberals quickly eliminated Dion and replaced him with Ignatieff. He then decided that it would be better to have a coalition with the Conservatives than with the other two parties, as that would appear to make him look more statesmanlike, ie. improve the chances of electability. In the meantime, the Conservatives suddenly realized that their strategy of ignoring the economic crisis was not playing well (ie. reducing their electability), and suddenly turned into Liberals and introduced the largest deficit budget in the history of Canada.

There, that should show the voters that we care, they thought. And perhaps it did. Most voters are tired of all these games, and are finally happy that the elected officials are doing what they were elected to do, rather than spend all of their time repositioning themselves for the next election. But, the budget fails to make any significant investment in the kind of infrastructure Canada needs for the future. Instead, there is money for carbon capture rather than conservation, preservation of an auto industry which invented and remains trapped in obsolescence, and a pile of money targetted to cash-strapped provinces and municipalities which must provide matching funds. If you are going to provide an economic stimulus, then at least build the foundation for long term, sustainable industry.

Now, there is a flap over whether or not these extra billions of spending can be effectively controlled or not. The government appears to be saying no, we have to spend this money so fast that we know that mistakes will be made, and don't blame us for it. Rick Mercer has a great blog post at http://www.rickmercer.com/blog/index.cfm/2009/3/3/Forgive-Us--We-Know-Not-What-We-Do . Once again, conservative values appear to have been tossed out the window.

There is a great blog post at http://kirbycairo.blogspot.com/2009/03/harper-and-history.html which summarizes Stephen Harper's serendipitous rise to power, and the inevitability of his fall. It is great reading.

Canada, I hope your next government is deserving of your support.