Reasonable and Right

2005-10-27T12:20:00.000-04:00

Guess I should make it official... after this I will no longer be posting to my blog for the foreseeable future. For one thing, there are too many other things happening in my life right now that need my attention, such that I cannot devote time to maintaining a good blog. For another thing, I don't think the quality of my blog was there compared to some of the other ones out there, and I'd rather not become "just another blog", falling into the trap of doing little more than linking to articles and offering little more than one-off comments about said articles. So it's best that I move on.

I thought about deleting the blog altogether... and I may still do that at some point... but I guess a little part of me holds out hope that one day I'll return to it and learn how to do it right. Plus there were some good things in there, I think, so it would be a shame to remove it forever.

So in short, thanks to anyone out there who did read this blog, I appreciate it. I will try to get my life in order, and while I do that I will continue to work, hope and pray for a conservative government to run this great country of ours, Canada.

Update

2005-08-22T20:44:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's been a while since I've posted. Things have been happening that I have to take care of, and these things have taken away some of my free time that I'd otherwise use to keep up with my blogging.

It's nothing serious... don't want to alarm anyone unnecessarily.

So, for my readers (the few, yet loyal... at least I hope they are loyal), regularly scheduled blogging should resume in the day or two.

Thanks!

Green Party Platform, Part 4b: "My Community", continued

2005-08-15T23:54:00.000-04:00

This post will focus on the last five policy areas of the "My Community" section, Industry, Agriculture, Waste Management, Arts, and Sports and Recreation. See here for the first part of my review of "My Community", which looked at Our Cities, Education, Social Justice and Human Resources.

5. Industry

The Green Party platform breaks the Industry area down into two parts, Profiting from Progress, and Meeting the Need for Change.

Under Industry - Profiting from Progress, the Green Party proposes to:

• Create tax breaks for companies that are certified ISO 9000 and ISO 14000.
• Accelerate the introduction of “green” industrial technologies.
• Bring a clear, step-by-step approach to creating new environmental and social
legislation.
• Create incentives for employee ownership plans and open book management.

For those who aren't aware of what ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certification is about, this page gives a brief summary. I don't know exactly how much obtaining such certification(s) costs, since I've never worked for a company that has made such an attempt, and I do think that most companies choose to obtain these certifications because it will give them an edge in the marketplace... the fact that governments would give a tax break for being ISO 9000 and 14000 probably would not be high up on the list of reasons they would cite for making this decision. Still, I would not be opposed to the government giving tax breaks to the companies on the basis of their ISO 9000/14000 certification. Certainly it's better than the Liberals giving "corporate welfare" to companies for no apparent reason!

As for "green" industrial technologies and new environmental legislation, I'd prefer to comment on those when I see or learn of specifics the Green Party chooses to propose, but I would be in favour of clear, step-by-step approaches in introducing these things that gather the input of all impacted parties, and where the final legislation benefits all parties and Canadians as a whole. Finally, incentives for employee ownership plans where appropriate are fine, but I'd be more concerned with ensuring open book management and reporting is in place. When I was taking my undergraduate degree in business (which was 10 years ago... yikes!), a big topic of discussion in my accounting classes was improving disclosure of corporate results in all areas... financial, operational, environmental, and so on. Today, it's even more important given the failures of companies like Enron and WorldCom. Some progress has been made, but it's been limited, and there is a long way to go. So I would be in favour of any political party, be it Conservative, Green or whatever, that would continue to press for meaningful ways to achieve these improvements without having too much undue negative effect on businesses.

Now, under Industry - Meeting the Need for Change, the Green Party proposes to:

• Legislate a “National Emissions Trading System” that will cap, trade and reduce CO2 and other emissions.
• Act quickly to reduce the release of carcinogens, mutogens, neurotoxins and endocrine-disrupting chemicals into the food chain.
• Create jobs and reduce waste by taxing raw materials more and employees less.

The first item sounds kind of like a mini-Kyoto protocol, for Canada only (but I could be wrong). If so, then I have to admit I'm skeptical. Many scientists have spoken out and stated Kyoto is not the solution others have claimed it to be. One of my fellow Blogging Tories, Bill at Strong World, has consistently produced excellent posts with further detail on how Kyoto doesn't measure up.

The other items, however, I agree with. All due care must be taken to reduce those harmful chemicals from the food chain. And as an employee, I sure can't complain about any policy that would tax me less! :-) But it makes sense too... companies have their own reasons to reduce waste, but being taxed on raw materials is just one more incentive for companies to continue and improve their waste-reducing efforts.

6. Agriculture

For agriculture, the Green Party proposes to:

• Reform our agricultural markets to provide farmers with a fair share of the consumer food dollar.
• Protect supply management agencies that provide stable markets, viable pricing and easier access for smaller family farms.
• Create policies that halt the spread of genetically modified foods and encourage a transition to organic agriculture.
• Stop subsidizing and start taxing pesticide use in agriculture.
• Shift government-supported research away from biotechnology and toward sustainable food production.

It seems to me that in the last ten to fifteen years, there hasn't been a lot done by our political leaders for local farmers. It's almost as if agriculture were an afterthought. Now maybe I'm wrong (I have never exactly lived in a rural, agricultural setting), but these are my impressions. So policies that protect smaller family farms and encourage them to prosper are ones i would support. I would just add the caveat that supporting research for biotechnology is not bad per se, and in fact can provide benefits for Canadians. But surely we can also support research, whether privately or publicly funded, to improve and develop sustainable food production.

I would encourage anyone reading this with more background knowledge in the field of agriculture to add your comments, as this is admittedly an area I don't have a lot of expertise in.

7. Waste Management

In the area of waste management, the Green Party proposes to:

• Require accurate reporting and measurement, as well as a set timeline to achieve national extended producer responsibility programs.
• Promote technologies that use sewage as an alternate energy source.
• Support public education programs that inform consumers about waste, recycling and conservation.
• Establish dedicated funding to support municipal wastewater management and safe water supplies.

I've heard of incinerating garbage as an alternate energy source (although many people protested against this and felt it created its own set of problems), but I've never heard of using sewage as an alternate energy source. But if it can be done safely and be an effective and reliable source of energy, why not? Also, as the country in the world with the largest percentage of freshwater supply within its borders, water management and safe water supplies are essential to Canada, and must therefore be protected. Finally, public education programs are important, but they must be done in such a way that people have to conclude it is in their best interests to reduce waste and recycle and conserve more... not just that it will be better for the planet, but that it will be better for the individual. These programs must be very clear and far-reaching.

As a personal aside, my younger brother is not politically affiliated, but he is very (VERY) passionate about environmental issues. He knows a lot about environmental issues, having finished his third year in a biochemical engineering degree at the University of Western Ontario. However he gets frustrated that people don't act to reduce waste or make their own efforts to improve the environment. We've tried to impress on him that people don't have the knowledge that he does. I use this personal example to show why public education programs must be clear, committed, and must reach as many Canadians as possible... so people can gain the same knowledge as my brother (albeit without as much of the high-level scientific detail) and react in the way that he does, to the benefit of our environment.

8. Arts

The Green Party propses the following policies for the Arts:

• Increase support for community arts programs and facilities to encourage participation.
• Revise funding programs to expand peer review and include audience feedback.
• Sponsor regional arts festivals that bring new Canadian art to a wider audience.

Canada has a vibrant arts community. Some of our country's finest entertainers are known the world over. Visual art, music, dance, theatre and other media of art are enjoyed by many Canadians. Art is important in entertaining people and helping them to escape the day-to-day problems of their lives. So funding to worthy arts projects should be supported and encouraged. And... that's all I really have to say here, but I would like to include a quote that is included in the Greens' platform, just because i think it's kind of neat.

“When the cannons have stopped firing, and the great victories of finance are reduced to surmise and are long forgotten, it is the art of the people that will confront future generations.” - Arthur Miller

9. Sports and Recreation

In the area of sports and recreation, the Green Party proposes:

• Set targets to increase the number of Canadians who are physically active by ten percentage points over the next five years.
• Bring back a national fitness challenge for our primary and secondary schools.
• Empower municipalities to plan neighborhoods that support walking, cycling and
recreational sports.

The platform includes a statistic that states "a 10% reduction in the prevalence of physical inactivity has the potential to reduce direct health care expenditures by $150 million per year." If that is true, then what better way to help ease the burden on our broken public health system, and what better reason to have meaningful policies to promote sports and recreation among all Canadians. Sport policy does not mean just supporting the elite athlete... although I do think we should be doing more to support our elite athletes... a country of our size, wealth and talent should really be doing better in producing athletes than consistently win at the highest levels. Sport and recreation policy must be for all Canadians, and the policies listed above would appear to be just that... for all Canadians.

Now, I am someone who has to be considered rather, uh, physically inactive, although I plan to change that soon because I want to be in better physical shape and health. One solution that is often mentioned to improve and promote physical health is to reinstate phys. ed. classes as mandatory at all levels of high school. When I was in high school I had to take Grade 9 phys. ed., and nothing more... and that's all I took. Making it mandatory throughout high school is a good idea, BUT there has to be a different approach in teaching phys. ed. to students who are not athletically gifted or inclined. I definitely fell in the category of not athletically inclined as a kid, yet when I took Grade 9 phys. ed. my teacher was also the football coach. Guess what... that was NOT a recipe for maximizing my enjoyment of that class. With that, plus being targeted for ridicule by the "cool jocks" (and occasionally even the teacher himself!), and phys. ed. was pretty much hell on earth. And I know I'm not alone in this type of experience. Now I don't expect sympathy (I've gotten over that part of my life, thank you very much), however I present that personal insight to help explain why there must be different streams of phys. ed. classes if we are to reinstate mandatory classes throughout high school.

As always, I welcome any and all comments on my analysis.

Green Party Platform, Part 4a: "My Community"

2005-08-12T23:54:00.000-04:00

Before I carry on with the meat of this post, I'd like to go back to a couple of comments left on my last post. First of all, a hat tip to James Calder at The Progressive Right, who provided this useful answer to my question, "What does pay equity have to do with childcare?"

The argument would go something like this. If I am a single woman raising a child on my own then because, on average as is argued, I make less than a man in the same position, child care costs are a bigger burden on my take home pay than an equivalent man. I think they're trying to draw attention to the idea that gender inequality in the workplace impacts child care choice.

Secondly, a welcome to "Lex Luthor" (if that IS your real name, ha ha!) at Going Green in Alberta. Lex, I am certainly glad you are reading my blog and are enjoying my posts on the Green Party's platform. It is encouraging to me... because if I'm getting noticed by a Green supporter, then maybe I am doing something right! :-D

Anyway, back to the platform we go...

I have called this post Part 4a because the My Community section has 9 different policy areas, and instead of cramming them all into one post, I will address the first four areas ("Our Cities", "Education", "Social Justice" and "Human Resources") now, and then I will pick up the other five ("Industry", "Agriculture", "Waste Management", "Arts" and "Sports & Recreation") next time.

As with the My Home and Family section, the My Community section starts with some general comments, some of which read as follows:

The Green Party believes that the people who build a community are the same people who live and work there. The government should assist, not replace, the efforts and services offered by local organizations and volunteers.

What determines the “quality” in our quality of life? If you have ever built a fence, coached a junior baseball team, planted a garden or made a meal for your friends and family, you know the answer. It’s about doing something well, together.

Our “do less and help more” strategy means that we plan to empower the people who are already making a difference locally.

I definitely see some "smaller government" leanings in these comments. Stating that the government should assist local organizations and volunteers and not replace their efforts will be seen as a positive by all people who want to see less of a "big government" (i.e. Liberal or NDP) approach to things. Certainly the Conservatives offer that sort of vision as well, and to a greater extent, but the Greens do seem to offer another possible choice that Canadians can look at.

Now let's review the first four policy areas of My Community.

1. Our Cities

The Green Party plans to give municipalities, the level of democracy closest to the people, more power and resources to act to solve their problems. In particular, the Green Party proposes to:

• Support a grassroots movement to create municipal charters.
• Create new funding networks for more locally-run housing, childcare and health programs.
• Negotiate an agreement to redirect a share of federal tax revenues toward municipal issues.

I'd be curious to hear more details behind the municipal charter idea. What will be in the charters? How much teeth will they have? What sort of powers and enforcement mechanisms will they contain? Also, I wonder in what form(s) the new funding networks and share of federal tax revenues would be delivered to cities. Would the Greens propose to change the tax laws to allow cities to collect taxes in a different manner besides property taxes to cover the proposed programs? If not, I assume they would simply transfer more money to the cities to accomplish these goals... but would they go directly to the cities or would it be done through the provinces? Obviously there are lots of questions here... but these are some novel ideas, and if they were to be done properly they could really help local governments get things done and improve the lives of their constituents. It's clear that issues with cities affect many people, as nearly 80% of Canadians live in urban areas (according to the 2001 census). In order for these proposed policies to work as real selling points to urban Canadians, it is imperative for the Greens to really flesh the policies out and consider the best ways to implement them. Then they need to spell out very clearly how the policies will work and how they will benefit the lives of urban Canadians.

2. Education

The Green Party, in the policy area of Education, proposes to:

• Increase funding for early childhood education.
• Establish a Canadian mentorship network that will enable our nation’s seniors to connect with younger generations, to share the benefit of their experiences and to pass on their skills for an educated and enriched future.
• Ensure tuition-free access to college and university programs for retired people.
• Reduce the up-front costs of post-secondary tuition, making higher education more accessible.
• Boost participation in cooperative education programs and apprenticeships.

First, the good... I love the idea of a mentorship network. In addition to what the platform says this will achieve, it will also promote more respect for seniors among the youth of today. Now I'm not saying that today's youth don't respect their elders, in fact I'm sure most of them do. But a mentorship network will add to this respect, which can only be a good thing. I also think increasing participation in coop programs and apprenticeships is a terrific idea... it gives people who participate in these programs greater skills and experience and prepares them for the working world, and it is an excellent learning opportunity for young people. Finally, funding for early childhood education and tuition-free access to college and university for retired people seem like reasonable ideas to me.

Now, the bad... even though it may sound paradoxical, reducing tuition costs for post-secondary students is actually a bad idea. Higher tuition fees actually can make more sense... the idea is that if the more affluent people who can afford higher tuition pay for it, then some of the extra money collected would go to an improved student aid system, and more of the poorer students would receive bursaries and grants which will lessen their overall financial burden and debt load after graduation. These posts by Paul Wells explain this point in greater detail and clarity, so check them out. In summary... in my opinion, the Greens' proposed policy of reducing tuition fees is a definite weak point in their platform.

3. Social Justice

In the area of Social Justice, the Greens propose to:

• Provide Canadians with a simple, easy-to-use social support network to provide help that makes a difference.
• Reform our political institutions to be more open and democratic.
• Ensure that everyone has access to quality education.
• Restart a national housing program.
• Ensure — within five years — that no Canadian will suffer from hunger or malnutrition.
• Reform our measurement of economic progress to include measures of social progress.

Certainly making the social support network simple and easy to use sounds good in theory, but I wonder how that would be achieved. I do agree with making the political institutions of this country more open and democratic, and I sincerely hope whoever wins the next election really makes this a priority. The rest of the policies are pretty much no-brainers... they represent minimum standards of care that governments should provide to their citizens. At least, I think so, anyway.

4. Human Resources

The Green Party platform states that "the more advanced our economy becomes, the more we rely on the skills, education, creativity and leadership of our people for wealth creation. As a result, our economic future depends on our ongoing commitment to educating and enabling the most talented workforce in the world." In particular, the Green Party, in the area of Human Resources, proposes to:

• Support child-focused programs that boost self-confidence and foster a love of learning.
• Give students and job seekers up-to-date, no-nonsense information about the Canadian job market.
• Encourage more “hands on” learning in our post-secondary education system.
• Redesign the National Job Bank to automatically match jobs with job seekers.
• Reform outdated labour regulations to fit 21st century realities.

I'm not sure of all the areas where the current labour regulations have become outdated (anybody out there willing to add their two cents here?). I like the idea to give students and job-seekers better information on the Canadian job market because it should allow people to make better and more informed decisions about their careers, which hopefully will lead to a more productive society as well as a happier population who take pride in what they do. As for the idea to redesign the National Job Bank... maybe they can take some tips from sites like Monster.ca?! :-D

My review of the other five policy areas, as well as my overall thoughts on the My Community section, will be covered in my next post.

Green Party Platform, Part 3: "My Home and Family"

2005-08-09T23:51:00.000-04:00

There are four sections of the Green Party's platform covering policy on a more in-depth basis. They are called, "My Home and Family", "My Community", "My Country" and "My World". Today's post will focus on the first section, "My Home and Family".

This section starts by asking three questions...

Health care costs are rising rapidly. What is making people sick?

Most of a child’s intellectual development happens before the age of six. Why are we spending most of our education dollars only after they turn eighteen?

Families are increasingly dealing with both parents working outside of the home. What are the long-term consequences if mothers and fathers don’t have enough time to spend with their children?

While it may seem a little curious that the Greens as a federal party would ask about education (since it is a provincial jurisdiction), the focus on the second question is early childhood education, which I think the federal government does play a role in. In any case these are very interesting questions that I'm sure most Canadians want our government to help answer.

The "My Home and Family" section is further broken down into six policy areas, Childcare and Early Learning, Food and Nutrition, Health (Not Just Health Care), Mental Health, Housing and Empowering Canadian Women.

1. Childcare and Early Learning.

The Green Party, in the area of Childcare and Early Learning, proposes to:

• Raise the benefit levels for parental leave under the Employment Insurance Act.
• Create tax-incentives for businesses to implement flexible schedules and on-site childcare.
• Create a national network that links childcare services across all three levels of government and funds local childcare initiatives and facilities.
• Enforce pay equity for women in the workplace.

For the life of me, I can't figure out what enforcing pay equity has to do with childcare and early learning... wouldn't it make more sense to include it under the Empowering Canadian Women section? Regardless, there are some interesting ideas here... I do like the plan to give tax incentives to businesses to implement flexible schedules and on-site childcare, this helps encourage free-market solutions to parents' childcare needs. The more choices parents have, the better able they will be to determine what is best for their children. For that reason I also think government should provide more tax incentives and tax relief for parents to give more of them the opportunity to be stay-at-home parents, but I don't see that addressed in this section. On the whole, there are some good ideas here to provide a good start to improve childcare for Canadians.

2. Food and Nutrition

The Green Party, in the area of Food and Nutrition, proposes to:

• Provide more education on nutrition, healthy diets and lifestyles in schools and community centers.
• Enhance pre-natal and early-years nutrition support programs in all communities.
• Support a nation-wide “healthy lunch and snacks” program from Kindergarten, through to Grade 12.

As long as this is all done in conjunction with, and with the support of, parents, then I don't have a problem with these ideas... they seem reasonable to me. Reasonable ideas that promote healthy eating (which will reduce health problems later that put a strain on the healthcare system) sound good to me.

3. Health (Not Just Health Care)

The Green Party's Health policies are of two types, which they call Better and More and Reducing Preventable Illness.

The Green Party, in the area of Health, Better and More (or as they call it, their "Better Health Strategy"), proposes to:

• Reinforce our publicly run, publicly financed, universal health care system.
• Create opportunities for more outdoor physical activities.
• Work to include coverage for proven, effective complementary health care, such as
chiropractic treatments and herbal medicines.
• Provide incentives for companies to reduce stress in the workplace and promote emotional health.

The Greens also state in this section that "our health care system is breaking down — not because we are spending too little, but because our lack of foresight is costing too much." Which makes sense... but then again perhaps the Green Party also lack foresight by not contemplating how private health care options can reinforce the public system. Now perhaps they have thought about this and would consider it... but I haven't heard if this is the case. Not specifically including it in the policy platform makes me think they are not considering private options... which would be a real shame.

I'd also wonder how the Greens would "create opportunities for more outdoor physical activities". How, exactly, would one go about doing that? Also, I'm sure some people would debate whether chiropractic treatments can be considered effective complementary health care... although I can't really say since I've never had occasion to require or consider chiropractic treatments. However, there are good ideas in the last two points (include coverage for complementary treatments and incentives to reduce stress, etc.) that can be built upon into solid policies which the current and future governments should consider.

As for Reducing Preventable Illness, the Green Party proposes to establish a "Better Health Task Force", which will enact policies such as:

• Reduce obesity by 15%, thereby reducing the incidence of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks.
• Reduce the prevalence of breast, colon, lung and prostate cancers by 15%.
• Encourage the full-cost pricing of tobacco products and junk food.
• Ensure that Health Canada has enough funding to continue Aboriginal and population-health initiatives.

I am curious as to what steps they would take to meet their reduction targets as laid out above... although to be fair it is an easy criticism to make, saying a platform is not specific enough. Still, I think it is clear that governments in the past have not been doing enough to encourage Canadians to do what they can to reduce preventable illnesses. Any serious policy and/or discussion in this area is therefore welcome.

4. Mental Health

The Green Party, in the area of Mental Health, proposes to:

• Support community based self-help groups, social service agencies, independent living centres and advocacy projects.
• Re-examine the effectiveness and safety of the increasing use of pharmaceutical treatments for mental health problems, especially for children.
• Involve mental health clients and psychiatric survivors in research planning, policy development, program evaluation and other decisions that affect their lives.

The document states that "stress and mental illness are now the number one cause for lost work time and income" and "mental and emotional health problems are the most neglected components of our health care system". I think these statements have a lot of merit, even if they are not quite 100% accurate. At the very least, more discussion and debate should be taking place as to the government's role in addressing mental health issues, so the Greens' ideas here are welcome starting points.

5. Housing

The Green Party, in the area of Housing, proposes to:

• Revive a social housing program that will provide credit and loan guarantees to non-profit housing organizations and cooperatives for the building and restoration of quality, energy-efficient housing for seniors, families and single people with special-needs.
• Expand R-2000 housing programs and ensure that all new housing meets the standard.
• Offer support to owners who are willing to renovate existing housing to meet the standard.

I'm not sure what to make of this, myself, so I'll leave this section for my readers to comment on. Of course your are welcome to comment on anything in this post, but I'd be especially interested to hear what you have to say about housing since I have no strong opinions either way regarding these ideas.

6. Empowering Canadian Women

The Green Party states in its platform that it believes in supporting equality for men and women, and then makes this interesting argument:

The Green Party believes that proportional representation is a necessary step toward political equality. In all countries that have a proportional system of electing representatives, women have a greater voice in government. No political party — given a choice — wants to under-represent women, but the “winner take all” system that we use today favors aggressive tactics and negative campaigning. It is not the kind of system that most women want to participate in. The system needs to be changed. To achieve something much closer to a 50-50 balance, the Green Party recommends that we switch to a proportional system of voting.

I have to be honest, that's the first time I've EVER heard anyone use that argument to support proportional representation. I'm not sure how valid it even is... for example, isn't it sort of discriminatory to say that most women don't want to participate in the "winner take all" voting system we have now? I'm all in favour of exploring other ideas for electing MPs besides first-past-the-post... but let's leave gender politics out of that discussion because I don't believe it belongs.

The other policies the Green Party proposes for Empowering Canadian Women are:

• Raise the benefit levels for parental leave under the Employment Insurance Act and extend compassionate care leave to those who are caring for a gravely ill family member.
• Create tax incentives for companies to meet the highest standards of gender equity and pay equity.
• Provide student loan forgiveness to working graduates of childhood education programs.
• Increase funding for women’s crisis centres and shelters, as well as educational programs that build healthy attitudes toward women among young people.
• Support the UN’s global initiative for the elimination of discrimination and violence
against women.

These policies make much more sense, and I'm sure Canadians of all stripes would support them. I would, however, again make the point that the educational programs to address healthy attitudes toward women among young people should be done in conjunction with parents giving the same positive messages about women to their children.

Overall, while there are some policies in the "My Home and Family" section that I question (not to mention other ideas I flat out disagree with), there are some very interesting policies as well which all parties and Canadians of all political persuasions should think about and debate.

Thanks for reading this admittedly very long post. Any and all constructive comments are welcome. The next post in this series will look at the "My Community" section of the Green Party policy platform.

This story was crossposted to Colbert's Comment's Friday Open Trackback Party

"Harper makes a convert of detractor"

2005-08-07T22:38:00.000-04:00

I know I mentioned to some people I would post part 3 of my review of the Green Party platform this weekend. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, that didn't happen. I now expect to have this post finished in the next day or two, Monday or Tuesday.

In the meantime, check out this positive article on Stephen Harper. Assuming his efforts this summer have made as much of a difference as this article suggests, then this can only mean good things for the Conservative Party and its supporters.

Green Party Platform, Part 2: "The Ten Key Values"

2005-08-03T23:56:00.000-04:00

What are the values of the Green Party? What do they really believe in? Can Canadians identify with these values?

The Green Party platform contains a section that addresses the first two questions... their "Ten Key Values". Interestingly enough, it is placed in the middle of the document, neatly at the halfway point of their policy sections. Not sure whether this indicates any hidden meaning or if it is just a coincidence, but it's different, I'll grant you that much.

Anyway, here are the Green Party's Ten Key Values:

Social Justice — Without justice there can be no liberty, no stability and no lasting progress. We must act locally and globally to secure human rights and achieve a just society.

Nonviolence — Every act of violence delays our progress toward a just society. Anger closes the open mind. Fear hinders constructive change.

Sustainability — Activities are sustainable if they can be continued without diminishing the opportunities and resources available to future generations. We have only one planet to live on.

Decentralization — The people most affected by a problem must have the authority to solve it. Distant administrations cannot be responsive. We must empower individuals and municipalities to shape their own destinies.

Grassroots Democracy — True democracy exists when citizens meet as equals to resolve problems. Citizens must be able to participate in the political, economic and environmental decisions that affect them.

Personal and Global Responsibility — We must learn to take responsibility for ourselves, our families, our communities and our planet. As we learn to be responsible, we can inspire others to do the same.

Diversity — We honour the diversity of life on our planet. Cultural and spiritual diversity has intrinsic value. Every plant and animal has the right to exist, independent of human needs.

Community-Based Economics — Healthy economies help people grow stronger. Our economy must build communities, rather than extract profits.

Gender Balance — Our goal is the full and equal participation of women and men in all spheres of activity. Cooperation and understanding must replace domination and control.

Ecological Wisdom — Human beings are a part of nature, not separate from it. We cannot endanger whole ecosystems and remain unaffected. Whatever we do to the web of life, we do to ourselves.

Here are some of my thoughts and reactions to this list of values.

I'd be curious to find out how Green Party members would carry out the Social Justice value in reality. To be more specific, what I mean is, would rights be "created", as many people say happened with the Liberals and same-sex marriage? I suspect this would not be the case, especially at first... when you are part of a new political party taking on the establishment, it certainly would do no good to start acting like some parties in the establishment would, now would it?
I would like to assume that Green Party members believe that the Nonviolence value would not preclude Canada from being a part of any foreign war that was necessary and justified. Hard to tell from the statement itself. This could potentially be an interesting one to monitor in the future.
Certainly the Sustainability and Ecological Wisdom values (as well as parts of the Personal & Global Reponsibility and Diversity value statements) are in keeping with the strong environmental focus of the Green Party... no surprise there.
Decentralization... now here's a key difference between the Green Party and the traditional federal parties. This difference is especially noticeable when looking at the Liberals, who can't seem to avoid getting involved in areas dangerously close to being out of federal, and into provincial, jurisdiction (some of their health and education polices being good examples of this). Giving people most affected by a problem the authority to solve it... quite a radical concept by Canadian political standards!
Grassroots Democracy is another differentiating value. Sure, the Conservatives did merge with the former Reform party and still have many of the Reformers in the tent, but the Conservatives don't quite have the same emphasis on empowering the grassroots as Reform did. Not sure if all of the polices of the Green Party are appealing to former Reformers looking at their options beyond the CPC, but the emphasis on the grassroots must appeal to them and give them something to think about. In any case, this is likely a key selling point the Greens will use with people cynical with the traditional federal parties and with Canadian politics in general.
Personal and Global Responsibility... seems to be different from what the traditional leftist parties offer, isn't it? Considering the left, in a lot of areas, often want the government or someone/something else to take responsibility...
One of the most intriguing sentences, to me, in this section comes from the Diversity value statement... "Cultural and spiritual diversity has intrinsic value." It seems to me that spiritual diversity has taken a hit what with the anti-Catholic sentiment on the rise after the SSM debate and passage of the law. I'd be VERY interested to hear the Greens expand on their views of cultural and spiritual diversity.
Gender balance... sounds fine to me.

On the whole, these are nice motherhood statements, but they do provide a pretty good general answer to the first two questions I asked at the beginning of this post. As for the third question, "Can Canadians identify with these values?", I think they can... but that will largely depend on what the policies themselves are.

Green Party Platform, Part 1: "Someday Is Now"

2005-08-02T23:05:00.000-04:00

OK, here it is, the first post in a series of... well, of however many there will be once I'm done, of my review of the Green Party Platform, which by the way, you can find here. This post will start out light by touching on the overall tone of the platform and its theme, "Someday Is Now."

The thing that strikes me about reading this platform, as opposed to others I've read currently and in the past, is how much of an emotional impact it carries. It is written in very positive and uplifting terms. This is very different from what I've previously experienced... most of the other party platforms I've seen read more like laundry lists of "to-do" items. Good examples of this strongly positive outlook can be found in the "Thinking Long-Term" and "What Winning Looks Like" sections:

Thinking Long Term

As you have probably discovered by now, the Green Party is focused on the future - not tomorrow or next year, but ten, twenty or one hundred years down the road. Long-term thinking leads to long-term solutions.

Supporting the Green Party is not a "protest" vote. It is a "life-affirming" vote. It affirms that we need representatives who will think long term. It affirms that our political system needs to adapt to a changing reality. As Albert Einstein once said, "We cannot solve our serious problems with the same mindsets that created them."

If elected, Green Party representatives will ensure that change happens today, for a better tomorrow. The Green Party fosters dialogue about the future and allows people with different perspectives to participate. We dont have all the answers, but we are committed to finding them.

What Winning Looks Like

We don't really think of ourselves as politicians, just as ordinary citizens making an extraordinary commitment. Accordingly, we don't measure success the same way politicians do. Here's what winning looks like to us...

When we introduce innovative ideas to voters, we win.
When we nurture a new generation of citizens to take up political activism, we win.
When other parties "borrow" our ideas and start thinking green, we win.
When we stand up for grassroots democracy, we win.
When we stay true to our principles, we win.
When our candidates speak from the heart, we win.
When people who have given up on politics are inspired to vote, we win.
When you vote for the Green Party, we will win - and so will you.

Something else that's readily noticeable when reading this platform is the efforts the writers go to differentiate the Green Party from the three traditional Canadian federal political parties. That starts right on the first page, with the first paragraph in the message by the leader, Jim Harris.

The Green Party is neither right nor left - we are in front. We are fiscally responsible, socially progressive and committed to environmental sustainability. And unlike traditional parties, we think long term. (emphasis mine)

These are good and necessary ideas for a new political party on the scene that's trying to make an impact. If you want people to read your platform, you have to make it readable... clearly the three traditional parties can learn a lesson from the Green Party's "Someday Is Now"!

In the next post, I'll start taking a more in-depth look at the actual policies offered up by the Green Party within their platform document.

Long weekend coming up soon...

2005-07-28T22:14:00.000-04:00

... so blogging will be non-existent from the time I finish this post until the time I return from enjoying said long weekend.

On a personal note, I've always enjoyed the August long weekend, due in no small part to the fact that my birthday always falls on or near that weekend! Yep, August 1st is the big day. Needless to say, when I return I will have to change my profile to say "32 years of age", instead of "31 years of age". Yes, time marches on, doesn't it?

I promise, when I return, I will start to get cracking on this.

In the meantime, have fun and do it safely. Enjoy the long weekend everyone!!

Carolyn Parrish... arrgh!

2005-07-28T22:08:00.000-04:00

Hey there, Carolyn Parrish!!!!

Some of us have something we'd like you to do for us...

ZIP IT!!!

Or at least smarten up, fer gawd's sakes...

Gun Registry

2005-07-28T20:55:00.000-04:00

Hey, remember the Federal Gun Registry?

Ah yes, the gun registry. All that money wasted, total lack of results and accountability... makes you pretty upset, doesn't it?

Well, there are two things you can do.

1. Laugh about it... by reading this post by Monte Solberg, one of the original blogging MPs, and THE best blogging MP in the country right now.

2. Do something about it... by checking out this post by Andrew at Bound by Gravity. Follow the link he provides to sign an online petition demanding Paul Martin help keep his promise of providing open, honest and transparent government by providing full disclosure and access to all the accounts and books of the gun registry to Auditor General Sheila Fraser, to help find out why the costs of the program are currently at least five hundred times higher than the initial cost estimates.

You'll be glad you did.

Green Party Platform

2005-07-27T01:45:00.000-04:00

Ever since I entered this post, I must admit to being curious about the Green Party. What are they really all about? What do they stand for? Sure, most people could probably tell you the Green Party believes in helping save the environment, but how would they do that? And what about other things that are important to Canadians, such as health care, defence, the economy, taxes, child care, and so on and so forth?

Well, I've decided to start finding out for myself. I went to the Green Party's website and downloaded their platform, and am now in the process of reading it and thinking about what it means. Over the next little while I'll try to post my thoughts on their ideas and whether or not they make sense. I'll also try to compare their platform with that of the Conservative Party, to see which is stronger in a given area.

I'm not going into this with the intention of changing which political party I decide to support. This is purely out of interest's sake. I do think it will be interesting to learn more about the Greens, and it could also be useful since I don't think the Green Party will be going away anytime soon.

So, while right now I can't promise you an exact date when I'll start posting on this, I can suggest that you be on the lookout for my analysis and thoughts on the Green Party platform, coming soon!

Armed Forces stuff

2005-07-26T21:15:00.000-04:00

From Edmonton (CP): No apologies for blunt talk as defence chief sees off troops for Afghan duty

Nor should there be, despite MP Carolyn Parrish's asinine comments, including this little "gem":

"This man is purporting to speak on behalf of the government, and I think he's dangerous. I'm totally offended by him. ..... We are also not a country that is going to easily throw away 100 years of peacekeeping reputation and noble reputation in the world by a testosterone-filled general, and I think somebody should put a clamp on his mouth."

*shudder* So many things I wish I could say... but none of them are very nice, so I'll just keep them to myself.

Thankfully, Defence Minister Bill Graham still seems to get it.

"To bring stability to a place like Afghanistan, they're risking their lives and they have to take measures," Graham said. "They have to be combat-ready to do that. That's what Afghans want, that's what President Karzai wants, that's what the Afghan people want and that's what they need.

"They're still bringing Canadian values in making lives better, but they're also realizing that in order for them to move to that level, they have to make the place secure first. That's what Gen. Hillier has been saying, and I have to say I back him up 100 per cent."

As for the mission itself...

Hillier called the mission a risky one but said his troops are well trained, superbly led and well equipped for it.

"They will be what the people in Afghanistan will remember about Canada - their face. This is up close and personal business," he said.

"I'm proud to be their chief of defence staff this morning."

I'm proud of them as well. Good luck and Godspeed to the men and women from the Canadian Armed Forces going to Afghanistan... may your mission be successful and safe.

Meanwhile, on another front...

An Arctic military exercise crippled by bad weather last spring exposed weaknesses in the ability of the Canadian Forces to operate in the North, says an internal report.

The report into the exercise on Ellef Ringnes Island said air crews had neither the equipment nor the experience they needed, and also underlined the inadequacy of arctic military air support.

Clearly something else for Gen. Hillier to think about. And, in my opinion, something the rest of us should be thinking about and debating as well. I'm no military expert, so I'll open this to the floor, so to speak. If anyone out there has good ideas on what role(s) our military should play in the future, I'd be very interested in reading and thinking about them, so please leave a comment.

Why couldn't this have happened to me today?

2005-07-26T20:26:00.000-04:00

"Thousands of hydro customers in downtown Toronto were in the dark Tuesday after lightning struck a hydro pole, short-circuiting wires already under strain from heavy energy demand."

I could have used a day off from work today. :-P

Radical Muslim Imam in Our Midst

2005-07-25T20:43:00.000-04:00

You know, one problem with maintaining a blog while having to work a difficult full-time job during the day, is that by the time you get home and see something worth commenting on, many times you find out that several other people have already posted their thoughts (and often times you find that they have done so better than you would have).

Take today, for example. I saw this article regarding Aly Hindy, imam of Scarborough's Salaheddin Islamic Centre, and I thought I should blog on how wrong-headed and dangerous his comments were.

But soon after I found that Brent Colbert, loyalist at Dissonance and Disrespect, Darcey at Dust My Broom, Damian Penny, Kate at small dead animals, Paul at Ravishing Light... and a new addition to the Blogging Tories, Arabian Dissent, have already added excellent comments regarding this situation.

So, since they have beaten me to the punch, all I can say is check out their comments, because they are well worth reading.

Oh, and welcome to the Blogging Tories, Arabian Knight. We are glad to have you on board!

*UPDATE* I'd be remiss if I didn't include the comments of A North American Patriot, another recent addition to the Blogging Tories, as well as another blogger of the female persuasion.

Quick hits

2005-07-24T01:11:00.000-04:00

So I was planning on working on a serious post, but it's taking longer than I expected. Well, OK, that's not quite true... I'm just procrastinating. Not the first time that's happened, and probably won't be the last... though I wish it would be.

Anyway, I promise the wait will be worth it (at least I'm pretty sure it will be). In the meantime, here's a couple of quick hitters:

Two weeks to the day of the London bombings, a second wave of attacks took place. Although the toll was much less (one injury, no loss of life), it's still scary to see this happening. Damian Penny's blog is a good source of information on and reaction to this story.
Mike Duffy from CTV has recently admitted to being shocked during a conversation with another young journalist who told him "when I see Stephen Harper I see the enemy". Hmmm... and people still say there is no liberal/left-leaning bias in the media. Note to left wingers... this is referring to bias in the actual news reporting, NOT the opinion pages, so the "National Post and Sun Media are biased towards conservatives" argument holds no weight. (h/t to Angry)
Finally, the NHL is well and truly back! The players and the owners have ratified the new collective bargaining agreement... took them long enough, they "only" cancelled one season and nearly ruined the sport in the USA in the process! But hopefully their promises of a "new partnership" between players and owners are true. There are also new rule changes which should help the game... I even have to admit that shootouts will be good for selling the game, even though I hate shootouts... if they EVER think about installing shootouts in the playoffs I will be seriously ticked off!!! Finally, they had the draft lottery (the NHL wasn't going to televise it at first, but thankfully they came to their senses), and the winner is... the Pittsburgh Penguins. After having one saviour to the franchise in Mario Lemieux, they have another one now in Sidney Crosby. One wonders if he'll have the same effect on the Penguins and the NHL as Mario did. I can't wait to find out. Oh, and one more thing... GO LEAFS GO!!!

How did that happen?

2005-07-21T23:24:00.000-04:00

As most of you surely know, a lot can change in a couple days.

Take my blog, for instance. It was meandering along in Marauding Marsupial fashion, minding its own business, not hurting anyone (at least I don't think it was hurting anyone). Then I'm away for a couple of days, and all of a sudden I return and find out I'm now a Large Mammal.

How did that happen????

Well, I'd like to thank the people who have stopped by and read my blog... I hope you've enjoyed it, and I hope you come back again... hey, maybe tell a friend or two! I'd also like to thank Andrew, Bob and Angry for their support when I was just starting this blogging venture. And I'd be remiss if I didn't thank all the other members of the Blogging Tories, especially Stephen and Craig for adding me to the list ... great job by both of you in maintaining this blogroll!

Now I'll have to start coming up with more posts worthy of Large Mammal status. Talk about pressure! Oh well, I think I can handle it. Look for new and (hopefully) interesting stuff this weekend!

Sick, revisited.

2005-07-19T01:48:00.000-04:00

Remember this post?

Now comes this, courtesy of Damian at Daimnation!

And on Saturday, during a funeral for children who died in the bombing on Wednesday, a unit of the Iraqi police stopped a suspicious-looking man approaching the funeral procession and discovered that he was wearing a suicide vest filled with explosives and ball bearings, the American command reported Sunday.

An explosives team disarmed the man, a Libyan, and no one was hurt, according to the American military.

"The bomber was high on drugs and is being treated for the potential overdose," said Col. Joseph DiSalvo, an American commander. The bomber, he said, "came here to kill the grieving parents of the children who were killed on Wednesday."

"I cannot imagine a worse crime."

I'm speechless.

RE: Recent comments by Gen. Rick Hillier

2005-07-18T22:54:00.000-04:00

I was going to discuss the recent comments by Gen. Rick Hillier, but many people have already done so.

Of course many members of the Blogging Tories have added their two cents. See, for example, here, here, here, here, here and here. (My apologies to those of you on the blogroll I didn't link... I could have been here all night had I linked all of you.) And some people on the left side of the blogosphere have also commented... one such person is here... you may have heard his music before.

But for a truly unique viewpoint, check this out... this post by Skippy, The Amazing Wonderdog (or, as Damian Brooks calls him, Skippy the Bomb-Sniffing Dog... heh heh). You see, Skippy has served in the Canadian Armed Forces and has also worked in the defence industry as well... he even tells us that he once got Gen. Hillier's "Iltis stuck in the mud". Oops.

Anyway, he thinks that everybody is wrong on this... that it's really much ado about nothing. Which is an interesting viewpoint to say the least... but definitely well worth reading, if for nothing else than to get the opinion of someone who has served in the Forces before.

"Visiting Government Offices" day

2005-07-18T20:18:00.000-04:00

Just thought I'd share my experiences about today. I had booked today off work because I had to run some errands. My birthday is coming up soon (yay!) so I had to renew both my driver's licence and my plates (boo!). I also wanted to replace my social insurance card and Ontario health card... both are old and somewhat damaged (the health card worse than the SIN card). So I dubbed today "Visiting Government Offices" day. OK, maybe not the most original name, but I liked it!

So, that's one federal and two provincial government offices I had to visit today. How would I hold up? Well, here's my breakdown.

1. I started with the Human Resource Centre office in Mississauga (on Dixie Road near the Dixie GO station). I stood in line only briefly before asking to get a new SIN card. The person behind the counter was actually very helpful... she suggested that it wasn't strictly necessary that I get a new card and said she has seen cards more badly damaged than mine. She also said that the wait could be a long one, so she suggested I take a form home to fill out if I wanted to come back later to get a new card. I was impressed with the level of service I was offered... she probably saved me a lot of time today.

2. Next I went to the local Driver's and Licence Office (a little further north on Dixie on the corner of Bloor) to renew my licence and plate. This would be the most expensive stop going in (almost $150 to renew the licence and plate... yikes!... compared to $10 if I got a new SIN card, and no charge to replace the health card). Here I did have to wait in line a while, but it wasn't too bad, maybe about 15-20 minutes. I think this was due in part to the office I visited being a small one. Anyway, one person came out through the line at one point to make sure everyone had their forms properly filled out... a good idea as this could have potentially saved everyone some time. Once I got to the counter the person who handled everything did so very professionally... but she sure wasn't one for chit-chat! Oh well, sometimes that's OK.

3. Finally, the local Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care office on City Centre Dr. near Square One to get my new health card. This... was a drag. Not that the people who provided the service were rude or anything. But the wait was very long... well over an hour. Not fun.

Well, that's all. No real political point here, just wanted to share what happened, and if nothing else show that despite all the stories we like to tell, sometimes the service we get at government offices is actually good.

If you wish, share your comments or stories. Thanks.

So long Peter, see you again soon!

2005-07-18T18:03:00.000-04:00

Peter Rempel, the person behind the very good and entertaining blog Rempelia Prime, has decided to take a hiatus from blogging due to a "project so vast that I don’t feel I can spare the creative energy and time normally put into this."

Peter, if you're reading this (and even if you're not), we'll miss your insightful posts and your unique talent to ruffle the feathers of the left-wing side of the blogosphere. Good luck with your project, and hope to hear from you again soon!

London bombings: Quick update - arrest made.

2005-07-15T21:10:00.000-04:00

LEEDS, England (AP) - Police in Cairo detained a biochemist who studied in the United States and taught at a university in Leeds - the home base for at least three of the London bombers. Investigators in Britain raided an Islamic book shop and the Egyptian's home, searching for explosives and other evidence Friday.

In another sign of the investigation's widening global reach, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said authorities were trying to determine whether any of the four "foot soldiers" - suicide bombers who ranged in age from 18 to 30 - had ties with Pakistan-based cells of the al-Qaida terror network.

Read the entire article here.

Meanwhile, a senior Islamic leader in England says that "eradicating extremism within the Muslim community will take time."

No kidding.

But it is refreshing to see some senior Muslim leaders denounce terrorism and extremism in such a strong way (read the second article linked above to see more). Let's hope that more follow their lead.

This is interesting, but what will it mean later?

2005-07-15T20:44:00.000-04:00

An article from CP (via Yahoo!) has the following headline:

"Green Party attracts enough tire-kickers to pose vote threat, poll suggests"

The article goes on to say this:

Some 43 per cent of respondents in a Decima Research survey said they could be
induced to vote Green under some circumstances, giving the upstart party the
kind of broad recognition on which foundations survive.

It's interesting to hear that many people considering even thinking about voting for the Green Party, although we shouldn't get carried away just yet, since the poll also reports "only nine per cent of those polled said they are certain or likely to support the Green Party."

Clearly, however, it appears the Green Party are approaching a level of awareness and support that means they should be taken seriously. So let's take them seriously. The leader, Jim Harris, should take part in the televised debates that are a focal point of any election campaign. The media should try to provide more coverage of their activities during the next election campaign. Let's find out what the Greens are all about (I mean, besides their environmental policies).

I'm not sure if this is overstating the point, but this could represent a crucial point in the history and future of the Green Party. They have a chance to make even more significant gains in support, and turn some of the soft support they have now into more committed support. If they can even gain enough votes to win a handful of seats, then with the fractured state of Canadian politics making more minority governments more likely, then they would have a unique opportunity to influence the course of government. Who would have thought that even a couple years ago?

So now the question becomes, what will they do with this chance? Is the party mature and organized enough to take advantage of this opportunity?

Well, time will tell, but certainly this helps:

The Greens... 582,000 votes earned them $1 million a year in public funding
until the next campaign.

Craig Cantin has also posted his thoughts on the apparent rise in the fortunes of the Green Party.

Deep, philosophical questions of the day

2005-07-13T21:18:00.000-04:00

1. If a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear?

2. If a professional sports league and its players' association, which engaged in a protracted labour dispute, cancelled an entire season, failed to award the most famous and coveted trophy in sports and alienated all of their fans in the process, finally reach agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, does anybody care?

Hmmm... think on that for a while. I'll likely have more to say once the deal is ratified (assuming that goes through as planned... hey, you don't think they wouldn't... nah, they'd NEVER do anything that dumb... would they???)

Sick...

2005-07-13T21:16:00.000-04:00

Baghdad (AP) - A suicide car bomb exploded next to U.S. troops handing out candy and toys, killing 18 children and teenagers Wednesday. Parents heard the shattering explosion and raced out to the discover children's mangled, bloodied bodies strewn on the street.

I have nothing to say, except... those sick bastards, may they rot forever in hell.

Speaking of bombing...

2005-07-12T22:38:00.000-04:00

A rather strange quiz (h/t to Bound by Gravity and Toronto Tory) has told me that I will likely die by bomb.

You scored as Bomb. Your death will be by bombing. You will probably be an innocent bystander, not doing anything wrong and not a person who was targeted at, just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bomb

80%

Suicide

67%

Cut Throat

53%

Disappear

53%

Natural Causes

47%

Suffocated

47%

Posion

47%

Gunshot

40%

Stabbed

40%

Eaten

33%

Drowning

33%

Disease

33%

Accident

20%

How Will You Die??
created with QuizFarm.com

How prepared are we?

2005-07-12T22:30:00.000-04:00

Now that the U.S. (9/11), Australia (Bali bombings... Bali, Indonesia being a very popular tourist spot for Australians), Spain (Madrid bombings) and the U.K. (7/7 - London bombings) have been attacked by al-Qaeda, that leaves one country left on their hit list... Canada.

So how prepared are we to either prevent, or handle the fallout from, a terrorist attack?

Well, according to this article in Maclean's, not very.

Here's an excerpt... and if doesn't make your hair stand on end in fear and concern, nothing will.

Destroying or even temporarily cutting off the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing in North America would in (Senator Colin) Kenny's words, "lay waste to Canada's economic and political future." The 555-m structure connecting Windsor, Ont., and Detroit is protected under an arrangement with the police, the Canadian and U.S. border services, the two countries' coast guards and the U.S. company that controls it. But even the owner, the Detroit International Bridge Company, acknowledges its majestic asset remains needlessly vulnerable -- due primarily to Canadian stubbornness.

The problem: suspicious vehicles crossing from either country aren't searched until they reach the other side, where the respective countries have their customs booths. In the event of a terrorist attack, that's about 555 m too late. While the Bush administration has passed legislation that would allow Canada and the U.S. to simply switch ends, the Canadian government has been dragging its heels, citing
sovereignty issues and the problem of having armed U.S. officers on its soil (Canadian border officers do not carry guns).

"This is a simple step, in our opinion," said Skip McMahon, special projects coordinator for the bridge corporation. Canada could simply agree to an exchange of land with the U.S., giving the border installations the same status as embassies, he suggests. The current system, says McMahon, "is like inspecting someone's luggage after they get off the plane."

Stunning, considering the importance of this single structure to Canada's financial welfare. With 3.5 million trucks and seven million cars crossing each year, the Ambassador Bridge is a cornerstone of our export-reliant economy. If a terrorist chose to detonate a truckload of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel at its centre, he would blow an enormous hole in our $500-billion trade relationship with the U.S. In the short term, Washington would likely close the entire border. Canadian manufacturers -- especially automakers -- would lose their primary link to their market. Production would shift out of the
country. The trucking industry would be devastated.

(emphasis mine)

Read the entire article, it's worth your time to do so.

Were the London bombings carried out by suicide bombers?

2005-07-12T22:01:00.000-04:00

"LEEDS, England (AP) - New evidence suggests four suicide bombers, including at least three Britions of Pakistani descent, carried out the terror attacks in London last week, officials said Tuesday."

If true, I doubt a lot of people will be upset by the news that the perpetrators of this terror attack likely died while committing it.

Read the whole article here.

MP Chuck Cadman passes away

2005-07-10T21:07:00.000-04:00

MP Chuck Cadman has passed away from cancer, at the age of only 57, on Saturday.

This article discusses possible ramifications of this in the House of Commons... but I don't much feel like talking about that today (discuss it by adding a comment to my post, if you wish).

First of all, there are some unfortunate parallels in my own life... an uncle of mine is currently fighting a losing battle with cancer, and he's even younger than Mr. Cadman was.

Secondly, we should be praising the contributions Mr. Cadman made as a politician. He vowed to stand up for and respect the views of his constituents. While this made him unpopular for a while when his beliefs led him to vote on the same side as the Liberals and NDP in a crucial non-confidence vote, we should respect a politician who stuck to his beliefs. There are too few of them in the world today, and we lost one such person on Saturday.

Rest in peace Mr. Cadman. Let's all pray for him and his family in this difficult time.

2005-07-08T22:22:00.000-04:00

Wonderdog made this comment on my most recent post.

To suggest (Jack) Layton simply thinks we should act as if the attacks never happened, and doesn't think we should capture and punish the perpetrators is simply silly. Some things go without saying.
That's a desperate stretch to make in the service of political partisanship.

Here's why I disagree with his comments.

When it comes to expressing the wish that perpetrators of a horrible crime are caught and brought to justice, and when it comes to supporting those who try to do just that, there is no such thing as "some things go without saying". At best, it is bad optics to not clearly support justice being done. At worst... well that would be too horrible to think about. Now let me be clear, I do not think Jack Layton supports terrorism and I would never state that he does. But by not openly condemning terrorism, you needlessly open yourself up to questions about why you don't condemn it. It appeared as if Layton was not interested in condemning the terrorists who executed the London bombings or in calling for their capture, and in my opinion this was an error on Layton's part. Who knows, maybe he meant to say it but forgot. Regardless, it sends out a poor message and makes Layton look bad. In my opinion, the bloggers who called him on this mistake were correct in doing so.
I am convinced that the bloggers who criticized Layton did not do so out of partisanship, but out of a sense of frustration and disappointment that Layton did not do and say the right thing. As far as I have seen none of the Blogging Tories criticized Paul Martin's comments, and if we were doing nothing but playing partisan games then you would think we would be attacking Martin non-stop in this situation. In fact I think Martin's comments were excellent. Bottom line... Layton made a mistake, and he was called on it, end of story.

Tragic day in London, UK: Al-Qaida involved? Plus reaction

2005-07-08T00:52:00.000-04:00

A group allied with Al-Qaida has posted on its website that it claims responsibility for the London bombings. If true, it represents the latest in the chilling war that Islamofascist terrorists have decided to wage against the free world.

It is more important than ever that all people stand up to condemn terrorism and support the efforts of everyone fighting the war on terrorism. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be happening now. Bill Strong notes that noted controversial left-wing British MP George Galloway is calling to appease the Islamic terrorists. And Angry in the Great White North finds that not only have British socialists blamed Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the UK, for the attacks (presumably for his support of the war on terror and fighting with the US in Afghanistan and Iraq), but Jack Layton has not called for the capture and punishment of the perpetrators, but simply thinks the G8 leaders should act as if these attacks never happened. Don't these people get it? Appeasement will do nothing for these Islamofascists... they hate us for who we are and what we represent, so nothing we do short of converting to Islam, changing to Islamist theocratic governments and bowing before them will make them happy. And Jack really needs to understand that the #1 world priority should be fighting terrorism, and he should have stood up and said so, because if we lose that war, we'll never get a chance to combat poverty, clean up the environment or do any of the other things we need to do in this world. It's a shame Layton chose not to speak out for justice in this case.

Other reaction to the attacks:

Mark Peters asks how long until we experience a terrorist attack on Canadian soil (especially since Osama bin Laden has said in the past that Canada is fair game to be targeted for attacks). And Russ at Burkean Canuck asks if we truly have the nerve and will to fight Islamist terrorism and win. Frighteningly appropriate questions to which I wish I could give positive answers.
Captain Ed and Dafydd at Captain's Quarters says we are all Britons today. Amen.
The Amazing Wonderdog states his thoughts on why Al-Qaida's methods are so effective in spreading terror. He also thinks some bloggers are using the attacks as a "political bludgeon". I clearly disagree with that statement, and am disappointed he would even accuse others of this charge. But I guess it's no surprise I don't agree with him... as a Blogging Tory, I don't agree with a lot of his statements on politics (and as a Blogging "Dipper", I'm sure he agrees with few of my political statements).
Last word in this post goes to Paul Wells, who not only makes a great point that the perpatrators really don't know their history if they think Great Britain will roll over after this attack, but links to an English blogger who lived through the attack and has simply the greatest possible reaction you could hope to read (warning: bad language alert). It sure made my day!

Tragic day in London, UK

2005-07-07T23:23:00.000-04:00

A tragic start to the day in London, UK.

Bomb attacks at various points in London's transit system are confirmed to have killed 37 people and injured 700 more.

Please join me in praying for the victims and their families, and that those who committed these heinous, vile and despicable acts are swiftly found and brought to justice.

One way Conservatives can win the health care message

2005-07-07T00:06:00.000-04:00

One of the things I've enjoyed about blogging and being part of a blogroll like the Blogging Tories is reading some of the great ideas some people have.

One such great idea has been posted by Brent Colbert, and it's a way Conservatives can win the health care message during the next election. He's coined the phrase "Patient Focused Quality Driven Healthcare for all Canadians". I encourage you to read it... his ideas are excellent, and Stephen Harper could benefit from adopting this into the CPC platform.

Congratulations Brent, great job!

Will Live 8 mean anything years from now?

2005-07-06T23:16:00.000-04:00

Like many people (especially many Canadians), I watched a lot of the Live 8 concert on TV on July 2. Some of the music was not good (or at least it wasn't my type), but I did enjoy a lot of the performances, notably from Gordon Lightfoot, Barenaked Ladies, Neil Young... and of course The Tragically Hip (Poets! With Dan Ackroyd on harmonica! Woot!! :-D

But as Bob Geldof, Bono from U2 and others would tell you, Live 8 wasn't really about the music, it was about the message... to eliminate poverty in Africa. Geldof's plan for Live 8 was to raise awareness of the problem, thereby causing people to exert political pressure on the leaders of the G8 (most powerful and richest nations in the world) to eliminate the debts owed by African nations and to increase the aid donated to 0.7% of each country's GDP... the theory being these measures will be the key to eliminating poverty in Africa.

Sounds good in theory. However in reality the plan is flawed. I'm not saying the G8 leaders should not take those actions, but rather those actions will not be enough. The political situation in many African nations is abysmal. Either instability is the order of the day, with attempted coup after attempted coup, or the head of state is little more than a vicious thug who cares for little other than benefiting his friends and lining his own pockets, and to hell with the rest of the country. Unless true democracies are established throughout all of Africa, poverty in that continent will never be eradicated.

Some experts have been weighing in that the cancellation of third world debt will help, but will not have the monetary weight many people think it will... check this article here for more.

One last thing... I hope to God these thugs (I won't give them the dignity of calling them activists) who commit violent acts and threaten to illegally disrupt the G8 summit either smarten up or get arrested and punished to the fullest extent of the law. I am all for peaceful marching and demonstrations, and those people who have travelled to Scotland to peacefully call for change should be allowed to do so with no interference from police. However on too many of these occasions there are violent anarchic thugs who don't care about the cause but are interested only in stirring up trouble. I have no respect for those people at all, and wish they would grow up, get a life and stay away.

So you don't think there's media bias in this country, do you?

2005-07-04T22:41:00.000-04:00

Check out Lorrie Goldstein's commentary here... he puts the current Canadian political picture in perspective, and makes some pretty compelling points regarding media bias in this country.

Hat tip to Paul.

Argos win, but...

2005-07-04T21:27:00.000-04:00

The Toronto Argonauts first win of the season was overshadowed by the fight on the sidelines between wide receiver Robert Baker and kicker (with a linebacker mentality) Noel Prefontaine. Baker has been suspended for the Argos' next game for his actions (Prefontaine was not punished for his role in the altercation).

While there is no excuse for his actions, Baker to his credit has been truly apologetic. The Argos' head coach, Mike "Pinball" Clemons has handled the situation with the tact and class that he is so well-known for. Here's hoping that the Double Blue put this unfortunate situation behind them, and take the positives from their win and carry them forward to their next game. They will need to do so as their next opponent is a very tough Saskatchewan Roughriders team.

LET'S GO ARGOS!!!!!

So, while I was away...

2005-07-04T21:19:00.000-04:00

... some interesting posts were made, which I would like to bring to your attention.

1. Andrew has posted this link to a four-page document issued by the Conservatives called "Stand Up for Canada". It provides a nice outline of the party's policies, and is a great place for people to start learning about these policies if they are not familiar with them. I do question some of their health-care platform (especially since it seems they are not willing to discuss or entertain discussions about two-tier health care), but otherwise I think it is a solid outline and another good move by the Conservatives.

2. Laurent has analyzed Paul Martin's numerous references to Canada as "a nation of minorities". He concludes by saying "Paul Martin's nation of minorities rhetoric is an attempt to keep... traditional Liberal voters in the Liberal Party despite their often deep dislike of gay marriage by equating their rights with gay rights and by saying the same procedural framework protects them". I think he's got it nailed... so read the whole post.

3. Anna states that the Paul Martin Parliament this term was a success. And, by its very low standards, you have to conclude that (unfortunately) it was.

4. Darcey has found a website with the Canada Pledge. It was legislated into the Canadian Bill of Rights by the Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker on July 1, 1960. Unfortunately (perhaps in part due to the Bill of Rights being replaced by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by the Right Honourable Pierre Trudeau) this Pledge is no longer recited. I thank Darcey for linking to this, as this is another part of Canadian history that I was unaware of. I encourage you to check out the Pledge Canada Campaign website and sign the online petition to have the Pledge reinstated and reintroduced to our schools.

5. 905 Tory posts about brain drain pain.

6. Conservative MP Monte Solberg has a terrific blog, and in a recent post he gives CPC supporters and Canadians who want more from their government reason to take heart. Thanks Mr. Solberg, and good luck!

Happy Canada Day everyone

2005-06-30T23:29:00.000-04:00

I will be away for a few days, enjoying the long weekend (I managed to take the Monday off as well, yay for me!). So blogging will likely not resume until Tuesday... hopefully all five or six of my readers won't miss me too much. ;-)

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Canada Day. Although the political scene in this country is nowhere near as good as I or many people would like it to be, I still love Canada and will be thinking of the good things about this country this weekend.

Drive safe, please don't drink and drive... but most of all, have fun this long weekend!

Other thoughts on child care...

2005-06-29T22:35:00.000-04:00

... can be found at Andrew's blog here.

Also, Stephen Harper started his summer tour by talking about several of his party's policies, including child care. Read it all here (and a big hat tip to Paul for posting it in its entirety).

Have I told you how good Paul's and Andrew's blogs are, by the way? Not that I'm trying to kiss up to them or anything... well, OK, maybe I am a little bit. :-D

Could child care (and not SSM) be the true "family values" battleground in the next election?

2005-06-29T20:15:00.000-04:00

With all the recent debate, discussion and controversy surrounding same-sex marriage, it's easy to lose sight of other issues. Election campaigns are funny things, and what people may not perceive to be a major difference-maker now could very well prove to be just that in the next federal election.

One such issue is child care. John Geddes from Maclean's has written this article where he does a great job of juxtaposing the strategies of Ken Dryden, former NHL all-star goalie, current Liberal MP and Social Development Minister, and of Rona Ambrose, the Conservative MP from Edmonton who is becoming highly regarded as "one of the next generation of Tory bright lights."

I think most people know about the Liberals' plan to establish a national, regulated child-care system... Dryden says quite clearly he believes it is the only way to guarantee the high standards necessary for caring for Canada's young children. The Conservatives, on the other hand, plan to propose "direct payments to all parents, combined with new tax incentives for companies to expand daycare to the workplace." In the article, Ambrose says that the details of the CPC plan will be announced by Stephen Harper in the upcoming few weeks... but interestingly enough, she also said the Conservative plan will cost "a lot more money, frankly" than the Liberal plan.

Once clear advantage of Ambrose's plan is that it will give parents full control over their child care choices. This is especially important for families who want to have a stay-at-home parent or a relative care for their young children, because these are options that are not present in Dryden's preference and plan for regulated, government-subsidized day care centres. Do today's young families want such centres estabilshed? Well, current trends as reported in the article suggest many would not want their money spent on such centres. Even Mr. Dryden himself says in the article that parents aren't exactly clamouring for national daycare.

Anyway, I encourage you to read the article in full, it is well worth your time.

It's official...

2005-06-28T22:57:00.000-04:00

The SSM bill passed, 158-133.

I'm not a proponent of this new law... I thought the Conservatives' position of creating civil unions for gay couples with all the same rights and responsibilities of marriage was an excellent compromise... but it's the law of the land now. I still wonder what the results of the vote would be if it were truly a free vote, as matters like this should be. In fact, more free votes on these kinds of issues is another key element of the Conservatives' platform, and Stephen Harper has already promised to re-open debate on SSM and bring about a truly free vote if the CPC wins the next federal election. Whether this is a smart political move is up for debate (I'm not yet convinced it is, and at least a few people are convinced it's a really bad idea), but you have to respect a politician who stands up for his principles and beliefs, because there clearly aren't enough people like that on the Hill right now.

One such person is Joe Comuzzi, a Liberal who gave up his Cabinet seat (but did not leave the Liberal party) in order to vote against this bill. Mr. Comuzzi should be congratulated for his courage in taking this stand.

Anyway, if anyone had any doubts that today's vote on SSM was not truly free, consider this:

The bill was supported by all but one NDPer - Bev Desjarlais, who was subsequently stripped of her two critics' portfolios and banished to a back row seat in the Commons.

Boy, that Jack Layton is a real paragon of allowing people to vote with their conscience, isn't he?

Oh my God, part 2

2005-06-28T22:50:00.000-04:00

More details on the victims of the shooting incident in London, Ontario (my former hometown), that I first posted about here, can be found by clicking here.

Once again, I respectfully ask you to offer up your prayers to the deceased, and to the surviving member of the family... I cannot imagine what she must be thinking about right now.

Harper to embark on national tour

2005-06-28T21:35:00.000-04:00

As an update to this post, this article was first posted by Paul at Blue Blogging Soapbox.

It would appear to me, after reading the article, that Stephen Harper has got the right idea of what needs to be accomplished during this tour.

"It seemed a good idea to start to get some of our ideas out now and to contrast those with some of the priorities of the Liberals," Harper said as he kicked off his summer tour with a partisan barbecue.

"Our primary role in Parliament is to hold the government accountable. But when Parliament isn't sitting, I think, obviously we have to start talking about some of our own policies."

All I can say is, please, PLEASE, let's hope he gets it right!

Angry in the Great White North says "Tories must heed the wisdom of Yoda".

2005-06-27T22:23:00.000-04:00

Read... and may the Force be with you! :-D

Oh my God

2005-06-27T21:21:00.000-04:00

This is scary.

"London, Ont. (CP) - Four people were found dead following an early morning shootout in a home in this southwestern Ontario city in what police are describing as a triple murder."

Unbelievable... this is my old hometown, and it's a pretty sleepy little city overall. Things like this just don't happen in London... or so I thought anyway.

Please pray for the families of the victims, and may God rest the souls of the deceased.

Other reaction from Lisa at The London Fog... and if she's right in those posts, then I may be more naive than I'd like to believe.

Stephen Harper attacked for speaking the truth... but should he have spoken this truth out loud?

2005-06-27T20:23:00.000-04:00

(How's that for a long title, eh? :D)

Stephen Harper said this today about the soon-to-be-passed same-sex marriage legislation: "Because it's being passed with the support of the Bloc, I think it will lack legitimacy with most Canadians... The truth is most federalist MPs oppose this. It's only a deal with the Bloc that's allowing it to pass."

As you might expect, he's being attacked on all sides for saying this, being accused of "pitting one group of people against another" and "saying Quebecers' votes don't matter" by such political luminaries like Scott Brison and Jack Layton.

So what to make of this?

Well, to start with, his statement that most federalist MPs oppose SSM? He's right! In a good post by Toronto Tory, he links to this study that lists the voting stats on SSM by party. It reads (roughly) 166 for and 142 against. When you take out the Bloc's votes, the split becomes 135 against and 119 for. So the accusations of intolerance and so on against Harper are pure bogus. Like it or not, when Harper said most federalist MPs do not support SSM, he's absolutely correct.

That's not to say that there's nothing to be concerned about regarding Harper's statements, however. Surely most people remember it was the Conservatives and the Bloc combining together to try and vote no-confidence in the Liberals and vote against the NDP-Liberal budget. Now I believe the CPC did not court the Bloc's support, they just happened to share similar goals at the time. But it doesn't matter so much what I believe... what will the average voter believe? This may have been an instance where Harper should have told himself, "Yeah, I know this is the truth, but the optics aren't great, and this won't have much political benefit for me, so maybe I'll just keep this under my hat."

But that's just my opinion... and I'd dare say Harper's political instincts are better than mine, so maybe he's got a grand plan up his sleeve to help deliver the CPC to victory next election.

But hey, Stevie, anytime you feel like sharing with the rest of us... we do want to help you out, you know...

*UPDATE* Laurent at Le Blog de Polyscopique speaks up and says Harper made a mistake by saying what he did... and considering Laurent is from Quebec and understands politics in that province about as well as anyone I've ever read, he makes points well worth considering.

Rats!

2005-06-26T19:14:00.000-04:00

Rats!

"Lions Upend Argos in Grey Cup Rematch"

I watched this game on TV... good game, probably the best game of Week 1 of the CFL, but for Argo fans like me, the outcome was disappointing.

Two main problems with that game for Toronto, they didn't finish off their offensive drives & settled too often for field goals, and too many breakdowns in discipline later in the game, leading to killer penalties.

Certainly there is no shame losing to B.C., they are a very good team, but I think it was a case of the Argos beating themselves rather than the Lions beating them.

Oh well, it's only one game, I'm confident they'll learn from this and get back on track, starting next week against Calgary. When they get it together, and it will be sooner rather than later, look out CFL!

AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGOOOOOOOOOOSSS!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For Mike Brock's 7-step plan to improve the CPC's communications and strategy...

2005-06-25T23:23:00.000-04:00

... read here.

Some of the comments are pretty interesting too.

Thoughts...

2005-06-25T21:23:00.000-04:00

Thoughts I'm having while watching some CFL football (Aaarrrrrrgoooooos!!!!)

Why did it take so long for Paul Martin to visit flood-ravaged areas in Alberta?
Why have people mistakenly Stephen Taylor is an MP? He has a good blog with lots of good ideas, sure, but he's not an MP (he does write a funny post about this problem).
What to make of this? Is Stephen Harper right when he says the Liberals will make deals with anyone in order to cling to power, as they did in catching the Conservatives off guard and scheduling a late vote on the NDP-socialist happy, $4.6B budget amendment? (Answer: Yes) Did some of the Conservatives over-react in their condemnation of the Liberals' tactics? (Answer: Probably) What does this really mean for Canada? (Answer: Darned if I know)
Who's running the show at the Globe & Mail? One day, they say the Ethics Commissioner exonerated Sgro, but the next day it appears they actually read the report and then stated she was abusing her powers as a Cabinet Minister. See Angry in the GWN's posts here and here for more details (this leads to another question... what the heck is Robert McClelland thinking by criticizing this point? I have my opinions, but I'll let you decide this one for yourself!)
Does Toronto suffer from anti-Americanism? Some people think so. My thoughts on anti-Americanism in general can be found here.
As Bill at Strong World asks: Why are the Liberals not doing the job of government and fighting for Canadians? If it were not for the good and honest efforts of several Conservative MPs and Senators, no one in the Canadian government would be standing up for Canadian ranchers, farmers and beef producers in the ongoing "mad-cow" dispute with the U.S.

*UPDATE* Forgot one... why, oh why, are the Libs in such an all-fired hurry to pass the SSM legislation? Aaron Lee Wudrick also wonders why.

Working blues

2005-06-22T21:38:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, my workload has just grown substantially in the last couple of days... the excrement has hit the electric device with wide blades that spin around, you might say.

So blogging will be sporadic, at best (more likely non-existent) until the weekend. Until then, take it easy everyone... and check out some of the Blogging Tories or other links while I'm away.

Warren Kinsella respects Stephen Harper

2005-06-20T21:39:00.000-04:00

Hat tip to Brandon at A La Derecha for linking to this article by Warren Kinsella, which either was in the National Post today or will be tomorrow (I'm not sure which, sorry to say) (*UPDATE* I found out from the Conservative Life blog that the article ran in the Monday, June 20th edition of the National Post).

As a former Liberal advisor and admirer of Jean Chretien, Kinsella has been known to say sharply critical and sometimes nasty things about Conservatives and their supporters. But it is clear that he has a lot of respect for Stephen Harper (and not too much, if any, for Paul Martin). It is a very refreshing read.

Musical Interlude: Strippers' Union

2005-06-20T20:44:00.000-04:00

So I drove down to London on the weekend to visit the family and celebrate Father's Day with the best Dad in the world (mine, that is), and I took a couple of CDs with me to listen to on the drive their and back. One was the new Foo Fighters disc (which I praised here), and the other was by a band called Strippers' Union.

Who are they, you might be asking? Well it's a new band led by the duo of Craig Northey (formerly of a good Canadian rock band, Odds) and Rob Baker (guitarist of my all-time favourite band, The Tragically Hip). The Hip is in between albums, so Rob decided to do what many of his bandmates have done and embark on a side project. After starting to write some songs, Rob contacted Craig, and they collaborated on the songs that led to the new album.

Titled "Local 518", the disc is a good mix of rock and mid-tempo folk rock numbers. A number of songs have guest musicians, including some of Craig's former bandmates and Rob's current Hip-mates, and some songs even include a great horn section. Craig handles the vocals for most of the disc, but what is notable for me are the two songs where Rob sings lead. "Bulletproof White Limo" and "Sweet 'N' Low" feature Rob's deep bass voice, and I think they are among the best songs on the disc.

All in all a very solid disc, I highly recommend it.

Check here for another review of Strippers' Union - "Local 518".

Ethics Commissioner Shapiro "Incompetent"

2005-06-18T01:30:00.000-04:00

Remember what I said in this post?

Now will Shapiro do the job as he's set out to do? Time will tell... but let's just say this doesn't make me feel very optimistic on that front.

Well... looks like I had reason not to be optimistic.

Parliament's independent Ethics Commissioner is incompetent and should be replaced, opposition critics say.

Bernard Shapiro, who was appointed by the Liberals last year, has been asked recently to look into at least two cases of alleged conflict in the Liberal cabinet.

He has not submitted final reports on either and has been accused by the opposition of dragging his feet and not handling the job properly.

Now, the NDP says Mr. Shapiro has decided against expanding an inquiry into the Grewal tapes affair to include the Prime Minister.

They have demanded an explanation, and MP Ed Broadbent said he will formally call for Mr. Shapiro's resignation in the Commons next week.

Conservative Deputy Leader Peter MacKay supports the NDP complaint.

"Mr. Shapiro seems to be demonstrating daily that he's just as anemic as his predecessor," Mr. MacKay said outside the House on Friday.

"He's a wet noodle on this issue," he said of the Ethics Commissioner's probe of secretly recorded discussions between Tory MP Gurmant Grewal and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, the Prime Minister's top aide.

"And yes, I think (Mr. Shapiro) should resign. I think we should have someone there who is competent, independent and prepared to hold to account government officials that were involved in what appears to be a vote-buying exercise in return for cabinet positions."

And that doesn't even include the fact that Shapiro initially thought that he had no mandate to investigate Murphy's actions, even though he could have confirmed without a doubt that he could probe Murphy's behaviour in just a few short minutes.

Maybe Mr. Broadbent and Mr. MacKay are right... maybe Mr. Shapiro should be replaced.

Belinda speaks out!

2005-06-18T00:15:00.000-04:00

Belinda Stronach has written a piece in the op-ed pages of the Globe & Mail.

Read it... but be warned. It is a little... shall we say... precious at best. And almost painfully juvenile at worst.

Then read this fisking of Belinda's op-ed piece by Aaron Lee Wudrick. I'll bet it will have you nodding your head in agreement quite a bit... for he really does nail the hidden meanings behind Belinda's words and actions.

*UPDATE* Perhaps you'd also like to check out Bob Tarantino's comments... for in addition to being entertained you'd learn something too... that Belinda's piece didn't even make the Globe proper, but instead was a "free 'Web-Exclusive Comment' on their website". LOL!

Well, that's not very nice now, is it?

2005-06-17T23:52:00.000-04:00

From the CP:

A protester dumped a red liquid on Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew on Friday as he spoke at a conference on Haiti.

"You've the blood of Haitians on your hands," the man shouted as he was escorted away by security officers.

Say what you will about Mr. Pettigrew and his effectiveness as Foreign Affairs Minister (and indeed, many have), but this sort of treatment is unwarranted and completely wrong.

It's fair to protest and speak out against what you think is wrong, but any sort of physical altercation like this person engaged in clearly crosses the line.

I'm just glad Mr. Pettigrew didn't make like his former boss, Jean Chretien, and put a chokehold on the guy. But I'll bet he was thinking about it... and hey, if I were in Mr. Pettigrew's shoes, I KNOW I'd be thinking about it!

The nerve of some prime ministers

2005-06-17T23:10:00.000-04:00

OK, anyone else find this ridiculous?

It's time for Stephen Harper and his Conservatives to stop playing politics and help pass amendments to the federal budget to ensure municipalities get millions in badly needed funding, Prime Minister Paul Martin said Friday.

"(There's) too much at stake for us to tolerate partisan games any longer," Martin said after announcing two agreements to give Ontario municipalities money for transit and infrastructure.

"I believe that it is time to put politics aside and pass the budget."

Come on. Time for Harper and the Conservatives to stop playing politics? What about Martin and the Liberals playing politics by working with the NDP to create an add-on to the federal budget of potentially $4.6 billion? What about Martin and the Liberals playing politics by refusing to acknowledge the results of valid non-confidence votes in the House? What about Martin and the Liberals playing politics by buying the support of Belinda Stronach and getting her to cross the floor? What about Martin and the Liberals playing politics by constantly resorting to the lowest common denominator in order to constantly cling to power?

I could go on and on here... but surely by now you get my point, right?

Speaking of the Liberals playing politics (not to mention Mr. Dithers being in full effect again), after being pushed, then delayed, then pushed again, now it looks like the SSM bill is being delayed again. Man, talk about being jerked around... no matter which side you take, the Liberals' lack of political courage and leadership on this issue is beyond irritating.

Surprisingly enough, even though Stephen Harper has offered to take the "blame" for this latest delay...

"I'll gladly take credit for being the one party leader who's opposed to this legislation," Harper said.

"We're not going to make their job easy when we don't agree with their legislation."

... no one, not even the media, is taking the bait! Will wonders never cease...

Same-sex advocates and the NDP heaped scorn on the possible delay. And they weren't buying Martin's attempt to blame the Tories.

"Talk about an abdication of leadership," said NDP leader Jack Layton.

"What kind of commitment has (Martin) got to human rights?... I call upon him to lead."

A prominent gay-rights advocate also called into question the Prime Minister's gumption.

"The government can pass the equal marriage legislation if (it) wants to," said Alex Munter of Canadians for Equal Marriage.

"That's where the question of leadership comes in."

*UPDATE* For further (and entertaining) thoughts on the SSM legislation delay, see here.

Sad day in UWO history, part 2

2005-06-17T22:17:00.000-04:00

Unbelievable... I just read the link posted on UWO's website containing Dr. Morgentaler's convocation speech. I won't give him or them the satisfaction of linking to it directly, but through this post here you can see a portion of the speech, compared to another convocation speech delivered by Neil Armstrong (the first man to walk on the moon) to graduates of the University of Southern California.

Bad enough that Dr. Morgentaler has done so much to advance the cause of abortion... apparently he is also self-centred, egotistical, and can't give a good speech to save his life!

Sad day in UWO history

2005-06-16T23:09:00.000-04:00

Updating this post... well, unfortunately, despite the best efforts of thousands of people, Dr. Henry Morgentaler was awarded his honourary degree by UWO today.

Truly a said day in the history of a great educational institution. One which it may never fully recover from... no matter how others may spin this.

See here and here for other reactions.

*UPDATE* More reaction here, here and here.

Audit targets firearm registry

2005-06-16T21:30:00.000-04:00

Ah, the federal firearms registry... another in a series of areas where the Liberals are guilty of wasteful spending (if not fraud a la Adscam, although nothing has been proven in that regard) in pursuing a policy that provides little if any benefit to Canadians.

Now the Libs are being warned... or rather, they are being warned by someone they might actually listen to, instead of the normal warnings issued by the Conservatives, Canadians who legally own guns and Canadians who believe the Libs are wrongly infringing on fundamental individual rights with this registry.

Costs for the controversial gun registry program could continue to "spiral out of control" unless the government takes steps to curb spending, an external audit warns.

But the thing is, it's not really an audit.

The financial report compiled by Hill & Knowlton for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, obtained under Access to Information by Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, recommends the government shift the Canada Firearms Centre to another larger department to wrestle down costs. (emphasis mine)

First of all, a financial report is not an audit, so it won't have the same strict tests that a regular audit would. Secondly, Hill & Knowlton is a PR firm, not an accounting or public auditing firm.

Hey, I'm an accountant, remember? Believe me, I know audits, and I know audit firms. And Hill & Knowlton may be capable of many things, but being an audit firm and preparing true audits, financial or otherwise, ain't among them. In fact, Angry in the GWN's post lists in some detail what these guys actually do (hint: think spin doctors).

Still, we must admit Hill & Knowlton may well be giving the government good advice on how to handle costs on the gun registry today. So what are they advising the Liberals to do? Find efficiencies in the program? Reducing staffing on the registry? Scrapping it altogether?

Well... uh... we don't know, exactly.

Breitkreuz called the report an "indictment" of a failed program that should be scrapped.

Slamming the reams of information that has been whited out in the 40-page document, Breitkreuz said the censoring is a deliberate attempt to keep the public in the dark about a badly managed "fiasco".

Originally pegged at $2 million, the cost has ballooned to $2 billion by some estimates. (emphasis mine)

Just another example of how the Liberals don't get it.

Musical Interlude: Foo Fighters

2005-06-16T01:45:00.000-04:00

So I picked up the latest release by the Foo Fighters on Tuesday, "In Your Honor"... and I have to say it's probably their best work ever! It's a double CD, disc one being the hard rock the Foos are known for and disc two being an all-acoustic set, with ten songs on each disc.

Disc one rocks as hard as anything the group has ever released. The first single, "Best of You", has been getting a lot of airplay, and is a superb release featuring impassioned vocals by the Foos' frontman, Dave Grohl, but there are several other excellent numbers on this disc... my early favourites are No Way Back, The Last Song and Resolve.

What comes as a real revelation to me is the all-acoustic disc two. There have been hints in the past that the Foo Fighters were capable of producing good acoustic tunes, but this release has surpassed my expectations. Among the gems are What If I Do?, Miracle, On The Mend and Friend of a Friend. The last song is reportedly about Dave's old bandmate in Nirvana, the deceased Kurt Cobain, which makes it even more compelling and touching.

I definitely give "In Your Honor" two big thumbs up, and while The Tragically Hip are and will always be my favourites, the Foo Fighters are right up there on my list.

Mr. Dave Grohl, Mr. Taylor Hawkins, Mr. Nate Mendel and Mr. Chris Shiflett, take a bow, you guys have outdone yourselves!

The "Hidden Agenda Tour", coming to a BBQ near you!

2005-06-16T01:15:00.000-04:00

(h/t to Kate at small dead animals for the quoted part of the title)

Looks like Stephen Harper is going to hit the so-called BBQ circuit in the summer. He plans to attend several events and promote the Conservatives' positive policies.

In addition to that, he's going to try and have a little fun while he's at it. Said Harper to the press after a national Conservative caucus meeting, "My wife said to me recently: 'You do need to have more fun.' She said: 'You're not having enough fun, even by your standards.' So we'll do some of that."

Capital idea! If he can relax at these events, I'm sure he'll come across as more engaging and better able to connect with Canadians. Maybe then people will drop the ridiculous notion that Harper is scary.

"Steve? Make my burger well-done, please!" :-D

Darn those unnamed sources!

2005-06-14T21:42:00.000-04:00

More of the... uh, shall we say... less than stellar reporting from the Grope & Flail... or Mop & Pail... or heck, whatever you want to call it.

I was going to comment on this... but Greg at Political Staples and kaz at bluetory have summed it up perfectly already.

*UPDATE* And so has Aaron Lee Wudrick.

Gulp!!

2005-06-14T20:28:00.000-04:00

The Canada Revenue Agency has written off almost $2.4 billion in taxes owed but never paid after an internal audit found there was little likelihood of ever collecting the money.

Yep... you read that right... that's $2.4 billion.

With a "b".

Thanks to Bob at either orr for finding that link. Oh, and if you need a good laugh to make you forget about government incompetence such as that found above, read this post by Bob... and don't thank me, thank him!

I don't know what else to say but...

2005-06-13T22:43:00.000-04:00

... ugh!!

Michael Jackson found not guilty.

I don't care... he STILL gives me the creepy-crawlies!

Duceppe not running for Parti Quebecois leadership

2005-06-13T22:03:00.000-04:00

Updating this post... Gilles Duceppe announced today that he will not be running for the vacant position as leader of the Parti Quebecois, but will instead remain in his current job in Ottawa as leader of the Bloc Quebecois.

Many in Quebec were clearly hoping he would return home as the triumphant hero, but he decided to stay where he is. Why did he make that choice?

... Duceppe called the independence struggle a two-front battle and said he did not want to abandon the troops in Ottawa before the next federal election.

"If I weakened the front in Ottawa, would it serve the sovereigntist movement? My conclusion was no," he said at a news conference.

"The next step in the long march for Quebec and for sovereigntists is the next federal election."

Well now, looks like the PQ is back to where they started after Landry's surprise announcement. Many people assumed that Duceppe would take this opportunity, so now they've had to rethink their plans.

Of course, this could be just a temporary no for Duceppe. Let's assume the federal election is held sometime within six to twelve months from now. Let's also assume that the polling numbers in Quebec hold and the Bloc win massive seat numbers in the province and nearly wipe the Liberals out. Let's furthermore assume that the PQ choose only to name an interim leader while they "search" for a permanent replacement.

If that scenario holds, it could well mean that Duceppe will be on top of the world in Quebec after the federal election, and will then likely be able to take the full-time reins of the PQ virtually unopposed.

Once again, Angry in the Great White North weighs in on this issue with an interesting post, where he gives two possible reasons why he feels Duceppe will not take the PQ job anytime soon... because the PQ might not win the next sovereignty referendum, and because the PQ might win the next sovereignty referendum. Uh, yes I know that sounds confusing, but trust me, if you read, you shall be educated.

Health Minister grilled

2005-06-13T21:04:00.000-04:00

From this article...

"Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh took heat from opposition and government MPs over long waits for health care Monday, but offered no promise of speedy relief."

Er... umm... hold on a minute here. I thought health care was fixed for a generation!

MPs from both Liberal and Conservative ranks denounced slow progress on the issue, given last week's report by the Supreme Court that people are dying on waiting lists.

The high court cited long wait times as the reason for striking down Quebec's ban on private health insurance.

Under the federal-provincial health accord, benchmarks for measuring waiting times will be released at the end of this year. The provinces are required to report substantial progress in reducing wait times by March 31, 2007.

Oh, well then, Mr. Dosanjh is going to get right on top of this problem and solve it, right? Er... right?

Dosanjh said he, too, is impatient - but suggested there's little he can do.

"There's nothing to prevent the provinces from reporting before March 31, 2007. In fact, my view is their citizens will hold them accountable from time to time. I'm hoping we don't wait for the deadline.

"The only review mechanism we have is Parliament reviewing progress in implementing the accord every three years."

Gee... why am I not surprised by this?

Quick link

2005-06-12T22:40:00.000-04:00

Just a quick link tonight...

Further to one of my earlier posts, Bill at Strong World has more great advice for the Conservative Party and those who support them, including some pertinent quotes from John Diefenbaker.

Go read, and be enlightened.

Landmark Supreme Court case

2005-06-10T01:11:00.000-04:00

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday that restrictions on private health insurance put in place by the Quebec government are unconstitutional. The decision only affects Quebec for now, but it's almost guaranteed that similar legal challenges will be launched in other provinces across Canada.

Is this the first step towards our politicians, and the public at large, accepting the need for more private input into our health care system? Right now anyone even mentioning the word "private" is immediately shouted down as favouring "American"-style health care and thus somehow being un-Canadian. Pretty difficult to engage in reasonable debate in how to fix our broken health care system, wouldn't you say?

Currently health care costs are spiralling out of control, yet wait times for surgeries have never been longer. It's time for our politicians to be honest with themselves and with Canadians... we need more private input in our health care system. If it is done right, then we can have a health care system that benefits all. For those that have the means to pay for it, if you want to have your procedure done sooner rather than later, you should be able to do so... but if you need to rely on the public system, then it should be there for you to provide what you need at high quality and within a reasonable time frame. We're not there right now, but maybe this Supreme Court decision will help us get there.

Some other thoughts on the matter by the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, Aaron Lee Wudrick, Pro Libertate Veritateque, Toronto Tory, Daimnation! and Let It Bleed.

Whoa, I'm getting dizzy over here

2005-06-09T22:18:00.000-04:00

OK...

Let's see if I've got this straight.

First, the same-sex marriage bill was going to be sidelined until at least the fall.

Then... one whole day later... that same bill was going to be fast-tracked.

Now? It might not be passed into law so quickly after all.

I think I need to lay down for a while here... all this flip-flopping and dithering is getting me light-headed and making my neck sore.

(Thanks to Angry in the Great White North for allowing me to shamelessly link to his posts... do him a favour and give him a read, it's well worth your time.)

OK, now I feel a little better

2005-06-09T22:14:00.000-04:00

Well, after yesterday's disappointing poll results, today's Toronto Sun editorial puts things in perspective.

First, it makes the point that if the Conservatives panic and attempt to dump Harper, it would be "stupid, disloyal and unproductive". I totally agree with this. Harper has already done so much for the CPC to make it as viable a party as it is. One bad poll is not enough to get rid of him. Others disagree... and while I respect their opinions, I can't agree with them either. Set aside the fact that I personally support Harper... the timing right now couldn't be worse to remove him as leader. As reader The Invisible Hand said in this post at Bound by Gravity, "It's worth noting that since the Liberals took power, no conservative party has had the same leader for two elections in a row, thus allowing them to paint us as having a hidden agenda every single time" (emphasis his). Considering the great challenge we all know the next election would be, wouldn't it be nice to not have to face that handicap as well?

The editorial also makes the point that all Conservatives, including Harper, need to do more to win favour with what it called the "fickle" electorate. For one thing it suggests we refrain from blaming voters, saying "What this poll... tells Conservatives, yet again, is that Canadians won't hand them the keys to government simply for calling the Liberals corrupt. Canadians already know the Liberals are corrupt." It surely is good advice... even though it's sometimes very tempting to lash out and wonder what's wrong with people, we must control this urge. Again, due to the failure of the Tories to properly promote their policies, most Canadians don't see a viable alternative to the Liberals, thus leading to the poll numbers we saw yesterday.

This is where the final point of the editorial comes in, and it's one I've also made earlier as part of this post. The CPC needs to "tell Canadians, clearly, where they stand." The sooner the better, I say.

So, I encourage everyone to throw their energy and support behind Harper and to do your part if you truly desire a change in how Canada is governed for the next election. In my mind it's clear... Harper gives us the best chance of having a conservative government in power than we've had in many years.

*$#% poll!

2005-06-08T21:31:00.000-04:00

*Sigh*

The latest polling information...

The Liberals vaulted to a 14-point lead over the Conservatives in popular support, suggests a new poll released to the Canadian Press.

A Decima survey last week suggests support for the federal Tories crumbled, putting them in a virtual dead heat with the NDP.

The Liberals were at 37 per cent support, the Tories had 23 per cent and the NDP trailed them closely at 21 per cent.

*Double sigh*

Most surprising were the numbers in the critical battleground of Ontario, where the Conservatives were running neck-and-neck with the Grits barely a month ago.

Decima said the Tories had fallen 26 points behind the Liberals and were in third place behind the NDP. The Liberals had 48 per cent in that province, the NDP was at 24 and the Conservatives held 22 per cent.

OK... part of me wants to take the attitude of MP Monte Solberg, who in the article was quoted as saying "These things wax and wane... I think we just keep pounding away, stay positive, and in the end people will come around to our point of view."

But the other part of me wants to curl up in a fetal position in the nearest corner and weep for the state of my country, and especially my province of Ontari-ari-ario.

Maybe I just need to take a deep breath and clear my mind instead.

Book-tagged

2005-06-07T23:30:00.000-04:00

Well, well, well. This book-tagging thing has been going around the blogosphere for a while, so I guess it was inevitable that I got tagged. Anna at Canadianna's Place has done the tagging.

So, here goes nothin'...

How many books do you own? Well, I have some at my place, but I know some of my books are still at my parents' house, for some reason. I'm going to guess and say about100.

What was the last book you bought? I bought two recently, volumes 5 (Wolves of the Calla) and 6 (Song of Susannah) in Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series. I got the seventh and last volume for Christmas, but I'd only read up to #4. I finally got impatient enough that a couple of weeks ago I bought those two books. This series I guess is King's "Lord of the Rings", if you will... I'm not saying it's as good as that, but it's been an entertaining read so far.

What was the last book you read? Funny enough, the same two books I most recently bought! I was so impatient to find out what happens in the series once I got the books that I've just devoured them. Just starting on #7 now.

Which 5 books mean a lot to you? Tough question. I haven't read a lot of "political" books, so I guess one of the neat things of reading these "book tag" posts is seeing some of the books out there in that area. I hope I can find some time to get to some of those books. But now on to answer the question at hand:

"The Age of Spiritual Machines" by Ray Kurzweil - I became interested in this book after listening to an album by Our Lady Peace called "Spiritual Machines", where Kurzweil read quotes from his book and the band incorporated its themes in their music. The first two parts of the book are pretty science-heavy, but they are interesting even if a little difficult to get through sometimes. But part three where he makes predictions on the future impact of computers on our lives is absolutely fascinating, and sometimes more than a little frightening.

"The Tropic of Hockey" by Dave Bidini - The author is also part of one of Canada's best indie-rock bands, The Rheostatics. This book is about Bidini's quest for hockey in some very unlikely places, like Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. Very interesting and witty, a terrific read.

"In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote - An eye-opening and chilling read examining a horrific crime, what the perpetrators were thinking, and how they were brought to justice.

"Lives of Girls and Women" by Alice Munro - I read this book in my university English course... the rest of the course ranged from forgettable to downright miserable, but this book was quite the exception. I responded to the honest storytelling in this book, as well as the emotional impact it carried.

"It" by Stephen King - Hey, what can I say, I'm a big fan of King's books. Whether this was his best work or not is debatable, but to me it's one of his most scary and emotionally charged books. The book has a lot of "heart", and I admire it for that. It also speaks to me personally... one of the things the book touches on is the effect of bullying on kids, and I can sympathize with that as I was picked on as a child in grade school.

Tag 5 more people. Are there even 5 people left who haven't been tagged by this? Well, I'm going to tag these people and hope they haven't already done this...

The Reformer's Firebrand
Toronto Tory
habamus rodentum
Let It Bleed
and, just to see what the other side is thinking, The Amazing Wonderdog.

*UPDATE* Wonderdog has already been tagged... see here.

From religion to SSM to Pat O'Brien

2005-06-06T22:30:00.000-04:00

OK, a few things to cover in this post.

First, this article, where... can you believe this?!... Christian groups are trying to, and have been, influencing Liberals, not just Conservatives.

Really?! But I thought Christians only went together with Conservatives, because don't ya know, THEY'RE SCAAARRRRYY!!!

Socially conservative Christian groups purportedly infiltrating the Conservative party have been equally involved in the ruling Liberal party for years.

"People of faith are engaging in the democratic process in the Liberal party as well as the Conservative party," Charles McVety, head of Canada Christian College and a founder of the Defend Marriage Coalition, said in an interview.

... McVety and other Christian activists counter there's nothing new or threatening about their activities. Nor are they exclusive to the Conservative party.

McVety said his group, which opposes same-sex marriage, helped a number of like-minded Liberals secure nominations prior to last year's election.

Among them were Toronto-area MPs Paul Szabo, Tom Wappel, Jim Karygiannis, Dan McTeague and Albina Guarnieri, now veterans affairs minister, and Oshawa MP Judi Longfield.

"And those are just some of the Liberals we've helped."

Imagine that... Christians helping the Liberals too. Perhaps we Christians aren't so scary after all. Hmm... I wonder if Gloria Galloway at the Globe & Mail has heard about this.

Meanwhile, recent news that has disappointed most Christians is the Liberals changing their minds and deciding to fast-track the same-sex marriage bill. I can't figure out for the life of me why the Liberals are doing this. They have gone back on their word to hold more meaningful hearings on this proposal (more on that later), and they seem to be oblivious to how many people are upset by this bill, especially those from whom they usually enjoy support (the ethnic vote and less "activist" Christians). (hat-tip to Angry in the Great White North... read this for his very interesting and thought-provoking post on his thoughts on the possible ramifications of this bill passing.)

Now, as part of the fall-out of the decision to fast-track SSM, comes today's announcement that Pat O'Brien is leaving the Liberals and sitting as an independent. O'Brien has long made it known that he is against same-sex marriage. He flirted with leaving the party before, but Martin promised that he would hold cross-Canada hearings to better study and debate the issue. O'Brien says Martin' s reneging on this promised (gee, what a surprise, PM the PM reneging on a promise!) has forced his hand.

"I tried my best as part of the Liberal caucus to achieve my objectives. I now find that I can't do that anymore," (O'Brien) said at a news conference Monday morning in Ottawa.

"I'm not being listened to in the Liberal caucus to the degree I want to be on this issue. They're determined to move forward on this issue and you can see what a rush they are in to do that."

... "The truth is not what you say, the truth is what you do," said O'Brien.

While I wish O'Brien had made this decision long ago, I applaud him for deciding to take a stand and follow through on his beliefs. I'm not sure how much, or even if, O'Brien has any common ground with the Tories on any other issues, but hopefully they can work together on other areas in Parliament. It may be a short-term option at best... the local CPC association in O'Brien's riding have already chosen a candidate to run in the next election, and I doubt they would bump him even if O'Brien later shows interest in joining the party. I guess one can only conclude that O'Brien is following his conscience at the possible expense of his political career... if that is truly the case then he deserves even more praise for his decision.

In any case, things (as they say) is gettin' interesting.

Parti Quebecois Leader Bernard Landry Resigns

2005-06-05T16:25:00.000-04:00

Well... this is surprising. I can honestly say I never saw this coming!

Bernard Landry's shocking resignation as leader of the Parti Quebecois on Saturday promises to realign Canada's political landscape... Landry... quit following a lukewarm 76.2 per cent result in a confidence vote.

Party faithful gasped and dozens broke into tears as an emotional Landry haltingly broke the news he was leaving.

"You will remember at the beginning of my speech I saw we were activists, it's the title we have in common, and it's a beautiful title," Landry said in announcing his departure.

"But I want to tell you that from this moment, it is the only title I will have."

Landry then summed up the situation this way: "It breaks my heart to tell you this, but I'm doing it in the national interest. I'm sorry to do this."

Landry had said he would stay on with 76 per cent support, but supporters confirmed the PQ leader had privately set a minimum threshold of 80 per cent to
remain at the helm.

So... what now? Well, long-time PQ MLA Pauline Marois has already jumped off the mark and announced her candidacy (although at least one person has publicly stated her announcement is premature and could work against her). There are also rumours another former PQ cabinet minister, Francois Legault, will also run for the job.

The leading candidate, however, is probably Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois, even though he released a statement supporting Landry and asking him to reconsider his decision. Assuming he declares his candidacy, he would certainly be welcomed with open arms, almost as a conquering hero a la Lucien Bouchard. If I were a betting man (and I have been known to lay down a wager from time to time), I'd put it at even money that in the next few weeks, Duceppe will run for, and win, the PQ leadership.

If that happens, what of the BQ? Is there anyone capable of leading that party? Heck, can anyone outside of Quebec even name another BQ MP? In some ways it may not matter a lot, as the Bloc will still win a ton of seats in Quebec next election since the Libs are dead there and the CPC haven't really established themselves yet. But in other ways it will matter. Duceppe was a relative unknown when he took over the Bloc, and at first was not taken seriously (remember the cheese factory "headgear"?), but over time has proven to be an able MP and leader of that party. Will the new leader develop in a similar way, or will he/she continue to be a nobody after taking the leadership of the Bloc?

So many questions...

Gurmant Grewal tapes: Paul Martin calls for co-operation with probe

2005-06-05T15:00:00.000-04:00

Article here.

I have no problem with Paul Martin asking for co-operation with the probe to be undertaken by the federal ethics commissioner, Bernard Shapiro. What I'm worried about is whether Martin will follow his own advice. Heaven knows he's evaded his share of responsibilities since becoming Prime Minister.

Two questions:

If Shapiro finds no evidence of tampering with the tapes (and no, the findings of minor alterations do not constitute evidence of tampering), will Martin and the Liberals drop that charge, or will they just repeat it until the lie becomes truth in the eyes of the voters? I bet I know the answer to that one...
From the article... "Shapiro's probe will be limited to the actions of Grewal and Dosanjh. Murphy's actions will not be subjected to Shaprio's investigation". Um... excuse me? What the heck is this??? Murphy was one of the main players in this whole affair. If his actions are not part of the investigation, then what's the point?

*Sigh*

"Stop being smug when dealing with U.S."

2005-06-05T14:30:00.000-04:00

The above is a portion of the headline for this article, written regarding a speech given by Frank McKenna, Canada's ambassador to the U.S.

It is excellent advice. Sure we have disagreements with the U.S. (i.e. defence matters, softwood lumber, cattle industry re: mad-cow disease), and some aren't thrilled about their current political leaders. However, the U.S. is and has been for a long time our greatest friend and ally. As the one remaining true superpower, they (generally) use their economic and military might for good, to spread and encourage freedom and democracy around the world. So it's disappointing to me when otherwise reasonable Canadians spew venom and condescension to the U.S. and its citizens.

It's natural and right to voice concerns or debate whether decisions made in the U.S. are right or not, because those decisions often have a large impact on Canada. And in other, more relaxed settings (i.e. sporting events), it sure is fun cheering against the big bad U.S. All that's OK, but we need to remember not to get carried away. I urge anyone reading this to follow Mr. McKenna's advice, and "stop being smug and take the chip off your shoulders".

UWO Alumni Against Honouring Morgentaler

2005-06-03T23:38:00.000-04:00

I was very distressed when I heard the news a while ago that my alma mater, the University of Western Ontario, is granting Dr. Henry Morgentaler an honourary degree at this year's convocation ceremonies.

For those of you who don't know me, I was raised as a Catholic, and even though I don't attend church regularly as I probably should (much to my mother's chagrin), I have retained my religious convictions and beliefs. This includes abortion. I am against abortion, except in very defined circumstances (i.e. for victims of rape who become pregnant, or where the pregnancy puts the mother's life in danger somehow). So naturally when I heard UWO (or more specifically, the president of UWO, Paul Davenport) decided to grant this honour to "Dr. Death", I was stunned, upset and outraged.

Other people who feel the same have started this excellent web site, and with the help of sympathetic people in the local media (including Herman Goodden), they have done a lot to spread awareness of this issue. They have also organized reasonable yet insistent protests to let the UWO brass know how many people are upset by this decision. On this website nearly 12,000 people have signed their online petition.

If you have not done so, I urge you to visit the website and add your name to the growing list of voices protesting this irrational decision. Davenport and others have done incalculable damage to UWO, both in terms of its reputation and in fund raising (reports have it a wealthy individual decided to withhold a multi-million dollar donation when he learned of the decision to honour Morgentaler... see here and scroll down to the May 13 entry), and as one of its alumni I am saddened that they would do this to an institution I care about. So I would be grateful if you did voice your protest against the decision to honour Morgentaler.

Thank you.

Gurmant Grewal tapes: Ethics commissioner to investigate

2005-06-03T22:25:00.000-04:00

Article here.

Here's hoping Mr. Shapiro is able to do a thorough job and get to the bottom of this. If he's able to do it, then let's hope justice is served and those implicated in this scandal step down.

Frankly I'm getting a little tired of this story right now, mostly because of the shameless denials, lies and spins the Liberals are doing over this. Now I'm not saying Grewal is necessarily blameless in this matter... he should be turfed if it can be proved that the tapes have been tampered with, and the way he went about doing this makes me a little uneasy (although as I mentioned in another post, it's also reasonable to assume that he felt he had little choice but to do this, otherwise he'd risk being branded a liar... plus proof of the Libs' underhanded dealings would never have been made as clear as they were). Still, reasonable people should be able to see that Murphy and Dosanjh have clearly made an offer to benefit Grewal and his wife in exchange for his crossing the floor and/or vote in the budget showdown, all of it couched in language and doublespeak to provide a plausible "degree of deniability". Ugh... that phrase just makes my skin crawl, as does this whole episode!

Now, will Shapiro do the job as he's set out to do? Time will tell... but let's just say this doesn't make me feel very optimistic on that front.

More at (as usual) Angry in the Great White North.

Gurmant Grewal tapes: Angry nails it!

2005-06-02T19:55:00.000-04:00

Well... I was going to add more thoughts to the continuing Grewal tapes affair (Grewalgate? Grewalscam?), but after reading Angry in the Great White North's posts today, I don't think I can add much more of value... he's nailed it perfectly. Check him out here, here, here, here, here, and here... you'll be glad you did.

A reasonable voice in the MSM wilderness...

2005-06-02T19:40:00.000-04:00

Nice to see that at least one newspaper editorial has it right. The Montreal Gazette's editorial is titled Murphy and Dosanjh must go.

Where is the rest of the outrage? Where are all the other voices speaking against this sort of behaviour and demanding Murphy and Dosanjh resign?

At the risk of stealing from Brian Walsh's blog theme (sorry Brian), why do I feel like I'm one of the few who have taken the red pill and am aware and disgusted with the Liberals' duplicitous ways, while too many others have taken the blue pill and, essentially, don't care?

From the "What the Heck?" Files

2005-06-02T12:47:00.000-04:00

Anyone remember this guy?

"A man from New Brunswick... said he'd loaded his car with guns and ammunition in New Brunswick before setting out with plans of randomly shooting people in Toronto.

On arriving in east-end Toronto, the man reportedly went into a nearby park to load his weapons. There, he told police, a playful dog approached him. That encounter apparently changed his mind."

Turns out the guy really was crazy... but perhaps for an entirely different reason.

"A New Brunswick man who told police a friendly dog scuttled his plan for a bloody shooting rampage was sentenced Wednesday to a three-year prison term after admitting it was all a ploy to get life-saving surgery while in jail." (emphasis mine)

Gee, whatever happened to calling 911 or going to a hospital like everyone else?

"The former jail guard, who originally hails from Niagara Falls, Ont., suffers from diabetes and Marfan's syndrome which can cause a swelling of the heart. His lawyer said it was not clear why he wasn't treated in New Brunswick.

(He) was sentenced to three years in prison... followed by three years of probation. During that time, he is to stay in the province of Ontario and continue any treatments he started in prison." (emphasis mine)

Hmmm... so he gets what he wanted after all. Maybe he is crazy... crazy like a fox!

Gurmant Grewal tapes: Possible motivation for taping?

2005-06-02T09:24:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to link to this post at Canadianna's Place, where she shares an interesting and very plausible theory on why Grewal taped these conversations in the first place.

Read it and I think you'll agree she makes a lot of sense.

UPDATE: Michael at The Blue Maple Leaf shows how easily Stephen Harper exposes the lies coming from Paul Martin on this whole issue. A well-written post, and another reason I support Stephen Harper to continue to lead the CPC.

UPDATE #2: You can always count on Andrew Coyne... he absolutely nails it on the head with both this column and this one. That's telling 'em, AC!

Gurmant Grewal tapes: Paul Martin knew

2005-05-31T22:14:00.000-04:00

Article here.

Assuming the media press and investigate this issue fully instead of trying to spin this in favour of the Liberals (yeah, I know... for the most part this is a HUGE assumption), this could prove to be a damning blow to Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh and Paul Martin's chief of staff, Tim Murphy. It may even (and should) damage PM the PM's already shaky credibility.

I disagree with the article in that it attempts to paint CPC MP Gurmant Grewal with the same brush as Murphy and Dosanjh. In fact, it seems clear to me that Grewal's taping of this conversation was done to prove unethical and possibly criminal intent on behalf of the Liberals. Grewal can't be held liable for any crime because he did not accept any bribes, and had no intent to commit any illegal activity. (hat tip to SouthernOntarioan, commenter on this post in Captain's Quarters)

Audio and transcripts of these tapes can be found here.

Non-political post alert - Memorial Cup

2005-05-31T01:25:00.000-04:00

Before I sign off for tonight... and before I forget... I wanted to give a shout out to my former hometown team, the London Knights, who completed a record breaking season in major junior hockey to win the Memorial Cup. For the first time in their 40-year history, the Knights are OHL and CHL champions.

Did you know that this team:

started the season with a record 31-game unbeaten streak.
were ranked #1 in the country all year.
went a combined 79-9-2 for the year, regular season, playoffs and Memorial Cup combined.
lost only twice all year at their home, the John Labatt Centre.
had two players, Corey Perry and Danny Syvret, who become the 16th and 17th players to win a World Junior gold and Memorial Cup championship in the same year. Syvret also won OHL and CHL defenseman of the year, while Perry won no less than 5 individual honours... OHL leading scorer in regular season and playoffs, OHL regular season and playoff MVP, and Memorial Cup MVP.

Arguably the greatest team in major junior hockey history. Way to go boys!

Tories might test Grits again.

2005-05-31T00:42:00.000-04:00

Article here.

Is this a good idea?

I'd be wary of going all-out to defeat the government in any non-confidence motion right now, if for no other reason than the avalanche of negative press and accusations from the Liberals might dig the CPC into a hole that may be too large to climb out of.

But it cannot be denied that to hold this threat over the Liberals is a smart tactic right now, because maybe... just maybe, mind you... they can use it to try and effect some positive changes, such as trying to pass a motion to expand the mandate of the Gomery inquiry. Plus it will help fulfill their mandate as the Official Opposition of holding the government to account, something that was made more difficult for them when the Liberals pushed back the opposition days in the first place.

Jay Hill, the Tory House Leader, makes an especially good point:

Hill had told reporters in advance of the budget showdown that if the government survived that test, the Tories probably wouldn't try again to bring Martin down before the current session ends on June 23.

On Sunday, however, he insisted that neither he nor Harper had ever made any
promises.

"The key word there is 'probably' ", said Hill.

"We have no intention of giving these guys a free ride until September. If we changed that 'probably' to 'definitely' then they're going to do whatever the hell they want between now and the House rising (for the summer)."

There is also word that Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois may do a 180 and support the budget, IF Quebec can get cash from the feds like seemingly every other province as done. I suppose this is probably a good idea for the Bloc given their strategy to support anything if they can extract something for Quebec out of it, but otherwise it leaves me saying, what the heck???

So the activity in the House may not be quite as dramatic as the budget showdown, but it should still be interesting nevertheless.

More analysis here and here.

"The Last Socially Acceptable Bigotry" - Part 2

2005-05-31T00:19:00.000-04:00

Gloria Galloway has continued her apparent campaign against "activist Christians" running for office. Anna at Canadianna's Place has a great response to Ms. Galloway's latest article, especially noting that Christians with strong beliefs belong to other political parties such as the Liberals, but no comment is made regarding their beliefs or how they are "infiltrating" their party.

It's distressing, although not surprising these days, that sloppy, biased reporting like this is allowed to take place.

Chretien drops federal court bid to remove Gomery as sponsorship inquiry head

2005-05-30T22:35:00.000-04:00

Article here.

Here's hoping Chretien and his lawyers have realized that his wish to remove Gomery has no basis in law, although the statement that "he retains the right to revive his application for judicial review at any time" isn't promising.

Someone has reached their tipping point

2005-05-28T12:30:00.000-04:00

I consider myself, for the most part, an optimist, so when I read someone's pessimistic viewpoint on something I believe in, I get a little depressed. Nevertheless, Walsingham's recent post on The Monarchist is far too well-written to ignore. It has sparked a number of comments, and several other blogs have linked to this post, so it shows just how much of a chord his thoughts have struck with other people.

I'm far too optimistic to fully accept his point of view. I still believe in Canada, and I still believe that enough Canadians do as well to make a difference during our next election. I believe that given a chance to understand the Conservative's policy ideas, Ontarians will wake from their political slumber and realize they do have a choice, that they don't have to accept corrupt Liberal rule. I believe once the Tories are elected (and yes I believe this will happen next election), they will do what is necessary to make Canada the strongest, most prosperous and most unified it has ever been.

I hope and pray that my beliefs become reality.

UPDATE: Walsingham has posted part two of his thoughts here. Paraphrased below are some of his thoughts and my reaction to them.

People on either side of the political structure - the "true right" and the "true left" - are disgusted with the Liberals for their subversion of democratic and parliamentary traditions, but the right are more disgusted than the left because the left support the results of those actions even though they may hate the process, but the right oppose both. That may have some truth, but I would argue that it's not the true left who support the Liberals' actions, but rather those who benefit from the Liberals' largesse and those who are so politically unaware that they don't know the true impact of the Liberals' actions who are support them. Perhaps a minor point, but one I think worth making.
Permanent disenfranchisement of the West is discounted by most, or at least many, people in the East. This is likely true... I know that even though I've been disgusted with the Liberals for years, I probably never considered how cut off from the process Western Canadians perceive themselves to be. To date no one here in Central & Eastern Canada has taken this disenfranchisement seriously... but I'm afraid that Walsingham may be right; that if there isn't a change in government the next election, we may have reason to take this threat to Canada very seriously.
The Liberals plan to wage political war with Alberta, to control their natural resources and make the West politically subservient to them. A very strong statement... some may argue it smacks of scaremongering. There may not be enough proof to support Walsingham's statement completely, but there are compelling points in his favour... the Liberals attack Alberta for health-care privatization efforts despite Quebec undertaking much more and greater such efforts, plus... and this cannot be underestimated... the Liberals being so desperate to retain power as to contemplate anything to achieve those means.
"Quebecers have woken up to the fact that their legitimate voice has been subject to Liberal attempts at subversion through manipulation, deception, graft and bribery." Adscam and the Gomery inquiry... need I say more?

In short, another well-written, compelling, passionately articulated piece. Clearly it is incumbent on the CPC and their supporters in Ontario to do their part to turn public opinion in this province around in order to avoid the possible scenarios Walsingham envisions.

"The Last Socially Acceptable Bigotry"

2005-05-28T10:37:00.000-04:00

The above statement is a direct quote from Angry in the Great White North, who is one of many bloggers commenting on this article in the Grope & Flail... oops, I mean Globe & Mail. If you believe the article, or at least the first half of it, apparently the Conservative party is being overrun with Christian "activists" who will reinforce the "fact" that the CPC has a hidden agenda.

Christian "activists"... nice choice of word. I don't know about you, but when I hear the word "activist", I imagine someone who participates in violent demonstrations and riots and blows things up. Are these Christians who are winning the Conservative nominations that sort of people? No, of course not. They are Christians who actively live and profess their faith, who are dismayed by the direction of the current government, and want to do something about it by running for office themselves.

And this is scary? Really???

Give me a break! I'm a Catholic, admittedly not the best or most active one, but I am offended at the Globe and the article-writer's negative portrayal of Christian people who are active in their faith and in political life as well.

If you read the full article, you will get some excellent quotes by some of the nomination winners who explain why they are running for office, and prove without doubt that they are eminently reasonable people. Best quote of all, however, belongs to retiring MP John Reynolds.

John Reynolds, the retiring MP who ran the party's nomination process, said the fact social conservatives have won his party's nominations is simply a function of democracy.
"I don't believe in appointments and neither does our party, so we get some real battles," Mr. Reynolds said. "People say, 'Can't you do something about these guys running?' and I say 'Hey, you can do something: go out and sign up some more people.' "
That said, Mr. Reynolds is offended by attempts to paint the Conservative party as a harbour for religious zealots.
"There were three dozen Liberals who voted with us on the same-sex thing," he said. "Nobody is going after them and saying, 'Look at these far-right Christians that got into the Liberal party.' "
If reporters who write about Christian fundamentalists taking over his party were to "insert the word Jew everywhere you've put Christian, do you think they would let you print it?" he asked. "I doubt it."

Exactly!

Links for the people

2005-05-28T00:44:00.000-04:00

I have added some links to my site today... they represent some of my favourite blogs out there right now. If you haven't checked them out yet I strongly encourage you to do so.

I've been encouraged by Andrew from Bound by Gravity to join The Blogging Tories. I will be doing so in the very near future, so watch for that. In the meantime, I'm giving an extra plug to Andrew because he is gamely doing his part to promote the policies of the CPC by quoting from and discussing items from their recently released policy declaration.

Well done Andrew!

Hey, that sounds familiar...

2005-05-26T23:24:00.000-04:00

A couple of interesting articles today from Paul Wells in Maclean's and Don Martin in the Calgary Herald/canada.com. They outline some recommendations they have for what Harper and the CPC need to do now that an election looks unlikely for some time.

Hmmm... advice for Harper and the CPC. Where have I heard that before?

Perhaps it was here... and here... and here... don't forget about here... here too. Oh yeah, and here.

Interesting how bloggers have been ahead of the curve compared to the MSM on this point... just a sign of things to come, in my opinion.

NDP seeking more concessions

2005-05-25T22:24:00.000-04:00

So it appears the NDP are seeking more concessions to help keep the Liberals afloat beyond passing the budget. Some of these concessions are in areas of NDP priority such as electoral reform, the environment and protection from pensioners.

The article doesn't give a lot of details, so it will be interesting to see what form the concessions will take. These could all be potentially good things for Canadians... but what troubles me is how much this will cost us. The NDP tend to want to solve problems by throwing money and more money after them... just witness their amendment to the Liberal budget which will cost us another $4.6 billion! And of course there is the whole "propping up a corrupt government" thing. In all fairness the NDP MPs were relatively free of the recent nastiness existing in the House during the lead-up to the budget vote, and it is likely that the NDP's core supporters will not penalize them for siding with the Liberals. That, however, is still no excuse for their decision, and I think it has only served to add to voter cynicism among the undecided and politically disengaged.

I guess we will wait to see what happens.

After the Storm

2005-05-25T22:03:00.000-04:00

After the whirlwind of recent events in the Canadian political scene... the various allegations from the Gomery inquiry (see here for comprehensive posting on this topic), Paul Martin's televised address to the nation and his subsequent tours across the country to announce several taxpayer-funded deals, non-confidence votes that apparently weren't really non-confidence votes, Belinda Stronach crossing the floor to join the Liberals (see here) and the fallout of that decision, and finally culminating in the Liberal-NDP budget being upheld by a tie vote broken by the Speaker of the House (for the first time in Canadian history) resulting in the Liberals remaining in power for the foreseeable short-term future... we need to take a deep breath, reflect on these events and take stock of where we are right now.

The events listed above have been discussed and dissected to death, so I will only offer a few quickfire takes below.

It still amazes me that the allegations of fraud, greed and corruption have not sunk the Liberals to single-digit levels in the polls, but I believe it's a sign of the voter apathy, cynicism and general lack of awareness that unfortunately is exhibited by many Canadians, especially Ontarians.
Interesting that Paul Martin's address to the nation was set for 7:00 eastern... when the core of Liberal support is home and able to watch, while most of western Canada who support the Conservatives were either still at work or in traffic and thus not able to see Martin's address live. Coincidence??? Unlikely!
I can't make any better comments about the other non-confidence votes than Andrew Coyne does (with the not insignificant help of Michael Bliss) here.
Ms. Stronach's defection from the Conservatives to the Liberals was a disgusting act of treachery by a naive and incompetent politician. She spoke earlier in her political career of wanting "principled government based on a foundation of values", including "honesty, respect and integrity". Instead she flushed all that down the toilet and sold herself out to Paul Martin in order to help prop up a corrupt Liberal government.

So, now what? It is unlikely Canada will have a vote until the fall of this year at the earliest, now that the Conservatives have apparently agreed to hold off on bringing the government down. While in some ways that is disappointing to Conservative supporters and to other people who wish to see the Liberals removed from power, there are silver linings out there to be had.

First of all, I believe most Canadians will see Ms. Stronach's traitorous act and Mr. Martin's eager acceptance of this deal for what they are. They paint the Prime Minister and his government as desperate and willing to do anything to cling to power, and I venture to guess Canadians do not view this favourably. Also, testimony from the Gomery inquiry continues, which should keep the image of taxpayer money fraudulently forwarded to advertising companies and the Liberal party fresh in people's minds.

The Conservatives can benefit from all of this... but they cannot rely on this alone. Clearly, more must be done to convince more Canadians that a Conservative government is what this country needs right now. The sponsorship scandal and a frantic, desperate government haven't convinced enough Canadians to stop voting Liberal, or else the Libs would be polling in Kim Campbell territory right now, likely to the benefit of the Tories for the most part. Too many Canadians cling to the belief that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are scary and hold a hidden agenda. While supporters of Harper like myself this is a ridiculous statement, the fact is the party has done a poor job of announcing their key policies to the nation and painting a clear picture of what a Conservative government would do for Canada. The CPC released their policy platform on March 19th... how many people are aware of that? Not to mention it's a 51-page document... a bit of a slog to read through, to say the least. Anyway, the failure of the Tories to publicize their policies does nothing but feed the fears of a nervous electorate. Of course media culprits like CBC and the Toronto Star gladly sell the scary hidden agenda viewpoint as well... but that's a story for another day.

So, in my opinion, the way for the Conservatives is clear. Make several key policy announcements in the coming weeks to make Canadians aware of what they believe in. Use all the media available to them... press conferences, mailings, internet, e-mail, anything to get the word out. Stephen Harper should take the lead in announcing these policies, but other key people in the party like Peter MacKay and Monte Solberg should help out as well. Most of all, be positive and confident in making these announcements, and have a little fun doing it as well. Anything to personalize Harper and the party is a good thing in my book. I believe this is the key in the next election, whenever it happens... do these things well, and the Conservatives' chances of victory improve immensely.

An introduction to Reasonable and Right

2005-05-25T20:36:00.000-04:00

I know what some of you are probably thinking... "Holy moley, another right-wing blog?". Well, yes, it is. I have had varying degrees of interest in politics in my time, but events in the last few years have conspired to turn me into more of a political junkie. Those same events also changed my political outlook from a muddled one to one with a decidedly right-wing slant.

One event that really made a difference was when I had the pleasure to attend a luncheon in my old hometown of London, Ontario organized by the local chapter of the Society of Management Accountants (the body that certified me as an accounting professional... I am a Certified Management Accountant, or CMA). The guest speaker was Preston Manning. I attended with one of my co-workers... he was very excited to hear Mr. Manning speak. At the time, I was interested, but I was not expecting great things as I did not know much about Mr. Manning other than the sound bites and other limiting coverage offered by the mainstream media (MSM) at the time. After his speech, however, I was struck by the vision he had for Canada and the strength of his ideas. After further reflection, I became convinced this was the sort of direction in which our political leaders needed to take this country. And thus another conservative Canadian was born.

I have been reading several blogs lately, most of which are excellent, and they have helped inspire me to start this blog... I plan to link to some of my favourites soon. Other recent political events have also motivated me to make my thoughts known, and if nothing else this blog should help me to get these thoughts off my chest. I will discuss some of these events in a separate entry.

About my blog name... the Right is in reference to my political beliefs, it does not mean I am always right. Naturally I will think my opinions are correct, but I am not so egotistical that I believe I am never wrong. You are certainly welcome to make a comment if you think I am mistaken... I only ask that you keep the language clean and the discussion reasonable. Which leads me nicely to the Reasonable part of my blog name. I will always do my best to keep my language clean and to be reasonable in my choice of words and tone. If I am upset, disappointed or angry about something I will not hesitate to make that clear, but I will always do so in a reasonable manner. I also hope to convince people who may believe otherwise that right-wing views can be very reasonable, and the people who hold these views are reasonable as well and that we are all not a bunch of theo-con rednecks.

Wow, nothing like making the first post a long one, eh? Let me end this post by saying that if you do find yourself reading my blog, I hope you find it to be thought-provoking and interesting. Feel free to leave comments. I hold no illusions that this blog will rank with the likes of Andrew Coyne, C0lby Cosh, Paul Wells or other excellent and popular high-profile blogs out there, but it's mine and I'm proud of it. I hope you will enjoy reading my posts.

Thank you.