We surrender.

Since 9/11 people in the western world are obsessed with security and in some cases have an irrational fear of terrorist acts.  In the total scheme of things, we tend to get very excited about incidents that are not always that significant.  That is not to say that we don’t need to be on alert but it’s how far should we go and what should we give up to attain that security.

1. Most important was to protect the front line health workers and wash your hands frequently.
2. It’s all done in the name of security so we just let it go.

Crossing the border is also getting harder all the time and the customs authorities have extra ordinary powers that they exercise as well.  There are a lot of stories about abuse here as well.  It’s because of security so anything they do is ok even if there was not just cause for their actions.  Give people absolute power and they will abuse it because they can.

The police are starting to show signs of being above the law since they are part of the administration of the “law”.  We seem to be seeing more and more instance where police are involved with excessive force and are not being held accountable.  It seems that they are able to break laws but they don’t have to face the consequences.  They, in many cases, can’t even be removed from the job.  Their union fights any sort of discipline even when the evidence is overwhelming that they should be dismissed and charged.  They can be violent and just flash they id and badge and they are driven home by a responding officer while they accuse the victim of causing the problem in the first place.  It’s the concept of power corrupting individual and institutions.  They are trampling on individual rights in the name of “National Security”.  Yes they have a tough job but taking away our rights in the name of security is not the answer.

It won’t be long before we will have to face the facts that we live in a police state with no real personal freedoms and we surrendered them without a wimper because we were afraid of something that really wasn’t as bad as the solution.

I am a soldier far away from home.

My 15 year old grandson Josh wrote this poem:

I am a soldier far away from home.

I wonder if I will live to see tomorrow.

I hear gunfire and explosions.

I see my friends die in front of me.

I want to see my family and live happily.

I am a soldier far away from home.

I pretend that someday peace will come.

I feel horrible because of all of the lives I have taken.

I touch my guns trigger without hesitation.

I worry about my family and how they are doing.

I cry every night from what I’ve seen the previous day.

I am a soldier far away from home.

I understand that what I am doing is for the greater good.

I say what I’m doing is for justice.

I dream of a world where everything is peaceful.

I try to enforce justice and make peace come.

I hope one day peace will prevail. 

I am a soldier far away from home.

Canada’s Contribution To the World

***Revised post!!***

As we closer to remembrance day, I received a version of this story in an Email and thought it was relevant.  It still is but as one comment came in it goes back to the friendly fire incident when we lost the 4 soldiers from the Pats.  So I did as suggested and found the original article.  We’ve been supporting the Afghan mission for almost 7 years pulling more than our weight in NATO – why is it that some countries won’t let their soldiers out of their bases lest they be in harms way.

The country the world forgot – again

By Kevin Myers

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 21/04/2002

UNTIL the deaths last week of four Canadian soldiers accidentally killed by a US warplane in Afghanistan, probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops were deployed in the region. And as always, Canada will now bury its dead, just as the rest of the world as always will forget its sacrifice, just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does.

It seems that Canada’s historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored. Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.

That is the price which Canada pays for sharing the North American Continent with the US, and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts. For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions: it seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved.

Yet its purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy. Almost 10 per cent of Canada’s entire population of seven million people served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.

Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, its unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular memory as somehow or other the work of the “British”. The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone. Canada finished the war with the third largest navy and the fourth largest air force in the world.

The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time. Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign which the US had clearly not participated – a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any notion of a separate Canadian identity.

So it is a general rule that actors and film-makers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality – unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher Plummer British. It is as if in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakeably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.

Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves – and are unheard by anyone else – that 1 per cent of the world’s population has provided 10 per cent of the world’s peace-keeping forces. Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peace-keepers on earth – in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peace-keeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.

Yet the only foreign engagement which has entered the popular non-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia, in which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace – a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians received no international credit.

So who today in the US knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan? Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac, Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost.

This weekend four shrouds, red with blood and maple leaf, head homewards; and four more grieving Canadian families know that cost all too tragically well.

Canada

Lest we forget.

We’ve developed our own ways to show respect to troops.

One of the things I look forward to each November 11th is at the end of the ceremony at the National War Memorial.  It is something that was started by we the people and it wasn’t scripted.  What moves me so much is the placing of the individual poppies on the tomb of our unknown soldier.  It has become a tradition that was not a part of the program setup by the organizers of the ceremonies.  It is a heartfelt show of respect for our veterans and war dead and a way of saying “thank you for our freedom”.

People put their poppies on the tomb of the unknown soldier

A new tradition has evolved with the loss of our service personnel in the Afghanistan action.  To date we have lost 97 lives to this war.  Originally, our government tried to keep the repatriation ceremony private similar to what happens in the U.S.  Again, ordinary people wouldn’t accept this.  Through their actions a stretch of the 401 from Trenton (where they arrive home from Afghanistan) to Toronto was renamed the highway of heros.

Signage on the 401 - Highway of Heros

People who live along this stretch of highway now stand on the overpasses and pay their tribute and respect to the hearses bearing the bodies of our fallen soldiers who are transported to Toronto upon their repatriation to Canada before their bodies are returned to the families.

The People Salute a Fallen Hero

This a an action by the people paying their respect for those who paid the ultimate price while serving Canada.

Things have changed a lot since I was in the military.  Back then we were underfunded, undermanned and greatly overworked.  My first unit had 176 active personnel with the same responsibilities of a regiment of 1,100, we were our own re enforcements in the event of NATO/Soviet hostilities.  Some of our equipment was older than the soldiers that used it.   Now we have some of the best equipment available and adequate staffing to carry out their mission.  What’s needed now is for the other NATO countries to step up and do their share to help resolve threat from Afghanistan.  Only then can we resolve the Taliban issue and maybe curtail the drug problems through helping their economy flourish.

What are the long term effects of the current world crisis?

 You can sense that something isn’t right.  Something is changing and not for the better.   If you look at the world today you get snippets of what is happening, but is it a trend? 

 Economic recovery will very much depend upon a positive attitude in the consumers and investors around the world.  Almost everything we hear nowadays is anything but good news.  The Financial Sector in a majority of countries is corrupted and virtually bankrupt.  The leaders of many companies have run their companies into the ground trying to maximize their personal wealth through salary, bonuses and equity.  Their remuneration is obscene and totally unwarranted.  They have not added value to their companies, they have destroyed them and now it is the taxpayers (their former clients) who are being tasked with bailing them out.  It’s too bad that we are rewarding bad performance and not allowing companies that deserve to fail to do just that.

In North America, we have an Automobile Sector that blew it and made all the wrong decisions.  They misread the trends and developments and actually reversed themselves in areas where they were being innovative and getting it right.  The best example is the GM EV1 which was revolutionary and a good start to getting off the carbon trail.  I equate it to the Avro Arrow which was the best fighter bomber of its day never to have been built.  In both cases the products were destroyed to try and move the clock back.  We had quality issues which have for the most part been addressed.  I remember my first Japanese car – it was a piece of junk but then they got it right in subsequent years to where they were tops in quality and it took the big three awhile to finally catch up but we still have the perception that the quality isn’t there.  Recent surveys have shown that many of the vehicles from the North American manufacturers are better than their Japanese counterparts.  The Big 3 screwed up and we are being forced to try and save them – the jury is still out on that front. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People are angry with having to bail out the financial institutions around the world and they don’t see any change in behaviour or method of operation.  Maybe China’s solution would smarten them up – look at the Milk crisis and the main perpetrators have gone to jail for a long time or have been sentence to death.  Sounds like a deterrent to me.

Robberies and violence seem to be on the upswing.   People are losing hope and are getting desperate and doing what they can to survive or thrive.  Can this be the start of a trend that could lead to anarchy?  A Russian scholar says “There is a high probability that the collapse of the United States will occur by 2010,” Igor Panarin told dozens of students, professors and diplomats Tuesday at the Diplomatic Academy — a lecture the ministry pointedly invited The Associated Press and other foreign media to attend.  Will there be a lot of social unrest?  There was during the Great Depression so it is quite plausible for the same to happen in modern times.  How far it goes will depend upon the levels of hope or despair we get to in the future.

If the ones who helped create this situation don’t change their ways we can expect a push back by the investors and consumers who are needed to right the ship. 

I despair for the lack of will on the part of governments to correct the causes of the problems in concert with their efforts to reverse the effects of the downturn in the economy.  It is just going to get worse but the creators of the problems are sitting pretty with their bonuses and offshore bank accounts.  They won’t even face paying the taxes that will pay the final tab on this problem.

Am I a Grumpy Old Man?

I am beginning to think that I am a grumpy old man.  There are a number of things that are happening that I don’t fully understand nor support.  These aren’t just local but national and international in scope.

 

 

 

We have a great country and have many opportunities that we can go after.  The world is in financial meltdown.  Credit and jobs are getting harder to find and easier to lose.  On the one hand the US has admitted that the financial crunch started there yet they can’t understand why we are annoyed with them.  I can’t understand why the world continues to invest in American securities when they are going downhill fast.  They are spending all kinds of money, in the $trillions, yet they are talking about tax cuts.  How will they pay for all of these bailouts and loans?  The greed of the financial marketers to create all of those bad mortgages and loans and resell them over and over creating derivatives and other totally speculative financial instruments where they made obscene profits.  Even today after the bailouts these people just don’t get it.  They continue their greedy and self serving ways with “taxpayer” money.  There is no accountability, no shame.  This thing is going to get worse before we start to see a return to financial stability in the world.  This pisses me off.

 

In Canada, we are being pressured to rescue the big 3 Auto Makers.  This is a real challenge because we need the jobs but the companies haven’t corrected the problems that got them their in the first place and they don’t seem to want to address this issue.  They went for short term profits and built gas guzzlers and not fuel efficient vehicles using new technologies.  There was little or no long term thinking nor trying to address the “green” market.  Toyota and Honda both had hybrids that perform well and sell well.  GM killed their electric car.  The Canadian autoworkers say it was the financial crisis that is causing the problems today yet these same worker wanted GM to keep a truck plant open that couldn’t sell its products.  The company screws up and the workers pay.  This pisses me off.

 

We are in NAFTA yet the Americans don’t play by the rules and they almost destroyed our forest industry because we didn’t use the same model that they use.  The US Congress is likely to become very protectionist and hurt Canadian jobs as a result.  My thinking is that we should turn off the tap for Canadian oil and sell it elsewhere in the world where is would buy the appropriate respect.  This pisses me off.

 

Canadian politicians at the municipal, provincial and federal levels are jerks.  Our city politicians can’t decide what the city should be funding and what it should not fund therefore our property taxes are out of control.  The Ontario Government has failed miserably except when it comes to teachers.  Now a teacher with the appropriate time in can make over $90,000 a year for less than 10 months work.  Their argument that they work very hard during those months doesn’t cut it, when I was in the Army we were expected to be available 24/7 no matter what for so-so pay.  The provincial liberals just got blasted by their auditor general who says they suck.  The federal politicians don’t really care about us; they only want their perks and powers.  This latest coalition crap is symptomatic of the problem.  Jack Layton says that this is the way that proportional representation would work yet he rejects things before he hears them and he is overly partisan about anything that he does provide assistance – if he touches – Jack and the NDP did it.  A pox on all their houses.  This pisses me off.

 

There are a number of strikes currently under way and I for the life of me cannot understand what is going through their heads.  I’ve been on strike and it is so stupid and non-productive, you never get it back.  The bus drives say they want respect, the postal techies say they want respect yet they show none to their customers, the people who make their jobs possible.  What about the hundreds of thousands who have lost or could lose their jobs because of all of the above?   We all have to sacrifice in this time of crisis but it seems to be me first.  This pisses me off.

 

Something is wrong with society when greed is rewarded and running a company into the ground gets you a government bailout and people show no respect for their fellow human beings.  We are doomed.  Our future is dark.  No wonder I am a turning into a grumpy old fart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The future is going to be a politically correct nightmare

Carleton University Students’ Association recently voted to drop Cystic Fibrosis from the Shinerama Charity drive they have held each year for the past 20 or  so years.  Shinerama has been around for CF for around 50 years.  They appear to have based their decisions upon totally inaccurate information and now that they find that their actions are considered dispicable by the majority of people they are waffling.  The person who introduced the motion reported equates supporting CF with slavery and  womans sufferage.  It is unfortunate that this group is demonstrating this type of thinking.  These are the future leaders and their convuluted logic could lead to grave consequences for the future of this country.

Another example of this type of thinking is being demonstrated by a number of human rights commissions whereby they attack free speech and label it as hate speech.  Great Britain has limited certain teachings of fact because it might insult the muslim community. 

Our liberties and freedoms are at risk.

The future could very well be something like the orwellian times of “1984″.

God help us – oh sorry we can’t invoke god because we might insult aetheists.

Labor Has a Role in Getting Through the Financial Crisis

I have noticed the strange reactions of labor to the financial crisis.  There seems to be two approaches that we hear about.

The first approach is from those facing massive layoffs.  They want the governments to provide funding to the various industries or companies so that they can keep their jobs.  What goes missing is do we need or want want they are producing.  Case in point, the Auto Workers wanted GM to keep open a truck plant in Oshawa even though they can’t sell the product they produce.  Instead of pushing for a retooling and new vehicle they wanted Ottawa to give GM money to keep open the plant.  The companies have screwed up royally and unfortunately Labor will pay the price but should we as taxpayers (they are too) support the production of product that doesn’t meet todays markets?  It is terrible to lose a job, I faced that with a young wife and child and it was devastating but I had to move outside my trade and even outside my home province to be employed.  It took a year to find a new job and that was joining the Army.  It’s all well and good that autoworkers make great wages but when you are in a global market at some point you have to rationalize your costs in order to continue to be competitive.  You have to deliver innovative products that meet todays situations like high energy costs and increased safety requirements.  Labor has to accept that there is only so much that can be paid before they become too expensive to maintain.  Many times it comes down to a choice:  do you want to have higher wages at the cost of fellow workers jobs or do you take less and facilitate a larger workforce.  It’s a tough choice and it really sucks but it is reality in todays world.

The second approach is from Labor that is working for the different levels of government (mainly because they seem to be immune to labor cost analysis).  I can think of two situations in my province.  First the primary teachers who are making damn good money in the $80-90k with experience.  Just this summer they were offered 12% over 4 years and have yet to accept it.  Sorry but to think they are worth more in the current situation that is just plain greedy.  Our premier has increased significantly the number of teacher while enrollment has decreased so even with a shrinking class room taxpayers costs are going up faster than inflation.  The province has over the years downloaded costs on the city which uses money from the property tax base and it isn’t growing.  Add that to a city government that is into a lot of areas that I question as a cities responsibility such as my city is a huge landlord for something like 30 or 40,000 people and they can’t afford to repair these dwellings.  It is a disgrace and these people shouldn’t have to live in terrible conditions.  The money we have available should be going to subsidize rents rather than run a bureaucracy to maintain an agency that can’t afford to do what is necessary.  This brings us to the fact that we need to keep labor costs down or we have to get rid of people and services.  The property taxes are finite and not growing as fast as the labor contracts.  Most of our contracts are binding arbitration so we get screwed by the arbitrators.  Toronto was having problems retaining police so they added a retention bonus which was then award to the fire department which was then awarded to police and fire departments around the province even though they weren’t have the same problems.  Arbitration avoids strikes but increases labor costs.  Our city workers aren’t even going to consider lower wage demands – they want more but it will cost jobs and services.  When a salary freeze was to be discussed they harassed the councillor that was asking for debate and heaped scorn on the mayor as well.  They just don’t get it.

So as I said, Labor has a role to play in getting through these difficult times, will the step up to the plate to save their fellow workers or think only of themselves.  Sooner or later the taxpayer will run out of money and it will all collapse.  There are 3 levels of government, one level of taxpayer.   This same taxpayer is the consumer of products that we build and they can only afford so much.

It doesn’t matter who is responsible for the situation – everyone has to work on  resolving the problem if the jobs and organizations are to be saved.  Labor can’t just say it’s not their responsibility to save taxpayer money.  They have to work to save the country as well as the governments and companies.

Are we worthy of their sacrifice?

We are but one country in the community of nations.  We have shouldered the burden of war when others were in peril.  We have lost over 110,000 of men and women in their prime in two world wars, the Korean Conflict, United Nations Peace Keeping and currently Afghanistan.  There have been many more wounded and maimed as well as the victims of these wars, millions of innocent people killed because of this reason or that.

Mankind has shown that it is capable of horrendous atrocities and we must all be vigilant to ensure that they are kept in check.  We have a duty to our fellow citizens of the world to protect and show them that things can be good.  We in Canada a blessed with a great place to live, work and play.  We have opportunity.  We have security.  We have the prospect of living a life without fearing for our lives.  These things can’t be said for the majority of the world’s people.

We cannot change everyone – we are too small a nation to force our views on the world.  We can only lead by example and demonstrate that happiness and freedom is possible.  We have a responsibility to be the best world citizens that we can be.

We owe this to the world and we owe this to those who have sacrificed of themselves to allow us to be who we are.

This is our day to remember our past and honor those who gave the ultimate in protecting us.  In the Afghanistan conflict we have lost 97 service men and women plus a Canadian Diplomat.  We should also remember that for every one that we lost there were a number who were wounded.  They should be honored as should those that were lucky enough to come through their duty tours intact.  That last point may be a moot point.  There is a large percentage of those who have served who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress and they will likely relive their difficult experiences every day for the rest of their lives.

For those of us who had parents who served in the second world war, post traumatic stress was never diagnosed but it was real.  My father served with the 48th Highlanders during the war and he rarely shared his experiences except with another veteran like our neighbour who was a navy frogman.  It lead to a number of issues that continued throughout his lifetime and contributed to his early death at 52.

Personally, my service was during a peacetime army in times of significant financial restraint, we served but didn’t have the necessary tools to be much of a threat to our potential enemy.  The military wasn’t very popular during my time of service, still I am proud to have served for a total of 13 years.

“They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.  Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.  At the going down of the sun and in the morning.  We will remember them.”

Doctor Who Christmas Special

The episode of “The Next Doctor” is expected to be broadcast by BBC One in the UK on Christmas Day.

This year’s Children in Need Telethon is to feature an exclusive preview of the forthcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special.

The clip, from the Christmas Special entitled The Next Doctor, will show the first two minutes of a brand new episode for the Time Lord, played by David Tennant.

This never seen before footage, is a worldwide exclusive, and will keep fans all over the globe wondering what’s in store for the Doctor’s next adventure.

Starring David Tennant and David Morrissey, the clip from The Next Doctor will be broadcast as part of the BBC Children in Need show on 14 November, BBC One from 7pm.

The Next Doctor Episode

Next Gen – Our Future

Every generation has heard it – “this new generation will be the end of society – they have no values and will never be outstanding citizens”.

When my generation was growing up (I was between the start of Rock and Roll and the British Invasion – I missed Flower Power by that much) our parents were saying that we showed no respect for our elders and the music would rot our brains.  My Generation (the bleeding edge of the Boomers) managed to survive the Cold War, Vietnam and Elvis Presley and turn into good citizens who achieved a much higher standard of living than our parents were able to provide.  They had us children when the country was rebuilding from the Second World War.  They created the world that we were able to build upon and make fantastic exponential advances in knowledge and information.  They reached the moon.  They enabled us to achieve.

We wanted our children to benefit from what the world had to offer in ways that our parents could only dream of providing us.  We gave our children everything except for real challenges.  They never faced a war like the Second World War or the Korean Conflict.  They saw us dealing with Vietnam with its political rules that cost the lives of over 50,000 our my generation for no real good reason.  Our children have seen war but it has been like a video game – quick and remote with fewer casualties on “our” side.  Today war is surreal like seeing the start of the Iraqi wars while watching CNN.  Our children have not seen really tough economic times.  They were given almost everything they desired without concern for need or utility.  Most of my generation had to work hard to get an advanced education.  Now it seems like it is an expectation.

Our children’s children want for nothing.  They have no responsibilities, everything is done for them.  They are led to believe that they deserve everything without concern of how they would obtain it.  These children are rewarded because they are here not for anything they have worked for nor have they saved  for anything.  They just demand (it is demand not asked for nor is there an offer to exchange work for it).

On the news today there was a report about high school graduates who don’t give a shit.  Employers were saying that about 1 in 3 graduates showed any enthusiasm for their job or demonstrated an acceptable work ethic.  They just don’t care if they keep their job since mommy and daddy will take care of them like they always have.  The upcoming generation is rewriting the English language through their using text messages and the abbreviations for these terms.  Their primary communications are done remotely and not really face to face.  They are losing the ability to read the physical expressions that we all make when we are dealing with someone else.  Are they being lied to?  Is it a joke or is it for real?  They are losing the ability to communicate mano-a-mano even though they will argue that they communicate more than we do.  Texting and Twittering are short bursts of data (hard to call it information since it is rarely in context).

So what’s the issue with this?  If the bulk of this upcoming generation fits this description then we are truly in trouble as a country.  Think about it?  They just don’t care so who’s is going to care and do what needs to be done to keep society together and functioning.  They will have to learn how to get things done when life is collapsing around them or they will not survive.  There are others in this world that would gladly get it done for a price but then again after they’ve spend their inheritances from my generation, how will the manage to pay to be taken care of.  Technology won’t be the answer because you need to care enough to learn and innovate and they may just be too busy playing video games or texting their friends to care.

But will they listen?

Post election time.  Big news, (yawn), Liberals down 20+seats, Conservatives up 17 seats, NDP up 8, no green MP’s.  Only 59% got out to vote. Are majority governments only a dream?  So what has changed? A lot if you really think about it.

Each of the parties should read the messages they’ve been sent.  There are some major changes required by all of the parties:

All parties must get their ducks in a row to have a chance at a majority

1.  The Conservatives:  Stephen Harper has had 3 kicks at the can and the Canadian People refuse to give him a majority.  He was considered the best of a mediocre lot.  Rather than be a far right party, they need to continue to move more to the centre and they need to groom and promote more leadership from within the party.  It can’t remain the Stephen Harper show.  A strong Quebec Lieutenant might have been able to answer the musings of the Block.  They need to showcase a capable front bench to provide comfort to Canadians.  An alternative to Harper might be able to get that majority if they can get their policies and directions closer to what the majority of people want.

2. The Liberals:  The Liberals are out of touch with the people.  They still believe they are the divine right to govern party.  They promoted a policy called “the Green Shift” which was complex and not understood by anyone.  A green tax might work in stable economic times but in the current world financial crisis, the last thing we need is a tax redistribution plan.  The Liberals have moved too far to the left.  They haven’t heard the messages from the people given over the past 3 elections.  They haven’t cleaned up their act-they papered it over but forgot to use glue.  They have a number of people who want to be the leader of the party but they have a lot of negative baggage.  They attack other leaders histories while hiding their own.  There are some quality people not currently members of parliament who offer the best chance of reshaping, rebuilding and redirecting the party towards the centre.  They need new leadership, they need significant change, they need to modernize their thinking to get back in touch with Canadians.

3.  The Bloc:  The Conservatives gave life back to the Bloc because of Stephan Harper, his mis-steps and failure to respond to their statements in a timely fashion.

4.  The NDP:  This party will forever be a 3rd or 4th place party in Canada.  It’s policies don’t make much sense in the real world.  Jack Layton talks big talk for the 4th party in parliament.  They take credit for anything they are involved with rather than saying they supported something.  That demonstrates insecurity and a need to be loved.  The people of Ontario have the Rae government to remember what an NDP government could do to the province and current policies are the same as then.  They will always be also rans.

5.  The Greens:  They have to become a bit more pragmatic.  Their leader should run in a riding where she has a chance to win a seat.  Her decision to run against Peter McKay was a vanity move.  If she really wants to be taken seriously she has to be in parliament.  Their policies are quite left wing and therefore extreme.  If they could mix environmental action with centralist policies for other areas they might be a serious contender but as it stands they will be fighting to exist for a long time when they should be fighting for the environment.

You Need to Vote

This is a very troubling time in history and no one has ever experienced anything like it.  We as citizens have our opportunity to either give a vote of confidence to the ruling government or to seek change.  We have this right.  We must exercise this right to keep it.

People that say they don’t know or don’t care about what is going on in their country get the government they deserve.  We are so fortunate to be able to voice our support or disatisfaction with our government without worrying about our safety or our families safety.

it’s scary that more youth will vote for Canadian or American Idol than would vote in a federal election.

Good luck and may we get the best government to see us through these tough times.

The F.U.D. Factor

I am confused about the statements and musings of Stéphane Dion and Jack Layton.  They’ve been saying the sky is falling and panicking about the financial crisis and the coming recession in Canada.  Both are spreading Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt without being fully truthful in their statements.  Unfortunately, it seems to be working in this election.

Now we have reports from outside Canada that say we have the most sound banking system in the world.  We’re number 1 – the U.S. if 40th and Great Britain is 44th.  Another report says that Canada is not likely to have recession yet these two “leaders” are running around saying “we’ve got to plan, we’ve got to plan” for the coming recession.  Maybe they know something that we don’t.  Just maybe they know their policies will create a recession.

Now, I’m not all that thrilled with Stephen Harper either but he is not to blame for the current world crisis like the other leaders would like you to believe.  None of the above is not a viable option so we go with the least likely to screw up badly.

On one hand, Stéphane Dion says that the government should not interfere with the banks and on the other hand he would go after the banks to ensure they pass on the full interest rate reduction.  I’ve not heard Jack’s response yet but I can only imagine.

I can only hope that the universe will unfold as it should.

They just don’t get it-so we’ll pay in the end

I am getting tired of all the parties just dumping on their opponents and not explaining to  me what they are going to do if they win the election.  Maybe if the negative statements were based upon truth and the spirit of the truth rather than the hint of something like the truth.  I have major concerns for every one of the announced platforms and yet I do not hear any details or potential implications should they be implemented.

As I understand it:

Conservatives:  Maintain current policies and provide targeted stimulation.  They have done things over their time as the government yet they can’t explain what their actions have done to mitigate the economic crisis in Canada.  They should explain what tools they have to address the problems with the economies of the world and what they can do if something happens.  If they lose this election – they did it to themselves.

Liberals:  Implement the Green Shift (Carbon Tax) – they say they are going to tax the polluters, they say they are going to give me a large tax refund.  Now I’ve gone to their website to see what my refund would be and it is about half of what they are claiming.  Their claim that the companies that pollute will pay leaves me with the question of passing on of operating costs.  It is going to affect the cost of everything that is taxed but they don’t admit to that truth. I think it will increase inflation.  Didn’t the Liberals say that the prices would go down with the GST which wasn’t even close to the truth – companies grabbed the extra money with the removal of the Manufacturers tax?

NDP:  Jack would pull us out of Afghanistan immediately which would create a strategic problem for our NATO allies who are still there.   They would cancel the corporate tax cut which companies have already been factored in to their plans, these are the same companies that we need to get us out of any recession.  The NDP believes that corporations are the enemy and that the average working family are the only ones that matter.  It’s a symbiotic relationship and you can’t have one without the other and the NDP would destroy our basic economy just like they did when they were in charge in Ontario.  I think it will destroy the industrial foundation of this country.  Most of their hot button issues are minor like ATM fees or caps on credit card interest rates (credit would likely dry up).

Greens:  It was difficult to get much information about their platform and policies beyond the huge carbon tax that they are proposing.  The way it appears is that the Greens would destroy the economy to reduce our carbon footprint.  If you remove the tarsands from the equation I think that we could shut everything else down and our impact would be negligible in the world totals. I think they should just tax everything and plant more trees.

None of the Parties get it.  They would all rather crap on their opponents than tell us the truth about their policies.  Whoever wins this election will have a very difficult problem to deal with and I have no faith in any of the policy options being present – mainly because we can’t get an honest assessment of the impact of their proposed policies.  Truth is the first victim and we the people are the second victims.