Here’s a suggestion for Canadians

The Liberals seem hell bent on forcing an election.  They’ve done this a number of times in the past few years.  If they force an election when Parliament returns – we will have spent over $1.2 billion on elections that haven’t changed things subtantively.  In other words, we will have wasted $1.2 billion in taxpayers money to soothe the egos of the parliamentarians.

I understand the concept of Her Majesties Loyal Opposition but we have opposition parties who have voted down everything that the government has proposed even if it was good for the country and was something they would propose.  The NDP has voted against the government over 72 times in this period just because they can, they know that the bill will pass and their constituents will benefit anyhow.  I do not call that being a responsible representative of the people.

The Bloc is Quebec centric and couldn’t give a hoot about Canada so they are taking money for doing nothing good for the country.  Soon a large number of NDP and Bloc members will be vested in their generous pension plan – but they need to be MP’s until around July 2010 – whoops, they seem to have screwed up.

It would be entirely appropriate to work with the governing party cooperatively, now they won’t get everything they want but there would be pressure on the government to respond to this cooperation otherwise the people would let them know they are jerks. 

My solution and suggestion is that we send a bill to each MP for $1 million to be paid out of their personal funds so that we can fund this next election and not waste tax dollars to get the same results.  We are getting tired of living crisis to crisis when it’s just for the vanity of the political leaders.

If they do force an election  over nothing we should punish the opposition parties severely and throw those bums out on their respective asses.

NHL needs to shake their collective heads.

Gary Bettman, NHL boss, hates Canada.  At least you think that it just might be true.  The league did little to protect the Winnipeg and Quebec fanchises from moving to the U.S. yet they  seem to be fighting every possible move of a bankrupt U.S. team back to Canada.  What are we in Canada supposed to make of this?

How is it that New York can have 3 franchises while southern Ontario cannot have more than one.  This fascination with U.S. cities that have no history nor experience with Hockey having NHL teams while viable markets in Canada are ignored.  The NHL U.S. Strategy hasn’t, doesn’t and will not work.  Bowling on TV will outdraw hockey in most US markets.   It’s barely a niche sport in the US.  Hockey is an important component in many countries in the world besides Canada, for instance Russia and Sweden come to mind.

The league seems to not want to deal with a Canadian who has the money yet it has dealt with a large number of questionable owners in the U.S.

I find it discouraging that the league rolls its eyes if there is a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup playoffs since they can’t sell the TV rights in the States even though there wasn’t any interest in the first place.  Heaven forbid that there is a final between 2 Canadian teams, they might have to outlaw that possibility.  It’s like we are second class in the leagues eyes.

It might give us a complex or maybe we should learn to love bowling and invest our entertainment dollars in that sport instead of Hockey.  The league won’t miss the Canadian fans at all.

Highway of Heroes in Pictures

From a powerpoint presentation making the rounds.

Arrival of first Soldier

Honour Guard claiming the body

Procession Leaves Trenton for Toronto

Trenton pays its respects

Firemen honouring the procession

Police Stop to Honour Heroes

One of 50 Overpasses where people gather to salute Heroes

Greetiing our Heroes

Another overpass, another tribute

Not just on overpasses do people show respect

Oshawa greets the procession

Durham Police honour procession

Ajax says thank you

An individual shows his respect.

The Final Salute in Toronto before arriving at the coroners office.

Highway of Heroes-The people say Thank You!

I recently received a great powerpoint presentation showing how we as Canadians have made the Highway of Heroes an important element in our honouring and paying tribute to our fallen soldiers.  The average Canadian was not fully aware of the sacrifices that our military have made until Afghanistan.  The governments of the day had no use for a military but time and circumstances proved this neglect to be horribly wrong.  I served in the RCHA in the early 70’s and it was a joke, we had a regimental strength of around 176 men when it should have been over 1,100 yet we had the same roles and responsibilities of a full regiment.  We were part of the A.C.E. Mobile Force for Norway and also member of the C.A.S.T. Combat Group which was responsible for re-enforcing ACE.  In other words, we were supposedly replacing ourselves which would have been  a bit difficult since we’d have been dead or wounded to require re-enforcement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afghanistan has brought respectability for the Canadian Military and a sense of pride for the people of Canada.  It was public pressure that brought about the designation of the stretch of Highway 401 from Trenton to Toronto to be known as the Highway of Heroes.  For it is along that path that our fallen are repatriated to Canada and transported to the Ontario Coroner prior to being returning the remains to the families.  The people have spoken and speak everytime we lose a combatant.  As of today we have lost 116 service personnel both men and women.  We honour their ultimate sacrifice and pay tribute to the family members who have lost their loved ones.

Members of Fire Station 44 in Barrhaven salute returning fallen soldier Cpl. Kenneth Chad O'Quinn on the Fallowfield-Strandherd Bridge just outside of Barrhaven, Wednesday, March 25, 2009. Viewer photo submitted by: Kellie Jennifer Adams

Ottawa is home to the National Military Cemetery at Beechwood and many families are choosing to bury their fallen loved ones there.  It is a beautiful place for a cemetery.  Now the Ottawa Fire Department has chosen to follow the lead of the Highway of Heroes and they provide firefighters and police officers along 12 overpasses of  Highway 416 and 417 on the route to Beechwood where the soldier will be interred.  District Chief Dave Capstick said firefighters will make the effort to show the respect and solidarity they deserve. 

The U.S. has adopted a similar policy to Canada’s on repatriation and finally make it possible to show the flag draped coffins if the families allow it.  That gives the ordinary people the opportunity to sit up, take notice and show their apprciation and sorry for the fallen.  A recent movie on HBO called “Taking Chance” is based upon  A personal narrative by Lieutenant Colonel Michael R. Strobl (you can read his story here). 

The Highway of Heroes and the actions encountered by LCol Strobl show that the people understand and want to honour the fallen who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Lest We Forget

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.

Fox Program Red Eye – The Ugliest Americans

Canada has just suffered the loss of 4 more soldiers in Afghanistan and they will be repatirated today and travel the Highway of Heros.  So we now have to put up with ugly stupid Americans who have demonstrated why they are hated around the world.  The Fox program Red Eye chose to mock Canada’s efforts in Afghanistan not even knowing that we have been there from the beginning of this mission.  We are one of the few countries that answered the call for combat troops who would engage in combat and these idiot Americans have no understanding of their neighbour to the north.  They have no concept of the importance that Canada is to the success and prosperity of America.  After 7 years of conflict, most of the equipment is wearing out, um, I seem to remember reading about the US having equipment problems having a large percentage of its equipment worn out sitting awaiting action in Iraq.

See for yourself:

In this video, these people demonstrate how narrow minded and ill-informed they are about anything outside their borders.  They represent the last 8 years where America damaged its standing in the world.  No longer could America legitimately claim that they believe in freedom, liberty and integrity.  They set up the Guantánamo Bay detention where they were sheltered from their own laws and conducted torture and numerous human rights violations.   There was no due process – so much for the fair minded America.

The current world financial crisis can be laid at the feet of greedy people who ignored what few rules there were and managed to bring down the worlds economies. 

We can hope that theirs is a radical minority viewpoint.  If it is mainstream then America will have to continue to bully the worlds countries and use military force to impose its will.  We all know this works, just look at Iraq.

Their comments are disgusting and they would call for an invasion should someone else say things like that about America, oh wait they did call for an invasion of Canada and those silly Canadians.

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.

The Financial Crisis

This is a very troubling time.  The biggest question may be, Why? 

The situation the world finds itself in can be traced back to a fundalmental greed.  People found ways of skirting rules, removing rules, or ignoring rules to maximize obscene profits for doing nothing of value.  They will, of course, get away with it.  You don’t hear the United States saying that they created and allowed the environment where “hotshots” made billions off the backs of the investor community with no regard for the risk and impact their actions had on the world economies and people.  It’s too bad that they will be able to keep their ill gotten gains with impunity, seizure of all their assets and a life in prison would be more appropriate for these greedy scum sucking bastards.

So how does the world recover?  We in effect print money and charge next to nothing for borrowing it.  Now we run into a mindset that doesn’t want to take any “risk” and refuses to conduct normal business.  We have all been psyched out of common sense.  Commerce needs to continue but everyone is afraid that the big bad wolf is still at the door and maybe it is.

Bailouts have been provided to business in many cases yet they use this money as if nothing has changed.  Companies are flirting with bankruptcy yet continue the practices that got them there in the first place.  It isn’t business as usual people.  How do we get through to these people that they aren’t exempt from having to deal with less.   I can’t think of any examples of people that deserve “bonuses” because they are the ones that got us there in the first place.

It is going to get a lot worse before it get better.  It may take a “revolution” to set things on the proper path and we can hope that it doesn’t involve violence.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s Next?

The Governor-General prorogued Parliament giving the Politicians a chance to take a breath and reflect on their actions.   Everyone of the elected Members of Parliament need to shake their heads and realize that they should be ashamed of their behaviour.  No one is exempt from this shameful demonstration of power politics.  Canadians in general are not amused and are disgusted by their actions.  A pox on all their houses.

The Prime Minister initiated the troubles with his ill thought out plan to kick the opposition when they were down.  His misjudgement has probably damaged his reputation forever.  He has done enough damage to the Conservative cause that they will never achieve a majority government under his leadership.  It’s time to groom the replacements.

The Leaders of the three opposition parties needs to have a reality check.  Yes, if you add up all their votes and all their members they outnumber the Conservatives but there is no consistency in their party policies that would justify saying that they represent a majority view.  They are 3 distinct views that are barely similar and often opposed to each other.  So saying that they represent a majority of Canadians is invalid.   The Liberals under Stephane Dion are desperate for power since they lost it, but they lost it for a reason and they haven’t corrected that reason.  They haven’t cleaned up their act like the Conservative had to when they were down to 3 seats.  There is little contrition for the bad faith they showed Canadians under the various scandals and little cleanup.  Stephane Dion is desperate to change his legacy of being one of the few Liberal leaders that weren’t Prime Minister and I think that is what drove him to work out this coalition.  He probably saw it as a golden opportunity to improve his historical record.  Even now the second place runner in the leadership contest, Bob Rae, is trying to use the coalition for his own political gains.  This could precipitate a complete collapse of the Liberal party should they piss off the Canadian people which is their current direction.

The leader of the Bloc sees this as an opportunity to have a veto on any and all actions in parliament.  The other members of the coalition try to pretend that they haven’t given the Bloc the equivalent of Sovereignty Association.  The terminology in the agreement was between Canada and Quebec.  The Bloc had nothing to lose everything to gain no matter what happens.  Canada is the one who loses by this political pandering to Sovereignists.

Finally, we have Jack and the NDP.  He knows that this is the closest he will have come to being in power.  Canada is not a socialist country and wouldn’t support their policies in government.  They provide a counterbalance to other policies but they aren’t mainstream.  When Jack has participated in anything in a cooperative way you get told by him that he did it.  He takes credit for everything that comes close to him.  He needs constant reinforcement that he is a good boy.  Jack loves the camera and just can’t resist puffing himself up.

The politicians have damaged their standing in society – they have shown themselves to be more interested in power than getting the job done.  Originally the opposition didn’t want to cooperate with the Conservatives lest they be successful in handling this crisis.  Canadian have engaged themselves in this situation and hopefully they will hold the politicians to account for doing what we citizens want them to do.

Hot Air

So we had the “important” speeches from the Prime Minister and the Liberal Leader (sort of).

Mr. Prime Minister you missed an opportunity to engage the members of the coalition and the people.  You were not conciliatory and unapologetic for your badly thought out decision about political financing.  Have you given up?  Is it time for you to turn the reigns of the Conservative Party to someone who can work with other parties without under cutting them?  I was disappointed by your performance, I expected more.  You seem to need a time out to shake your head.

Mr. Dion, what it wrong with you?  Tonight’s video was an incompetent exercise.  You missed the deadlines for the networks to show you address.  When it did air, it was out of focus and amateurish in quality.  Your speech was uninspired and hard to follow.  The biggest error was to have a book behind you entitled “Hot Air”.  That describes your performance.  You want the control of government and you can’t even put out a professional message. 

You have not demonstrated any qualities that make you a suitable Prime Minister.  Your behaviour in Question Period bordered on hysteria.  You are fighting so hard to be Prime Minister that you have lost sight of what this country is about.  Your coalition members are making it sound like the Government is responsible for all of the job losses and you are not telling the truth when you say that nothing has been done to provide relief.  It may not be adequate but your job is to get it improved not take over the government.

The Bloc has a veto on any legislation that your coalition will propose so they are an integral part of that government.  They also seem to have managed to get promises for more than $1billion additional funds for Quebec for their support.  What about Canada?  You use language in the agreement – An agreement between Canada and Quebec.  You have given Quebec Sovereign Association by your actions.  You sir, are full of HOT AIR.

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.

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.