September 2008

Fool Me Once

There's a reason the neo con label gets attached to the Conservative Party. Watch what's happening in the U.S. The Republicans that are helping stop the theft are old school, not neo. Stephen Harper is neo. Deregulation is his mantra. We've seen it's reprecussions in our food inspection. Even after the listeriosis outbreak, they didn't back away from deregulation - in fact they blamed it on there not being enough. Do we really need to watch the neo cons perform their second act here in Canada?

(my favourite quote from the U.S. - "we're being handed a cow patty with a marshmellow in the middle and I'm not going to eat the cow patty")

How To ABC

A wonderful idea this website: Vote For Environment. It helps people decide which vote would be strategic in each riding. How to avoid a Conservative government in Canada.

What Do You Call An Angry Liberal?

An NDP. And each day Stephane Dion grows angrier and angrier the NDP gets closer and closer to becoming the official opposition. It's an odd election. Why do our ivory tower politicians take so long to realise the electorate doesn't mind their idealism as long as they prove they're human first?

Meanwhile Stephen Harper tries selling his latest spin. A little scary as far as spin goes but very telling. Vote for me so that you have a voice in Government. If Quebec votes for the Bloc they won't have a Conservative member at the table. If BC votes for the NDP, or Toronto votes Liberal they won't be represented by the government apparently. Unfortunately the Government of Canada is supposed to care about every Canadian citizen, not just the ones who vote for them. More glimpses of the mean spirited bunch behind the Prime Minister's muzzles.

Passing Up Freebies

It's incredible to me that the Liberals aren't making more use of the U.S. financial meltdown. You know, "Stephen Harper is a neocon with idealogical ties to the Bush Whitehouse.....do you really want to go here? Do you?" Ominous fade to black.

Crime And Punishment

I knew it was coming. There is an election on after all, and "Tough on crime" is a very easy sell for the Conservatives. Every one of their hard core voters believes that crime is on the rise in Canada and there is something that needs to be done to fix the system. It's also a hard policy to be against. Surely you're not suggesting we let those criminals walk?! Like most things coming out of a politicians mouth during an election campaign, it's complete and total garbage.

Let's look at the facts. In the developed world Canada ranks second in the number of it's own citizens it jails. First place is held by our neighbours to the south. Let that sink in for a moment. Canada jails a (much) higher percentage of it's own citizens than any other developed country except the U.S. There are fewer people thrown in jail in Northern Ireland. Tough new sentencing will increase the number of people in jail. Is this really an area where we want to keep up with the U.S. example?

On top of this the reality is that violent crime rates in Canada have been falling steadily for the last 30 years. Not to mention Canada actually has an incredibly low rate of people who re offend. One of the lowest actually.

Now politicians say a lot of things during an election campaign in order to convince people to vote for them. We're used to that, but this particular bit of campaigning has a very unfortunate side effect. It devalues the incredible work that thousands of people in Canada's criminal justice system do. We should be standing up and applauding the work these people do - in Canada, they do it very well.

New Policy?

The Liberal Party has released it's campaign note book of promises. It's interesting to me that while most Canadians don't believe a thing politicians tell them in the lead up to an election (at the very least), the parties still insist on rolling out a list of things they probably won't accomplish while in Government So just what do these platforms represent then?

If your cynical, they represent what each party has decided the voters want to hear. A more generous interpretation would be that they lay out the vision that each party has, and once they get into office the realities of the political scene make moving forward on that vision more or less difficult.

So how does the Liberal vision look?

Well it's certainly filled with lots of feel good slogans and plans that at first glance should make anyone but the most extreme left and rightists smile. Investment in infrastructure help for the poor and the beginning of a move toward a "green" economy. There is one thing conspicuously absent. To be fair it also seems to be absent from the Conservative platform.

Remember last election? Honesty and integrity in Government were the obsessions of the day. Everyone promised to "clean up" the Federal Government. Since the Conservatives came to power nothing has been done. And the new Liberal platform doesn't seem to address the issue either.

Guess it isn't important anymore.

The Politics Of Pot

The NDP candidates are dropping like stoned flies. The first guy had to go. Driving while smoking pot is not a good campaign video. And while the majority of Canadians think marijuana should be legalised I'm not sure you'd find that same support for LSD. But the second candidate to be tossed off the NDP bus was merely filmed smoking pot. Reminds me of the famous "I didn't inhale."

When someone admits to using marijuana and takes a political stand for the legalisation of marijuana, guess what? They smoke marijuana. Not in some invisible inhale free way either - they put the flame to the bowl and they inhale deeply. Very deeply if they've had any practice. This is a reality that people are going to have to get used to. Here in BC it's one we're very used to.

Jack Layton, on Pot TV, promised to fight for the legalisation of marijuana. The legalisation of the growing of, the selling of, and the possession of marijuana. I guess it's just the smoking of that's causes trouble. I know you're trying not to scare the little old ladies who still believe in reefer madness Jack, but seriously, we want it legalised so we can smoke it freely, not because it looks good in that jar on the counter.

The Listeriosis Excuses

We all know what happened. The official excuse is that it was summer and a private phone call. I'm not sure what summer has to do with it. Perhaps it was hot and people were edgy Or maybe they mean they didn't expect anyone to notice. As for it being a private call - no, it wasn't. The phone call was a conference call with at least a dozen people on the line. And Mr Ritz was on the phone in his capacity as a federal Minister, not as a private citizen.

It's not just the inappropriateness of the humour which demands a resignation, it's that the event happened at all - from the same people who brought us the Walkerton tainted water for many of the same reasons. Some budgets shouldn't be cut, and the fact that Gerry Ritz is still the minister responsible speaks volumes about the Harper Government's priorities.

When Does It All Make Sense?

Another day another "gaffe" by the federal Conservatives. Each day brings us something new. At some point the only gaffe about these gaffes is that they got out. Because it's certainly starting to look like there's a pattern here, and that pattern is a complete contempt for the people they're supposed to be governing. These are not just fringe party members or administrative assistants, these are sitting party members and ministers. Beyond getting your vote they don't care about you. Or me.

So I think it's time for some comment on where I sit in all of this. As I don't live in Quebec I can't vote for the Bloc. In previous elections I have voted for the Greens, the NDP and the Liberals. In my youth I may even have voted Rhino. Danny Williams' Anything But Conservative war cry is probably the closest to my present feelings.

I like diversity. One of my art pieces states that "Diversity is Health" and I believe this to be explicitly true. I have friends who are conservatives, and I urge them not to vote for the present bunch of rascals calling themselves the Conservative Party of Canada. Not because I don't want their views represented on the grand stage that is the House of Commons, but because I do, and these boys aren't doing it.

It has been a long time confusion for me as to why these people get away with their appeals to a constituency they don't represent. Fiscal responsibility is a big deal to my conservative friends and they feel that every other party would tax and spend the country into deficit, but not the Harper Gang. And yet in reality the Harper Gang are responsible for leading Canada into what will shortly become a deficit for the first time since.....Brian Mulroney. How is it these guys manage to keep their image clean in regards to budgeting when they have the worst record in Canada?

I like my right wing friends, I just wish they had a party to vote for that would actually represent their views. Of course I would then look forward to defeating those views come election time, but at least they'd be represented.

And The Mean Streak Starts To Show

And now we see why Stephen Harper won't let any of his MP's talk. Seems that every time one of them opens their mouth there's an immediate need for foot removal surgery. Now we find out that the Minister in charge was making jokes about Canadians dying during the listeriosis crisis that is perhaps still not over. And he's still in charge. Story at CBC is here.

And finally someone saying something intelligent on Afghanistan - why is it the Greens? Canada is in Afghanistan as part of a NATO led mission. It is not a scenario we can act unilaterally in without upsetting our partners and ignoring our international obligations. The only hope for getting thru this quagmire might be to move the mission from NATO led to UN led. No matter that the UN doesn't want it, it's the direction our leaders should be trying to move it. Now I have nothing against Elizabeth May having great ideas, including one of my long time favourites - Guaranteed Annual Income - but with being the sane champion of the environment, the poor and now our international relations well....just what are the other folks going to do when she makes more sense than any of them at the debates on every issue but what colour blue fuzzy sweater to wear?

Welcome To Dogtown

Imagine being the person directing a political campaign. The one deciding where the candidate is going to be speaking and what issues the candidate is going to be presenting. Polls would be very important, and useful. They would give you a "feel" for what was occurring in the campaign and way to measure how well your message was getting out.

As news, polls are an easy way to analyse the campaign. Pretty charts make better tv than egghead professors discussing the finer points of policy announcements However the media's reliance on polls as the only way to describe the election is amazing. No need to actually find out if the Liberal's Green Shift idea is actually revenue neutral or if it would even be effective in creating the changes it claims to. No need to question Mr Harper when he talks of his ability to manage the economy and yet the Federal Government seems to be over spending by several hundred million dollars this year. Seeing as how it hasn't been declared illegal yet - is he still using the in and out financing method for this campaign? Jack's supposed to be Green and yet the Greens disagree with him - why? Sorry, I'm getting carried away. Perhaps it's only the junkies that only want real journalism, but I think the Canadian public at large would love to hear some of these answers too.

If we believe the poll results screamed across the news today, all that's left to decide is how many seats for Mr Harper, and will the Liberals wait until December to pass out the pink slip. Keep in mind that just 2 days ago those same poll results called Quebec and Ontario a statistical tie. Two days from now they could well be predicting something else. Unfortunately, the polls themselves have come to influence elections and in some way they are self fulfilling prophecies. People love to jump on bandwagons, and in tight races people sometimes vote to block rather than elect. We would do well to focus what direction these parties actually want to take our country in.

But speaking of being the person running a campaign, for the pure junkie with time to read two political blogs, Warren Kinsella's blog is a must read.

Daze of Rest

Well it's Sunday and t seems that the news is slow on the political front. The two Stephens are taking the day off, and Jack and Elizabeth seem to be following a light schedule. Probably hoping that simply putting in an appearance while the other two are resting would vault them to the lead political story. But it, of course, was not to be.

Sundays are for review. Even outside of politics, nothing happens on Sunday. There is very little real news on a Sunday, just reviews of the weeks news and perhaps a slightly outdated story that got squeezed out of the previous weeks news by something more titillating And so while both Jack's and Elizabeth's Sunday schedule did get noted, it was a passing comment on our way to the Week in Review. Naturally this focused on the trials and tribulations of the the two front runners.

It is a symptom of our "first past the post" system that we can have front runners right from the start of a race. In reality no-one is out in front until the ballots are being counted.

Deconstructing The Ads

Rex Murphy had an interesting point about political advertising and the image make over that both the Liberals and the Conservatives are trying with their leaders. Both parties are trying to portray their leaders in a "new" light. Stephen Harper wears sweaters and Stephane Dion plays hockey. But the ads imply that the opinion we already have of these two is wrong.

I recall as a young lad watching tv, and as the commercials started, my father asking me who the person in the white lab coat was. A doctor was my astute reply. No, said my father, they're an actor. I had to think about that. This deconstruction was a great thing for my young mind. Until then I had blankly assumed that what I was seeing was, for the most part, accurate - that commercials were somehow more real than the movies slipped in between the ads. Well, unless they were singing frogs of course.

Political advertising, especially when it focuses on image and not on policy, should be viewed with the same eye as any other ad. The point of the ad is not to inform, but to convince. Are we seriously to believe that Stephen Harper regularly hangs out with families in Richmond wearing blue fuzzy sweaters? That when he was absent from the House of Commons he was cuddling babies?

Practice your advertising deconstruction on the easy things. Drink a case of beer and see how many scantily clad, single, horny women appear magically on your patio. Then apply the results to the political ads we're being inundated with. I like singing frogs, but I still drink Guinness, not Budweiser.

Election? What Election?

As usual the pundits have started discussing voter apathy, marking this election as one with marginal excitement for anyone who isn't a complete junkie, mainlining political news stories like grade A heroin. And history has shown that voter apathy is inevitably good for the party in power. Apathetic voters, it seems, tend to like things to stay the same and don't want their boat rocked. Perhaps. Or maybe their apathy isn't really apathy. Perhaps they actually like what happens when only 40% of eligible voters cast a vote and are staying out of their way.

Ok, who am I kidding, it's apathy. Most people don't feel like an election is anything other than a public relations exercise and that their vote has little or no effect on the outcome of the election, or the direction of our Country. The further you move from Ontario and Quebec, the more true this becomes. But based on this weeks Green reaction I have another suggestion for any Party looking to make a surprise entry into the field of Canadian Politics. Here's what I would do.....

Chances are good for another minority Government here in Canada, despite the attempt by the media to turn this into a chase for a majority Government. Which means that in 18 months to 2 years there's a very good chance that we'll be having another election. So why not run on a single platform - Proportional Representation. Promise Canadians that if elected you will only do one thing - make every vote count. If the Communists get 1% of the votes they get 1% of the seats. And once that is accomplished, in say 18 months to 2 years, you'll hold an election. Otherwise the apathy is only likely to increase and one day we could find ourselves with a majority Government that was supported by less than 10% of the eligible voters.

Myself I'm not as hyped as I had hoped - I was wandering thru the web trying to find something political to inspire or annoy me when I was distracted by the news that Sarah McLachlan is recently single. Now I suspect that Sarah is fairly political, she has always seemed that way to me, so perhaps an invitation to come watch the election from the island would still be in keeping with a political blog..........

Green, With Envy

Oh my what a week for folks who are green and I'm not talking about Kermit here. With the campaign only hours old, the new kid on the block has already stolen the thunder. Elizabeth May finally gets an independent to go Green, thus giving the Green party a seat in the house. Of course a seat in the house and the Federal funding that comes with it means that the Green Party is now taken seriously by the political establishment right?

In fact it does. As the story unravels it now becomes apparent that there were two parties trying hard to keep Elizabeth May from taking her well deserved place at the Leaders Debate. Surprising to some, altho not perhaps, on reflection, the two parties working hardest to block her appearance were the Conservatives and the NDP. That the Conservatives were against including someone new in the club should not have been a surprise to anyone. This Conservative Party has been, pretty much since it's inception, a mean spirited bunch with their eyes firmly fixed on the prize - world domination, er, a majority Government. By most people's reckoning the Greens are good for the Conservatives, in that they fracture the Left leaning voters even more, and in some ridings should guarantee a Conservative win. Think 25% voting Liberal, 25% voting NDP, 25% voting Green and 30% voting Conservative. The Conservatives could pick up a seat with only 30% of the vote. And surely there are 30% mean spirited selfish people in every riding? But there is one thing the Conservative party does not want to hear during the debates. A well spoken, intelligent defense of the environment. It would easily show the other parties environmental platforms for exactly what they are - lip service for votes.

The only party that might actually be able to keep up with the Green Party in terms of environmental policy is the NDP. While most NDP supporters see their party as they only "honest" party in Canadian politics, that image was severely damaged by Jack Layton's crawling in bed with the Conservative Party to block the Green Party from appearing. Very bad image that......ooh I need a toothbrush for the brain. However Jack has made his bed and now must crawl into it. I guess he was serious about trying for the job of Prime Minister - he seems to have learned what is needed to get there.

What has surprised me in all of this is how quickly and completely the Canadian public jumped to her defense. Within hours those responsible for organizing the debates were inundated with thousands of protest voices. And those voices cut right across the political spectrum. Canadians from the left, the middle and the right all seemed united in insisting that everyone be heard from. And apart from a basic sense of fair play this does say something else about Canadians. If some leader were to actually put forward a platform that appealed across the board, they could perhaps win an overwhelming majority - one where the majority of people actually vote for something, instead of fracturing into enough slices to let someone with 30% public support rule the world, er, win a majority Government.

Welcome to 2009

Heard talk of a fixed election date being put into law? I thought I'd start there. Here's the relevant text of Bill C-16

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

1. The Canada Elections Act is amended by adding the following before the heading “Writs of Election” before section 57:

Date of General Election

Powers of Governor General preserved

56.1 (1) Nothing in this section affects the powers of the Governor General, including the power to dissolve Parliament at the Governor General’s discretion.

Election dates

(2) Subject to subsection (1), each general election must be held on the third Monday of October in the fourth calendar year following polling day for the last general election, with the first general election after this section comes into force being held on Monday, October 19, 2009.

The full Bill can be seen here.

Welcome to 2009.