Well here we are at the end of yet another year and our beloved Conservative government has gone to the Governor General (Michaelle Jean) to ask her again to prorogue parliament. The last time Steven Harper did this was to avoid a confidence vote which would have ushered in a coalition government between the Liberals and the N.D.P. This coalition did with have the approval of the block Quebecois and the promise of letting them govern for eighteen months before they would consider voting against the coalition. During the time off while parliament was prorogued the Conservatives launched a massive ad campaign to denounce this coup d'etat as a over throw of our government. The reality however, was that this was totally legal and in fact Steven Harper was engineering a coalition of his own back when Paul Martin and the Liberals were in power. Unfortunately the media and pretty much all the journalist neglected to discuss that very much all they seem to do is side with Steven Harper and repeat or trumpet his message that those dam Liberals were trying to steal power away from him. Steven Harper seemed to think that because he won the election with 37% of the vote, that Canadians wanted him to be the leader. This advertising campaign went on for weeks and every poll and every news cast seem to re-affirm this belief, every talking head or political analysis repeated what Harper was saying. By the time parliament did re-convene, Canadians were led to believe that this was bad for the country(roughly 60%against to 40%for) and the Liberals under (Micheal Ignatieff) scrapped the whole coalition idea. Also Ignatieff scraped it because now that parliament was prorogued the only way to go forward would be a non confidence vote in the spring budget, which would lead to yet another election. In my opinion the Liberals had neither the money nor the confidence that Canadians knew enough about their new leader Michael Ignatieff, so rather than going into an election the Liberals insisted that the Conservatives include in that budget spending provisions (The Canada Action Plan) that would help Canada get out of this world financial crisis and set up a series of reporting periods that must be met to show how the infrastructure spending is doing. Ya what the media and journalist seem to report little about is that this whole coalition was caused by Harper releasing a budget that included no plans to combat the global financial crisis, instead he attacked a couple of social programs and revoked the public funding for political parties. What the media focused on was the party funding and little was said about the fifty billion plus dollars needed to help our economy get back on its feet.
So now another Prorogation of parliament and already the media is parroting the P.M.O.'s message that this is a just a routine occurrence in parliamentary process, however that is a lie. Prorogation is used to end the session after everything needed to be done is done or closed to being done, and on special occasions where the Prime Minister believes that it is a necessity. Prorogation is not to avoid confidence votes, like the last time, or to avoid court orders from committees, like the one from the Afghanistan committee that requires the government to release the documents from the detainee issue dating back to 2006 until now (not backed out). This government is so slippery, I believe they will probably get away with this and our media will play an important role in its execution. No wonder Canadians are more and more less interested in Canadian politics, the crap that goes on is depressing. However, now more than ever Canadians need to stop listening to the bias media and investigate more for themselves, get to the bottom of every truth, do not let journalist get away with regurgitating the politicains pollished talking points or their carefully constructed message. I read a good blog on this today by Red Torry ( I tried to get the whole link thing happening but, not), anyways the post is a clip of a journalist holdiong the Rebublicans to account for the lies they have been spewing for the last week regarding President Obama, its a very good post.
Kelowna B.C.

Thursday, December 31, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas
Well Christmas day is here at last and what a wonderful Christmas it has been, good family fun, good food, even the dog seems to be having more fun than usual. The only thing that could be better is to have the entire family here and not spread out in multiple cities, oh well, thank god for technology. You know I really enjoy the love people share at this time of year and the efforts people go to in order to contact friends and family, I only wonder why do we make these efforts only once a year and not more often. It seems at though the various charities do the bulk of their campaigning at Christmas time, do people need these charities less at other times of the year? To me I wish we could have the same generous attitude at Easter, Canada Day, Labour Day, or Thanksgiving Day, heck maybe we could be more generous on every full moon of every month, I guess that's going a little far. One thing for sure is, that it is nice that during this time of the year when it is generally colder outside that our charities can provide blankets and warm clothes, warms meals and some times a shelter to sleep in for the people who have no homes and can't afford a good meal. It's nice that we have people who organize giving gifts for that time of the year when families that don't have a lot to spend on gifts for the children, who for the most part don't place a lot of importance on toys ( it's seems like they know when there isn't enough money), but they sure do enjoy the gifts when they receive them. It's nice that when a family that does get over burdened with expense, that they at least know they can go to a food bank and have food in the fridge for this time of year. I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to live a life outside of poverty and each year at this time I really become thankful of the life I have (more so then normally). However, each year I say to myself that I should do more to get involved with more charities and ya sure I donate a little money here and there, but the closest I've ever gotten to actually getting fiscally involved with doing something concrete, well a couple of years ago I read that book "Giving" by Bill Clinton ( a great read), I need to do more this coming year for helping out in my community and get more involved period! I guess I have found a new short, medium, and long range goal for the new year. Anyways Merry Christmas and hopefully everyone has a splendid time.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Post Copenhagen
Well the Copenhagen Climate Conference ended on the weekend with nothing more than a Treaty that hopes to deal with the problem in the near future, and sets money aside for developing countries to combat climate change. I think the conference was a failure because the Copenhagen Conference was the fifteenth so far and way back at conference number seven in 2005, they had a legally binding contract called the Kyoto Accord one hundred and eighty seven countries or states agreed to lower green house gasses by 5.2% of 1990 levels. Sure the Kyoto Accord did not have hard targets for big emitters such as the United States, China, or India, and a few other developed nations, but in my opinion and the opinion of many others, Kyoto was the starting point at which countries could adjust targets and ratify objectives. None of that happened, now four years later, people were looking for a new accord, one that included everyone and one that made targets extremely soft. On a positive side they did agree to set aside money for poor developing countries to build new environment friendly technologies (ie: wind turbines and solar panels). The one thing that really upsets me about this meeting is that Canada played a obstructive role and made no attempts to continue to lead in this forum. Our government was on record months before saying that they didn't think anything would be achieved from the Copenhagen Conference, what an utter disappointment. Countries around the world now view Canada as a country who doesn't believe in global warming and as a country who has no intention of doing anything about it. I have now changed my profile picture from a Canadian flag to a picture of Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes) peeing on a picture of the world and a sign that says "I am Canadian" Again what a disappointment!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
What a Wonderful World, Let's Keep It That Way
Well it's been a while since my last post on this political blog, I believe it's because of feeling so helpless and insignificant when it comes to having any say or input into what happens here in Canada with our politicians. I have made several comments on many other blogs but have written nothing here on Frankly Canadian's blog, so time to get back to it and make another go of it. Last week and next week is the United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen Summit, and yesterday alone the city had over ten thousand protesters who want our leaders to stop talking and farting around and start taking immediate action. There is a group (Avaaz) who send out weekly e-mails and organize protest throughout the world and they have over three thousand candle light vigils set up for Saturday night as well. I started thinking how easy it is to feel insignificant and how important it is that people around the world don't feel helpless. I also started to realize that their are people around the world who believe they can and will make a difference to create positive change in our world. Throughout history the people have come to a boiling point and began to take charge and instigate the changes necessary, the results of these changes have given us a society we can all be proud of. When I look at how President Obama was elected and how he himself symbolizes the whole idea of "The Audacity Of Hope", I realize the people truly do have the ultimate power. When I see that no matter how big the corporations get and how much they influence our media (newspapers, radio, television, and now news feeds on popular web sites), and when I see how much these same big corporations influence our political process and the politicians themselves, I realize throughout history the people do have the ultimate power. I am a witness to how things change when people begin to rebel, they organize and protest, they make movies and write books, they do what ever they can to instigate change. I have began to realize no matter how helpless and insignificant I feel, that I too can have a part (even if a small part) in the change taking place. I can blog or comment on a blog, I can write the newspapers in the opinions columns, I can take part in some of the events taking place, even if all I do is talk about what needs to be done, I still have a part in instigating change. I do believe we live in a wonderful world and we need to insure that it continues to remain a wonderful world.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thats January 2009 in the books
Well that’s the first month gone by for this year and a somewhat eventful one at that. President Barack Obama was inaugurated and proceeded to get busy immediately revising some of the bad legislation that George Bush imposed. That included the closing of Guantanamo Bay prison camp, which is good because their were people being held in that prison without trials for years and years without even being charged, the proper place for this activity is in a normal court of law! He also made it legal for each individual state to legislate it own vehicle emission standards, George Bush prevented this and the auto makers will finally have to keep up to the foreign auto plants who make fuel economy and emission their priority. Another thing he did just the other day was to make a new law that enabled women the right for fair and equal pay, Obama really does have values that reflect a Liberal attitude. Contrary to this new American law for women’s rights our Conservative government led by Steven Harper introduced his new budget for 2009, and in it he outlined the fact that the Canadian law for women’s fairness and equity would no longer be a legislated matter and instead is up to each women to barter and negotiate. Wow that just shows the difference between Liberals, who look out for the rights of individuals, and the Conservatives like George Bush and Steven Harper who look out for the interest of businesses and that "old boy's" club mentality. Speaking of that new budget, on Tuesday it was officially released and man o man what an expensive budget. This budget puts us on track for a deficit of over 85 billion dollars over a matter of 4 or 5 years, that’s the same debt we had over twenty years ago, the last time a Conservative government was in power, Brian Malroney. The Liberals had to vote yes to this budget because of the complete and utter chaos that our parliament was in, having being prorogued and all. Other countries were the governments could or would not take immediate action on the financial crisis surrounding all of us, have either been over thrown or their is rioting in the streets, countries like Iceland, England, France, Italy, Spain, ect. Anyways the Liberals did the right thing by not voting no, the budget will pass and some of the much needed money that has been allocated to infrastructure spending will be spent and that puts Canadians back to work and off of E.I. They also added an amendment that requires the Conservatives to report back quarterly to show how all this money and plans have helped the economy to get back to normal. I do not agree with most things in this budget but the need to get things started right away far out weigh the need to get all the details in order. The N.D.P. are really mad about the Liberals decision to support the budget because Jack Layton was hell bent on forming a coalition government and he used the agreement he had with Stephane Dion as the sole purpose to oppose everything and anything that Conservative government said or did, at the end of the day it is the N.D.P. who look childish and no cooperative. I hope under the new leadership of Michael Ignatieff that the Liberals do get back into power, and quickly, because it always seems to be the Liberals who are financially responsible and they do look out for the vulnerable and the minority groups. I think that us Canadians have the reputation in the world for being polite, pleasant, tolerant, and leaders in equality, is because it has been a Liberal government in power here in Canada for about 90% of our existence as a country. Sure they have done some things wrong or their had been corruption but every government has that, no one is perfect and the good things far out weigh the bad things with the Liberals. Anyways that’s the post this week, I have been clipping out the various infrastructure projects slated for the Okanagan and I will be following up on what government spending is done here and how many jobs it will be creating, I look forward to blogging about that.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
New Budget Deficits
Well my second blog of the year and a lot has happened since last weeks post, Barack Obama was sworn in as president, our Conservative government leaked out the budget numbers before next weeks presentation, and both my N.F.L. teams were eliminated from playoffs. I am absolutely ecstatic with the fact America has a black president, but more elated that his values are so aligned with just about every reasonable human being on this planet. I believe he is going to be a great leader that the whole world will benefit from, he has already started making positive changes and he’s only on his second day.
Anyways I am trying to keep this blog related to Canadian politics, so I will voice my opinions about the projected deficit that the government figures it needs to spend to help out with the recession. First of all I can not figure out why there is such a hubbub about how and where they will spend the stimulus package, when in fact every municipality across Canada has many project to fix, enhance, or create infrastructure. We all know that working on new roads, bridges, highways, rail systems, parks and pathways, schools and universities, community centres, sports complexes, these all create jobs, and jobs generate taxes which in turn give the government more money to work on more infrastructure, which well we know creates more… I have made some comments on various blogs with regards to the thirty plus billions in deficit that Steven Harper has put in his budget and has projected that this recession will last for five years, WOW!
I find the circumstances surrounding this budget to be quit concerning, sixty four billion dollars over two years, and an increase of thirteen billion dollars spent on the daily operations of this government? I question if that amount will have any substantial long term benefit to our Canadian economy, or will this just be an exercise of futility. This type of spending over five years brings us to the same type of debt load we had almost a decade ago? The Conservatives have done very little to enhance Canadian investments and in fact with the income trust fiasco, have in my opinion done more to hurt our economy during the last three years. I’m not sure that the thirteen billion dollar increase isn’t because of their mismanagement, and that the remaining twenty one billion will only go to more public announcements and political posturing that have little or no action. Since the economic statement and the proroguing of the house, all they have been doing seems to be related to the publics perception, that they are consulting with all the right people who will advise us properly the way through this mess. If I remember correctly, during the election campaign last September, Mr. Dion was criticized by Mr. Harper that the only plan or strategy he had was to consult with business leaders and provincial leaders to make a plan, that was four long months ago. What has Mr. Harper been doing for the last four weeks?, exactly what he was criticizing Mr. Dion for suggesting. I don’t know but more and more I’m feeling that Mr. Harper has not only lost the confidence of the house, but also my confidence as well.
Anyways I am trying to keep this blog related to Canadian politics, so I will voice my opinions about the projected deficit that the government figures it needs to spend to help out with the recession. First of all I can not figure out why there is such a hubbub about how and where they will spend the stimulus package, when in fact every municipality across Canada has many project to fix, enhance, or create infrastructure. We all know that working on new roads, bridges, highways, rail systems, parks and pathways, schools and universities, community centres, sports complexes, these all create jobs, and jobs generate taxes which in turn give the government more money to work on more infrastructure, which well we know creates more… I have made some comments on various blogs with regards to the thirty plus billions in deficit that Steven Harper has put in his budget and has projected that this recession will last for five years, WOW!
I find the circumstances surrounding this budget to be quit concerning, sixty four billion dollars over two years, and an increase of thirteen billion dollars spent on the daily operations of this government? I question if that amount will have any substantial long term benefit to our Canadian economy, or will this just be an exercise of futility. This type of spending over five years brings us to the same type of debt load we had almost a decade ago? The Conservatives have done very little to enhance Canadian investments and in fact with the income trust fiasco, have in my opinion done more to hurt our economy during the last three years. I’m not sure that the thirteen billion dollar increase isn’t because of their mismanagement, and that the remaining twenty one billion will only go to more public announcements and political posturing that have little or no action. Since the economic statement and the proroguing of the house, all they have been doing seems to be related to the publics perception, that they are consulting with all the right people who will advise us properly the way through this mess. If I remember correctly, during the election campaign last September, Mr. Dion was criticized by Mr. Harper that the only plan or strategy he had was to consult with business leaders and provincial leaders to make a plan, that was four long months ago. What has Mr. Harper been doing for the last four weeks?, exactly what he was criticizing Mr. Dion for suggesting. I don’t know but more and more I’m feeling that Mr. Harper has not only lost the confidence of the house, but also my confidence as well.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
New Year & New Goals
Well here we are at the beginning of a new year and time for "new year resolutions", some people like to call them resolutions, I prefer to call them GOALS. I don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t do drugs, don’t have any bad habits to speak of, ok I swear a bit now and again, and I can lose my temper somewhat, but nothing major or anything like that. Oh and the whole procrastination thing, well I definitely need to put that down for a immediate short term goal! My last blog was back in September while were in a federal election (again!), by the way my guy lost again and yes were stuck with this lying right wing nut job who has the mass media in his back pocket. On the topic of that procrastination thing, well we are already half way through the month and I'm only now putting together my first post of the year here, mind you I have posted a new blog on my other and more personal site. I have being active with my comments on a variety of blog sites so far and I continue to frequent the C.B.C. news comment section to recommend and evaluate different comments. This year I do intend to put more effort into increasing the frequency of my post, and man as I think about the various things to blog about, their are so many; election results, a new party leader for the Liberals, Barrack Obama wins and the ongoing results of that as they pertain to Canada, the ongoing problems in the middle east and Israel, and the economic atmosphere here in Canada and how that may effect the rest of the world. Some of my other goals are to; find more time for reading, to get more involved in community volunteering, and of course more physical fitness activities, and yes less procrastination.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)