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.

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.

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.

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.

More Campaign Videos From The Liberal Team

Here are two more videos from the campaign trail of Stephane Dion, the first one talks about the retro fitting of homes to make them more energy efficient: http://www.liberal.ca/video_e.aspx?channel=5 These policies of the Stephane Dion's Liberals translates to job security for me and thousands and thousands of people here in Kelowna who rely on a strong housing market. I for one will definitely take advantage of the incentives to enhance my house with new technological advancements, for example the solar powered hot water heater. I also think the fact they have a plan to help all Canadians with the burden of high energy cost, so that no Canadian gets left behind (a REAL Canadian value). Kudos to you Stephane Dion, today's announcements have solidified my vote and will help me convince everyone else I talk to, to give their vote some real thought. http://www.liberal.ca/video_e.aspx?channel=5 I believe that Canadians will begin to see Dion and the Liberal team as a smart innovative team with much higher moral standards than that of either the Cons. or the NDP. As the election progresses Canadians will no doubt tire of the same old childish back lashing and fear mongering taking place now, and when they realize that Stephane Dion has not change his strategies at all or hasn't had to fire any war room executives or taken any web-site advertising down, none of that. The Liberals have been doing the same thing since early summer, getting out and meeting Canadians, one on one if they have to, all in order to educate Canadians and lower scepticism regarding the Liberal platform of a fairer, richer, greener Canada, and when they the people have spoke the party that truly wants their vote listens and adjust to better enhance the policies. I have noticed in all the elections I've seen, that when Canada is fed up or mad at a party, they throw them out fast and furious. When this happens to the Cons and we realize the reason will be for the same as when we threw out Brian Mulroney ( I would imagine Harper will try the same old sue Canadians for 50 million/ settle for 2 million game on exit), I don't think we will see the likes of another Conservative government for an extremely long time. Unfortunately most of the economist and environmentalist agree that any delay to stay with world trends will indeed have grave consequences for the future of our nation (maybe we could join Quebec as a nation), as we will be perceived as another American proxy vote on the world stage. Anyways going back to my original statement, I do not believe Canadians will continue to let this assault on our Canadian political process take place at the hands of the media and a mean and fraudulent Conservative government. As for how Dion communicates, I want our P.M. to be intelligent and thought provoking not a fined tuned used car salesman. Since when did being a polished personality become so important to Canadians, from Chrétien to Laurier, their have been many rough around the edges Prime Ministers with various flaws. As Stephane Dion said yesterday " Steven Harper may speak better english than me but I speak better about the truth in both english and french.

I Like the Liberal Team

With the election in week two, I am not surprised to find the mainstream media to be pro conservative and very negative to Stephane Dion and the Liberals, so I have decided to post various Liberal news clips, short videos, and advertising excerpts where family and friends, and now others can see them. I think it may be time to link my blog with others so people can see some of the positive things the Liberals stand for. Thank you for taking the time to have a look at what I feel strongly about our planet, our democracy, and our freedoms to live our lives the way we should be living - protective of our planet and mindful of all its inhabitants. Today's first video is of Stephane Dion talking on his plane after the first week of the election. http://www.liberal.ca/video_e.aspx?guid=34A0B038-C3AD-4491-B268-8EDC2167F1A0

Media Influence

I have noticed that more and more bloggers are talking about how the media is being completely bias and what we can do to correct this behaviour. It has been suggested that their be a watch dog office to investigate which papers or news companies are proclaiming to be non partisan while leaning heavily one way or another, however I believe it would be easier to make it mandatory for each author or journalist that puts there name to an article to also include who they support politically. I remember in the last federal election of 2006 the C.B.C. did a meet the candidates segment, where the idea was a great tool to introduce each party leader to Canadians via our biggest and most viewed evening news broadcast, the actual interviews were appalling due to the blatant partisanship. Steven Harpers interviews were always pleasant and jovial, the N.D.P. also seemed to have non confrontational interviews as well, on the other hand the interviews with Paul Martin were a constant attack about the sponsorship scandal and no talk of policy or anything else. This could have had a much fairer outcome had the journalist/ interviewers had stated their political preference right from the start, most Canadians do not follow every detail of politics and tend do be easily guided in their discussions by someone they trust nightly with their news. I have also heard Rex Murphy talk on his show about his long and fond friendship with Peter McKay father and his family, I would love to hear at the end of each thursday night show a quick blurb like "this is Rex Murphy and I support the cons". In order for the media company to be held accountable for being non partisan they could easily count how many reports have Cons/N.D.P./Liberal Party affiliated with them, and as for if a reporter/journalist seemed to be dishonest, they could have a complaint mechanism in place. Anyways this is a great topic as these are the items we need to talk about in order to correct the issue of our media being infiltrated by big business and their political puppets. By the way 11.6 billion dollars per quarter (Shell Oil's 2008) buys a lot of publicity in all shapes and sizes and it also buys politicians, something to be concerned about just look south and ask weather or not the Iraq war was started for oil or not?

One of the comments I made on Liberal Arts and Minds blog this week was in regards to media coverage and the stupid stories the Conservative get coverage for and how important issues such as a "Green Shift Plan" gets very little and how that influences voters. The Comment I made went as follows: Unfortunately these are the stories the media give the air time to and the numerous announcements made recently to the various provinces not held by the cons. This is exactly how a band of clowns like this get elected, they manipulate and lie to fool the average Canadian who only watches the local nightly news and maybe reads the weekend newspaper. The one thing I truly hope the Liberals understand is that our elections are fought and won through the media. When a media mogul like say a Oprah Winfrey get behind and more than supports a candidate like Barrack Obama, this begins to shift momentum and when more and more popular people begin to jump on board, well then... What Stephane Dion needs are some high profile celebrities to discredit what the Steven Harper messages/lies are. We saw a little of this when we had the likes of Lynn McDonald and Judge Reid Scott and David Suzuki promoting Stephane Dion and his visionary thinking with regards to the "Green Shift Plan", However the Liberal Party needs to get more high profile people and get that into the evening news and weekend newspapers. There should be enough celebrates that this government has jerked around in the last two and a half years, getting some of them to come out and support Stephane Dion should be easy. The biggest problem still exists that media coverage in this country is persuaded by true blue conservatives such as Peter Mansbridge, Rex Murphy, and Lloyd Robertson. The average Canadian doesn't keep up with all the bills introduced by this government that change our way of life, they don't know the outrageous lies that they tell daily they don't follow the blogosphere to get the truth and facts, they will need to see these on T.V.
Another Comment I made on Garth Turner's blog was with regards to weather or not re are ready for an election right now, it goes as follows: The longer the current cons stay in power the worst off Canada is on the world stage, on global warming, on our own dependency for fossil fuels to drive our economy, for our own federal economy(not just certain regional economies) on our federal unity, on our civil liberties, on what it has always meant to be a Canadian (for the last 141 years). The answer to the question is YES WE NEED AN ELECTION A.S.A.P., that being said The Honourable Stephane Dion has shown some real wisdom, leadership, and patience to refrain from triggering an election to date, the cons have an abundance of money and all the facilities at their disposal to fire up the slogans and propaganda machine. With absolutely no help from the N.D.P. to get rid of this clown and his band of merry men, in fact Jack Layton seems to play directly into Harpers hand on almost every issue, Mr. Dion should continue to use his wisdom and the strength of his team to go when the time is right. Mr. Dion has been put in a very difficult place however, if we do not go to an election right away, the environment suffers, if we go now and the cons bags of tricks and bribes proves to be too much to win the election for the Liberals, then the environment loses for ever. I believe the world needs the old Canada back and Canadians need to get back to what being Canadian has always meant!