Federal Politics – Page 109

Even an elite Senate needs direction.

January 19, 2017 by Peter Lowry

It seems you cannot keep a newspaper person from writing. Even with a sinecure such as a guaranteed salary for sitting in the Senate (until age 75) former La Presse editor André Pratte keeps writing. The past week it was a piece he wrote for the Toronto Star on why an evolving Senate must adapt.

As a so-called independent senator, Pratte might just be biting the hand that feeds him. Mind you, he does say that the institution is changing at “lightening speed.” Whether for the better would be a judgement call. He does say that spending controls are in place—an improvement to be sure.

The only qualification on this lightening speed of change is that they do have to wait until enough senators turn 75 and retire for the independents to really rule the roost. The only problem he notes is that the independent senators are disorganized. Well, what a surprise that is!

Why it should matter is anybody’s guess. Elites in our Canadian society tend to be apolitical. You hardly have time for politics if you busy being an elite and loved by one and all. Elites are typically above the political. They look down on it as a tawdry profession.

And that is who Prime Minister Trudeau is busily putting in the Senate as soon as space is available. Basically, they seem to be people who consider their new profession to be beneath them. Do they only take it for the money?

Back when we had political parties in the Senate, we knew what we were up against. With Trudeau’s elites running the Second Chamber you will never know what you are getting.

It seems that Pratte has found out that the Senate of Canada has considerable powers and he deplores the coming lack of direction without the political guidance that was there in the party senators. He even thinks that this situation needs to be rethought. He does not seem to have any idea how the lack of political guidance can be fixed.

Obviously Prime Minister Justin Trudeau never thought it through either. It was just another thought from the lip. He really needs to book some thinking time into his daily schedule.

And as for writer Pratte, we suggest that he reread George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Finding out why some pigs are more equal than others might help him understand Canada’s Senate dilemma.

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When a friend gives a friend a lift.

January 17, 2017 by Peter Lowry

This is not the prime minister’s problem. It must be the ethics and conflict of interest commissioner’s problem. This commissioner acts independently and reports to parliament on those issues that might involve the ethics or any conflict of interest on the part of federally elected persons. We hear that she is currently looking into a helicopter ride for Prime Minister Trudeau and his family to reach the private island of the Aga Khan in the Bahamas.

Forget the fact that the Aga Khan is the world-wide spiritual leader of about 25 million Ismaili Shia Muslims and he is one of the most progressive (and richest) leaders in the Muslim world. The Trudeau’s spent their Christmas break visiting the Aga Khan—who is a family friend.

And what do you do when a family friend sends a car to the airport to pick up you and the family. You accept graciously. You do not worry about checking first with the ethics and conflict of interest commissioner. It would be rude to the family friend. Do you offer to pay a friend whatever the cost for driver and fuel might be? Really?

The fact that the car in this case is a helicopter is irrelevant. If you can own an island in the Bahamas, having a private helicopter is just a convenience. There is only one major commercial airport for all those islands and having a helicopter is a smart move. And since it is the Aga Khan’s helicopter you would expect it to have both first-class maintenance and maybe even some divine intervention when flying in rough weather.

The ethics and conflict of interest commissioner has a tough job. We often wondered during the Harper years where the line was drawn for the PM’s personal hairdresser. It is certainly obvious that Justin Trudeau does not have a hairdresser, no matter how badly he needs one.

And we also think that the PM and his family have a complaint for the ethics commissioner. It is about the news media. Parliament goes to a good deal of expense and inconvenience to accommodate Canada’s fourth estate. They block corridors, ignore fire regulations, set up microphones where they want and generally create a nuisance. And to make matters worse, when the PM and his family want some private time on a family break, the media are complaining that he must be doing something sneaky and secret.

Christmas might be a Christian holiday but the entire country understands that Christmas and New Year’s are important times to be with family and friends. The ethics commissioner needs to remind the press gallery about their lack of manners.

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Put in a word for us when you see the PM.

January 14, 2017 by Peter Lowry

So, what are you going to tell the prime minister? He’s coming to see you. You just need to contact your Liberal M.P. to get an invitation. He is not coming to our riding. We lost to the Conservatives by 86 votes.

And please do not ask the PM if it is cold enough for him. He is a Canadian. He knows about our winters. Besides, he just got back after he and the family spent some warm time at the Bahamian island of the Aga Khan.

But now it is back to reality and the grind and the PM wants to know what is on your mind. The poor guy has so many newbies in his cabinet that they are not making as much progress as he would like. He wants you to help kick-start them with some good ideas.

And believe it or not, he wants to spend money. Lots of it. He not only promised us a deficit of 180 billion dollars but there is more if you need it. His finance minister Bill Morneau wants us to buy into an idea where we get investors around the world to pay for our infrastructure needs. All these investors with deep pockets have to do is pay for it and they get a nice revenue stream once the idea starts to make money.

One idea is that now—if ever—is the time for Canada to get into the world-wide craze for high-speed rail lines. What we are talking about is getting from Toronto Union Station to Montreal Central Station in one and a half hours. That is far faster than by Air Canada, is more comfortable and does not pollute.

If you like, you can impress Mr. Trudeau by pointing out that we are just about the last major country in the world to join this parade. Tell him that in Uzbekistan, you can get from Tashkent to Samarkand (about the same distance as Montreal to Toronto) by a 250 km/h train.

The beauty of getting people to invest in trains and other forms of transit is that there is revenue flow. It means the investor can be assured of a flow of profit from the investment. Whether the investor is Canadian or European—where there are now hundreds of high-speed trains criss-crossing the continent (and England)—is not as important as our need in Canada to move people and goods efficiently and without pollution.

But that is our hobby horse. It is absolutely beyond us why there is so little progress in this field in Canada—a country that was created by railroads. You might have another idea that could be as good. Go for it. Justin Trudeau has come to listen.

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Concern for Canada’s Conservatives.

January 13, 2017 by Peter Lowry

If we did not have Canadian Conservatives, we would have to import some from the U.S.A. Admittedly these are not the best of times for Canada’s Conservatives. This coming week we will watch their federal leadership contestants mangle the French language trying to measure up to Maxime Bernier and Steven Blaney in a French language debate. Then on Friday, their Republican cousins in the U.S. will inaugurate President Donald Trump. These events combined should set back Canadian Conservatism at least a generation.

As far as the debate goes, it is not a debate. It is a yawn. It would be just as boring if it was in any language. If there are the same 14 people on that stage next week as we saw in Moncton, there had better be a place on the ballot in May for ‘None of the above.’

The American presidential inauguration is, in itself, not a big deal. It is the ceremonial handing over the reins of power from one President to the next. Most people go out and freeze their behinds at the ceremony so they can have an excuse to drink to excess and boogie at the parties later.

The event for Canadian Conservatives a few days before will lack the public coverage of the after parties. The winners will be Bernier and Blaney as they will be boring but understood. The dozen non-Quebeckers (including Franco-Ontarian Pierre Lemieux) will be measured and mostly found wanting. And all that Dennis O’Leary will get for not being there will be ridicule for not speaking French.

Pierre Lemieux (not to be confused with the economist) and Chris Alexander’s problem is that both lost their seats in the 2015 election. They are still a leg up on those competitors who have never been elected.

Squaring off against each other will be MPs Lisa Raitt and Kellie Leitch from Ontario. Raitt has taken a combative stance in the contest and is zeroing in on Leitch’s demand for immigrants being asked about their Canadian values. She also has been leading the attacks on Kevin O’Leary in case he ever gets around to throwing his hat into the race.

We are still expecting to produce our Morning Line on the race in March, once we find out all the real entries. Frankly we are going to have to look carefully at all their workouts and other stats. There are too many of these people who have no performance stats with which to measure them. We might have misjudged Donald Trump in the U.S. race but there is no potential Trump in this collection of Canadian Conservatives.

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Culling Canada’s Cabinet.

January 12, 2017 by Peter Lowry

Cabinet making and cabinet tending are different requirements of a prime minister. Those were sunny days in late 2015 when Prime Minister Trudeau chose his first cabinet. Change can come quickly at busy times. What we have to realize is that his perspective on the need for change is quite different from our perspectives.

Trudeau has direct contact with his ministers while we get most of our impressions through the filter of the news media.

But despite this difference, we can well understand most of his changes. The most difficult for him must have been the retiring of foreign affairs minister Stéphane Dion. While we will reserve judgement on replacing Dion with newcomer Chrystia Freeland, the job could be more of a challenge for her than she expects. Misogynists such as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will tend to ignore her.

And she is following a class act. Stéphane Dion got a bum rap from the Liberal Party and voters. No, he does not communicate well in English but he is probably the smartest foreign affairs minister we have had since the days of Lester Pearson.

Trudeau had to do something about democratic institutions minister Miriam Monsef. Watching her in action has been a bit of a surprise. She has that porcelain prettiness of Persian women without their usual reticence. It was her outspokenness in dumping the blame on the special committee’s report for a lack of direction in her portfolio that got her in the most trouble.

The only surprise was the removal of John McCallum. There was a point late last year when we were curious about the reported comment of the immigration minister that we should go slower on accepting Syrian refugees. That seemed to be the opposite to Trudeau’s gung-ho approach and we were wondering if McCallum’s natural conservatism was running counter to Trudeau’s neoliberalism. Any rift between them could not be that bad if McCallum is now being trusted to handle relations with China as our ambassador. Bejing has the capability of replacing much of the trade we currently have with the United States if Trump foolishly tears up the North American free trade Agreement (NAFTA).

We will have comments on the newbies in cabinet once they have been briefed and ready to talk to the media.

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Let’s march to our own drummer.

January 11, 2017 by Peter Lowry

It was hardly a surprise when the Prime Minister’s Office said he was not attending Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington next week. Frankly, the Canadian prime minister would just be in the way. It was more of a surprise that he would not be attending the concurrent world economic conference in Davos, Switzerland. It seems that our Prime Minister has decided he would rather talk to some Canadians that week.

It reminds us of the 1972 federal election that Pierre Trudeau almost lost because he said he was going to have a conversation with Canadians. It was because of that resulting minority government that Pierre Trudeau brought more political people into his office and gave Liberal organizer Keith Davey his old job back.

But there is no concern over our current prime minister missing Donald Trump’s inauguration and ‘celebration.’ And, frankly, the after parties could be quite depressing. Nor would Trump would want someone younger and better looking to compete with on the inauguration stage. He suffers enough just standing near outgoing President Obama. Obama’s eight years in the Oval Office have certainly greyed his hair but he is still a lot younger than his replacement.

It was quite a reach the other day when a writer tried to compare the impact Franklin Roosevelt had as President of the U.S. to the potential impact of Donald Trump. Trump might be a change-agent businessman but he is a special maverick breed of businessman: a developer. They play by different rules. It is like in the movie business, you are only as good as your last blockbuster. And besides, Roosevelt cared about people other than himself. Many would argue he was the greatest President Americans ever had.

Somebody must have said something to the powers that be in the Prime Minister’s office about the perceived elitism of our prime minister. Last year at the Davos gathering of the rich and famous, Justin Trudeau was the flavour of the month. Maybe there were just too many pictures fed back to Canada of him cavorting with the moneyed of the world. This year, those of us who belong to the hoi polloi get him.

We certainly hope that we will get him more fairly distributed than when the special parliamentary committee on electoral reform visited with Canadians last summer. More than 13 million Canadians in Ontario got a half day visit in Toronto while many smaller provinces got two or three visits.

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Meet the Elites: The Politicians.

January 9, 2017 by Peter Lowry

Sociologists would probably not include this group among the elites but from a political perspective it is hard to deny them. While the elected at the provincial and federal level have obvious influence on our lives when serving in cabinet as prime minister, premier or in a cabinet position, their position as an elite can come afterwards. It is the influence they can wield after they leave office.

Some people could not figure out why former Prime Minister Stephen Harper held onto his seat in parliament so long after his party lost the 2015 election. It was likely the sinecure he had of an MP’s salary while assessing offers. And you can be assured there were many to consider.

Former Prime Minister’s Turner, Mulroney and Chrétien are today earning substantial incomes for just advising clients of their firms. On top of that they are paid generous fees for speeches and talks to business audiences. When you hear that Justin Trudeau earned $450,000 in fees the year before becoming Liberal Party Leader, think of how much he can earn when he gives up prime ministering! (And he is not even that good a public speaker.)

And do not assume that former premiers are treated as lower class citizens. We hear that former Ontario Premiers such as David Peterson, Bob Rae, Michael Harris, Ernie Eves and Dalton McGuinty are all doing quite well, thank you.

Cabinet ministers at both levels have to be more creative but it is probably finance ministers who get the best deals. Mind you it is incorrect to assume that just because a person was known as minister of a particular portfolio that they necessarily knew very much about it.

The guys and gals with the tough row to hoe in parliament and the legislatures are the back benchers. The key to success for them is to pick a specialty and become expert in that field—while all along voting promptly at your party’s call. The specialty can pay off in many ways. It can make your fundraising efforts easier, get you noticed and convince people of your devotion to duty—all good attributes to furthering your career. It can get you into cabinet. It can also get you a lucrative career when you or the voters decide your time as a politician is over.

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

In the quiet before the storm.

January 4, 2017 by Peter Lowry

It is the ho-hum time between New Year’s and the real reasons for having a January. In our area, that just means more damn snow. At least the ski hills are buzzing.

But we want to talk about how we vote and who we vote for and what’s wrong with our constitution. For a political junky, that is our life’s blood. And yah, we know—it’s can be a snore to many. We can read our readership stats and we know that subject can cause readership to plummet. And how can we get people to pay attention?

We spent most of last summer watching the so-called experts talking to the special commons committee on electoral reform. We think they missed the point in terms of what Canada needs but the ultimate committee findings made sense. The committee concluded that more time was needed, more involvement by Canadians was needed and some serious thinking.

The committee made the minister of democratic reform look incompetent and the prime minister look unreasonable. And they are. They were tackling all the democratic reform questions from the wrong perspective.

Reform is a top down process. In business and in politics, anyone can tell you that change has to have strong support. It has to have leadership. (And obviously not necessarily competent leadership judging by Mr. Trump.)

The most difficult problems in our Canadian government are located in the Langevin Block on the north side of Ottawa’s Wellington Street. It is the home of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Privy Council Office. The Clerk of the Privy Council is the number one civil servant in Ottawa. He or she is the equivalent in business of a chief operating officer. The Prime Minister, in turn, is equivalent to the chief executive officer.

The problems were there for all to see during the Harper years. He could prorogue parliament at his convenience. He could make wholesale appointments to the Senate. And just because today there is someone you might like in charge is no reason not to demand the changes that our country so desperately needs.

Reform has to start in the Langevin Block. It was Pierre Trudeau in 1968 who had worked in the Privy Council Office who put the two key offices in close working relationship. It was Pierre Trudeau who also said to CBC reporter Tim Ralfe to “Just watch me” in regards to the lengths he would go to against the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) in October 1970. It was not an idle comment.

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A Second Front to help the B.C. pipeline fight.

December 30, 2016 by Peter Lowry

There are people in British Columbia ready and willing to go to jail in their fight against twining the Kinder Morgan pipeline to Burnaby, B.C. It is an abomination that must be stopped. In turning his back on the environmental concerns, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is guilty of hypocrisy. He has betrayed B.C., he has betrayed Canadians and Liberals.

Canada’s tar sands are a range of threats to the environment. As about 80 per cent of tar sands bitumen is deep below ground and the only way to bring it to the surface is to pump heated water down to the layers of bituminous tar, liquefying it and forcing it up relief pipes to the surface. The sand, sulphur, heavy metals and bitumen contaminated water is then separated and run into tailing ponds that can be lethal to the wildlife of the area. This is just environmental failure number one.

The next problem is that Albertans do not want to destroy their own environment by processing the bitumen into synthetic oil. Attempts at processing have resulted in both excessive pollution and in huge quantities of what is known as bitumen slag. This bitumen slag is carbon, light in weight and will blow away in a wind. You can burn it but it just throws more carbon into our atmosphere.

The easy solution is to dilute the bitumen with hydrocarbons, heat the mixture and force it through pipelines at high pressure. This is how Kinder Morgan hopes to move the bitumen to the ocean port at Burnaby. The question everyone can ask is not if the pipeline can rupture but when?

And cleaning up a diluted bitumen spill is an impossible task. Just ask people in Michigan who tried to save the marine life in the Kalamazoo River. Or ask the people in North Battleford and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan whose drinking water was cut off from the North Saskatchewan River and the farmers who could not let their cattle drink from the river.

But sending our Canadian bitumen to third world countries to be turned into synthetic oil is the greatest failure of all. For Justin Trudeau to posture for the Paris Conference on the Environment and then want to add to the destruction of our environment is hypocrisy.

But about that second front: Are you prepared to take the fight to Parliament Hill? We will need to coordinate with our friends in B.C. but when they block the pipeline in the Rockies, we need to symbolically block the Parliament grounds. Let’s get ready.

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Queen advises: “Take a deep breath.”

December 27, 2016 by Peter Lowry

We can all buy into that advice. It was directed mainly to Great Britain in Queen Elizabeth’s Christmas message to the Commonwealth. It was obviously related to the surprise Brexit vote by Britain earlier in 2016. It is also excellent advice for the rest of the world judging by the recent antics of the American President Elect.

And please bear in mind that this writer is no monarchist. We consider the fact of Canada having a monarch to be archaic, outmoded, restraining and sending a wrong message about Canada to the rest of the world. And that is just part of the problem. While the Queen is a nice lady and takes her job seriously is no reason for Canadians to continue to go along with such an anachronistic and foolish fable.

And for Justin Trudeau to continue the fiction is an insult to Canadians that goes back to the speeches of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in support of the monarchy.

We can no longer band-aid the problems we have with a Senate that does not work for us. We have to have bipartisan appointments to the Supreme Court, not elitist appointments. Some people want to change how we vote but before that happens, we need to decide what positions we are voting for and how the government needs to be structured in the 21^st Century. We do not live in the past and we do not need a system of government that was a best guess of the British Parliament at how we should run our country 150 years ago.

Canada needs to take action to create a democratically elected constitutional assembly that can study these questions with open minds and then come back to the people with a plan to bring our country into the present. And the people can then have their say.

Canada is our country. We build it bigger, stronger and more into the kind of country we want it to be every day with our labor, our intellect, our needs and our wishes. We should always remember that our representatives in Ottawa report to us. We elect them and we can elect those to replace them. Never underestimate the power of the people. And if that thought should amuse you, you should pay closer attention to what happened in Great Britain and the U.S.A. in the past year.

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