Federal Politics – Page 210

And what is that big idea?

January 11, 2012 by Peter Lowry

One of our favourite news people, Tom Clark, tried to corner Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae the other day on his weekly Global show: The West Block. Tom knew before he asked how tough it is to corner a long-time politico such as Rae. Tom asked Rae what really big idea the Liberals would carry into the next election in three years. He got a glib answer. It was the politically right answer but it left no time for them to discuss where Canada’s Liberals really want to go.

That is hopefully a question that will be answered this coming weekend at the Liberal Party of Canada’s Biennial Convention in Ottawa. There needs to be at least three indicators to be a strong movement in any one direction. The first indicator will be the choice of a new party president. The second will be if the delegates really work at returning the power in the party to the party’s grass roots. The third indicator will be a judgement call as it depends on how heavily delegates side with social democratic type resolutions. The betting is that coming out heavily on the side of a more democratic party, better party functionaries and a more left-wing policy stance will guarantee the party a left-wing leader two years from now.

Once the Liberal Party recognizes that it has to be a left-of-centre party, it can come up with the big idea that enables the voter to vote yes or no. The party tried the middle road through to the last election and all that got them was third place. Nor can the party just be an alternative to Stephen Harper’s miserable Tories. To win the votes of the New Democratic Party and restore the Liberal Party to power, the party must have the new ideas, the confidence and the plan that will restore our country and our people.

Tom Clark knows very well how the Liberal Party functions best. He has covered many party gatherings over the years and he has seen that when the party gets the bit in its teeth, the leader is in for a wild ride. It was Pierre Trudeau and Lester Pearson before him who gave the Liberal Party its head and gained from the policy ideas that emerged and the quality of the candidates who came forward. It was the right-wing leaders–Turner, Chrétien and Martin—who lessened party input and drove the party to its current poor representation in the House of Commons.

It is up to the delegates at this convention, starting Friday, to reset the stage. There are many foolish resolutions on the table to try to distract them from where the party needs to go. They need to choose their battles, choose the party functionaries and the direction that will rebuild the real Liberal Party. We wish them well in their quest.

-30-

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

Paranoia becomes Stephen.

January 9, 2012 by Peter Lowry

It is as well staged as any Eugene O’Neill play. From the point where Stephen Harper enters stage left in Edmonton to bemoan that ‘foreign money’ is holding up the latest effort to move Athabasca tar sands oil to the West Coast, you recognize it as a tragedy in the making. The Greek chorus of news media commiserate appropriately as Mr. Harper tells them that ‘foreign money is trying to hijack public hearings on the Northern Gateway pipeline.’

But Canada’s Prime Minister is on the job. He assures the media that supertankers will soon be carting off that high-sulphur crude to world markets where it will be refined to power other countries economies. Mr. Harper’s Treasurer Jim Flaherty had already assured Canadians that the Chinese do not mind the high-sulphur stuff and the new supertanker port on the B.C. coast will be ready to supply them.

Enter the environmentalists, fresh from their success in holding up the XL Pipeline to the oil ports on the Texas coast. With their Hollywood spokespersons, the environmentalists have already won a victory in B.C. in that there are so many people opposed to the pipeline that the environmental report required by the provincial authorities will not be ready until 2013.

The theatrical tragedy continues to write itself. Those staunch environmentalists at Pierre Péladeau’s Sun Media have already commissioned their own survey that shows that a majority of B.C. residents are in favour of shipping the tar sands heavy crude from Canada. The only surprise in the survey is the curiosity as to where the researchers found people who actually understood the issues involved. One thing for sure is that the B.C. Indian tribes whose lands the pipeline will traverse are not on side.

The Northern Gateway pipeline across the Rocky Mountains is expected to cost at least $5.5 billion and it is believed that it might create maybe 50 new jobs in B.C. (This figure is being disputed.) The Americans investing in Calgary-based Enbridge will certainly make lots of money from the pipeline but it is not clear how B.C. will benefit or how it could handle an oil spill on its northern coast.

But Mr. Harper assures us that the federal government will take a closer look at how it can speed up regulatory processes such as this one. He says it is a big boost for the Canadian economy. Elizabeth May, a B.C. Member of Parliament these days as well as Green Party leader, said, and we quote, “to denigrate it (the environmental protest) by saying it’s somehow a foreign plot to sandbag the process, that’s ridiculous.”

But then Mr. Harper might believe that Ms. May is out to get him also.

-30-

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

Highlighting Harper’s hypocracy.

January 8, 2012 by Peter Lowry

Do you remember an earnest young Reform Member of Parliament urging Canadians to switch to a Senate of Canada that was elected, equal and effective? He was a young and eager guy, calling himself Steve Harper. Maybe he calls himself Stephen now to show that he is a different person. And maybe he has found the senate is a good dumping ground for political detritus.

Apologists for the Prime Minister will leap to his defence on this subject. They will point out that he is honouring his promise to appoint persons elected to the senate in their province. And that is true, to a point. Mr. Harper has finally appointed Betty Unger, whom Albertans voted to be in the senate in 2004.

But what is his excuse for the rest of them? He hardly needs more votes in the senate. He has already crushed those intransigent Liberals who thought the senate was a place of sober second thought (before lunch anyway). If he believes that you can only reform an organization by first destroying it, he has already done that. The senate had been on a ramp down a steep hill to oblivion for many years. There is no work for these seven new people but to vote as Harper tells them.

If Harper was sincere about reforming the senate, he could get his point across much faster by not appointing any new senators for any part of the country that does not hold senatorial elections. Can you imagine, Quebec Premier Jean Charest eating crow and orchestrating senatorial elections to maintain Quebec’s 24 seats in the upper house?

But it would not work. It takes a constitutional amendment to really change the Senate of Canada. And nobody denies that a constitutional change is necessary. The distribution of seats was designed for a country as it was 145 years ago. The West is so badly underrepresented that the senate is a constant insult. Quebec is overrepresented and that province would prefer to keep it that way.

But, as bad as the senate situation might be, it is but one of the problems in governing Canada that needs to be addressed. We have to have a constitutional conference—a gathering of people chosen from across Canada for that purpose. They need to come up with a new constitution for a modern Canada. They need to give this country a new direction. Once they have deliberated and made a proposal, we can all vote on it.

It is time this country grew up!

-30-

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

When the NDP joins the Liberals.

January 4, 2012 by Peter Lowry

A Liberal and NDP marriage is going to happen and we will be better pleased with the new party if we start to plan now. It is not something we should do on the fly. That creates bad marriages. What needs to happen first is that we get the leadership issues in each of the parties out of the way. We need a symbolic bride and groom for this arrangement who we can all respect the morning after. And we need a wedding planner—probably a committee. The nuptials are too damn important to let the bride and groom screw up the arrangements.

The NDP are picking their new leader first. The fact that the NDP will be in the role of the bride in this arranged nuptial does not mean that it necessarily needs to be a female leader but it would help. The role needs the skills of a woman. The key is to be willing and alluring but not to forget the substantial dowry of voters being brought to the marriage. The NDP leader has to be able to negotiate with the Liberals and a union negotiator certainly has a leg up in that regard.

That puts Peggy Nash in a strong position and tells us that it is definitely not in any of Thomas Mulcair’s skill sets. Brian Topp, as a front man for Ed Broadbent as Edgar Bergen, is not in the running either. Neither is politician Paul Dewar able to do the job. He needs more experience than he got at his mother’s knee. A personal favourite is Nathan Cohen from B.C. but he might be considered too easy as he is willing to do the party connection without the sanctity of marriage.

Another advantage for the NDP in this marriage is that the new NDP leader will have time to become a known quantity before the Liberals choose a new leader. And we can only speculate on who will be in the running for the Liberal hot spot two years from now. The worst case would be if Bob Rae reneges on his promise not to seek the Liberal leadership. That would have Stephen Harper running attack ads referring to the marriage of the parties as a same-sex marriage. (He is narrow-minded about that.)

Another problem on the Liberal side is that there are few left-of-centre Liberals left in the House of Commons. Since few were running, more than a million of our Liberal voters switched to the NDP in the last election. The Liberal Party might have to broaden its leadership search outside the current crop of MPs. The new Liberal leader has to acknowledge the need for the marriage with the NDP and speak for the compatibility of Social Democratic and Liberal ideals and policies.

But today, the parties need to be finding suitable wedding planners.

-30-

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

Sir Stephen sets the stage for royals.

January 3, 2012 by Peter Lowry

It has a nice ring to it: Prime Minister Sir Stephen Harper. He might prefer to be made an earl but Canadians would have to check the Internet to find out if an earl was as important as a baronetcy. And it costs much less to honour Canadians with a title from the Queen than it does to make them a senator. We might as well go back to royal honours, since the Order of Canada is meaningless to most Canadians.

Stephen Harper is probably counting on it. After the famous argument between Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and publisher Conrad Black, Canadians probably concluded there was some law against Canadian citizens accepting foreign titles. There is no such law. There is nothing more than the 1919 Nickle Resolution of the Canadian parliament that has been ignored or enforced by various governments as they wished.

But there is a custom that has developed. As the late Kenneth Thomson so elegantly put it: “When in London, I am Lord Thomson of Fleet. When in Toronto, I am Ken.” It is the Canadian way.

Mr. Harper seems to be about to change that. After his government’s test to return the Canadian forces and regiments to their various “royal” designations, he has determined that nobody really gives a damn. Other than the feeble screams and rants of some bloggers and editorial writers, life has gone on. Maybe we ranters and screamers should have emphasized the ludicrous expense involved in this silly action but it is too late now. The dumb deed is done.

The feelers are now out again. The Prime Ministers’ Office is testing the waters. They are checking the optics, as they say. That arch enemy of Liberalism, Tom Flanagan, Stephen Harper’s sage adviser, is leaking to the media the possibilities of Stephen developing stronger ties for Canada with the monarchy. Another visit from the royals is planned for this year to follow up on the very successful honeymoon trip last year with Willy and Kate.

Heir apparent Charlie and his lovely bride Camilla will be visiting this year. Maybe they will bring greetings from the Queen and announce that henceforth royal rewards will once again be allowed for Canadians. Will Canadians be able to contain their excitement? Would they want to dispense with the foolishness of the monarchy when honours could be had? Will a Companion of the Order of Canada feel cheated? Will this writer be recognized as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire? Probably not!

-30-

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

In Carney we trust.

December 27, 2011 by Peter Lowry

As children, we were always excited with the trips from Toronto to Chicago to visit mother’s family. It was the American greenbacks—slipped to us by generous relatives—that impressed us the most. What was of concern though was to note the American money seemed to put in trust with God while the stability of Canadian money was put in the hands of the Governor of the Bank of Canada. Lately, the score in that regard has been Mark Carney: 1, God: 0.

As governor of the Bank of Canada, Carney has an enviable reputation. He has even been loaned to the G20 members as chair of the Financial Stability Board by Prime Minister Harper. It is his control of the Canadian dollar that has most impressed the member countries of the G20.

God’s currency, by comparison, seems beyond anyone’s control. While supposedly under the stewardship of Federal Reserve Board Chair Ben Bernanke, that economist finds that most days, the American buck has a mind of its own. Bernanke’s main problem is that while he has used the money printing presses to try to shore up the American economy, he is much too right-wing in his political outlook. It leaves the Fed Chairman in somewhat a conflicted position.

Mind you, Barack Obama had no alternative to Bernanke. He knew it was guaranteed that he would never get a more left-wing Federal Reserve chair past a Republican-dominated Senate. Being from Alberta did no harm to Mark Carney when Stephen Harper promoted the then Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada to the top job.

Bernanke and the American dollar are on a roller-coaster ride while he tries to find some satisfactory answers to the American economic problems. The Canadian dollar has so-far withstood most of the pressures this causes on the smaller Canadian economy.

But the longer the world-wide economic troubles continue, both Bernanke and Carney will find they have fewer and fewer options left to them. While Wall Street might have started all the problems with the American lack of controls and the uncivilized greed, it is Main Street in every country in the world that is paying the price.

What we must do is start to get ahead of the problems. We must first protect our citizens from corporate gluttony. Senior executives should not be making incomes over ten times that of the average worker. ‘Buyer beware’ is no longer appropriate as a corporate slogan. Corporate citizenship must go beyond the laws. Corporate responsibility is to all countries where the company operates or sells its products or services. Our corporate world serves people—we do not serve the corporations.

-30-

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

A tough 2012 according to PM Harper.

December 26, 2011 by Peter Lowry

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–
And why the sea is boiling hot–
And whether pigs have wings.”

Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter, 1872

And so Prime Minister Harper sat with CTV news anchor Lisa LaFlamme, to tell her of his concerns for Canadians in 2012.

It is all bad is what he told her. The world economy is in the dumpster. His government will make decisions that people will not like. That will be easy for Harper’s government to do because Canadians, somewhat carelessly, gave the Tories a majority in 2011.

Mr. Harper explained that his government will make major reforms in 2012. This will be a continuation of his program to do away with needless programs such as long gun registration, unnecessary statistical information for business, and early release programs for prisoners because he is going to build more prisons.

You could see the determination in Mr. Harper’s demeanour as he said there will be a lot of opportunities for Canadians next year. He was obviously referring to the bottoming of the stock markets and that there are many good buys there for Canadians who happen to have any money left.

As for the government, it might have to cut back on the number of F35 stealth attack fighters it does not need next year, He will, of course, leave this to junior Minister Julian Fantino who knows so much about military aircraft. Mr. Harper has probably told senior Defence Minister Peter MacKay that it would be advisable to cut back on the number of times he can be ‘rescued’ from fishing camps next year. He had no answer for Treasury Board President Tony Clement who wanted to move his Muskoka riding closer to the U.S. border so he could spend some more border money on it. Mind you all of Mr. Harper’s cabinet ministers are in awe of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, in how he negotiates with the country’s Premiers—he tells them.

But then, we all need to listen to Mr. Harper—what is he really telling us?

-30-

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

They want who to keynote?

December 24, 2011 by Peter Lowry

That is it! We are not going. So what? There is no way that we can agree to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty giving the keynote address to the federal Liberal biennual conference in mid January. You need to be some sort of a real liberal to set the right tone for the conference. Dalton McGuinty is not liberal.

Dalton McGuinty is a whig. A whig is a liberal twice removed and 200 years behind the times. If Tiny Tim Hudak had a brain or Andrea Horwath a plan that could work, there is no way Dalton would still be Premier of Ontario.

The purpose of the Liberal Party of Canada gathering in January is to go forward, not backward. This is a meeting where we must deal with the needs of Canadians in the 21^st Century. Dalton cannot get out of the 19^th Century. He knows nothing about the 21^st Century. He thinks electricity is something that comes from windmills and sunlight. He thinks gas fired generating stations can be loaded on a hay wagon and moved somewhere else. He thinks you can solve the province’s medical problems by giving the health portfolio to someone with an I.Q. of more than 80.

Canada needs to know that it is going somewhere besides all-day kindergarten. It believes in our right to a family doctor—of our choice! It wants medicare to mean something besides more user fees. Canadians think adding HST to other gas taxes is pushing a bit too far.

Why were we under the impression that the keynote address at the convention was to be a scholarly discussion by Adjunct Professor Don Tapscott from the University of Toronto? Anyone who could encourage the delegates to think ahead, think broader and advance the party’s position in the political spectrum is most welcome. Not having heard a lecture by Professor Tapscott, we are open to finding out what he has to say.

What Dalton McGuinty has to say is another matter. The other day we heard some talking heads on a news program speculating that the real opposition to the Harper Tories in Ottawa would have to come from the provinces. That is a lot of pressure to put on Jean Charest and three new Premiers. Dalton has his hands full in Queen’s Park.

-30-

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

Who wants to be like the Conservatives?

December 22, 2011 by Peter Lowry

How soon we forget our roots. Outgoing Liberal Party President Alf Apps is asking the grass roots of the Liberal Party to approve a $2.5 million call centre in Ottawa. Liberals will get to vote on this foolishness at their biennial conference in mid January. It shows just how far from a reformer, Alf has travelled since the 1980s.

When we first met back then, Alf was the angry young man, tackling the ‘non-elected’ managers of Liberal politics. His notoriety assured, he slipped into the same conservative mould as what he was complaining about. Alf became ‘they.’

Alf now wants the Liberals to have Conservative Party style phone banks. He wants to be just like them. He wants a centrally controlled party to make the decisions, commit the funds and run the country. And he is asking the people, whom he does not trust to do the job, to approve his plan. He is like a dictator saying vote for me or else!

The party gathering should tell Alf to ‘stuff it.’

What Alf does not seem to understand is that the Liberal Party has—or can create—a call centre in every electoral district across Canada. It has had them before and they work better than the call centres working currently trying to get the Liberals a million bucks for Christmas. Liberals respond best when it is someone they know who is calling and is identified with that area of the country.

Does Alf want a call centre that, when it has nothing better to do, makes spurious calls to a riding telling people their MP is resigning? Does he think that is worthwhile?

Alf is concerned that the Conservatives have raised almost three times as much as the Liberals in the past year. The one thing for sure is that Alf seems to have skipped his classes on basic marketing. (Sorry, Alf is a lawyer. They usually know nothing about marketing.) The Conservatives had something to sell.

The Liberals are selling nothing but a big red tent that anybody who does not want to be identified as right or left can get under. They have to get rid of the tent, move clearly to the left and stand for something. That is what this biennial conference has to achieve. At least the people Alf complained about in the 1980s were achievers!

-30-

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

Beatifying St. Stephen II.

December 21, 2011 by Peter Lowry

There is a very elaborate and cautious process involved here and nobody rushes these things. The Roman Church does not undertake the creation of a saint casually or in any way spuriously. Saints are sacrosanct. The process can take hundreds of years. That is why the beatification of St. Stephen II will not be an overnight sensation. It took a long time for St. Stephen I, the first King of Hungary, who brought Christianity to the Hungarians, to be recognized as a saint. You have to figure it will take a lot longer for Canadians to really appreciate St. Stephen II, who brought the blessings of Western Conservatism to the benighted of Canada.

It all started with the musings of Rex Murphy of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation fame. Speaking on the National news program a while ago, Mr. Murphy revealed that it might not be Stephen Harper who is the extremist on political matters. Mr. Murphy posited that it could be Mr. Harper’s detractors who are the extremists in these circumstances. Maybe it is Mr. Harper who is getting a bum rap.

It was because of this revelation from on high—and a most unlikely source—that the Roman Church sprang into action. In a country such as Canada it is a serious problem to have such a paucity of saints. In Italy, you have a saint for almost every 678 people while 33 million Canadians have to share a very small number who have made it into the charmed circle.

And while the prospective saint, Stephen Harper has not particularly proselytized Catholicism to Canadians, he has certainly done a fine job in scaring hell out of the godless naysayers, communists, gays, environmentalists, fallen women, liberals and other left-wingers in Canadian society.

And nobody appreciates this more than the Roman Church—the bastion of regression in Canada and around the world. The public relations people have been telling the church leaders for years that they need more positive role models. It is not enough to have Jesus on side; he is from too far in the past. Who today wants to listen to a guy in a long flowing dress. You need role models that people can relate to in modern times.

You need more Stephen Harper’s on side. Make him a saint. He will be dead when you do. He can hardly object. You could make his saint’s day around July 1 to stir a little patriotism. This guy has potential. So what if he is not Roman Catholic?

-30-

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