Category: New

Are you old enough to remember when children sang the ditty: “The 24^th of May, the Queen’s birthday. If we don’t get a holiday, we’ll all run away”? Or if a bit younger you might remember it as “The 24^th of May, firecracker day. If we don’t get a holiday, we’ll all run away.”

The Harper Conservative government chose the eve of this celebration of Queen Victoria to announce that the royals are again coming to visit their Canadian subjects. Queen Elizabeth and her husband intend to so honor us. There are many Canadians who do not share in the enthusiasm for this outmoded demonstration of fealty. It is not only inappropriate in the 21^st Century but it sends a very wrong message to everybody as to what we are as Canadians.

The fact of being a Canadian sovereign is based on the law of primogeniture which is no longer valid law in most of the world’s jurisdictions. It is a law that passes all possessions and titles to the eldest male offspring. It is not even valid in Canada. It would be impossible, under Canadian law for the Queen’s son Charles to claim her estates, possessions and bank accounts without a specific will provided by her to that effect and with agreement by her husband and her other children. As for her titles, there is no provision provided for their transfer under Canadian law.

While our laws allow the monarchy to exist, it is, at best, a polite fiction. You are not supposed to tell people that because it is considered rude. Those of us who have served the Canadian monarchy (in the right of Canada) in various capacities, ranging from police and jurists to the military and to privy counsellors have had to swear allegiance to this mystic Canadian phenomenon. It is assumed that this allegiance is quietly voided once your term of service expires—with the exception of privy counsellors who are appointed for life.

But in this time, in this century, in this modern world, the monarchy makes no sense. It should no longer be countenanced or even quietly ignored. Try explaining the law of primogeniture to your daughter and you will deserve the kick in the shin she should give you. Try to explain why the guy with the big ears is prepared to take over as King Charles III and you will be considered ridiculous by a kindergarten class.

Nobody but the most foolish despots and business tycoons try to pass power from parent to offspring today. Does Kim Il Sung’s leadership of North Korea being passed on to his son Kim Jong Il inspire confidence in that country?

Fairy story time of kings and queens, princes and princesses is over. Canada needs to strike out boldly to create a new future. The first step is to structure a constitutional assembly. This must be an elected assembly that reflects its electors. It will need time to consider the future, discuss alternatives and to choose a path. Whatever the assembly decides then must be approved by a clear majority of Canadians after a reasonable period of discussion and consideration. What is decided might become a model for the rest of the world.

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They used to say that the Liberal Party campaigned on the left and governed on the right. It used to be true. When it failed was during the short tenure of Paul Martin as Canada’s Prime Minister. After the damage done to Canada’s social programs when Martin was Jean Chrétien’s finance minister and his so obvious ties to the business community, he had no credibility with which to campaign effectively from the left of the political spectrum. The voters would not buy it.

Since the days of Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Liberal Party has tried to sit broadly across the middle of the political spectrum. It enables the party to attract both left and right wing candidates, supporters and voters. The party tries to be all things to meet the wants of the voters but slow enough to implement change to please the most stolid of the right wing. As a provincial party leader once explained to a group of unhappy left wing members of the party, no policy was going to happen unless both the right and left wings could flap in unison.

For a left-wing thinker such as Herb Gray, who gave 40 years of his life to Canada’s Parliament, the rate of change was glacial but he never lost his humour or his belief that the party could meet its commitments to people. The same could be said about another long-serving left-wing Liberal, Lloyd Axworthy. Lloyd did much to meet the needs of the people in his riding and across Manitoba. These parliamentarians believed in the promises of the left.

But where does the Liberal Party stand today? There seems to be a question mark. And it falls on Michael Ignatieff to clarify the question.

Despite sporadic voices calling for a merger with the New Democratic Party, there is no clear movement in that direction. When Stéphane Dion tried to form a coalition with the NDP, along with the support of the Bloc Québécois, it was never clear whether Michael Ignatieff rejected the coalition because he was more concerned about being seen out and about with the NDP or taking help from the Bloc.

The time has come Michael to state your intentions.

A merger with the NDP is not the be all and end all for the problem. The party could lose two right wing supporters for every staunch union person being dragged kicking and screaming into the den of the enemy Liberals. What such a merger can do is return credibility to the Liberal Party. Social solutions can be promised by a clearly left of centre party and social solutions can be implemented by the party when in power.

We can have a national daycare program. We can strengthen medicare. We can work towards a guaranteed income for all Canadians. We can make things happen.

It is really up to you Michael. If you fight Stephen Harper on the right of the political spectrum, he will laugh his way back to the Prime Minister’s office with a clear majority. Fight him on the left—with the NDP on side—and you will have an opportunity to lead Canada into a greater future.

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The Harper Conservative government has to go. Now. The divisiveness, the bitterness, the confrontations and the sleaze of today’s Ottawa are an embarrassment for all Canadians. Nobody deserves this type of government. It is time to do something.

Michael Ignatieff, pay heed. You cannot allow the Harper Conservatives to continue to reign. They are dragging you down to their level. They are dividing your party. They are belittling you and the rest of the House of Commons. They are harming Canada’s reputation among civilized nations. They are hurting women and minorities in Canada and around the world. They will do anything; lie, cheat and steal to stay in power. Their agenda is of power not people. Their tactics are division not inclusion.

Michael, please do your part. Get out in front and lead. We will do our part in the ridings, getting rid of as many of Mr. Harper’s more disgusting supporters as we can.

And you can tell this country that we are getting out of Dodge and Kandahar just as fast as we can get planes there to pick up our troops. If one more Canadian life is wasted in that God-forsaken, opium-farming country, do not let it be your damn fault.

Get us into an election and you can talk to Canadians about jobs. Not retail jobs. Not jobs for kids to nuke hamburgers. Talk about real jobs. That is what is needed and that is what our government has to encourage and nurture.

You can do more about the environment than any air-head who thinks that is the only issue. That smirking Harper thinks he is above talking about the environment but you have to stop him and his friends from fouling our air and our water and our farmland and our food. Our environment is not here for individual profit. It belongs to all of us and to future generations. This country is too precious to rape for coal for the Chinese and oil for the Americans. Either harvest resources with respect for our land, for our seas and for our air or do not take them at all.

Harper and his minions are going to tell Canadians that they have solved the economic crisis but the indicators are that the financial world is still much too fragile. You have to tell the world that Harper’s laissez-faire economics do not work. There have to be rules. There have to be controls. We have to have people who can enforce the rules. No matter where people locate their money, they have to pay their share of taxes. They have to obey the rules.

It’s time to move to the left Michael. Business no longer calls the shots. We have to welcome the NDP into a Liberal Party that works for people. We have to believe in national daycare. We have to be in front of a guaranteed income for Canadians. And dental care and a health plan that includes the prescription drugs people need. There is a special club in the Liberal Party, Michael. Its founding members included people such as the late Pierre Trudeau. We called it the Get Off Your Ass club. You can join.

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