Mr. Harper is in Washington kissing American ass
He thinks North America is one continental mass.
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Canada’s Liberal Party, moving right or left?
(A version of this monograph was run January 29, 2010. Not much has changed.)
The Toronto Star ran a series on liberal philosophy that ended with a summation by Tom Kent, the guru of the 1960 Liberal conference in Kingston Ontario. In advocating major social reform such as medicare, the Kingston conference fit the tenor of aggressive social action of the times 50-years ago.
The question is what is the tenor of our times now? First of all, there is the anger and frustrations people feel. Betrayed by the sanctimonious right and then left in the lurch by the left wing of the political spectrum, why should the voters trust them? The growing distrust of politicians has lead to both lethargy and perfidy in voting. Lower turnouts, confusing choices and destructive voting can leave politicians equating the voters with unruly children.
And why should the voters not take it out on the politicians. Banks betray them. Business lies to them. Churches castigate them. Family ties have become more tenuous, easily broken. Who do you trust? Why do you want to trust them? The truth is, in life, we need trust. We need trust to live. Hedonism is lonely. There is no such thing as the truly self-sufficient person.
People used to believe in their church. They used to accept the doctrines but today it is much safer to be born again and connect directly with your God. Priests and pastors used to be there to help you find God but you found out in recent times that there are priests who fondle little boys and pastors who fondle the organist. Connect directly to God and you cut out the weak go-betweens. Unless you think your priest or pastor is God and that leads to all kinds of problems.
It is the same with business. If you put your trust in a company today, it will put you on tomorrow’s bread line.
Are you going to trust a political party that reads the polls and then tells you what you want to hear? Are you going to tell a pollster anything? Least of all, the truth?
Be honest, would you not rather have friends with benefits than a spouse? You will only change that course when you find someone who can hopefully share a family and, at least some of a life together.
And that explains only a small part of the problem. The political party that wants to connect with voters today has to exhibit leadership, direction, confidence, excitement and look good while carrying out its program. And yet, Barack Obama, who excited voters in the United States, is dropping in the polls in a post-coital period of blues. Sustaining the expectations in today’s society is a monumental and, maybe, an impossible task.
Michael Ignatieff is challenging Liberals to think of the party’s future but he also needs to have the party recapture some of its past. For example, it needs to go back to the Kingston Conference to rethink the social issues that the party saw at that time and why the party chose that direction.
It was a different party. It was a party with strength and drive across Canada. It was a truly national party that was built from the ground up. It was not the centrally directed and controlled party of today. It was a party with strong riding organizations, effective regional and provincial organizations, solid policy development at what was referred to as the grass roots. It was a party that recognized the rank and file member as the very essence of the party’s existence.
Regrettably, that old Liberal party is gone. Not that we want to be maudlin about its passing but we do have to be disappointed with the weak, sham of a party structure that has replaced it. It is the same with all parties. They are all run today from the top down. Stephen Harper revels in the God-like control he has on the Conservatives. Even Jack Layton cannot believe the control he has now of the union organizers who always had such control of the old, more contentious NDP. Michael Ignatieff was out of the country during the transition from a strong Liberal party and is still trying to come to grips with this party that he is supposed to control.
Maybe one of the problems Michael is having is that the party apparatchiks around him are from the right wing of the party. Trying to find some left wing liberals in Ottawa is a tough job. People like John Manley who took over the right-wing role of president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives are among those around John Chrétien and Paul Martin who opened the door to Harper’s neo-conservatives. They have left our country floundering in the hands of an economist who in the last election refused to recognize the crumbling world economic problems.
It will only be a rebuilt Liberal party that will enable Canadians to once again have a confidence in politicians. There is a long road ahead……….
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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]
Comment for today.
Why do you write in couplets, my man?
The very easy answer is: Because I can.
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More Bell. More CRTC. Oh well.
The following are the notes for a presentation to the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission on February 2, 2011. Of more than 500 interventions sent to the CRTC, the writer was one of the few who thought it was a really dumb idea. It should also be noted that the writer was one of the very few interveners who had no need to kiss the behind of anyone at BCE or CTV.
Mr. Chairman, Commissioners:
WHEN YOUR HEARINGS OFFICER CALLED TO ASK ME TO COME TODAY, SHE WAS SO ENCOURAGING THAT I THOUGHT I MIGHT NEGOTIATE SOME SMALL BENEFIT FOR MY TROUBLE. I ASKED HER IF THE CRTC NOW VALIDATED PARKING.
WHEN I FOUND IT NECESSARY TO EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF PAYING FOR YOUR GUESTS TO PARK, SHE RESPONDED BY TELLING ME ABOUT NEARBY OPEN AIR PARKING LOTS THAT ARE LESS EXPENSIVE.
I WAS A BIT DESPONDENT AFTER THAT CALL AS I REALIZED THAT IN THE PAST 50 YEARS, NOTHING MUCH HAS CHANGED IN OUR NATIONAL CAPITOL REGION.
IT IS PARTICULARLY DISCONCERTING TO REALIZE THAT THE SAME TERMINAL DISEASE THAT INFLICTED THE OLD BOARD OF BROADCAST GOVERNOURS 50 YEARS AGO MIGHT BE THE PROBLEM WITH TODAY’S CRTC.
AT THE TIME, THE BBG WAS VERY MUCH A CREATURE OF ITS MAIN CONCERN: THE CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION. WE KNEW THAT THIS WOULD STIFLE A NEW AND BURDGEONING BROADCAST INDUSTRY IN CANADA AND AN INDEPENDENT CRTC WAS BORN.
I MAKE THAT COMMENT FOR JUST ONE REASON. IT IS THAT YOU ARE THE REGULATOR. YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO SAY ‘NO.’ YOU WERE CREATED TO REGULATE BROADCAST IN CANADA ON BEHALF OF ALL CANADIANS.
YOU HARDLY NEED A COURT TO TELL YOU WHAT YOU CAN DO. YOU CAN SAY ‘YES’ OR ‘NO’ TO FEE-FOR-CARRIAGE. YOU CAN ALSO STOP THIS VERTICAL INTEGRATION OF BELL CANADA ENTERPRISES AND CTV.
IF YOU SAY ‘YES,’ YOU WILL HAVE REDUCED TELEVISION BROADCASTING AND DISTRIBUTION IN THIS COUNTRY TO FOUR COMPANIES. ARE YOU THEN GOING TO TRY FOR TWO?
PEOPLE AT THIS HEARING ARE ARGUING ABOUT THE VALUE OF THIS TRANSACTION. WHY CAN WE NOT ASK AROUND AND SEE IF ANYONE ELSE WOULD LIKE TO BUY CTV? I KNOW IT IS SIMPLISTIC BUT THE VALUE OF SOMETHING IS BEST DETERMINED BETWEEN A WILLING SELLER AND A WILLING BUYER.
I HAVE SPENT TOO MUCH TIME TRYING TO ASSESS THIS SO-CALLED BENEFITS PACKAGE. IT HELPS TO UNDERSTAND WHO BENEFITS.
AGAIN, AT THE RISK OF OVER SIMPLIFYING, I WOULD SUGGEST THAT SOME OF THE MORE INTERESTING SUGGESTIONS BE GIVEN THE TEST OF CREATING A PROPER BUSINESS PLAN. IF IT PASSES THAT TEST, WHY NOT DO IT? IF IT FAILS THE TEST, THEN ASK: WHO BENEFITS?
THE ONLY ‘BENEFIT’ THAT FAILED THE TEST WITH ME WAS THE ONE TO TURN ‘A’ CHANNEL IN BARRIE INTO A ‘SUPERSTATION’ COVERING SOUTHWEST ONTARIO. THAT IS SAD. THIS IS A PROPOSAL BY PEOPLE WHO FAILED GRADE SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY.
BARRIE IS NOT IN SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BACK DOOR TO THE TORONTO TELEVISION MARKET. I LIVE THERE TODAY AND I CAN TELL YOU THAT BARRIE IS A PARTICULARLY BEAUTIFUL CITY AND, IN ADDITION TO BEING A TOURIST DESTINATION ITSELF, IT IS THE GATEWAY TO ONTARIO’S SUMMER AND WINTER PLAYGROUNDS AROUND GEORGIAN BAY AND IN MUSKOKA.
THIS SO-CALLED BENEFIT IS REALLY ‘GRASPING AT STRAWS’ AS CTV ALREADY CLOSED THE STATION THAT WAS THE LOGICAL SUPERSTATION IN SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO.
I CONCLUDE COMMISSIONERS WITH MY BASIC OPPOSITION TO BCE TAKING OVER CANADA’S LARGEST ENGLISH-LANGUAGE TELEVISION NETWORK.
IT IS A BAD IDEA FOR ONE OF THE WORST RUN COMPANIES OF ITS SIZE IN CANADA TO SPREAD ITS MANAGEMENT VIRUS THROUGHOUT THE CTV NETWORK.
THE LAST INTELLIGENT AND CONSISTENT DECISION OF BCE WAS WHEN JEAN MONTY DUMPED ITS NORTEL STOCK. MONTY WAS ALSO THE ONE WHO SAW THE CONFLUENCE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND TELEVISION TECHNOLOGIES AS THE FUTURE OF BELL CANADA. IT SHOULD NOT BE THE FUTURE FOR CTV.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND ATTENTION.
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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]
Comment for today.
(Pub. Feb. 19, 2010)
Politicians sell the citizens’ assets, no one will notice, they think,
That lasts until the citizens get the bills, then they raise a stink.
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Comment for today.
The Arab world is fighting subjugation,
It comes from having gained education.
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Comment for today.
Bell Canada is offering its benefits package,
So that it’s take over of CTV doesn’t enrage.
If the benefits package did politicians entail,
You’d call it bribery and they’d be off to jail.
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Comment for today.
(First run Mar. 30, 2010)
The Americans have their new tea party, Canada the wild rose right,
They’re built on the ignorance: only people with money have might.
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Self-evident truths in the information age.
The men who framed the American Declaration of Independence understood the self-evident truths of the rights they were claiming. An American black of the time, labouring under the overseer’s whip in the cotton fields of the American south would have considered them be neither truths nor self-evident. Your perception of truths today still depends on your ABC (awareness, bias and context).
It is like what software developers call ‘user friendly.’ A programmer once noted that user-friendly software is a ghost. It is something that everyone talks about but nobody has seen. An even more dangerous word is ‘intuitive.’ Whether something is intuitive or not depends entirely on your ABC. And we have never seen a programmer with the same ABC as a normal user.
Today’s television is a great example of this problem. Take your average wide-screen, high-definition, surround sound system with 800 cable or satellite channels from which to choose. Thank goodness the time on the personal video recorder is down loaded by the cable or satellite company. It would never do to have those machines always flashing ’12:00’ at you. And have you ever tried to reduce the steps required to switch from watching an on-air program to watching a DVD to less than 12 individual steps?
If American Idol was not available on 54 of those 800 channels, people would never find the program they want to watch. Just the mechanics of using the channel guide can leave an adult viewer in a severe hysterical episode. The manufacturers of these systems are not allowed to provide a 12-year old with each system they deliver.
Mind you, all the 12-year olds are busy programming iPods for their elders who think it is cool to have all their music at their fingertips—as long as they do not care in which order it plays.
And the adult penchant for Blackberries is almost without understanding. How can any adult want to keyboard with their thumb nails? We got an e-mail from someone’s Blackberry the other day that read like a very serious and long sneeze. The only appropriate response was Gesundheit.
With the growing involvement of computer chips in our daily life, you have to live with them. The alternative is no fun. An elderly lady once said that the Eskimos had the best idea as they were reported to simply putting their elderly on an ice flow after an appropriate farewell party. With global warming advancing as it is, this might not be today’s solution. No doubt the computer people have already come up with something.
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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]