The Lousypoet

So I find myself on the fence in regards to the Olympics. Following Twitter and friends on Facebook, you’d think Canada had found the cure for cancer during the opening ceremonies. Sentiments such as, “I’ve never been prouder to be Canadian” were fairly common. Though I did get a laugh out of the few people who pointed out the particularly phallic nature of the large ice sculptures.

Similar sentiments of national pride erupted when Alexandre Bilodeau won the first Canadian gold medal on native soil.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand feelings of national pride. I’ve even felt similar feelings as I’ve watched the Canadian Women’s Hockey Team destroy every team they’ve faced. But there needs to be some perspective here. Being proud of your countrymen and their accomplishments is admirable. Being proud that we are hosting these games and that in spite of Mother Nature’s lack of cooperation, the events are still taking place is a perfectly fine feeling. But to have these games and any of their results be a source of your greatest sense of pride in your country? That seems to ignore the numerous accomplishments this young nation has managed.

When I first saw the poem by Shane Koyczan performed at the Olympic opening ceremonies, I had what is probably the typical Canadian response, which was, “should we really be bragging?” But after the outpouring of national pride over medals, I gave this poem a closer listen. I realised, that this is in so many ways why we should be proud. And does the poem contain a single “proudest moment?” No. Which is as it should be. No nation, not one that seeks to grow, learn, explore, and be more than it was yesterday, should have any one proudest moment. It should have a string of events and accomplishments that weave a tapestry of pride and joy.

You know what makes me proud when I watch the Olympics? That the stands are filled with people wearing Canadian flags, who shout and cheer when our nation does well, and all of them are different colours, ethnicities and backgrounds. It is a testament to our nation’s ability to take the numerous and disparate and create a country united. We don’t always get things right, and there’s always going to be someone that has to ruin the party, but in general, we are making strides that the world as a whole is failing at. In most major Canadian cities, there are Mosques, Christian churches, Synagogues, Hindu temples and all other manner of religious houses, all within walking distance. Do we have jihads every day? No. So if Canada can make it work on a local scale, perhaps there is hope for an international model.

The Olympic Games are just that, games. Whether we win or lose, means nothing to the greatness of our nation, or the superiority or inferiority of any other nation. There is skill, but there is also luck involved. Be proud when the home town team is doing well, but when they lose, admit that we got beat fair and move on with life. Don’t forget that pride though, because there are so many other things to attach it to; accomplishments realised and in progress that deserve to ignite our patriotic flame. Canadians do patriotism so badly. We really need to work on that….

You know, I have to give it to Stephen Harper. After running up a deficit of over 50 billion dollars and sitting on his ass for most of the worst of the recession before even acknowledging that it was happening, he has now decided to do something to help.

He’s providing jobs for people to search out bad quotes by and about Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. He’s then employing several employees to splice these together in several 30 second ads. He’s then supporting local television networks by paying them to play said ads.

Good for you Stephen. Way to spend your money and help keep a few Canadians in a job. Hell, maybe you even made three or four jobs with these ads. Way to show true leadership in these trying times. Certainly when Canadians are losing their jobs and feeling generally lousy about themselves and their nation, it is time to start throwing the muck. We all need to have our government show us how to tear a person down. Next time my job is in jeopardy, or people are starting to question my decisions, I’ve now learned from you Mr. Prime Minister, that my natural reaction should be to show how much worse someone else is, so everyone forgets about me. I might just get myself some job security. Thanks for the positive role model Stephen!

Vote Green Party in the next federal election. Forget the Conservatives and the Liberals. They’re all a bunch of criminals and ego maniacs that don’t give a damn about any of us.

You can see a how Stephen Harper is helping some web designers stay in business over at http://ignatieff.me/

Honestly, I was not a huge fan of Harper to begin with, but this crap just leaves a bad tast in my mouth. I’m not saying Ignatieff is all that, but is this really the time in the life of our country for this kind of smear campaign? We’re not even in an election!

I’m not much of a political genius. Nor am I an economic guru. But this article at the Toronto Star about the upcoming Ontario budget really impressed me. I asked in my earlier post, Where is Canada’s Obama? and I’m still waiting. As this article points out, our recent federal budget could have been full of transformational ideas. It could’ve been the stimulus to propel Canada to new places. But instead, we had promises of a bunch of money thrown about that will probably do little to help the economy, our future, or more importantly, the common Canadian. I love how governments talk about needing people to spend to boost the economy, and then they give us an average tax break of about $140 a year. Woohoo, with that big money I can feed my kids at McDonald’s one time extra every two months. Will this help the economy? If they want to really boost the economy, why not pay down peole’s mortgages? I mean, what is the dollar value of the outstanding mortgages in this country or the United States? I can tell you this, my mortgage being paid off would result in an extra $1000 in my pocket every month, and I might just take a vacation, or have some more dinners out, or maybe buy a Blu-Ray DVD player. But so long as that mortgage saps half my paycheque, those things are not going to happen. But this is a purely personal desire.

What I would like to see from my government, and what is more realistic, are budgets that truly lay the groundwork for the future. Let’s see more tech and development. Let’s see more green types of industries. Let’s give poorer families a real chance at sending their kids for post secondary education. And for goodness sake, let’s look at overhauling our healthcare and numerous other government service structures so that they run more efficiently, are cost effective, and deliver better services.

Given the current economic situation it seems a forward looking government could get away with far more now than they could at any other time. Why not seize that chance?

So the association of Banks asked the Ontario government to cut corporate taxes in order to “help stimulate the economy and save higher paying jobs” yeah, theirs. I’ve not been a huge fan of Dalton Mcguinty, but I’m glad he had the balls to call the banks on this one. I’m glad he looked them in the eye and said, hey, if you’re so worried about the economy, why not pass along the full extent of the lower interest rates set by the Bank of Canada? And I’m saying, why not invest your billion dollar profits into the economy instead of hoarding it for yourselves and paying yourselves six figure incomes with even six figure bonuses! The fact is, businesses are only looking out for themselves. They want government help, in other words, money from us tax payers, and then they want to further rape the tax payers’ wallets with ludicrous fees and interest rates.

The big three car manufacturers aren’t looking to truly save themselves. If they really were interested in saving their ass, they would take 10% off the wages of the highest earners in the company, sell their private jets, fly econo class, and forget paying any kinds of bonuses. But we all know this isn’t going to happen. No, the rich will continue to get richer, and do it all on the backs of the average tax paying citizen. They aren’t truly interested in saving their companies, or stimulating the economy, they are only interested in saving their own pay cheques and their own standard of living.

I’ve got a simple plan. Fire all the top executives who fucked these companies up, save several million from their salaries, and replace them with a committee of average working, average paid, joes who will worry about putting the company right, not just their own bank accounts.

Now, I know this is an over-simplification. The numbers speak nothing but doom and gloom if we lose the jobs supported by the big 3 auto makers. But if they’re going to get money, it better come at a damn hefty price to them. They should be forced to cut the costs of their vehicles to the consumer, they should be forced to give up their perks, their bonuses, and take a salary cut at the top. And there should be guarantees as to plants remaining open. Why should we Ontario citizens give an automaker money just so they can go move their plant to Mexico?

We’ll see how this global recession plays out. This may be the catalyst for change. Perhaps our world is transitioning towards 2012, just like all the Mayan calendar watchers have been claiming. LOL, we’ll see…

So I was mentioning in my previous post that a contender for the Liberal party leadership is Michael Ignatieff. For fun, and because I like to be informed, I’ve been doing some reading on the man who may very well become the next Prime Minister of Canada. I have to say, I am impressed. Aside from being a writer of renown, this is a man who truly seems to understand the world, and I get the impression that he might just have some vision of Canada that will propel us forward instead of being stuck in the mire we currently find ourselves in.

If you’re interested in Michael Ignatieff’s official stands, go visit his homepage at http://www.michaelignatieff.ca/en/. You can even register with the Liberal party so you can have a say on the future leadership of the party.

And if you don’t trust the man’s own words, give him a Google, there’s lots of interesting reading.

So the Governor General prorogued parliament. This is not all that bad.

For one, it allows the government a chance to put together an actual budget that might help Canadians and Canada, instead of just kicking other political parties in the balls and pretending like we haven’t just had the worst job loss rate since 1982.

Also, it might mean that it gives the Liberal party time to get Stephane Dion out of the leadership and put someone in who might be more capable of actually running the country with some strength and dignity if the coalition does take power. I’m putting money on Michael Ignatieff.

While I’m not thrilled that we have almost a month and a half without any decisive action to help our economy, I really wonder if the coalition could do anything truly comprehensive any faster even if they had taken power tomorrow.

I still find it funny how so many Canadians act like this is such an outrage. This is just as much the fault of voters and our political parties as anything else. I mean, if Stephen Harper were a better, more charismatic leader and his party more active and reactive to the situations in the world, they might have managed a majority which would’ve prevented all this. The fact is, this is a political move. This is a last ditch effort of the opposition parties to prevent Stephen Harper from succeeding in saving the country and therefor assure himself a majority government next time we go to the polls.

But given the somewhat disgraceful way that all parties have handled themselves, should any of these leaders be given their kick at the can with a majority? I’m hoping Michael Ignatieff, who has acted with some calm and poise during this past week, will bring the needed decorum to the proceedings and manage to win back some trust. Maybe he can even clean up the Liberals, who went from being the party of choice for most Canadians to a complete disorganised mess. The simple fact is, these people need a strong leader they can get behind and stick with that person. Their infighting is an embarrassment, and frankly, who wants a party running the country when they can’t keep their own party in line. And I like the Liberal party generally…

We need a unifying force. We need someone with true vision and the strength to pull it off and pull it off right. We need someone who will put the betterment of Canadians and Canada ahead of their own goals. In other words, we are going to be sorely disappointed for some time.

Right now we have a ruling party that is most interested in keeping power and doing everything they can to strengthen themselves. On the other, we have a bunch of other parties that are acting like the little punks in the schoolyard that talk a mean talk, but fall apart when they’re called on it. Where is true leadership? Where is someone who will make Canada great again?

This isn’t rocket science. This country is composed of brilliant people. Someone has to have some good ideas on how to fix things. Why aren’t they being listened to?

I’m really fed up. I hate the Conservatives, I have no faith in the coalition. I don’t see things getting better for an all too long while. So depressing…

So much has been said and written about the current goings on in Ottawa these past few days. If for some reason you haven’t been following it, or aren’t Canadian and just haven’t heard, the opposition parties, including the separatist Bloc party, have signed an accord to bring down the government and that they will form a new coalition to govern the country.

The timetable is that on Monday, they intend to hold a no confidence vote, which will defeat the government, since it is a minority government (meaning they do not hold a majority of voting seats in the house of commons), and once the government is defeated, they wish for the Governor General to install their coalition as the ruling party of Canada.

Now this is constantly being painted as a “crisis” and many Canadian people are up in arms stating that this isn’t what they voted for. The interesting thing is that, while maybe individually we didn’t vote for this, as a country we did. Our political system has had, for the 140 or so years that it’s existed, always contained the possibility for no confidence votes. It has always contained the possibility that a new coalition government could take power, and we, as Canadians, did, as a majority, vote to not have the Conservatives as our ruling party. I think this happens to have people in a panic because coalition governments just have not been a normal thing in Canada. I think I read somewhere that the last time it occurred was 97 or so years ago.

The simple fact is, this is all about political maneuvering. Canada, like most of the world, is facing an economic crisis. Everyone is well aware of this. What the political parties of Canada are also aware of, is the fact that whoever guides Canada successfully through this will most likely form the next government of Canada. This is pretty simple. People want stability, they want a government that will provide them with security. Whoever proves they can do this will easily get a majority government the next time we go to the polls. The parties all know this. And as they watch Stephen Harper, they realise that if they do not act, and he is successful at getting Canada through this, he will most likely win a majority next time, and the other parties will be powerless to stop his partisanship governing ways. They see this as their window of opportunity. And maybe, just possibly, some of them believe that they truly could do a better job of guiding Canada through this.

Much of this stems from the government’s recent economic statement. The Conservatives used this as a means of telling the other parties that they are going to reduce, or eliminate, the public funding of elections. While the Conservatives have enjoyed much wealth from private donations, it would effectively mean that some parties would not be able to mount a campaign. So many of Canadians see this move as a purely selfish measure by the other parties to secure their funding. However, what people fail to realise is that the economic statement also failed to do something that is fundamentally needed at this time, which is to address how the government intends to address the economic crisis. In this sense, the opposition parties are justified in stating that they have no confidence in the current government. How, as Canadians, can we? Our Prime Minister has attended several high level meetings of world governments to address the global economy, he told us that it would be necessary to take “drastic steps” in order to secure our own economy (many people interpreted this as to mean going into a deficit), so where was the plan when it came time to discuss the economy? Need I remind that this is the same party that didn’t bother to release a platform until after the debates, which was only a week or so before we went to vote! They seem to be resting all too much on their laurels.

Another sticking point here is that in order for the new coalition government to stand, it has to rely on the support of the Bloc Quebecois party, which is a party that stands primarily for the separation of the province of Quebec from the rest of Canada. They are a seperatist party that only runs in Quebec, and therefor in many people’s views, does not represent Canada as a whole. While this may be true, I might point out that we did go through a period where the Bloc was the official opposition party. Did we all burn in hell? Did the country fall apart? No, actualy, the Bloc was quite effective in the role. The simple fact is, it is quite interesting really to see the Bloc in this role. They are a seperatist party, that is now being forced to be at least somewhat, of a nationalist party. This, to me, provides an incredible opportunity. If the seperatist party can be shown to work hand in hand with two other nationalist parties, does this not bode well for Canada remaining as a whole? In a sense, this coalition government is more representative as Canada as a whole than almost any other single party has for many years. The simple question is, how long can it last?

I suppose the other issue is Stephan Dion. The man has been generally seen as an ineffective leader. In fact, he would only be Prime Minister until a new head of the Liberal party was elected in May. Then, if the coalition still stands, we would have a new Prime Minister, who has never been voted for. But this happened recently at the end of the Mulroney years. He resigned while the PC party was still in power, and his successor Kim Campbell became Prime Minister for several months until the election actually occured. I think the Conservatives had done this as a way of test driving Campbell to see if she could engage Canadians who had come to dispise Mulroney. She failed miserably and the Conservative received a crushing defeat. I think the Liberals are playing the same game. Once again, if their new leader guides Canada through the next year and a half or so successfully, proves himself a valuable and effective leader, then it is entirely likely the Liberals could return to power.

But all of this rests on the decision of the Governor General. In our political system, she is charged with ensuring the continued operation of the government. If the no confidence vote occurs, she can either allow the coalition to run, or she can order an election. If she goes with the election, it is likely the current negative backlash could blow up in the faces of the coaltion and we could see a Conservative majority. If, however, she accepts the coaltion, they will get their chance. And then it is theirs to blow. However, there is also the option that the Prime Minister will request to prorogue parliament (effectively it would cause parliament to cease until a specified time). No parliament session, no vote. This would allow the governemnt to put together a budget that could possibly tame the coaltion. After all, if the coalition’s stand is that the government must fall because of their delay in addressing the economy, how can the coalition argue this if they are presented with a budget that addresses the issue. Not to mention that if the budget contains lots of gimmes for the average Canadian, it will leave much bitterness towards the coaltion if they tumble the government then.

There are so many twists and turns here. I think that is why so many people are anxious, because there is no clear path. I’m sure even the Governor General is scratching her head, because there is no clear path for her either. She has options, and none of them are proven to truly be better or more appropriate than the other. At this point, I don’t think she will prorogue parliament. I think that would be seen as a favouritist act and an abuse of the government’s power. Instead, I think she will let the vote come to be. And, given the resentment Canadians showed during the last vote, I think she will give the coalition their shot. After all, our system exists to support this. We vote, and once we have voted, our choice of who controls parliament is gone until the next vote. It is in the House of Commons that who is leader is decided. If the House has lost confidence in the current leader, then it is the right of the House to defeat that leader. And, in tandem with that, if the House as a majority has confidence in a new leader, they have every legal and constituional right to put forward that leader.

Whatever happens, this is an interesting time in Canadian politics. I am only sorry that we do not have our own Obama waiting to take the reigns (you can see my lament about that in this previous post). I can only truly hope that whoever remains in power does so truly looking out for the interests of the average Canadian, and is not just maneouvering for the sake of their political party.