Election 2011…
As some of you will know, I have been helping to run a campaign during this Federal Election.
From the icon on my Twitter Avi, to my tweets, it hasn’t been hard for people to find out that I am a Liberal… however, I have kept my Blog out of it… feeling that this was not the venue for me to vent, as there are many aspects of this Election that I cannot fathom. (Why Conservative lying is being rewarded… why Conservative and NDP campaign platforms spending doesn’t have to add up… Why people believe that prisons are more important than pensions… Why Canada needs to be at the front of the queue to get untendered fighter jets that aren’t fully developed yet… There are LOTS of things I don’t understand.)
But I have held my tongue.
Partly because I haven’t had time… but also because every day there are so many things I help write. Letters to constituents, speeches, answers to questions… Lots of writing.
We get a lot of letters from different sources: individuals, organizations, charities, groups and clubs. A LOT of letters.
But one special letter came by e-mail yesterday, and it caught my eye:
I am a Canadian grade eight student. In this email I have included an article on the Conservatives, which was written by my mother and I. We have it in two languages: English and Simplified Mandarin. I hope that you would take the time to read it. If you agree with what we have written, please help send it out to all your supporters. By using this method we wish to mobilize all of Canada as well as Chinese-Canadians, who normally do not come out and vote since they have no idea how much impact their one vote can make. They do not know how Mr. Harper is spending billions on fighter jets, cutting down immigration programs and much more. Using this method we hope that we can make all Canadians come out and tell the government what they want and let their voice be heard in the upcoming election.
Thank you very much!
Stephanie W.
Below is her article, which I am posting as a guest post on my Blog:
ELECTION 2011: WHAT’S AT STAKE FOR CANADA
My daughter, in Grade 8, and I wrote this together, because we love and are proud of Canada. As a mother, I teach my daughter that people, not politicians, decide Canada’s future. People vote for Members of Parliament. A Prime Minister has to work with all the elected MPs, including the Opposition that actually represents the majority of Canadian voters. Parliament, not one Prime Minister, represents the people of Canada.
Unfortunately, our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has shown no respect for Parliament, shutting it down twice, and not giving MPs full information on his spending plans. Politicians have bickered in the past, but never before has a government been judged in contempt of Parliament twice.
We don’t want an election, but this one was caused by Mr. Harper’s undemocratic behaviour.
Canada’s priorities should be daycares, a strong Canada Pension plan, a national pharmaceutical drug program, affordable post-secondary education, and help for those in genuine need. This should be at the top of the list: the wellbeing of Canadians.
Instead, Harper wants to spend more than $ 35 billion on more fighter jets and more prisons.
Look at your family. These decisions will affect children, students, and grandparents. If you want the government to have the right priorities, you have to come out and vote. If you think this election is not important, check the Conservative website and see their plans:
- Corporate Tax Cuts
Harper wants to give tax cuts to corporations like banks and oil companies now, and tax cuts for families much later (only when the government budget is balanced, four or five years from now.) He wants to continue to give extra subsidies to oil companies, since he is from Alberta, the home of the oil sands.
Corporate tax in Canada will be cut to 15% next year. This compares to corporate tax of 35% in the US and 25% in China. It is not necessary to keep Canada competitive. It will cost us over $ 4 billion per year.
Mr. Harper says it will create jobs. Most economists disagree. Previous tax cuts resulted only in higher corporate profits and more money for CEOs. Only 6% of corporate CEOs in a Globe and Mail survey said they would use the tax cut to hire more employees. (Globe Report on Business, 21 March, 2011)
- Support for Programs we care about is at risk
Harper plans to cut spending by at least $ 4 billion per year. He claims that he can do this through efficiencies. But when he came into office five years ago, Canada had a surplus. After Harper’s tax cuts, it became a deficit, which he has been unable to reduce. So either he has not yet tried to govern efficiently, or billions in savings can’t be found simply through efficiencies.
Instead, the savings will have to be found through cuts to programs Canadians rely on. But Harper refuses to tell us which ones he will cut.
He has already started to cut funding for settlement services, like language training that helps immigrants get jobs and integrate in Canadian society. The total cut is over $ 50 million across Canada, but over $ 40 million in Ontario. Why does this Alberta-based PM care so little about Ontario?
- What kind of country will Canada be?
Harper wants us to agree with his Every Man For Himself philosophy, based on American values. Before he became a politician, he once told an American audience that Canada was a third-rate socialist country, and Canadians were proud of that. He’s too smart to say this in public now, and the Opposition parties have stopped him from doing everything he wants. But if he gets a majority, nobody will be able to stop him from changing this country in the image of the US.
Look at his policies: he’s like George Bush the Second:
Eliminate gun control (even though Canada’s chiefs of police say it helps them fight crime)
Build more prisons (crime is going down, but he still wants to spend at least $ 5 billion on this – most likely more because he only gave Parliament an estimate and refused to itemize the costs.)
Buy 65 stealth fighter jets from the US (The original cost estimate was $ 16 billion, but experts now estimate at least $ 30 billion – if you want to picture how much this is – think of 30,000 stacks of a million dollars each! That will cost EACH PERSON in Canada $1,000.
Why do we need so many sophisticated fighter jets? Which country do you think we need to attack?
Some people say this election is a waste of time. But we believe Canada is at a turning point in its history. If you want our nation to become more and more like the US, stay at home on May 2 and let Harper get elected with a majority government. But if you don’t want to see the country you love changed beyond all recognition, please vote.
Poll stations are not far from your home. Spare a bit of time to help your country.
If you agree with us, please forward this to as many people as possible.
If you need information on voting, google ‘Elections Canada’
In my opinion, I think Stephanie and her Mom have said what I feel, better than I could say.
On May 2nd, please Vote!
People all over the world are fighting for the right that too many Canadians cast casually aside.
Get involved… learn about the issues… and Vote.
And, if you Vote LIBERAL, so much the better !!!
Thanks !!!
Who Calls Themselves A Guru ???
I’m not a big fan of Titles.
Or, of self-proclaimed experts, wizards or gurus.
Unless you are Royalty, or hold an Official Position in Government, you don’t get to give yourself a Title.
I have always believed that your work should speak for you.
So, I am seriously wondering at the number of Guru’s, Wizards and Experts popping up and popping off about Social Media.
I believe you do your work, and if someone else says good things about you… Great !!!
If you have to give yourself a Grand PooBah title to finesse or trick someone into giving you a job… then you are probably in the wrong line of work.
In Social Media, word of mouth spreads fast. But perhaps not as fast as typing “Guru” in your bio.
Currently, I am trying to pick up the pieces for a client, after a guru has charged top dollar for a dog’s breakfast.
(Yup… small “g” guru… a Title, given to them by me.)
From the post times on the two Facebook pages he “designed”, it took a little over an hour, at the beginning of December, to copy posts straight off the client’s two webpages… another three weeks to make a requested change… (which he only accomplished on one of the two pages) and despite repeated requests and increasingly urgent demands, after six weeks, the client is still waiting for the guru to grant access via admin rights.
Meanwhile, my client has two EXTREMELY expensive, out of date copies of their websites, posted to Facebook, that six friends of the guru have “LIKED”, and no one else in the world knows about.
THAT is just about as good an example of bad value for money, as you can get.
My client went in, and with good faith asked “Can you help us ?” and got a “Yes” in reply.
The actual answer should have been… “Not really, but I can charge you a LOT of money, and leave you hanging while I flounder and flail, because I’m not sure what I’m doing… but a lot of people seem to be making money on this, and I want to get in on it !!!”
A lot of businesses are trying to get onto the bandwagon of Social Media, and that is wonderful. It IS the future, and the time to embrace and protect your brand is right NOW.
However, I am stunned by the number of Twitter Experts with Egg Avitars and mis-spelled Bios… Facebook Whiz Kids who don’t know how to remove or tweak a graphic to make the WHOLE NAME appear… LinkedIn Guru’s who have no profile image or connections…
I’m not saying I’m an expert… I know I’m not.
I know some folks who are experts, and they don’t refer to themselves as experts or Guru or Grand PooBah… They let their work, and their clients speak for them.
In the meantime, there are a lot of folks out there who don’t have references, who are taking advantage of the demand, and taking advantage of their client’s trust.
I don’t like self-proclaimed Titles, and, even more, I don’t like folks unable to fulfill their self-proclaimed Title.
Speech Geek…
A friend recently commented to me, as we sat waiting for a meeting to start… “You know we’re geeks, right ???” I didn’t reply immediately, so he continued, “We are the one percent of the five percent. The five percent is the people who actively care about and follow politics, and the one percent are the geeks, like us, who get involved.”
Well, he was right.
I do like to follow what is going on, and I have to admit, today is a day I have programmed into my Blackberry !!!
The evening of Tuesday, January 25th has been scheduled as “Busy” for quite some time, and I cannot recall (short of a Canucks Playoff game,) when I have so eagerly anticipated an evening’s viewing.
Although I am a Canadian, first and foremost, I am, secondarily, a student of words. I love a well crafted turn of phrase, and amongst the many selections on my IPod, are speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill. People who can, with a whisper draw you in, and with a shout raise you up.
I grew up in an era where Politicians had to have substance, and be able to rally their masses with more than a sound byte and talking points. When people could agree to disagree, but each side would listen to, and consider the other’s argument, before bringing forth a crashing, and hopefully crushing, reply.
Those days are no more. Sadly, most today cannot accept a candidate who does not fit the mould… For rather than forming the Party around the Leader, it seems more and more that, today, the Leader must conform to the Party… And few are able to speak well, let alone with the eloquence, grace and verbal intensity, that SHOULD be intrinsic and second-nature to someone holding the highest Office.
So it is that I have my PVR set, (in two rooms, just in case…) my schedule cleared, and a reminder set in my Blackberry, (in case the cold medications overpower my conscious thoughts.)
The American State Of The Union Address is this evening, and I shall be watching, and drinking from the vessel of speech crafting… Drawing nourishment from the emphasis and elocution of one of the great speakers of today.
Hoping to become inspired to live and be better, by the words said by a man who is not my Country’s leader, but who is a leader, and whose carefully chosen words will probably stand head and shoulders above anything else our Leaders will say this year.
Those with the gift for delivering a great speech, are themselves a gift, and should be cherished and valued as such.
Tonight, I plan to enjoy this present, and cherish it… For it will have to nourish me through a lot of “sound byte / talking point” speeches that seem to be on auto play, and rarely change, despite the constantly changing faces of the ones giving the speeches.
Thoughts on Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day….
I was lucky.
I was raised in a house where love was the norm, and tolerance was expected.
Not only for those in the house… but for others, outside the house… and beyond the borders.
Anger or threatening behavior was not acceptable, and were dealt with and put aside to be forgotten.
Our dinner table, when I was growing up, was filled with all manner of artists, writers, radio folk… people from all walks of life, and levels of society.
As long as the person was similarly tolerant… all were welcome.
Many nights, my Mum would scramble to be creative, in order to make 4 porkchops stretch to feed five or six… as someone unexpected came to dinner
I think I have written before about the discussions around the dinner table… that were far above my understanding… but always, despite the fervor and passion that people often brought to these discussions, never with a trace of anger or malevolence towards someone with a different view or opinion.
I was lucky.
I think about how lucky I was, as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
I grew up in a household where my Dad would cue up reel to reel tapes of speeches that were stirring. I remember Churchill’s “We shall never surrender…” speech being played at considerable volume down in the basement… my Dad reveling in the eloquence and passion of the speakers… the rise and fall of the cadence… not unlike the music he also loved so much.
I don’t know for sure, but must believe that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have also held a position on several reels of tape… having a similar command of language, and understanding of rise and fall… whisper and shout… that all good speakers are able to bring to bear.
But better than a good speaker, Dr King was a great speaker… easily as able to captivate his listeners today, as he was many years ago.
The only thing jarring to my ears is the now rarely heard word “Negro”, which Dr King used, to refer to people of colour.
But it is STILL worth a listen, and every bit as true today, as it was then.
Invoking the words of the Constitution of the United States, and stripping them bare to the essence that the writers intended.
Below, is a segment of Dr. King’s “American Dream” speech.
The speech, in its entirety, is just over 30 minutes, and a wonderful investment of time… as ‘Freedom’ and the fight for equality are just as relevant today, as they were when Dr King first spoke these words.
You can purchase the complete “American Dream” speech, and others, through the iTunes Store: Martin Luther King, Jr. – The Best Of The Speeches
The dream is still out there, and we are still searching for it… but I believe we shall get there.
Making Tracks In Pitt Meadows…
One night last week, my wife and I heard some cats having a major tussle, about 2 am.
Being alarmed that my cats might be upset by the ruckus, I ran downstairs and noted with alarm that the noise was getting louder.
On the main floor, I could now hear that it was coming from the basement, so I ran down, and found our two cats throwing themselves at the basement window, at an attempt to get at a large furry thing, outside.
Having a number of neighbourhood cats that get put outside at night, I thought it was a cat, but as I knocked on the window with the palm of my hand to scare it off, for a moment it looked at me, and I thought I saw the mask of a raccoon face… but it was a split second in the dark, and I wasn’t sure.
The next day, I went outside to look, and while there was no evidence of any animal transgressing our property, there was a gap in the gravel underneath the deck that I was certain had not been there previously. It didn’t look big enough to accomodate an animal as large as i had seen the previous night… but I know from past experience that a large mouse can fit through a dime size hole, and a rat can squeeze through a gap the size of a quarter… so it follows that larger rodents can pass through gaps that look too small to accommodate them.
I took a plastic watering can, emptied out the accumulated water, and placed it in front of the gap under the deck, with the thought that if there was an animal under the deck or one that wanted to get back into the burrow, they would be able to push it out of the way.
And, then the weatherman smiled on me, with a half inch dusting of snow.
In the overnight accumulation, I could see a set of large pawprints, definitely bigger and different than a cat’s paw, defined in the snow. 
It circled around the yard, pausing to look at the watering can, before moseying over to far side of the yard, over the fence, and pausing only to rough up my garden gnome, before going on its way.
Now that I know we have a something… (presumably raccoon) 
…I will have to do some more research to find out what the appropriate steps are.
If it is just a wayward traveller, and passing through, then vaya con dios.
If it is living under my deck… not so much.
That’s the latest going on in the neighbourhood… more updates as I get ’em !!!
Marathons Are Tough…
I just finished a marathon.
My legs are rubbery, and I’m exhausted.
My back is sore, my head aches slightly, and I need to move around to loosen up the stiffness that is forming in my joints.
Perhaps having greater impact, is the emotional path I followed, on the way.
Moments of unexpected laughter… moments when emotions welled up from nowhere… moments of quiet reflection.
I know there were times when I drifted… my thoughts a million miles away… taken there under the influence of something I had seen or heard.
We have all taken quick trips, and for 20 or so minutes, we venture into a different world.
This time, I dove in, and for six hours I travelled, toiling down roads I dared not travel before… each step taking me further along the way, and every picture that flies by, gives me another chapter, a deeper insight into the sights that are now becoming familiar.
Rarely have I come so far, so quickly, and, exhilarated, I know I shall do it again.
This must be the Runner’s high.
However, I know there has been some cost.
I have missed hours of conversation with my sweetie, and my cats are looking at me as if they do not know who I am.
Yet, I am compelled to continue.
Motoring on, as only an automaton can, I feel no pain and will not stop for any reason.
In the words of Simon & Garfunkel… I am a rock. I am an island.
My fluid intake has been substantial, but with my focus intense on my goal, I was blissfully unaware of my need to pee.
My food intake has similarly been substantial, largely consisting of salty and sweet carbohydrate-loaded morsels.
Bowls and bowls of morsels.
Focused on my task, I have remained unaware of my environment, and am only now becoming aware that the sun has set.
I have come full circle, and yet because of the ordeal, have some dis-orientation.
Not dizziness… just a re-acquiring of complete control over my faculties as I depart the world I have been intensely withdrawn in, and acquaint myself again with the real world at hand.
I have come a long, long way today.
Tomorrow, I will do it all again.
Having completed The Big Bang Theory marathon, our nieces have loaned us their copies of the first three seasons of How I Met Your Mother.
Love watching a complete series all at one sitting… it’s awesome !!!