The Politics of Respect

As Stephen Lewis said in his eulogy “To hear so many Canadians speak so open-heartedly of love, to see young and old take chalk in hand to write without embarrassment of hope, or hang banners from overpasses to express their grief and loss. It's astonishing.”

It was indeed, I am not a particular supported of the NDP but both Jack;s words in his final letter and Stephen's words in the eulogy struck a particular cord with me and, judging from the reaction to both, I am not alone in that!

“ Jack, I think, tapped into a yearning, sometimes ephemeral, rarely articulated, a yearning that politics be conducted in a different way, and from that difference would emerge a better Canada.

That difference was by no means an end to rancour, an end to the abusive, vituperative practice of the political arts. The difference was also, and critically, one of policy -- a fundamentally different way of viewing the future of Canada.

His remarkable letter made it absolutely clear. This was a testament written in the very throes of death that set out what Jack wanted for his caucus, for his party, for young people, for all Canadians.”

So many of us are sick of the way our politicians behave, the divisiveness created by inflexible party lines, the constant slagging of the other guys ideas and proposals that to hear a call for respect and “an economy that would embrace equity, fairness, balance and creative generosity.” at what was undoubtedly one of the largest public morning for a leader in some considerable time was perhaps just what we needed to give us new resolve to change things for the better.

“Jack understood that we are headed into even more perilous economic times. He wanted Canadians to have a choice between what he described as the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and an economy that would embrace equity, fairness, balance and creative generosity.”

We can but hope that the rich and powerful, those politicians with the power to initiate change (at least one of whom was present during the funeral) and those who sit across the isle in the House are as moved by these words as I was. Unfortunately I suspect few of them will be.

“We're all shaken by grief but I believe we're slowly being steadied by a new resolve and I see that resolve in words written in chalk and in a fresh determination on people's faces. A resolve to honour Jack by bringing the politics of respect for all, respect for the Earth and respect for principle and generosity back to life.”

Thank you Jack (and Stephen) for your words of encouragement and guidance, as the Reverend said “the torch has been passed” now it is up to us.

“Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world...................

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

Jack Layton 1950 -2011

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Elections Canada Report

I will briefly return from my summer hiatus to bring a couple of things to your attention, first up a few things from the recent report by Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand. 

( stat_report2011_e.pdf )

Much has been said in the past about the cost of an 'unnecessary' Election when it seems that some use this as an excuse to NOT hold the government of the day to account by going to the people before the next scheduled date, well folks at a cost of just $12 per person it seems to me that taxpayer cost is NOT a factor in such decisions. The now defunct per vote 'subsidy' was minuscule by comparison but I am sure that Harper will find a way to also cut the budget of Elections Canada to his advantage. I suspect that the cost to political partys and their supporters, particularly that spent on negative TV advertising, is much more of a factor. Unfortunately such choices are no longer available federally.

With the Ontario election period not even started yet we have already been bombarded with negative ads (supposedly from 'citizen groups') the cost of which must run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Seems the success of such tactics by the Harper regime has been taken note of by the provincial back room boys!!

The second piece of news is the ongoing study of moving towards on line (and / or other electronic voting methods) for the next federal election. Much has been said on both sides of this debate both in regards to federal election as well as provincial and municipal elections, I will not repeat it all here. I will however say this:- I believe it is inevitable, will indeed increase the citizen participation particularly amongst the 'younger' crowd and a secure COMMON system should be developed for all such elections. That said there is, as I see it, one major hurdle to be crossed that being 'verifiability', the ability to do a recount of the votes in the event of any problem (or perceived problem) with the software, hardware or personnel involved, and I do mean the actual votes NOT what the computer SAYS are the votes. This all goes to our confidence that the system cannot be corrupted and that our votes are indeed counted as cast. Perhaps some kind of computer receipt that can be recast in the event of problems or other feedback mechanism can be designed. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this initiave.

And lastly Elections Canada has also released the official poll by poll results of the 2011 federal election for those that wish to see where withing their riding they won or lost support, not that it will have a lot of validity in either the upcoming provincial election or the next federal election some 4 years up the road. Available at http://www.elections.ca/scripts/ovr2011/default.html

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Democracy Under Fire Surrenders!

After a a few weeks reflection I have concluded that the fight to protect our democracy must continue without my weekly posts for a while. As have many others, I have found recent events both depressing and disconcerting and must take some time to absorb the ramifications of the Harper regimes majority. I therefore will be only posting an occasional article here in the coming months whilst we all see if our fears come true. In my previous post I made some predictions which turned out to be mostly wrong, in the hope that I will this time be totally wrong here then are my predictions for for Canadian politics in the next few years.

The 'New' Harper Regime will increasingly restrict access to information and control what and when Ministers, MPs and Civil Servants can say to the press and the public. The Parliamentary Budget Office will, with the non renewal of Kevin Page's contract, turn into a mouthpiece for the governments latest budget spin, the existing staff will all resign. Numerous reports and inquiries will simply die a slow and quiet death in committee having been blocked by the conservative majority, the few that make it through will be so gutted as to be meaningless. Election financing will, as promised, go through major changes, the per vote funding will be gone, corporate donations will be reinstated and limits for individuals will be raised, the taxpayers will continue to 'subsidize' both individual and corporate funding to partys far in excess of the amount previously designated to the per vote funding. We will all be subject to mail-outs, television advertising and newspaper articles telling us how great the Harper regime is doing on an ongoing and regular basis all paid for out of general revenue, the conservative party war fund will be built to the point that during the next election they can 'buy' enough publicity to totally overwhelm any other partys attempt to get their point of view before the public.

In there efforts to ensure that they, and only they, will be heard rules will be put in place for future debates which will eliminate all but the largest partys by seat count from such public discussions. Harper will build his new media center, will not answer questions either there or in the HoC lobby, or anywhere else for that matter, but simply issue pre recorded propaganda from his control center. The press will continue to print or broadcast this spin for lack of any other information available. The PMOs budget and staff will continue to expand whist all other departments will see drastic cuts, watchdog departments and committees will be particularly hard hit. Auditor-General Sheila Fraser's replacement will not be nearly as open & outspoken and will take most of the next 4 years struggling to get accurate information and fighting for authority to investigate various government agencys.

Harper will be returned for a second majority before enough of the voting public wake up to get out and vote him out. Electoral reform choices will NOT be put before the public in 2015 despite an ever increasing call for such a referendum by both the public and most political partys. It will be at least a decade before such changes take place.

There – 100% wrong, I really hope so, but I fear all too many of these things will come to pass and there is NOTHING we can do to stop it short of taking to the streets, which of course will give Mr Harper the excuse to bring in more draconian police powers and justify his expanded U.S. Style prison system.

And that my friends is why I will be ceasing to produce further articles on this blog for the foreseeable future, I simply see no point in flogging a dead horse. I may pop back from time to time to point out a particularly egregious hit against our democracy but there are a number of bloggers far more active and informed than I doing a fine job of doing that, I hope that, unlike I, they have the fortitude to continue to use the internet to spread the word ....until that too becomes 'government' controlled!

Thank you for your time, I'm done for now.

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