Posts Tagged by politics
Where Is the Recalibration?
| 3/4/2010 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics, Harper |
Well, I’ve read through the Throne Speech which was delivered yesterday. I’ve read some of the commentary which has appeared this morning in reaction to it. For the most part, they are echoing my thoughts as I read through the speech, where exactly is the recalibration? There was very little real focus or meat.
I had the sense that the speech came about from a brainstorming session around the Cabinet table on how many buttons could they find to press in a bid to make Canadians believe this government has a real sense of need and direction. The point form results was then handed over to speech writers to form into what was delivered yesterday.
I know the devil is in the details and Throne Speeches are not where one would expect to see details. Some will emerge today as the Budget is delivered. For the most part, speech repeated previous announcements and claims from the government.
Public Wage Freezes
It does say there will be a freeze on not only public service budgets but the wages of the Cabinet, Senators and MPs. That is really sharing in the hardship that 1.5million Canadians are going through, not to mention the millions of Canadians who find themselves under-employed as the result of jobs lost through business failures and jobs moved offshore. (more…)
Letter to Ignatieff
| 9/29/2009 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Last week I was having lunch with a friend and briefly the subject of politics came up. I expressed some of my views on Ignatieff to which she responded that I should write him a letter about my views. My response was, I would but it would not likely get anywhere near him. I thought about that and decided that be damn if it gets anywhere near him, I’ll write my letter here on my blog. So here goes:
I joined the Liberal Party of Canada in July of this year. While I’ve spent a lifetime reading and thinking about politics and how our leaders (or lack), shapes my country, I’ve never before made the decision to commit myself to a political party.
I’ve always leaned towards liberalism, largely because I have a deep-seated belief that one of the great strengths of this country is our social safety net which provides a level of support for those at the lower socioeconomic levels of our society. That sense of social responsiblity balanced with fiscal responsibility has always come from the Liberal Party of Canada.
So, why did I join in July? After a few years of what appeared to me as utter chaos within the party due to their infighting and weak leadership, there appeared to be a leader with some integrity and vision. I still think you have the integrity, but to be frank, I’m having a lot of trouble with discerning your vision.
Where’s the vision?
You seem to be spending a lot of energy and air time reacting to Harper. Canadians know what Harper is, the problem is they don’t yet see a viable alternative to him. True there are aspects of Harper the Canadian people don’t fully realize or appreciate how wrong he is, but they still don’t see a viable alternative. Why do you think Canadians haven’t yet given him a majority government? (more…)
Budget Time Approaching
| 1/24/2009 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
All eyes will be on Ottawa for the next few days leading up to Tuesday’s budget reading. It’s been a bit of an odd path to this budget. First we had an election that Harper called because he claimed that Parliament had become dysfunctional, which was true but largely because he and his people chose to make it so.
During that election, Harper either was blind to the fact that an economic tsunami was bearing down on the world or was deluded enough to actually believe that it would miraculously wash itself around Canada while engulfing our largest trading partner, the USA. He belittled the opposition when they spoke of the need to take immediate measures to offset the coming storm. He did note however that the stock market meltdown that was underway did provide some excellent buying opportunities. He didn’t seem to notice that those losing their shirt to create those opportunities, included Canadians.
More out of an inability of Dion to present himself as a viable alternative to Harper than anything else, Canadians, that is the 49% who decided to turn out to vote, once again gave more Conservative candidates their vote. Basically we gave what appeared to be the lessor of several evils the benefit of the doubt. (more…)
Harper’s Election to Lose
| 10/10/2008 | Posted by Patti under General |
You know, two weeks ago, I would have been willing to bet that Harper was going to manage to hoodwink the Canadian people enough to win the majority he has lusted after and that Dion would do well to elect a handful of MPs. How quickly things can change.
Here we are two weeks later, two debates and world markets in a tailspin, it looks like Harper will not get his majority and if the current trend continues, he may even end up where he belongs — in the Official Opposition. The last part is a bit of a longshot but then so was Harper being held to a minority two weeks ago.
Yesterday Harper had balls enough to muse about how “Prime Minister Dion” sounds in an effort to scare people away from that prospect. He needs to be careful, that might start to roll of people’s tongues a lot easier than he wants. At best Dion could only pull off a minority government but would put Harper at minimum into the Official Opposition benches, if we got real lucky maybe not even there. (more…)
Harper Needs to Go
| 9/23/2008 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Well, we’re two weeks into an election campaign here in Canada and so far I’ve not commented. I have some concerns about Dion as a potential Prime Minister, but I have ZERO doubts about the fact that Harper needs to go. As much as I don’t like Layton and his politics, I could live with him as the Official Opposition and Harper reduced to ‘also ran’ but that isn’t going to happen. At this point, it appears that we’ll do good if Harper manages to be kept to a minority government.
Ironically enough, some of my doubts about Dion have been quelled by Harper. See, first and foremost, Harper is a bully. Bullies often instinctively see value in their opponent that they want to flatten, quickly. Harper has been assailing Dion and his character from the moment that he was elected Liberal leader. That indicates to me, along with Dion’s unlikely win, that there is more to Dion than meets the eye. (more…)
Harper Like Nixon?
| 4/29/2008 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Interesting article in the British paper Guardian comparing Steven Harper’s attitude to Richard Nixon’s. Now, before you’re thinking that the paper is suggesting Harper is a crook like Nixon (aka Watergate), that isn’t the gist of the article.
What the writers are comparing between the two men is their rather obvious utter contempt for the institutions which shape and form their respective governments. That contempt was evident before either of them arrived in office and became even more obvious through Harper’s rather long running war with the national media.
Sometimes even more so than the official opposition, the media can manage to hold governments to account simply through their willingness to dig beyond the facade and find out what is going on behind the scenes. Then they publish their results. I often rail against the media’s often clear bias in their reporting and selective quoting but at the same time, they are bringing to light what would be otherwise in the dark and allowing governments in particular to operate without rebuke. (more…)
Dion May Need to Take a Walk in the Snow
| 3/27/2008 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Stephane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, may need to follow in the steps of one of his former leaders and take a long thoughtful walk in the snow to ponder his future in politics.
Harper and his Conservative attack dogs maintain a sustained assault on him to the point that their website looks more like a site for the Liberals when it first loads than one about Harper. It has made me wonder what Harper finds so threatening about Dion that he needs to sustain the attack on him? Apparently this hasn’t occurred to members of the Liberal party, particularly those in Quebec, who are also working up an assault on his leadership.
I have to admit, Dion leaves me scratching my head over his ‘leadership’ more than nodding it in agreement. While I haven’t liked his repeatedly leading the party into avoiding taking any solid stands on issues in order to avoid an election, I have actually understood why he’s doing it. (more…)
Dion Needs to Find a Posture
| 3/12/2008 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
You know, I’ve often been of the opinion that if you don’t really have the courage of your convictions, or for that matter, any convictions — you keep a low profile and keep your mouth shut. That likely came about from my late father often commenting about keeping ones mouth shut rather than opening it and proving yourself the fool.
These days, Dion and some other Liberals are doing a real good job of proving the wisdom of that advice. This behaviour of mouthing to the media and anyone who will listen that the Harper Conservatives are the ‘worse’ government ever for whatever soapbox of the day topic and then either walking out or failing to even show up to defeat them is utter spineless crap.
Ok, the Liberals aren’t ready to fight an election. Fine, believe it or not, Canadians are adult enough to realize that. If the Liberals aren’t able to vote in favour of the government policies and aren’t bothered enough by the government’s actions to bring them down then bloody stand up and say so. (more…)
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