Friday, March 27, 2009

Conservatives Target Ralph Goodale

The conservatives are persistent in their efforts to defeat MP Ralph Goodale. I don’t blame them for that. Its just politics and the conservatives feel compelled to win all 14 constituencies in Saskatchewan. It is one thing to try and beat Ralph Goodale because he is a liberal, but it is quite a different matter if you are trying to beat him because he is not doing his job. The fact is, no conservative Member of Parliament works harder than Ralph Goodale. What conservative MP would dare lay claim to being a better Member of Parliament than Ralph Goodale?

In the conservatives attempt to defeat Goodale I received a conservative propaganda piece in the mail from David Anderson, MP for Cypress Hills-Grassland in southwestern Saskatchewan. Now that is a long way from Goodale’s Wascana constituency here in Regina where I live. Safe conservative seats in Saskatchewan, like that of MP David Anderson, use their mailing privileges to target voters in constituencies other than their own. In this case, it was Ralph Goodale’s Wascana constituency. Who else would they target?

It’s a wonder anything gets done in Parliament when you consider how much time they spend, and your tax dollars, just working to get re-elected to either get in the pension zone or build on it.

David Anderson has a safe constituency and is coasting to retirement. Ralph Goodale works hard at being an MP and takes no voter for granted. Ralph is tough to beat. In politics anything is possible, just ask veteran conservative MP Andrew Scheer, who has been elected three times in the constituency of Regina-Qu’Appelle.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Suncor - Petro-Canada Merger

The merger between Suncor and Petro-Canada has the potential to unleash unprecedented oil reserves out of the Alberta Oilsands. An abundant supply may have the effect of reducing prices at the pumps in the same way that a shortage of supply increases pump prices. Further, what does it matter what the price is at the pumps if there is no supply to meet the demand? Add to this the economic benefit of Canada exporting oil and gas to the US. When all is in and done the merger may benefit Canadians in the long term.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Justice Minister Don Morgan vs CBC

Should the CBC be scrapped? It is reported that only 1 in 12 Canadians watch CBC. The government too heavily funds the CBC. Over one billion at last count and they are now asking Minister James Moore for another 100 million in the form of a loan on their annual federal appropriation due to a drop in advertising revenue resulting from the failing economy. The CBC has little to do with protecting Canadian content or providing Canadian content. In one year they lost the Grey Cup and the Brier to TSN and those two are about as Canadian as it gets with the exception of hockey.

Regardless, Justice Minister Don Morgan was maybe too quick out of the gate when he apparently wrote a strongly worded letter to the CBC Ombudsman. Morgan was opposing the possibility of CBC airing a telephone interview they conducted with convicted killer Curt Dagenais. Interestingly, Justice Minister Don Morgan did not know the content of the interview between the CBC and Dagenais and nor did he know what part, if any, the CBC was intending to air. Morgan did know that Dagenais may appeal his conviction and charged that the CBC was in some way attempting to reopen the case by conducting the interview. I understand it is generally popular to oppose the CBC. It is also popular to speak out against convicted killers like Curt Dagenais.

In this case, the CBC had every right to interview Curt Dagenais and they would have had every right to report, based on that interview, that Dagenais may appeal his conviction. Nonetheless, this matter raises more questions about the motives of Justice Minister Don Morgan than it does about the CBC. Was Morgan too quick out of the gate without having all the facts before him? By his own words, when informed of what was in the CBC interview, Don Morgan said, "Maybe I was going too far, too fast." It seems the CBC was within their mandate, but was Justice Minister Don Morgan within his mandate?

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

President Barack Obama

There have been plenty of news stories surrounding the miraculous success of Barack Obama. The news stories escalated from the first day he entered the race to become President of the United States of America to his recent visit to Canada. I signed up with the Obama campaign on January 1, 2007. His success to date is historic and unprecedented.

John Gormley believed Obama would never see the inside of the White House as President. On the day of President Obama’s visit to Canada it was unfortunate that Gormley was still engaged in negative commentary over President Obama. He suggested the President’s visit was over hyped and that the thousands who gathered on Parliament Hill to catch a glimpse of the new President would be disappointed. The next day Gormley conceded that President Barack Obama’s visit to Canada and his meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper had been a good day.

The two leaders agreed to engage in a clean energy dialogue toward reducing gas emissions and fighting climate change. The US President did not pressure Prime Minister Harper for additional commitments from Canada to the military mission in Afghanistan. They agreed to work together to strengthen the struggling auto sector. The President apparently relieved Prime Minister Harper over concerns that the US buy America clause in their $787-billion US stimulus package may break international free-trade agreements. President Obama wants to begin talks to include labour and environmental provisions to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) without disrupting the important trade relations that exist between the US and Canada.

By any measure it was a day many Canadians will never forget. President Barack Obama lived up to every bit of hype surrounding his visit to Canada. We should wish President Obama well as he faces the worst economic crisis in America since the great depression. We should not be negative towards the President or the US because, as most people know, our economy is almost entirely linked to that of the US. The health of the US economy affects the health of the global economic community and that includes Canada.

Everyone concedes President Barack Obama is an exceptional orator and highly popular. I suggest the intelligence and substance of the man should not be underestimated. He is a man of destiny who is determined to accept any challenge and to succeed. He is a man who understands that destiny is not a matter of chance, but rather a matter of choice. He is Barack Obama and he is the President of the United States of America. I can’t predict his future, but I wish him every success.