Canadian election –advance polls opened Friday

Can you read these signs driving by at 80 km/hour, if you are doing the speed limit. Most do not drive this slowly!
 

I thought they were foolish. Just sayin'! Put up by the local incumbent's team. But, yes, Friday was the first day of advance polls. This is what we usually do. Thing is - the signs went up days before Friday! They had to, since it takes time, and people to put all these up. I wonder what they cost and how much we paid for it?
This is how they drive on highway #7.

We have voted

Piece of cake, except for the 17 km we had to drive to get to the advance polling station! The signage was terrible. Well, terrible for its absence. We drove right past!
It took about 15 minutes. You must show ID, and sign your life away.  Friends complained, in the city, that at their advance polling stations it took an hour. On the news it said that it took more than an hour.

 I am anxious to get on with the danged election. Some of the snippets are amusing, however.
The debates have been telling, what with the incumbent party not attending many debates.
Our son-in-law is doing very well at various debates. He's having a blast. He posted his Youtube video of one debate. He closed Wang's binder on him!

Jean-Luc has done his research, he knows the party platform and planks very well. At the one debate where his Conservative rival was in attendance, Wang kept reading party rhetoric and statistics from the binder. He is an engineer, an entrepreneur, and the Green Party Small Business Critic. He had a debate at the engineers society.

Dotterels abound

 I had an argument with our snow blower/tractor repairman. He was insisting that a woman going into a bank wearing a face covering, or walking in the street would be arrested anyway. I was shocked. What is he talking about? This is a 73-year-old man who was an Ottawa manager for 30 years. I suggested he best leave, with a grin on my face, as I didn't want to discuss it anymore! It's an interesting riding, ours. Red necks and anti-government sentiment abounds.

What is also amusing is that I gave him our old tractor for parts, rather than selling it.
Welcome to Lanark County.

Dual Citizenship

This is an issue in Canada. For those who were born elsewhere, and come to Canada, they can have dual citizenship. It all depends upon where you were born, and where your parents were born. There are complex rules, above the heads of some. Honestly.

Bill C-24 gave the government the right to take away citizenship of dual citizens who commit a terrorist act. People are fiercely opposed to this. As with many of their new omnibus laws, no one has asked the questions, 'What if..."
Brad Butt,  Conservative candidate, suggests NDP leader Mulcair could lose ...
his citizenship should he be convicted of a terrorist act. Most of us were shocked he would use this well-respected man as an example.

On the radio, I heard one phone-in where a woman was complaining about Mr. Mulcair. She was in favour of this legislation. She said it would be Mulcair's own fault, since he was born in France, should he be convicted of terrorism and sent back to France. The blessed radio host did his best to argue differently. It didn't work. She insisted he was born in France. When she was contradicted, twice, she said, "Let's just move on."
In fact, he obtained dual citizenship through his French-born wife, after an incident at the Paris airport.

Canadian election October 2015

In case you didn't know, the Canadian federal election, despite theoretically being on a fixed schedule (Oct. 19th, 2015), was officially begun last Sunday. This is a long, 77-day (11-week) run.

Don't spend you war chest money on attack ads, spend them telling us what you are for, and for helping those who struggle. All I heard at the NDP rally Friday was "I loathe those attack ads!"

In the US they are still working on Republican nominations. I don't understand how they can have 17 running, and this gets TV coverage!

We had our own debate Thursday night, with all four party leaders.  This was a powerful moment. They threw statistics about, The National reporters discussed the mistakes in their stats. People Tweeted errors in there claims.

To those running the PMO

Only a few days in and I'm fatigued with attack ads. Don't tell me what you are against, tell me what you are for. Make your stump speeches worthwhile.

• Tell me the difference you will make. 
• Tell me how you can improve my life, my children's lives, my grandchildren's lives. 
• Tell me how you will help those unable to: the sick, those unable to access home care, healthcare or the drugs they require (read How Are Drug Prices Set?). They are Canadians, too!
• Tell me how you will improve transportation, infrastructure, to help those who eke out a meagre existence as the working poor, and those who are unable to work.
• Tell me how you will work with Correctional Services Canada, (I volunteered in one miserable place), which offers a variety of correctional programs or the  Collaborative Justice Program.

  

  Our son-in-law, Jean-Luc Cooke!

• Tell me how you will work with judges, lawyers and the legal system, in an era where crimes are down and institutions are crowded. [Harper has fought the law makers of the land: 
  Harper fumed privately about Supreme Court activism: book]
• Tell me how you will include the land, sea and air, and the critters who inhabit it, in the governance of this country. 
• Tell me how important it is to get off unsustainable, yea, harmful energy sources. 
• Tell me how important people are (farmers, retail workers) not just the oil industry, the very rich who own them, and pipelines.
• Tell me how you will reach out to those in the provincial, regional, and municipal governments, as responsibilities have been downloaded to those with small budgets, and ensure that all Canadian, not just the 'middle class' who support your campaigns, get their hand up. 
• Tell me how you will use your silver spoon –not to help big businesses and the pharmaceuticals (such as Alexion), who continue to suck up my hard-earned tax dollars, while the Candian government is donating millions to countries whose governments steal said support. 

To the media

Canada election 2015: Where the leaders are Tuesday
I'm sick enough of the awful attack ads. I don't care where, how, and what the politickers are doing, or where they ate, or what they had for breakfast. I'm mostly sick of journalists earning a living, complaining of being on the road reporting these things, while eating three meals a day.

Disclaimer: this is my son-in-law, proudly running for the Green Party in Nepean, Ottawa!

Nepean Needs Better Candidates National headwinds are blowing and they will affect the race in Nepean. And yet, I find myself dumbstruck by the candidate choices in my home riding. Let me count the ways ... UNPUBLISHEDOTTAWA.COM and in another riding: Crooked nomination meetings and rumours of fixed nominations: Former aide to Pierre Poilievre nominated as the Tory ... Jun 29, 2015 - Former aide to Pierre Poilievre nominated as the Tory candidate in Nepean ... He currently runs the Daido Academy, a Barrhaven organization ... Battleground Nepean: The Andy Wang Thang | Frank ... Jul 6, 2015 - Battleground Nepean: The Andy Wang Thang ... of voter tampering, this time in last week's Tory nomination race in the new riding of Nepean. High-profile Conservatives consider run in Nepean, but ... Feb 23, 2015 - Andy Wang, right, former Parliamentary assistant to Employment and Social ... Conservatives are considering running for the party's nomination, but some ... For eg Skippy had an election budget of $107k in 2011, yet only managed ... electoral fraud, bribing senators, fixed nominations(they all do that one), ...

Green Party Convention 2010

I attended the Green Party Convention - virtually.

It was an interesting in watching a fairly young party from this end of things. My son-in-law, Nepean-Carleton Green Party candidate Jean-Luc Cooke - AKA 'Papa', left us in Muskoka on Friday, while we helped looked after kids and had some fun watching the action live.

A combination of blogging, texting, and live feeds, let us read other's opinions on the whole event, while we discussed the issues. Some of the messages were fair-minded, others trite and not so politically savvy. Greens are developing a more rich identity, while preparing for the next election.

It was an interesting couple of days with Greens applying modern day technology to the conference.

Having attended my fair share of AGMs, the live feed was interesting. I think it transparent of the party to do this in such a public forum. I found it greatly interesting, having participated in my share of meetings, executive meetings, councils and elections in my working career.

It is a healthy process to examine policy and revise beliefs.
Some comments were just plain silly! Every party has those folks. It is a matter of education in the rules of the floor. Harnessing passion, while following protocol and moving forward in a limited time. Certainly, the workshops at the Conference would have been helpful to newbies! Many experienced political animals represented the party well, contributing to the discussion and the process.

Jack Lock, on his blog, said,  "The Green Party’s unconventional convention this weekend is fraught with procedural abnormalities."

The Green Party is trying to sort out new policy and procedures of the new millennium. Progress is being made as experienced members educate the newbies. Time will tell.

Here is the tweet I sent re: one Deputy Leader:

jennjilks Georges Laraques: moving speech, sans notes #GPC#cdnpoli http://bit.ly/94kgEy  

What a wonderful, bilingual addition to the party! Eloquent, well-spoken, and passionate, many agree.

jaymini:  #GPC Deputy Leader George Laraque addressing the crowd at Toronto 2010 convention. http://tweetphoto.com/40568629 [via Twitter]

Here are some of the tweets I read:

MikeSchreiner: 

#GPC National Convention closes with members engaged, active and ready to elect Greens. #TO2010 #gpo

ChrisInKW:  RT @kady: agreed! so much more fun than being there! RT@ottguy: The Sun's @laura_payton does deserve lots of credit for cvrge of the#gpc convntion

Laura Payton, journalist, was tweeting the whole time.

meyer4mobile:  RT @stephen_taylor: RT @kady: agreed! so much more fun than being there! RT @ottguy: Sun's @laura_payton does deserve lots of credit for cvrge of the #gpc conv [via Twitter]

Ken_Donnelly: 

Agreed! RT @ottguy: The Sun's @laura_payton does deserve lots of credit for coverage of the #gpc convention this weekend. #cdnpoli [via Twitter]

Jean-Luc Cooke - candidate: Nepean-Carleton

scbritton:  @stephen_young the #cpc, #lpc, even the fringe #ndp haven't ever considered anything that outlandish; just #gpc. At least they voted it down [via Twitter]

Amazing that the spotlight has shone so brightly on them, highlighted by Elizabeth May's performance in the debate lo these many years ago - well done.


"'A star is born' in Elizabeth May: pollster - The Globe and Mail"

Stephen Taylor: Debate leaves Harper ahead, May strengthened, Dion ...

3 Oct 2008 ... Elizabeth May surprised last night as she was the most sober of the ..... a "passionate performance"?

Jean-Luc Cooke in Nepean-Carleton

She gave a lot of credibility to the Canada's Greens, having gone into the debate with pretty low expectations for her performance. She truly has highlighted Greens in Canada. 


Elizabeth May garnered much difficult discussion and debate during the last election, as well. It was when she chose to side with the Liberals, and endorsed strategic voting to keep the conservatives out. 


We attended her whistle stop in Parry Sound back in Sept., 2008. This was a powerful moment in my mind. She leapt off of the train and spoke in heart-fel manner to those who had waited for hours for this historic moment. But all is not perfect in the party.

Elizabeth May making a point

"The support amongst the membership of the Green party is strong for Elizabeth, but there's also some interest to see us go to a leadership race," Streicker told Yukon radio station CHON."


As one person wrote: "She's also sold her soul to Stephane Dion, something with her LONGTERM party faithful are VERY upset with."


All parties have internal politics, as many of us know. Political animals are...well, political at all levels, both internally and externally.


Blogger Jack Locke, who tried unsuccessfully to become the Green candidate in a Montreal riding two years ago, accused the party of misrepresenting the pre-convention vote, according to Yahoo News. Everyone has a hidden agenda, methinks.

With Australia increasing their Green vote by 3.7% at the time of the GPC, momentum is beginning around the world. They phoned into the conference during a live feed. This, too, was a terrific part of the conference. 


After many years working with students in the area of developing environmentally-friendly curriculum, I am heartened by the response the next generation has created in the world. At least, those who are educated are responding in this fashion. We must spread the word no matter your political preferences, and protect the world around us.