Ken Dryden enters the leadership race

Well we are now into double digits in terms of Liberal leadership potentials. Now I don't realistically expect there to be 10 leadership candidates still by December. As with any race, I suspect someone will drop out and then throw their support behind someone else (in addition to John Godfrey).

There is no doubt Ken Dryden probably has the greatest name recognition, but more so as a great hockey goalie rather than a politician. Now that doesn't mean someone who is a great hockey player cannot be a great politician, but I don't think his record in hockey should play a role in determining how fit he is to be leader or not.

I don't know a lot about his policies other than his stand on childcare. While childcare is certainly a major issue, I don't think it is an issue one can solely rely on to win an election. Therefore I reserve my judgment on him until I've seen all his policies. I think he has great potential to win the leadership race and possibly even become PM. Although he does have a few weaknesses he needs to work on. His French is not great and if we want to return to government, we need to gain seats in Quebec, therefore he should work on brushing up his French. Also he is not the greatest speaker, although not as horrible as Bob Skelly was back in the 1986 provincial election nor does he face an opponent with speaking skills on the level of Bill Clinton. Still he would probably be best to brush up on them.

He won't likely be my first choice, but I haven't ruled out supporting him on a later ballot if he has good policies. I am keeping my options open here for now.

Harper's sells us out on Softwood Lumber

Like many and both the NDP, Liberals, and Bloc Quebecois, I believe Harper has sold us out on the softwood lumber. After winning several NAFTA rulings, Harper has agreed to allow the United States to only repay $4 billion in illegal tariffs not the full $5 billion. What is worse is if we increase our market share in the United States, we will be subject to quotas and a export tax. I thought free trade meant unfettered access to the US market, not just unfettered access when it suits the US interest. Today's ruling should not be a celebration, if anything it just proves what a pushover Harper is to Bush and the United States. As a sovereign nation we must stand up for our interest even if it means not getting a settlement as quickly. I also think we should have considered the prospect of retaliation.

This is once again a common pattern of the United States having one set of rules for themselves and another for everyone else. They have treated us on this issue and other issues with contempt. It is time we seek new trading partners who respect each other rather than continue to rely on our southern neighbour who acts like a complete bully. Anyways I added the no to deep integration to my sidebar. Although I am not on the left like many of its supporters, I believe defending Canadian sovereignty is something all Canadians should support. I have also considered although haven't decided yet on possibly boycotting all travel to the United States. Any suggestions on that idea. I feel if Canadians quit spending their hard earned dollars in the United States, it might send a message to them to stop treating us so poorly. With the way they've treated us, we certainly shouldn't be in Afghanistan. We are there to help out an ally and the US is treating us like an enemy not an ally; not that I saw them as an ally anyways in the first place.

Carolyn Bennett and Bob Rae enter race

Today the Liberal leadership race has added two more candidates. In the case of Bob Rae, my opinion of him is explained well in an earlier post so I don't think I have to elaborate more here. All I will say is if he does become leader, I believe it will cost the Liberals seats in Ontario, which is not a good thing in my opinion. As for Carolyn Bennett she defeated two star candidates, Peter Kent and Paul Summerville in the last election and is a former doctor. While I don't know a lot about her, I am glad we have more women entering the race since I believe we need more women in politics. Obviously coming from the left side of the Liberal Party will make it difficult for me to support her for the leadership of the Liberal Party, although I would still vote for her in the next general election if she did become leader. One of my concerns right now is that with the exception of Scott Brison and Stephane Dion, all the other Liberal candidates are from the Greater Toronto Area. Now I have no problem with the leader being from the GTA, but as a national party, it is essential our leader reach out to all parts of Canada. We cannot return to government as the party for the GTA, we must be a truly national party.

Scott Brison enters leadership race

I would like to welcome Scott Brison to the leadership race. I supported him for leader as Progressive Conservative in 2003 and I certainly haven't ruled out supporting him again, although I should note to Brandon, that I still haven't made up my mind yet. I was quite impressed with his bold ideas as PC leadership candidate and he once again has talked about bold ideas. While I realize some of the ideas he ran on in the PC Party might be seen as too "right wing" for the Liberals, the reality is he is quite progressive on the environment, social programs, and minority rights so he is a strong combination of both right wing and left wing ideas. The important thing as he mentioned on CTV's question period, is he is not rigid in ideology, but rather is about bold new ideas for the future of Canada. While I await his specific policies, I am so far impressed with what I've seen. I know some may say his Income trust e-mail will hurt him, and I agree this could be a problem, but it is not an issue for me personally as I don't believe he intentionally did anything wrong. I also think the fact he was a former Progressive Conservative should not prevent him from becoming Liberal leader, after all Pierre Trudeau was formerly an NDPer. But even of greater relevance here, Stepehen Harper and Jack Layton ironically enough both started their political careers as Liberals, although Jack Layton left in 1970 in reaction to the War Measures Act and Stephen Harper left in 1981 over the National Energy Program. So my point is just because you started in one party shouldn't prevent you from running in another.

BCTF out to lunch again

Once again the the BCTF shows just how out of touch they are with reality. They claim that testing Grade 7 and Grade 4 students is harmful. Obviously this is just another example of them wanting to pick a fight with a government that doesn't promote their leftist ideology. In reality I wish Grade 4 and Grade 7 testing was around when I was in school. Testing is not harmful to students, in fact it can show where students weaknesses are so they can work on them and ultimately improve them. I think it is much better to find out where a child's weakenesses are in Grade 4 or 7 than wait until Grade 12 and find out their marks aren't high enough to go to university or do what they want to do with their career after graduating. Although this doesn't surprise me as the BCTF is probably the most left wing and most militant union in BC. This is really too bad since most teachers are hard working and good people, but unfortunately a few militant ones like Jinny Sims ruin it for all of them. Any teacher who dares to speak out against them will be blacklisted and punished.

I know Woosang, Brandon, and BC Tory have advocated Gordon Campbell tries to smash the union, but I actually support the premier here. The reality is in May 2004 during the HEU strike and last fall during the BCTF strike, Campbell's approval ratings took a big hit, so picking a fight with the BCTF, as much as they deserve it, won't solve anything. Rather a better solution is to write frequent letters to the editor to counter their propaganda so as to get the public onside. Once the public is onside the government then will go after them. Also lets remember as a supporter of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, I still believe the BCTF has the right to exist and the right to promote their views within a reasonable limit of a free and democratic society. At the same time the Charter does not give the BCTF the right to bully its members or students. Likewise the Charter doesn't give them the right to make membership mandatory, if anything making membership mandatory may contrevene section 2 of the Charter, freedom of association.

Ralph Goodale Won't Run

Unfortunately it appears that Ralph Goodale will not be seeking the Liberal leadership race. Although undecided as to who I will support, I am disappointed he is not entering. I believe that Western Canada is an area that the Liberals must do well in to one day form a majority government again and having someone like Ralph Goodale would have certainly helped here. He was also a very strong finance minister. I realize his French probably hindered him from running, but hopefully he will continue to help re-build the party including in his home province of Saskatchewan which is largely Conservative for now, but hopefully after swinging back and forth between the right and left, they will stop in the centre some day.

Joe Volpe enters the Liberal leadership race

I am pleased to see that Joe Volpe has thrown his hat into the ring. Unlike Calgary Grit, BC Tory, or Brandon, I think Joe Volpe could be a very good leader. While I haven't seen his specific policies so I reserve my judgement for that, I so far like what I've seen. Now I realize many of the accusations such as the expensive pizzas and limos and the Klansman comment could be a liability against him next election. Therefore he probably wouldn't be my first choice, but were he to win, I would still vote for him over Harper. I don't think the flip flop on SSM will be an issue since if the Tories bring that up, that will only hurt them as Canadians want the issue dropped. Still on the whole I think he would be a very good leader and good PM, but I think his chances of winning are pretty low and of becoming PM are even lower.

Maurizio Bevilacqua enters the race

It appears that Maurizio Bevilacqua will be the fourth candidate entering the Liberal leadership race. While he is not widely known to the public, he is a veteran MP who has served the riding of Vaughan (in the 905 belt of the GTA just north of Toronto) since 1988. He is a newer generation being only 45 and would be the first non-anglophone/non-francophone if he became PM. He is generally a right of centre Liberal who believes in fiscal conservatism and social progressive values much like myself. I was especially impressed with his talk about improving productivity. I believe improving productivity is a very important thing if we wish to keep our economy strong. I was concerned that the debate would be too much centered on social issues and not enough on economic issues. Hopefully with his entry the party can discuss both. Although his chances of winning are a long-shot that doesn't mean I won't consider endorsing him, although I plan to wait until all candidates have entered before making my endorsement. I think also his point about not moving the party to the left is one the party should take note of. As I mentioned in a lower post, it is the centre were elections are won and loss, not the left, so if we want to defeat the Tories that is where we need to be. I'll have more on each candidate as they enter. I also plan to blog a little more on provincial politics as important issues emerge as well as the Alberta PC leadership race since most of my family is from Alberta and the company I worked for Western Financial Group was headquartered there.

Stephen Harper's Environmental Changes

It has recently been announced that Stephen Harper plans to axe the Climate Change programs by over 40% and cut several programs including the one tonne challenge. He also doesn't plan to meet Canada's obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. Now to be fair to him, I realistically don't think we could cut emissions by 30% over the next six years. However, that should not excuse us of doing nothing. He promised a made in Canada plan, yet no plan has been released and all he promises is to cut climate change programs without instituting any alternatives.

Now I'll admit I don't know a lot about the climate change programs and their effectiveness therefore if they are just costing money and not having any effect, I agree they should be cut. But I have a tough time imagining that full thorough proper review of all the programs has been done since taking office. Here in BC, the BC Liberals launched a core review over their first term as did the Liberals federally in their first term. During those reviews each program was reviewed carefully and ones which weren't delivering the best value or could be done by the private sector were eliminated. However, this took over a year to do, not 2 months. The fact they were cut so early on suggests it was done more due to the neo-conservative ideology rather than facts. The proper course would be to have the programs reviewed at the committee level where the committee would make recommendations and the opposition parties could write dissenting reports. Contrary to what some think, committee reports are generally well thought out and not highly partisan at all. They talk to several witnesses and do many first hand investigations and then make recommendations based on those. Sometimes they even have outside groups put together to do a non-partisan report such as the MacKay Report (this was done by Harold MacKay, who is not related to Peter MacKay) on reforming financial institutions, which was used to update legislation for financial institutions. Likewise for telecommunications a recent report commissioned by the Liberals has come out. I believe the environment is an area where such a report could be useful.

I realize the Kyoto targets are not achievable contrary to what some say. But we still must reduce emissions and set targets which are achievable and that the government will take action to ensure they are achieved. Part of the reason some countries such as most EU countries have succeeded at meeting their Kyoto targets is due to changes in their economy. In Britain, Thatcher's policies ultimately decimated the steel and coal industries who were the biggest polluters so as the British economy shifted away from those two sectors, thus emissions went down. In Canada our big polluters are industry mainly in Ontario and Oil mainly in Alberta. Decimating either industry is not an option since unlike in Britain where the coal and steel industries were unprofitable and relied heavily on subsidies, these industries are generally profitable and contribute greatly to the economy. Instead we must work with industry to produce greener products. Alberta already is leading the way in using wind power so moving to a cleaner environment will not necessarily devastate Alberta and Ontario's economy if done properly.

It is unfortunate that the Liberals in the past didn't set clear targets or a clear plan for reducing emissions. Since they never had a plan for meeting Kyoto targets, it is now been easy for the Conservatives to walk away from doing anything about the environment whereas had a plan been layed out, it would have been political suicide to do so.

My advice to the Conservatives, is hold off on the cuts to climate change programs until a full thorough review has been done. I am all for cutting ineffective programs, but lets do a proper review. Also make sure you have an alternative in place before making the cuts. Finally they need to set actual numerical targets.

Leadership Update

This week there was news on four possible contenders, so here is my view on each of their decisions.

Gerard Kennedy: I welcome his decision to run for the leadership. Being born in Manitoba, having lived in Alberta, and now living in Ontario, he certainly has a strong grasp of the different regions. He will especially be sensitive to Western Alienation. I also hope he runs in Parkdale-High Park so we can return this riding to the Liberals. However, he is a left leaning Liberal so being a Blue Liberal myself, I would have a tough time supporting him. Now obviously I need to see his actual policies, but I am pretty sure I won't be supporting him for the Liberal leadership. I also don't believe a larger and more intrusive federal government is the solution to our problems. In today's global competitive market, our tax rates must be competitive, regulations in line with competitors, and the size of our government shouldn't be too large. Besides many of our regulations, programs, and crown corporations are vastly out of date for the 21st century and must be changed to reflect the modern world

Bob Rae: He's joined the Liberal Party, but still haven't announced his decision to run. Anyways I summarize my position on him earlier.

Belinda Stronach: I am disappointed she choose not to run. Despite what some think of here, I believe she would be a very good leader. Her combination of fiscal conservatism combined with social liberalism is the kind of leadership we need today. She is from the 905 belt, which is a crucial swing area that often determines the winner. She is in touch with both woman's and urban issues and despite what the Tories say, I believe she was a major loss for them. However, I suspect her weak ability to speak French played a major role. Hopefully she will brush up on her French for the future Liberal leadership race, which hopefully won't come for several years

Michael Ignatieff: Glad to see he has entered the race. I read his speech on issues facing Canada and was very impressed. He is a very smart man with well thought out ideas. I think he would really raise the level of debate and create an election about ideas rather than mudslinging. Despite the fact some claim that he is unfit to be PM since he lived outside of Canada for 30 years, I believe this could be a good thing. By living in other countries it allows one to get a different perspective and see first hand what works and what doesn't.

Stephane Dion: Also pleased to see that he has entered the race. I will have to see his policies on the whole before giving my opinion, but based on his past portfolios he has done an outstanding job in each one. I was very impressed with his leadership on the National Unity file and his leadership in bringing in the Clarity Act. With the rise of separtism, we need someone who will come down hard on them. I felt Paul Martin was sometimes too soft on the separtists. He was also a competent environment minister who understood a strong economy and clean environment aren't opposites, if anything they go hand in hand. Certainly he would be a good candidate to re-build liberal support in Quebec.

I haven't joined the Liberal Party officially, but once all the leadership candidates have declared their intentions and given their visions for the future of Canada, I will consider joining if one has a vision that is similiar to mine.

Throne Speech et al

The Conservative throne speech had some good ideas, but it generally lacked detail. Since it is a minority government and almost all legislation will have to be modified if Harper wishes to get anything pass, it was probably a wise idea to make it vague and open ended. If there was a majority government, then that would be a different story. I like the part on apologizing for the Chinese head tax. The rest of the speech pretty much summarized what we already knew. Some complained about inviting outside guests was going against the traditions of British parliamentary system to an American system for the state of the unions, but I see nothing wrong with inviting guests provided all parties are granted this opportunity.

Since then, Stephen Harper has said he plans to put the Gay Marriage issue to another vote. While it likely won't past, I think Stephen Harper should just drop it. The issue is a divisive one that has been decided so it is best to move on. I also believe in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and minority rights must be supported at all times and anyone who doesn't support them is unfit to be prime-minister. He may be trying to do this to appease his social conservative base, but I would rather he forget about appeasing them. They are entitled to their views, but not entitled to impose their views on others.

Stephen Harper's Crime Policies

Yesterday, Stephen Harper gave a speech to the Canadian Police Association on the party's plans for tackling crime. There were both good and bad parts to it, so first I will talk about the few things I liked.

I agree the gun registry needs to be scrapped. Considering most criminals don't register their guns and the huge overblown cost of it, I think the costs clearly outweigh the benefits. The Liberals may also want to re-consider their position as most of their seat losses, especially in Ontario, were in rural ridings where opposition to the gun registry is quite strong as opposed to urban ridings, which will go Liberal no matter what. I support hiring more police officers, which incidentally the Liberals planned to do anyways. I support the principle of mandatory minimum sentences, but after seeing the costs in terms of building more jails and housing the prisoners, I am not sure how affordable it is. The best solution is at least ensure the most dangerous criminals like Paul Bernardo and Clifford Olson never get out of jail. The one area I do oppose mandatory minimums is for drugs. Drug use is an addiction that people should be treated for, not thrown in jail.

However, I have a couple of strong disagreements. The major one is the plans to scrap the decriminalization of marijuana. I believe this is very short-sighted as millions of Canadians (I am not one of them) have tried marijuana, so giving them criminal records just doesn't make sense. Police should be going after real criminals not hunting down people experimenting with marijuana. The United States has some of the toughest drug laws in the World, yet has one of the highest crime rates, so tougher drug laws, don't lower crime. I personally think marijuana should be legalized as it would not only provide billions of dollars in tax revenue, but it would get rid of the black market element, therefore allowing for some control over it much like we do with alcohol and tobacco. I am especially concerned about throwing medicinal marijuana users in jail. Since Harper has taken over the police have started arresting medicinal marijuana users, so my advice to Stephen Harper, leave them alone! One shouldn't face the choice between their health and going to jail. Finally I am concerned this tough approach is simply because the Americans don't like it. Well Stephen Harper, America is our neighbour, not our nation. We have our values and they have their values and we must stand up for who we are, not cower over to them. This is one of the primary reasons I didn't vote Conservative. I have nothing against the United States or the Americans, but we are a sovereign nation and just as they have the right to decide their laws based on their values, we must decide our laws based on our values. We aren't better or worse, we are just different and I believe the PM of Canada must defend who we are just as their president must defend who they are. Finally some are suggesting that private prisons be built to accomodate the increased number of prisoners. For starters I think this is more fear of some as I haven't heard or seen anything to suggest the Conservatives plan to do this. But let me say, despite my general support for privatization, prisons are one of the few areas I don't believe the private sector can do and therefore shouldn't be privatized. The police, military, courts, and prisons are clearly governmental responsibilities that shouldn't be privatized.

King Ralph's era coming to an end?

After the stunning approval of only 55% at Ralph Klein's leadership review, I would be very surprised if he is still premier at the end of the year. While I agree he stayed on a little too long, he did promise to quit in the fall of 2007, so I think the Alberta PCs should have let him do that just as the Liberals let Chretien quit on his own terms. This certainly delays any health care reforms, although hopefully all the candidates for the PC leadership will continue to push for health reforms, but at least do a better job explaining them. Much of the opposition to the Third Way stemmed from the belief that those who couldn't afford health insurance would go without health care, which is off course untrue.

Despite being a Liberal federally, I am a former Progressive Conservative and I would have voted for the Alberta PCs in 2001 and 2004 had I lived in Alberta. Ralph Klein deserves a lot of credit for turning Alberta's finances around and making it the only debt free province, lowest taxes in Canada, one of the best health care in terms of wait times, and the strongest economy in Canada. While it is true some of this had to do with oil, lets remember oil prices weren't very high in the mid 90s when the budget was balanced, that came later. The budget was balanced because Ralph Klein made the necessary sacrifices to turn Alberta around. He no doubt said and did some stupid things like going into a homeless shelter drunk and throwing a book at a legislative page, but he was a man who understood how to run an effective government. He was also a populist who related to the average person. Unlike many other politicians who cloak their statements in window dressing, he told you exactly what he thought, so even if you didn't agree with him, you knew what he stood for.

As for his successor, my choice is Jim Dinning. Besides the fact he sits on the board for Western Financial Group where I used to work, he has shown himself as a strong finance minister. He also understands the importance of R&D as well as strong relations with the rest of Canada and is willing to tackle the necessary health reforms to reform health care. Preston Manning may have some good ideas, but he is yesterday's man, while Ted Morton is way too right wing for me. I would take Stephen Harper over Ted Morton. This guy is to the right of George W. Bush and to the right of the Alberta Alliance, so although the chances of him winning are a longshot, I would vote Alberta Liberal if he won and I lived in Alberta come next election. Hopefully if not Jim Dinning, than Mark Norris or Dave Hancock will become leader, although that does not mean I wouldn't vote Alberta PC if I lived in Alberta and they choose someone else.

Parliament Recovenes

Parliament has now recovened and for the first time in thirteen years, the Liberals will be sitting in the opposition benches. Peter Miliken was chosen as speaker again, which I think was a good choice. Regardless of one's party stripe, Miliken showed himself to be a fair and impartial speaker so I have full confidence in his abilities as speaker.

There was also a large protest this week against David Emerson's defection. I don't think either Harper or Emerson understood just how unpopular this would be. I should note contrary to what some Conservatives say that these are all NDP supporters, that is completey untrue. Mike Watkins who helped organize the protests is a Conservative himself. I myself would have attended them if I was available and I did not vote COPE or NDP provincially as the riding association president accuses the protestors of. So far Stephen Harper is not off to a good start. He has got a lot of improvement needed and I mean a lot, before I will even consider voting Conservative.