Scott Brison visits Vancouver

Today I went to a reception held at the house of two long time Liberals for an event with leadership hopeful Scott Brison. On the way to the event, I was impressed how many de-elect Emerson signs I saw (it was in David Emerson's riding). Hopefully come next election we can get a real Liberal, not a Tory in Liberal clothing to win the riding. The reception being at one's house was not huge, but still around 20 people turned up. Scott Brison talked about the challenges we face today and the importance of leadership. I liked the fact he talked how the campaign would be about ideas and building a vision for the future rather than cheap electoral gimmicks to score in the polls. Already I was impressed with his initiatives on the environment and tax policy. He made clear we cannot beat Stephen Harper just by attacking him, we can beat him by presenting more innovative ideas and indeed Brison does have them.

I got a chance to briefly chat with him and discussed a few issues including one of regulatory policy, which is a big issue for me as someone from the business community. He agreed for the need for common sense regulations, but also argued the myriad of different provincial ones hurt our competitiveness and so do ones that act as an indirect tariff. On the merger issue and his decision to jump ship, he was very clear in explaining those. He stated he personally all along felt uncomfortable with merging the two parties, but also believed a healthy democracy was good for the country. In the end he voted for the merger since he believed it was the right thing for the country (which I agree with), but refused to join since the new party didn't fit with his values (which I also agree with). He did not join cabinet until after the 2004 election and when discussing about crossing the floor to the Liberals never once raised the idea or was inticed with the idea of a cabinet post unlike David Emerson who crossed for that whole reason.

I haven't yet decided on who to support, but I've been impressed with the three candidates who I got to hear their visions. Bob Rae I only briefly met and I have no intention on supporting him, although I still hope he runs as a Liberal candidate next federal election.

Liberal Event Filled Weekend

Yesterday and today, I went to two Liberal events where I got to meet several prominent players. Yesterday, Bill Graham hoisted a youth dinner and Wilson's steak house where all those under 25 were invited for free. I was one of the older ones and one of the few that had graduated and was now in the workforce. Bill Graham got a chance to meet with all of the youth. I talked to him on a few issues and I was impressed with how frank he was about his beliefs. He made clear he was upset about how the Afghanistan vote was held, but still strongly felt Canada should be there, which is why he voted in favour of extending the mission. He argued it would have passed by a much larger motion had a proper debate been held. When talking about some of the challenges ahead, he understood fully the challenge the Liberals face in rural Canada where they won very few seats and the need to adopt policies that appeal to rural Canada. Also at the event was former MP from Trinity-Spadina, Tony Ianno, who lost to Jack Layton's wife Olivia Chow last January 23rd. He is now running for president of the party. Blair Wilson, the newly elected MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country was there along with his wife. I briefly met him at the Vancouver Board of Trade event before he was elected MP, so this was my first chance to meet him as an MP. There were about 40 youth some undecided like me and others involved in certain campaigns. It was great to see how many Liberals are still determined to stay involved and help re-build the party. If only some Tories could see how many devoted Liberals there still are, they might be a little less cocky.

On Saturday, I went to the Liberal barbecue hosted by Bill Graham out in Richmond. Several prominent figures including Bob Rae, Tony Ianno, Maurizio Bevilacqua, Karn Manhas (former provincial MLA), Joyce Murray (former BC cabinet minister and Liberal candidate in January), Blair Wilson, Sukh Dhaliwal (Liberal MP for Newton-North Delta), Hedy Fry, Raymond Chan (Former minister of multiculturalism and current MP for Richmon), Daniel Igali, and Prem Vinning (veteran Liberal organizer, also the guy who called into a phone-in with the premier as Peter, the trucker from Surrey). There were a couple hundred people here so I only got a chance to meet with some, but almost all of the prominent players including even Bob Rae. Although I definitely will not be supporting Bob Rae for the leadership, I am always still interested in meeting each of the contenders.

Tomorrow both Gerard Kennedy and Scott Brison will be in town. Since the events are at the same time, I will be going to Scott Brison's one. These are certainly interesting times to be a Liberal. Also a nice thing about being a party member is you can talk openly about your views with other Liberals even on issues where they disagree with the party. Indeed most of my views are supported at least by some Liberals and almost all of them like myself disagree with the party on at least one issue. However, at least there is a recognition of this rather than trying to muzzle everyone to tow the party line as Harper is doing.

Canada's embarassment in Bonn

While Harper seems more than Happy to improve our image with the US administration, he has done a great job of burning bridges with other nations. Specifically at the Bonn conference, there are reports out that Canada who is chairing it not only plans to pull out of Kyoto, but actually plans to sabotage the whole process.

Now I will admit I am not the biggest fan of the Kyoto Protocol as I think the emissions trading credits scheme does little to reduce global warming as opposed to spending the money to reduce pollution domestically. I also feel they should have used 1998 levels rather than 1990 levels since due to changes in the economy such as the collapse of the industrial sector in East Germany and movement from coal to natural gas in Britain, it was easier for most European countries to go below 1990 levels than 1998 levels. However, despite my concerns with the deal, the fact the current government wants to throw up their hands and do nothing is unacceptable. Its clear once again the Conservatives are interested in following their Republican pals to the south. We may not be able to meet our Kyoto targets, but we should at least go part of the way rather than do nothing. Also if we oppose Kyoto protocol, then our environment minister Rona Ambrose should step down as chair and let someone who does support it take over. The fact the German environment minister is criticizing Canada is not something to be proud of and lets remember Germany has a centre-right government, not a left wing government.

I should also note that I found it interesting when John Howard visited Canada, it seemed more like in love-in between two people with similiar ideologies than about promoting closer relations between Canada and Australia. Certainly Howard's comments on the United States and how great they are for the world was totally inappropriate as a visitor to Canada.

As a side note, the most recent Ipsos poll came out showing the Tories at 43% and Liberals at 25%. While this may be distressing for some Liberal supporters, I say don't give up, I've seen parties come from further behind a win elections. Also to the Tory supporters who frequent here, I wouldn't get so cocky. I've been to a number of Liberal events, and I can tell you there is a lot of enthusiasm and energy. We are down, but not out and we are united in our determination to win the next election.

Manning Not running for Alberta PC leadership

All I can say to this is good riddance. He may be popular now in Alberta, but I know many Albertans who voted Reform in the 90s and most of them would not be so supportive if they found out all his extreme right wing views. The Reform Party was only popular in Alberta since they played up the Western Alienation card, which understandably runs quite strong in Alberta and the other Western provinces too. However, Manning's views on health care, immigration, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Canadian federalism likely wouldn't sit to well with the average Albertan. The health care reforms he advocates are far more radical than anything Klein ever proposed (which I generally support) and when you consider how many Albertans opposed Klein's Plans, you can just imagine who many more would oppose Manning's plans. Anyways it looks more likely Jim Dinning will be the next premier, who I think would be a far better choice since he is fiscally conservative, but socially progressive and forward looking.

Harper's Missteps and Correct Steps

A lot has happened this week, some which I support, but most which I don't. I'll start off with the few things the Cons did that I support so no one can accuse me of being a blind partisan. I agree with their position to get rid of the gun registry, which I see as ineffective and a waste of taxpayer's money. Unlike the gun lobby, I support licencing for all long-gun owners, but I don't believe each individual gun needs to be registered.

However, there are couple of things I am not happy about. I think their quick move to call a vote on the extending the Afghanistan mission for two years without adequate time for debate will ill-considered. This is a serious mission that should be debated fully and also should be extended for one year, not two if the House so chooses. Too bad it passed narrowly, although I am glad many Liberals voted against it. Likewise, while I am disappointed Ignatieff and Brison supported the government, I agree with them on enough other issues that this won't affect my decision to support them or not. I think Harper's comment that he will go back to the electorate if it doesn't pass is quite arrogant, but off course considering how unpopular the mission is becoming, he would likely lose the election if this were the main issue. I support the opposition on refusing to allow Gwyn Morgan's appointment to go through. I agree Gwyn Morgan is an accomplished CEO for Encana and I even myself have bought shares in their company in the past. However, the fact he is a Conservative partisan not to mention his comments on Jamaican immigrants make him the wrong choice for the appointment. The fact Stephen Harper insists on having him or no one is quite petty. I am sure there are other Canadians who can do just as good a job. Finally I feel Canada has been a complete embarassment at the Bonn Conference. Harper maybe doing a good job at repairing relations with the United States, but he is harming our relations with everyone else. I opposed ratification of the Kyoto Protocol since I thought the targets were unachievable, but that doesn't mean we should do nothing. We should still set achievable targets and we shouldn't be chairing a climate change conference if we aren't committed to taking action on climate change.

Michael Ignatieff visits Vancouver

Today I got to meet my second candidate, Michael Ignatieff who made a stop in Vancouver and spoke to a large crowd well over a 100 people at the Roundhouse Community in Yaletown. Since it was a nice sunny day in normally rainy Vancouver, although he joked about this being what the weather is always like in Vancouver, his speech was reasonably short.

Stephen Owen gave an introduction to him as someone who has a strong understanding of both domestic and global politics and could help lead Canada into the future as a global player. He talked a lot about nation building and the role the Liberals have played as the primary institution in building Canada at least during the 20th century and his goal to ensure this can continue through the 21st century. He talked about the importance of both a strong economy and social justice. He specifically mentioned the Pacific Gateway and the importance the province of British Columbia will play in the future of Canada as the new economic giants will be in Asia and all of Canada will need to come through British Columbia in order to trade with Asia. He later came around a met with the crowd, which was quite a diverse crowd of both young and old as well as people from many different cultures. In addition to Stephen Owen being there the media was also there as will as city councillor Peter Ladner, who was one of only two NPA members elected in 2002 and proved to be one of the more responsible city councillors when one considers how left wing many of the others were.

I haven't yet decided on my endorsement but so far I have been impressed with the two candidates I met. I would happily take either one of them as prime-minister over Stephen Harper.

Nova Scotia Election

Well it looks like Nova Scotians will be heading to the polls on June 13, 2006. I personally believe Rodney Macdonald of the Progressive Conservatives is the best choice. Now some of you may ask me why I am not endorsing the Liberals. I should remind everyone I was initially a federal Progressive Conservatives and only switched due to the Alliance takeover of the PCs. Since the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives have very few Reformers amongst their ranks and Rodney Macdonald is a Red Tory I don't see anything wrong with supporting the Liberals federally and PCs provincially. That being said I would have no problem with the Liberals winning, indeed I would much rather they won over the NDP.

Maurizio Bevilacqua Visits Vancouver

Yesterday, I got to meet the first of the 11 Liberal leadership contenders. On short notice, Maurizio Bevilacqua came out to Vancouver to meet with the Liberal faithful. He was introduced by former MLA Karn Manhas, who despite only hearing about him a few weeks ago, was so impressed with his vision he signed up as one of his BC co-chairs.

He gave a speech and then took questions from the audience. Although I still haven't decided who to endorse, I was very impressed with what I saw from him. I think he would make a very good PM even if he ever becomes one and considering he is only 45 he may get a chance even if he doesn't win this leadership race. Like myself he argued against uniting the left, but rather uniting the centre. He talked about focusing on the long-term challenges rather than short-term policies to win votes. Specifically our aging society, emerging economies such as China, India, and Brazil, as well as environmental sustainability were issues he talked about. The thing I liked the most is he said he would be realistic in his goals. For example politicians in the past have advocated raising foreign aid to 0.7%, while he argued it would be better to promise to raise it to 4.25% and keep the promise rather than promise to raise it to 0.7% and not even come close. He even with Kyoto Protocol argued the government had failed to curb pollution and didn't have the right to criticize other nations until it cleaned up its actions. Instead of arguing for the unrealistic idea of meeting the Kyoto targets or the lazy idea of doing nothing, he argued in favour of reducing our emissions, but setting a target that was do able. As a Blue Liberal/Business Liberal he certainly comes from the same side of the party as I do. Finally I was impressed about the fact he seemed to be willing to look at why the party lost and move forward rather than pretend nothing happened. We cannot win if we don't know why we lost and learn from our mistakes. Also his final message was whoever you support, it is party to remain involved since the party will lose when it is divided.

This weekend Michael Ignatieff will becoming to some undisclosed location (I know where it is, but you have to join the Liberal Party before you can attend). Hopefully over the next little while I can get a chance to meet each of the individual candidates and learn more about them. I certainly haven't ruled out endorsing Maurizio Bevilacqua, but I want to wait and see what the others have to say.

Maurice Vellacott shoots off

Once again a another Conservative MP shoots off again. Now before people start on the comments section going after me, I should note that Maurice Vellacott has always been a wacko and one of the more right wing members, however this is an opportunity for Harper to show whether the party has moderated or not. While he loves to muzzle his party members, he seems to turn a blind eye when the wackos shoot off. If he wasn't such a muzzler this might be less of a worry since one could simply dismiss this as one of the few wackos within the party. But the fact he muzzles his party members and we still have one saying this should make one worry just how right wing the party is. At the very least I hope it makes people think twice before next election if they are ready to give Stephen Harper a majority government.

Still with his appointment of Vic Toews as justice minister and his history of attacking the judiciary I am quite concerned. This is one of the main reasons despite my right of centre economic views that I refuse to support the Conservatives. I see the judiciary as a very important part of our checks and balances and believe if anything their role is even more important to prevent Harper from implementing a socially conservative agenda.

Harper's Mandatory Minimums

Today the Tories have promised they will bring in much stiffer sentences for violent crimes. While I agree that mandatory minimums should be expanded in some areas, I am concerned they may be going too far. There is no doubt this will be politically popular and the opposition would be best to amend rather than defeat it. Even though many studies have shown that mandatory minimums are not effective, at the end of the day it matters what the average voter thinks who are generally supportive of them. When one considers the United States has the highest crime rate of developed nations, I don't think the US is the nation we should look to in terms of figuring out how to combat crime. We also must include rehabilatation along with mandatory minimums.

In sum, I support tougher sentences in certain areas, but believe they are too broad. This bill should pass, but not without amending it. And it must comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Campbell urges PM to support Kelowna Accord

I was quite pleased to here Gordon Campbell speak out in favour of the Kelowna Accord
I know he worked very hard on this file and I think it is a huge disappointment the new government has chosen not to honour this. I know Campbell understands the importance of diplomacy with the federal government and generally keeps his disagreements with them private between the two, so the fact he is publicly speaking out I think should be a major sign to the Tories to take note. This was not as Monte Solberg claimed written on the back of a napkin, this was done in consultation with the 10 provinces and 3 territories over 18 months. Campbell also isn't the only one to criticize the decision to cancel the Kelowna Accord, even Ralph Klein argued the Liberal plan is better. I am not suggesting there is anything wrong with what the Conservatives have offered to aboriginals, especially those living off reserves, but I do think they ought to honour the Kelowna Accord. First Nation's issue may not be the most politically glamourous but they are very important. The poverty this group has lived in is shameful and we must work cooperatively to help end it. I would urge the Conservatives to honour the Kelowna Accord.

Hedy Fry's In

Today, my own MP, Hedy Fry throw her hat into the race for the next Liberal leader. While it is good to have someone from the West join as well as more women, I think the party choosing Hedy Fry as leader would be a terrible mistake. I realize her comments on Prince George are probably dumb ones that she regrets, but I don't think the public would be very forgiving of them. The only real benefit of her entering is it will at least ensure women's and Western issues are debated, which is definitely a good thing. Even if I don't support a given candidate, that doesn't mean I don't support them entering the race. I believe the more people you get in the race, the more debate you get on different ideas and the stronger the party will be with whoever they choose.

I should also add a few side notes on other daily events here. Carolyn Bennett's comments about the Tory childcare plan leading to more jails was just plain stupid. Lets debate the issues on facts and have a reasonable debate. Making over the top statements as we saw last election only helps the Conservatives. Secondly, the government knows best mentality may sell well amongst a certain crowd, but I don't think it does amongst most Canadians. Most Canadians are compassionate and want the government to help the most disadvantaged, but by the same token most Canadians aren't for a cradle to grave nanny state such as Sweden has nor are they supportive of a fend for yourself society that the United States has. Finally, I am pleased to see Paul Martin finally speak in the House. I've felt that he was always a good debater and offered intelligent ideas when he was himself. It was only when he had his idiotic advisors (yes thats you Scott Reid, John Duffy, and David Herle) write his speeches did he sound arrogant. I know my Tory friends will disagree, but I see him as a true stateman and I hope he continues to play a strong role in the House and speak out on important issues. He may have lost credibility with some Canadians, but not this one.

Budget

Today, the Conservatives brought down their first budget. I would give the budget a C+ since it was a pretty average budget. It wasn't a great budget as some Conservative supporters say, but neither was it a terrible budget as the Liberals and NDP claim. But anyways since the Bloc Quebecois has promised to support it, it should pass without much difficulty.

Pros
- Affordable Housing trust for low-income families
- Corporate tax cuts from 21 to 19% (not very popular, but necessary to stay competitive in the global economy
- Small Business tax cuts
- Dropping immigration landing fee from $975 to $490
- More infrastructure spending
- More transit spending including the transit tax credit
- The sports tax credit since this will save us money in health care in the long-run as healthier people means fewer people using the health system
- $1.5 billion for farmers
- $400 million for aboriginals (better than nothing, but not honouring the Kelowna Accord will be in the cons
- More money for the military
- More money for the RCMP and border guards
- $104 million for Cancer strategy and cancer control
- More money for health care
- Exemping scholarships from taxation and tax credits for school textbooks

Cons
- GST cut (good politics, bad economics)
- Raising the lower income bracket from 15% to 15.5% (no need for tax hikes under the current economic climate, but especially not one's target at the poor)
- $1,200 Childcare cheques (The Liberal plan was unworkable, but cutting a $1,200 cheque to parents, which is taxable and won't nearly cover the cost of childcare is no solution)
- Tax credits to encourage business to create childcare spaces (tried elsewhere and didn't work)
- Cuts to environmental programs (The environment is one of the last areas we should be cutting. If we had a deficit then I would support cutting here, but not when we have a surplus)
- Cancelling the Kelowna Accords
- lack of funding for research and development (this is necessary to stay competitive globally)
- lack of funding for post-secondary education
- failure to scrap the long gun registry (This is a promise I hope they do keep, since the gun registry has been a complete waste of money and disaster)

On the whole on okay budget. It is definitely one I can live with, but I wouldn't describe it as a great budget. The last great budget we had federally was in 1995 when Paul Martin was finance minister and he made the tough choices necessary to turn around the nation's finances.