Joe Comuzzi's defection to the Tories

Now that it is official, I will weigh in. I refused to write on this earlier since I wanted to hear what both Harper and Comuzzi had to give as their explanations for their decision before commenting. Anyways my opinions on this topic are expressed here and here so no need to go further on this. Although when talking specifically about Comuzzi's defection, I will say these three things.

1. I believe Joe Comuzzi was truly a Liberal in his viewpoints back in 1988 when he ran as a Liberal, but people's views change and over the last few years, it has become clear that he becoming increasingly more conservative in his viewpoints and would therefore be a better fit in the Conservative Party. I fully support the Liberal Party and I also support diversity of opinions within it, but clearly those who are more in line with another party are best to go join that one.

2. The Tories only got 22% last time around in this riding compared to the NDP getting 35% and the Liberals 36% so he stands almost no chance at being re-elected. This hasn't elected a Conservative since 1930. The Liberals may not hold this one, but the battle will be between the Liberals and NDP.

3. I support his defection with one qualifier; he promise to seek re-election as a Conservative in Thunder Bay-Superior North, so that his constituents can pass judgement on whether he made the right or wrong decision.

An interesting side note is both the defections to the Tories since Dion became leader were from MPs who supported Joe Volpe for Liberal leadership. I fully agree with all the Tory criticisms of Volpe so it seems a bit hypocritical they are taking people who endorsed him. Too bad Volpe didn't defect as well since we could do just fine without him also and at least get a Liberal with more integrity next time around.

And finally, I was wondering if anyone has any predictions on when Bill Casey will defect to the Liberals. Despite his claim that he has no plans on switching to the Liberals, I suspect after a few months as an independent, he will realize just like Turner and Comuzzi that he has little power and will therefore switch to the Liberals. My guess is November, so lets see how close I come here or if I am even right about him defecting.

EU gets pass impasse and heads towards new treaty

After much negotiations and threats by both Poland and Britain to block a new treaty if it didn't heed certain demands, it appears a deal has been reached and a new treaty will go ahead. This off course assumes it doesn't get defeated in a national referendum as the European constitution did in 2005 by both the French and Dutch voters. Technically, only in Ireland is a national referendum required and the Irish have generally been more pro-EU than most member-states. Although the EU has plenty of problems that need fixing, I believe it is more a force of good than negative one and therefore believe efforts to make it function are important. More importantly, the EU started out with only six members, but now has 27 so achieving consensus with 27 members is very difficult, so changes are needed. I am a strong supporter of the EU as it has promoted cooperation, understanding, and prosperity in Europe never mind the fact travelling in Europe without changing currencies and going through customs everytime you go across a national boundary is very convenient. However, I do not support the creation of a European superstate as each country remains its own unique identity and must be able to preserve this. I also believe a strong EU could act as a counter-balance to the United States, which is definitely in Canada's interest. As someone who has just recently visited Europe and has a strong interests in seeing a new power emerge whose values are similiar to Canada and rejects the more right wing elements of American society, I have taken a keen interest in the EU and its development. I should also note I am dead set against a North American Union similiar to the EU being created as I believe such union is unnecessary and would not work as it would be dominated by one country rather than be based on several countries working together cooperatively. In addition areas of common interests between Canada and the United States can be addressed through bilateral cooperation, whereas with 27 members, an actual governing body that makes laws is necessary.

In order to make the EU function more smoothly and to re-build confidence amongst an increasingly skeptical public, I suggest the following reforms be made.

1. Make the EU more democratic. Legislation should be written and introduced by either the Council of Ministers (who are national representatives) or the European parliament (who are directly elected by its citizens), not the European Commission. These two bodies should also have the power to repeal any previous laws that are ineffective. In a democracy, governments who pass bad laws must be able to be held accountable and since the EU takes on many nation-state like characteristics and has far more power than it did 50 years ago, when created or any other international organization, it needs to be made more democratic.

2. Laws should be introduced by whichever level of government is best able to deal with the issue. This may mean the EU in expanding its powers in some areas, such as immigration where greater cooperation is needed, but also returning some to national governments in areas that are better handled by national governments. Qualified majority should be used in all areas relating to the single market and its smooth functioning, but unanimity should remain in sensitve areas such as foreign policy and areas vital to national sovereignty.

3. A two speed Europe should be introduced. It is wrong to force countries such as Britain to give up more sovereignty than its people are comfortable with, but equally wrong to hold back countries such as Belgium from pursuing greater integration as its citizens want. As done with the Euro and Scheghen Agreement, opt outs in sensitve areas should be allowed so those who want greater integration can do so and those who don't aren't forced to give up more sovereignty than they want.

4. Finally any treaty or constitution that involves giving up significant amount of sovereignty should be decided via national referendum. Minor housekeeping treaties can be ratified through parliamentary approval. Simply speaking, sovereignty is derived from its people, not the government, so the EU increasing its powers can only gain legitimacy if it is the will of the people.

Back on the domestic front, I was shocked to hear Belinda Stronach was diagnosed with breast cancer. I hope she makes a speedy recovery and my best wishes to her. It appears Joe Comuzzi will be defecting to the Conservatives. I will wait until the decision is officially announced before commenting. Stephen Harper has said he will not extend the Afghanistan mission without parliamentary approval. Hopefully he follows through on this and the opposition continue to hold to account on this. Harper has also said he will ignore the Kyoto implementation bill. While he had every right to make it a confidence motion and then go to an election if it passed, it is now the law of the land and the government must follow it. The government is representative of all MPs, not just the PM or governing party.

My trip to Europe

My trip was great and I saw much of what I wanted to. Although it was certainly adventuresome to travel alone, by car, and to try and cover as much distance as I did, I was able to still see lots and experience the local cultures. Below I will give some highlights from each city and one picture. (Picture 1, Luxembourg; Picture 2, Belgian royal palace, Brussels; Picture 3, Strasbourg cathedral and local architecture; Picture 4, French Riviera, Nice; Picture 5, Duoma, Florence; Picture 6, Hofburg palace, Vienna; Picture 7, Mozart's birthplace, Salzburg; Picture 8, Nymphemburg Palace, Munich; Picture 9, Bradenburg Gate, Berlin;

Berlin

After an overnight flight to Amsterdam, I drove all the way to Berlin, which was my first stop. While there I took a bus tour around the city and a boat trip down the river where I got to pass Museum Island, the Reichstag, and the former checkpoint on the river when the city was divided. I visited the Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Bradenburg Gate. I also saw Tony Blair's motorcade drive by when leaving the Reichstag as he was there to meet with Angela Merkel in advance of the G8 summit in Germany.

Munich

After that, my next destination was Munich where I stayed in Feldkirchen, which is a suburb only 10km east of the city. There I visited the Nymphemburg Palace which was a summer treat for the king of Bavaria from the 1600s onward, especially Maximillian I. I also went to a number of beer parlors to have some of the best beer found anywhere in the world as well as I had Weiner Schntzel and sausages.

Vienna

My next stop was Vienna. On the way to Vienna I stopped in Salzburg for lunch where I visited the outside of Mozart's birthplace. In Vienna I took a bus tour and visited the Schonbrunn Palace which was where the Hapsburgs lived and continued over 1400 rooms. The Hapsburgs were a powerful family who ruled Austria from the Middle Ages through to World War I and ruled over a large empire through Central Europe. That evening I went to a classical music concert where they played music by Mozart and Josef Strauss who were both two famous Austrian composers. Austria is well known for producing many of the most talented composers of classical music. Although I don't normally listen to classical music, I felt I had to try something local and despite my initial expectations, I actually quite enjoyed the concert.

Florence

My next stop was Florence and that was a reasonably long drive although I saw some interesting scenery. Stopped in Graz, then headed through the Alps, through a series of tunnels and stopped in a mountain village called Trevisio, Italy, which is 10km south of the Austrian border and 10km west of the Slovenian border. I passed through Venice and Bologna, but didn't go into the cities. In Florence I got to see many of the historical sites especially from the Renaissance as this was a major centre for the Renaissance. I saw the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, Galileo's home, and the Galleria Academia which had a collection of all the musical instruments of the Medici family as well as Michelangelo's David. Unfortunately I only have a picture of a replica as photography was prohibited inside the museum.

Nice

After that I drove to Nice while stopping in Genoa for lunch. Unfortunately it was Sunday so all the smaller Italian towns had no restuarants that were open. Genoa was a port city and not particularly attractive. In Nice I took a tour around the Riviera, which quite pretty, but also a popular tourist destination. I also visited Monaco, which is only a short train ride away and saw the palace there. Despite its small size, Monaco is its own separate country being the second smallest in size in the world after the Vatican City, yet the most densely populated country in the world.

Strasbourg

My drive from Nice to Strasbourg was the longest by 13 hours long and covering much of the length of France, which is the largest EU country in terms of land mass. I stopped for lunch in Grenoble, which has earlier hosted the winter olympics and also got to see the French Alps as well as I approached the outskirts of Geneva, although I didn't enter Switzerland. Strasbourg is located right along the French-German border and has switched back and forth between the two such as in 1871 going to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War and then back to France after World War I. Its history under both nations is partly why it is the headquarters of the Council of Europe and one of the two meeting places for the European parliament. In fact the founder of the EU, Robert Schumann was from there. I took a boat tour around the island where the city is located as well as saw the cathedral.

Brussels

On the way to Brussels I stopped in Luxembourg for lunch, which is the smallest NATO country both in terms of land and second smallest in terms of population (Iceland), while the smallest EU country in terms of both population and land until 2004 (when Malta joined). Despite its size it has a rich history and is quite pretty. It also due to its business friendly environment is the headquarters of many large firms. In Brussels I saw the Royal palace, the Laeken Place where the family lives, the Atomium from the Great Fair, the European institutions (Brussels is essentially the EU capital). The city is officially bilingual, so all signs are in Dutch and French, however 85% of the city is French speaking despite the fact all areas surrounding the city on all sides are Dutch speaking.

Amsterdam

After touring Brussels I drove up to Amsterdam, which was only a two hour drive. Since I have already been to the city, I only stayed overnight there as I had to return my rental car by 10:00AM the next morning. I still though went into the Central part of the city for dinner and walked around there. I also got to have a Heinecken, which is my favourite beer brand and a Dutch one too. The next day, I flew back ending my 15 day trip where I visited 8 countries, stayed in 8 cities and visited many more and went through four different language speaking communities (German - Austria and Germany, Italian - Italy, French - France, Monaco, Luxembourg, Southern Belgium, Brussels, Dutch - Netherlands, Northern Belgium).

I would certainly do another similiar European trip and although it would be nice to go with someone, I am happy to travel alone if it is not possible as I still got to meet many people as well.

Political Events that happened while I was away

Since June 1st, as posted in my earlier post, I have been overseas in Europe where I visited 8 countries, stayed in 8 cities and stopped in several more. It was a great trip and I will post something on it later including a few of the pictures.

Bill Casey was expelled from the Conservative caucus for voting against the budget. My view on this is the Conservatives were right to kick him out of the party, but he was also right to vote against the budget. The budget is a matter of confidence so while I support dissent on most issues, this is one issue I believe all MPs should vote with the party unless they are willing to leave the party. I also believe Bill Casey was right to vote against the budget, since besides being an overall lousy one, it was not good for his province and as a representative of his constituency first ahead of the party, his job was to try and fight for changes in the budget and when this couldn't be achieved, then vote against it. Even though he has said he will not be switching to the Liberals, I do hope like Garth Turner he comes to the realization one is very limited in what they can do as an independent. That being said, he got 52% last time around and the Liberals only got 23% so my suggestion is he do what Keith Martin did, which is stay as an independent until the election is called, but run under the Liberal banner next election. I would encourage all former Progressive Conservatives who are dissatisfied with the current Conservatives to consider switching to the Liberals. We may have our differences as I've found as a former PC, but the Liberals have more in common with the former PCs than the current Conservatives do. In fact in many ways the PCs were more like your typical European conservative party while the Reform/Alliance/Conservatives are more along the lines of American conservatives. I'll post more later in this post on European politics.

The Atlantic Accord spat seems to be a big news maker. I will admit that the equalization formula is so complicated that it is tough to have an informed opinion on it. The fact they need a university professor who is an expert an equalization to crunch the numbers really says it all. If the formula was more simple, so an average citizen could understand it, we would know who is telling the truth and who is lying and could hold them accountable. Still from what I do know my opinion is as follows: I want both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador to some day become have provinces and since allowing them to enjoy the benefits of their offshore oil would make it possible to do this, I support the changes Rodney Macdonald and Danny Williams are asking for, with one exception. I don't believe Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador should continue to receive equalization if they ever become wealthier than the poorest have province. The richest have not province should never be wealthier than the poorest have province as this flies in the face of what equalization was might to be. In addition with all the political squabbling over this and the fact jointly administering certain programs like health care significantly increases the cost, I think the federal government should just take over all the programs that are jointly administered and leave the ones that are done exclusively by the provinces now to the provinces. While some may say this violates the constitution, I would check with the supreme court on this since John A. Macdonald when he wrote the BNA Act was in favour of strongly centralized government and rejected the American model of states rights. It was only the privy council ruling in 1891 that granted the provinces jurisdiction in several areas. Otherwise it was the British, not the Canadian government that wanted provincial rights. Ironically today, Canada is one of the few countries in the world (not even the United States falls under this group) where the combined budget of the provinces exceeds the federal government. In fact if Harper's plans of decentralization go through and the European Union continues to integrate at its current place, we will be more decentralized than the EU in 20 years, which isn't even a country. I think we as Liberals need to change our position from opposing further decentralization to supporting further centralization. Having programs done exclusively at the federal level would also cost less too due to economies of scale and the fact there would be no more overlap so those for less government and lower taxes should suppor this.

In my home province of British Columbia, the supreme court ruled Bill 29 which ripped up the collective agreements of some unions was unconstitutional. I believe the ruling was regrettable, but as a strong supporter of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, I am opposed to using the notwithstanding clause to avoid this ruling and from what I am hearing I believe the BC Liberals won't be using it. My view is that view is that while this did violate the rights of the unions, the rights of the taxpayer must also be included and the ruling should be made on the basis of whichever violation was larger. That is why I believe it could be saved under section 1, but I understand why the court may have ruled differently.

Finally, while I was in Germany, the G8 meeting was being held. I did not going anywhere near where it was being held as I was in Berlin and then later Munich. However, I did see Tony Blair when leaving the Reichstag as his motorcade drove by as he was heading for a meeting with Angela Merkel. I also earlier noticed the union jack flying on the chancellor's place, which made my think there must be a meeting with the British PM as normally only the German and EU flags fly on the chancellor's residence. At the G8 meeting, tackling global warming was discussed and it was regretable they had to water down the original plan. I am especially disappointed that Stephen Harper sided with Bush. I don't think a consensus could have been achieved but we should have at least sided with the Europeans. And lets remember both France and Germany have conservative governments who understand the seriousness of global warming and support tackling it unlike Canada and the United States.

There was also the controversy over Bush placing a missile defence shield in the Czech Republic. Since the Cold War is over, I think such shield as unnecessary and so do most Eastern Europeans, so I wish the Eastern European governments would listen to their own people instead of Bush for a change. Also countries like Poland and Czech Republic should realize their future lies with the European Union, not a trans-Atlantic Alliance. And I should note I also feel the same way for Britain as well.

Finally I should add something about the politics of Europe. While I didn't talk politics a lot, some common themes I noticed is even though Europeans are divided on issues like Canadians and Americans are, they seem to be far more united on global warming on dealing with the issue. In fact gas prices ranged from the equivalent of $1.60/litre to $2.10/litre and they have better public transit systems including inter-city high speed trains, so perhaps we could learn from the Europeans here. And yes I do support tolls on highways and higher gas prices since as annoying as they are, it would give us incentives to drive less. I also noticed the Europeans were pretty much united in their hatred of Bush, which was no surprise, although I wouldn't say anti-Americanism is rampant there as some seem to think. Like Canadians many still realize not all Americans agree with Bush and his destructive policies. All countries I visited have some form of proportional representation, so because they means constant minority governments, coalitions are often formed and this usually forces parties on both the left and right to govern close to the centre in order to get anything done, which was is why the election of a socialist or conservative government in Europe is less negative than in Canada since they usually are forced to make compromises. In addition many Liberal parties are classical liberal ones that believe in the free market like our conservatives, but are socially liberal like our Liberals. By the same token, the Conservatives in Austria are socially conservative like our Conservatives, but generally support an interventionist government economically unlike our Conservatives.