Wheat Board ruling and Ignatieff on Iraq
Despite a quiet summer on the political scene, a number of things have happened in the past week. I won't write on all, but write on two of the ones that I have a definitive opinion on.
Canadian Wheat Board Ruling
On July 31st, a judge struck down Harper's decision to end the Wheat Board's monopoly in barley sales in the Prairie provinces. I fully support the decision despite the fact I do support a dual marketing system. The reason for this, is no matter how much I support or oppose a decision, I do not believe decisions of this magnitude should be able to proceed without parliamentary approval. I am very disappointed to see Harper's arrogant attitude that he will proceed regardless of what parliament thinks and the courts say. He must realize, while he may be PM, he does not hold all the power and the fact he has a minority government means he doesn't have a mandate to pass any legislation without the support of at least one other party. He has every right to put the issue to a parliamentary vote, persuade other parliamentarians and Canadians to support his view, and even use this as an argument as to why people should give him a majority. However, he does not have the right to pretend he has a mandate to do something he doesn't. I've learned in life that you try your best to get what you want, but you are not the only person out there and therefore you cannot always get everything you want.
The reason why I support a dual marketing system can be narrowed down to three reasons.
1. In a free and democratic society, I don't believe one's freedom should be restricted unless their actions infringe on another's freedom or cause harm to society as a whole. Selling outside of the Wheat Board does neither in my view. Most of us believe in balancing the interests of the collective and individual while some lean more towards another. I lean more towards the individual and believe that collective rights, while appropriate, must be done with caution as all too often the collective is simply used as an excuse to take away individual rights and expand the power of government. By the same token I do agree with the supporters that allowing individuals to sell on the open market when prices are high, but go back to the Wheat Board when low will undermine it, so my proposal is those who wish to sell on the open market can do so, provided they never use the Wheat Board ever again.
2. As an economics student, I studied how monopsony's work. They do increase producer surplus (the farmers), but the reduction in consumer surplus (the consumers) exceeds that of the gain in consumer surplus therefore resulting a deadweight loss.
3. I generally support having a more centralized government, but I do however believe any law made by the federal government should apply equally across the country. When it applies to only one region, you risk creating more regional alienation. I understand the economic rationale for applying it only to the Prairies, but I still believe this is not appropriate if done by the federal government.
Finally I reject the argument a dual marketing system cannot exist. In fact here in Ontario, the Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board has done just that so if implemented properly it could work. My concern is that Harper wants to see the board destroyed altogether (which there are legitimate arguments for doing so) but feels he has a better chance of succeeding if using the cloak of a dual marketing system.
Michael Ignatieff on Iraq
Recently, Michael Ignatieff came out and said that he believe he made a mistake in supporting the Iraq War. I can certainly empathize with this is I initially supported it, but now strongly oppose it. I also understand his rationale for supporting it as the Kurds did suffer immensely under Saddam Hussein. In fact when I was in Vienna this past June, our hotel clerk was totally supportive of the Iraq War and he was an Iraqi Kurd who fled to Austria due to Saddam Hussein's rule. However, even if the war benefited the Kurds, there were far more people who were made worse off by it than better off. Few issues are entirely positive or negative, but rather one must look at each side and see which is larger. In this case, the negatives greatly outweigh the positives. Never mind, the fact there is no guarantee a different Iraqi government would support an independent Kurdistan and even if they did, there is a good chance Turkey would invade the region to avoid facing a similiar rebellion amongst the Kurds in their country. An independent Kurdistan will only happen, when Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq all together decide to recognize a Kurdish homeland.
Finally I heard Harper will be having a cabinet shuffle soon. I will comment more once I see the changes, but the fact this is already his second cabinet shuffle really says something about the talent his government has. While part of this may be due to the fact strong candidates generally tend to run for winning parties, rather than opposition ones, strong candidates also like to have influence and with Harper being a control freak, this is difficult to do.
Canadian Wheat Board Ruling
On July 31st, a judge struck down Harper's decision to end the Wheat Board's monopoly in barley sales in the Prairie provinces. I fully support the decision despite the fact I do support a dual marketing system. The reason for this, is no matter how much I support or oppose a decision, I do not believe decisions of this magnitude should be able to proceed without parliamentary approval. I am very disappointed to see Harper's arrogant attitude that he will proceed regardless of what parliament thinks and the courts say. He must realize, while he may be PM, he does not hold all the power and the fact he has a minority government means he doesn't have a mandate to pass any legislation without the support of at least one other party. He has every right to put the issue to a parliamentary vote, persuade other parliamentarians and Canadians to support his view, and even use this as an argument as to why people should give him a majority. However, he does not have the right to pretend he has a mandate to do something he doesn't. I've learned in life that you try your best to get what you want, but you are not the only person out there and therefore you cannot always get everything you want.
The reason why I support a dual marketing system can be narrowed down to three reasons.
1. In a free and democratic society, I don't believe one's freedom should be restricted unless their actions infringe on another's freedom or cause harm to society as a whole. Selling outside of the Wheat Board does neither in my view. Most of us believe in balancing the interests of the collective and individual while some lean more towards another. I lean more towards the individual and believe that collective rights, while appropriate, must be done with caution as all too often the collective is simply used as an excuse to take away individual rights and expand the power of government. By the same token I do agree with the supporters that allowing individuals to sell on the open market when prices are high, but go back to the Wheat Board when low will undermine it, so my proposal is those who wish to sell on the open market can do so, provided they never use the Wheat Board ever again.
2. As an economics student, I studied how monopsony's work. They do increase producer surplus (the farmers), but the reduction in consumer surplus (the consumers) exceeds that of the gain in consumer surplus therefore resulting a deadweight loss.
3. I generally support having a more centralized government, but I do however believe any law made by the federal government should apply equally across the country. When it applies to only one region, you risk creating more regional alienation. I understand the economic rationale for applying it only to the Prairies, but I still believe this is not appropriate if done by the federal government.
Finally I reject the argument a dual marketing system cannot exist. In fact here in Ontario, the Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board has done just that so if implemented properly it could work. My concern is that Harper wants to see the board destroyed altogether (which there are legitimate arguments for doing so) but feels he has a better chance of succeeding if using the cloak of a dual marketing system.
Michael Ignatieff on Iraq
Recently, Michael Ignatieff came out and said that he believe he made a mistake in supporting the Iraq War. I can certainly empathize with this is I initially supported it, but now strongly oppose it. I also understand his rationale for supporting it as the Kurds did suffer immensely under Saddam Hussein. In fact when I was in Vienna this past June, our hotel clerk was totally supportive of the Iraq War and he was an Iraqi Kurd who fled to Austria due to Saddam Hussein's rule. However, even if the war benefited the Kurds, there were far more people who were made worse off by it than better off. Few issues are entirely positive or negative, but rather one must look at each side and see which is larger. In this case, the negatives greatly outweigh the positives. Never mind, the fact there is no guarantee a different Iraqi government would support an independent Kurdistan and even if they did, there is a good chance Turkey would invade the region to avoid facing a similiar rebellion amongst the Kurds in their country. An independent Kurdistan will only happen, when Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq all together decide to recognize a Kurdish homeland.
Finally I heard Harper will be having a cabinet shuffle soon. I will comment more once I see the changes, but the fact this is already his second cabinet shuffle really says something about the talent his government has. While part of this may be due to the fact strong candidates generally tend to run for winning parties, rather than opposition ones, strong candidates also like to have influence and with Harper being a control freak, this is difficult to do.
posted by Monkey Loves to Fight at 6:02 PM
3 Comments:
Check this site for one man's take on the Ignatieff Apology:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-rees/cormac-ignatieffs-the-r_b_59363.html
Interesting post, although I do believe people can legitimately change their views on the Iraq issue, especially when one considers the evidence used to present the case for war was largely false.
Hi,
I keep coming to this website[url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/lose-10-pounds-in-2-weeks-quick-weight-loss-tips].[/url]mileslunn.blogspot.com really contains lot of useful information. Let me tell you one thing guys, some time we really forget to pay attention towards our health. Let me present you with one fact here. Research presents that closely 60% of all U.S. adults are either fat or overweight[url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/lose-10-pounds-in-2-weeks-quick-weight-loss-tips].[/url] Hence if you're one of these people, you're not alone. Its true that we all can't be like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Megan Fox, and have sexy and perfect six pack abs. Now next question is how you can achive quick weight loss? [url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/lose-10-pounds-in-2-weeks-quick-weight-loss-tips]Quick weight loss[/url] is really not as tough as you think. Some improvement in of daily activity can help us in losing weight quickly.
About me: I am author of [url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/lose-10-pounds-in-2-weeks-quick-weight-loss-tips]Quick weight loss tips[/url]. I am also mentor who can help you lose weight quickly. If you do not want to go under difficult training program than you may also try [url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/acai-berry-for-quick-weight-loss]Acai Berry[/url] or [url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/colon-cleanse-for-weight-loss]Colon Cleansing[/url] for quick weight loss.
Post a Comment
<< Home