Off to Europe

Tomorrow, I will be heading off to Europe for a two week vacation, so obviously during this time I will take a hiatus from blogging. I will start my trip in Amsterdam go to Berlin then Munich, Vienna, Florence, Nice, Strasbourg, Brussels, and end in Amsterdam before returning to Toronto. I will spend one day driving, one day in each city, so while busy, I hope to see a lot. I will post some of the photos when I get back and post on what I learned, including anything political, although I generally avoid talking politics with strangers, especially in a foreign country.

Liberals win in PEI, Dion calls for review foreign takeovers

Congratulations to Robert Ghiz on his landslide win in PEI. While I am not surprised by the Liberal win, I am surprised by the size of the win, although interestingly enough PEI has a long history of going either solidly blue or solidy red. For whatever reason the differences between the regions seem to be small. After all, the Tories got in the low 30s in all PEI ridings last federal election and the Liberals in the low 50s, so there does seem to be less variation than other provinces. As for who I wanted to win, I haven't followed PEI politics close enough to really say. Pat Binns didn't do anything particularly great, but nothing particularly bad either, while Robert Ghiz seemed to have some good ideas, although 33 does seem a bit young to me. Either way, we will find out in time whether it was a good decision or not. I should also note that unlike federally, both the Progressive Conservatives and Liberals are quite centrist so there really isn't much difference between the parties ideologically speaking, it comes more down to personalities and the fine details of the policies.

The second major issue is Dion has called for a review on Canada's policies towards foreign takeovers. While I am generally a strong supporter of the free market and believe restrictions on foreign ownership are usually outdated, I am concerned about the rate of foreign takeovers and feel something has to done. I would rather we find ways to make Canada more competitive so our companies are less attractive for takeovers, but we may have to consider better screening to allow the government to block certain takeovers that don't serve the national interest. Another possibility which I would support is reprocity whereby takeovers would only be permitted if the company being taken over could make a takeover in the jurisdiction of the company doing the takeover. I believe Canadian companies can compete globally, provided they are on a level playing field. It is important to note that Canada ironically has some of the most stringent foreign ownership restrictions amongst the OECD, yet our levels of foreign ownership are far higher than many other OECD countries. This should also be looked at in the review why this is occurring. In the case of telecommunications, I would support one of two options

1. Maintaining foreign ownership restrictions on all existing companies and any new Canadian company, but allowing competition from foreign companies

2. Eliminating all foreign ownership restrictions, but giving the CRTC the power to block any foreign acquisition that doesn't serve the national interests. This is what is currently done in the United States and many takeovers in the telecommunications sector have been blocked.

The issue that we must realize here is as much as none of us like high levels of foreign ownership, we can not expect other countries to grant access to Canadian firms if we don't grant similiar access to their firms. Which leads me to another issue, which is we should consider signing an investment agreement with our trading partners similiar to the free trade deals so we have a common set of rules on what areas can be protected and what areas cannot. This would help create a level playing field for all.

Manitoba Election

In the last few days I have been quite busy after going to Philadelphia for the weekend, now out to Vancouver and next week off to Europe, so I haven't been able to write much recently. Anyways as for my reaction to the Manitoba Election, I would have preferred the NDP wasn't re-elected, however, considering that Doer has been more centrist than most NDP leaders and Manitoba hasn't suffered from the problems typical under NDP administrations, I am not overly disappointed. After seeing the NDP here in BC, and the destruction they caused, I have developed a strong NDP phobia, even though that probably isn't totally fair as the NDP here was far more ideological than the one in Manitoba. I was glad to see the Liberals hold their two seats and hope when people do eventually turn against the NDP, the Liberals will gain seats. I was disappointed to see the Progressive Conservatives win fewer seats, despite getting more votes, although much of this seems to be caused by the fact they declined in Winnipeg where they were most vulnerable, while went up in Rural Manitoba which was already predominately Progressive Conservative. The one notable exception was Rick Borotsik who defeated NDP cabinet minister Stan Smith in Brandon West. Rick Borotsik was a former Progressive Conservative federally, but quite federal politics due to his dissatisfaction with the PC/Alliance merger. While I think Hugh MacFayden should stay on as leader since the NDP's re-election probably had more to do with Doer's sky high popularity than MacFayden's weaknesses, I think Rick Borotsik would be the best replacement if he decides to step down.

In other news, it looks like the Tories are trying to again cancel the Calgary West nomination to ensure Rob Anders stays MP. Why they are so hell bent on keeping him as MP is beyond me. Even if one supports his extreme right wing views, anyone who understands Canadian politics would realize how big a liability he is to the party elsewhere. Everytime people like him open their mouthes, they turn away moderates like myself from the Tories. In fact I quit the party in part because I don't wish to associate with a party that tolerates people with extreme views like him. The only reason he never gets defeated is Calgary is a place that a monkey under the Tory banner could win, however given the fact he usually does worse than other Conservative MPs in Calgary suggests that even in his home town he isn't too popular and wins more because of his party label rather than himself.

Quebec also might have another election since the ADQ and PQ are threatening to vote against the budget. I can understand why the PQ would not support the budget, but considering the ADQ is a right of centre party that has generally been supportive of tax cuts, it is beyond me why they would want to vote against the budget. The only good thing is maybe this will allow the Quebec Liberals to get a majority.

Jerry Falwell dies

First off my condolensces to his family. While I vehemently disagreed with his views, I never celebrate anybody's death no matter how disgusting or vile I found their views.

However, I still think it is worth looking at his legacy. He played a strong role in making the religious right a major force in the Republican party and American politics. I have been a strong critic of the religious right as I believe in tolerance as well as the right of people to live their lives as they wish so long as they don't harm others. The religious right clearly opposes those ideals and more importantly has sometimes shown breathtaking hypocricy by only selecting elements of the Bible that suit their right wing agenda, rather than following it completely. I didn't agree with Pope John Paul's views on abortion or Same-sex marriage, but at least he was consistent in following the bible since he opposed the death penalty (something the religious right strongly supports) and opposed the Iraq War (which Jerry Falwell strongly backed). Still, while I will not celebrate his death, I do hope that this marks a decline in the influence of the religious right on American politics since they have only caused grief for many and done little to help others. In closing, Falwell may have delayed progress, but he hasn't denied it as it will still happen, just maybe not as soon as it should have.

Scrapping the Court Challenges Program panned

As reported earlier in the media, the official languages commissioner has panned the government for scrapping the court challenges program. I all along argued that even if the program was being misused to promote a certain political agenda, scrapping it outright could hurt many who did legitimately have their rights violated from being able to defend them and it appears I have been vindicated. The common accusation from many on the right is it was made up of left wing special interest groups and would only fund challenges that promoted their ideology. Whether this was true or not, this could easily be corrected by having those on the board be lawyers and retired judges who would look at each case on the likelihood that a Charter violation took place and also the means of the person or group wishing to launch the challenge. Instead the Tories decided to scrap the program outright rather than fix an alleged problem, which would have been the proper solution. This leads me to my concern that the Tories are either indifferent or hostile to both language rights and equality rights. Many members in the party and even Harper himself have made such comments in the past, which is why I have cause for concern. I hope I am wrong here, but the government sure isn't giving me much confidence. I think now is the time to re-instate the program and if they wish to include other rights such as free speech and freedom of religion under it, then fine, but don't prevent people with limited means from not being able to defend themselves against violations on equality and linguistic rights. In 1992 when first scrapped by the Mulroney government, there may have been some justification since we faced a $45 billion deficit which required taking some extreme measures that we wouldn't normally need to take, but today we have a healthy surplus so such measures are not needed. I am all for cutting the size of government, but cut programs that don't work, not because they don't suit one's ideology.

Gilles Duceppe running for PQ leader

With Duceppe now announcing he is stepping down as Bloc leader and running for PQ leader, it looks even less likely that we will have an election any time soon. While I would like to see the Liberals return to power ASAP, I also feel the longer the Harper government is in power, the better the odds are, so if we don't have an election until the spring of 2008, that is okay by me. In addition with Manitoba and PEI already holding spring elections, Newfoundland & Labrador and Ontario definitely holding fall elections and the high likelihood Alberta and Saskatchewan will as well, I suspect there was some reluctance to have an election any time soon as having one too close to a provincial election carries risks for whichever party triggers it. If Duceppe does become PQ leader, I believe it could be good news for them as he is well liked in Quebec unlike Andre Boisclair and in fact part of the reason the BQ didn't suffer as heavily as the PQ in the last federal election could be attributed to Duceppe's personal popularity. On the other hand his leaving the BQ could be bad news for them, but good news for both the Tories and Liberals as neither party can get a majority without winning significant number of seats in Quebec. Even though I disagreed with his view of creating a sovereign Quebec, I always saw him as a good leader for the BQ.

In other news the Tories are calling for increasing the seats in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. While the additional five seats in Alberta will undoubtedly help the Tories, the 7 new seats in British Columbia and 10 new seats in Ontario could go either way just depending on what part of the province they are located in. However, I support this as a matter of principle since I believe we should strive to ensure a vote no matter where casted carries the same weight. I am willing to grant some leeway to large Northern ridings and smaller provinces having slightly smaller constituencies so their concerns aren't drowned out and in the case of Northern ridings, the size of the riding isn't so large that it is impossible for the MP to be accessible to their constituents. At the same time the distortion is way too large. The important test here is that the new ridings by done by Elections Canada and they are not stacked with partisan appointments. This will ensure the additional ridings are added where there is the largest population growth, not where it will provide the greatest political advantage to a certain party. My guess is in Alberta, they will be in Calgary and Edmonton, in Ontario in the 905 belt and in BC in the Lower Mainland suburbs and Fraser Valley. There will probably be one new riding in the Fraser Valley which will almost certainly go Conservative, but the other ones in the Lower Mainland are unlikely to be Tory strongholds, although the only new riding I could see being a Liberal strong one will be in the Downtown core (population has exploded in this region as people are actually moving back from the suburbs to the downtown peninsula). In Ontario the 905 belt is generally Liberal, however the fastest growing suburbs are the outerlying ones like Milton and Whitby, which tend to be more bellwether ridings. Also the Ottawa suburbs are growing reasonably fast, so any new seats there could potentially benefit the Tories as the Tories dominate pretty much everywhere in Eastern Ontario except the Ottawa core and Kingston. At least the Rural areas shouldn't be getting any new seats.

In other news Flaherty is back tracking on his policy of ending tax deductions for foreign expansions. This was an incredibly stupid policy that was almost universally condemned by the business community. As much as people say the Tories are the party of business, I would argue they've done a lot to burn bridges with Bay Street since being elected and if anything this will likely cost them in the more affluent ridings. Besides, good business policies are good for the economy and good for Canada. I don't buy the NDP idea of pitting business against everyone else. The Liberals understand you need a strong economy to have a socially just one, which is another reason I support the Liberals. The Tories now appear to neither understand the importance of economic prosperity or social justice, but seem more interested in buying votes from those they think will give them their coveted majority.

UPDATE: Gilles Duceppe has already withdrawn, still my prediction that the next election won't come until next spring stands. His decision to stay as BQ leader will be their gain while the PQ's loss.

Tony Blair to resign on June 27th

Tony Blair has now set his resignation date as Britain's PM for June 27th at which point it appears Gordon Brown will take over as PM until at least the next election is held, probably in 2009. In terms of his legacy, I would give it mixed reviews.

On the domestic front, I think his legacy was generally a success. He took Labour Party away from its past socialists policies and adopted more centrist policies, not unlike the ones also adopted by Clinton in the United States and Chretien here in Canada. Socialism had failed miserably in Britain and if the Labour Party was to remain relevant it needed to modernize and Tony Blair did that. His policies were neither left nor right, but rather combined economic prosperity that the right champions and social justice that the left champions. More importantly his centrist stances forced the Conservatives to move towards the centre if they ever wanted to regain power, which is what they have done under their new leader David Cameron. Some of the highlights of his term include more money for the NHS and introducing a minimum wage. He also helped play a strong role in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland. Some of his questionable policies were his stance towards the Euro and on immigration. I personally support his stance on immigration since Britain has a natural declining population so they need more immigration in order to pay for the services as older British retire. The problem here is unlike Canada, where we are a nation of immigrants, Britain's history is not one based on immigration and therefore it has been an adjustment for some. On the Euro, he was attacked from both sides. Those supporting Britain joining the Euro argued he didn't take an aggressive enough stance in promoting the benefits of joining the Euro, while the Eurosceptics argued he was too supportive of greater integration in the European Union and should have instead demanded the EU return more sovereignty to Britain as well as flat out rule against Britain joining the Euro.

Off course for all the good things he did, his mistake on the Iraq War proved to be fatal and may very well turn what could have been one of Britain's best Prime-Ministers ever into a generally bad PM. While I don't think he was a bad PM, his mistake on Iraq was a big one and no doubt is part of the reason I have less respect for him than I did before. I cannot say for sure what motivated him to make the decision he did, but whatever benefits he thought might have come out of it never materialized. In addition while Britain and the United States have always enjoyed a special relationship, all friendships should have limits. No friendship between nations should require one nation blindly support another one. A real friend will tell the other one they are wrong. I also think Britain needs to re-think its role in both Europe and the Trans-Atlantic alliance. While I can understand some of the Eurosceptism, as the EU does involve giving up a lot of national sovereignty, I do believe that on foreign and defence policy, Britain should align itself more closely with Europe and less so with the United States.

In summary I would rate him as an average PM when everything is balanced out since he did some really good things, but also really bad things.

Boisclair resigns as PQ leader

After taking the party from a large lead in the polls when he became leader to coming and third and having the worst PQ showing in 30 years, my only question is why didn't he resign sooner. With results like this, he should have done the honourable thing and resigned on election night. The results for the Liberal Party last federal election were far better than this yet Paul Martin had the dignity to exit that night. Anyways as a strong federalist who believes Quebec plays an essential role in defining who we are as Canadians, I am more than happy to see the separtists be involved in infighting. Some may say as someone who doesn't live in Quebec, I have no business commenting on their affairs, but I would add simply that Canada is what is because of all components that make up the country. Any part splitting off would simply mean Canada would no longer be what it is. Linguistic duality is an important part of our identity, yet this would be lost if Quebec separated and likewise just as Alberta pulls us to the right, Quebec pulls us to the left and thus we get the best of both, whereas without Quebec I am worried we would be far more conservative much like the United States is today.

Afghanistan, Environment, and Hockey

In the past week a number of events have occurred. I'll start with the minor ones and then later on come to the big ones. Danny Williams is continuing his rant against the Conservatives, arguing Canadians need to defeat them. While I can understand fully why he strongly dislikes Stephen Harper, my worry is his combative stance will ensure Newfoundland & Labrador doesn't get anything, whereas if he was willing to negotiate he might at least get something. Gordon Campbell in BC has generally stayed away from fed bashing and it has paid off for BC. He has been successful at getting things for BC from Chretien, Martin, and Harper so I think if there is any stance to use in federal-provincial relations, it is this one. It appears the BC Liberals will support a 29% pay raise. While I agree that BC politicians are underpaid, such a raise all at once seems a little much in my view. A more modest one and have annual increases tied to inflation would make sense. Today here in Toronto I saw a massive march for legalizing marijuana on Yonge Street. Although I have never smoked marijuana, and never plan to, I do support its legalization since much like alcohol and tobacco, you have fewer problems, when you make something legal, but heavily regulated as opposed to illegal, which only allows the black market to thrive.

Now on to the big issues of the week which were the environment, Afghanistan, and the Shane Doan controversy. In the case of the environment, I've made my views known, but the fact Suzuki, Gore, and the UN are criticizing the plan may be partially why the Tories have taken a fall in the polls. People may not understand the intracacies of climate change, but the above people tend to have more credibility with the average Canadian than Baird or Harper do. My advice for the Tories would be to accept the revised Clean Air Act, the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois crafted. On Kyoto Protocol, I would emphasize it is a long-term plan and 2012 is only the first phase. Mention that we will try to get as close as possible, but will likely not meet our targets, however in order to meet our international obligations we will agree to even greater targets in the second round by however much we missed our targets in the first round. If we miss them by 10%, then we have to agree to a reduction that is 10% more than what others agree to in the second round to compensate for failing to meet our targets in the first round.

On Afghanistan, my position remains we should pull out at the earliest date. The reality is things like this happen in war zones, which is why we should avoid military action unless absolutely necessary. In addition the Tories totally botched the handling of this. Rather than realizing the seriousness and agreeing to launch an immediate inquiry and in the interim have all prisoners return to Canada until they can be assured that the Afghan officials will fully comply with the Geneva Convention, they treat this as a non-issue and give contradictory statements. In addition I take great offense to calling those who oppose the mission as being sympathizers of the Taliban. This is a classical Republican tactic that has no place in this country. I fully support our men and women in uniform and don't support the Taliban, but I don't believe military action is the proper solution. We all agree on what we want as a final goal, which is a free and democratic Afghanistan, but we differ on the methods of achieving this. The Tories should learn to respect that reasonable people can disagree on what is the best approach here. In addition Canadians are far less militaristic than the United States for the simple fact we are a small country who relies on goodwill from the rest of the world. The United States is large enough that they can alienate everyone without reprecussions, whereas in Canada we don't have that option. In addition it seems the Tories want to adopt a pre-Pearsonian foreign policy and for good or for ill, I don't think most Canadians are really interested in doing this. In fact the Pearsonian foreign policy may be only 50 years old, but it is the foreign policy that the vast majority of us have only known and come to identify with and more importantly it has been working fine, so there is little need to change it.

On the Shane Doan controversy, I think this is an example of politicians being totally out to lunch. Everyone I've talked to and almost every comment on the forums is criticizing this decision and this includes many who are left of centre. I believe parliamentarians should focus on more important issues than some insult Shane Doan may have said. I totally abhore insults towards Francophones, but this is only an allegation, not something that is proven and I am one who believes in the idea of innocent until proven guilty. In addition people say nasty things they normally wouldn't in the heat of the moment. What is important is if he did make those remarks, he apologize. Considering he has team players and friends who are Francophones, I highly doubt he is anti-Francophone.

Anyways I will be blogging less over the next few months as this is probably the nicest time to be outside here in Toronto. It is no longer cold, but it is not hot and humid either so I want to enjoy it while it lasts.

Toronto Raptors out of the playoffs after Game 6

Unfortunately, the Raptors have lost to the New Jersey Nets, which although a disappointment, I am still pleased how well the team played so far this year and hopefully next year, we can advance further into the playoffs. Last night was also a really close game, with the Raptors only losing by one point and the fact they had the ball with 8 seconds left meant had they made in shot in that time they would be returning to Toronto for game 7, so they certainly didn't go down without a fight. Anyways New Jersey Nets now go onto play Cleveland, so I guess I'll cheer for Cleveland in the next round against New Jersey.