What Is A Hero?

Having completed at my wife's urgent behest the always onerous task of vacuuming, I sat down a short time ago to peruse The Toronto Star. In it there is another story about Anthony Marco, the Hamilton-area NDP candidate running in Tim Hudak's riding. Already under fire for so-called controversial remarks about nazism, he has again offended someone (i.e. police and firefighters)by sharing his insights publicly.

The story, in the Star's Campaign Notebook but not available online, conveys how Marco said, just before Remembrance Day last year: “I think we throw the term ‘hero’ around a little bit too loosely these days . . . I’m tired of hearing, and no offence to doctors or firefighters or policemen, but automatically calling occupations as heroic . . . you don’t automatically become a hero just because you put on a uniform of some sort or have a title before or after your name,”

To me, what he says makes perfect sense, especially given the misdeeds of the police that are now coming to light on a regular basis. Despite that fact, Jim Christie, president of the Ontario Provincial Police Association, said he found Marco’s comment, especially from a provincial candidate, “very disturbing.”

The blind deference and obeisance to authority is a dangerous thing in a democracy. If nothing else, the police abuses at last year's G20 Summit in Toronto taught us that unless tightly monitored and always questioned, authority can be so easily abused, with very dire consequences to innocent people.

As well, I wonder if police association president Jim Christie also finds "very disturbing" the conviction and sentencing of a former Vancouver police officer, Peter Hodson, for dealing drugs on the job.

Righteous indignation should be directed at those who truly deserve it.

Please sign this petition urging Prime Minister Harper to stop threatening Michaela Keyserlingk and to stop exporting asbestos.

The Timidity Of The Ontario NDP

I wrote earlier this month about the growing call from certain monied sectors for an increase in their personal taxation rates, arguing that they are not paying their fair share to support the country in which they grew and prospered. That plea, as noted earlier, is being egregiously ignored by all political parties, including Ontario's NDP, led by Andrea Horwath, a politician who is becoming increasing difficult to distinguish from the leaders of the other parties.

My observation, and I don't think it is a particularly startling or perceptive one, is that slowly and inevitably, the party, both at the federal and provincial levels, is becoming very 'mainstream' as the prospects for increasing their electoral success improve.

Take, for example, Ms. Horwath's position on corporate taxation. As reported last May in The Toronto Star, the NDP would raise corporate taxes by a mere 2%, to 14% from the current 12%. As well, as reported in today's Star, the party would cancel the entertainment tax breaks enjoyed by corporations, such as being able to write off some of the costs of a corporate box at the Air Canada Centre.

While I do not dispute that these would be useful measures that would hardly send corporations fleeing to other jurisdictions, they also strike me as extraordinarily timid, a kind of nipping around the edges of fiscal policy. I do realize there is an argument to be made for proceeding slowly in a compromised economy, but I worry that the stated policy direction suggests that should they ever regain power, the NDP would once again make the same kinds of mistakes that were made during the disastrous Bob Rae years, when the now interim federal Liberal Leader bent over backwards to placate business at the expense of party policy and principles.

Until I hear someone talk about raising the personal income tax rate on the ultra-wealthy, I shall remain dubious of the integrity of NDP principles.

Please sign this petition urging Prime Minister Harper to stop threatening Michaela Keyserlingk and to stop exporting asbestos.

Political Partisanship Masquerading As Political Analysis

With the Ontario provincial election pending, more and more opinion pieces will find their way into both national and local papers. I certainly welcome a broad range of views to read and react to. However, it strikes me as the epitome of dishonesty for a columnist to pretend he or she is writing a political analysis when in fact the purpose is to advocate for a specific party or candidate.

Such is the case with Andrew Dreschel's column in today's Hamilton Spectator. Entitled Ontario could face coalition government, the article, by invoking the prospect of a coalition, transparently attempts to invoke the same kind of reactionary fear that Stephen Harper so effectively exploited on his road to a majority government. While I encourage everyone to read the piece, here are a couple of snippets that illustrate Dreschel's larger purpose:

Hudak might end up leading a minority government.

If so, the idea of an alternative governing coalition or at least an alliance between the Liberals and New Democrats may very well be in the cards.

He then goes on to remind the reader of the alliance that took place between Liberal David Petersen and then NDP leader Bob Rae that ultimately led to the disastrous Ontario NDP government, suggesting that Dalton McGuinty and Andrea Horvath could find sufficient common ground to partner:

As with Peterson, McGuinty’s generally seen as progressive — if you take the word to mean left of centre.

The sowing of fear has begun.

Please sign this petition urging Prime Minister Harper to stop threatening Michaela Keyserlingk and to stop exporting asbestos.