From Platitude Central

Kim Campbell once famously said that  "an election is no time to discuss serious issues." Given the paucity of substance emerging thus far from declared candidates in both the Ontario and federal Liberal leadership races, I suspect that same 'wisdom' applies to leadership aspirants.

In the time leading up to selection of the next round of political saviours, it is my intention to track those platitudes regularly in order to chronicle the sad state of political discourse in this country; regrettably, it is a discourse debased not only by the ever-ready opportunistic attacks by opposition parties, but also by our own refusal as citizens to face up to unpleasant realities.

To begin this series, may I recommend perusal of Thomas Walkom's column in today's Toronto Star? In it, Walkom explores the utterances of young Justin Trudeau, the likely soon-to-be anointed next messiah to lead the federal Liberals out of the political wilderness (please forgive the cliche - it just seems so apt here).

The gist of Walkom's criticism is the platitudinous nature of Trudeau's utterances thus far, and of course it is a criticism that too readily applies to all current leadership aspirants on both levels of government:

Youth unemployment? Trudeau spoke firmly against it and said something must be done. It’s only when the reporter checked his notes later that he realized the candidate had never quite said what.

Medicare? The existing system, said Trudeau, is not sustainable. A serious conversation is needed. Otherwise medicare will die from benign neglect.

The most specific he got was in talking of the need for [m]ore emphasis on prevention. More home care. But all without more federal money.

And so the dance of triteness goes on, I suspect with more than a small cadre of media members and the electorate willing to have 'sweet nothings' whispered in their ears.

Whither Goest Democracy?

This thoughtful Star reader provides his answer:

As I attended the Remembrance Day ceremony on Sunday, I thought of all those who died and suffered for our democracy. It made me very sad, sadder than in past years, to think of the current state of democracy in Canada and how our government seems to have so little respect for it.

It makes me sad when our prime minister, with disdain, avoids the democratic process with his omnibus bills. There is more to passing a bill than the vote in the legislature. It makes me sad when federal scientists are ordered not to discuss their research in public forums because it does not support the prime minister’s agenda. Giving scientists government scripts to read was used by the communists and Nazis.

It makes me sad when our elected representatives are ordered to read from scripts prepared by the Prime Minister’s Office. Even our federal employees must direct simple questions from the public to the PMO to further control agenda communications.

Signing secret trade agreements with other governments without discussion or debate make me sad and very nervous. It makes me sad when our government closes an internationally celebrated research facility because it produces science that interferes with government agendas. Experimental Lakes Area, near Kenora, costs taxpayers $2 million a year. It will cost $50 million to shut it down and the feds are apparently trying to secretly sell the property.

It is sad that our government is spending $16 million tax dollars for a media propaganda campaign cloaked as the Canada’s Economic Action Plan. It must be propaganda because the “action plan” program no longer exists — it’s over.

As I stood there on Remembrance Day, my sadness turned to anger. You may be surprised to read that I consider myself a conservative, having never voted Liberal at any level of government. For the next federal election (unless we lose that right as well), I will be working for which ever party has the best chance of beating our local Conservative puppet.

We will have to fight to preserve whatever is left of our democracy after the Harper government term. Democracy is for more important than any economic vision. Canadian’s died for it.

Rick Geater, Beeton

This Just In

I've got a bit of a busy morning ahead, so just a brief post for now.

In a study reported in this morning's Star, geneticist Dr. Gerald Crabtree offers his view

... that human intelligence peaked at the time of hunter-gatherers and has since declined as a result of “genetic mutations” that have slowly eroded the human brain’s intellectual and emotional abilities.

Judging by who the electorate has been putting at the helm in Ottawa since 2006, I find the good doctor's thesis difficult to dispute.

More Hypocrisy from the Far Right

To say that the extreme right is often hypocritical is tantamount to saying that when the sky is clear, it is blue. Nonetheless, I can't help but feel more than my usual disdain when that hypocrisy is especially overt and egregious.

This morning, while waiting for my wife at the dentist's office, I picked up a copy of The Globe and Mail to read one of the few columnists I actually miss from the days that I subscribed, television critic John Doyle. In his column today, entitled Warning: This column contains scary Sun News scenes unsuitable for some readers, he reports that the Sun News channel, which enjoys what could most charitably described as a miniscule audience,

... has put in for mandatory carriage on basic cable in Canada. The elusive, lucrative 9(1)(h) category, as it is called by CRTC wonks. What it means for us is that if you purchase a basic cable package, Sun News would be part of it, whether you bloody well like it or not.

As Doyle points out, this desperate measure to save the station runs completely counter to its notion of freedom:

... isn’t Sun News anti-mandatory on everything? Watching Sun News doesn’t bring many surprises; you’re more likely to get variations on a theme watching the Fireplace Channel. So, mere minutes spent watching its continuing hilarity confirm that it’s against folks being obliged to do anything they don’t wanna do. Like, you’d think, pay for a TV channel they don’t want to watch. On the day Sun News went on the air, Levant declared, “We’re talking about truth and freedom. If you love freedom like I do, it’s a pretty happy day.” Well, sunshine, “freedom,” also means freedom from not having to pay for your channel.

Yet one more reason to hold the extreme right-wing in the contempt they so roundly deserve.

Another Insight From A Star Reader

Whenever I fall into the trap of thinking that the Canadian public is indifferent to the things that are going on both within our own country and abroad, I turn to the letters section of The Toronto Star. Admittedly, the majority of the sentiments expressed accord with my own, especially in their criticisms of the Harper regime and its support for all things corporate, no matter how excessive or immoral.

Today was one such day to draw inspiration. After all of the recent shameless government exploitation of our war dead, many of whom died for noble reasons in the past, and many of who have sacrificed their lives or wholeness of body and mind to unknowingly serve unsavory agendas, an observation from Vincent Colucci of Aurora was most welcome.

I reproduce his entire letter below:

On my way to the cemetery Sunday, I drove by several gasoline stations. Last night the price of gas was $1.20 per litre; this morning it was $1.25.

I looked at the handful of poppies on the passenger seat I was taking to the cemetery, thought of the 5-cent overnight increase that coincided with this particular day, and felt disgusted.

To all those insensitive and egotistical CEOs, to those uncaring members of same corporate boards and to those self-serving shareholders of the petroleum conglomerates: may you all choke on the profits you made Sunday. These profits were made on the backs of all those whose lifeless bodies washed ashore on foreign beaches, were buried in mud-filled trenches, were never found, whose bodies are now only small white crosses in fields throughout the world and whose lives are sadly, for many of us, only a distant memory.

Those lives were readily sacrificed to protect all that is right, just and decent in societies everywhere. Little did the fallen know that their lives also disappeared from the arms of their loved ones to protect the freedom of corporations to exploit and gouge, and provide governments with the licence to oppress their citizenry and straightjacket their rights.

Regrettably we also live in a global society where substance has given way to fluff, where values are determined by the size of bank accounts and where hope continues to fall to the ground along with our tears. This current world state, however, is just fine with the power elite.

There are now, and there have always been, viable options for people to exercize. Unfortunately we live in a global society that fears fear itself, where complacency is the order of the day and where we can’t wait to rush home and lock the door behind us at night.

The bells toll, but there is no one left to bravely confront the cold wall that is corporate and political. The French may have been on to something more than 200 years ago.

Lest we forget.

A Glimmer of Hope?

Perhaps the Canadian electorate is salvageable, after all.

The Failures of Our Political Representatives

The other day over at Trapped in a Whirlpool, blogger Kev wrote a post entitled Irrelevant by Choice. In it, he lamented the failure ofParliamentary-backbenchers to do the job they were entrusted with, the representation of their constituents. He wrote:

I choose to believe that the vast majority got involved in politics for the right reasons, because they believed strongly in something and felt they could make a contribution. However, somewhere along the way they were convinced that the only role they could play was to defend the party, tossing away any principles they may have had.

Although our political system is based on what is known as party discipline, like Kev, I have been dismayed by the failure of Conservative backbenchers to show any moral fiber, choosing instead to support the most odious of legislation and propaganda spewed out by a government that evidences little concern with anything save its own ideological agenda, no matter what the cost to the environment, ordinary people's lives, or faith in the democratic process.

My assumption is that in many cases, the siren call of a Parliamentary secretariatship or, the ultimate prize, a seat at the 'adult table' via a cabinet post, overwhelms any residual morality of the people's representatives.

Nonetheless, occasionally the slightest ray shines through on a dark contemporary political landscape. As reported in the print edition of this morning's Star, that ray is to be found on Toronto city council.

Michelle Bernardinetti, one of two women (Jayne Robinson is the other) on Rob Ford's 13-member executive committee, has decided not to seek reappointment to the cabinet-like body, saying, "I'm a Liberal. I'd like to focus on the values that I hold.... It's a great opportunity just to be an independent councillor."

It seems that biggest objection Bernardinetti has to the committee is one that parallels the nature of federal and provincial politics: the whipped vote wherein members face "intense...pressure from Ford's staff" to vote a specific way, supporting even the most inane of the chief magistrate's directives.

Says Bernardinetti: "I'm elected by the 60,000 people in Ward 35, and I have to listen to my residents.

A pity 'tis that our provincial and federal representatives show such deep contempt for such a lofty concept.