GreenDude

In case you didn’t know there are a number of by-elections scheduled foe March 17, 2008 across the country, and one of the most interesting races is in Toronto Centre. This is a riding that many Canadians may be familiar with, it is the former seat of past Liberal (interim) leader Bill Graham, and is now being contested by Bob Rae.

This by-election has an interesting dynamic given both its history and for who is running in this contest. Traditionally this is a Liberal safe seat (It has been Liberal since 1962) and that’s why Bob Rae is running here. However, with the NDP running a first timer, and the Conservatives running a party insider (They fired their previous candidate because he was too concerned with urban issues, imagine that, in the centre of the largest city in Canada, the nerve!) There is a real opportunity for Chris to become the first elected Green in Canada. All that needs to happen is for the voters to make that choice. Presented here are my top five reasons (in no particular order) for the electors of Toronto Centre to cast their votes for Chris Tindal.

1. It’s a chance to make history. Face it, there is no other candidate that you can elect in this riding that will bring the country’s, and the media’s, focus on your riding. Electing the first Green MP in Canada is something you can hang your hat on forever.
2. The only other viable candidate is Bob Rae! You remember Bob Rae right? Former NDP premier of Ontario. Are you really looking for that kind of leadership in your riding?
3. Since the Conservatives have basically decided that they have no chance in the riding (as evidenced by the dismissal of Mark Warner) voters looking for a fiscally conservative candidate really have nowhere else to turn. If you want an MP who will look after your tax dollars responsibly, Chris is your man.
4. The Environment is still the #1 issue for Canadian voters. If it’s yours, then the choice is really obvious.
5. Frankly, with a full general election looming, this is a great chance for you to test drive the Green Party. It is eminately possible that Chris would be facing a new campaign in as little as one month. Which is to say, there is virtually no risk.
6. (Bonus Reason) The election is being held on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. What could be more appropriate than voting Green on the Day of Green?

So go ahead and make history Toronto Centre. on March 17 vote for Chris Tindal and the Green Party of Canada. You’ll feel great in the morning!

I’ve finally got around to reading Rick Mercer’s book (Rick Mercer Report: The Book.) It’s a great read and I highly recommend it to all Canadians, but I digress. I just came across one of my favourite moments from the show, Pierre Berton giving advice on rolling a joint.

Now here is a guy that I’ve been watching and listening to my whole life. When I was a kid in the 70′s I looked forward to listening to Pierre Berton and Charles Templeton weeknights on CKEY (590 am before the Fan took it over.) And, of course, I used to watch him on Front Page Challenge. (Hey, I grew up in the country where we got about 6 channels, 3 of them CBC.) The man may have been Canada’s greatest historian, author of dozens of books and host of many T.V. specials, but what will most Canadians remember him for… Rolling a frikin’ joint on Rick Mercer’s show!

It got me to thinking that the old adage is true: It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in your life, you’re only remembered for the last thing you did. Don’t believe me? I’ll give you two quick examples. O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson. Now did you remember O.J.’s brilliant career as a running back for the Buffalo Bills? Maybe his acting in the Naked Gun series? Nope, you remember a white bronco driving slowly up an L.A. freeway. You remember a guy getting away with murder. How about Jacko? A cute kid making music with his brothers, The highest grossing singer of all time, or a baby swinging pedophile?

All of this brings me to Stephen Harper. If he were to die tomorrow (not that I’m hoping for that or anything) what would he be remembered for? Well my guess is that he would go down as the Pro-Bush, Republican toadie who did everything he could to block global action on climate change. Or perhaps he’d be remembered as the biggest control freak P.M. the country has ever had. Or maybe even as the biggest spending P.M. ever.

Now, maybe it’s just me, but I sure as hell wouldn’t want my life summed up like that, and I’ll bet Mr. Harper wouldn’t either. So here’s some free advice for the P.M.:

Don’t do anything in life that you wouldn’t want to be remembered for. It may be the last thing that you do, and believe me, that’s all anyone will remember.

Oh, and thanks Pierre, before your help I never could roll a beauty J!

So there I am, as usual, watching Question Period, and suddenly my ears perk up. Did the Speaker of the House really just say, “The member for Newmarket-Aurora”?

Sure enough, after many months of absence from the House of Commons, there was my MP, Belinda Stronach, rising in the house to ask, not one, but two questions.

From Hansard, December 5, 2007

Hon. Belinda Stronach:
Mr. Speaker, many women in Canada cannot access legal aid for family law matters, even when they are leaving abusive relationships. The Liberal government was working with the provinces to develop a new agreement to give these women better legal access.
For the sake of these women and for their children, when will the government develop an agreement with the provinces?

Hon. Rob Nicholson (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, it is very interesting. The Liberals say that they were working on it. In fact, the whole question of civil legal aid was cut by that group of people in 1995. It was their own action that did it.
That being said, we are committed to the family violence initiative. I am pleased the Department of Justice is involved with that. We help individual groups that address domestic violence. It is an important issue and a serious one for Canadians.
I continue to work with federal-provincial counterparts. We have done a lot and we will do more.

Hon. Belinda Stronach (Newmarket—Aurora, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, in October the minister threatened that the organizations that criticized the government may lose their funding. She said, “I am surprised that certain organizations that receive our financial support criticize our support for the cause of women”.
These organizations defend women’s rights and try to improve the quality of life for Canadian families. Why is the minister threatening these groups?

Hon. Josée Verner (Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, I would simply like to correct what the hon. member just said. Perhaps since her French is not very good, she misinterpreted what she read in the newspaper.
This is what our government is doing for women. Among other things, we have increased by over 42% the budget for Status of Women Canada programs. In the first group of projects that have been announced, 34 projects are for fighting—

I have been quite critical of Ms. Stronach’s decision not to resign her seat after deciding, in early 2007, to return to a senior management position at her father’s business, Magna. A decision which, effectively, left my riding with no representation whatsoever. Of course I am happy to see that she appears to be fully recovered from her breast cancer, the diagnosis of which I’m sure had a great deal to do with her decision to leave politics in the first place.

Realistically there should have been a by-election in Newmarket-Aurora some time ago. However, the conventional wisdom of the day has always been that a general election is just around the corner. As such, it made some sense to not bother with the expense of having 2 elections in the riding in short order. Unfortunately the next election, like tomorrow, never seems to come.

I sincerely hope that Belinda is now going to stay in the House to do the job that she was elected to do. In fact I suspect that she will be there, to help hammer the government on their rather dismal record on women’s rights. Which leads me to believe that the Liberals are now moving to full election preparation mode. I doubt this minority parliament will live to see it’s next budget.