Photo Credit: media.canada.com

I am going to use John Baird as an example for this, since he is “openly” (debatable) gay, but also a member of a party that we associate being ideologically opposed to homosexuality. Ideologies are kind of like really old philosophical theories: They are based on a few central ideas, and then the ideas are applied to a huge variety of situations. Some central Conservative (not necessarily the party) ideas: preservation of society, minimal interference with society/small government, and allowing institutions to create stability.

Of course, none of those would be an election platform, but they become one once you apply them to certain issues. Using institutions to create stability could mean strengthening the justice system, preserving religion, or solidifying the education system. Minimal interference could mean lower taxes, legalizing drugs or prostitution, or eliminating human rights commissions. While many of these conflict (example: preserving society + legalizing currently illegal substances), all of these issues could easily be part of Conservative Party platform in another country for very valid reasons. And what exactly does this have to do with John Baird?
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Photo Credit: Canwest News Service

On January 18, the Harper government announced the appointment of a new chair to the Commission for Public Complaints about the RCMP (CPC) – the organization tasked with conducting investigations into complaints about our national police force. Ian McPhail, a lawyer specializing in wills & real estate and a long-time contributor to the Conservative Party was appointed to the position despite having no previous experience in criminal law. In an interview with Colin Freeze of the Globe & Mail, Mr. McPhail told Freeze “you probably know more about the background [of the CPC] than I do”.

Paul Kennedy, the outgoing chair of the CPC expressed concern over McPhail’s qualifications, as well as the seemingly partisan nature of the appointment. Both he and Shirley Heafey, the previous CPC chair, had extensive experience working with federal security and regulatory bodies before taking on the role as chair of the CPC. McPhail’s only experience working with a federal security agency was his week long appointment as vice-chair of the CPC just prior to the January 18th announcement.
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Photo Credit: Hamilton Spectator

The PM, proving to be quite uncreative when it comes to governance, has again suspended parliament. As The Economist put it (7 Jan 2010), “Stephen Harper is counting on Canadians’ complacency as he rewrites the rules of his country’s politics to weaken legislative scrutiny.” But the “gathering storm of media criticism” they forecasted is fading from the horizon, as Harper surely assumed. The PM is undoubtedly counting on (or planning) something else to fill up screens over the next months (Olympics, more shimmering stimulus projects, etc.). It is no coincidence that the he will drop the budget the day after parliament reconvenes on 3 March, sure to be filled with so many exciting goodies that we’ll go into a fiscal sugar coma, and the prorogation will hardly be a memory.
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A prorogation rally on Parliament Hill. Photo Credit: Sean Kilpatrick, CP

In all the excitement about prorogation it has become fairly obvious that the vast majority of the Canadian public—present company included—don’t know much about what it actually is. Normally, I use this space to share my opinion, but this time I will preface it with something a little less subjective. Today I would like to present a brief prorogation primer, with a few personal opinions tossed in for good measure.

The fine folks at the Table Research Branch of the House of Commons maintain the House of Commons Compendium, an excellent source of information on how the House and its committees work. If you visit their web page discussing the Parliamentary Cycle, you will find this simple introduction:

“A Parliament is summoned following a general election and continues to exist until it is dissolved (ended) by a proclamation of the Governor General at the request of the Prime Minister. This is followed by another general election. The Constitution sets the maximum lifespan of a Parliament at five years; however, recent changes to the Canada Elections Act provide for fixed date elections every four years.

Each Parliament is made up of one or more sessions, each consisting of a number of separate sittings (meetings), separated by periods of adjournment. Each session, except the final one, ends when Parliament is prorogued by the Governor General. The final session ends with the dissolution of Parliament and the calling of a general election.”

So you see, dear readers, prorogation is not the rare beast that some people believe it to be. It is constitutionally valid and is not morally dubious in and of itself. In fact, Parliament has been prorogued over 100 times. Still though, we are unfamiliar with it and because of that, it makes us a bit edgy. In a perfect world, all Canadians would take a mandatory high school civics class – anything the school system ever taught me about our government is long gone. Yes, the topic can be dry, but so is algebra and they made us learn that too.
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Photo Credit: mirror.co.uk

It is unfortunate that it takes a natural disaster like the earthquake in Haiti for the international community to come together. Perhaps if there were more natural disasters caused by global warming there would have been more accomplished in Copenhagen at the most recent summit on climate change. It seems a growing trend in international politics is to only react when there is a disaster. There seems to be no thought invested in preventing the disaster. Not that an earthquake can be prevented, but global warming can be. And although I am using a horrible tragedy to shamelessly discuss global warming, the prospect of global warming happening could wipe out most of the northern hemisphere. Is there a plan in place to deal with that kind of tragedy? Is there a plan in place to deal with the billions of displaced people suddenly clamoring into the South? I doubt it. We will be just that, clamoring on in, busting over the Rio Grande.
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Galbraith & Kennedy: A chance encounter that almost changed the course of history? Photo Credit: CBC-TV

President John F. Kennedy has been dead for nearly 50 years. Yet his memory still shines brightly for many people. This is in large part because he was an attractive, charismatic leader in his day and because he did not grow old with us. Despite numerous attempts by revisionist historians to disparage his reputation, there are huge numbers of people around the world who still hold him in high esteem. Although tarnished slightly, for the general public, JFK’s place among the pantheon of American heroes is secure.

In my view, John F. Kennedy was in some ways a mediocre President. His pursuit of lascivious pleasures and his opinion of the opposite sex would have risked huge embarrassment in today’s politically correct culture. His legislative record of passing laws was dismal. His domestic policies were often not as brilliant and as progressive as our faulty memories would suggest. In the private arena of the White House, he was not always the calm, well-mannered individual his spin doctors made him out to be.
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Photo Credit: Vancouver Coastal Health

Lost in the shuffle amid the recent tragedy in Haiti, parliamentary drama and growing Olympic fever, a recent B.C. Court of Appeal ruling stands to reshape the way the Canadian legal system deals with addiction. On January 15, 2010 the Court of Appeal for British Columbia dismissed a federal government appeal to close InSite, Canada’s only supervised safe-injection site. The federal government is widely expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, opening the door for a new approach towards Canadian policy in dealing with addiction and substance abuse.

In the 87 page ruling, Justice Huddart wrote that the court dismissed the federal government’s appeal “by reason of the application of the doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity”, which prevents a law from being applied outside of its constitutional jurisdiction. With health care professionals, academics, and courts recognizing InSite as a provider of legitimate health-care services – an area of provincial jurisdiction – the Court of Appeal found that federal drug laws prohibiting the possession of controlled substances were constitutionally unable to override the application of provincial health-care programs. The Court felt that attempts by the federal government to close InSite were an “indisputable intrusion of the federal government into the provision of medical services”.
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Depends on the tune - Photo Credit: Global News

HCBAX9NPSJB8 It is a truism that the Conservative’s base votes. When it comes to the nitty gritty hardship of going all the way to that local community building and making an X, the core supporters of said party are never apathetic (except arguably about what the Conservatives are doing).

The base on the Left? What base on the left? There may be a few who remember the union-championing roots of the NDP and never sway from supporting said party. There are certainly some environmental activists who swear to vote Green all Green and nothing but Green so help them Mother Earth. What is the Liberal core, and really how can either of the other two (the Greens are actually rather right when it comes to social policy but we’ll play the perception here) ever expect to match the one recognized haven for the socially conservative vote, especially given that despite enacted policy the Conservative Party also manages to cling to the illusion of fiscal conservativism?
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Shuffle as you will, we know the joker is still on top.
Photo Credit: Bartmaha

Firstly let us recall that the small government-touting Conservatives have gone from a twenty-seven member cabinet, a “smaller Cabinet and more streamlined Cabinet structure… designed for work—not for show” (Stephen Harper), to their current thirty-eight member (awkward and showy?) cabinet.

Secondly, let us take a look at the January nineteenth’s move of Lisa Raitt from her position as Minister of Natural Resources.

Taking a controversial minister away from the position of being in charge of our nuclear plants seems like a no-brainer, especially when she finds medical isotope shortages to be “sexy”.

Speaking of no-brainers; let’s make her the … drum roll please … Labour Minister. Real smart. Please someone explain why she is still a minister at all?
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The must-have accessory for Canadian voters.

Dear Canadian Politician,

I am an average voter, quietly paying my taxes and trying to get through the recession. I have voted in almost every election – federal, provincial and municipal – for which I was eligible. Politics is kind of a passion for me and I worry that many of my contemporaries are completely uninterested in what you (and their tax dollars) are doing in Ottawa. In spite of my own interest in politics, I hope that we are not subjected to a federal election any time soon. It is not that I totally approve of the minority government’s performance. Voting for any of you right now would require the largest clothespin my nose could accommodate and I don’t know that it could stand the pinch.

Prime Minister Harper, with the consent of the Governor General, recently made the decision to prorogue Parliament until March. In spite of vigorous hand wringing by the opposing parties and the media, half of Canadians do not care. The other half might care but realize there is nothing to be done about it. Some say that Canadians are lazy and apathetic; they simply do not care about politics or voting. I think that the truth is more depressing. The average voter is just tired of the scandals, failures, in-fighting, pork-barreling, sniping and naked self-interest of most career politicians, regardless of political stripe. We are overcome with the futility of it all, sick of watching the same old game show. We’ve tuned you out until there’s a programming change.
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