History is filled with change. Hopeful ideals have led the way to not only different philosophies and political regimes, but also radically progressive ways of thinking. From the French revolutionary period to the American revolution and even the baby boomer’s sexual revolution, certain instances have popped up where those young and old banned together to challenge the status quo put forth by those in power. We are now currently going through another of those times.

The baby boomers are slowly retiring giving way to new generations with different ideologies, separate perspectives, and new goals to reach. Cynicism can no longer be tolerated; where there is a will, there is always a way. Our guiding light throughout these times must be the hope we all share for a better tomorrow. The tomorrow we seek will be different from yesterday’s, but to understand the steps it will take, we must first look back and carefully analyze certain catalysts for today’s world. By doing so, we will not only understand where our society has gone wrong, but to what direction our path must be laid in order to reach the goals we all so desperately need.
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After 8 years of wondering how it’s possible that W got elected – twice! – I came to the unlikely realization that we owe the man a debt of gratitude. The obvious reason is that without an administration of such profound stupidity, Mr. Obama would have been unlikely to even make it onto the Democratic ticket, let alone get elected.

However, there is a less obvious side effect to the Bush years; he made us fall in love with our own country. For 8 years we thanked our lucky stars, patted ourselves on the back and basked in the warm glow of hearing liberal Americans, again and again, utter the statement “I’m moving to Canada”.
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Yesterday, the C.D. Howe Institute released their review of the Government’s renewable energy programs where they suggested the need for a re-focusing of tax-payer money.

The report calls for “A redirection of federal funds towards more fiscally cost-effective carbon mitigation.” It finds that the money is being spent inefficiently on subsidizing technologies aimed at reducing our CO2 emissions.
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Ever since Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, there was a fear in Canada that we had picked the worst time ever to elect a Conservative government. Here was the United States, our closest neighbour and ally, riding this wave of hope and liberal sentiment. And here we were, stuck under the leadership of a neo-con from Calgary. The U.S. was heading in the direction that we had always wanted them to go, and we were going to be left behind. So naturally, as Obama’s visit to Canada approached, the media began to speculate over whether or not Harper and Obama would clash ideologically as Bush and Chretien did. The answer, which should have been obvious to all, was a resounding no.

You all saw the pictures. The smiling, the waving, they’re on a first name basis with each other. Their 10 minute private meeting went 30. There is an open dialogue on trade, climate change and Afghanistan. This week Stephen Harper and Barack Obama laid the foundations for a relationship that could rival Chretien-Clinton for respect and influence (although admittedly, I doubt they will approach the Mulroney-Reagan level). Many people are surprised that this liberal saviour and neo-con ideologue can get along so well. Those people do not understand the differences between the American and Canadian political spectrums.
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A new campaign called saveournet.ca has launched, hoping to bring attention to the important issue of Net Neutrality in Canada.

Their youtube video does a fairly good job at explaining the reasoning of their campaign and the importance of net neutrality:


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President Obama’s first meeting with Stephen Harper was suppose to be a closed door affair. However, the meeting was taped and leaked to the media. Several files of that tape are now on Youtube. Here is the transcript of what was taped:
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Unless you have been buried beneath 40 feet of Newfoundland snow, you have probably been barraged by all the “Obama’s Coming To Canada” onslaught by the Canadian media.

First off, the man is coming to our capital for a grand total of five hours (working lunch included). The CBC has come closest to a round-the-clock CNN coverage that I have ever seen. The CTV network not to be outdone came short of trying to speculate which toilet Obama would be using or if he could hold it for the full five hours that he is there.
I watched CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge’s interview Obama yesterday and today it was run once again and over-analyzed by Peter and a panel of experts.
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Now that President Obama has signed his massive stimulus package into law, many Americans are breathing a sigh of relief. But not necessarily the entrepreneurs.

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of running into a former client who I had not seen for about five years. He is a Canadian who made the decision to move to the USA for business reasons i.e. he wanted to make some real money. When I first met him, he was all optimism – buoyed by the fact that he had indeed made more money in his first three years in the US than his previous ten in government-dependent Canada. He enjoyed an upscale lifestyle in Boston with his New York born wife – also in business. And chirped “I’m never looking back to Canada.”
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The recent victory by Quebec separatist groups to cancel the “Battle on the Plains of Abraham” re-enactment serves to heighten continuing frustrations to the rest of Canadians watching the continuing boomerang of the threat of an independent Quebec.

It is a well-known fact that 55-60% of French-speaking Quebecers would like to see an independent Quebec to call their own country. Because of Canada’s leniency towards Quebec, they are more than half-way there. Anyone who goes to Quebec city and asks for directions to the provincial legislature will cause confusion. “Provincial legislature? Oh, you mean the National Assembly!” On another occasion, while visiting the huge and majestic St. Joseph’s Oratory, I noticed that the guestbook being signed by Quebecers was listing Quebec as their country. Quebec nationalism which runs through all the political parties in Quebec (even the supposed federalist ones) has been left unchecked by Canadian Federalism. The only thread that holds Canada together is the English and immigrant populations that for now seem to have staunchly been in favour of Federalism.
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These days, Canadian politics is dominated by a surge of regionalism. None of the four major parties have a convincing nation-wide support to enable an oncoming majority government in the foreseeable future. The media is in part responsible for this trend in two different but equal areas of impact.

The first area is media coverage of the parties to inform the public. During an election (and even off-election times) the media rushes over to the various party campaigns and flocks to the leaders. What ensues is usually a popularity contests based on the personality of the politicians and not what he/she stands for. Sometime during the election campaign, each of the parties gives the media a scent of their respective vulnerabilities by releasing a policy book. It is literature in which the said party declares what it truly stands for and offers its solutions to impending political and economic problems the country is facing. If it is the media’s responsibility to inform Canadians of their political choices then a comprehensive understanding of these policies need to be understood and relayed to the public. Instead, the media has been satisfied to follow each campaign looking for some memorable quotes, criticisms, and banter from the leaders. This suits the politicians as well because they do not have to answer tough questions on their own policy when they can easily criticize the other guy.
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