Opening ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games (photo by Reuters)

After years of painstaking planning, construction, advertising and anticipation, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics finally opened on Friday February 12.

Athletes, the media and sports enthusiasts from around the world gathered at B.C. place for a nearly 3 hour spectacle that showcased the unique, multicultural element these games have vowed to represent.

Unfortunately for the city of Vancouver and its Olympic Organizing Committee, the games have been subject to a slew of criticism.
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A hoop dancer performing at the announcement of the 2010 Aboriginal Pavilion. Photo from www.canada2010.gc.ca

This is somewhat after the fact, but I’ve been thinking about the Olympic opening ceremonies over the past few days, and the topic came up again at a recent dinner with friends. This was the first time we had gotten together since the start of the games, and we were reviewing our overall impressions of the festivities. The consensus was that the ceremony was technologically impressive and that K.D. Lang’s performance was the highlight of the evening.

My dinner companions and I thought that the opening ceremonies didn’t show the world anything about Canada that they didn’t already know (wheat, whales, plaid, fiddles, snow) and that it was biased toward Western themes.   As easterners – and by “easterners” I mean Atlantic Canadians, and not Ontarians or Quebecers – we felt that the east was not as well represented as it could have been.
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It takes a special kind of political acumens for a regional Canadian politician to make news headlines both north and south of the border, but Danny Williams has done it.

The Blogosphere across North America lit up a few weeks ago with the news that the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador was heading to an undisclosed American medical facility for a no-further-details-given heart surgery last week. Canadian progressives are chastising Williams for bailing on his at-home medical options while American opponents of healthcare reform get a new scapegoat for why a public option doesn’t work.

Simplistic? Probably. Williams’ people were less than helpful when the news broke, initiating what CBC reporter Janyce McGregor called a “cone of silence” about the matter.

What we do know is that after “weeks of consultation” with doctors, Williams decided to head stateside for the surgery which was apparently unavailable in his home province. This was according to Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale, for whom the odious duty of informing the media fell.
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Photo Credit: media.canada.com

I read with some interest in the Globe and Mail recently of the quashing of a grassroots challenge to a sitting Conservative MP. As reported by Steven Chase, the governing body of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) took over control of Calgary West riding association a few days ago in order to do damage control. What was the damage you ask? The riding association was going to ask its members if it wanted to challenge sitting MP Rob Anders’ appointment as a candidate for the next election. Back in the spring of 2009 the national body of the CPC ruled that they would not allow any challenges to be put forth against any of its sitting MPs, stifling any dissent in the process. Upset by this tacit betrayal of classic Reform dogma, the Calgary West riding was on a path to potentially run a candidate nomination process against Mr Anders. No sooner it seems was this considered than the high ups in the CPC swooped down from their headquarters and stopped the riding association dead in its tracks.  When asked about what appears to be internal strife within the party, national council president John Walsh commented “I am not interested in commenting on internal party matters.” Case closed.
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I am a pragmatist. I am not a Gordon Campbell-hater. He’s done some things I strongly supported, like crushing a rather frivolous teachers strike and saving money while he did it, and he made some harsh but fiscally necessary decisions in respects to health care. I have parted ways with him, however, over the HST debacle which some people still don’t see gives increased borrowing power to successive provincial governments via the de-facto 7% they will extract from each home sale, and be able to hold and invest for a fiscal year (in some cases a tad more) until they are obligated to turn this GST over to the Feds. “What” you may ask “will be the incentive to reduce PST in BC if they are already doing short term investing with GST from the same transactions?” Well anyway…

I am also not an Olympic hater. Not to say that I like them either. I really do not care about what kind of ball or rubber cookie young people from the lower classes are going to chase about on ice or grass or snow for the amusement of the bored and easily amused Euro-American middle class. I with only one exception I will expound on later, will not watch a single minute of the games, successful or otherwise, because I do not feel them any more relevant than the colors of Elizabeth May’s sweaters. Generally speaking, unless strong moral obligations present themselves, I am a fiscal conservative. So if the Olympics irritate a few Birkenstock-clad dreadlocked hippies, I really don’t care, but if they are going to bleed the province of what is ultimately my money, or infringe on the rights and freedoms of BC residents, then I am going to take serious issue with them. So, unlike the Olympics of 76 or 88, though perhaps because I have not really cared to look into these, I do take issue with the 2010 games.
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Just a short note about the Adam Giambrone Toronto Mayoralty campaign. As anyone who has been reading my blogs here knows, I have attempted to focus on the positive and interesting aspects of politics. Unfortunately, there are occasions when politicians do not meet me half-way. The collapse of Mr. Giambrone’s mayoralty campaign is somewhat an example of this.

To be fair, I don’t believe that Adam expected to become mayor. I think this campaign was designed to raise publicity and enhance his profile which in turn would help a future mayoralty campaign. It should also be pointed out that Mr. Giambrone is a young person. There are perhaps a few thirty-somethings out there who are experienced and competent enough to run a large city and are also shrewd enough to avoid scandal. However, there are probably not a lot of them. He is also guilty of what a lot of politicians and other members of the establishment are certainly doing.
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Photo Credit: blog.nz-online.de

Am I the only Canadian that wishes Barack Obama could be my leader? Politics aside, the man can speak. When he gives a speech, people listen. When Stephen Harper gives a speech, people fall asleep, or at least I do. From the moment Obama took office and said that he would “unclench his fist and extend an open hand,” I was hooked on the man and stopped really listening to whatever it is Stephen Harper says. I paid a hell of a lot more attention to Obama’s most recent State of the Union address than I did to Harpers speech at the World Economic Forum. As I said earlier, I fall asleep staring at his grey head of hair.
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Photo Credit: The Truth Project

The concept of a North American Union in many incarnations has been discussed in academic, social and political circles for several decades. Former Mexican President Vincente Fox was enthusiastic about the idea, but at the time members of US government busied themselves writing resolutions, speeches and blogs in opposition to the whole idea. Canadian leaders have kept pretty much mum on the subject, doing little more than denying that a secret NAU plan is in the works.

Apparently I am in the minority in suggesting that a Union between our countries would be mutually beneficial socially, economically and in the ever important realm of national security. There has been a lot of opposition to the idea on harried blog sites that produce posts on the alleged clandestine NAU meetings and operations.

Like the widespread fear of globalization, I believe that the concerns can and would be allayed only if we could trust our leaders to handle the creation and transition with care, diplomacy and even-minded thinking. Unfortunately these are not things that politicians are known for. I assert that a very carefully and justly handled North American Union would be greatly beneficial for every North American country.
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TTC collector dozes on duty; infamous picture sets off debate (photo by Jason Wieler)

All things considered, it has been a less than stellar month for Canada’s largest pubic transportation system.

The veritable Toronto Transit Commission, the historic ‘Red Rocket’ has been stung recently by a series of what can only be considered public relations disasters.

It all began January 9, 2010 when a transit rider snapped a cell phone picture of a TTC fare collector in his booth, apparently sleeping on the job (Jason Wieler photo). This may have seemed like an innocuous action by a bemused patron, but it quickly set off a firestorm among TTC management and staff, not to mention an irate public.

After being covered by nearly every newspaper in the country, the story rapidly made the rounds of television networks and eventually onto the internet, in the form of multiple YouTube videos that have been viewed thousands of times, and prompted this response from transit union president Bob Kinnear:

“Whatever the outcome of the inquiry, it is very discouraging that the picture taker and, apparently, other customers, made no attempt to determine if there was anything wrong with this TTC employee. A simple knock on the glass might have determined if the Collector was, in fact, asleep, or whether he was unconscious as a result of some medical problem. The reports that passengers were laughing at him as they passed by the booth makes this even more disturbing. The union will comment further at an appropriate time.”
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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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