Yesterday’s sitting in the House of Commons to scrap the long-gun registry, which currently documents the whereabouts of over 7 million shotguns and rifles, is absolutely terrifying. Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan stated that “the long-gun registry is very efficient at harassing law-abiding farmers and outdoor enthusiasts, while wasting billions of taxpayer dollars”, while a study by the auditor general in 2006 stated that eliminating the long-gun portion of the registry will only save around $3 million a year. The RCMP also stated that in 2007 the registry was used more than 2.5 million times.
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We complain when the government spends money, but we complain when they do not. Take the millions of dollars that the government is spending on the latest round of flu vaccinations. They bought the drugs, which have yet to be proven effective in children or pregnant women, and have opened clinics to help deliver them to the masses. Every newspaper is showing stories of the latest numbers of infections and deaths, a small fraction of the numbers infected and killed by the season flu shot every year. Doctors are stressing that they would rather focus their efforts on prevention rather than treatment – a grand idea.

Everybody has formed their own opinions on this subject. Some of the comments from the CBC website today run along the lines of, and I am paraphrasing here because there are just far too many comments, “swine flu isn’t really a big deal, everybody should get the shot, people are dying from it” to “this is a media-hyped problem, you wouldn’t hear about people dying from the regular old flu”.
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Isn’t it great to know that the people running this country can’t even be bothered to read a memo regarding allegations of torture? Apparently memos addressed to Senior Military Officers and Foreign Affairs between 2006 and 2007 (16 in total) were never seen by Stephen Harper or then-Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. Wow, I mean sure they have a lot of things to read and probably have somebody reading every piece of paper they get sent to deem whether it is worth their time, but anybody with half a brain should know that torture is really not okay, and after the 15th memo might decide to pass on the 16th one.

This leads to one simple conclusion – they read them and didn’t care. Scary!

At least the American’s have acknowledged that these things have happened in their recent history, Guantanamo is even being shut down. There are not many things in US Military Practice that I would want the Canadian government to copy, but this is one of them. Have the decency to admit when you have made a serious judgment error and do what you can to fix it. Don’t give a speech about how you never saw the memo, when there is record of 16 being written.
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The Federal Government is dipping into the Clean Energy Fund (CEF) and assisting the Alberta Government with the funding of two major projects (totalling over $1.6 Billion). Both of the projects make use of carbon-capture technology and stand to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, in a manner which doesn’t simply transfer them to another country, thereby helping to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon capture essentially results in waste CO¬2 being pumped into the depleted aquifers and stored there, rather than emitting them into the environment. Many of the comments that I have heard are quite negative, and relate to the fact that this is a lot of money going into an unproven technology, making it important to note that carbon capture and storage is used in Egypt by BP.
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The strong Canadian dollar, currently trading in the 97 cent range, could actually slow the recovery of the Canadian economy. Sure, it is fantastic for all of us vacationers looking to get out of here for a few days and head south to warmer climates, but there is a strong, potential negative side to this as well. A higher dollar translates into a high cost for exports, and the foreign community may not be up to paying these costs. If Canadian companies suddenly find that their product pricing cannot compete with those from other countries, the economic recovery could be severely slowed.

The last time that the Canadian dollar reached parity with the US, the manufacturing and tourism industries suffered. Now, that being said, the tourism industry will likely be fine in the short term, largely due to the Olympic Games in just a few months. But how does one save the manufacturing industry from demise when there is simply nobody that can afford to buy materials from Canada? In 2008, it was cheaper for companies in the oil sands to purchase steel and completed pre-fab modules from China, ship them across the Atlantic on freighters and float them down the Athabasca River on tugs than it was to buy steel from plants within Canada. If even our own country stops buying materials from within its own reserves how do we convince the rest of the world to do so?
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One thing that seems to come up when the spotlight shines is the question of how one wants to be seen. The spotlight is only a few short months from shining on Vancouver during arguably the most impressive show of athleticism in the world. The pressure of hosting the Olympics comes from a need to showcase the country’s personality and promise. But what is the image that Canada has chosen, and more importantly who has defined it?

The Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) has been guided through the process by 20 individuals nominated by the Federal Government, the Province of Vancouver, the City of Vancouver, the Resort Municipality of Whistler, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paraolympic Committee and the local First Nations. The Chair of VANOC is Jack Poole, a prominent Vancouver businessman who is involved in everything from marinas to golf courses, malls and car dealerships. The remaining members of the board of directors are in business, finance, politics and athletics. Our elected politicians have entrusted these people to make decisions that will determine how the world views this country.

VANOC has set its values as Team, Trust, Excellence, Sustainability and Creativity. This reads like a list of most corporate values, values which one cannot help but wonder what would happen if the choice came between making a profit or having environmental sustainability – a look at Alberta’s oil and gas industry would seem to indicate a clear answer.

VANOC has chosen to showcase the multiculturalism that Canada has been famous for. Canadian musicians, dancers and artists have been slated to perform their various acts at locations around the city during the Olympics. From rappers, to Ugandan Dance troops to Jazz musicians – Canada is hoping to prove that they can offer a lot to the international artist community.
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