When Politicos Run and Hide

One of the benefits – supposedly – of living in a democracy is the freedom to discuss and debate the issues.

That’s part of the reason we have a Parliament, and why it is so un-Canadian for Canada’s top politician to scamper away from the debates.

Today, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave what has been billed as an “economic update,” talking about Canada’s economy in general, and taxes and infrastructure more specifically.

It isn’t all that uncommon for a Canadian prime minister to prov

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ide such an update – it gives citizens an idea as where the country is heading, and the opposing politicians a chance to discuss and debate these issues in the House of Commons up on Parliament Hill.

And that’s where the real power in our democratically elected leaders stems – in the House of Commons. Although to many outside the debate – and even some within it – it all appears to be a lot of political babbling, name calling, and other non-productive forms of communications.

The House of Commons provide a forum where the issues can be openly discussed and debated. It is through this discussion process, that our laws, rules, regulations and other policies which make us all the more Canadian are improved before becoming official.

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However, the children currently occupying the House of Commons – including all opposition leaders and our very own Prime Minister – have lost that notion, and instead focus on name calling and political back-stabbing.

That’s why although most economic report cards are issued by the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister in the House of Commons, today’s announcement was made on the other side of the country near St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador. That’s as far from the opposition parties – and the debates – as possible.

Our fearless leader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, ran away l

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ike a dog with his tail between his legs, and hid in another province, rather than face his opponents and allow for the open discussions which usually leads to better public policy.

Though the opposition parties also have a stake in some of the blame as well. It is because of their childish antics, threats to dissolve the house and call an election, and poor choice of strategies overall which have led our Prime Minister out of the house, to make important announcements about the country.

The real victims in all of this are not the politicians but the very citizens of Canada. Without these debates, public policies in the country will be passed when they should have been reviewed and revised. This means the rules and regulations which govern much of what we do could be flawed, or worse – fail to accomplish the very essence of what they were intended to do in the first place.

Although most Canadians don’t want another election so soon after the last one, maybe it is time to get rid of the children playing in the House of Commons, and replace them with adults who understand the whole reason they are there.

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Changing Economic Realities Bring Out the Fight

Earlier this year, one of Canada’s largest universities – York University, in Toronto, had one of their longest and most painful labour disputes. Teaching Assistants and part-time faculty went on strike for over three months, displacing students and those who work on and near the university’s two campuses. The school year had to be extended over a month, delaying graduating students their degrees, and returning students the chance to find summer work.

Just over a month ago, the 24,000 inside and outside civic employees that keep Toronto clean and safe went on strike. They still are on strike, affecting garbage collection, parks and recreation programs, ambulance services, and

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just about anything that makes a city run.

Late last night, Via Rail, Canada’s national passenger rail service announced that locomotive engineers would be in a legal strike position this Friday. Today, they reduced service on some routes, to avoid stranding people across the country in the event a strike were to take place.

The world of work is not what it once was. The economy has shrunk – not only are people losing their jobs in record numbers not seen since the Great Depression, but many of those jobs are gone forever. Companies aren’t planning on asking many of those people back, instead they are looking at combining roles, so one person may be doing the job of two, or more employees.

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That is if the company is lucky enough to still be. Many companies have gone out of business completely, others have had to go into bankruptcy protection to dodge their creditors long enough to regroup – not to name names – General Motors (GM).

We do live in challenging times, which might explain why labour unions are fighting harder for what they believe are the best interests of their members.
Can’t blame them for trying, but part of the collective bargaining is negotiating.

Negotiating involves compromise, a give and take on both sides to ensure a fair work arrangement for all parties.

Problem is, unions these days seem to have forgotten this, because they stand firm, holding out for the impossible, even when the companies they deal with try to come up with a balanced and fair compromise.

The City of Toronto has proposed several such compromises, giving the union some of what they want for their members. The union on the other hand, continues to hold the city and its resident’s hostage, saying they want it all, or no deal.

That was the problem for the union representing the Teaching Assistants and part-time faculty at York University as well. Though as the strike continued, public support shifted away from the hard working employees out on strike, turning instead towards the poor students unable to get their education.

The longer a strike lasts, the less support the union and its members have, and that prejudiced attitude can continue long after the strike.

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Many years ago, when Major League Baseball Players went on strike, causing the season the end early, the jokes circulating about grown men – most younger than you and me – playing a kids game for millions of dollars, going on strike weren’t just jokes. It took several years for fans to warm up to spending money on tickets, ball caps, team jerseys and other such items again. Some baseball teams went out of business or were bought out and relocated because people simply weren’t going to the games – remember when Montreal had the Expos?

Most people are lucky in this economy to have a job of any kind, many don’t get benefits, and job security is pretty much unheard of in today’s working world. So it is hard for most of us to sympathize with a group of people out on strike, until they get something most of us don’t have.

Yet unions continue to fight for job security, and better benefits for their members, holding out until provincial or federal governments step in. Provincial or federal governments will intervene with their mediators, to bring both sides together through negotiations. But, when the union continues to hold out, failing to negotiate, the government has no choice but to order the employees back to work.

And when unionized employees are ordered back to work, the whole collective bargaining process has failed.

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Happy Birthday Canada – Who Are You?

Another year has come and gone, and Canadians everywhere celebrated our nation’s birth yesterday. But just how Canadian are you?

Not that you have to prove your love of the Great White North by feasting on greasy back bacon, watching your favourite ice hockey team whip an American franchise, nor have made love in a canoe – as ex-Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau may have done according to some Canadian urban legends.

Pierre who?

That’s the real test of loyalty to one’s country these days, according to many media outlets – knowing the proverbial who’s who of your country’s famous faces. Every Canada Day, newspapers, and radio and television statio

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ns across the country report our failings in identifying famous citizens.

Although everyone should know who their country’s current leader is – because the things he or she says or does can impact your life – it is questionable whether or not this sort of knowledge really makes you any more or less a good citizen.

However, when school kids can’t identify Canada’s first Prime Minister (Sir John A. MacDonald), don’t know what our country’s capital city is (Ottawa), and don’t know why our official languages are English and French (in large part due to the War of 1812), then the alarm bells should ring.

Although histories of countries around the world show us frail human beings making the same mistakes throughout time – such as America creating another Viet Nam when they invaded Iraq – we need historical knowledge to move onwards.

Having a sense of where we came from is important in figuring out where we are going -- it provides us with a sense of place, a sort of home-base from which to look out on and make the countless choices we are faced with in our daily lives.

Today’s children are tomorrow’s business, economic, social and political leaders.
But how can these kids lead, without knowing where we’ve been before? How can today’s children be prepared to make the everyday decisions affecting our nation, without that sense of place?

When I was a kid, growing up in suburban Toronto’s high school system, I didn’t really think history was all that important. How could something that happened in the past really affect me today?

But then I got smitten by the history bug, thanks to my first-year Canadian history professor in university Irving Abella. I remember getting to class early, so that I could get a front row seat, as “grandfather Abella” told us a story about something that happened a very long time ago.

That was how I saw him and that class, just like a grandfather telling his grandchildren a story around the wooden stove about their great relatives. Professor Abella was an elderly man, had a long grey beard, salt and pepper hair, and strode into that university lecture hall with all the energy of a young man – only to curl up towards his podium, and tell us eager students all about our past. Professor Abella told us what happened way back when, and most importantly, he related it to the world today.

We need more grandfather (or grandmother) types teaching history in today’s schools. I’m not saying only seniors need apply, anyone of any age can tell us where we’ve come from. But what we do need are people who can see the value of historical knowledge in today’s world. We need historians that can put the past into a modern day context for our kids, so that our kids come to appreciate that knowledge and embrace it.

And for that to happen, today’s history teachers must have that sense of place, the home-base from which to look out on and take historical events and make them real to today’s kids.

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