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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How Canadian Politics Is Done – Temper tantrums and Name Calling

Federal Canadian Liberal Party Leader Michael Ignatieff is doing what he and the other opposition parties have been doing ever since the minority Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, took office – throw a temper tantrum.

Ingatieff isn’t kicking and screaming on all fours on the floor – but the rest of his – and that of the other opposition parties – is just like that of a spoiled child in need of a smack to the head.

Ignatieff claims he and his party are at odds with the Conservative led government, so much so, that Parliament has become unworkable, and he will be forcing Canadians back to the election polls to deal with the situation.

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What situation?

Ignatieff and the other political leaders can’t play nice-nice in the political sandbox, so they ask us to cleanup their mess? How grownup is that?

Ignatieff is playing old cards – the economy, unemployment and government spending. He says the current government hasn’t handled the economic slump well: "I think the economy is still struggling," he said. "A million and a half Canadians are looking for work, bankruptcies are up 50 per cent and we're staggering along with a $50 billion deficit."

He said this last week, just as figures were released saying the Canadian economy created more than 27,000 new jobs, which helped boost the Canadian dollar 1.38 cents to 92.02 cents US.

But Ignatieff questions who can lead Canada into the new economy, without many of the jobs lost and gone for good.

The election he wants to call would be about a government that will lead the country into full economic recovery – but he didn’t clarify exactly what he means by that, or how long or how much it will cost Canadian taxpayers to put his plans into action.

Ignatieff’s issues are personal not political. He’s been on this war path before – it seems all the opposition leaders are. The second they are odds with each other, instead of engaging in the debate and discussion which they are supposed to, as part of the political process, they throw their hands up in the air, call the other a bad name, claim the other is being unreasonable, and walk-off in disgust.

Canadians should be the ones walking away in disgust – that sort of childish behavior shouldn’t be tolerated by those footing the bill. Why should our taxes fund the salaries of spoiled children?

Yes, we need an election in this country, to clean out the rift-raft that have taken up residence in our political houses. But before that election is called, we need new names on the ballots. Those currently vying for office shouldn’t be allowed to run again – else we’ll just end up with the exact same mess we have now.

We need adults willing, ready and able to do the job we ask of them. And it isn’t as if we’re asking for anything out of the ordinary for our political leaders. All we ask is that they take on the role of governing our country with the seriousness and dedication it deserves.

Canada once was one of the greatest countries in the world to live. It still can be, if – and only if – we boot the children out of Parliament Hill, and bring in real leaders.

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Summer in the City of Stink

Summertime brings out the best festivals in Canada’s largest city of Toronto.
There are regular Ribfests, where “ribbers” (the guys cooking up the ribs) from all over North America come to win the ultimate prize – best ribs. It’s also where rib lovers like me can go to get sticky fingers, as we sample all the different ribs.

They even had a Ribfest at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) – another popular summer festival, which opens in a handful of weeks. The CNE – or “the Ex” for us locals – is the largest fall fair in the country, with exhibitions, live stage and music shows, magic, and of course the rides of the Midway and all that food. Though if they have a Ribfest at the Ex again this year, I recommend staying away from all the overpriced greasy crap they sloth out at the Food Building, and go for some high quality, finger-licking ribs.

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But that’s not for a couple of weeks – the big show to hit TO is the annual Caribana Festival. This is the largest Caribbean cultural festival in North America, drawing millions of people from around the world to Toronto. From music and dance, to food and costumes, even the parade, it all adds a bit of excitement to a hot summer in Toronto.

My favourite summer treat happens middle of August – The Taste of the Danforth. Danforth Avenue in mid-town Toronto is known as Little Greece, for its large Greek population, restaurants, and cultural centres. During this festival celebrating Greek culture, they shut down most of the road, so you can have some of the best Greek food, while roaming the exhibits, shows, and other fun things to do.

Summer in Canada’s largest city isn’t dull – but this summer it sure may smell funky, thanks to the 24,000 City of Toronto employees walking the picket lines.
Both the city’s inside and outside workers walked off the job June 22, shutting down city run services. From daycare centres, community pools and recreation centers, to most noticeably garbage collection.

To ensure people have some place to dump their trash, the city opened up temporary trash sites across the city – where us residents must haul our own waste too. These temporary garbage dumps have been located in public

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spaces owned by the city – community center parking lots, football fields, ice arenas, even children’s playgrounds.
Problem is, as the unions continue to refuse to negotiate – instead they demand the city give them what they want without any questions or compromises – the City of Toronto is slowly running out of these public spaces.

One possible site is the Canadian National Exhibition – the CNE grounds. This is a public space, and the city is well within its legal rights to use it as needed. However, it highlights an even larger problem for Canada’s largest city – image.

The CNE attracts visitors from across Canada, the States and around the world. It is one of the biggest summer tourist stops during its brief end of summer run.

Imagine the sounds of the midway, and the smells of the cotton candy interrupted by the ugly sight of thousands of stinky garbage bags, piled high, and growing every day.

The image of Toronto as one of the friendliest, cleanest and safest cities in North America would be shattered – if it hasn’t already been, thanks to a few bullies running an overpowering union.

The City of Toronto has made numerous attempts to end the strike using the collective bargaining process. They have made various offers, but the unio

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ns – as many belligerent bullies do – refuse to accept anything but the whole enchilada.

One of the union leaders demonstrated his thug-like behaviour recently, by uttering an ultimatum – he said, either give us what we want by Sunday at midnight, or he (and presumably his colleagues) will storm out of the hotel where the negotiations are taking place, and join the picket lines indefinitely until we get what we want.

Nice – I didn’t know “Terrorism 101: How to Avoid Civil Discussions and Negotiations” was taught in union management school.

To be fair, I conducted my own informal survey to find out who locals blame for the continued strike. Using our social networks (Twitter and Facebook), we asked you: “Who do you blame for failing to end the five-week-old civic employees strike in Toronto?”

As of this writing, 73 percent put the blame exclusively on the union and its members. Only nine percent blamed the Mayor and his city’s negotiating team, though 18 percent blamed both the city and the union. You can vote on and see the on-going live poll here.

Regardless of who is and isn’t at fault for the continued labour dispute in Canada’s largest city, one thing is very clear – without the services you’d expect to find in such a large and modernized city, the image of it around the world – and even for its millions of residents – has changed forever.

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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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How A Labour Dispute Can Kill Off The World’s Human Population

Canada’s largest city has been without some essential services for the past month, thanks to a strike by the city’s 24,000 inside and outside unionized workers.

Paramedics, daycare centers, public parks, municipal offices, and garbage collection have all been affected by the strike.

The most visible concern affecting Toronto residents are the massive piles of trash, overflowing in community center parking lots, public basketball courts, baseball diamonds, and even children’s playgrounds.

The so-called “garbage strike” hasn’t crippled the prosperous city, ofte

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n referred to as the economic engine of the country – but it could in far reaching ways.
As the mounds of garbage fill the city’s makeshift temporary landfill sites fill – which residents have to cart their own trash too – countries around the world issue travel advisories, warning people not to come to Toronto.

Rats, raccoons, cockroaches, seagulls, and other wildlife are having the time of their lives, feasting on the simmering stinking mess. They could bring and spread diseases to people, at a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) is already concerned about the H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic sweeping across the globe.

WHO’s six-stage scale is at level six – the pandemic stage – as H1N1 Swine Flu has proven deadly to thousands worldwide.

With the ongoing strike – now over a month old – new concerns are popping up, as the city’s health department won’t be properly prepared to handle any sudden outbreaks of the deadly H1N1 Swine Flu.

WHO says the deadly bug’s infection rates have recently begun to decline, but as new strains of the virus have been found in the population, they are anti

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cipating a relapse of the outbreak – one which may not be as easy to fend off, thanks to mutations making it more resilient against anti-viral medications like Tamil Flu.

If that more resistant strain hits Canada’s largest city and the local healthcare system isn’t ready, chaos will be the result. Millions of people commute back and forth from the neighboring communities outside Toronto, all of whom could fall sick, and possibly die, due to an uncontrolled outbreak. As Toronto is the hub for much of Canada’s travel, with over 50% of those coming to Canada by air, landing at the city’s Pearson International Airport, any outbreak could easily affect citizens from other countries.

If the city’s health department – which is on strike – fails to act immediately upon discovering an outbreak of the H1N1 Swine Flu, infected individuals could board planes heading for other countries, and create a global catastrophe.

All because the unions representing the city’s inside and outside workers can’t come to reasonable terms with the City of Toronto on issues of job security and sick leave.

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Ironic how the union is holding the city hostage over sick leave benefits, when the H1N1 Swine Flu could make much of the city, the country, the continent, and even the world, extremely sick, just because some staffers aren’t working because of the strike.

Scientists have been predicting the next great pandemic, far worse than the bubonic plague which wiped out most of Europe’s population, for the past decade. These scientists, using models charted over time, show how pandemics occur every century, and show how we are overdue for our century’s outbreak.

Due to economic, geographic, social, and other demographic conditions, these scientists predicted that the next great plague would come from a third-world country, where clean water and food sources are scarce.

Toronto, one of the world’s most prosperous cities, was never thought of as being a potential source for the next great pandemic. But because of the labour dispute between the city and its staff, it could be just that.

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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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Politically Correct – Or Politically Inept?

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A rookie politician in Canada’s western provinces is learning how to be politically correct, after two separate poorly chosen statements.

The Edmonton-Calder Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta (MLA) Doug Elniski, apologized yesterday, after posting his speech to graduating grade nine kids: “ladies, always smile when you walk into a room, there is nothing a man wants less than a woman scowling because he thinks he is going to get sh*t for something and has no idea what.”

Elniski -- a Progressive Conservative member, was anything but conservative, continuing the blog posting: “men are attracted to smiles, so smile, don’t give me that ‘treated equal’ stuff. If you want Equal, it comes in little packages at Starbucks.”

Elniski, who’s only been an MLA for about a year, also got into hot water during the local Pride Parade, celebrating gay and lesbian rights and achievements.

During the parade, he “tweeted” live text posts on Twitter, a popular online instant messaging site allowing visitors to say in 140-words or less, whatever they want.

Elniski’s posts included one saying: “I am surrounded by bumping and grinding lesbians,” and then he said: “that guy has size-14 stilettos.”

Both comments offended some members of the gay and lesbian community, for being narrow-minded.

Elniski says he didn’t mean to offend anyone with any of his posts, noting that what was posted in his speech which he claims to give at grade nine graduations was a joke he got from a comedian, and that he had fun at the Pride Parade, and was just trying to convey his enthusiasm.

Regardless of what has been said, a bigger question remains – what will he say or do next to endanger his already threatened political career?

Love them or love to hate them, politicians are made or broken by the very things they say and do. That’s why it is often called being in the “public’s eye.”

The job of creating policies and programs to enable citizens to have meaningful lives is no small task. But end of the day, despite all the paperwork, proposals, policies, programs and laws a person creates, what we really judge our politicians for are their public personas.

Look at U.S. President Barack Obama, he’s still got a rock star-like following globally, because of his slick, purposeful, and highly engaging personality. Any other person in his position in the White House, during this economic depression would already be under attack by pundits and the public for not turning the economy around. Not President Obama, he’s got us Obama-crazy, very much like John F. Kennedy did in the 1960’s in the States, and Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau did during his leadership of Canada in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Prime Minister Trudeau did give Canada the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (it was officially signed into law in 1982 by Queen Elizabeth II) – but most of us don’t remember that. When we think of Prime Minister Trudeau, we think about the stories about him being a ladies man, the pondering politician paddling in his canoe, and how he’d tell reporters to f*ck off on more than one occasion.

Just as it was President Kennedy that inspired Americans to jump into the space race, promising in one of his speeches that “we’ll put a man on the moon.”

Maybe we should put Elniski on the moon – with the lack of gravity it would be a whole lot harder for him to put his foot in his mouth.

Canada’s Largest City About to Stink

Can you smell it? The stink of rotting garbage in the summer’s sun? Soon residents of Canada’s biggest city – Toronto – may be smelling that foul stench, as outside city employees – including garbage collectors – are gearing up for a strike as early as next week.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) local 416 which represents Toronto’s outside workers isn’t after wage increases – they want better job security and for the city to payout the past sick leave it owes to the union’s 6,200 members.

Local 416 includes all outside workers – from those parks and recreation staffers that take care of the lawns, gardens and water parks in the city, to ambulance attendants, and garbage collectors. Ironically, the inside workers union is also gearing up for a strike, which could make getting any city-run services next to impossible.

If a garbage strike were to hit Canada’s largest city, it wouldn’t be the first time. Back in the summer of 2002, under then-Mayor Mel Lastman, the same union went on strike, leaving stinky garbage piling up all over the city for the 16-days of the strike.

We also happened to have a heat-wave that fair and smelly summer, and as the rotting garbage baked under the hot summer’s sun, rats, cockroaches and other – ahem – forms of wildlife started taking roost in the mess, adding to the problem.

That was the summer the Pope came to Toronto, for World Youth Day, which was the main reason the city became squeaky clean so quick. Politicians didn’t want Canada’s largest city looking and smelling like a garbage dump for the Pope and the thousands coming from around the world to participate in the festivities.

This summer we won’t be so lucky. The Pope isn’t planning on coming to Toronto this summer, so unless we have another form of divine intervention, a strike could last much longer.

Ambulance attendants and paramedics are considered emergency workers, so they can’t legally go on strike. But there will be work-to-rule style shortages, meaning fewer ambulances on Toronto’s roads.

The question which came up during the strike and probably will arise again – should trash collectors be essential emergency services?

We don’t often think about garbage collection as an essential service, we simply toss our trash and recyclables into the correct containers, put them out first thing in the morning, and when we come back from work at the end of the day, they are magically gone.

Problem is – as we witnessed during the strike of 2002 – if that “magic” doesn’t happen, rodents, bugs, even birds all zoom in on the mess, bringing viruses and disease which can cause a major health hazard to humans.

At a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) is labeling the H1N1 Swine Flu a global pandemic, is it really wise for the powers-that-be in Canada’s largest city to allow a labour disruption which may increase the threat from this deadly flu?

Labour unions are not evil groups of people, plotting to destroy society. Without the labour movement previously fighting for equal rights, fair wages, and safe working environments, we’d all have real reasons to hate our jobs.

But sometimes, the best labour leaders need to take a reality check and open their eyes to see what is going on around them, and whether or not it really is in their members – and the publics – best interest to go on strike.

CUPE’s leaders aren’t oblivious to the nature of the global economy, nor are they blind to the fact that Swine Flu is a real concern in developing nations, because of poor sanitation.

If CUPE’s leaders encourage and allow their members to go on strike at this point in time, they aren’t looking out for anyone’s best interests. Just because a garbage collector is on strike, doesn’t make him or her any less susceptible to catching the Swine Flu, should our city turn into a giant trash heap.

Making garbage collectors emergency workers, forbidding them to strike isn’t the answer. What is the answer is having responsible leadership at both the management and union side of the negotiating table. Leaders acting responsibly, by taking a long hard look at what is going on in the world around them, and how their actions or inactions may make that world a whole lot less stable is what we need.

One thing we don’t need in a global economic depression, riddled with H1N1 Swine Flu, is another garbage strike.

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