Nice post Rick. It amazes me how many comments here are bringing religious quotes into what has been a secular government up to this point. I read a lot of comments during the election and there was a lot of finger pointing coming from baby-boomers regarding the youth vote. Well I am a baby-boomer and we have really dropped the ball when it comes to encouraging voting with our kids.
http://futurefocus.info/?p=1062#more-1062
Delusion is listening to the lie for so long it becomes your reality. I would put more faith in someone who has spent time out of Canada nurturing valuable networks. Unlike Harper who has expertly alienated any global networks.
The new reality is that politics is changing and needs to. However so does the voter. The world is no longer as black and white as it was, say, even thirty years ago. Voters now need to connect with that personality that is somewhere between silver spoon and common folk. To me that is much more difficult.
http://futurefocus.info/?p=874#more-874
Then you have the Harperites flooding the airways with vile negative ads aimed directly at Ignatieff. One has to ask why the still see him as a threat when his leadership appears to be hindering the Liberals more than helping them. For someone with such low polling figures to have the CRAP spending millions to discredit him makes me wonder what they are afraid of.
I think Ignatieff party has mishandled a number of issues in his regards. The fact that we are a country previously known for their compassion and multiculturalism in a growing global economy I think the fact the he has spend time abroad brings some very positive aspects to the role of PM. The Libs got so tied up in deflecting that they missed out on a chance to play it up.
I like Ignatieff and feel he’s a very misunderstood man. It is unfortunate that our political system has gotten to the point where you are consumed by ego and innuendo rather than policy and credibility. Ignatieff has been aware almost since arrival as leader how tenuous his connection was with the “average” Canadian and he set out to change that. Harper and the club are doing everything they can to maintain this distance between Ignatieff and the voter. And they get plenty of help from the press and even some assistance from Ignatieff own party.
When you have an uncertain public read newspaper stories that start off with a line like “the Liberal leader said over tea in the sunroom at Stornaway,” doesn’t exactly build a positive image among the Tim Horton crowd. Rather a pretentious description and I would suspect that many people don’t read any further then that.
If this was the original PC party I could be a little bit more supportive but it isn't. This new conservative Party of Canada is not the party of the likes of King, Pearson, Laurier, St. Laurent, Diefenbaker or even Sir John A. I am left wondering why everyone thinks the Liberals are the natural party of Canada considering that the Conservatives won the very first Canadian election which did give them a step up.
It all depends on what Canada yopu grew up in. I am quite content with the one I grew up in and have watched change happen to meet the needs of technology and social thinking. This is required change. The change I hear Mr. Harper spouting is "his" Canada which he has never explained. One of the things in the MacLeans story that really rings true is Harper's steps to slowly dismantle aspects of what Canada has been. The Constitution Act requires federal involvement and this concept of pulling federal involvement out of provincial jurisdiction is a big step towards the American form of government or as a previous commentor stated an EU of Canada. That is not my Canada.
Thanks for the info and insight. Given the time I know I could research this more but as I said, given the time. I work primarily with ESL families with special needs children so spend the bulk of my time keeping current with treatment modalities as well as legislation and public policy that has an impact on their children (-/+). One of the things I insist on with all of my families is developing more self responsibility into their thinking. Something most of them are very good at, in part because of the type of regimes they endured in their own countries. I don't see this same of personal responsibility Canadian clients. My real point in my post what more about creating an environment in Canada where we do more self responsibility will have a trickle up effect so our politicians (and I use the term loosely) will also act responsibility. Of course this will not happen over night but probably more like ten years from now. My initial post was an introduction to my second post. I support the Copenhague attempts but also realize it probably won't be very successful due, I believe, because of the lack of desire of both Canada and the States. But I do appreciate your insight.
We have become a nation that has become so dependant on "regulations and rules" that the whole concept of personal responsibility has become lost. Seat belt legislation, helmut legislation, cell phone legislation and it goes on. I don't believe you need to be a rocket scientist to know that seat belts save lifes, that helmuts are a safety function when riding a motorcycle or bike or that your an idiot if you talk on your cell phone while driving. But it appears the average citizen can't figure that out themselves. Then we whine because we have to pay so many taxes.
I don't claim to be an expert or even all that knowledgeable in regards to climate change. I do know that I have seen extreme changes in weather here in Canada in the past fifty years. Many things have contributed to that including mass migration from country living to urban life. Canada's population in 1950 was 13,712,000 people but by 2008 that had grown to 33,506,000, almost but not quite tripled. That's a lot of infrastructure, heating, water use and all other things required to support that many people. Does that equate to a climate crisis, I have no idea but I do know we have to take some personal responsibility for the environment.
If you are really concerned about the climate then look at your own behaviour. Canada is one of the most wasteful countries in the world. So start with some personal responsibility which, hopefully, will start to develop some mind sets that will filter out to the corporate world. After all, energy is about money and profits. Who is going to walk away from that?
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Medley