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 Fred Kirby          January 4, 2006

Whatever happened to Christmas and its twelve days? Instead there was a profusion of advertising over a six week period before December 25th called Xmas, accompanied by an orgy of buying stuff. Xmas is an invention of corporations fuelled by a materialistic middle class and abetted by those who can ill-afford the expenses but are driven by hype and guilt. Our me-first attitude with our pleasure-seeking lifestyle makes us easy prey for corporations. Like con men, corporations appeal to our baser instincts.

Christmas makes us reflect on the Prince of Peace. Christmas is about compassion, caring for and generosity to those less fortunate.

We can view the difference between ‘Christmas’ and ‘Xmas’ in the current election campaign.

The main party campaigns are run by advertising firms who will receive their reward afterwards. The parties with the money, much from corporations, have the most ads on the air. Parties that are seen as having a chance of forming the government have the corporate lobbyists working for them. They too will receive compensation at our expense.

The TV screens are full of goodies packaged by the two main parties. The media, dazzling us with a shower of goodies, are largely controlled by the powers behind the two parties and say little about the other three contenders. The goodies are designed to appeal to the base values of the Xmas crowd and the uninformed (often the same). There are cuts to the GST, cuts which are poor economics but great bribery; there are handouts to families packaged as child care but they will not create one space throughout Canada or improve the salaries of those working in child care.

One party has formed the government for 12 years and is still talking reform. You might call them the party of promises not kept. The other main party was founded on a lie but now speaks of morality. It is said that party has moved to the centre but leopards never change their stripes; being in the centre is a spin doctor’s illusion.

Both appeal to the Xmas folks who only want to know what is in it for them. It is not my Canada; I still believe in the Christmas spirit. It should not be yours.

January 11, 2006

This federal election is about values, it is about the kind of Canada we want.

The Conservative Party gives us ads telling people to stand up for Canada and vote for Stephen Harper. Harper says he will protect our health care system. Observers say the Conservative party has moved to the centre where most Canadians are comfortable. This is election strategy but to say it represents truth stretches the imagination.

Mr. Harper has been against the Federal Health System long before he entered politics. Where is the trust when Mr. Harper discards his beliefs for blatant opportunism? It is sad to see a thoughtful man demean himself for power. And what is behind Mr. Harper’s stifling the candidates from the former Alliance Party unless he doesn’t want them showing their true colours? They are still neo conservatives in sheep’s clothing.

The Liberal Party has no true vision of Canada. The issue with the Liberals is not just corruption. We cannot damn all Liberals for the criminal acts of a few. It is the record of Paul Martin and his predecessors’ that is at issue. Broken promises and sloppy administration are their record. Their dealings with Quebec have strengthened the Sovereignty cause and they thrive on pork barrel politics, the lowest form of politics.

The NDP has its warts. It has to live with the ego of Buzz Hargrove who undermines his own party with his self-serving strategy voting and it would be better if Jack Layton did not get into a bidding war with the other parties. But the NDP and the CCF before have worked consistently for ordinary people. Their platform reflects its concern for the average Canadian whether he or she is a worker, farmer, small business person, retired, or single parent. That party is not in the pocket of the international corporations or lobbyists who want their cut of our taxes through the manipulation of the Conservatives and Liberals, nor does it jump to the tune of unions because labour has never been able to deliver its votes in any great numbers.

So we have a choice. We can vote for justice or for just us.

January 18, 2006

We are down to the final column on this election. Paul Steckle would like to be sent back to Parliament. Voters should not let this happen. Instead Mr. Steckle should be sent driving around on his ATV, camouflaged and armed, seeking animals and birds to kill. It is an odd hobby for one who believes in the Right to Life.

People tell me that Paul Steckle is a good constituency man, but what does that mean? Getting someone a passport, clearing a roadblock in government communication for a constituent is part of the job. Does being a good constituency man include spending tax dollars where money is not needed just to look good to the people of Huron-Bruce? In what way does spending money from the discredited Sponsorship Program on festive events help distressed farmers; how does that help the poor, give the military decent equipment or repair our health care system? Mr. Steckle is quick to deny rights to gay people; he was quick to deny the rights of children during the campaign to end child poverty in Canada. He was not quick to stand up in Parliament, when the Sponsorship Program was introduced, and denounce it as a wasteful and dangerous way to appease Quebec. What that program did with its flag-waving and freebies was to strengthen the Separatist Movement in Quebec. Instead of speaking against it, Paul Steckle took what money he could lay his hands on and spread it around Huron-Bruce. It was no way to serve Canada, and the nation is the weaker for it. Pork barreling in Huron-Bruce is not the way to build a strong nation.

I do not know Ben Lobb. I have had the pleasure of knowing fine men and women in all parties and, for the sake of the much-maligned political process, I hope he is one of the decent ones. But Mr. Lobb is a candidate for a party that has no real interest in ordinary folk. The Conservative Party, like the Liberal Party, is a party of lobbyists, advertising executives and banks. Mr. Harper would weaken the central government leaving Canada a collection of self-serving provinces and territories. In short, Harper would balkanize Canada. The same man would privatize health care and give taxpayers’ money to families with children without any way to measure the benefit. He would deny a universal child care program and all the millions given to families regardless of their family circumstances will not create one childcare place in the country. Had he led the government when the US illegally invaded Iraq, Canadian soldiers would be dying in an immoral war. Stephen Harper would now have Canada join in the costly, unproven, and dangerous arms race with his support of the US missile defense program. That is not the Canada I want.

The NDP needs to rethink its economic policy. None of the parties have it right. The Liberals vacillate between giving away the store through waste and poor planning and behaving like neoconservatives. The Conservatives, apart from election goodies, would reward the rich without any idea how that would benefit the country. The NDP needs to develop focused tax policies to encourage investment, research and productivity. Business is neither good nor bad in itself. With creative, targeted policies Canada’s economic engine will operate on all cylinders. The NDP is still the party for the people. It has been since it stopped the banks from foreclosing on farms during the first social democratic provincial government in Saskatchewan.

Grant Robertson is a decent thoughtful man holding a degree in Canadian history; a farmer whose solutions for the small farmer are far superior to the failed policies of Mr. Steckle and his fellow liberals; he is a librarian married to a teacher, his concern for education and children has deep roots. Though the New Democratic Party is unlikely to form the government, every NDP candidate elected is one more to defend the Canada the world admires. That Canada came about through the ideas and drive of the former CCF and the NDP. Canada needs Grant Robertson in Parliament; Huron-Bruce needs Grant Robertson to represent it intelligently, respecting all its citizens without the boondoggle of the past.

January 25, 2006

This year we elect a municipal council. We have until November to consider why there should be changes on the municipal council. One citizen has already declared himself to be running for council; it is not too early to begin the debate.

I hear there are two possible candidates for mayor: the current mayor, Glen Sutton. who loves photo ops with his shiny necklace and Larry Kraemer, the former mayor who would be King but knows nothing of the democratic process. The citizens of Kincardine need a third option. Surely there is a candidate out there with proven skills who wants to make a contribution to their town. and has control of their ego. And where are the women candidates? It would be refreshing to see sharp, upbeat women on council. We now have one woman on council, Maureen Couture, who would make a far superior candidate for mayor to either Sutton or Kraemer. She and other bright women could make a positive difference to Kincardine.

Donald’s idea of ballots by mail is a good idea and should be adopted. Precautions should be taken to assure that those with limitations are still able to vote independent of ‘friendly’ advice. When casting my ballot in the recent federal election an elderly lady ahead of me was given her ballot but as she went to the booth a young woman start to accompany her to the booth until she was stopped by an official. The elderly lady entered to booth alone to cast her ballot privately as it should be. Having ballots in the home, might give rise to thoughtful discussion of the issues among family members and that would be a bonus

The municipality desperately needs candidates who harbour no parochial attitudes and have the intelligence to view Kincardine as a whole, who have the inner confidence to deal with the citizens openly with no hidden agenda. Integrity should be a given, not an election promise. We should not pay attention to those who promise better communication with the public; they never deliver. We need candidates with proven communication skills. There is, at local elections, far too much of promising what should be givens going in. We need candidates who will honestly tell us what they will do if elected and stand by their statements.

We need candidates who will tell us that they will get rid of the pig trough known as the Bruce Telecom Board of Directors and replace it with a far less costly and more representative Board, a Board where some of the members are actually elected.

We need candidates who will change the way council chooses who represents them on the Westario Board. The position need not automatically go to the mayor who has many other duties. It could be an elected position that takes place at the time of the municipal elections or could be an appointment of a junior councillor to give that person further experience.

When Georgian Bluffs’ council recently adopted a mail-in-vote policy, Mayor Carl Spencer who had been the most vocal critic of the idea said, after the motion was carried, “That’s democracy. There has been a lot of time spent on it. I’m not impressed, but like any council, everyone gets one vote and that’s the way it goes.” We need candidates who believe in such a democratic process. We do not need councilors such as Randy Roppel, Howard Ribey, or Ron Hewitt who still have not accepted amalgamation and who have no concept of the democratic process. They belong to the nineteenth century not the twenty-first.

Let us begin to seek on the best for Kincardine. We should not settle for less.