No New Money

No, I'm not referring to the Premier Wynne quote that's making the rounds.  She's right on that, though I would suggest there are far more effective ways to spend the money coming in right now.  

What I'm talking about is this:

Conservative MP Mark Adler invited dozens of lobbyists to a fundraiser last year, including many who lobbied him directly in relation to his work on the finance committee, despite guidelines from the ethics commissioner that say MPS should not ask for money from those they meet in their official capacity.

Mark Adler, the same guy who begged for a money shot with Harper at the Western Wall in Jerusalem pulled in $30,000 from lobbyists at a fundraiser.  That money will go to, essentially, selling himself to his constituents and tarring his opponents. 

I know people who work two jobs and don't make that a year.  

At a time when a growing number of Canadians have given up looking for work despite not being able to access benefits, it's a bit rich for an MP to be breaking rules by asking well-heeled organizations to put money in his pocket.  That's time that would be far better spent meeting with constituents and actually earning, not selling, his right to be MP.

Of course, Adler is just one example out of many.  There is a lot of money out there changing hands in ways that add no real value to communities or individuals.  There is a lot of capital collecting dust, waiting for the economy to improve before any meaningful investment takes place.

Who do these folk think is going to invest in Canada if well-resourced Canadians won't?

There is no new money - not pouring in from overseas, not within public coffers, definitely not being circulated among those without.  But there is plenty of money to be had.

I raise this not out of vindictiveness, but as a note of warning.  Those who have money can talk all they want about people not selling themselves hard enough to deserve getting a cut, but the people who feel they are doing everything within their power to no avail feel differently.

Citizens are voting less and, as seen in Ontario's recent election, opting to decline their ballots as a sign of protest against what they feel are poor political choices.  There is a growing mood of protest across the country being exacerbated by a sense of the good life and decision-influencing being predominantly controlled by a select few elites.

People aren't just frustrated - they're angry.  Angry people starved of the funds they need to survive and deprived of a legitimate democratic voice aren't sheep, they're a mob waiting to happen.

If our government is start, they'll stop telling Canadians they're protesting too much before that anger explodes. 

I have an unfortunate tendency to be right on this kind of thing.

Canada, Tear Down This Firewall!

Elsewhere in the world, the big news is civil war, terrorism, typhoons - here in Canada it is a mayor's personal life.

As I type, Rob Ford is on Good Morning America, telling Matt Lauer about how much Torontonians really love him.  Kory Teneycke is probably high-fiving his reflection in a mirror, congratulating himself on nabbing Ford for The Sun Network and scoring the greatest marketing attention-grabber since Miley Cyrus twerked at the VMAs.

Elsewhere in Canada, Mike Duffy is relishing the attention afforded him through his Senate Spending scandal even as he waves his fists with righteous indignation against the Party and Prime Minister that once used him as a sabre-rattling fundraiser for their own war chest.  That Prime Minister, a man who is all about message control and has not shied away from using public dollars to preen and promote his partisan message, is now doing everything he can do deny accountability for people he himself hired.

Prime Minister Harper has been desperately trying to rebrand Canada, puffing out our chest as a military presence and an economic powerhouse.  He's attempted this primarily by focusing on bilateral free trade deals with our ample resources serving as a carrot.  Meanwhile, every other nation is looking at multi-lateral deals and expanding their economic base into innovative fields such as advanced manufacturing.  Canada is now better known for our diplomatic woes, both labour and espionage, than for our fighting forces.  Rob Ford has become our chief export.

And yes - while the rest of the world is rightly focused on the aftermath and response to Typhoon Heiyan, keeping a watchful eye on rising tide of neo-Nazism in Europe and concerned more generally about poverty, inequity and its spin-offs like economic turmoil and terrorism, Canada has its eyes fixed inwards on scandals of our own making - Ford Follies and the Senate Scandal, gas plants and subways.

As a nation, we appear to have fallen victim to the "entitled to our entitlements" sentiment; we have become so focused on what we get and what we want that we are neglecting what Canada used to stand on guard for - not "we" but "thee."

Does anyone remember when Canada wasn't about propping up or tearing down "great leaders", but about actually leading?  Nixon only went to China after Trudeau did.  The underground railroad led to Canada because we did away with slavery before the US did.  In every war we have dedicated soldiers to, Canada has held its own.  The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders have never given up one inch of ground since being founded in 1868.

Time was when we were confident enough in ourselves and our leaders that we focused on selling our ideas instead of individuals.  We have created the Canadarm, the prosthetic hand and the Nanaimo bar.  It was a Canadian, Lester B. Pearson who developed Peacekeeping, adding a valuable (now neglected) tool to the global conflict resolution tool box.  

By trying to firewall ourselves off from perceived seas of troubles, we have forgotten the welcoming spirit and inclusiveness that made Canada what it is today.  We have become complacent, comfortable in our little hobbit hole and far too removed from the world outside our door that shapes our landscape whether we like it or not.  We are part of this world, and it owes us nothing.  We will be defined by what we contribute to the whole, not by how we brand ourselves.

So enough is enough.  It is time to tear down the firewalls we've erected around our shores, our homes and our hearts.  It's time to get a little uncomfortable, take a risk, go on an adventure.

Canada can lead again but if we're to do that, we have to shake ourselves out of our indignation and start moving forward. 

Will Stephen Harper Be the Undoing of the Conservative Party of Canada? (UPDATE)

Three quotes that are perhaps interchangeable:

"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

"I came, I saw, I conquered."

“When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid dissent is frankly when it’s rapidly losing its moral authority to govern.”

Stephen Harper shouldn't feel too bad; he has fallen victim to the same entitled to entitlements illness that hits all leaders who put their own personal agenda ahead of the good of the people they aspire to represent.

The things he once stood for with vigour have been lost as his focus shifts towards continuance.  Where once he cried "reform" his new motto is "nothing to see here."  Harper should take a lesson from true Free Market Capitalists - growth comes through creative destruction, starting at the top.

Then again - what would the Party he's worked so hard to build and rigidly control be without him?  If and when he steps down, all the radicals that are already starting to chafe under his authoritarian control will push for a leader more in their image, the mold they once thought Harper would represent.  Those MPs who are more traditional Conservatives will be held publicly accountable for what they choose to support - their beliefs, or their Party.

When these two groups with vastly different priorities don't get what they want, the Conservative Party of Canada, held together with duct tape and a common lust for power, will once again fragment.

One has to feel bad for Harper - his own deep-rooted fears and need for control have knee-capped his own ambitions.  If only he'd taken the parents' creed to heart; "if you love them, let them go."

Perhaps he should have thought through his grand vision for a Conservative Canada in greater detail.  Guaranteed, his successors will have to.

UPDATE: The problem is that the list of enemies keeps growing, and as it grows, starts to include more and more of the party's staunchest supporters.

Yup!

The Folly of Entitlement: Ludwig Topf and Byron Sonne

“Why is this like I have done something to you, when this is the state that has done something to us? Why are you not fighting this with me?”

      - Byron Sonne, a man who went out of his way to get arrested, allegedly to prove some kind of point, but really just for shits and giggles.

If I am arrested, the greatest of all wrongs will be done to me. I never consciously or intentionally did anything bad; instead it has been done to me.

     - Ludwig Topf built crematoria for Nazi Concentration Camps

He was a legitimate businessman doing business with the government, so of course he did no wrong - except facilitate the murder of millions.

Recently I was hit, as a pedestrian, by a rich kid who fits this same profile - they see themselves as well-heeled and therefore, not accountable. It's a story that plays out time and again across the city and across society.

People like this, people at both ends of the economic spectrum that robe themselves in entitlement, are at the root of our social challenges.  Until we are all conscious that no person is an island, we're going to keep reading stories like this.



Kurt Prüfer's arrest on May 30, 1945 led Ludwig Topf to fear arrest himself. That same evening, he decided to commit suicide. In a farewell letter he cast himself in the role of a person guilty of nothing and wrongly persecuted. He disinherited his brother Ernst-Wolfgang and his sister Hanna who, he felt, had abandoned him. On the morning of May 31, 1945, at the age of 41, Ludwig Topf committed suicide by taking poison.

Farewell letter by Ludwig Topf, May 30, 1945 (excerpt, underlining in original)

"If I have made the decision to evade arrest it is for the following reason: I have lost all belief in any law in this world now that my family has also done me so much wrong and harm. If I am arrested, the greatest of all wrongs will be done to me. I never consciously or intentionally did anything bad; instead it has been done to me.
I was never cowardly – but I was proud. Handing myself over to the mercy or mercilessness of a foreign country is something I cannot do, because I have learnt the bitter lesson that there is no law and no decency left in this world. That is why I, as a decent person, today have one remaining opportunity to determine my fate as I see fit. And that means immediate departure from a world that in general has become unbearable, and in particular has persecuted and wronged me.
If I ever believed that my innocence as far as the crematoria are concerned (and my brother is just as innocent) would be recognized and honoured, I would continue to fight for justification, as I always have until now – but I think people need a sacrifice. In which case the least I can do is provide it myself. I was always decent – the opposite of a Nazi – the whole world knows that. If I were still able to feel at peace in the heart of a family, the struggle would be worthwhile – but the Topf family that showed composure, integrity and self-confidence has ceased to exist. I was its sole representative as far as that was concerned. Indeed I am so alone that I have no need to ask anyone's forgiveness, not even for a suicide."