Friday, June 29, 2007

Boo-ya, my poli-sci bro, boo-ya

As his last f-book status login, updated last Sunday back says, "Craig Vanderveen is home - boo-yah!"

"Redeemer University is a whole lot more than just a university. Redeemer is about gaining knowledge as well as learning about oneself - one’s morals and beliefs, one’s calling, and one’s relationship to God. It is about cultivating relationships - among students and friends, that become like brothers and sisters to us; with professors, who become mentors to us and with God, our Father, Son and Holy Spirit." - Craig Vanderveen, Redeemer University College Student Senate President 2006-07

RUC goes to dark today.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Dirty, but still Clean and Loving it

Thanks all of you absolutely for sending your personal best wishes this one around, beginning with the 3 mega major metropolises of Williamsford, Keady and Chatsworth, with their collective populations being greater than 0, then mainly between Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale—Aldershot—Burlington—Wentworth and Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound—Port Elgin—Saugeen here but also other Northern and Rural areas and the remaining Halton-Niagara, 905 Greater and 416 Metro Toronto centres of Ontario, all throughout Québec, also within the Pacific West especially Alberta, as well inside the Atlantic East concentrated both in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador in the Dominion of Canada, those mainly from Montana, Idaho, Washington, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and California in the United States of America, plus all those from abroad in the World outside North America with honest props out to Kongeriget Danmark for making it one very special, dirty yet clean birthday for just another world citizen who is just loving to live the life just like you!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Albertans Grit and Tory Show

Albertans have decided to go Liberal in the urban south and Tory in the rural north, they rejected Preston Manning's call for Green, but also attacked a pro-Alberta-first message from Independence, Social Credit and Alberta Alliance provincial political parties. In Calgary-Elbow, former Premier Ralph Klein's citizens really felt the former Liberal was still Grit, as they elected a real one by 46%, while the Greens grabbed 6% for their leader in 3rd, the Alberta Alliance accrued 4% for 4th and the Social Credit clutched 2% for 5th while in Drumheller-Stettler, the third most separartist friendly riding after Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills and Strathmore-Brooks, those Alberta Tories took 58% of the vote, the Social Credit cornered 12% in 3rd, the Independent incised 7% for 4th, the Alberta Alliance axed 5% for 5th and the Greens got 3% for 6th. Altogether, we must remember this is just a byelection, however the need for a merger between the Social Credit, Alberta Party and Alberta Alliance is true if they are to defeat this Progressive Conservative past and Liberal future machine, or if that wasn't feasible at least a brand new Alberta Reform Alliance would have to merge the best parts of the Social Credit principles and the Alberta Party policies, I would also further argue there is a need to inject their united platform of the future with the ideals that work from the Greens and Independent movements, especially Western Canadian ideals of Independence, to further reject these realities of working towards a united front is to face certain defeat as electorally divided enemies.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Nova Scotia about to Peter on the Mack in Green

So Elizabeth May and Stéphane Dion finally have their raison d'etre to defeat Peter Mackay and the federal Tories, the Atlantic Accord and its Cumberland-Colchester MP Bill Casey, all of these issues, plus non issues like waffler South Shore-St. Margaret’s MP Gerald Keddy, who backed his party over his region in last night's contentious budget implementation bill vote of 157 versus 103, thanks to Tory support from the Bloc Québécois and that was likely payback for Stephen Harper's Québécois notion motion late last fall.

One can easily see that the Atlantic East, not the Pacific West, is going to be the first region to spit and schism today's version of the great Tory majority coalition, as shared by both John A. Macdonald and Brian Mulroney, instead of looking to the Prairies for the change in the form of a second Reform party, people need to look to the Maritimes for that same change in the form of another Progressive one, though word is that an Atlantica Party has already been started, a regionalist party like the Bloc, looking out for the interests of its people and seeing that deals like the Atlantic Accord don't open up and stay shut.

The federal Conservatives have an obsessive disorder for order, control and secrecy, not just infecting the PMO and its Cabinet, but one that attacks its own party apparatus interntionally, this is the same kind of politics Mackay used in the East to promise his Progressive Conservatives a compromise with David Orchard to no avail, or Harper used in the West to promise his Alliance Reformers a return back to its roots and even Mulroney as he lied to everyone during his two terms and less than a decade in the big office.

That two Tory Premiers from out there are both about to get nipped if they don't remain angry over the lost accord, while the other two provinces in the Maritimes just went Liberal, shows that with an Atlantica Party or not, the regional will vote en bloc against the national party that broke their deal on equalization, with the Liberals or at least one protest vote in one riding for the Greens.

And with Saskatchewan getting ready to join the rank of the other 2 have provinces, the real thoughts remain why the 10 of 12 Tory MPs from Saskatchewan continue to smack around Saskatchewanians in a Mulroneyesque fashion of governance, when they and their affiliated Saskatchewan Party know just where that got them all before, paid the political price at the time and look possibly to repeat history once more.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Alberta has an Alliance of unaligned Albertans

The Western Standard reported in its "Can Alberta's further right unite?" article that the Alberta Alliance, Alberta of 1986 and Social Credit of 1935 parties have been in off and on merger talks since 2002 to put up a united conservative front to oust the Progressive Conservatives in the next provincial election. All basically agreeing on the same principles as to what needs to get done, just agreeing how they get there seems to be the deciding factor on unity, which hasn't been solved as of yet. With the addition of the conservative leaning Albertan Independence movement, it would seem the rules of Albertocracy would be in full effect, allowing the protest vote to actually mean something this byelection around. However, as those three provincial political parties and one growing movement look to make their mark, one must not discount a chance that Alberta is returning to its original autocratic roots.

That province originally brought into Confederation, did so under Premier Alexander Rutherford, who was appointed as such by Liberal Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier when it entered in 1905, he would win many massive majorities with gerrymandered electoral ridings until his involvement in the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal became a factor which forced his equally elitist backup Arthur Sifton to come up to the top and take over the crown. After the very next election, they would jam through another very controversial bill greatly expanding the size of the legislative assembly and the government itself, plus with the continued electoral gerrymandering as it were, maintained the situation of old that wasn't ideal for any of the citizens at large, he kept doing it until he left for the bigger and better federal scene. This put Charles Stewart in charge of the caucus to continue the cycle for the 19 year old governing Liberals, however they and the official opposition Conservatives would be routed by the upstart United Farmers, who after 14 years were replaced by the Social Credit, who then after 36 years were rased by the Progressive Conservatives.

This brings us now today, where another 36 years has come, the past ones of Progressive Conservative fame have gone, yet its successor is now in doubt, as the Alliance, Social Credit and Alberta parties do agree on the same ideals, how honestly hard would it be for them to create an Alberta alliance that united them all under one agreement in principle, yet created separate caucuses for the three different associations as they are elected in the legislature. Albertans will reject the Progressive Conservatatives of today, just as they have rejected the Liberals of yesterday, yet embrace a brand new politics that regions like Québec have now and Ontario have yet to fully emerse themselves into as this political ideological transcendency via realignment takes hold regionally across the nation. It really is a new way of thinking politcally that doesn't wait hand and foot on political scientists or economists turned politicans like Preston Manning, Stephen Harper or Ted Morton who seem to want change and choice yet continue to support the same-old and status-quo, which also leaves them to blames as leadershipless leaders of a region needing leadership in its post-boom and pre-bust economic state. Unless Morton pulls a René Lévesque on Ed Stelmach's Jean Lesage, where he demands the Alberta Agenda and its Independence issue be on the agenda of debate at the next policy convention for the Progressive Conservatives, or like Lévesque leave the Liberal convention as he did back in 1967, after they refused to speak of his Option Québec and its Souveraineté Association issue, where you create your own Alberta alliance of independent Albertans, if not then Alberta's only political recourse would be to forget its leader, decide amongst its own grassroots citizens to create its own Alberta alliance of unaligned Albertans to change the system.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Canadian constitutional crisis by Liberals says Tories over Senate Reform

Even though I do agree with Government House Leader and Tory MP Peter Van Loan, that Liberal Senators stopping Conservative Members from passing the Senate Reform to shelve a bill imposing an eight year limit on senatorial terms until the Supreme Court determines if it is constitutional, is possibly creating constitutional crisis here in Canada, at least the Grits are doing so in a responsible fashion now, before with their majority government, they would make it by forcing bills and legislation on just about every issue that our Canadian public was diametrically opposed too and told them to just like it.

It is the Liberal dominated Senate's duty to ensure legislation is constitutional before proceeding with it, no doubt about that here, but did it really take them this long to finally accept that senatorial convention, even after Brian Mulroney used Section 26 to stack the Senate with Progressive Conservatives to pass the Goods and Services Tax in 1990, if so then perhaps we all need to serious take a long time looking at more reforms for this Senate that seems to be out of touch of its citizenry and reality itself.

While we are at it, could someone tell the Tories there to bring back their parliamentary conventions that have bit the dust in the last bit of time, such as individual ministerial responsibility, or even just letting their MPs vote according to the wishes of their constituents - but to dream!

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Grassroots Coalition becomes pro-Reform federalist Coalition of Principled Canadians and an Ontario-first provincialist Ontario Alternative

Last week on the Saturday, many leaders of several coalitions of concerned citizens meet yet again in Kingston to discuss their shared concerns about the future of the country and decide what direction this growing movement of principled grassroots politics was going to go, a compromise later on was made between the pro-Reform federalistas and the Ontario-first provincialistas, a move towards now going both ways had been made, the Grassroots Coalition pronged out into two campaigns, a pro-Reform federalist Coalition of Principled Canadians and an Ontario-first provincialist Ontario Alternative, with one goal being that of the original Kingston Accord, but will remain working between each other as the campus youth progressive democratic reformers who by a majority are provincial political partyless will keep good relations and open cooperation with the more adult elder conservative traditional reformers who still identify by a majority with the federal Tories but want to bring back real Reform to this nation once more.

The finishing result was the formation of an interim steering committee of 7-9 people with a possibility of having a representative from each province, which will develop a mission statement, declaration of principles and policies and work to create a working platform to go federal between now and Monday, October 19, 2009, it will continue to organize meetings with like minded groups to explore opportunities and to develop a political organizational structure for a possible federal party, however the main debate for this federal group was the debate over whether to limit its efforts to southern and central Ontario for the short term or expand its span to other provinces immediately, where many individuals have expressed interest in participating in this project nationally, with the internet begin the deciding factor, the Coalition of Principled Canadians will be inviting more group leaders to meet with them all in Kingston again on Saturday, June 23, 2007 as the exploration into the feasibility of inviting electronic input from those future representatives from the other provinces to become more inclusive for all Canadians not just Ontarians and is part of the greater plan to expand federally from coast to coast.

So moving past the Conservative's failed Unite the Right theory, just as the recent Liberal-Green-New Democrat coalition to Unite the Left flopped too, as its Elite Liberal Left wing of Stéphane Dion, Bob Rae and Elizabeth May couldn't win in Québec because of the Bloc Québécois, this is because any Reform movement never was Tory or Grit and one plus one didn't necessarily equal two, one has to wonder how after Western and Québec Conservatives left the top-down Tory Progressive Conservatives, Reform went from Alliance then back to the Tory model that was the Elite Conservative Right wing yet Bloc Québécois stayed constantly regionalist, maybe the reason lies in the English acronym spelt from the top-down transition's initials when collectively combined as a R.A.T. process from first to worst, actually similar to when the Ontario Tories wunderkinds originally helped name the Alliance C.C.R.A.P., as in Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party and never seemed to actually end the fiasco, so it only makes sense that this grassroots political movement would federally call itself Coalition of Principled Canadians or C.P.C., however back here provincially within this Silent Majority Revolution in Ontario, a mantra has developed that Ontario doesn't play second fiddle to any nation but the Dominion of Canada as Québec is not a nation but a province within Confederation like the rest of us - if this can't be agreed to then perhaps the time has come for everyone to decide!

Monday, June 04, 2007

Mulroney, Mcguinty and managerial judicial independence

Brian Mulroney now says the much maligned managerial judicial independence must be protected with his "A simple (judgment) from an independent judge can leave the government and the police standing on the courthouse steps, looking ridiculous and chastened." position, interesting that only Liberals and Tories ever get appointed to benches as judges, as they are the only ones who ever get into the position of power to appoint. Like any other patronage scheme to scam, you have to have people in power to protect your power, Liberals and Tories know this oh to well, with the New Democrats, Bloc Québécois and Greens all slowly following the secret documented plan. Mulroney states judges are the most powerful for of protection Canadians have from the abuse of power by police and government, yet his old pal Ontario Chief Justice Roy Mcmurtry says otherwise, freshly removed from electoral politics, he was brought up to the judicial bench, began working on and reading in law into the Charter without recusal, while conflicting and usurping the powers of elected representatives and thus overrode the expressed wishes of the people who elected them. After using his appointed, unelected and elitist political judgement on what he, not the average grassroots citizen who interestingly polled in the Globe and Mail recently as being 63% favouring the idea of electing our judges, proudly changed the way Canada ruled its land, thus becoming the exact type of Charter-centric judge he had originally intended not to be.

Dalton Mcguinty should be wrapped by the courts of law on several causes of action, for his stunt on breaking a major promise and signed contract during the last election that directly got him elected. He then violating said contract through breaking off legislation, thus raising certain taxes or imposing new ones without public approval, doing both without an election or referendum. Finally the day must come when a politican's election promise, this one on taxpayer protection legislation, must be found in contempt of the people that government represents, instead the Ontario Superior Court sides with the Premier. Instead, we have Mcguinty trumpeting his 2003 message of "I won’t lower your taxes, but I won’t raise them, either!" all over again with the 2007 version "You can believe me because I am in charge now!" with an addendum of not promising to get rid of the health tax, now that the province is projecting balanced budgets for the next five years, why not eh, that ultimate wisdom and arrogance worked four years ago before without any legal so why not lie again?

Mulroney and Mcguinty have ruled well with the like of Mcmurtry protecting their non recused back, as long as the special interest agenda protects the status quo, then all of them can sit, kick back and enjoy their pay, pensions and perks that only the protection, preservation and perpetuation of the same old gives you. Power is the only thing which has any sway in that crowd, not principles or policy that is tried and true, no only the power one has over the law, now that it has become acceptable to cut the corners. By removing the force and order from the balance the rule of law gives us, we also give up on the neither beneath, above or beyond principle when dealing with it, which no longer ensures there is just one rule of law for everyone in Ontario. Mcmurtry himself says "I don't think the traditional view or the majoritarian view is the correct view", which seems to confirm that he either thinks the average grassroots citizen of Canada or Ontario is wrong, stupid or completely ignorant of what democracy really is or even if they should be active participants within it. When one asks who shall protect the kind of Canadian and Ontarian top-down managerial judicial independence and its renowned living tree of freedom on activism for just the elites, I believe they must also then ask who shall preserve Canadian and Ontarian bottom-up grassroots civil liberty and its lesser known fairness through action within the letter of the law for all citizens equally!

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Provincial election yet to start is a dead heat in Ontario


Friday, June 01, 2007

Preston Manning should once more become the party leader and lead the political movement

Preston Manning should once more become the party leader and lead the political movement. This next time, however, perhaps he should try his revered hand that once led Reform to now lead Green. Elizabeth May has lost her internal moral compass on political democratic reform, thinking one can ask politicians, both senators and members, to cross the floor over without any election or byelection to confirm it as the citizen constituents' choice. That May thought that trading Dion free rides in a Central Nova for Saint-Laurent—Cartierville riding bet between the Grits and Greens, a deal that trades all citizen constituents' choices like horses, would have triggered a leadership review by rebels within the Alliance years ago, thus proving Green lacks the real activist reformers the other rival grassroots organization had back in the day, or at least don't have the openly bold tenacity Reformers had even they formed their Western Canadian based Democratic Representative Association or Independent Alliance Caucus led by Chuck Strahl and Deb Grey to unite their right. Today, a dark green horse could easily waltz right into the fray to lead a grassroots political organization towards action that changes the national agenda, bring those brand new ideas to life, so perhaps an old warhorse should think big about leading that party and movement before it loses its hype and slowly fades into a shadowy irrelevance like Manning himself.