Even the National Post is finally "getting" the essence of Stephane Dion as the class of the field in the Liberal leadership. With the Environment taking over Health care as the #1 priority issues for Canadians speaks well for the changing fortunes of Dion. He owns the environment issue and is trusted by citizens on the environment as well.
Here is what the National Post said about Dion today...worth a read.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Friday, November 10, 2006
Remembering Fred Chapman on November 11th
Fred Chapman died in August 2003 a few weeks before his 85th birthday. Never one to burden the system he went for a regular check up tested positive for bladder cancer and died peacefully three months later.
He was a quiet gentle man and a WWII vet. His feelings about his service years were kept close and inside in a quiet but deeply profound and personal way. Like so many of his era and ilk he never spoke much of the war except for yarns about the good times on leave in London or wandering about the English countryside. He rarely mentioned the loss of his brother at Dieppe.
As a result the war to me was more of a social studies subject area and that was my mind set until he died and I started to read his letters home and spent time with his old pictures and memorabilia...stuff I had never seen before.
A few days before he passed he told me what he want me to do with his “things” like favourite pictures, personal mementos and the rest of the “stuff” that clutters our closets, basements and our lives. For the most part it was to go to the Salvation Army the organization he respected the most “because they were the most truly supportive organization of the service man during the war” he used to say.
Before his passing he wanted “everything to go” except for one thing and that thing had to be the subject of a solemn son to father promise. I was to be sure to keep his RCAF uniform as long as I lived. When I died the uniform would be free to go to a museum or some other place where it would be displayed and help other people to remember. It was not that that he wanted to be remembered. What he wanted to be remembered was what the uniform stood for, first by me, and then by others.
So tonight I will spend some time reflecting with that uniform and immersing myself in the memory of the man who wore it. Tomorrow I will be at the Cenotaph, wearing my Poppy, standing silently and remembering. My remembering will be at so many levels with many others, all coming together, paying respects and giving thanks to the many men and women both past and present to whom we all owe so much.
He was a quiet gentle man and a WWII vet. His feelings about his service years were kept close and inside in a quiet but deeply profound and personal way. Like so many of his era and ilk he never spoke much of the war except for yarns about the good times on leave in London or wandering about the English countryside. He rarely mentioned the loss of his brother at Dieppe.
As a result the war to me was more of a social studies subject area and that was my mind set until he died and I started to read his letters home and spent time with his old pictures and memorabilia...stuff I had never seen before.
A few days before he passed he told me what he want me to do with his “things” like favourite pictures, personal mementos and the rest of the “stuff” that clutters our closets, basements and our lives. For the most part it was to go to the Salvation Army the organization he respected the most “because they were the most truly supportive organization of the service man during the war” he used to say.
Before his passing he wanted “everything to go” except for one thing and that thing had to be the subject of a solemn son to father promise. I was to be sure to keep his RCAF uniform as long as I lived. When I died the uniform would be free to go to a museum or some other place where it would be displayed and help other people to remember. It was not that that he wanted to be remembered. What he wanted to be remembered was what the uniform stood for, first by me, and then by others.
So tonight I will spend some time reflecting with that uniform and immersing myself in the memory of the man who wore it. Tomorrow I will be at the Cenotaph, wearing my Poppy, standing silently and remembering. My remembering will be at so many levels with many others, all coming together, paying respects and giving thanks to the many men and women both past and present to whom we all owe so much.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Les Brost is Alberta's Answer to Stuart McLean
Les Brost is a great writer and avid fan of rural Alberta - all of rural Alberta. His wit, wisdom and insight are collected together and displayed in a piece he has done on the PC Leadership Candidates and published in Sharon MacLean's Edmontonians
His comments are so right at so many levels that the facts and fictions merge to give you a different sense of who the candidates are - and in a context you will enjoy. I was LOLing all over the place.
Smarter than Dr Suess and more insightful than Chairman Mao - do your self a favour and visit the very inviting mind of Les Brost.
Here is the link: http://www.edmontonians.com/Best%20In%20Show.htm
His comments are so right at so many levels that the facts and fictions merge to give you a different sense of who the candidates are - and in a context you will enjoy. I was LOLing all over the place.
Smarter than Dr Suess and more insightful than Chairman Mao - do your self a favour and visit the very inviting mind of Les Brost.
Here is the link: http://www.edmontonians.com/Best%20In%20Show.htm
Some Feedback for the Powers the Be!
The Globe and Mail Columnist Jeffery Simpson last Saturday commented on “The Bozo Years” being over for Alberta and asked “What Now?” That is the ballot question in the hearts and minds of Albertans who are going to chose the new Progressive Conservative leader and Alberta’s pro tem Premier. It is on the minds of all of us, at the back of mind for some and at the top of mind for others. That is the central question - "What Now?"
There is an old axiom that says if you are coasting but still moving forward you have to be going down hill. That has been the recent reality for the Progressive Conservative Party and the “animating” (sic) characteristic of the Klein government for the past too many years. The basking in the glory of defeating the debt and deficit dragon has worn thin. It is now showing serious negative consequences because we have a government that believed debt and deficit was a finish line instead of a starting line.
Change and choice and taking chances are the stuff of elections and leadership campaigns. I sense Albertans are not only “up for” some different approaches in all three of these elements – they are demanding them. After 35 plus years of Progressive Conservative government is Alberta poised for one of it classic tectonic political shifts?
It has been said of Democrats that they make plans and then they go do something else while Republicans follow the plans of their grandfathers. I think that description has some resonance when applied respectively to the Progressive and the Conservative elements within the PC Party of Alberta too.
Part of the “Send ‘Em a Message” Survey on Policy Channel has been a rating of the Klein government’s performance in the 15 key policy areas we are researching. The survey is web based so it is not scientific but the participants self-select and volunteer so they have some “investment” in the answers they give. The group so far is 55% male/45% female. 58% are not PC Party members and 42% are. However 65% said they were “somewhat, very or extremely likely” to vote on the leadership. They are activist and engaged folks with things on their minds.
The performance rankings they gave the current government on the four most important issues on their minds are:
Environment: 17% Good and 83% Bad
Timely Access to Quality Health Care: 27% Good and 63%
Quality Education K-12: 49% Good and 51% Bad
Managing Growth: 13% Good and 87% Bad.
The only issue the government got positive ranking in was Lowering Taxes with 64% Good ranking. Lowering Taxes was also ranked as the least important issue facing Alberta so no serious benefit can be expected there for the next Premier. To say there is room for the current government to improve belittles the obvious.
What now? That is the ballot question, not just who is next?
Yes Alberta is moving forward. The growth in GDP and investment activity tells us that. But we have been coasting too. The PC Party memberships unceremonious ending of the Klein leadership last April 1 was the proof of that. The above survey performance ranking of the PC government also tells Progressive Conservative MLAs and party members that Albertans feel we are going down hill as well.
If this sense of government coasting down hill continues under the new leader - Albertans will definitely be doing some house cleaning - perhaps as soon as the next election.
Take 5 minutes and do the survey. It forces you to make some tough choices but it will help to get your voice heard.
There is an old axiom that says if you are coasting but still moving forward you have to be going down hill. That has been the recent reality for the Progressive Conservative Party and the “animating” (sic) characteristic of the Klein government for the past too many years. The basking in the glory of defeating the debt and deficit dragon has worn thin. It is now showing serious negative consequences because we have a government that believed debt and deficit was a finish line instead of a starting line.
Change and choice and taking chances are the stuff of elections and leadership campaigns. I sense Albertans are not only “up for” some different approaches in all three of these elements – they are demanding them. After 35 plus years of Progressive Conservative government is Alberta poised for one of it classic tectonic political shifts?
It has been said of Democrats that they make plans and then they go do something else while Republicans follow the plans of their grandfathers. I think that description has some resonance when applied respectively to the Progressive and the Conservative elements within the PC Party of Alberta too.
Part of the “Send ‘Em a Message” Survey on Policy Channel has been a rating of the Klein government’s performance in the 15 key policy areas we are researching. The survey is web based so it is not scientific but the participants self-select and volunteer so they have some “investment” in the answers they give. The group so far is 55% male/45% female. 58% are not PC Party members and 42% are. However 65% said they were “somewhat, very or extremely likely” to vote on the leadership. They are activist and engaged folks with things on their minds.
The performance rankings they gave the current government on the four most important issues on their minds are:
Environment: 17% Good and 83% Bad
Timely Access to Quality Health Care: 27% Good and 63%
Quality Education K-12: 49% Good and 51% Bad
Managing Growth: 13% Good and 87% Bad.
The only issue the government got positive ranking in was Lowering Taxes with 64% Good ranking. Lowering Taxes was also ranked as the least important issue facing Alberta so no serious benefit can be expected there for the next Premier. To say there is room for the current government to improve belittles the obvious.
What now? That is the ballot question, not just who is next?
Yes Alberta is moving forward. The growth in GDP and investment activity tells us that. But we have been coasting too. The PC Party memberships unceremonious ending of the Klein leadership last April 1 was the proof of that. The above survey performance ranking of the PC government also tells Progressive Conservative MLAs and party members that Albertans feel we are going down hill as well.
If this sense of government coasting down hill continues under the new leader - Albertans will definitely be doing some house cleaning - perhaps as soon as the next election.
Take 5 minutes and do the survey. It forces you to make some tough choices but it will help to get your voice heard.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
...and Bush Has 2 More Years
This posting is just a brazen promo for Davberta's site. He has a YouTube Bill Clinton clip on there that is practicaly Pythonesque and sooo worth a visit. Jon Stewart ought to be a little nervous for his job with this level of political satire being out there.
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