The Greens (11%) are within the margin of error of the NDP (13%) support in the first poll in the Ontario election since the writ was dropped.
Come on Greens!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Politicians Are Pandering Over "Veiled" Threats.
The silliness that has emerged over the “veiled threat” is unhelpful at so many levels. The allegations abound as to the motives. Some say it is political pander to Quebec angst over religious minorities in the face of the by-elections next week. Others say it is Harper taking on Elections Canada because he is ticked over them disallowing the advertising scheme the Cons did in the last election. Others accuse Harper of using this to change the channel on the advertising scam issues with Elections Canada and to focus on this voter identification issue.
Still others see this turn of events as politicians of all stripes talking out of both sides of their mouths since they all just agreed and passed the legislation amendments that enabled this silliness to prevail and now they are blaming the Elections Canada administration.
The Cons have added a partisan spin to this saying Dion is flip flopping on veiled voting. The Cons make a stretch in their own credulity when one day he says he does not like Election Canada’s decision and asks them to revisit it. Two days later Dion say he still disagrees with Elections Canada decision not to revisit it but he can live with the law as it is. A visit to the CPC official website shows Dion's picture 3 times and Harper's only once. Are the Cons that afraid of Dion?
This is no Dion flip flop it is enlightened accommodation. How you ask? The Muslim community itself has said women are more than prepared to raise their veils and identify themselves – provided it is to another woman. In fact they do it now when doing banking, crossing a border or writing an exam.
People have a responsibility to reveal their identities for purposes of voting. That problem is solved in very practical terms already according to Muslim leaders. Those veiled woman will willingly show their faces to another female official at the polling station for purposes of identification. That is no different to my mind than same-sex personal security searches at airports. So the posturing and pandering around this stuff is pointless and obviously purely political…and the politicians involved should be embarrassed.
What I am really wondering about all this is why a women would choose to submit to such attire in a free and democratic society like Canada in the first place. I know I have a lot to learn about this culture and its beliefs. I have made some effort to try and understand but I have to admit – I don’t get it as to why women are wearing burkas, abayas and niquabs in Canada. It is still pretty foreign to my values and very hard to comprehend.
What that leads me to wonder is will our high minded and principled politicians do when a woman wishes to breach such religious requirements? Will they rush to her aid and support her individual expression of her rights in the face of some inevitable cultural-community pressures? Or will they choose to run for cover themselves?
Still others see this turn of events as politicians of all stripes talking out of both sides of their mouths since they all just agreed and passed the legislation amendments that enabled this silliness to prevail and now they are blaming the Elections Canada administration.
The Cons have added a partisan spin to this saying Dion is flip flopping on veiled voting. The Cons make a stretch in their own credulity when one day he says he does not like Election Canada’s decision and asks them to revisit it. Two days later Dion say he still disagrees with Elections Canada decision not to revisit it but he can live with the law as it is. A visit to the CPC official website shows Dion's picture 3 times and Harper's only once. Are the Cons that afraid of Dion?
This is no Dion flip flop it is enlightened accommodation. How you ask? The Muslim community itself has said women are more than prepared to raise their veils and identify themselves – provided it is to another woman. In fact they do it now when doing banking, crossing a border or writing an exam.
People have a responsibility to reveal their identities for purposes of voting. That problem is solved in very practical terms already according to Muslim leaders. Those veiled woman will willingly show their faces to another female official at the polling station for purposes of identification. That is no different to my mind than same-sex personal security searches at airports. So the posturing and pandering around this stuff is pointless and obviously purely political…and the politicians involved should be embarrassed.
What I am really wondering about all this is why a women would choose to submit to such attire in a free and democratic society like Canada in the first place. I know I have a lot to learn about this culture and its beliefs. I have made some effort to try and understand but I have to admit – I don’t get it as to why women are wearing burkas, abayas and niquabs in Canada. It is still pretty foreign to my values and very hard to comprehend.
What that leads me to wonder is will our high minded and principled politicians do when a woman wishes to breach such religious requirements? Will they rush to her aid and support her individual expression of her rights in the face of some inevitable cultural-community pressures? Or will they choose to run for cover themselves?
Monday, September 10, 2007
Denis Ducharme Doesn't Want to Run Again.
Denis Ducharme (Bonnyville-Cold Lake) says he is not running for the PC’s in the next election. This is unfortunate. He has done much to foster a positive change the culture of governance in Alberta over how well he handled the Marie Lake issue.
Politicians tend to forget to whom they owe their first loyalty in our partisan political system. It is not the leader. It is not the party. It is the constituency. Denis reminded us of that reality in the past few months and he reaffirmed the appropriate ranking of the relationships and responsibilities that a politician needs to honour.
We all owe him a debt of gratitude to setting the relationship record straight and especially for following through and sticking to his guns. In our system of government, it is after all the responsibility of all backbenchers – including and especially on the government side - to keep the Executive on their toes. Denis did that is spades in the past few months.
This political life is not an easy job. It takes commitment, courage and character. Ducharme was a quiet and competent exemplar in all three aspects. I can hardly blame Denis for stepping down after 10 years but I for one will miss him. Thanks for the work you have done on behalf of Alberta.
Politicians tend to forget to whom they owe their first loyalty in our partisan political system. It is not the leader. It is not the party. It is the constituency. Denis reminded us of that reality in the past few months and he reaffirmed the appropriate ranking of the relationships and responsibilities that a politician needs to honour.
We all owe him a debt of gratitude to setting the relationship record straight and especially for following through and sticking to his guns. In our system of government, it is after all the responsibility of all backbenchers – including and especially on the government side - to keep the Executive on their toes. Denis did that is spades in the past few months.
This political life is not an easy job. It takes commitment, courage and character. Ducharme was a quiet and competent exemplar in all three aspects. I can hardly blame Denis for stepping down after 10 years but I for one will miss him. Thanks for the work you have done on behalf of Alberta.
Ontario Goes to the Polls - and We Better be Watching What Happens
Ontario just went into official election mode today. The outcomes are uncertain because it is an election and campaigns matter. I recommend the rest of us watch this election closely…particularly the Alberta Tories.
The best seat in the Blogosphere to view the Ontario election as it evolves will be frequent visits to the site known as democraticSpace.
I have a link to democraticSpace on this site so you can easily find it from here.
BTW Pollster Ipsos Reid has joined with this Blogger and he is providing them with seat projections and analysis during the elections. Good for him.
The best seat in the Blogosphere to view the Ontario election as it evolves will be frequent visits to the site known as democraticSpace.
I have a link to democraticSpace on this site so you can easily find it from here.
BTW Pollster Ipsos Reid has joined with this Blogger and he is providing them with seat projections and analysis during the elections. Good for him.
Alberta Oilsands Production Pressures Increasing.
The Alberta oil sands are coming under increased pressure. According to the Globe and Mail, demand for additional production is coming out of the U.S. to move from the current 1.2 million barrels per day to more than 3 million by 2015 in one estimate and over 3.4 million in the same time frame by another estimate.
Pipeline capacity is strained and the lead time for new capacity is a problem but some relief is expected by 2010 with new projects doming on stream. Then we have the refining issues and Midwest American refiners are reported to be spending abut $18billion up to 2012 to adapt to increased bitumen availability.
That additional refining capacity in the States brings another problem that may not sit well with Albertans. It could cause the discount between the conventional oil prices and the synthetic crude that is derived from oil sands to increase impacting negatively on provincial revenues.
Then you have expanded American refining capacity as a potential to undermine the over $40billion of scheduled Upgraders in the Edmonton area because they may not be cost effective. Albertans want the value added benefits of upgrading and refining in the province so this American refining capacity adaptation and energy demand is something the province is going to have to respond to aggressively.
Alberta is already suffering and not keeping up under the social and environmental, economic and inflationary strain of 1.2 million barrels pf daily production. To triple that in about 8 short years is going to take some serious adjustments to wages, investment in all kinds of infrastructure from physical to human, to social and natural stewardship initiatives.
If anyone thinks this is going to be resolved purely by market forces, the evidence today is that it is only going to get worse. The Canadian Press out of Toronto quotes the CIBC World Markets with some interesting observations. The story says the Canadian oilsands gain importance as other cut exports. “Canadian oilsands”…and out here in Alberta we thought the province controlled its natural resources by virtue of the Constitution…how naïve of us.
The prediction is that OPEC other countries like Russia and Mexico will be cutting exports in a few short years due to production lags and increasing domestic demands. The estimates are for a 7% decline in exports by 2010 – causing much higher oil prices.
Reports say that last year OPEC countries plus Russia and Mexico consumed about 12 millions of oil per day. That was 60% more than China and a td more than all of Western Europe. Canada’s oil consumption is reported to have actually declined last year.
CIBC economists Jeff Rubin predict oilsands will expand in the next decade and surpass deep-water sites as the largest sources of new supply…almost all of which he says will be exported to the U.S.A.
Alberta is rapidly emerging in the cross-hairs of geo-political energy battles and the forces that will be brought to bear on us are going to be substantial. We better get ready for that reality and quickly. A good start would be to find the new person to go to Washington DC to act on Alberta’s behalf on US issues, not the least of which will be energy export followed by demands for water exports.
Pipeline capacity is strained and the lead time for new capacity is a problem but some relief is expected by 2010 with new projects doming on stream. Then we have the refining issues and Midwest American refiners are reported to be spending abut $18billion up to 2012 to adapt to increased bitumen availability.
That additional refining capacity in the States brings another problem that may not sit well with Albertans. It could cause the discount between the conventional oil prices and the synthetic crude that is derived from oil sands to increase impacting negatively on provincial revenues.
Then you have expanded American refining capacity as a potential to undermine the over $40billion of scheduled Upgraders in the Edmonton area because they may not be cost effective. Albertans want the value added benefits of upgrading and refining in the province so this American refining capacity adaptation and energy demand is something the province is going to have to respond to aggressively.
Alberta is already suffering and not keeping up under the social and environmental, economic and inflationary strain of 1.2 million barrels pf daily production. To triple that in about 8 short years is going to take some serious adjustments to wages, investment in all kinds of infrastructure from physical to human, to social and natural stewardship initiatives.
If anyone thinks this is going to be resolved purely by market forces, the evidence today is that it is only going to get worse. The Canadian Press out of Toronto quotes the CIBC World Markets with some interesting observations. The story says the Canadian oilsands gain importance as other cut exports. “Canadian oilsands”…and out here in Alberta we thought the province controlled its natural resources by virtue of the Constitution…how naïve of us.
The prediction is that OPEC other countries like Russia and Mexico will be cutting exports in a few short years due to production lags and increasing domestic demands. The estimates are for a 7% decline in exports by 2010 – causing much higher oil prices.
Reports say that last year OPEC countries plus Russia and Mexico consumed about 12 millions of oil per day. That was 60% more than China and a td more than all of Western Europe. Canada’s oil consumption is reported to have actually declined last year.
CIBC economists Jeff Rubin predict oilsands will expand in the next decade and surpass deep-water sites as the largest sources of new supply…almost all of which he says will be exported to the U.S.A.
Alberta is rapidly emerging in the cross-hairs of geo-political energy battles and the forces that will be brought to bear on us are going to be substantial. We better get ready for that reality and quickly. A good start would be to find the new person to go to Washington DC to act on Alberta’s behalf on US issues, not the least of which will be energy export followed by demands for water exports.
NOTE TO READER: The impact of other countries and their oil policy was the subject of an editorial on Policy Channel on August 13. It adds fuel to the fire.
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