Category Archives: Federal

Federal

Harper: No Ideas, No vision, No Integrity, No Leadership

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The Harper No Vision, No Ideas Trick. Everyone sees through it.

That is the thought the attack ads of Mr. Harper and his Conservatives raised in my head. Every ad is an attack ad. There are no ideas for dealing with the issues of importance to Canadians; no leadership on what we need to do address the challenges facing Canada; just attacks on others.

Mr. Harper wants to call an election so he will have a “mandate” from the Canadian people. A mandate to do what? To continue attack ads to misdirect Canadian’s attentions from his and his party’s lack of ideas, vision and any understanding of what Canada is about and what it means to be Canadian?

Or perhaps he is seeking a mandate to continue to publish directives that instruct Conservative MP’s in how to obstruct the business of parliament? Although you do have to admire his gall in complaining he needs an election because parliament is “not working” when he is instructing his MPs in how to prevent parliament from working.

Of course this behaviour does suggest Mr. Harper is somewhat lacking in integrity. This lack probably explains his “wannabe American” behaviour and his lack of understanding of what the statement “I Am Canadian” embodies.

That Harper has No Ideas, No Vision and his questionable behaviours are not any surprise in light of his insistence on seeing the world through his ideology, failing to understand that Reality does not give a damn about your Beliefs.

Harper and the Conservatives passed a fixed election date law to prevent politicians and political parties from calling elections at their convenience and perceived advantage. Apparently this only applies to the other leaders and parties not Harper and his conservatives.

What does it say about Harper’s leadership and integrity when he will ignore a law his own party passed and when he cannot even inspire himself to follow a law he was responsible for enacting?

Federal

Threats of federal election issued.

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It was not necessary for Mr. Harper and his Conservatives to run a series of advertisements to highlight their ignorance of Canada and what it is to be Canadian.

Through his actions and behaviours Stephen Harper has demonstrated that he does not get, does not understand Canada and what it is to be Canadian.

I am of course referring to the Dion does not get BC radio ads.

Having lived the first twenty years of my life in southern Ontario and the last twenty years in Abbotsford BC with stops in Saskatoon and Edmonton in-between I know that the only way to understand a city or province is through years of living there.

This is why we elect local citizens to be our MP’s and represent us in Ottawa; so they can make sure our needs, thoughts and wants are made clear to the party leader, other members of the caucus and to parliament.

Unfortunately parliament appears to have become a dictatorship run out of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Perhaps this tyranny explains why local MP Ed Fast gives you the address of who you need to write to as opposed to forcefully and loudly carrying the flag for Abbotsford and his constituents.

With municipal elections scheduled across BC this fall one would expect all BC MP’s to be demanding Stephen Harper not call an unnecessary election, an election Canadians don’t want, that would interfere with the debate of important local issues and the local election process. All we hear is silence.

With all the federal (and provincial) responsibilities downloaded onto cities without funds to pay for them; with the federal government abandoning issues such as homelessness and affordable housing, leaving the cities to deal with the fallout and costs; with the federal Conservative government insisting on seeing what it wants to see and ignoring reality on so many social issues, the municipal elections are of vital importance to local citizens (and their pocketbooks).

Local elections take place on a fixed schedule. Calling an unneeded federal election that will interfere with these local elections for no better reason than political and personal self-aggrandizement shows disrespect and disdain for the citizens of BC.

It would seem that if anyone does not get BC, does not get Canada and what it means to be Canadian, it is Stephen Harper.

Federal, Municipal, Provincial

The number of hungry Increasing.

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Driving back from Mission on Saturday I caught the $13 dollar BMW radio ad. For kids $13 is babysitting or allowance, for an adult – pocket money … or for $13 per day you can drive a BMW.

They missed an important $13 fact. For many people $13 is their weekly food budget; for some $13 is their entire monthly food budget.

These thoughts arose Saturday because I had swung by a dinner served for the homeless and hungry in Mission. The woman who is the driving force behind the dinner was surprised and a little distressed because all the food was gone so quickly and so early.

This was the biggest turnout she has ever had at one of her dinners. There are more and more people coming to eat who have housing but with the increases in housing and other components of the cost of living they have no money to feed themselves hamburger or even hotdogs, much less fresh vegetables or fresh fruit.

All the food for these meals is by donation (Tara 604-855-5839) and the preparation, cooking, serving and cleanup is by volunteers.

I swung by to talk because I wanted to ask if they were seeing the same increase in numbers and demand for food to feed the hungry as we are experiencing in Abbotsford. As I said – they are.

Increasing numbers of people are well past recommended guidelines for what percentage of your income should go to cover housing costs, with more and more spending 90% and over to pay for a place to live.

Our streets overflow with homeless and increasing numbers of people are just hanging on to housing. All these people are hungry and in need of food.

Please keep this in mind and contribute when you can to our local food banks and/or those people and groups who prepare and serve meals for the hungry. Take time to ask politicians at all levels of government why in a great country like Canada so many are going to bed hungry.

Federal, Municipal, Provincial

Flummoxed.

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There is a property in Abbotsford that has two underground oil tanks buried on it, probably left from the time in the 1940 – 50s when it was a gas station. The property is so contaminated that not only do you smell the oil, you taste in your throat.

It sits on the corner of Sumas Way and 4th Avenue just north of the Canada/USA Huntington border crossing. To improve traffic flow across the border major road construction was done involving 4th Avenue.

As a result of this work, every time it rains, this corner property is flooded 5 – 15 cm deep in rain water runoff. The rainwater is contaminated when it runs onto the property, leaving an oily sheen on everything it touches.

Unfortunately for the environment and the neighbours most of these contaminated flood waters do not remain on the property in question but runoff onto the neighbouring properties and into the ditches spreading contaminated water over a wide area.

Governments at the municipal, provincial and federal levels have all been informed of this problem. The result? Nothing. Nada. Zip. No government or government agency at any level seems interested in taking action to remedy this spreading environmental pollution.

Since governments had failed to respond, much less act, a number of well known environmental non-profits were contacted, informed of what was occurring and asked for help/advice. The result? Nothing.

I was not totally shocked when governments at all levels tried to avoid the cost of dealing with this contamination, leaving it to some other level of government to take appropriate action – and get stuck with the bill. But these from organizations that are about protection the environment?

I suppose there is just not enough potential for publicity and/or fundraising in this small environmental contamination. But still one would think …

The property sits there ignored while every time it rains the surrounding environment becomes more contaminated and the contamination spreads further and further.

I am fresh out of ideas on how to get this contamination dealt with; it just leaves me totally flummoxed.

Addiction, Federal, Homeless

A Tale of Two Addicts

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

The opening lines of Dickens “A tale of two cities” came to mind the other day, following encounters I had with two members of the homeless community I have known for several years. After years of addiction both men had found the desire and strength to go into treatment.

The first gentleman was fresh out of treatment, looking fat and sassy, full of life, humour and joy. Bright-eyed and full of plans he spoke of going to UCFV.

The second gentleman had also been full of life and plans when he was fresh out of treatment several months ago. This day found him looking thin and tired, slipping back into addiction.

The true tragedy here is not the second gentleman losing his way and his life to addiction once again, the true tragedy is this is “business as usual”.

People struggle to find the will and strength to get into treatment to get clean and sober. In treatment they are provided shelter and plenty of food, programs and support in dealing with their need, their addiction.

One to three months later they are released to homelessness. Just reaching the point where they are capable of getting solidly on the road to recovery they are abandoned. We forsake them, failing to provide the programs and support to continue on the journey of recovery.

Three months later and they are again losing their lives to addiction again. This is the cycle for all but a miniscule percentage of those dumped back onto the streets from treatment. A painful, wasteful cycle that we choose to allow to happen; I say choose because we know what needs to be done to be far more successful.

Personal experience has taught me how much time, hard work, and sheer strength it takes to get and stay on the path to recovery and mental health. I have experienced how important having the appropriate, the needed resources and support is to recovery

With the advantage of hindsight I can see how lucky I was, not only to find the programs (VOICE, WRAP etc.) and support I needed, but once having found what was needed there were resources available so that I could receive support essential to my continued recovery.

I see, unacceptably often, what happens to people who do not find what they need or worse – find what they need but there is no space, no resources, to meet their needs.

Those who find the programs, the resources, the support, prosper. Those who don’t find a way to fill these needs end up in the misery of homelessness and often addiction.

This is also the reality for those struggling with addiction. Not really surprising given that at least 50% are estimated to suffer from the concurrent disorders of mental illness and addiction.

One or even three months does not “treat” or “cure” addiction, even if we label facilities and programs as “treatment”.

Recovery is a continual journey of learning, self knowledge, personal growth and change. During the first year(s) of this journey one needs programs and resources to guide and promote this learning and growth, with support not only through the rough patches, but from day to day.

We can keep doing what we have been doing, hoping for a different outcome. Which as anyone familiar with Alcoholics Anonymous can tell you is the definition of insanity.

Or we can change our behaviour, put in place the programs, resources and support that research, current knowledge and experience tell us is needed to reclaim lives from the scourge of addiction.

We can continue to waste millions, hundreds of millions, of dollars to achieve little success. Or we can choose to spend our money wisely, saving hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars, and starting to reclaim lives by intelligently addressing the affliction and torment that is addiction.

Lao Tsa in his “ART OF War” writes: “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”

Reality is that recovery from addiction is, like recovery from mental illness, a demanding and arduous years long journey, not a quick easy fix.

To deny this reality, to resist the changes needed only creates more sorrow. Let reality be reality and provide the resources we know are needed for people to flow forward into recovery.