Category Archives: Politics

Posts relating to the politics of a greener planet

Fireworks in Caledon

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How Do Fireworks Work - Inside Pictures How Fireworks WorkAll was quiet in the evening darkness as a neighbour and I walked our dogs, on leash, through Fountainbridge Park to Allen Drive. Suddenly the sky was filled with a series of startling bursts of colour accompanied by  thunderous booms. My companion’s dog was so terrified, he broke his leash and took off through the park. Mine nearly pulled my arm out of its socket as he bolted frantically to get away from the explosions that continued non-stop. He tugged me all the way down Highmore towards our street as the barrage amplified.. There on the corner of our intersection a man was lighting off his fireworks right on the public boulevard beside his house. These were not minor fireworks, these were major light shows – the kind that make crowds “OH” and “AH” on Victoria Day and Canada Day.

The problem was that it was neither of these two days when fireworks can legally be set off in Ontario and Caledon. On these days, people with pets, the elderly in home hospice, the recently arrived from war torn countries, families with very young children, and persons recovering from PTSD can close their doors and windows and keep a modicum of quiet inside their homes until the assault is over. The adult offender in this case  had picked July 4 to celebrate, forgetting perhaps that he lives in Canada.

He was either ignorant of Ontario law and Caledon’s by-laws regarding fireworks, or stupidly selfish.  I suspected the latter as he became aggressively defensive when we exchanged words about stopping the display. He quieted down shortly thereafter when he received a letter I sent him copied to the Town, the Caledon OPP, and the Caledon Fire Department who actually enforce the by-law.  He no longer set off displays after that day.

But the barrages continued over the next two weeks of July, with large displays coming from the North Hill section of Bolton, and the occasional local small burst from a variety of young teens in Fountainbridge Park and the Allan Drive Middle School parking lot. When I informed one of the  teens about the laws of the land, he replied, “But we didn’t get to light them all on Canada Day.” “Gee,” I replied, “I guess you’ll have to keep them dry until July 1st next year.”  

And during the recent  Diwali festival, came another fireworks incident with my wife walking our dog. She quickly brought the terrified dog home and went back to speak with the youths. It soon became apparent that they were not celebrating Diwali when one of them told her that he was lighting fireworks because it was his birthday, She informed them about Ontario law and the Town’s by-laws, but instead of apologizing for setting off an illegal fireworks display, the two young boys proceeded  to tell her to do obscene things to herself, and then quickly scuttled off into the darkness. 

To accommodate diversity, the Town of Caledon is amending its Fireworks By-law to include cultural celebrations that traditionally include fireworks, like the Chinese Lunar New Year and Diwali. However, that By-law, like many things delayed by pandemic priorities, has not come before Council for approval. Unless the organization or person is a licensed pyrotechnic engineer with a permit, like say at Canada’s Wonderland, there are only two days a year that the general public can legally set off fireworks.

Those two days are Victoria Day and Canada Day. Period. You must be eighteen (18) years of age to purchase fireworks.  If you notice any illegal fireworks displays that are disturbing the peace in your neighbourhood, get the location and inform Caledon Fire at this email address: Fire@caledon.ca. Similarly, if you notice vendors selling to underage youth, notify the Caledon OPP and Caledon Fire. And if you are a parent setting off illegal displays, or providing fireworks illegally to youth, learn the laws or face the consequences. Ignorance is not knowing what the offending behaviour is; stupidity is knowing but continuing the offending behaviour anyway. It’s time for some of our neighbours to smarten up.

The way I see it.

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Skid Crease, Caledon

*image from popularmechanics.com

November 8 is National Parents as Teachers Day

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Ah, National “Parents as Teachers Day” in the USA … I wonder how Donald and Melania are celebrating?  Perhaps in Canada we need a National Day to celebrate Parents as Teachers, particularly during this tumultuous two years of online learning.

 In this continuing saga of pandemic pressure, school aged children have been placed under more stress than coping with the usual growing pains of dealing with academic expectations. At the beginning of the pandemic, children sat at home in front of computer screens dealing with class cohorts and ZOOM meetings while their parents became teachers at home.

That was an eye opener for many parents as they dealt with a complex set of curriculum expectations beyond the experience of the average at home caregiver. Now, if we multiply their stress levels by the number of students in their child’s class, we will have a fleeting glimpse into the stress levels with which their regular teachers were dealing. Most parents are not professionally trained teachers, and no manual comes with a newborn child, so the parent as teacher is a double edged sword.

Beyond the formal education pressures put on us by the isolation of the pandemic for schooling at home, is the whole plethora of care and life lessons taught by parents. We hope that all will be loving, thoughtful, empathetic, well informed, and respectful parents as we prepare our children to inherit the twenty-first century.

Will we teach them to be flagrant consumers, seduced by corporate messaging and fake news, or will we teach them to be careful conservers, informed by science and the voice of the Earth? Will we teach them to appreciate diversity as it is found in our biosphere, or be corrupted by nationalistic fascism? Will we teach them that every child matters, and that before reconciliation comes the truth?

Imagine that Jacob Anthony Chansley, the painted, buffalo horned ringleader charged in the Capitol Hill insurrection riots, was your parent. Or that you had been raised by Hermann Göring, or Pol Pot, or Rodrigo Duterte, Imagine you had been mothered by Karla Homolka, or Ma Barker, or Countess Elizabeth Bathory, or Madame Mao. What would these parents have taught their children?

How different would you be if your mother was Ada Lovelace or Marie Curie or Severn Cullis-Suzuki, or Michelle Obama. Perhaps your father was Nelson Mandela or Elie Wiesel or Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan or Tommy Douglas.

Imagine that you were one of the anti-vaxxer parents now responsible for the continuing spread of the corona virus. Or one of the People’s Party of Canada parents spreading a white nationalist message across your community. Would you have produced a child like Malala or Great Thunberg or Abhayjeet Singh Sachal? Probably not,

For every Obi-Wan Kenobi there is a Darth Vader. We are sending this National Parents as Teachers Day salute out to all who teach on the light side of the Force. Remember, the legacy we leave in our children will be with us always.

The way I see it.

COP 26 – the last best chance

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The United Nations Climate Change Conference has been touted as the “last best chance” to address accelerating climate change and the issues it poses to the future of humans and of all life on Planet Earth.

From October 31 until November 12, 2021, Environment Ministers and leaders from over 200 countries will meet in Glasgow, Scotland to debate, discuss, sabotage and support the plan of action that will attempt to address the climate emergency that was announced in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization. 33 years later …

COP 26, the 26th meeting of the Council of Parties, the countries who are signatories to the UN Framework on Climate Change, comes 6 years after their historic Paris Agreement in 2015. Unfortunately, only Morocco and Gambia have been able to meet the targets set at COP 25. Why?

There are several reasons. First, apathy and misinformation. Apathy from the general public who are failing to put enough pressure on their governments to fulfil their global commitments. This apathy is generally caused by a comfortable consumer society in the industrialized nations of the world, and the disinformation is developed by the ultra rich at the the expense of everyone else.

If you want to understand why there has been no significant progress by the wealthiest nations on Earth, then read Jane Mayer’s “Dark Money” and our own Chrystia Freeland’s “Plutocrats: the rise of the new global super-rich and the fall of everyone else” Both books document the impact of the 0.1% of the 1% on political and corporate decisions affecting everything from education to the environment. Mayer looks specifically at the insidious influence in the USA of the Koch brother’s cabal, including their far right media mouthpieces, while Freeland gives us a global perspective on the power of nationless oligarchs getting richer in every corner of the world.

Even before COP 26 began, it was revealed that oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia and coal exporters like Australia have been lobbying to water down commitments to move away from fossil fuel use towards renewable energy. Self-interest and greed are the operating principles of the Plutocrats. Whoever dies with the most toys, and the most tax-sheltering “philanthropic” Foundations wins.

If COP 26 is our “last best chance” as a global community to address the impacts of accelerating climate change, then exposing the tax cheating and lobbying impact of the ultra rich is critical to our success. Until the bullies are confronted, their insatiable greed exposed and reduced, we all will be dancing on the strings of the ultra-rich puppet masters to the tune of a plutocratic fiddler on the roof.

The way I see it.

***

Skid Crease, Caledon

When Members of Parliament Fail

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Canada just had a federal election. I live in Caledon, a riding so safe for the Conservatives that the locals claim you could run a dead cow as the CPC candidate and it would win. The Conservative MP recently re-elected in my riding of Dufferin-Caledon is Kyle Seeback. This parliamentarian occasionally pens a column in the local paper entitled “Report from Ottawa” which one would suppose would be filled with vital information for the riding’s citizens. Alas, the column would better be titled “Raving Partisan Rants from Ottawa” filled with plenty of wistful speculations and accusations but nothing of substance.

The title of his latest “Report” was “It’s Time to Return to Work, Justin Trudeau” bemoaning the November 22 start of the 44th session of Parliament and complaining that it “is one of the longest delays in recalling Parliament after an election.” Now, Mr. Seeback should be aware that when, as an MP which his byline indicates, he addresses Justin, it should be respectfully as Prime Minister Trudeau. Seeback then boasted that “A Conservative government would’ve recalled parliament much sooner. We’re ready to roll up our sleeves and immediately return to work in the House of Commons to address the priorities of Canadians.”

Whoa there, Kyle. First, the “if we’d won we would have recalled parliament sooner” is analogous to the old saying: “If my aunt had had  testicles, she would’ve been my uncle.” Secondly, thanks to Erin O’Toole’s waffling on mandatory vaccinations, your party isn’t even prepared to re-enter the House because of the Conservative anti-vaxxer MP’s who refuse to either reveal their vaccination status or get vaccinated in the first place. You’ll all have to roll up your sleeves to get a shot before you get to work for Canadians. One of the top priorities for Canadians is for government to do everything possible to get this COVID-19 pandemic under control, so get out and push, or get out.

Please, MP Seeback, tell us how you plan to do that so that we can get back to some sense of normal in both our humanity and our economy. Let us know how your party plans to cooperate with the other parties in Parliament to ensure this happens as efficiently and honestly as possible. All we have heard so far is that the CPC plans to be “The Party of NO” ready to shoot down any Liberal bills intended to get us out of this pandemic and back to life and work.

The recent federal election was intended to give Canadians a chance to clearly indicate the direction of their political compass for the next four years. Alas, the $600 million dollar gamble (taxpayer monies which would have been better spent fulfilling the “to do” list from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) produced a minority government that looks a lot like the previous one. Minority governments can work beautifully, but only if all the parties involved come to the table ready to work with collaboration towards consensus on the actions that will benefit all Canadians.

“If we had won” is a vain fantasy Mr. Seeback. Your Party lost. You actually had less of the popular vote than in 2019 and are down 2 seats in 2021. Now, let’s make sure Canada doesn’t lose because of your right wing Conservative Party’s obstinate and antagonistic stance toward anything centre left. If Canadians had wanted the CPC to lead the country, you’d be the governing Party right now. You’re not. Quit whining and get back to work Kyle Seeback. On November 22nd we’ll see who has their sleeves rolled up.

The way I see it.

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Skid Crease, Caledon

The Last Debate

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September 10 2021. I voted today.

 It is now Friday, the morning after the English version of the last two Leader’s Debates in the Canadian federal election. The first, held in French, was on more global topics that ranged from international affairs to cultural identity, and produced no clear winner. However, Mr. O’Toole was on the defensive from the outset for his sly release of the CPC platform funding just hours before the debate.

The final Debate was all coast to coast to coast Canada, covering everything from climate change to affordable housing to Peace and Reconciliation, and there were clear winners and losers. From my perspective, the gold medal went to Annamie Paul. She was articulate, composed, well-informed, and kept the petulant boys firmly in their place. Unfortunately, the GREEN Party infighting earlier in the year guaranteed that she would not win the Prime Minister’s office. The outright loser, sadly for me, was Justin Trudeau.

I confess that my political leanings are centrist with a slight tilt to the left. The Vote Compass survey lets me know each year that I am clearly on the Liberal side of policies, with one toe in the Green and NDP ideologies, and the door clearly shut on the right wing Conservative Party of Canada and far right wing People’s Party of Canada. That being said, Erin O’Toole of the CPC may have walked away with a golden ticket to the Prime Minister’s office.

For an audience not aware of the CPC policies and practices that are in direct opposition to the smooth words that came out of Erin’s mouth last night, Mr. O’Toole appeared cool, reasonable and well-prepared to not answer a single question directly. He also cleverly took every opportunity to raise the irrelevant ghost of Jody Wilson-Raybould every time Mr. Trudeau was questioned about his commitment to indigenous peoples.

Mr. Trudeau, on the other hand, appeared defensive, angry, flustered and did not present at all well during the debate. Most annoying seemed to be the question: “Why did you call an election in the middle of a pandemic?” It was clear by the end of the night that the Prime Minister was asking himself the same question and had no good answer.

The result of which may be a minority Conservative government at best. At worst, it could have handed Navigator O’Toole a majority CPC parliament that will saddle Canada with four years of gun lobbyists, fossil fool projects, tax-breaks for the rich, and a return to colonial rule.

When I was trapped in the Twitter echo chamber I once tweeted that Erin O’Toole would never be Prime Minister of Canada. I take that back. Last night, Justin Trudeau may have just made that possible. I will still be voting for our local Liberal candidate, and still stand with the Liberal centrist policies and a belief in a Just Society. I simply couldn’t vote for the gaslighting Conservative MP we currently have in Dufferin-Caledon, nor support his fork-tongued leader.

So, why will Erin O’Toole possibly be our next Prime Minister? Neither the BQ, the NDP, the GPC, nor the PPC have the numbers to win. Econexus Research shows the NDP are holding steady at 19%, but the GPC at 3% and the BQ at 6% have both lost ground in the polls. However, the PPC have risen to 7%. an increase that shows us how far right the angry mob is marching.

That leaves a toss-up between the Liberals and the CPC tied at 32.5% each. There is a dark underbelly of anger in the country right now that has been fueled by pandemic health concerns, economic pressures, and anti-vaxxer selfishness and stupidity. That resentment, directed undeservedly towards the Liberal Party, burst when the election was called.

Undeservedly because it is important to remember that this Liberal minority government did not start the COVID-19 global pandemic. What they did do was guide Canada safely through the first Four Waves with solid health policies and reasonable economic stimulus. Even today’s job numbers showed us the good news that employment is up. Anyone who is angry at this government for pursuing a mandatory vaccine policy and vaccine passport is a complete COVIDIOT. Anyone angry at this government for spending billions on vaccines, health benefits, and economic assistance to individuals and small businesses should move to Florida or Texas.

Yes, we should not have called an election at this time. We should have quietly surfed the Fourth Wave with our noisy minority government until the waters calmed. Instead, we may have given the reins of power to a party that is only one polite policy notch down from the Republican horde to the south. Oh Canada.

The way I see it.

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Skid Crease, Caledon