Those Advancing Years

By the time I awoke this morning, it had already arrived.

According to family legend, my quite pregnant mother was staying at her parents' place awaiting "the time".  There was a winter storm of sorts, her doctor happened to visit her at home (are you old enough to remember home visits?) and told her that it was time to get to the hospital.  So she was driven, in the doctor's jeep, to the hospital, the better part of an hour away.  I was born, around 6 am, in the hospital that later became a nurses' residence.

That happened 65 years ago.

So I've been contemplating all of this.  The arrival at the time of life where you are actually referred to as a "senior citizen" and not just an old fart.

I remember commenting a few years ago about some complaints by some much younger folk, so I dug it out to read again.  I don't think much has changed.  Certainly none of the things I mentioned in the original post have gone away.... and I was so hoping....

I know, it's just a number I've passed and it's just another name that I can be called and it's probably better than being called "jackass" or late for dinner, but there it is.

I now get discounts at the local store on certain days.  The provincial vehicle insurance system gives me a 25% discount.  There are breaks on property tax.  I start to receive government "pogey" in the form of CPP.  I can ski at some places for a reduced rate.  All very nice.  After all, I might need the money saved for prescription drugs....

I still have most of my hair, and I'm not just counting the fuzz on my face.  I have most of my own teeth (no false ones yet).  Most of the collection of body parts still work pretty well, at least most of the time.  I managed to stay well ahead of a much younger fellow on the return loop of the local ski trail earlier today.  Once I'm in condition, I can still climb the ski uptracks out in the backcountry at least as fast as everyone else.

So I guess I don't need to complain.  So I won't.

Fixing Harper - Part 8 - Conservatives Still Whining

Yes, the new government has been in power for a mere 3 months and a few days and to listen to the Conservatives, you'd think the sky was falling.  Of course, as they predicted.

Conservative supporters and former government ministers have been heard bleating about how "...friends of the Trudeau PMO go to the front of the line everywhere."  As Michael Harris responded: "Oh no...not patronage, not in the Federal Government!  How did all those Cons end up in the Senate?  The Stork?"

The "Rona and Tony show" are being ridiculed on other fronts as well.  Michael Harris is at his best, again, as he pillories the two former Harper acolytes over their reversals on the long-form census, science, pot, arms deals with the Saudis..... and on it goes.

Other editorials are starting to point out that actually, the Liberals are pretty much doing what they promised to do.  An op-ed in The Star put it this way: 

But Trudeau’s early days have not been the fiasco the Tories make out. There’s fresh energy and purpose in Ottawa. For the first time, the cabinet is gender-balanced. Relations with premiers, First Nations and cities are much better. The Liberals are bringing in more tax fairness, and more support for a greener economy. MPs and scientists are free to speak their minds again. Draconian security laws are being reviewed.

There's just no pleasing some people. 

Even on the issue of falling oil prices, articles are starting to appear that suggest, pretty clearly, that this might be an opportunity, even in the midst of a economic disaster for Alberta and the country.  Alberta's Clean Energy Shift is a Massive Economic Opportunity, comments an article in the Huffington Post.

There are obvious reasons why oil at $30/bbl (or lower) create some problems, and not just the budgetary and employment ones that everyone might think of.  This article takes a look at 10 problems that low oil prices create and the mismatch between oil supply and demand.

Meanwhile, employment related to solar power are exploding even while jobs related to the oil & gas industry are disappearing, as discussed in Fortune Magazine on-line.

Pointed barbs and nasty comments are flying back and forth over the possibility (or not) of the Energy East pipeline.  Quebec mayors say no.  Alberta's Wild Rose Party blames it all on the Alberta NDP government.  The ex-HarperCons do more arm-waving.  Alberta and Ontario's premiers seem to be on the same page.  People keep talking about the safety record of oil pipelines.

And Parliament gets back into session this week.

As Canadians, though, there is at least one thing that we can be thankful for, as summed up in this charming image: 

New friends. Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Iowa State University on Tuesday. (Mary Altaffer/Associated Press)

Fixing Harper - Part 7 - The Checklist

It's just so refreshing to be able to talk about how some of the damage of the past 10 years is being reversed, where possible.

So, in the interests of keeping track, here is a list of some of the Harperisms that the new Liberal government might/could tackle.  Some have already been announced.

Undoing the Tories: A Complete Guide to All the Harperisms That the Liberals Might or Have Killed.

There is also this article from Abacus Data: "Promises, Promises: Which Liberal campaign promises do Canadians want the government to follow through on?"

Some readers might recall Allan Gregg.  He was a former Tory strategist and he recently offered some not-very-flattering opinions about what the Harper regime did during it's tenure.  You can read about his comments here.  In particular, he slammed the regime's attack on evidence-based research.

It will be a big job.

Fixing Harper - Part 6 - Tax Fairness

In fairness, this problem of tax fairness didn't start with the former Harper regime.  It's been developing for some time.  Both Conservative and Liberal governments are responsible.

The new government has been making nice-sounding noises on many things and the mandate letter given to the new National Revenue Minister seems to be singing the same tune, but what are the chances that real changes will take place?

This article from iPolitics discusses the elusive nature of the problem.

The organization Canadians for Tax Fairness published a research report called: "What is Wrong at the CRA and How to Fix It".  It should be mandatory reading for all taxpayers.

So if the new Liberal really wants to start making a difference, here is yet another issue that should be high up on the list.

Ill-advised tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations.  Failure to crack down on off-shore tax havens.  Even Oxfam weighed in recently about the concentration of wealth in the hands of so few people.  The root reason seems clearly to be tax policies of federal governments.

One recent Canadian case involves Cameco, the uranium mining giant.  More on that story here...

Reigning in the CRA in it's partisan attacks on charities the former government didn't happen to approve of is another important step.  It appears that this is happening.  Already.

As a random commentator put it:  Friedman, Reagan and Thatcher are all dead.  It's time to bury them.

To which I'd add.... and Harper is gone too.

That Pesky TPP Thing

Yes, the Trans Pacific Partnership.  That "Trade Deal" that isn't really a trade deal.

We're going to hear a whole lot more about it in the coming months.  In the meantime, here's some reading material about it.

From Huff Post Politics: The TPP Hands Control Over Trade to the World's Wealthiest.

From BoingBoing: Independent Economists: TPP Will Kill 450,000 US Jobs.... 

From the Vancouver Sun: Nobel Laureate Warns of TPP Dangers

From the Washington Post: People Are Freaking Out About the TPP ISDS....

Very few governments have turned down any trade deals, but this isn't, apparently, about trade.  It's about "Investor State Dispute Settlement" which will usurp the rights of sovereign countries to make and enforce their own laws and regulations in a manner that is best for their country.

The Green Party of Canada has posted an article on the subject, giving several good reasons why the deal must not be ratified.

A recent article from The Tyee delves into some of the history of other trade agreements and links the fallout from those to what will happen as a result of the TPP.

One commentator put it this way:

Top ten reasons PARLIAMENT must kill the TPP 

1. The Trans Pacific Partnership is not a partnership. It was initiated in the US by large corporations to consolidate their control over the smaller economies of the member states.
2. It is not about “free trade.”It has more to do with investor rights which serve to debilitate national governments (nation states) as is already happening with NAFTA and other such agreements.
3. As they can already do under NAFTA corporations will be able to sue governments for non-compliance. This has already cost Canadian taxpayers millions of dollars.
4. It is about labor mobility. Corporations want to be able to hire the
cheapest possible labor, where ever and whenever. There will be open
immigration to bring in low wage workers from other countries. In 2013 the RBC
did this very thing.
5. It is an extension and intensification of existing agreements that are already debilitating the middle class in the US, Canada and numerous other countries. They hollow out democracy and destroy our social fabric.
6. It is about ISDS. These are to be legal tribunals where laws and judgements can be made to supersede a country’s regulatory structures. This in itself will make it next to impossible to make real progress on climate change and other environmental issues.
7. Over the past forty years there has been a massive retreat from real governance in this country. Politicians have yielded too much power to corporations. The neo-liberal free market economy, dominated by corporate greed, is a race to the bottom where all countries end up as Third World countries.
8. Over the past forty years Canada has suffered one incremental loss of sovereignty after another. We are generally regarded internationally as a weak-kneed American vassal state. Signing on to the TPP for us is the final
capitulation.
9. Governments everywhere must get back in the business of real leadership and quit pandering to what is a global corporate fascism being consolidated by agreements like the TPP.
10. We cannot assume for a minute we are immune to consequences. Like Greece we too can hit bottom.

It needs to be stopped.

Update - An older article from January 2015, written by Robert Reich, was titled "Why the TPP Agreement is a Pending Disaster"

Really Cool Bird Stuff

From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.....

Watch 118 bird species migrate across the Western Hemisphere

Nature is truly amazing.

Fixing Harper - Part 5 - Regimes we Support

Believe it or not, Canada has an arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

Here are some things you should know about that deal.

Maybe this won't surprise you, after all, we buy oil from them, we have diplomatic relations with the regime.  So we're friends, right?

The deal was brokered, in secret, a couple of years ago now and even though it became public before the election, it did not become an election issue.  Not really.  There were, of course some pointed pictures that floated around.

In recent days, it has become somewhat of an issue, mostly because there seems to be pressure for the new Liberal government to cancel the deal.  Also, there is Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition now asking for information about the deal.  Huh?  The party that brokered the deal in the first place?

The brutality of the Saudi regime has been much in the news of late.  Beheadings.  Oppression of women (although that's nothing new).  And, of course, the regime's ties with certain terrorist groups.  Not to mention how the regime is flooding the world with crude, depressing prices... and how the previous government sold the Wheat Board to the regime....  I don't think I've seen any positive articles about the regime - one of our allies, supposedly.

Frankly, I think the deal was a mistake.  Mind you, the past 10 years were mostly mistake after mistake.  Canada has no business doing business with thugs like these.  Jobs or no jobs.  

I wonder if Kim is thinking these thoughts now?

Rick Mercer even weighed in on this one.  See his rant here.

Canada has, of course, sold arms (military equipment) to other regimes that most of us would label as unsavoury.  Certainly unstable.  Examples would include Iran, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Libya, to name a few.  Should we be selling such equipment to places like these?  

If you want some additional information about arms deals to Saudi Arabia, Project Plowshares has a few that are well worth reading.