Summer Editorial Series – The Jack’s Creek Covered Bridge

The news last week that Jack Layton was taking some time off to fight another bout of cancer comes as shocking to a lot of politicos cross-country. This man is a lion. He defeated the strain of pancreatic cancer he was diagnosed with in February, had hip surgery in March, and then got out on the campaign trail in April, leading his party to its biggest victory ever in May. You know the old marine motto about doing more before 6 am… Well Jack Layton may not be a marine, but by any standard, that is a pretty eventful spring.

Now, I’m not a doctor, but anecdotally-speaking some of Layton’s recent public appearances have not painted the picture of a man who’s got a full health bar, to use video game parlance. Of course the stress of a major illness and a cross-country Federal campaign doesn’t do much for one’s stress levels, but all-in-all Layton’s physical struggles seems to have not damped even slightly the man’s vigour and commitment to leading his party to heights never before thought possible. At least until now that is.

Now it’s not all bad news. Layton intends to be back in time for the recommencement of Parliament in mid-September. In the meantime, Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmelhas was Layton’s personal selection for interim leader. She’s a rookie MP and part of the NDP’s “Orange Revolution” during May’s Federal Election, and on the face of things, politically, that makes a lot of sense. But the selection of Turmelhas, no matter how temporary, is odd because she leap-frogged over deputy leaders Thomas Mulcair and Libby Davies, as well as party stalwart Paul Dewar. And all things being equal, the NDP hasn’t had a lot of luck when one of their freshmen class is thrust into the spotlight.

And make no mistake, leadership matters. Could the NDP have made the gains they have without Layton at the helm? Possibly, but not probably. Layton’s miracle with the NDP is that he was able to play on even-keel with the two traditional main party leaders, and in recent years, even best them in national debates. He wasn’t whiny, he wasn’t resentful, and he came across as completely forthright, confident and ready to serve. Cogito ergo sum. Despite his small caucus he believed he was a national leader, therefore he was a national leader.

By comparison, think of the former leader of the Ontario wing of the NDP, Howard Hampton. I remember exactly two things that Hampton did in the 2003 Provincial campaign: 1) he tried nailing Jell-O to a wall, and 2) he had several huge dollar sign sacs on a flat bed truck be driven down a Toronto street as a visual aid during a speech. I can’t remember what either of those things were supposed to symbolize, but I remember that Hampton did them, and along with then-Premier Ernie Eves’ “reptilian kitten eater” comment, they probably painted Dalton McGuinty as the sanest choice for Queen’s Park.

Sadly appearances matter, and in the case of Jack Layton the appearance was of a man working hard to get your vote. Since his first election as party leader in 2004, Layton has led the NDP to posting a bigger share of the popular vote, even if their total number of seats didn’t increase; his predecessor Alexa McDonough didn’t post better than 11.05 per cent in the 1997 election. It’s why commentators were hesitant to call Layton’s ascension to Official Opposition leader an overnight success. It was a victory eight years in the making, and if the intention was to form an NDP government then they’re one more move shy of their goals.

But if Layton’s health continues to be an issue, then a question of more permanent leadership will have to be addressed, and like of all the major Federal parties, no clear successor is obvious. And the NDP is painted in a tight corner too. While the tenor of Quebecers and their new found allegiance to the NDP may not be fly-by-night, they’ll want to see progress on what the Orange can do for them. At the same time though, none of the new 59 NDP MPs from Quebec are probably leadership ready, though do the residents of “La belle province” have expectations that way? I doubt it.

Either way, Layton will be a tough act to follow in Ottawa. Not that we want anyone to follow him yet. He’s worked too long and hard to get that seat directly across from the Prime Minister, and I have a feeling that even Stephen Harper is relishing a real challenge in the Commons. Get well soon, Jack.

An Essay on Civility in Politics (Or, “Don’t be Hatin’”)

So I was thumbing through NOW (like I usually do) and I came across a letter regarding a past issue about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his push to privatize the city’s garbage pick-up.

“I read your article on the garbage debate and sensed a little bitterness toward our mayor,” wrote Mike Holt. (Of course where he got an idea like that, I’ll never know.) “I, for one, am very proud of the citizens of Toronto for electing Rob Ford and feel he is doing a wonderful job. I savour every defeat of the socialist councillors and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.”

He continued, “First Ford, then a majority for the federal Conservatives, and in October a landside victory for the PCs in Ontario. I have never been prouder to be a Canadian.”

A couple of things concerned me while reading these words. One is the fact that in order for this man to be a proud Canadian, the majority of Canadians must support his political views, and two is the continuing notion of total warfare in politics that I’ve been seeing ever since the commencement of the last Federal Election.

To bring this back to Guelph, someone posted a comment on my blog, Guelph Politico, shortly after I adjourned for the Victoria Day long weekend. The comment was attached to a story I wrote about Conservative candidate Marty Burke a couple of days after the May 2nd election. I don’t think I had given a second thought to Burke or his disastrous campaign since hitting ‘Post’ on that article, but what was it that Al Pacino said famously in The Godfather Part III…

“Just curious as to what you feel qualifies you as any type of political expert?” asked the anonymous poster. Well there’s this monthly cheque I get from Echo Weekly. But seriously, what? Am I being called out? Because that’s what it feels like. But the poster goes further.

“Have you a graduate degree in political science? Have you worked behind the scenes for any of the parties? Are you a party member?” he or she asks.

First, I do not have a degree in political science. I have a plain old BA in History from the University of Guelph, where I also did take a several political courses. You know who else got a BA in History from the U of G? David Akin, an Ottawa reporter for CTV, Global and now host of The Daily Brief on the Sun News Network. Like me, he cut his journalistic teeth as Editor-in-Chief of the student paper The Ontarion.

As for the other two questions, no, I’ve neither worked behind the scenes for a party, nor have I been a party member. Do I have to be in order to better understand politics? One of the reasons I’ve never signed up for a party is because I enjoy by status as an independent. I find it better to keep my political options open, at the very least to make it easier for me to appear impartial as political reporter and commentator. But honestly, I’ve never in my adult life found myself drawn enough to a particular party to be a member.

“Or have you just taken the five minutes it takes to fire up a new blog through blogger, and viola you consider yourself and therefore implicitly demand others respect your opinion because you’ve actually taken 20 minutes and written an article? [sic]”

Well I’m not sure that sentence entirely makes sense, but I get your gist. And it actually took me 10 minutes to set up the blog and that includes choosing the template, and adding the words “Guelph Politico” to a picture of Guelph’s skyline I took for the banner. Oh, and then there’s the over 500 posts I’ve generated in nearly three years, and the hours I’ve invested in writing and doing research and searching out contacts and going to various events.

And I don’t demand others respect, I just seem to get it. Here are the names of a few people that have treated me like a journalist: Frank Valeriote, Liz Sandals, Mayor Karen Farbridge, the entirety of the 2006-10, and the 2011-14 city councils, Jack Layton, Elizabeth May, Stephane Dion, and numerous candidates in elections at all levels of government. And that’s just politics.

“Sorry Adam I see so much horse shit in your articles, plain lies in fact. You’re actually very lucky no one has decided to sue your ass yet.” Well, if they did decide to “sue my ass” as you say, I hope they enjoy their settlement win of X-Men comics and old Babylon 5 tapes (RIP Jeff Conway, AKA: Security Chief Zack Allen).

I won’t bother to ask Anonymous to point out the “plain lies” I’ve perpetuated. “Lying” has become a blanket term used by people of all political stripes to attack people that disagree with them. My conduct and my credentials have never been called into question until this past election cycle, and I’m sorry to say that it’s because of the growing state of poisonous partisanship.

Speaking on violence after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy said that hatred forces us to look at our brother like aliens, “Alien men with whom we share a city, but not a community.” He asked people to remember that “that those who live with us are our brothers,” and that perhaps “we can begin to work a little harder, to become in our hearts brothers and countrymen once again.”

May the same be said of us after a nasty election.

Post-Election - Madness and McCrae

So Who Won the Election?

I don’t know. My deadline for Echo is on Thursday and the election was on Monday. If you want all the election results and other stuff go to Guelph Politico at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com/ This edition of Guelph Beat, meanwhile, is all about local, municipal stuff not even remotely to do with anything falling under the federal portfolio.

Guelphites Like Value for Money

Two-thirds of Guelph residents say they get good value for their municipal tax dollars, while satisfaction with City services is high, with a majority saying they are satisfied with all services in a list of 11. This according to findings of a citizen survey conducted for the City of Guelph by Environics Research Group, and a City press release issued last week.

More than 80 per cent of residents surveyed expressed satisfaction with parks and trails, police, garbage collection, fire protection, and library services. Satisfaction with sports fields, ambulance services, snow plowing, and arts and heritage services ranged from 70 to 79 per cent. Additionally, 64 per cent of respondents said they were satisfied with road maintenance, and 57 per cent said they were satisfied with public transit, though one-quarter of respondents said they were unable to express an opinion about this service (meaning that don’t use the bus and they don’t have an opinion to offer).

So what other insights did the City gleam from the survey. High tax rates/tax increases is the most important issue facing Guelph according to the slim majority (12 per cent), with urban development/expansion (11 per cent) as a close second. Five in ten residents (51 per cent) indicated that fees and taxes should be lowered even if it means a small reduction in services, while about four in ten (37 per cent) believe that inadequate services need to be improved even if it means a small tax increase. Also, 83 per cent of residents who have contacted the City of Guelph over the past year said they were satisfied with the service they received, which is up from 60 per cent satisfaction in 2008.

To see the full results at this link: here.

City to Health Unit: Peace Out!

Fed up with the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Health Unit’s unilateral pursuit of new facilities, Guelph’s City Council voted to begin the process of pulling out of the unit and forcing its dissolution. Mayor Karen Farbridge will seek a meeting with the wardens of Wellington and Dufferin counties “to commence a discussion of the process for the dissolution of the health unit.” In a special resolution endorsed unanimously, the City effectively said that they have “concerns with regard to the governance” of the health board.

This move is a follow-up to a temporary injunction last month imposed by Justice Joseph Fragomeni, who wrote that the city “would suffer irreparable harm” if the project proceeded before some “serious questions” were answered. The question is about $17 million for new facilities, both here and in Orangeville, the entire cost of which is being put on the shoulders of the municipalities. The province is supposed to kick in 75 per cent of the cost for all Health Unit expenses, but they’ve opted out of funding the new facilities, and the health unit put it to council that they will precede regardless.

Speaking of the province, Guelph MPP Liz Sandals told the Guelph Mercury that the province can take over a health board if there are concerns over its management. But she said that isn’t the case here. “Quite frankly, the Ministry of Health has not been considering dissolving the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph public health unit.”

Needless to say, there’s more to come on this issue.

McCrae Pushes Poppies and Arthur Currie

McCrae House will be hosting its annual Poppy Push Plant Sale and fundraiser this Saturday, rain or shine, at the Water Street museum from 8:30 am till 1 pm. Poppy varieties available at the sale include Oriental and Allegro perennials and, of course, the “Flanders” corn poppy. Perennials from the historic garden will also be available for purchase. Volunteers that tend the historic garden at the museum will be on hand to talk about the various plants there, all of which were found in Guelph between the years 1850 to 1880.

At 11 am, McCrae House will open up its doors for its new exhibit “Remembering Arthur Currie.” Sir Arthur Currie is recognized as a brilliant military tactician who was knighted in 1917 after capturing Vimy Ridge and he became the first Canadian to attain the rank of General in 1919. After returning from the war he became Principal and Vice Chancellor of McGill University in Montreal. This exhibit looks at the life of Arthur Currie and his connections to John McCrae. Admission on Poppy Push day to McCrae House is by donation.

The Candidates Part 1

This week’s Guelph Beat begins the first of two parts that will look at the four major party candidates. In sequential order of when each of the candidates returned my request for an interview, we’ll begin this week by talking to the Green Party’s John Lawson and the NDP’s Bobbi Stewart.

John Lawson Chooses the Right Direction

The day I met John Lawson at his campaign headquarters on Woolwich St., was the same morning the consortium of broadcasters announced that Green Party Leader Elizabeth May would not be a part of the leaders debate this election cycle. From Lawson’s point of view, the banning of May and the immediate outrage from Canadians coast to coast to coast it provoked, is part of a larger discontent with the current political tone. “It’s not just partisan,” Lawson explains, “It’s coming from a broad spectrum that the democracy we treasure here in Canada is about voices coming to the table and having a chance to speak and sadly we’re not seeing that represented in Ottawa.”

Lawson, a pastor at Dublin Street United Church, has big shoes to fill as the local Green candidate. Mike Nagy, who ran in the last two elections, took the Greens to their best showing ever with 21 per cent of the vote in 2008. “I think I’ve been part of a Green movement for a long time, but finding a political expression for that is new for me,” says Lawson. The candidate has a deep concern for the environment, although he notes that his is not a “one issue party.” In fact, Lawson says, solutions to both environmental and economic concerns can be found in the same place: more Green jobs.

“There are real jobs for young people,” he explains. “As I’ve been talking to people who are reading Echo, the reality is that some of them are really quite hopeless in finding work that feels like they’re really contributing. They’ve got ideas, they’ve got energy and they’re told to go work at the mall.”

As for that change in tone on Parliament Hill, Lawson hopes people will vote with their heart in this election. “There’s a great sense of the politics of fear right now with strategic voting, ‘We don’t like Harper, we’ll do anything to get rid of him,’” he says. “At some point we’re hoping, and we’re hoping that this is the election that will do that, to be able to say, ‘We need you to vote your heart. We need a breakthrough to put a Green member in Parliament to signal that the same-old, same-old is not going to be there any longer.’”

Bobbi Stewart has Corner Store Values

NDP Candidate Bobbi Stewart was born and raised in Niagara Falls, where her father had a small grocery story. It was the kind of corner store where the man behind your counter knew your name, knew your story, and gave you the kind of personal service you just can’t get from the bigger chain stores. It was here, says Stewart, where she learned the values as a person, and the values she wants to stand up for as a New Democratic Party Member of Parliament.

“I always tell people that this is where I believe I got my start in community development,” she says of her father’s store. “Everybody would come into the store and tell my dad their stories, he would give them store credit, he would deliver to seniors, and all sorts of great things. There was a Dominion store up the street, but people liked coming to this small store and get that kind of service.”

As for her own background, Stewart was a graduate of the University of Guelph with a BA in Music, and though she volunteered with local music festivals, it was in other volunteer opportunities that Stewart found her true calling. She’s worked with at-risk youth, seniors, families, and new immigrants, and like Lawson, Stewart sees engagement, or lack thereof, as a key issue in this campaign. “I had a big conversation with a young fellow just outside here the other day,” she remembers, “And it was neat because I got somewhere with him and cut down on the cynicism just a little bit.”

But mostly, Stewart wants to focus on the economic inequality and social justice. She referred specifically to the Poverty Elimination Strategy brought before Parliament by Sault Ste. Marie MP (and New Democrat) Tony Martin, as well as affordable housing and the environment as her priorities. “If you look at Guelph, we have an amazing plethora of social justice groups,” Stewart says. “One of the things I think we need to talk more about is how we can people in poverty. I know that it’s a provincial and municipal issue as well.”

As for going to the polls after being ready to run for nearly a year, along with the constant threat of election, Stewart says that for her it was now or never. “It’s been a steady gear up and frankly it would have been a bit of a let down if we hadn’t go now.”

You can listen to the full interviews at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com/

Campaign News and Music for Earthquakes

Prognosis Negative

It took less than a day for the 2011 Federal Election to go negative, both on the national stage and in the City of Guelph. As the federal party leaders battered themselves back and forth over the issue of who likes the idea of a coalition and who doesn’t, there was something more sinister afoot in the Royal City. This reporter witnessed a bit of this negativity first hand on Sunday morning while walking downtown. The broken remains of a couple of signs for Conservative candidate Marty Burke were lying in the snow at the corner of Edinburgh and Paisley. Little did I know that this was merely the tip of the iceberg.

The Guelph Mercury reported Monday morning that there was a rash of sign vandalizing across Guelph last weekend. More than that, there was someone, or someones, harassing Burke's family on Sunday morning, ringing the door bell and knocking on the door before 3 am before peeling off in an unseen car when Burke's wife came to investigate. Heck of a way to start a campaign, especially one that already has overtones of bitterness and partisan disdain. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time election harassment has been this bad. In 2008, several houses with signs supporting Liberal Frank Valeriote were vandalized, and several cars on the street were also vandalized. I'm afraid to say that this probably won't be the last time we’ll hear about voter intimidation this election.

Return of the Third Party Gang

Last week in Guelph Beat, we looked at the candidates that are running for the four main parties in Guelph. But well-known Politicos will remember that in the 2008 election, 10 candidates in all were on the local ballot. The Guelph Mercury reached out to some of those so-called fringe parties and candidates to see if there was any news for 2010 and discovered that there would be some returning faces for round two. Karen Levenson of the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party, who finished with 73 votes in 2008 has said that she’ll be running again, as will Libertarian Philip Bender who placed a respectable sixth in 2008 with 159 votes. Independent John Turmel, a record holder for 72 elections contested and lost, said that he is interested in running again, but at press time was still deciding between his hometown Brantford and running in Guelph. There’d no news from other parties, but the final ballot won't be announced until after the close of nominations on Monday April 11th.

Guelph Musicians Helping with Quake Relief

If you’ve got nothing to do on Sunday, or if you do and are able to cancel it, head down to the Norfolk United Church for Raise the Sun: A Benefit Concert for Japan. “Following the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, members of the Guelph community have pulled together to organize a benefit event featuring a wide selection of our amazing and world-class local-area talent,” said a press release. “With overwhelming support from the local community, event organizers (Paul Clarkson, Ajay Heble, and Marie Zimmerman) have come together in the strong belief that music and artistic expression can create opportunities for hope and help to mobilize new communities of involvement.”

The show starts at 3 pm with contemporary dance and music by the Fall on Your Feet dance lab working with improvisational musicians such as Jane Bunnett, Matt Brubeck, Kevin Breit, Amadeo Ventura, Larry Cramer and Colin Couch. Improvised jazz by the Vertical Squirrels, dance by David Earle's famous company, and folk music by acclaimed singer-songwriter Tannis Slimmon will round out the performers on the ticket. Additionally, Nagata Shachu, a six-member ensemble who perform Japanese taiko drumming and music, will also be at the benefit, along with special guest Joy Kogawa, acclaimed author of the novel Obasan. All proceeds will go to the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre Foundation Earthquake Relief Fund, and all donations are guaranteed to go to the Japanese Red Cross and to infrastructure in Japan. For more information go to www.raisethesun.ca

Headline: For a bit of Election Fun

If you haven’t already, try CBC’s Vote Compass at http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/votecompass/ It’s a ten minute quiz that asks for your position on several issues of national concern, and asks for your opinion on the national parties and their leaders. I took the Compass and apparently, my allegiances should be going to either the Green Party or the Bloc Quebecois. I eagerly wait for the Bloc candidate for Guelph to present himself or herself, and I look forward to engaging them over the issues. But seriously folks…

For up-to-date election stuff go to http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com/

Reviewing the Federal Ballot

The arrival of last week’s Federal Budget might well have been a starter’s pistol. With a couple of hours, it seemed to be common knowledge that a spring election would be taking place this May, as all opposition parties said that it is their intent to vote against what is a rather benign document because it doesn’t meet their specified standards. Anyway, the local ballot has been rather complete for some time, but a new face joined the race just in time for the post-budget foofaraw. Let’s review.

Liberals – Frank Valeriote

Winning by a 1,788 vote nose in 2008, Valeriote runs as the incumbent, but that may not be as secure a position as advertised. Not only is Guelph the only Liberal red riding surrounded by a sea of Tory blue, but the Globe and Mail has targeted Guelph as one of three riding to watch swing in the next election. Still, Valeriote has proven himself an active and engaged Member of Parliament, despite the fact that he’s an opposition MP. For a full list of Valeriote’s duties, I refer you to Valeriote’s website, but before that he was highly active in several Guelph non-profits and was a respected Guelph-based attorney. No matter the odds, Valeriote is a formidable opponent.

Conservatives – Marty Burke

Speaking of formidable opponents, Marty Burke looks really good on paper as the Conservative candidate to beat the Liberal hold on the Royal City. Burke flew for the Air Force where he was a dedicated and decorated officer for 23 years. After he retired form the military in 2000, Burke started working as a pilot of Air Canada, while he and his family settled in Guelph, where Burke got involved in politics serving on the federal Conservative and provincial Progressive-Conservative Board of Directors. He also goes to services at the Church of Our Lady, and his website says he’s a Scout Master to boot. So what’s wrong with this picture? Other recent Conservative candidates have looked just well on paper too, including two respected business men, and a popular city councillor.

New Democrats – Bobbie Stewart

Last time out, the NDP went with celebrity and put forth well known author and University professor Tom King, and the result was a fourth place finish with 16.5 per cent of the vote. This time out, the NDP are going with someone with the credentials and the experience in their party’s key constituency: social justice. Stewart has a Masters of Social Work degree and does clinical social work and coordinates the care for children from newborn to age 21 who are in foster care. She’s been involved with Family & Children’s Services for over 20 years and has participated on the Board for the Guelph Youth Singers and has volunteered for Onward Willow, the Cancer Society, and the YM-YWCA. And to sweeten the deal, according to her bio on the NDP Guelph website, she met her husband in Union Station while on her way home from the NDP Convention in Quebec in September 2006. On the downside though, she currently lives in Cambridge, and I think we all know how sensitive Guelphites are about making sure that people sleep where they eat, as it were.

Green Party – John Lawson

Originally, City Councillor Bob Bell was supposed to go to bat for the Green Party, but being a shot caller around the horseshoe, I guess, was just too much fun to let go. (Actually, to be fair, Bell runs his own business making Wike Bicycle Trailers and spring is his busiest time.) As of last week, the new Green Party candidate for Guelph is John Lawson, Pastor of Dublin Street United Church. Looking at his resume on the Guelph Greens website, Lawson’s experience includes working as an underground miner and studying at both the London School of Economics and Princeton. In Guelph, he’s fought poverty and Wal-Mart, while bring the word of God to local pubs by organizing religious discussions there.

The appearance of more “third party” candidates is a certainty, considering that there were a total of 10 candidates that ran in Guelph in the last election. If the writ is dropped, expect representatives from the Marijuana Party, the Communist Party, the Marxist-Leninist Party, the Libertarian Party, the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party, and one unaffiliated candidate.

So are you in the mood for a spring election? Too bad, it seems to a forgone conclusion whether you like it or not.

Stories to Watch for in 2011

1) Signs and Rumours of Dollar Signs.

Unless the City of Guelph discovered the lost city of gold while digging up every other road in town this past summer, then we’re likely facing a similar budget crunch as the deliberations for 2010. Budget packages won’t be prepared for council until January 31st, but delegations won’t be heard on matters of the budget until the February 22nd meeting and a final vote won’t be taken on the capital and operating budgets until March 2nd. But those are the stats, the real question is what’s going to happen? Dominate economic trends haven’t changed much in the last year, and since all the councillors, as candidates, campaigned on smart fiscal management, the balance of spending and taxes is more precarious than ever.

2) All Systems GO

Let the countdown begin because hopefully, by this time next year, when I have to go to Toronto on a weekday morning, I can sidestep the increasingly frequent two-and-a-half to three hour commute and take the GO Train. It’s been a long time in coming and as a bonus it was announced last week that the City is looking at discounted fares for GO riders taking city buses to their trains. I’ve taken a bat to the City of Guelph for its treatment of transit and transit users this year – repeatedly – but this is a brilliant move. I hope this is the start of good things for transit users in 2011.

3) Dark Ford of the Sith?

The most talked about local politics story of the year may not have anything to do with Guelph. The election of Rob Ford as the Toronto’s Top Politico came to extreme disappointment to a lot of Hogtown progressives, and in return Ford has yet to fail to disappoint their disappointment. Ford’s latest trick is to muse an abolition of the 5 cent plastic bag fee, a “tax” (as Ford’s people call it) that according to some sources has spared the globe the garbage created by about a billion little plastic shopping bags. In an interview with the Guelph Tribune, Mayor Karen Farbridge says that she and other mayors of Ontario municipalities will be watching the Ford revolution in Toronto carefully to see what works, and more importantly, to see what doesn’t work.

4) To Vote or Not to Vote…

The Prime Minister may be planning a cabinet shuffle, if he hasn’t implemented one already, but the real question is if we the voters are going to get the opportunity to shuffle the government this year as well. Certainly since the Fall 2008 Federal Election there have been rumblings and grumblings of votes of no-confidence and possible replacement coalitions, but in the last two years, a lot of those opportunities came to not. (Certainly, we all remember the big anti-proroguing protests this time last year.) And the opportunities don’t look too bright in the near future. The Liberals seem perpetually stuck in neutral and the by-election last month in three ridings didn’t prove much. Although there’s been some talk of a showdown over the Federal budget this spring, no one party has the heft or reason to force an election. But if they were, the spring would be a natural time to do so since the nation’s most populace province will have other concerns in the fall…

5) …Like An Actual Election That We Know Will Take Place

One election that we do know will happen for certain in the next calendar year is the Ontario General Election, which will not only determine whether or not our MPP Liz Sandals will keep her job, but will determine if her boss, Dalton McGuinty, does as well. A third re-election for the provincial Liberals is not a sure thing though, especially in a year that saw the implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) and the announcement of higher hydro rates.

Having said that though, McGuinty’s government wasn’t as slammed over the HST as the B.C. government where referendums and court action have followed the HST turnover. In a recent Ipsos Reid poll in November, Tim Hudak’s Tories was up 41 per cent over the Liberals 32. But it’s worth noting that in an Angus Reid poll around the same time in 2009 had the Tories at 41 and the Liberals at 27. By mid-February, the Liberals were back up to 41, but it’s been a slow slide back down ever since. In other words, it’s still anyone’s ball game.

By the way, our local provincial and federal representatives will be holding a New Year’s levee on Sunday January 9th at the Italian Canadian Club from 2 pm till 4 pm. Who knows, it may be Sandals and Valeriote’s last levee together. Stay tuned.

Bell Not Green, Compliments Paid & Nudity

Bell No Longer the Green for Guelph

In a bit of surprise election news, though not in the election we expected, Bob Bell has officially stepped down as the Green Party candidate for Guelph in the next federal election. Bell's reason is that he believes that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will call a spring election, which will conflict with the busiest time in Bell's bicycle-trailer manufacturing company.

“My business is seasonal — busy in spring and slow in fall,” Bell told the Guelph Mercury. “Originally it appeared as though we’d have a fall election and I was ready for that. But now an election is likely in the spring, and that’s not good timing for me.”

Bell continued to say that while the responsibilities of being a federal candidate were minimum outside of an election period, the 40-60 hour per week commitment would be too much for him in the event of a spring election. As for Bell's other job, the one that he's got to run for again in a few months anyway, he's still not sure if he's going to have another go at city council. “Some days I’m going to run again; some days I’m not. I just don’t know right now,” he said.

In an interesting side note, Bell's runner-up for the Green Party nomination was Russell Ott, is now running for Ward 1 city councillor, one of two seats currently held by Bell. As for the Greens, Bell expects a new nominee to be named before year's end, probably in the fall.

Just Take the Compliment

An article in the Guelph Mercury last week examined an unusual bit of bipartisanship:

Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman suggested [Liz] Sandals missed getting a cabinet position in favour of less-experienced politicians during Wednesday’s cabinet shuffle. “Liz Sandals, who has been an MPP for seven years, was once again passed over for cabinet by MPPs elected less than one year ago,” the Thornhill MPP wrote in a press release.

Sandals holds the position of parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, but I suppose it's always nice to be affirmed by others, especially in the esteemed opposition, that you've got potential to be more than a parliamentary assistant.

That wasn't all Shurman had to say about the cabinet shuffle. On CTV.ca, Shurman is quoted as saying that instead of overhauling his cabinet, Premier Dalton McGuinty opted for "cosmetic changes that won't provide any relief for taxpayers" with the creation of new ministers. "What he's doing for Ontario is acting like a speeding train -- going in the wrong direction," Shurman said. "And the two new faces represent an additional opportunity to tax and spend."

Still, one appreciates Shurman's sentiment, but you have to wonder what the idea behind it was. I know it seems unusual in modern politics for people to do things out of the goodness of their own heart, but maybe Shurman's just looking out for a colleague. “Liz Sandals has been toiling away ... for a very long time,” Shurman said in a telephone interview with the Mercury last Thursday. “She can take the compliment. Maybe she would have been a better choice.”

Nothing like bipartisan support. Weird.

In Special Occasion News…

So we’re going into the last couple of weekends of summer, and you might be looking for something to do. I believe there was something this coming weekend, what was that again? Oh yes, I believe it was The Top Freedom Day. A pair of young ladies from Guelph, Lindsay Webb and Andrea Crinklaw, are picking up the baton thrown down by Gwen Jacob, who won legal recognition for a woman’s right to walk around topless after the landmark 1996 Ontario Court of Appeals case. Jacob was charged after walking down the streets of Guelph without her shirt in 1991.

As for the official celebration, organizers Webb and Crinklaw call it “a step towards making it acceptable for a woman to be top free in public” and a chance to continue the effort to “desensitize the masses to the female breast.” The festivities begin at 2:30 pm in St. George’s Square and runs until 10 pm with music, speeches and, of course, body painting. For more information, check out the day’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133537073352921&ref=search