Making Responsible Choices
We’re down to the last two days before Election Day. When the writ dropped, no one expected the polls to be sitting where they are now. The polls do differ some on where the various levels of support sit and who is up and who is down from the last poll (yesterday in most cases) but they clearly indicate amongst decided voters it’s Conservatives, NDP & Liberals in that order.
Most of the polls also show there are still over 10% of Canadians who have not yet decided where their vote will be going. It is this group who will either swing the election in whatever direction or just wont show up at the polls. If you are one of them, let me say, for god sake — show up at the polls.
So, here we are, Harper is calling for the Conservatives to get a majority because those awful opposition parties will just destroy the country in all manner of dastardly ways. The NDP has surprised themselves with a sudden surge of support, primarily in Quebec and the Liberals are struggling to keep their heads above water.
Harper has spent much time trumpeting his ‘economic stewardship’. He’s introduced at campaign rallys as being a ‘trained economist’, the fact is he’s an economist in training only, he’s never done anything but be a politician or political activist. The solid economic ground that we weathered the recession on, it was put in place by the Liberals, the people who handed Harper a surplus which was gone before the recession hit.
Harper doesn’t seem to have gotten the message, the majority of Canadians haven’t given him a majority government for a reason — they don’t trust him. This election more than previous ones it seems to be crystal clear, the majority wants Harper out. This is where Canadians need to be very careful of the choices we make as we enter the ballot box.
If you want to go with the bandwagon, and support the NDP, then support them. Don’t go with the bandwagon, get into the ballot box and then, because you’re having second thoughts stick that X on the Conservative candidate. That has a distinct danger of giving the Conservatives the majority they crave, of giving Harper five years of unfettered control.
So, if you want Harper and his Conservative bullies out and you really aren’t sure who to vote for, let me offer you my perspective. Yes, I’ll be up front in admitting a Liberal bias. I’ll also admit to having a soft spot for victims of bullies, especially when they give me something to apply that soft spot to other than being a victim.
I spend a lot of time following political news. I often dig well below the headlines on the mainstream media sites. When Ignatieff first returned to Canada and ran for leadership of the Liberals, I was opposed to him, very opposed. I also didn’t like the fact I couldn’t identify anything that the Liberals actually seemed to stand for other than being the alternative to the Conservatives.
In the last year or so, that has changed. I watched while Ignatieff quietly spent time travelling across the country meeting with groups of Canadians in an effort to hear what their visions of Canada is. I’ll give points to anyone who is willing to serve the people by actually wanting to hear the people. The bus tour last summer was not the first Ignatieff had done this, it was just better publicized.
When the Liberal platform came out and as I watched videos of the townhalls that Ignatieff has made so much an integral part of his leadership, I saw that he has made a focused effort to try to connect with the needs of Canadians while balancing our fiscal realities. The Liberal banner carries with it a history of sound fiscal leadership balanced with socially responsible programs. If he seems rather all over the place, that would be because the questions he gets are all over the place. They are not scripted and controlled like Harper’s. More importantly, he answers citizens questions, what a novel concept.
The Liberals are not always right, just as the Conservatives are not always wrong (did I really just say that?). In my view, the Liberals are more closely aligned with the Canada I know and love. Ignatieff has increasingly shown himself to be a leader who cares passionately about Canada, its place in the world and its future. As I watch him on those videos, I get a sense of a person I could have an interesting conversation with, one in which we could disagree and still get along. I can never get that sense with Harper, never.
Much of the same could likely be said about Layton as leader of the NDP. Although I’ve yet to really see Layton make much effort to get out and really hear what Canadians are saying, as much as he’s claims to know what Candians want. I could be misjudging on that as like most Canadians, the NDP has been much in the background, sort of there, but often ignored. So often over the years, their ideas have seemed so outlandish that most Canadians just laugh.
For the most part, it has been assumed that Layton and the NDP could promise just about anything and it really wouldn’t matter, they were not serious contenders. They would not have to deliver. They apparently understood that too. Right now, as people are looking to them as serious contenders, we learn that in a large number of ridings, they are running placeholder candidates. Candidates whose name appear on the ballot but often haven’t even set foot in the riding.
The NDP is not ready for prime time, how can you feel comfortable about electing rookie MPs who haven’t even committed to campaign, let alone actually know where their riding is? The NDP platform may contain some gems, but it is a platform crafted by a political party who thought they could promise the world and not have to deliver.
My vote stays with the Liberals. In the next election, the NDP can finally get serious about delivering serious candidates and a serious platform which can be more seriously challenged. At that point, I’ll have a serious look. For now, Canada needs capable MPs with some experience to draw on and a leadership who will not treat Parliament like an inconvenience to his agenda.
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Time for Sober Second Thought
The big story of the day is the continuing rise of the NDP in the public opinion polls. If those polls hold through until people actually put their Xs on the ballot on Monday, we could be seeing an unprecedented change in the makeup of Canadian politics.
While the focus tends to be on the orange line on the public opinion polls, there are some other interesting details which tend to find themselves playing second fiddle. The first, and most important to me, is that the Conservative support is dropping. The second is, about 15% of Canadians have not yet made up their minds on who they are going to vote for. That 15% plus those who give second thought to their current choices, will make or break the outcome.
The drop in Conservative support indicates Canadians want change. We’re fed up with the government we’ve had for the last five years. Harper may have spent the campaign pleading for a majority government but the polls are indicating the change we want is not to a majority government. We’ve not bought into his claims of the sky falling.
Canadians are not stupid. The know at least at some level that Harper and his closed off, controlling, hyper partisanship has been at least partially responsible for the appearance of instability in our Parliament these last five years. His governing as though he has a majority and his brinkmanship approach to controversy has been as much responsible for bringing us into this election as any other factor.
He claims that should he receive a minority mandate, the other parties will simply gang up on him and put him into opposition. He has never once seen it as his responsibility, should he be Prime Minister , to work with and find compromise to make government work. There lies the problem. With Harper, it is all or nothing. The majority of Canadians have decided, at least as the polls currently indicate, he should have nothing.
I’m a firm believer that bullies should not gain from their behaviour, so the apparent desire of the people to give Harper a push back, works for me. One of the acts of very public bullying that Harper has carried out relentlessly has been the very public personal destruction of two leaders of the Liberal party. Had he ever thought that the NDP would rise as they have at this point, he’d have undertaken to destroy Layton as well.
Canadians have been subjected to ongoing attack ads aimed at first Dion and then at Ignatieff. Harper doesn’t try to win by being a better leader, he tries to win by destroying the other person. The question is, will Canadians continue to be influenced by his attacks or make their own judgement on who Ignatieff is as a leader?
I’ve watched not only during this campaign, but over the last year or so. I’ve grown increasingly impressed at how Ignatieff has grown into the job as leader of the Liberal party. He’s the first to admit, he’s not a career politician. When I watch the antics of the career politicians, I tend to think that is a good thing he’s not. He can bring some perspective to the position.
Ignatieff’s passion for this country, all it stands for, all it has been, and all it can be, is one of the main reasons I’ve become impressed by him. He’s honest and forthright, he recognizes the responsibility of public leaders to answer to the people.
I believe that the Liberal platform which has been presented to the country is the closest to what I want to see in this country while still keeping a close eye on fiscal responsibilities. Harper claims we have the best economy in the world under his stewardship. We are doing better than most, but we are not the best depending on which groups standings you want to have a look at.
I’m mindful that Harper took over a country in a structural surplus. He inherited a balanced budget from the Liberals. The Conservatives have never balanced the budget in this country’s history but they sure have created some deficits. The stimulus spending to fight the recession provided really good cover for the deficit we were heading into at the hands of the Conservatives.
We now have arguably a structural deficit and the largest deficit in Canadian history.
For me, the Liberals are the party of stability. They are fighting for a return to a Canada in which respect for democracy and how our government works is a cornerstone of public service. They represent a past of proven fiscal responsibility balanced by the social justice programs which make our country stronger.
In my next post, I’ll have a look at why I wont jump on the NDP bandwagon.
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Just A Week to Go in Election — Some Thoughts.
With just a week to go before the election, I’ve been spending some time exploring some of the mountain of material that is out there on the subject. I like to explore behind the usual headlines, often picking up articles which are put out on twitter. I tend to follow a broad range of people and have also been watching the chatter on the twitter hashtag #elxn41
The flow across there ranges from the silly to the funny to the thoughtful. It is the thoughtful that catches most of my attention. So, yesterday’s NANOs poll shows that nationally, the Conservatives have taken a drop, the Liberals have dropped a bit and the NDP appears to be trending upwards.
From the headlines it would appear that the country is suddenly alive with NDP voters. There is a couple of areas where the NDP is rising in support, most notably in Quebec. They appear to have actually passed the Bloc in support. Now, that would just delight me to see any national party pass the Bloc. Anyone who reads this blog knows two things, I don’t like Harper and I consider the Bloc’s presence in Parliament treasonous. I know, they are there, get over it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it. I digress.
What is really interesting in that poll though, is the line where they are tracking the undecided voters. The number of undecided voters across the country has actually increased. Not dramatically, but this late in the campaign, you’d expect to see that dropping.
The advanced polls were opened today. By the activity on my twitter stream, they were doing a brisk business with some polls actually reporting lineups. That may be because they held the poll on the most holy day of the Christian calendar and people were off on a holiday and voted now instead of taking time out from work on May 2nd. OR, it could be an indication, people are engaging and turning out to vote this time. I’m hoping for the latter.
It has also been pretty evident to me that there is a lot of anger out there towards Harper and his party. He likely isn’t really aware of that as he campaigns in a bubble, meeting only supporters. The last couple of days it appears that a lot of people are climbing on the NDP bandwagon. If that is a genuine desire to see Layton in office, well as misguided as I think you are, go for it. After all that is democracy.
If you’ve decided that you don’t want Harper and are looking at the NDP while holding your nose, You really need to do some hard thinking. If you are undecided, you also need to consider some recent history. The last time the NDP ‘surged’ like this was when Ed Broadbent was the leader, in the 1988 election. At that time Brian Mulroney led the Progressive Conservatives (yes they were progressive in those days) and he was running on a platform of moving NAFTA through. Mulroney won the largest majority in Canadian history. Mulroney was also one of the most hated Prime Ministers in history.
You know that line … here’s the rest of the story? You need to read this, I urge you, go have a look right now, read it through and then come back. It’s enough to make you think, or it should be.
Mulroney was asked about his support for Harper, his response appears to be very guarded. Read about here. Oh, and while you are over there have a look at Bill Casey’s remarks about the possibility of a Harper majority. He was booted out of the Conservative caucus because he dared to stand up for his region, on other words, he dared to do his job.
If after reading this and giving it some thought, you still think Harper or Layton are who you want, go exercise your democratic right. If you are not so sure, maybe give Ignatieff another look. Yes, I’ll admit my bias, I’m Liberal, bet that will shock you.
I wasn’t always an Ignatieff supporter, but the more I’ve seen and read of him, the more I’m willing to give him a chance. He’s smart, he’s passionate for Canada and democracy and he has a wealth of experience to draw on, both himself and his caucus.
After all, it was the Liberals who last balanced the budget, it was the Liberals who put in the place the health care accord which is one of the few things Harper didn’t undo and it was the Liberals who put in place the regulatory foundation which has brought us through the recession. The foundation the Conservatives have falsely claimed as their own.
Are you a bandwagon voter, or a thoughtful voter?
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NDP Rising? — Be Careful What You Wish For
The polls the last few days are showing the the NDP moving upward, the Liberals sliding some and the Conservatives more or less staying the same. Now, that presents an interesting scenario. The NDP has done this before, appeared to be on an upward swing in the polls and then Canadians apparently came to their senses and shifted away.
That doesn’t mean that will happen again. So should the uptick in support be sustained what could we end up with? Well, the worst case scenario would be that the vote would become so split that Harper comes up the middle and gets his majority. Another prospect is that Canadians are wise enough not to give him anything more than a minority and Layton could end up as the Official Opposition.
While Harper is a bullying, arrogant dictator — Layton is enough of an egotist that he’d see his opportunity to reach the unreachable for him and would likely work to bring Harper down in an effort to offer his party up as the party to take over. There is a reason that Layton has passion behind his claims that he’s the party to fix Ottawa, he actually believes his own rhetoric.
There is a recklessness there that we don’t usually pay attention to. In the past most Canadians have understood that Layton could say what he wanted, promise the moon if he felt like it and it really wouldn’t matter, he wasn’t going to be Prime Minister. When Layton stands on a stage trumpeting that the Liberals have kept the Conservatives in power these past five years, while the NDP has consistently opposed them, no one points out the recklessness in that behaviour.
It’s true, the NDP has consistently opposed the Harper government. Usually their opposition has more to do with their often lofty ideas of programs which they wont have to figure out how to pay for. Or their opposition to Canada meeting its responsibilities on the world stage based on their own pacifist leanings and idealism. For whatever reasons they came up with to oppose the government, they didn’t have to give those decisions sober second thought. The Liberals had to do that.
It was the Liberals who were left to find the balance between supporting what the Conservative government wanted and what was the right thing to do. It was the Liberals who had to balance and weigh the alternatives in choosing the outcome. Having been in government, they also had experience to drive their decisions, something Layton doesn’t have.
I’m president of a local service club, I’ve served in that position for a total of ten years. Before I ever stood for that position I had served in practically every position except Sgt-at-Arms and Chaplain. You’d think that time and experience would have made stepping up to President a pretty natural move wouldn’t you? It’s not, there is a steep learning curve.
So, for anyone thinking about voting NDP rather than voting Liberal in an effort to defeat Harper or at least hold him to a minority, you need to consider the possibilities that Layton could end up Prime Minister.
Do we want a PM and a party taking over government of this country who has no experience during a time when we need people with access to experience in government?
photo credit: Mattman4698
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Successful Selling on Social Media
Mike Schultz over at Social Media Examiner has a great post on eight ways to successfully selling using social media. In a nutshell, here’s the points:
- Boil the Frog — I could explain this, but I’ll leave it for Mike. Love the analogy. Basically, don’t come on too strong
- Givers Gain — pretty much self-explanatory. Just give, don’t worry about the return.
- Make Henry Kissinger Proud — great way to do your best
- Be Brave
- Be Positive and Pleasant
- Prepare for Window Shopping
- Let Your Personality Show Through
- Take if Offline, When it’s Time
Social media can be a confusing place to catch onto the culture of. Reading and applying as much as you can, sure makes a difference. So, hop over to Mike’s blog and have a look at the full article.
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Successful Selling on Social Media
Compromise Stabilizes Minority Governments
Okay, Harper has been traipsing around the country telling everyone he meets that he has to have a majority government or the sky will fall, or something. A recent poll indicates that the majority of Canadians are still not comfortable with the idea of Harper getting a majority.
We Canadians can be a lot smarter than we seem sometimes. Could it be we have good cause to not trust Harper with a majority?
He calls minority governments weak and unstable. Yet, historically, minority governments have been able to produce some incredible pieces of legislation. Our flag, a long and divisive debate, concluded under a minority government. Our medicare system came into being not only during a minority government but the politician credited with being the father of medicare headed a party which has NEVER lead the government of this country. Tommy Douglas of the NDP.
Our parliamentary system hasn’t changed, so, why could those governments produce some powerful changes in this country and a Harper minority becomes weak and unstable? Could it be that the leaders of those other minority governments felt the weight of serving the country instead of their partisan desires? Could it be they had learned that word… compromise?
Harper’s uncompromising approach might work to hold his party together, but it doesn’t hold a minority parliament together. Actually, I’m unconvinced being uncompromising holds a party together. I suspect that has more to do with his bully nature than any else.
So here we are. In an election which came about largely because of Harper’s failure to compromise and cooperate within our parliamentary system. We’re less than two weeks away from the actual election date and it is becoming increasingly clear that Canadians may re-elect the Conservatives but with a minority.
Does Harper get the hint that he may have to yet learn to compromise? That the Opposition will not be willing to be pushed and bullied as he got away with for the last five years? Does he get it that he has to have the confidence of the house to govern?
He gets that the Opposition will not be willing to take his bullying, his uncompromising stands. He doesn’t seem to care he needs the confidence of the House to lead the government just as he needs the confidence of his party to lead them. As for compromise, he’s ruled that out.
As usual, Harper refuses to take responsibility for making a government led by him work. Since he can’t play nice with anyone, he’s expecting the Canadian people to give him a majority. That’s a little like the youngster who can’t play nice being handed the baseball bat and told he can do what he wants.
Anyone who craves the sort of total power that he’s pleading for, cares only about what he wants, not what is good for the country. Are we really willing to let him have that?
photo credit: Mattman4698
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Cold Hard Facts of Success
David Risley is one of the bloggers I watch on a regular basis. He’s straight forward with what he has to say and doesn’t gear everything he says to selling his visitor on the latest miracle product. He’s someone I pay attention to and give some consideration to what he has to say.
In a recent post he writes on the cold hard facts of success in business. As much as we’d like to think that succeeding at business is finding the ‘magic formula’ to get people to open their wallets, the reality is, success starts with our own mindset.
He talks about the 8 facts we need to embrace and accept for success:
- You need to be able to make a decision and move forward.
- You need to be all in.
- You need to be willing to fail.
- You need to be willing to march to your own drummer.
- You need be OK with not everybody liking you.
- You need to be willing to work your ass off.
- You need to be willing to not have a safety net.
- You need to be ethical, and guided by the best survival for all
To learn more about each point, visit the article, it’s worth the time.
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Will You Rise Up for Canada?
Finally, I’m hearing what has been frustrating me. Throughout this campaign I’ve been astounded that more and more Canadians are not becoming aware of just how badly we need to restore democracy in this country. I’ve wondered how so many can be presented with the evidence of Harper’s contempt for our system and just let it roll off them as they decide they don’t want Michael Ignatieff so they will just let Harper carry on.
I hear the cynicism that ‘they’ (the politicians) are all the same and nothing will change. We wont know unless we vote out the bad and replace him with someone else. Just because Harper has worked to develop a teflon exterior which allows him to tell lies and distortions one after another without consequences doesn’t make him right or believable.
I’ve been a political junkie most of my adult life and I’ve never seen a Prime Minister like this one and I never want to see one like him again. It’s bad enough he came to office promising a new era of transparency and accountability and failed to deliver. It’s unbelievable that he’s been allowed to remain in office for 5 years in the most closed, secretive and dictatorial environment I have ever seen.
Yes, I know, part of the reason he has been allowed to remain this long has been the weakness of the opposition in mounting an opposition against him. That opposition has been mounted and still Canadians look at Harper and say ‘there’s a competent leader’.
How can he be a competent leader when shuts down parliament to avoid facing the consequences of his own bad behaviour?
How can he be a competent leader when his government is the only government in our history to have been found in contempt of parliament? It may not be a criminal charge but it is a very serious finding. It demonstrates a fundamental refusal to work with and respect the operation of our seat of democracy, parliament.
How can he be a competent leader when he brings into his inner circle a man convicted of five counts of fraud and allows him access to sensitive files like Afghanistan?
How can he be a competent leader when he fires a member of his caucus over unsubstantiated charges, then when she’s cleared of any wrong doing he not only continues to refuse to deal with the matter in a forthright manner but wont even speak her name?
How can he be a competent leader when he allows those representing him to bar the public from his election stops because they may have ties or interest in another party and tries to stop young people from having the access they need to vote?
I can go on, and on, and on… but I’ll stop for now.
Ignatieff has it right, this is not about him, this is about standing up for Canada!
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Membership Site Coming Soon
Okay I know, it has been over a month since I posted. I haven’t wandered off into cyberspace. I have been doing a lot of learning and planning. Sometime ago, I wrote about the need to keep it simple in internet marketing. The basic idea is to choose a method, a business model, and develop it.
I had recently decided on the first niches I wanted to do business in. But had not solidly laid out a plan on how I was going to do business. That’s creating a barrier for myself. Until there is a plan in place, there is no plan and no direction.
Over the last month I’ve been learning a lot about the value, power and diversity of creating membership sites. I’ve learned, like most models, there is a lot of misinformation out there. Learning how to go with a model means to learn how to apply the information and sift out the junk.
It has taken some exploring but I think I have managed to do that. So, I’m letting you know within a very short time this site will be a membership site.
Having said that, I know I am a virtual unknown in this market and even more so as a person running a successful membership site. Everyone has to start some where. So, while this site will become a membership site, the membership will be free.
I may later decide to add a paid membership here, but there will always be value delivered free. The members who join the free site will be the customers who had enough faith in me to sign up even though I was cutting my teeth on this model.
Now, I’m not committing to everything inside the membership area being free. I am committing to value. Stay tuned.
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Harper Apologizes, Sort Of
Following several revelations about people trying to attend Conservative campaign events being ejected, apparently for having done really bad things like — attending a Liberal campaign event, having an bumper sticker supportive of the NDP, campaigning against plastic water bottles on the University of Guelph campus, being an advocate for homeless veterans or participating in an event designed to encourage young people to vote — Harper has offered an apology. Sort of:
“If anybody is kept out of any of our events that’s there to hear our message, we obviously apologize to them,” the Conservative Leader said during a campaign stop north of Toronto, in Vaughan.
I don’t know, if I was going to offer an apology to people, especially young people, about the poor behaviour of people who represented me, I’d be saying I was sorry to those people and assuring them their treatment was unacceptable.
Interesting to note, a person currently charged with fraud was able to attend a Conservative campaign rally and apparently has had some ongoing involvement with Harper’s Conservatives. I guess that is to keep Bruce Carson company. Remember him, the former point man for the very security sensitive Afghanistan file who had 5 previous convictions for fraud and had been ordered to have psychiatric counselling.
Have you noticed that Harper never takes responsibility for anything?
He knew of at least one of Carson’s convictions but had he known of them all he wouldn’t have hired him. Let’s see now, he knew of at least one but it was okay to provide him with access to a sensitive file like Afghanistan but it wasn’t okay to provide the opposition with access to documents in regards to the detainee issue. An issue the Conservatives are still desperate to keep buried.
The contempt of parliament that Harper’s government became the first ever to have been found to be, that wasn’t anything he or his people did, that was just the Opposition making things up. That was the motion which brought down his government but why should he care. He will just show his usual contempt for our parliamentary system and expect the Canadian people to hand him a majority.
No wonder the man campaigns in a bubble, he seems to live his life in one.
photo credit: Mattman4698
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