Jim Poling Sr.'s Blog, page 42
October 8, 2015
Water, water everywhere but . . .
Anyone who has taken a Las Vegas vacation likely has been to Hoover Dam, about 30 miles southeast of the Nevada desert’s big glitz.
The dam, soaring 700-plus feet above the bed of the Colorado River, is one of seven wonders of the industrial world. It created Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S. at 112 miles long and 759 miles of shoreline.
The lake now is a symbol of the accelerating struggle between human advancement and nature.
That’s because Lake Mead and the Colorado River, which supplies water to 36 million people in seven states and six million acres of farmland, are going dry. The lake’s surface is 130 feet lower than it was in 1998. You can see how much water has been lost by looking at the bathtub ring of white mineral deposits towering above the lake’s surface.
Years of drought aggravated by global warming and increasing human populations in the West are building fear of a water shortage crisis.
Interesting, but what’s that got to do with us up here in the land of limitless water? Plenty, because we Canadians are among the world’s most complacent people when it comes to water issues. After all, our country has six per cent of the world’s renewable fresh water.
Roy MacGregor, the journalist and author well known in our Algonquin region, wrote recently that during the election debate in Calgary not one of the federal leaders raised water as an issue. He quoted a prominent retired scientist as not able to comprehend how three leaders could talk almost two hours without connecting the Canadian economy to water, its most valuable resource.
Earlier this year, Bob Sandford, a water expert based at McMaster University in Hamilton, was quoted as saying Canadians have been living with the myth that we have limitless water.
“We’re considered around the world as one of the most egregious water wasters, because we have it.”
He said that the average Canadian uses about 329 litres of water a day while the average resident of Munich, Germany, uses about 100 litres a day.
Many of us live surrounded by water and cannot comprehend that we have water problems. We do. Look at the Canadian West where fires this year have cost our governments billions of dollars.
Look also at the Lake Winnipeg Basin where rapidly growing algal blooms are creating ecological problems throughout that region.
You don’t have to look that far. My lake, St. Nora, was one of this region’s many prominent trout lakes. Its water has turned warmer and I now consider it a bass lake instead of a trout lake.
And, of course, there is the much ignored fact that dozens of First Nations communities live with boil water advisories year after year. In the first seven months of this year 133 drinking water advisories were in effect in 93 First Nation communities.
We shout defence of the rights of immigrants to our country but ignore the plight of native people who cannot obtain a basic human right – the right to clean and safe potable water.
Our attitudes toward water contrast sharply with most of the rest of the world. The Royal Bank has surveyed Canadian attitudes on water since 2008 and this year found that 70 percent of us know what we pay for electricity but only 39 per cent know how much we pay for water. Also 25 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they don’t care where their water comes from as long as it tastes good.
The survey showed that more than 70 per cent of us don’t believe we live in areas vulnerable to floods. More than 80 per cent don’t believe we live in areas vulnerable to droughts.
This year’s Global Risks report by the World Economic Forum places water risk as No. 1 on the top 10 list of global risk in terms of impact. The list is drawn from the perspectives of world experts and global decision makers.
Canadians are out of touch on this one. And so are our leaders.
Email: shaman@vianet.ca
Profile: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8FY3Y
The dam, soaring 700-plus feet above the bed of the Colorado River, is one of seven wonders of the industrial world. It created Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S. at 112 miles long and 759 miles of shoreline.
The lake now is a symbol of the accelerating struggle between human advancement and nature.
That’s because Lake Mead and the Colorado River, which supplies water to 36 million people in seven states and six million acres of farmland, are going dry. The lake’s surface is 130 feet lower than it was in 1998. You can see how much water has been lost by looking at the bathtub ring of white mineral deposits towering above the lake’s surface.
Years of drought aggravated by global warming and increasing human populations in the West are building fear of a water shortage crisis.
Interesting, but what’s that got to do with us up here in the land of limitless water? Plenty, because we Canadians are among the world’s most complacent people when it comes to water issues. After all, our country has six per cent of the world’s renewable fresh water.
Roy MacGregor, the journalist and author well known in our Algonquin region, wrote recently that during the election debate in Calgary not one of the federal leaders raised water as an issue. He quoted a prominent retired scientist as not able to comprehend how three leaders could talk almost two hours without connecting the Canadian economy to water, its most valuable resource.
Earlier this year, Bob Sandford, a water expert based at McMaster University in Hamilton, was quoted as saying Canadians have been living with the myth that we have limitless water.
“We’re considered around the world as one of the most egregious water wasters, because we have it.”
He said that the average Canadian uses about 329 litres of water a day while the average resident of Munich, Germany, uses about 100 litres a day.
Many of us live surrounded by water and cannot comprehend that we have water problems. We do. Look at the Canadian West where fires this year have cost our governments billions of dollars.
Look also at the Lake Winnipeg Basin where rapidly growing algal blooms are creating ecological problems throughout that region.
You don’t have to look that far. My lake, St. Nora, was one of this region’s many prominent trout lakes. Its water has turned warmer and I now consider it a bass lake instead of a trout lake.
And, of course, there is the much ignored fact that dozens of First Nations communities live with boil water advisories year after year. In the first seven months of this year 133 drinking water advisories were in effect in 93 First Nation communities.
We shout defence of the rights of immigrants to our country but ignore the plight of native people who cannot obtain a basic human right – the right to clean and safe potable water.
Our attitudes toward water contrast sharply with most of the rest of the world. The Royal Bank has surveyed Canadian attitudes on water since 2008 and this year found that 70 percent of us know what we pay for electricity but only 39 per cent know how much we pay for water. Also 25 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they don’t care where their water comes from as long as it tastes good.
The survey showed that more than 70 per cent of us don’t believe we live in areas vulnerable to floods. More than 80 per cent don’t believe we live in areas vulnerable to droughts.
This year’s Global Risks report by the World Economic Forum places water risk as No. 1 on the top 10 list of global risk in terms of impact. The list is drawn from the perspectives of world experts and global decision makers.
Canadians are out of touch on this one. And so are our leaders.
Email: shaman@vianet.ca
Profile: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8FY3Y
October 1, 2015
Autumn Leaves and Climate Change
The autumn colours are late this year, but few people are lamenting the delay, especially considering that an extended summer is the cause.
Our unusually warm and sunny fall has some observers concerned, however, about future fall colours. Some brows are being knitted into knots fretting about global warming and how it might change the annual spectacle of colour.
Research is beginning to show that global warming is causing trees to change colours later in the season. A 23-year observation by Harvard University in Massachusetts concludes that the autumn colour peak arrives there on average three to five days later than in the past.
The later peak correlates with a 1.1-degree Celsius rise in average temperatures in the U.S. northeast.
"Should that pattern continue, by the middle of the century we'd be at well over a week later" for fall colour, says John O’Keefe, an ecologist at Harvard Forest.
Another researcher, Howard Neufeld of Appalachian State University, has written that global warming will move the best autumn leaf displays farther north and upward in elevation.
He adds: “The fall foliage displays that our grandchildren will see at the end of this century will not be the ones we see today.”
Warmer autumns, while delaying the turning of the leaves, might have other effects on trees, such as inability to cope with higher temperatures and invasive species.
The changing leaves provide a huge tourism business in Ontario, and points east. Some estimates put the annual value of fall leaf tourism at $25 billion in the U.S. Northeast. There don’t appear to be any Canadian figures, however, the leaf peeping industry is big here, especially in our own Haliburton County.
What causes leaves to change colour is always a topic for debate. Some people argue that frost makes the leaves change, while others say that it is lots of autumn sunshine.
Daylight and temperatures are two main factors affecting when leaves give up their summer green for brilliant displays of red, orange, yellow, and persimmon.
Think of each leaf as a restaurant. Each has a head chef named Chlorophyll who takes in daylight energy and mixes it with carbon dioxide and water to produce sugars and starches to feed the customer - the tree.
As autumn approaches there is less daylight and temperatures usually are lower so the restaurant begins to shut down. Chlorophyll, which coloured the restaurant’s green for the summer, stops cooking and goes on vacation, taking its colour scheme with it. Without their green, the leaf restaurants are left with wild colours ranging from gold to red to brown.
Chlorophyll has been working longer this year because daylight with sunshine has been abundant, and temperatures above normal. Almost every day this September day and night temperatures have been above average in Haliburton County.
This year’s leaf transformation in this part of the country is one of the latest in several decades. September 27 (Sunday past) is the average date for peak colour in Algonquin Park. Over the past 40 years the fall colour has peaked as early as September 15 and as late of Oct. 9. Last year the peak was judged at Sept. 24.
Ontario Travel reported Sunday that the Algonquin colour change had reached fifty per cent. The Minden area was listed at 10 per cent. Algonquin usually colours up earlier because it is at higher elevation and therefore cooler temperatures.
The guessing is that we will see the colours peak sometime next week, possibly later.
The brilliance of the peak display will be decided by a complicated combination of temperature, light and water supply. For instance lower night temperatures just above freezing help bring out the reds in the maples. Early frost, however, can weaken the reds. The warm September that we have been experiencing likely will dull the colour intensity.
How long the display lasts depends again on the weather. Wind and heavy rain knock leaves down.
As to what climate change might do to future fall foliage, there’s no use sweating that now. Kick back and enjoy whatever nature is offering at the moment.
Our unusually warm and sunny fall has some observers concerned, however, about future fall colours. Some brows are being knitted into knots fretting about global warming and how it might change the annual spectacle of colour.
Research is beginning to show that global warming is causing trees to change colours later in the season. A 23-year observation by Harvard University in Massachusetts concludes that the autumn colour peak arrives there on average three to five days later than in the past.
The later peak correlates with a 1.1-degree Celsius rise in average temperatures in the U.S. northeast.
"Should that pattern continue, by the middle of the century we'd be at well over a week later" for fall colour, says John O’Keefe, an ecologist at Harvard Forest.
Another researcher, Howard Neufeld of Appalachian State University, has written that global warming will move the best autumn leaf displays farther north and upward in elevation.
He adds: “The fall foliage displays that our grandchildren will see at the end of this century will not be the ones we see today.”
Warmer autumns, while delaying the turning of the leaves, might have other effects on trees, such as inability to cope with higher temperatures and invasive species.
The changing leaves provide a huge tourism business in Ontario, and points east. Some estimates put the annual value of fall leaf tourism at $25 billion in the U.S. Northeast. There don’t appear to be any Canadian figures, however, the leaf peeping industry is big here, especially in our own Haliburton County.
What causes leaves to change colour is always a topic for debate. Some people argue that frost makes the leaves change, while others say that it is lots of autumn sunshine.
Daylight and temperatures are two main factors affecting when leaves give up their summer green for brilliant displays of red, orange, yellow, and persimmon.
Think of each leaf as a restaurant. Each has a head chef named Chlorophyll who takes in daylight energy and mixes it with carbon dioxide and water to produce sugars and starches to feed the customer - the tree.
As autumn approaches there is less daylight and temperatures usually are lower so the restaurant begins to shut down. Chlorophyll, which coloured the restaurant’s green for the summer, stops cooking and goes on vacation, taking its colour scheme with it. Without their green, the leaf restaurants are left with wild colours ranging from gold to red to brown.
Chlorophyll has been working longer this year because daylight with sunshine has been abundant, and temperatures above normal. Almost every day this September day and night temperatures have been above average in Haliburton County.
This year’s leaf transformation in this part of the country is one of the latest in several decades. September 27 (Sunday past) is the average date for peak colour in Algonquin Park. Over the past 40 years the fall colour has peaked as early as September 15 and as late of Oct. 9. Last year the peak was judged at Sept. 24.
Ontario Travel reported Sunday that the Algonquin colour change had reached fifty per cent. The Minden area was listed at 10 per cent. Algonquin usually colours up earlier because it is at higher elevation and therefore cooler temperatures.
The guessing is that we will see the colours peak sometime next week, possibly later.
The brilliance of the peak display will be decided by a complicated combination of temperature, light and water supply. For instance lower night temperatures just above freezing help bring out the reds in the maples. Early frost, however, can weaken the reds. The warm September that we have been experiencing likely will dull the colour intensity.
How long the display lasts depends again on the weather. Wind and heavy rain knock leaves down.
As to what climate change might do to future fall foliage, there’s no use sweating that now. Kick back and enjoy whatever nature is offering at the moment.
September 24, 2015
On the Yellow Brick Road
It was a fine autumn day, crisp and sunny, and I was lolling at the forest edge, trying to catch a nap. A frightened partridge whirred past my head. Then a rabbit ran by, looking perplexed and pointing a thumb back into the woods.
I walked into the bush to see what caused the animals to flee. I had not walked far when I saw a yellowish hue through the trees and heard the rumbling of what I sensed was an argument.
I stepped into a clearing and a most unusual scene. There, on a shimmering yellow brick path stood four people, three men and a woman, gesticulating wildly and shouting crazily.
They looked as if they belonged on a film set. One was dressed as a Lion, another as a Scarecrow and yet another as a Tin Man. The female had long blonde pigtails and wore a green checkered pinafore and ruby red shoes.
I asked who they were and why they were making noise in my peaceful woods.
“Why do you need to know?” growled the Lion, who wore a nametag on which was scrawled: “I’m Stevie. Vote for me.”
“Ignore him,” said the woman with the ruby red shoes and a green nametag with Elizabeth printed in green ink. “Stephen never wants anyone to know anything.”
“That’s right,” said the Scarecrow whose nametag said: “I’m Justin. I’m ready and I apologize.”
“We’re following the yellow brick road to the Emerald City to see the wizard,” he said excitedly, glancing about to see if a crowd was gathering. “He’s going to grant just one of us our fondest wish. . . .”
Elizabeth cut him off by breaking into song:
“Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
Oh why, oh why can't I?”
“You looked pretty high at the Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner when they dragged you from the podium, Elizabeth,” sneered the Lion.
“Really Stephen you must learn to control your gas emissions,” Elizabeth shot back.
That set off another argument with both the Scarecrow and the Tin Man, whose nametag read Tommy, jumping in.
They were loud and nonsensical and upsetting the peace of my forest, and frightening the wildlife. So I stepped into their midst and asked them to calm down and cease their gabbling.
“People don’t understand me,” sniffed the Lion. “They say I don’t have a heart. So I’m going to ask the Wizard to give me one. People will vote for me then.”
“No, he’s going to give me a brain,” said the Scarecrow. “Then I will stop saying dumb things like only pro-abortion candidates can join my party. And a brain will help me with math. Like learning that three minus five equals a deficit.”
“So what do you want from the Wizard?” I asked Tommy the Tin Man.
“I don’t know what to ask. What I really need is oil to loosen me up. But some of my candidates keep calling the Alberta oil sands environmentally destructive so I don’t know what to do. I just hope the Wizard will stop my joints from creaking.”
I walked over to a woodpile I had neatly stacked for the coming winter. I sat down to think about how to handle these strange people.
“What is that you’re sitting on?” Elizabeth asked sharply.
“It’s my woodpile for winter burning,” I replied. “A well-planned woodpile is as good as money in the bank.”
“You mean you are going to burn that? Create smoke! Destroy the environment!”
“And wreck our oil-based economy!” roared the Lion.
Scarecrow and Tin Man began shouting at each other. Something about economic theories and the middle class but I couldn’t understand it.
“Well I never . . . .” scolded Elizabeth who glowered then clicked the heels of her ruby shoes and all four of them, and the yellow brick road, vanished.
Peace returned to the forest.
On the walk back out I passed a group of animals huddled under some spruce trees.
“What was all that about, Shaman?” asked a raccoon.
“Nothing to fret about,” I replied. “Just nonsense that we humans call politics.”
I walked into the bush to see what caused the animals to flee. I had not walked far when I saw a yellowish hue through the trees and heard the rumbling of what I sensed was an argument.
I stepped into a clearing and a most unusual scene. There, on a shimmering yellow brick path stood four people, three men and a woman, gesticulating wildly and shouting crazily.
They looked as if they belonged on a film set. One was dressed as a Lion, another as a Scarecrow and yet another as a Tin Man. The female had long blonde pigtails and wore a green checkered pinafore and ruby red shoes.
I asked who they were and why they were making noise in my peaceful woods.
“Why do you need to know?” growled the Lion, who wore a nametag on which was scrawled: “I’m Stevie. Vote for me.”
“Ignore him,” said the woman with the ruby red shoes and a green nametag with Elizabeth printed in green ink. “Stephen never wants anyone to know anything.”
“That’s right,” said the Scarecrow whose nametag said: “I’m Justin. I’m ready and I apologize.”
“We’re following the yellow brick road to the Emerald City to see the wizard,” he said excitedly, glancing about to see if a crowd was gathering. “He’s going to grant just one of us our fondest wish. . . .”
Elizabeth cut him off by breaking into song:
“Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
Oh why, oh why can't I?”
“You looked pretty high at the Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner when they dragged you from the podium, Elizabeth,” sneered the Lion.
“Really Stephen you must learn to control your gas emissions,” Elizabeth shot back.
That set off another argument with both the Scarecrow and the Tin Man, whose nametag read Tommy, jumping in.
They were loud and nonsensical and upsetting the peace of my forest, and frightening the wildlife. So I stepped into their midst and asked them to calm down and cease their gabbling.
“People don’t understand me,” sniffed the Lion. “They say I don’t have a heart. So I’m going to ask the Wizard to give me one. People will vote for me then.”
“No, he’s going to give me a brain,” said the Scarecrow. “Then I will stop saying dumb things like only pro-abortion candidates can join my party. And a brain will help me with math. Like learning that three minus five equals a deficit.”
“So what do you want from the Wizard?” I asked Tommy the Tin Man.
“I don’t know what to ask. What I really need is oil to loosen me up. But some of my candidates keep calling the Alberta oil sands environmentally destructive so I don’t know what to do. I just hope the Wizard will stop my joints from creaking.”
I walked over to a woodpile I had neatly stacked for the coming winter. I sat down to think about how to handle these strange people.
“What is that you’re sitting on?” Elizabeth asked sharply.
“It’s my woodpile for winter burning,” I replied. “A well-planned woodpile is as good as money in the bank.”
“You mean you are going to burn that? Create smoke! Destroy the environment!”
“And wreck our oil-based economy!” roared the Lion.
Scarecrow and Tin Man began shouting at each other. Something about economic theories and the middle class but I couldn’t understand it.
“Well I never . . . .” scolded Elizabeth who glowered then clicked the heels of her ruby shoes and all four of them, and the yellow brick road, vanished.
Peace returned to the forest.
On the walk back out I passed a group of animals huddled under some spruce trees.
“What was all that about, Shaman?” asked a raccoon.
“Nothing to fret about,” I replied. “Just nonsense that we humans call politics.”
September 17, 2015
Police and the Value of Sharing Information
In that bizarre movie Jane Mansfield’s Car, well-known actor Robert Duvall, a nosy citizen, arrives at a traffic accident scene and confidently walks through the police line. He chats with the cops about how the accident occurred.
That scene would never occur in Ontario where police have expanded and tightened their no-go perimeters at investigation scenes. This is disturbing because it is part of a trend by governments to squeeze the public’s right to information.
There are some examples from our own Haliburton County this summer.
There was that fatal shooting at a house on Highway 118 in which the OPP closed off a long section of highway. A media photographer trying to do his job was not allowed to go further than the road shoulder.
Another OPP officer stonewalled a reporter by saying he couldn’t tell her anything. He brushed off the reporter by saying there was no media relations officer to handle any questions. In other words: get lost.
There also was an OPP investigation on Highway 35 at Saskatchewan Lake. Again a long section of highway was closed while OPP checked out an abandoned car suspected to have been involved in a Lindsay death. Anyone travelling north or south between Carnarvon and Dorset had to detour via the Kushog Lake Road.
Also on 35 just south of Dorset the OPP investigated a fatal car crash and closed the highway so tightly that anyone travelling from Dorset to, say a St. Nora Lake cottage, had to backtrack along Highway 117, go south on 11, then east on 118 and then north on 35. That is a detour of one and one-half hours.
In all three incidents the police gave little or no consideration to public inconvenience or the needs of the news media, which reports to the public.
One of the most ridiculous examples of police over-controlling a situation occurred last fall in Hamilton. Corporal Nathan Cirillo of the Hamilton-based Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was shot and killed at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.
He lived in east Hamilton and Hamilton police sealed off several streets in his neighbourhood. No threat was involved and Cirillo’s killer already had been shot dead on Parliament Hill.
Hamilton police, when asked why such a large area had been sealed off, said it was out of respect for Cirillo’s family. They didn’t want media and citizens in the neighbourhood where the family lived.
Wouldn’t a couple of officers posted on the street outside the home have been enough?
Last month a Toronto police superintendent was found guilty of unnecessary exercise of authority in the arrest of more than 1,000 protesters at the 2010 G20 summit in downtown Toronto. The presiding judge said the superintendent lacked an understanding of the public’s rights.
We all understand that police work is difficult and that there are good reasons for controlling investigation scenes. The problem is that police over control too often, not considering public inconvenience or the public’s right to know.
The real concern here is not about a cop at a crime or accident scene having a bad day, or getting puffed up and over exercising his or her authority. Cops at the scene get their orders and their attitudes from their commanders. Their commanders get their orders and their attitudes from the top police brass. And, of course, the top police brass get their orders and attitudes from the politicians.
Our politicians are masters of media manipulation and of controlling what they want the public to hear and see. Police brass take their cue from the politicians, or in some cases are simply told what to withhold or manipulate.
Increased police control of what we see and hear is only a small part of a wider and more serious Canadian problem: lack of genuine freedom of information.
Canada in many ways is a closed society because so much of its information is controlled by politics. A truly open society is controlled by knowledge and our knowledge never can be complete until we learn the true value of sharing information.
That scene would never occur in Ontario where police have expanded and tightened their no-go perimeters at investigation scenes. This is disturbing because it is part of a trend by governments to squeeze the public’s right to information.
There are some examples from our own Haliburton County this summer.
There was that fatal shooting at a house on Highway 118 in which the OPP closed off a long section of highway. A media photographer trying to do his job was not allowed to go further than the road shoulder.
Another OPP officer stonewalled a reporter by saying he couldn’t tell her anything. He brushed off the reporter by saying there was no media relations officer to handle any questions. In other words: get lost.
There also was an OPP investigation on Highway 35 at Saskatchewan Lake. Again a long section of highway was closed while OPP checked out an abandoned car suspected to have been involved in a Lindsay death. Anyone travelling north or south between Carnarvon and Dorset had to detour via the Kushog Lake Road.
Also on 35 just south of Dorset the OPP investigated a fatal car crash and closed the highway so tightly that anyone travelling from Dorset to, say a St. Nora Lake cottage, had to backtrack along Highway 117, go south on 11, then east on 118 and then north on 35. That is a detour of one and one-half hours.
In all three incidents the police gave little or no consideration to public inconvenience or the needs of the news media, which reports to the public.
One of the most ridiculous examples of police over-controlling a situation occurred last fall in Hamilton. Corporal Nathan Cirillo of the Hamilton-based Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was shot and killed at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.
He lived in east Hamilton and Hamilton police sealed off several streets in his neighbourhood. No threat was involved and Cirillo’s killer already had been shot dead on Parliament Hill.
Hamilton police, when asked why such a large area had been sealed off, said it was out of respect for Cirillo’s family. They didn’t want media and citizens in the neighbourhood where the family lived.
Wouldn’t a couple of officers posted on the street outside the home have been enough?
Last month a Toronto police superintendent was found guilty of unnecessary exercise of authority in the arrest of more than 1,000 protesters at the 2010 G20 summit in downtown Toronto. The presiding judge said the superintendent lacked an understanding of the public’s rights.
We all understand that police work is difficult and that there are good reasons for controlling investigation scenes. The problem is that police over control too often, not considering public inconvenience or the public’s right to know.
The real concern here is not about a cop at a crime or accident scene having a bad day, or getting puffed up and over exercising his or her authority. Cops at the scene get their orders and their attitudes from their commanders. Their commanders get their orders and their attitudes from the top police brass. And, of course, the top police brass get their orders and attitudes from the politicians.
Our politicians are masters of media manipulation and of controlling what they want the public to hear and see. Police brass take their cue from the politicians, or in some cases are simply told what to withhold or manipulate.
Increased police control of what we see and hear is only a small part of a wider and more serious Canadian problem: lack of genuine freedom of information.
Canada in many ways is a closed society because so much of its information is controlled by politics. A truly open society is controlled by knowledge and our knowledge never can be complete until we learn the true value of sharing information.
September 10, 2015
Who Is Not Doing Enough?
Please, let’s cut all the political crap about how Canada is not doing nearly enough to help the millions of Syrians caught up in the world’s worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.
Politicians and their supporters are spinning this nightmare of human suffering into a dreamcatcher in which they hope to snag more votes on Oct. 19.
Saying that Canada is not doing enough is an insult to every Canadian. Perhaps we can do more. I don’t know. Our current federal government and a new federal government, whoever forms that next month, has the responsibility to figure out how much more we can afford to do.
Also, thousands of individual Canadians, groups and organizations are doing more than their share to help ease the suffering of these people.
For anyone, or any international organization, to say we are not doing enough is a slur against Canada and the Canadian people, who have an outstanding record of helping the world when it is in crisis.
Some facts and figures:
- Under one UN Refugee Agency plan Canada has pledged to resettle 11,300 refugees. The U.S. figure is 16,200. France 1,000.
- Canada is among the top contributors to Syrian refugee relief aid. It has provided more than $500 million dollars, just a bit less than two of the richest Gulf oil states. We rank 7th among the top 20 givers.
Anyone who wants to talk about who is doing what for the Syrian refugees needs to turn their attention to the richest countries in the Arab world. The total number of Syrian refugees resettled by Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain is – zero. Not one.
Four million Syrians have been forced to flee their country’s civil war and these rich nations with their gleaming towers proclaiming disgusting wealth, have not taken one. Neither, incidentally, have Russia nor China.
Most of the refugees are stranded in squalid refugee camps in neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey. Those who find the camps unbearable try to get to Europe, mostly across the Mediterranean Sea. Thousands end up drowning, like the three-year-old boy who washed up on a Turkish beach last week.
The rich Gulf states have contributed money to help the people in the refugee camps. A cynical person would say they are sending money to keep them there. However, it should be noted that the good old U.S.A., the country the world loves to dump on, has contributed four times more aid to the refugee camps than Arab Gulf states.
The rich Gulf nations are believed to have a military budget of around $100 million. They have never signed the UN 1951 Refugee Convention which is aimed at helping the world’s displaced people.
The Gulf nations certainly have been contributors to creating the hell that exists in Syria. They have funded and armed some of the factions fighting in the civil war.
“The records of Gulf countries is absolutely appalling, in terms of actually showing compassion and sharing the responsibility of this crisis,” says Sherif Elsayid-Ali, head of Amnesty International’s refugee and migrants’ rights division. “It is a disgrace.”The Gulf states take in thousands of migrant workers but almost all come from the Indian sub-continent and southeast Asia. Any Syrian who wants in has little hope. Most Arab countries require Syrians to obtain visas, which are seldom granted. Israel also refuses to take in any Syrian refugees saying Israel is “a very small country that lacks demographic and geographic depth.” It plans to build a fence along its eastern border with Jordon, which now has about 750,000 displaced Syrians in refugee camps.
Canada has a responsibility to the world to help displaced people. It also has a responsibility to its citizens to ensure that aid and resettlement efforts are balanced and paced to ensure changes to the country are gradual and do not become unmanageable.
Canadians governments of all stripes have done a decent job of that over many decades.
Politicians and their supporters are spinning this nightmare of human suffering into a dreamcatcher in which they hope to snag more votes on Oct. 19.
Saying that Canada is not doing enough is an insult to every Canadian. Perhaps we can do more. I don’t know. Our current federal government and a new federal government, whoever forms that next month, has the responsibility to figure out how much more we can afford to do.
Also, thousands of individual Canadians, groups and organizations are doing more than their share to help ease the suffering of these people.
For anyone, or any international organization, to say we are not doing enough is a slur against Canada and the Canadian people, who have an outstanding record of helping the world when it is in crisis.
Some facts and figures:
- Under one UN Refugee Agency plan Canada has pledged to resettle 11,300 refugees. The U.S. figure is 16,200. France 1,000.
- Canada is among the top contributors to Syrian refugee relief aid. It has provided more than $500 million dollars, just a bit less than two of the richest Gulf oil states. We rank 7th among the top 20 givers.
Anyone who wants to talk about who is doing what for the Syrian refugees needs to turn their attention to the richest countries in the Arab world. The total number of Syrian refugees resettled by Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain is – zero. Not one.
Four million Syrians have been forced to flee their country’s civil war and these rich nations with their gleaming towers proclaiming disgusting wealth, have not taken one. Neither, incidentally, have Russia nor China.
Most of the refugees are stranded in squalid refugee camps in neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey. Those who find the camps unbearable try to get to Europe, mostly across the Mediterranean Sea. Thousands end up drowning, like the three-year-old boy who washed up on a Turkish beach last week.
The rich Gulf states have contributed money to help the people in the refugee camps. A cynical person would say they are sending money to keep them there. However, it should be noted that the good old U.S.A., the country the world loves to dump on, has contributed four times more aid to the refugee camps than Arab Gulf states.
The rich Gulf nations are believed to have a military budget of around $100 million. They have never signed the UN 1951 Refugee Convention which is aimed at helping the world’s displaced people.
The Gulf nations certainly have been contributors to creating the hell that exists in Syria. They have funded and armed some of the factions fighting in the civil war.
“The records of Gulf countries is absolutely appalling, in terms of actually showing compassion and sharing the responsibility of this crisis,” says Sherif Elsayid-Ali, head of Amnesty International’s refugee and migrants’ rights division. “It is a disgrace.”The Gulf states take in thousands of migrant workers but almost all come from the Indian sub-continent and southeast Asia. Any Syrian who wants in has little hope. Most Arab countries require Syrians to obtain visas, which are seldom granted. Israel also refuses to take in any Syrian refugees saying Israel is “a very small country that lacks demographic and geographic depth.” It plans to build a fence along its eastern border with Jordon, which now has about 750,000 displaced Syrians in refugee camps.
Canada has a responsibility to the world to help displaced people. It also has a responsibility to its citizens to ensure that aid and resettlement efforts are balanced and paced to ensure changes to the country are gradual and do not become unmanageable.
Canadians governments of all stripes have done a decent job of that over many decades.
September 3, 2015
The Teachers' Deal and Premier Pinocchio
The start of a new school year brings memories of Miss McTeague and Grade 3.
Miss McTeague was a hard taskmaster when it came to simple arithmetic. Like two and two equals four. And two times three equals six.
Also, Miss McTeague would wave a stern finger at us and warn that if we told fibs, even itsy-bitsy ones, our noses would grow like Pinocchio’s.
Premier Kathy and other members of her Ontario government obviously never attended Miss McTeague’s class. If they had, they would not be so inept at math, and more honest with taxpayers.
The Ontario government has negotiated a new three-year “net zero” deal with high school teachers. The deal provides a 2.5-per-cent wage increase over two years, an additional paid day off and more generous sick leave.
Also, the province gave up its demands for flexible class size. That means the government must spend additional money to hire additional teachers.
All that is a “net zero” deal with no additional cost to the taxpayer – at least in the minds of Premier Kathy and Education Minister Liz Sandals. So zero plus 2.5, plus more benefits, plus more teachers equals zero.
We’ve seen this “net zero” before. Back in 2013 Sandals said contract negotiations with teachers would not cost one cent more. Later, however, the government’s auditor-general said that negotiation resulted in not quite a “net zero” deal. In fact, it cost us $460 million.
Sandals says that net zero actually means that teachers are being given increases but the additional spending is being taken from other parts of their collective agreement.
“Any salary increases are offset in other areas within the collective agreement,” she has said. Premier Kathy says, yes the teachers’ contract includes more compensation, but none of it will be paid for with “new” money. Neither she, nor her education minister, will say where they will get the money to offset the new spending that makes for a “net zero” deal. Fewer textbooks? Turning the school lights lower? Who knows?This is yet another example of politicians weaving words and phrases to make themselves and their political parties look good.People have had enough of this nonsense. They want their political leaders to be straight up with them, to tell the truth no matter what the consequences. What is wrong with saying: “We committed to not increasing our education budget. We were unable to do that. We negotiated the best contract that we could.” Voters could look at that and decide whether the government had done a good thing or a bad thing. Many voters likely would say that teachers deserve to be paid whatever we can afford to pay them. Teachers are important, a damn sight more important than politicians.Actually, what is most important at the moment is the federal election and Premier Kathy’s very public campaign to elect Justin Trudeau as prime minister. An Ontario teacher’s strike would have been disastrous to that campaign. And so would telling us that avoiding a strike will cost us all more.This is another example of the ‘more services but no new taxes’ wet dream being experienced by governments across Canada.You will witness that first hand if you do any fishing or hunting in Ontario this year. Service Ontario has quietly added a $2 “service” fee to every fishing or hunting licensing transaction. An example: Ontario charges $22.26 for a licence to hunt small game. Add to that the new service fee of $2, plus HST of $3.15 and you get a total of $27.41. (Yes, there is HST on the service fee).The new fee, not a tax of course, must be paid whether you deal in person with Service Ontario, by telephone, or online.The government says the new fee will go to fish and wildlife management. We’ve all heard that one before. No new taxes, eh? If she continues to be less than honest with Ontario citizens, one day Premier Kathy will trip over her nose while jogging. And, people will start calling her Premier Pinocchio.Miss McTeague would not be amused. Neither are Ontario taxpayers.
Miss McTeague was a hard taskmaster when it came to simple arithmetic. Like two and two equals four. And two times three equals six.
Also, Miss McTeague would wave a stern finger at us and warn that if we told fibs, even itsy-bitsy ones, our noses would grow like Pinocchio’s.
Premier Kathy and other members of her Ontario government obviously never attended Miss McTeague’s class. If they had, they would not be so inept at math, and more honest with taxpayers.
The Ontario government has negotiated a new three-year “net zero” deal with high school teachers. The deal provides a 2.5-per-cent wage increase over two years, an additional paid day off and more generous sick leave.
Also, the province gave up its demands for flexible class size. That means the government must spend additional money to hire additional teachers.
All that is a “net zero” deal with no additional cost to the taxpayer – at least in the minds of Premier Kathy and Education Minister Liz Sandals. So zero plus 2.5, plus more benefits, plus more teachers equals zero.
We’ve seen this “net zero” before. Back in 2013 Sandals said contract negotiations with teachers would not cost one cent more. Later, however, the government’s auditor-general said that negotiation resulted in not quite a “net zero” deal. In fact, it cost us $460 million.
Sandals says that net zero actually means that teachers are being given increases but the additional spending is being taken from other parts of their collective agreement.
“Any salary increases are offset in other areas within the collective agreement,” she has said. Premier Kathy says, yes the teachers’ contract includes more compensation, but none of it will be paid for with “new” money. Neither she, nor her education minister, will say where they will get the money to offset the new spending that makes for a “net zero” deal. Fewer textbooks? Turning the school lights lower? Who knows?This is yet another example of politicians weaving words and phrases to make themselves and their political parties look good.People have had enough of this nonsense. They want their political leaders to be straight up with them, to tell the truth no matter what the consequences. What is wrong with saying: “We committed to not increasing our education budget. We were unable to do that. We negotiated the best contract that we could.” Voters could look at that and decide whether the government had done a good thing or a bad thing. Many voters likely would say that teachers deserve to be paid whatever we can afford to pay them. Teachers are important, a damn sight more important than politicians.Actually, what is most important at the moment is the federal election and Premier Kathy’s very public campaign to elect Justin Trudeau as prime minister. An Ontario teacher’s strike would have been disastrous to that campaign. And so would telling us that avoiding a strike will cost us all more.This is another example of the ‘more services but no new taxes’ wet dream being experienced by governments across Canada.You will witness that first hand if you do any fishing or hunting in Ontario this year. Service Ontario has quietly added a $2 “service” fee to every fishing or hunting licensing transaction. An example: Ontario charges $22.26 for a licence to hunt small game. Add to that the new service fee of $2, plus HST of $3.15 and you get a total of $27.41. (Yes, there is HST on the service fee).The new fee, not a tax of course, must be paid whether you deal in person with Service Ontario, by telephone, or online.The government says the new fee will go to fish and wildlife management. We’ve all heard that one before. No new taxes, eh? If she continues to be less than honest with Ontario citizens, one day Premier Kathy will trip over her nose while jogging. And, people will start calling her Premier Pinocchio.Miss McTeague would not be amused. Neither are Ontario taxpayers.
August 27, 2015
A Quiet Place within the Madness
I am late on the lake.
The fishing has been spotty and dusk is deepening quickly as I concede the evening contest to the bass. The waters around me, having consumed the last misty rose blush of sunset, are flat and black.
Usually I am not on the water this late. However, a young visitor to my place caught a 17.5-inch smallmouth earlier in the week and I am driven to outdo that.
The advancing darkness does not worry me. There is never total blackness out here. Stars toss dots of brightness, mimicked by those landscaping solar lights now trendy along cottage shorelines.
Then there are the campfires providing comfort and evening entertainment for the outdoor enthusiasts who have pitched tents on the lake’s breeziest points. I can see in the dancing firelight their shadowy outlines poking the campfire coals with sticks.
Why people stare into campfires and poke the coals with sticks is one of life’s great mysteries. I guess it’s because it is a calming thing to do and helps create a sense of belonging to the wilderness.
The campers’ voices carry easily across the still waters. I can’t make out their words but they are soft and reflective, and broken by long pauses. There is a calmness in the wilderness that encourages people to form a thought before they speak the words.
These quiet conversations are an appreciated change from the shrillness of urban life where yelling has become the accepted way of making your point.
Many of the lakeside campers are from the Big Smoke to the south where stillness and soft words are rare. Gunshots echo through the concrete canyons of Toronto almost every night. These days they are difficult to hear over the monotonous din of politicians pounding the ears of voters for the Oct. 19 federal election.
An important member of the Toronto elite has treated everyone to a bizarre diversion from the campaign monotony. Margaret Atwood wrote in the National Post an opinion piece on hairdos and the election campaign but it was yanked, re-edited and re-published by the Post upper brass. Apparently editors felt it was too rough on Stephen Harper, whom Atwood dislikes intensely.
One wonders why an intelligent, rich and famous writer would not write something profound about the scandalous secrecy of the federal government, instead of what she herself called “a really silly piece.”
The world needs journalism that massages our stultified minds and encourages thinking capable of producing exceptional ideas that might solve exceptional problems.
However, all that is as interesting as a pinch of raccoon poop to the folks gathered at the lakeside campfires tonight.
They are well away, at least temporarily, from campaign hair styles, the political hysteria over the Senate scandal, the constipated economy, and the fretting over how to improve the lot of the middle class, whatever that is. (What happened to concern for the poor, who earn under $20,000 a year while 12,000 Ontario “middle class” public sector workers hit the Sunshine List level of more than $100,000)?
Life is so less complicated out here on the lake. That is because the country surrounding us is a giving place.
Snow melts and replenishes the soil, which feeds the trees, which provide protective cover for birds and animals that provide food for each other. A bird that eats a berry drops the seed and another tree or bush begins to grow.
Here there are the tensions of staying alive, but there is no avarice. Nothing is owned; all is shared.
Everything that occurs here is in service for the whole, except when we humans are involved. We are takers who have little to give back, except the intelligence to manage what has been given to us.
It is fully dark when I reach my home shore and put away my fishing tackle, including the empty stringer. The campfires and the voices are gone but they have reminded me of how lucky we are to have places like this.
More places like this, and more people able to visit them, surely would lessen the madness of this world.
(From my Minden Times column this week)
Email: shaman@vianet.ca
Profile: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8FY3Y
The fishing has been spotty and dusk is deepening quickly as I concede the evening contest to the bass. The waters around me, having consumed the last misty rose blush of sunset, are flat and black.
Usually I am not on the water this late. However, a young visitor to my place caught a 17.5-inch smallmouth earlier in the week and I am driven to outdo that.
The advancing darkness does not worry me. There is never total blackness out here. Stars toss dots of brightness, mimicked by those landscaping solar lights now trendy along cottage shorelines.
Then there are the campfires providing comfort and evening entertainment for the outdoor enthusiasts who have pitched tents on the lake’s breeziest points. I can see in the dancing firelight their shadowy outlines poking the campfire coals with sticks.
Why people stare into campfires and poke the coals with sticks is one of life’s great mysteries. I guess it’s because it is a calming thing to do and helps create a sense of belonging to the wilderness.
The campers’ voices carry easily across the still waters. I can’t make out their words but they are soft and reflective, and broken by long pauses. There is a calmness in the wilderness that encourages people to form a thought before they speak the words.
These quiet conversations are an appreciated change from the shrillness of urban life where yelling has become the accepted way of making your point.
Many of the lakeside campers are from the Big Smoke to the south where stillness and soft words are rare. Gunshots echo through the concrete canyons of Toronto almost every night. These days they are difficult to hear over the monotonous din of politicians pounding the ears of voters for the Oct. 19 federal election.
An important member of the Toronto elite has treated everyone to a bizarre diversion from the campaign monotony. Margaret Atwood wrote in the National Post an opinion piece on hairdos and the election campaign but it was yanked, re-edited and re-published by the Post upper brass. Apparently editors felt it was too rough on Stephen Harper, whom Atwood dislikes intensely.
One wonders why an intelligent, rich and famous writer would not write something profound about the scandalous secrecy of the federal government, instead of what she herself called “a really silly piece.”
The world needs journalism that massages our stultified minds and encourages thinking capable of producing exceptional ideas that might solve exceptional problems.
However, all that is as interesting as a pinch of raccoon poop to the folks gathered at the lakeside campfires tonight.
They are well away, at least temporarily, from campaign hair styles, the political hysteria over the Senate scandal, the constipated economy, and the fretting over how to improve the lot of the middle class, whatever that is. (What happened to concern for the poor, who earn under $20,000 a year while 12,000 Ontario “middle class” public sector workers hit the Sunshine List level of more than $100,000)?
Life is so less complicated out here on the lake. That is because the country surrounding us is a giving place.
Snow melts and replenishes the soil, which feeds the trees, which provide protective cover for birds and animals that provide food for each other. A bird that eats a berry drops the seed and another tree or bush begins to grow.
Here there are the tensions of staying alive, but there is no avarice. Nothing is owned; all is shared.
Everything that occurs here is in service for the whole, except when we humans are involved. We are takers who have little to give back, except the intelligence to manage what has been given to us.
It is fully dark when I reach my home shore and put away my fishing tackle, including the empty stringer. The campfires and the voices are gone but they have reminded me of how lucky we are to have places like this.
More places like this, and more people able to visit them, surely would lessen the madness of this world.
(From my Minden Times column this week)
Email: shaman@vianet.ca
Profile: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8FY3Y
August 21, 2015
The Other Side of the Cecil Story
There are two sides, and usually more, to every story. Getting people to see or to hear all sides of the story is challenging. Consider the story of Cecil, Zimbabwe’s most celebrated lion.
Cecil was 13 years old and the star of Hwange National Park. He was fitted with a tracking collar, was studied by researchers and often sat out sunning in view of park visitors.
Cecil is skinned out now and headed for a Minnesota dentist’s trophy wall. The dentist, a passionate trophy hunter, shot him with a bow and arrow after paying somewhere around $50,000 for a trophy hunt.
One of the storylines is that the hunter and his guides lured Cecil beyond park boundaries, where hunting is prohibited, and shot him on a private preserve. Another is that Cecil wandered out on his own and the hunter shot him unaware that he was collared and from the national park. Which story is true likely will not be determined until the dust settles.
Cecil’s sad demise hit social media like an atomic bomb. There were hundreds of thousands of messages and comments of outrage. There were demands for an end to trophy hunting. Some airlines, Air Canada among them, announced that they would no longer allow big game animal trophies on their airplanes.
There were threats on the lives of the dentist and his family. The Zimbabwean government has called for the dentist to be extradited to face trial.
Tom Bronkhorst, local safari operator and the professional hunter who guided the Minnesota dentist, was charged with failing to prevent an illegal hunt. He is in a court next month facing up to 15 years in prison.
It seemed that the entire world was infuriated at what was called the cruel and insane practice of killing animals for trophies.
Not exactly. And that’s the other side of this story.
Wildlife experts, conservation groups and African governments generally support trophy hunting. They say that when animals within government preserves become too numerous they are sold to private game preserves.
Private game preserves pay a lot more money for the animals than they would fetch for food or other purposes. In turn, the private preserves bring in large amounts of money from trophy hunters and other tourism enterprises, which is a help to the overall economy.
In some places, lions and other animals are poisoned or trapped because of the threat they pose to humans, livestock and crops. Locals tend to leave the animals alone if they are realizing the economic benefits of trophy hunting.
Governments in Namibia and South Africa spoke out against calls for a ban on trophy hunting.
“This will be the end of conservation in Namibia,” Pohamba Shifeta, Namibia’s environment and tourism minister was quoted as saying. If there was no trophy hunting, there would be no money for conservation.
South Africa’s environment ministry said trophy hunting helps to pay for its conservation efforts.
Bronkhorst called the charges against him frivolous and added: “If we do not use wildlife sustainably, there will be no wildlife.”
Hunting has been an effective conservation tool, not only in Africa but in North America, when the money it generates is put back into wildlife management and conservation programs.
Critics say the money often is diverted to other programs or into corrupt pockets. They might be right. Corruption exists wherever money is to be made. But that’s a different problem and a different story.
I’ve been a hunter all my life but never a hunter for trophies. However, I’ll reserve judgment on whether it is a good or bad thing until I hear more facts.
The Internet and social media have allowed our society to form instant opinions based on incomplete and unchecked information. Critical thinking is a requirement of making intelligent decisions. And critical thinking involves looking at all sides of the story.
Fortunately the Cecil story is only about trophy hunting and not a topic in which instant outrage and condemnation leads to people pushing buttons that launch intercontinental missiles.
Cecil was 13 years old and the star of Hwange National Park. He was fitted with a tracking collar, was studied by researchers and often sat out sunning in view of park visitors.
Cecil is skinned out now and headed for a Minnesota dentist’s trophy wall. The dentist, a passionate trophy hunter, shot him with a bow and arrow after paying somewhere around $50,000 for a trophy hunt.
One of the storylines is that the hunter and his guides lured Cecil beyond park boundaries, where hunting is prohibited, and shot him on a private preserve. Another is that Cecil wandered out on his own and the hunter shot him unaware that he was collared and from the national park. Which story is true likely will not be determined until the dust settles.
Cecil’s sad demise hit social media like an atomic bomb. There were hundreds of thousands of messages and comments of outrage. There were demands for an end to trophy hunting. Some airlines, Air Canada among them, announced that they would no longer allow big game animal trophies on their airplanes.
There were threats on the lives of the dentist and his family. The Zimbabwean government has called for the dentist to be extradited to face trial.
Tom Bronkhorst, local safari operator and the professional hunter who guided the Minnesota dentist, was charged with failing to prevent an illegal hunt. He is in a court next month facing up to 15 years in prison.
It seemed that the entire world was infuriated at what was called the cruel and insane practice of killing animals for trophies.
Not exactly. And that’s the other side of this story.
Wildlife experts, conservation groups and African governments generally support trophy hunting. They say that when animals within government preserves become too numerous they are sold to private game preserves.
Private game preserves pay a lot more money for the animals than they would fetch for food or other purposes. In turn, the private preserves bring in large amounts of money from trophy hunters and other tourism enterprises, which is a help to the overall economy.
In some places, lions and other animals are poisoned or trapped because of the threat they pose to humans, livestock and crops. Locals tend to leave the animals alone if they are realizing the economic benefits of trophy hunting.
Governments in Namibia and South Africa spoke out against calls for a ban on trophy hunting.
“This will be the end of conservation in Namibia,” Pohamba Shifeta, Namibia’s environment and tourism minister was quoted as saying. If there was no trophy hunting, there would be no money for conservation.
South Africa’s environment ministry said trophy hunting helps to pay for its conservation efforts.
Bronkhorst called the charges against him frivolous and added: “If we do not use wildlife sustainably, there will be no wildlife.”
Hunting has been an effective conservation tool, not only in Africa but in North America, when the money it generates is put back into wildlife management and conservation programs.
Critics say the money often is diverted to other programs or into corrupt pockets. They might be right. Corruption exists wherever money is to be made. But that’s a different problem and a different story.
I’ve been a hunter all my life but never a hunter for trophies. However, I’ll reserve judgment on whether it is a good or bad thing until I hear more facts.
The Internet and social media have allowed our society to form instant opinions based on incomplete and unchecked information. Critical thinking is a requirement of making intelligent decisions. And critical thinking involves looking at all sides of the story.
Fortunately the Cecil story is only about trophy hunting and not a topic in which instant outrage and condemnation leads to people pushing buttons that launch intercontinental missiles.
August 13, 2015
Canada's Unworthy Leadership
The early days of this marathon federal election campaign confirm a sad fact: none of the party leaders is worthy of leading Canadians.
Not one has displayed the courage needed to shake the addiction of serving their political parties and their self interests, instead of the people. None has had the grit to reject toxic politics and personal attacks as tactics for getting elected.
Their policy thoughts are based on information drawn from their most trusted sources: the pollsters, spin doctors, lobbyists and media manipulators.
Canada, like the United States, has lost over the last few decades the concept of servant leadership. At one time political service was an honour and a duty. Thomas Jefferson, author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, envisioned a government of citizen farmers serving fellow citizens for four years, then returning to their farms.
Now political service is a career, a job that provides good salary, plenty of perks and prestige and excellent pension. All three federal main party leaders – Harper, Mulcair and Trudeau – are career politicians. Their skills are political skills directed at gaining and retaining power for their parties.
The problem of having career politicians should be obvious. Because they have no other career (and future retirement income) to fall back on, they must devote more effort and energy to getting re-elected. That means less effort and energy to devote to serving the people.
Servant leadership means putting all others above yourself. It means understanding the interests and needs of your followers and listening actively to what they have to say. It grows from the kind of humility demonstrated by Mahatma Ghandi, who walked among his people in homespun clothes. And from Pope Francis washing the feet of convicted criminals.
It is not that the country lacks leadership. Much good leadership is found outside political arenas. Leaders in industry and business know that cynicism, incivility and belittling their competitors do not grow their enterprises. They understand that gathering diverse views, pursuing change unrestricted by party tenets, and accepting compromise are building blocks for success.
Many of those leaders want no personal involvement in politics that have become too partisan to achieve much of anything.
Howard Schultz, self-made billionaire and Starbucks chairman, gave us some insights into this problem recently when he wrote a piece for New York Times in which he said he would not enter the U.S. presidential election fray.
“Our nation has been profoundly damaged by a lack of civility and courage in Washington, where leaders of both parties have abdicated their responsibility to forge reasonable compromises . . . .”
The times in which we live demand strong leaders which we don’t have and are unlikely to have soon. Unfortunately it will take a dire crisis for the best leadership to step forward. It has happened before: The Second World War produced Britain’s Winston Churchill. The Depression years brought forward C. D. Howe in Canada.
We need people like these to pull us all together. We need leaders who will spend all their energy working together and building consensus.
We have three mainstream parties in Canada capable of forming a federal government. But ours is becoming a one-party system in which the winner forms a government with the principal goal of getting re-elected and the losers spend their time undercutting it.
We need a return to a democracy where there are no winners and no losers. Just elected citizens working on behalf of all Canadians.
That’s a pipe dream right now. The October federal election will produce much of the same old, same old. It might be in a different form, with perhaps a minority New Democrat government held up by the Liberals.
And then all the barking will begin anew as each party tries to knock the other out of the way and gain sole ownership of the government.
It probably doesn’t matter who wins and who loses. The bureaucrats (remember when they were called public servants) will keep the country running. Hey, look at Italy, or better still Greece, the cradle of our democracy.
Email: shaman@vianet.ca
Profile: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8FY3Y
August 6, 2015
Driving Surprises
Each time I venture onto our roads I return convinced that we motorists are killing and maiming each other in record numbers.
We must be, considering the recklessness we witness every day on our highways. You’ve seen it all: vehicles tailgating so close you can’t see their head lights in your rear-view mirror; passing on double caution lines before hills and curves; impatient and distracted driving, and of course, speeding.
I decide to go looking for numbers to confirm my impression that our roads are increasingly becoming slaughterhouses. The numbers that I find shock me.
Despite all the bad driving habits I witness on the highways, fewer people are dying or being maimed in auto accidents. That seems impossible considering the number of distracted drivers, reckless drivers, speeding transport trucks and the deteriorating condition of many of our roads. But it’s true.
Back in 1994, 3,230 people died and 164,635 were injured in traffic crashes across Canada. Those numbers have declined steadily and by 2014 were down to 1,923 people dead and 120,660 injured, a remarkable drop considering the increased population and growing number of vehicles.
Closer to home, fatalities on roads patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police also have declined. Last year there were 265 fatal collisions on those roads, down from 380 10 years ago.
Those numbers paint a picture of safer roads, part of which might be attributed to better driving practices. It is not an accurate picture, however.
Fewer people are being killed or maimed on our highways, but the number of accidents is increasing. There were 75,000 collisions on OPP patrolled roads last year, compared with 69,000 five years earlier.
Also, collisions involving transport trucks are increasing. Last year there were 6,140 transport truck accidents on OPP roads. That’s up substantially from five years earlier when 4,667 were reported.
That’s no surprise to anyone who spends any time on Highway 11, or the 400. If you drive those roads at 10 kilometres over the limit, you will be passed by streams of big rigs doing 20 or 30 kph over the limit. And, have you ever seen police pull over a transport truck for speeding?
So despite fewer deaths and injuries our roads in fact are becoming more dangerous, not safer. The decline in deaths and injuries likely can be attributed to more seat belt use, air bags and generally safer vehicles.
Charges for not using seatbelts - and incidentally for impaired driving - have declined steadily. Distracted driving, however, is rapidly becoming the big new danger on our roads.
Ontario this summer increased distracted driving fines from $60 to $500 per offence to between $300 and $1,000. Also, a distracted driving conviction now will cost a driver three demerit points.
My road travels also have left me with the impression that I am seeing more OPP cruisers pulling over more vehicles. Therefore the OPP is charging more and more bad drivers. That also is not an accurate picture.
The OPP has been writing fewer tickets for highway offences. Last year it issued 431,267 tickets under the Highway Traffic Act, 45,000 fewer than in 2013 and 48,000 fewer than in 2012.
The OPP also are nailing fewer drivers for speeding. They issued 253,427 speeding tickets last year, 40,000 fewer than in 2013 and 41,000 fewer than in 2012.
They are starting to get more drivers on the relatively new Slow Down, Move Over law. That’s the one where you must slow down or move to another lane when approaching police, tow trucks and emergency vehicles that have their lights flashing. In the first six months of this year OPP have charged 763 drivers for failing to comply with that law. The fine is $400 to $2,000 and three demerit points.
So what this fact finding exercise has taught me is that numbers don’t always tell the true story. Despite fewer deaths and injuries, our roads are just as dangerous as before, probably more so.
(From my Minden Times column Aug. 6, 2015)
We must be, considering the recklessness we witness every day on our highways. You’ve seen it all: vehicles tailgating so close you can’t see their head lights in your rear-view mirror; passing on double caution lines before hills and curves; impatient and distracted driving, and of course, speeding.
I decide to go looking for numbers to confirm my impression that our roads are increasingly becoming slaughterhouses. The numbers that I find shock me.
Despite all the bad driving habits I witness on the highways, fewer people are dying or being maimed in auto accidents. That seems impossible considering the number of distracted drivers, reckless drivers, speeding transport trucks and the deteriorating condition of many of our roads. But it’s true.
Back in 1994, 3,230 people died and 164,635 were injured in traffic crashes across Canada. Those numbers have declined steadily and by 2014 were down to 1,923 people dead and 120,660 injured, a remarkable drop considering the increased population and growing number of vehicles.
Closer to home, fatalities on roads patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police also have declined. Last year there were 265 fatal collisions on those roads, down from 380 10 years ago.
Those numbers paint a picture of safer roads, part of which might be attributed to better driving practices. It is not an accurate picture, however.
Fewer people are being killed or maimed on our highways, but the number of accidents is increasing. There were 75,000 collisions on OPP patrolled roads last year, compared with 69,000 five years earlier.
Also, collisions involving transport trucks are increasing. Last year there were 6,140 transport truck accidents on OPP roads. That’s up substantially from five years earlier when 4,667 were reported.
That’s no surprise to anyone who spends any time on Highway 11, or the 400. If you drive those roads at 10 kilometres over the limit, you will be passed by streams of big rigs doing 20 or 30 kph over the limit. And, have you ever seen police pull over a transport truck for speeding?
So despite fewer deaths and injuries our roads in fact are becoming more dangerous, not safer. The decline in deaths and injuries likely can be attributed to more seat belt use, air bags and generally safer vehicles.
Charges for not using seatbelts - and incidentally for impaired driving - have declined steadily. Distracted driving, however, is rapidly becoming the big new danger on our roads.
Ontario this summer increased distracted driving fines from $60 to $500 per offence to between $300 and $1,000. Also, a distracted driving conviction now will cost a driver three demerit points.
My road travels also have left me with the impression that I am seeing more OPP cruisers pulling over more vehicles. Therefore the OPP is charging more and more bad drivers. That also is not an accurate picture.
The OPP has been writing fewer tickets for highway offences. Last year it issued 431,267 tickets under the Highway Traffic Act, 45,000 fewer than in 2013 and 48,000 fewer than in 2012.
The OPP also are nailing fewer drivers for speeding. They issued 253,427 speeding tickets last year, 40,000 fewer than in 2013 and 41,000 fewer than in 2012.
They are starting to get more drivers on the relatively new Slow Down, Move Over law. That’s the one where you must slow down or move to another lane when approaching police, tow trucks and emergency vehicles that have their lights flashing. In the first six months of this year OPP have charged 763 drivers for failing to comply with that law. The fine is $400 to $2,000 and three demerit points.
So what this fact finding exercise has taught me is that numbers don’t always tell the true story. Despite fewer deaths and injuries, our roads are just as dangerous as before, probably more so.
(From my Minden Times column Aug. 6, 2015)
