Merry Christmas To All

Posted on: Ides of May
It’s the pre-dawn of Christmas morning here in London, Ontario and the rest of the house is still slumbering away. Likely most of the city is slumbering except those homes with excited children who are itching to wake up parents and get on to the business of the day — opening presents. It’s all adults in this home. My adult niece and nephew will be arriving later today and my almost 2 year old grand-nephew will be visiting on Boxing Day.

Let me take this opportunity in the peaceful quiet at the beginning of a new day to wish you all a merry Christmas. Christmas Day is the one day of the year when most of us can set aside every day worries and stresses for other worries and stresses like will the present be right? or will the turkey be cooked on time? or … insert whatever. Those are stresses we can live with. -- read more

Busy Busy Days

Posted on: Ides of May
Getting involved in the Legion, at least the Colborne Legion, seems to mean that from October 31st until January 2nd, time seems to fly by in a blur. There is what needs to be done that we expect and then what has to be done that is unexpected but needs to be fit in, you know, things like having a bit of a life.

The Poppy Campaign hadn’t even ended when it was suddenly time to make arrangements for people to start applying for Christmas hampers. Christmas.. jeeeze it seemed like that was a long way off just days ago and it wasn’t even Remembrance Day yet. Interspersed in there was a couple of dinners, branch meetings & Santa Claus parade and before long.. November is over. Officially, so was the hamper applications but that doesn’t stop them coming in. -- read more

Ignatieff Takes the Liberal Helm

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
Life must be a bit bittersweet these days for Stephane Dion. As much as I’m sure he would have liked to have left the leadership of the Liberals under different circumstances, he did so with as much grace as could be mustered under the circumstances. Bob Rae also made a class act exit from the leadership race that cleared the way for the party to put Michael Ignatieff in as ‘interim’ leader. He’ll have to be confirmed at the convention which is still scheduled for May. -- read more

They Are Not Just Numbers

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
With this post I’m passing the milestone of 500 posts to this blog. It is almost ironic that today’s post is about the latest deaths in Afghanistan. The media has been making much of the fact that the three Canadians killed Friday in an IED attack crosses the ‘threshold’ of 100 deaths during the Afghanistan mission. For the families of the men killed, their friends and their communities they are not 98, 99 and 100 — they are Mark Mclaren, Demetrios Diplaros and Robert Wilson — men who believed in the mission and died trying to see it succeed.

I’m not a person who is moved to tears often but the deaths of each Canadian in Afghanistan moves me. I’ll be one of the Canadians up on the bridges tomorrow. Standing to the left of the Legion colour party, our Sgt-at-Arms will be standing on the right. As the procession approaches he’ll call out “Branch 187 — to our fallen comrades — salute!” -- read more

Parliament Suspended - Harper Has Reprieve, For Now

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
Harper has concluded an over two hour meeting with the Governor General and has had his request to porogue parliament granted. The move is clearly to avoid confidence motions scheduled to take place in the House on Monday. While he’s busy accusing the Liberal-NDP coalition of making a power grab, he’s made it just as clear that he will cling to power at all cost.

Had the GG not consented to his request, which she could have refused since it was clearly an avoidance move, then she would have had to have chosen between an election, barely 2 months after the last one, or asking the Liberal-NDP coalition to take the reigns. -- read more

The Bully Teeters on the Edge

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
Well, I must say I’m a tad surprised but intrigued. I have been watching the reports over the last several days about the Liberals, NDP and Bloc in talks about forming a coalition government to bring down Harper and his gang of bullies. I didn’t really expect that the egos in the group would manage to tone themselves down enough to actually work out an agreement. I’m a bit impressed, now to see if it can be sustained.

Seems to me since the Liberals and the NDP have managed to work out an agreement with the pledged support of the Bloc for about a year, that those three have at least got it that compromise is needed to make government work. That is a lot more than Harper has managed to get and actually carry through on — and he has a lot more to loose. -- read more

Ottawa Soap Opera Continues

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
One thing I’ve always found a bit of a pain about soap operas are their rather long drawn out plot (or lack thereof). Someone deciding to create a soap of the latest goings on in Ottawa might just get my attention. So let’s see, the story to this point…..

On October 14th, Canadians granted the Conservatives yet another minority government in the general election. At the same time that was taking place, the world’s economy (including Canada’s) was going to hell in a handbasket at a rate that few even mused about. The Liberals and the NDP both campaigned with promises of economic stimulus while the Conservatives don’t worry, be happy approach until the polls showed them dropping hard over their lack of notice to the economy. All three parties declared that Canada would not run a deficit under their watch. -- read more

Democracy Being Pushed Aside?

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
It appears life has become ‘interesting’ in Harper’s Ottawa. At this point, he could well be hanging on by a fraying thread to his minority government. The current state of affairs has been brought about by his own inability to recognize that Canadians haven’t trusted him with a majority to govern with. Being in a minority position usually means a bit of reaching out and compromise — but not Harper.

His little man of confederation — Flaherty brought down an economic update statement on Thursday. The statement was the usual hot air that we get from politicians of all stripes accompanied by no indication that the Conservatives are actually moving to do anything to keep the economy moving. Interestingly enough, Flaherty was flying in the face of what his boss had been touting only a week before in Chile. -- read more

Rae Needs to Grow UP!

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
The Liberal leadership race has barely started to get underway and he’s thrown his first hissy fit. Riding executives were gathered in Toronto yesterday for a question and answer session with the three declared candidates. The meeting was setup by Liberal executives to be a closed door session. Ignatieff agreed to that while Leblanc and Rae wanted it opened to the media. Since all three couldn’t agree the original format was maintained. -- read more

One Brave Young Lady

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
The seventeen year old girl Afghan girl who suffered an acid attack on her way to school last week has vowed to continue her schooling. While no one has claimed responsibility, it appears that the attacker was likely a Taliban operative.

The Taliban, when they were in power, violently suppressed the education of most of the young people but especially young girls. -- read more

Ignatieff to Run For Liberal Leadership

Posted On: Out of the Shadows
Michael Ignatieff has announced his intention to run for the Liberal Leadership. He ran and lost the last time in a contest that was bitterly fought with former NDP Premier of Ontario Bob Rae. In the last race Ignatieff had recently returned to the country after many years away in high profile teaching positions. I objected to his leadership on that basis the last time. -- read more

PickupPal Illegal in Ontario

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
The Toronto Star reports today that the Ontario Highway Transport Board has ruled the activities of PickupPal illegal in Ontario. The site is a ride sharing site operated from Roseneath, Ontario with members from around the world. The idea is to reduce pollution through coordinating car pooling. Some public transit firms like Trentway Wager had asked the board to rule on the site under the Public Vehicles Act. -- read more

Highway of Heroes on NBC Nightly News

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
In a rare moment of notice from our neighbours to the south, a segment on the Highway of Heroes which stretches from Trenton to Toronto along Canada’s busiest highway the 401 was broadcast on NBC on our Remembrance Day. Myself and a contingent from my Legion branch are among those who stand on those bridges in all weather to show our regard and our respect for those who have given their lives in Afghanistan. -- read more

Rotary Club Presentation

Posted on: Ides of May
In my role as Legion President I was asked to be the guest speaker at the Colborne Rotary Club meeting tonight. Here are my remarks: -- read more

Sacrifice Medal Criteria to Be Reviewed

Posted on: Out of the Shadows
Back in July the Governor General approved a new medal for our forces. The Sacrifice Medal was meant to replace the often understated ‘wound stripes’ worn be Canadian Forces personnel when they were wounded. The new medal was to cover wounds as the direct result of hostile action and could be earned posthumously. It also includes those who suffer PTSD as a result of hostile action. -- read more