I Wrote to my MP Today

Tom Lukiwski

Member of Parliament

House of Commons

Ottawa, ON

K1A 0A6

February 7th 2011

Dear Sir;

I got another of your householder flyers today and I must tell you that I continue to find them offensive. They add nothing to the dialogue; they are misleading, dismissive of alternate views and in most cases the production values and content are amateurish. There is nothing helpful about them whatsoever.  They are ineffective and bothersome.

To be completely honest, I have seen so much of it over the years that I have lost all objectivity. Having your picture constantly slipping through my mail slot, at this point simply makes me angry.

Frankly, I think that to send these tons, yes tons, of material through the postal system each week is in a misuse of taxpayer’s dollars. I ask you to stop sending me this postal spam immediately. If not to placate me, at the very least to save some trees. 

In fact sir, when I really think about it, I wish that you would simply make the decision to retire from politics and let the voters replace you with someone who will speak up for our community. If that is too much for you to swallow, go back to the backroom politics from which you came.  Trade you MP’s chair for that of a back room boy and work with the Harper team, planning its treachery from behind the scenes.

You and the other Saskatchewan Members of Parliament have become irrelevant. You refuse to speak up for constituents except perhaps at the personal level. You and your colleagues are supposed to represent us but, you never speak out about issues which are important to Saskatchewan’s people and our collective voice is not being heard.

To be properly represented in Ottawa we need more than mouthpieces for the Prime Minister.

I have copied all your colleagues Saskatchewan Conservative MPs, not out of any malice nor to cause you embarrassment but, because the message would be the same for all of them. It is just that you are my MP.

Please give real consideration to my request. Many, many constituents will thank you for it

Yours Truly

Gord Hunter

c.c.  Prime Minister Harper

       All Saskatchewan Conservative MPs

It May Not be as Bad as it All Seems

It has been discouraging these last few years trying to figure out where Canadians' political values were moving. We have twice elected that Reform/Alliance/Conservatives bunch to the House of Commons despite the fact that they seem to represent values which many of us find tough to deal with. They: 

• are tough on crime, 
• they pander to the anti gun control lobby,
• they shun climate change research and support dirty oil, 
• they believe that lower corporate tax rates will solve our economic issues, 
• they are soft of humanitarian aid, 
• they are overtly militaristic, 
• most of their elected members are little more than mouthpieces for the PMO and 
• they have turned our political process into a Republican style, dirty war of words. 

What is to like and why do they stand a fairly good chance of getting re-elected, albeit to a minority? So are Canadians moving en mass to a more Republican style right-wing way of thinking. Perhaps not.


Environics Focus Canada  has done a regular public opinion survey of Canadian citizens since the mid-1970s. Jeffrey Simpson points out in yesterday's Globe & Mail that the results of that that poll suggests something different than we would be led to believe by the Harper crowd.  Canadians have probably not lost their minds despite of the way many of us vote. In fairness, that is my conclusion, not his.


The poll found that:

• Almost 60% of Canadians prefer crime prevention programs and education over the tougher punishment proposed by Harper.
• Canadians believe that our government's spending priorities ought to be education, health care, programs for the elderly, the environment and reducing child poverty. 
• Over 70 percent of Canadians are in favor of redirecting military spending towards reducing greenhouse emissions. 
• Eighty percent of Canadians believe that the government should invest in green jobs.
• They think that there should be transition programs for those affected negatively by the shift to green energy from fossil fuels.
•  The poll also found that too much focus is put on economic growth and that most Canadians believe that consumerism is one of the root causes of climate change.
• Eighty two percent of us do not fear crime in our neighbourhoods.
• Eighty percent of us feel that the gap between rich and poor has widened in the last 10 years.
• Far in a majority of us think it is important to reduce that gap.

I take some solace in the poll results. We have not lost our collective minds. Or, perhaps not at the very least.

So where are we. The Liberals made a couple of bad leadership choices. I liked Dion and I respect Ignatieff but Iggy just don't seem to have captured the hearts and minds of Canadians and thoughtful Dion was no match for the bullyboy Harper style.

I think Jack Layton is a nice guy too but all this kitchen table/working man talk doesn't do a hell of a lot to capture the attention of Canadians except in a negative way.

So we might be stuck with those guys for a while yet but another lost election will put short shrift to both of them. Then perhaps we can move forward.

A History Lesson

If you are anything like me you have been watching the events unfolding in Egypt with real interest. The first thing I have discovered is that I really know very little about the history of that country. 

Oh, I am old enough to remember the Suez crisis, King Farouk living in exile, President Nassar, Anwar Sadat being shot and the six day war. Presidant Mubarak’s ruling party is called the NDP which I find kind of ironic  I don't know know a hell of a lot beyond that.

I expect most of you,  not unlike me, are struggling to put together the puzzle.

This historical time line was put together by  Facts-about and the BBC. It helps a bit to add context.

1100s Christian Crusaders from Europe invade Egypt
1168 The Fatimid ruler receives help from Saladin who forces the Crusaders out of Egypt
1171 Saladin overthrows the Fatimid ruler and becomes the sultan of Egypt forming the Ayyubid dynasty
1250 The Mamelukes seized control of Egypt andBaybars, the Mameluke general, became sultan
1517 Ottoman forces invaded Egypt
Mid 1700s The Ottomans and the Mamelukes competed for Egyptian control
1798 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt and the Mamelukes were defeated in the Battle of the Pyramids
1801 The French were forced out of Egypt by the Ottomans, with the help of the British
1805 - 1849 Muhammad Ali, an officer in the Ottoman army, established himself as the ruler of Egypt and the Mamelukes
1854-1863 Said Pasha ruled Egypt
1859 The construction of the Suez Canal began
1869 The Suez Canal opened and the British bought the Egyptian shares

1882 British take control of Egypt
Late 1800s-Early 1900s The Egyptian khedive ruled Egypt overseen by British administrators
1914-1918 World War I
1914 Egypt becomes a British protectorate
1922 Egypt is granted its independence and an Egyptian constitutional monarchy is established
1939 - 1945 World War II
1940 Italian and German troops invade Egypt to try and capture the Suez Canal
1942 The Allies halt the German advance in the Battle of El Alamein
1945 Egypt formed the Arab League with other Arab nations
1947 The United Nations vote to divide Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state
1948 Israel was formed which prompted Egypt and other Arab nations to go to war

1952 King Farouk (His full title was "His Majesty Farouk I, by the grace of God, King of Egypt and Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, of Kordofan, and of Darfur.") is overthrown in the Egyptian Revolution and was forced to abdicate.   He died in exile in Italy.  
1953 Egypt was declared a republic

1954 - Nasser becomes prime minister and later, in 1956, president.

1954 - Evacuation Treaty signed. British forces, who began a gradual withdrawal in 1936 finally leave Egypt.

1956 July - Nasser nationalises the Suez Canal to fund the Aswan High Dam.

1950s Egypt supported the Palestinian Arabs to regain control of Palestine from the Israelis
October 1956 Israel invaded Egypt and occupied the Sinai Peninsula
1958 Syria and Egypt formed a political union called the United Arab Republic
1961 Syria withdrew from the U.A.R.
5 June 1967 The Six Day War 
1968 The Aswan High Dam opened
1971 Sadat changed the official name of the country to the Arab Republic of Egypt
1978 The Camp David Accords and Sadat meets with Israeli Prime Minster Menachem Begin in the USA. The agreement guaranteed the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt
1979 Egypt was removed from the Arab League, because other Arab nations felt the Sadat had given up too much in the agreements with Israel

1981 6 October - Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated by Jihad members.

1981 October - A National Referendum approves Husni Mubarak as the new president.

Over the next 30 years Mubarek is repeatedly re-elected supported by the USA to the tune of $1 billion a year most of which goes to supporting the military. Opposition politicians are arrested and jailed, there have been accusations of rigged elections and internal unrest grows.

The very interesting thing about the current protests is that they are not Islamic radical groups, it is not the omans stirring dissent it is a grassroots movement of people who need jobs and who want to live within a freer society.

We may very well be seeing a true Arab renaissance unfolding before our eyes. Watch closely.

Oh Joy, mail from my MP and my MLA today

Today’s mail brought me material from both my MLA and my federal MP.

To be honest I don’t get all that much mail from my MLA Sandra Morin so I was interested in what she had to say.  This is an election year in Saskatchewan and the prospect of facing the voters when your party leader  hasn’t yet taken the hint that he has to move on, must be a little daunting for her. I like Sandra and wish her luck.

Sandra is the Environment critic and  tells us that “In this spring Session beginning in March, I plan to introduce a private members bill to protect Saskatchewan Residents against oil sands toxins coming from Alberta.”

Well, I am sorry Sandra but, how the hell do you actually do that? Build a wall? Install big fans to work against the prevailing westerly’s?  That is one piece of legislation I’ll be keeping my eye out for.

On the other hand,  I get lots of mail from my MP, Tom Lukiwski. Tom is a classic Conservative postal spammer.

This week, as his party is about to risk being defeated in an effort to introduce tax cuts for corporate Canada, Tom-Boy is trying to convince me that “Our Conservative government has cut taxes more than 100 times since 2006 to help the typical Canadian family save $3000.00 every year.”

I have news for you Tom. Someone must have got my three grand because my taxes sure didn’t go down.  I don’t buy it.

Tom, who is pretty much useless and a mouthpiece for Stephen Harper must be a little worried this time around. He all but disappeared during the BHP potash debate and he has been pretty sparse with his support for the proposed new stadium here in Regina.

It was noticed.

I for one don’t want to see money spent on a new stadium but it is a big deal out here in “Rider Nation”. Tom’s lack of support has hit a chord with some of the red neck crowd. A friend sent me some posts from a talk radio site. Reading these I’d say Tom must be getting a bit edgy.

Baker58

I am very disappointed to say that I am going to change who I vote for in the next election. At least by voting for an opposition party they will make noise. Tom Lukiwski is in my riding and I have written a few emails to him and all I have received back is a prepared statement from some intern and a christmas card. Through this debate and through Potash Corp our representation has been a complete joke. I would rather have a guy who maybe I don't see eye to eye with all the time who will make some noise rather than some puppet who has to ask Harper which hand to wipe his *** with.

nearsight

Way to stand up for your constituents there Tom. It isn't his job to make sure the "government is fair to everyone". It's his job to make sure they are fair to Saskatchewan.
I love the fact that really, in two years, the first thing any of our MPs have said about this project has been very negative.

Lore

What were you expecting him to say? We all know that Conservative MPs aren't allowed to say anything unless Harper has his hand up their butt so they move their lips properly when Harper's voice comes out.

fergyrocks

13 MPs and what does it get you? Nothing. Screwed on equalization, and the stadium deal. I think these will be big issues in SK during the next election.

rider89ers

have to boot out Andrew Scheer, i heard he was one hell of a waiter before he got his great silent backbencher gig

Should be an interesting election  assuming the Liberals and the NDP don't chicken out again

.

Just Few Things I Noticed

IBB

I notice that Tony Clement was hinting yesterday that he might review the CRTC’s decision on Usage Based Billing. Then today it was reported that the Prime Minister Stephen Harper, remember him, never one to let a minister take positive credit if he can take it himself,  may be announcing that his cabinet may review the regulator’s decision.

I view this, along with all the renewed stadium talk to be a sign the PMO thinks an election is probably around the corner

The Budget

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is trying to cozy up to the NDP in an effort to win support for his new budget. He is offering targeted help for low income seniors in his upcoming budget.  The New Democrats have been asking for increases to the Guaranteed Income Supplement  for seniors and Flaherty just might deliver.

I have always argued to my friends who are starting to feel that the New Democrats are like some toothless tiger, that a strong voice on the left helps to shift government decisions in a more humane direction.

Meanwhile, the Liberals are demanding that the government roll back $6 billion in scheduled corporate tax cuts this year and the Bloc wants an extra $5 billion spent on various things or else they won’t support the budget.

This one must create a quandary for Jack Layton and his buddies.  He probably holds the balance of power.  You have to ask. Is tossing a few crumbs to seniors worth supporting tax cuts to corporate fat cats? 

I don’t think so.

I say take the buggers down but, perhaps that is just me.

In the end they all may blink and allow this sorry excuse for a government continue.

Saskatchewan Crown Bargaining

A group of unions representing employees at Saskatchewan Crown Corporation  say that they are banding together in a “Common Front” so get more power at the bargaining table. This group of unions wonder why, in the mist of that “boom” Premier Brad Wall is always boasting about, they are supposed to be satisfied with wage increases which would be inadequate even during tough economic times?  

One has to ask, “How can this government expect the employees who took a real hit when times were tough, to continue to get battered at the bargaining table during times when the economy is supposed to be booming.

 

It is because a Saskaboom isn’t like a boom in other provinces. It’s  a phony kind of boom. Mostly hype, little substance. Remember Saskatchewan still so small, that Ikea won't even consider building a store here. Some boom.

A Saskaboom is when a few high profile corporations and industry get rich and the rest of us try to make ends meet with what we have.

Either that of the Sask Party are just mean spirited.

Oh, I guess that must be it.

A Chance to Lobby Against Usage Based Internet Billing

Internet Service Providers  are about to impose usage-based billing on Canadians.

This means ISPs will charge per byte, the way they do with smart phones. If we allow this to happen, Canadians will have no choice but to pay much more, for less Internet. Big Canadian Telecom companies already gouge consumers for cell phone service, now they want to rip us off for our internet use and to to control the Internet market. 

These Big Telecom companies are forcing small competing ISPs to adopt the same pricing scheme, so that we have no choice but to pay these punitive fees.

This will crush innovative services, Canada's digital competitiveness, and your wallet.

We urgently need to send a clear message to Ottawa, saying that we won't stand by while some of the most profitable companies in the country indiscriminately add new fees to our Internet bills. Enough is enough.

 The Liberals and the NDP have now come out AGAINST Internet metering. We're winning, Canada - now onto the government in power!

Open Media has a petition I urge you to sign it.

Coalition Follow up

We all know that statistics are sent to drive us crazy so I was intrigued by an article I saw this morning about a  pool run by Postmedia and Global News.

The story basically told us that Canadians won't accept a coalition because 55% of Canadians prefer a minority government. So, the conclusion is - coalition bad.

On the other hand 63% of Canadians who bothered to vote, cast their ballots for a party other than the minority government in power. Somehow that is somehow seen as good.

Go figure. We have to start talking about proportional representation before my head explodes.

Perhaps we Should be Thinking Coalition

Time to Start Talking Boys

Interesting to read a piece in the Globe & Mail this morning, musing about coalitions.

Our Prime Minister is rabidly against them, with good reason I guess. He clings to power with the support of  around 37% of Canadians. Unless the opposition parties find some backbone this spring our broken, first past the post electoral system may put him into power once again but, what kind of democracy is that? A government which isn't supported by 63% of Canadians is hardly legitimate.

How did they get there in the first place? Peter McKay as leader of the Progressive Conservatives broke an agreement he made in order to win the leadership of that party. It took him about 24 hours to break the promise was that he would not merge the PCs with the Reform/Alliance Party. How legitimate is that. It speaks volumes about right wing political ethics.

On the other hand, if expedience is king in Federal politics , McKay was bright enough to see that until both of the right wing parties came together, there wasn't a hope of getting elected.

The Liberal and the New Democrat leadership could learn a lesson or two from that scenario. Lets quit all the bullshit and start talking. As a long term NDPer I years ago accepted that we are not going to win an election. But, I always felt that a strong voice from the left has made a difference and I am glad that we have been there.

Times change and Liberal fortunes have waned, the NDP are stuck where they have been for years and now it is the Conservatives that are running up the middle of the vote split. It is time for a new plan. A coalition of these two parties could put Canada back on track. Nothing is standing in the way but hubris.

Help out the Egyptian Situation

Historical events are unfolding in the middle east. First in Tunisia any now in Egypt. The people need our support. To get actively involved and send a message of solidarity please go to  this link
It will be appreciated. It is your chance to take part in this historical  change to politics in the middle east

Keep Media Honest Petition

Just as an update to my earlier post about the CRTC's intentions re truth in Journalism I thought I'd post this link to an on-line petition. It is called:
"Keep Canadian Media Honest - Don't Let The CRTC Deregulate Truth in Journalism" You can find it by following this link
I  agree with what this petition says, and I think you might
agree, too.  If you can spare a moment, have a look, and consider

Trickle Down Hoax

The Harper crowd is on the road again, this time to convince Canadians that what this country of ours needs more than anything else is, tax cuts to business. The move to reduce corporate taxes is right in line with solid Conservative economic thinking. The way it is sold to the voters is that when business is doing well, everyone is doing well. Keep business happy and we'll all be happy.

I just can't imagine how governments think that we, the taxpayers will, swallow this load of crap. The problem is, that this idea of trickle down prosperity is a hoax. It is a hell of a theory, it should work but it all falls apart because historically, business doesn't keep up its end of the bargain. Corporate owners and executives pocket the extra profits and laugh all the way to the bank. .
When times are tough workers are expected to accept increases that fall below the rate of inflation to help keep business afloat. When the economy gets back on track, no matter how well they are doing, business never seems to thank the employees for their help by increasing compensation willingly.
The same businesses Harper wants to reward with tax cuts are the same corporations who have shifted their production off shore putting their Canadian employees out on the street.
They under fund employees' pension plans, reduce staff and, increase workloads.

Harper tells us things are tough for business but consider this:

Canada’s best-paid 100 CEOs breezed through the worst of the recession with earnings 155 times higher than the average Canadian income earner, says a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

The study, Recession-Proof, looks at 2009 compensation levels for Canada’s best paid 100 CEOs and finds they pocketed an average of $6.6 million during the darkest period of the recession – a stark contrast from the total average Canadian income of $42,988.

“At this rate of reward, this handful of elite CEOs pocket the equivalent of the average Canadian wage by 2:30 pm on January 3 – the first working day of the year,” says the study’s author and CCPA Research Associate Hugh Mackenzie.

Does that sound fair to you?

Consider that in the 1950's government's tax income was split about 50 /50 between individual and corporate taxes. Today individuals carry the lion's share of the tax burden and if the Harper gang get their way, corporations will see their share decrease once again.

An on line CBC poll, which I know isn't the most accurate way to judge public opinion, shows that 75% of Canadians don't support this effort.

I'm going to write to the Prime Minister. I hope you do the same.

What if we had a Prime Minister who cared

The Terrible Trio

I have been thinking a lot about politics these days. We might just be moving into an election soon and all in all, it is pretty depressing.

As much as I dislike the Stephen Harper government I feel pretty secure that, as long as they stay as a minority, they cannot really make fundamental change to our country. They are moving in a direction I dislike and appealing to sensibilities I am uncomfortable with but, it is incremental and they can only go so far.

I think what bothers me though is what next? Would I be much happier with Michael Ignatieff. Truth be told I would probably feel a bit more comfortable but, some of my biggest battles over the decades have been against Liberals and Liberal policy.

And lets be honest. The NDP are not going to assume power. Why pretend? I Like a strong left leaning voice in Parliament but I am not sure that these days we even have that.


When it comes to elections the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for” always creeps out from the recesses of my mind.

All this has given me a bad case of the “What if’s”

Just imagine a Prime Minister with a real vision for Canada's role in the world.

So, what if our Prime Minister was a strong supporter of the peace movement?

Imagine a leader who re-established Canada’s role as a Peacekeeper instead of putting us on the front line of a shooting war. Working for peace doesn’t give you swagger but I’d trade a thoughtful, cerebral leader for one who likes playing dress-up with generals, in a heartbeat.

Lester Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize six years before becoming Prime Minister for his key role in developing the predecessor to the United Nations peacekeepers of today which helped to resolve the Suez Crisis between Israel and Egypt while he was working as a diplomat.

It was a good start but we’ve moved out of that track these last few decades.

What if our Prime Minister was an environmentalist?

On both coasts we are pumping raw sewage into our oceans, most of our electricity comes from coal fired power plants, fertilizers and pesticides are poisoning our ground water, sour gas is poisoning cattle and people and the tar sands projects have made our environmental targets impossible to meet.

Instead we support with billions of dollars Canadian, climate change producing, "ethical oil". Oil that isn't produced by cruel tyrannical political regimes. But just the same we get oil produced by the same oil companies that do support those regimes, but we'll just ignore that for now.

Just imagine a Prime Minister who instead of considering global warming left wing propaganda was prepared to stand up and say, “Ok business, we have to find ways to produce clean energy.” Someone who will say, “Yes, it will cost money but, for our future generations it has to be done.” Someone who would be prepared to make Canada’s environmental standards the highest in the world.”

What if we had a Prime Minister who believed in and supported our arts and culture. Someone who saw culture as more than a political opportunity, a gala at which, to the media’s delight, he could play a few bar on the piano?

Imagine a leader who saw the value of investing our tax dollars to support our writers, our poets, our artists and musicians instead of hockey rinks and business, business and more business.

What if we had a Prime Minister who understood that poverty, homelessness, desperation and crime are a part of the same equation. Some one who understood that the solution to that sticky problem is not, hiring more police officers.

What if we had a Prime Minister who believed that Canada should be a world leader in education and research?

What if we had a Prime Minister who valued democracy, human rights and transparency.

What if our Prime Minister was prepared to fix our broken electoral system

What if our prime Minister actually believed in and supported out public broadcaster.

What if the leader really believed in healthcare.

I could go on and on.

Ok, what would it give us?

To start with it would raise Canada’s reputation internationally. It would begin to help us start to rebuild our values and it would make me proud to be a Canadian once again. It could make us a great country. A world leader.

So Stephen, Michael, Jack and Gilles - well I guess not so much Gilles – if you want my support, there it is in a nutshell.

Don’t be afraid now. Give it a try.

CRTC Betrays Canadian Public Again

CRTC Chairman Konrad von Finckenstein

The news out of Ottawa this week is that the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is proposing a regulatory change that would give Canadian TV and radio stations what some are describing a  free reign to broadcast false and/or misleading news.

The regulations now prohibit broadcasters from putting any "false or misleading news” to air but apparently the commission thinks the ban is too onerous. 

The new proposed regulations propose a ban on the broadcast of “any news that the licensee knows is false or misleading and that endangers or is likely to endanger the lives, health or safety of the public.”

That of course would make it perfectly acceptable for a broadcaster or a reporter to make up the news and to put that news to air with impunity. As long as no one's health and safety was endangered. 

The CRTC quietly posted notice of the proposed change, which is slated to go into effect on Sept. 1, on its website last week. The commission has also limited the public's ability to respond to this proposed change. They will only be accepting comments from the public until Feb. 9.

You too can raise your objection to this very questionable decision at the CRTC Website. Scroll down until you get to 2011 - 14, The subject  is Call for comments on amendments to the Radio Regulations, 1986, Television Broadcasting Regulations,

I have lost count of how many CRTC hearings I have testified at over the years. I lost any faith I may have had in that bunch years ago.

I worked in television when the CRTC started to blur the lines between “news” and “public affairs” programming. As the definitions became more and more fuzzy, reporters and cameramen were assigned to an increasing number of what we used to call, “bobbing for apples” stories and away from the harder news which required extra time, cost a little more and for which some actual research might be required. Seasoned reporters found themselves working as purveyors of info-tainment instead of real news.

So, thanks to the CRTC, news today is less relevant that it once was and fewer reporters are out there working the beat. Now truth in news is going out the window. If you are looking for that elusive silver lining in this story, there may be more jobs for creative writers in broadcast news rooms in coming months. Researchers need not apply.

The timing of this decision, just a few months before a right wing Canadian  “FOX news style”  channel is preparing to go on the air is very interesting to say the least. This latest betrayal by the keepers of the “public airwaves” is probably the last nail in the coffin of broadcast news, such as it is.

A Naval Adventure

In 1962, when I was seventeen my high school suggested that I not bother coming back in the fall. They weren't teaching me a hell of a lot and I was fed up with the whole process so by some sort of mutual agreement, I moved on and joined the Royal Canadian Navy.

Three Frigates alongside in Halifax

After several months of ritual humiliation the armed forces calls basic training I was sent to serve on a Prestonian Class frigate, HMCS La Hulloise.

I remember turning up carrying  my two kit bags across the quarterdecks of other frigates. My ship was the third one in.  The La Hulloise looked well past its prime. In fact they all were. I had been hoping for a new destroyer escort  and I wasn’t all that impressed. As it turned out the old bucket of bolts had quite a history.

During the second world war it saw service pounding back and forth across the Atlantic, protecting convoys and on July 7, 1945  the La Hulloise along with two other Canadian warships, managed to sink German U-Boat 1302 in a depth charge attack in Georges Channel between Ireland and England. No mean feat considering how primitive the sonar was in those days.

Decommissioned after the war these old ships were eventually upgraded a bit and renamed Prestonian Class frigates in the 1950’s at put back into service.

So there I was, 18 years old, an Ordinary Seaman, un-trained and clearly at the bottom of the pecking order. We slept in the forward mess deck. Right above the sonar dome with its reeking smell of hydraulic fluid and the only thing between us and the pointy end was the paint locker which stunk of varsol and paint.

Not the most comfortable

We spend that first winter pounding around the North Atlantic, most of the time in anti-submarine exercises.  So I spend hour upon hour in the small sonar room with old bakalite headphones on listening to the reverberations echoing back to us, hearing the odd whale and to my memory never ever hearing the echo of a submarine contact despite the restrictions we put on the old Royal Navy Submarines that were acting as targets.

The rest of the time we did other meaningful things, like gunnery practice which didn’t really involve me and of course we scrubbed floors, polished brass, painted and took part in other navel activities.

The officers did other important things like learning how to sail the ships in a straight line. Sometimes one after another and sometimes in a straight parallel line.

I remember one afternoon we were in the Gulf Stream north of Bermuda and our squadron commander was putting the junior officers through these important drills choreographing things from one of the other ships. The seas were really rough and the ships were pitching heavily. When the bow of the ship next to us would come through a wave and pitch up, we could see right under the bow, back as far as the sonar dome. No wonder it was tough to sleep at night. Our messdeck was above that dome.

I was on watch as the lookout, standing on the upper bridge, exposed to the elements. The officers were all in the lower bridge, inside keeping warm and drinking coffee.

From where I was I could see that the constant pounding was beginning to tear away at some of the metal shielding which protected the gearing on the mechanism which was used to haul up the anchor chain. I dutifully reported all this to those in charge below. The deck officer was summoned and he came up to where I was and surveyed the damage.  He figured it had better be fixed quickly or even more damage would be done so, he summoned a few  able seamen, the ship was turned so the waves were not coming head on and once we had stabilized, the crew along with the deck officer went up to the fosc’le to repair the damage as best they could and lash everything down.

Meanwhile the squadron commander, a pompous old begger, looked over and saw that our ship was no longer sailing parallel to the others. He immediately got on the ship to ship radio and tore a strip off the officer of the watch who panicked and immediately turned the ship back into the wind and told the engine room to put on a bit more speed to get us back in line as soon as possible.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. The revs on the prop cranked up and the ship turned to starboard. The bow rose high into the air and the fo'c'sle plunged down deep into the next wave.

When the spray cleared, there was no one on the forward end.  I ran over and started yelling into the tube of brass that was our intercom system and we quickly turned back to port and a more stable course.

Incredibly no one went over the side. The deck officer was picked up and slammed into a bulkhead hurting his back and a couple of others were washed down the deck scrambling and grasping for anything to hold on to. That is the most frightening feeling. I know how they felt,  it has happened to me a few years later. But, they were ok.

The last guy was slammed into and the force of the wave pushed him across the heavy gearing on the capstan. He was cut up, quite badly.

La Hulloise at Sea

There were no doctors on those ships, just a medical assistant, a leading seaman with basic medical training and a knowledge of first aid. His advice to the captain was that we head for the nearest post and get our guy stitched up properly. The squadron commander said “No.”  We were on important exercises.

That night in sickbay the injured and delirious seaman tore off his bandages and ripped out stitches. By mid day were turned south and steamed toward St Georges, Bermuda where our buddy was taken off by helicopter and rushed to the hospital in the American air base there.

I ran into him months later. He still was in quite a bit of pain and more than a little bitter. He left the navy after his first term was up.

There was no inquiry. I guess it was all put down to unpredictable seas. No one ever asked for my version of events and I am the only one who saw it all happen.

So don’t bother asking why I don’t have any faith in military leadership, why I seldom believe what they say and why I don’t trust them much at all.

Been there, Did that. Wasn’t impressed

Just Sayin'

I don't want to get pulled too far into the Sarah Palin website controversy and her response to the criticism of her but I thought Michael Moore put it well when he said:

If a Detroit Muslim put a map on the web with crosshairs on 20 politicians, then one of them got shot, where would he be sitting right now? 
Just asking.

Saskaboom not Quite What Some Claim

Living here in Saskatchewan I am getting more than a bit tired of all the talk about the economic boom we are living through. I lived in Calgary during the booming early 80's and believe me, the Saskaboom is quite different. 

By anyone’s terms, Saskatchewan is still small potatoes compared to the big boys.

Sure we have lots of oil and gas, our own, yet to be developed, tar sands, potash, uranium and of course diamonds. And, if agriculture was as bad as the farmers would like us to think, no one would be still in the game. So, according to the government and the newspapers things are really cooking but, truth be known, it is bubbling away  in a pretty small pot.

Things may be percolating over at WalMart but I still can't get an Ikea Stornas/Henriksdal dining room set without driving to Calgary. Boom or not, Saskatchewan is too small for Ikea to even think about opening up an outlet.  

This week, in the midst of our so called boom,  Standard & Poors downgraded their outlook on the City of Regina from stable to negative. I don't know a hell of a lot about the language used by financial ratings organizations but even "stable" doesn't sound very good to me. To me "stable is not all that many steps away from "on life support", but what do I know.

Regina’s Mayor, Pat Fiacio got elected on a cut spending/no new taxes campaign and true to form he tried to beat up the city's workers and held the line on taxes. He and his pro-development council have approved ugly and sprawling new housing developments and shopping centres but have done very little to maintain what we already have. Roads are so badly made it is like riding a roller coaster just driving to work, we  still don't have curbside recycling, residents complain that street lights take months to be replaces after they burn our and the snow removal is so spotty residents living off bus routes have to hire contractors to clear snow from their street. 

Now the city faces a deficit of $238,000,000 to the Civic Employees Superannuation and Benefit Plan and there is a infrastructure debt of almost $1.5 billion in the 10 year capital plan.

Lets bring back a much needed small dose of reality to all this. I heart Regina too Pat but, in my books, you are all booster, no boom.

Time to Chill

I know there are differing opinions about this but in my mind, the blame for the tragedy in Arizona which killed several people and severely injured Gabrielle Giffords sits directly at the feet of those who have ramp up the rhetoric about the political differences between left and right or, what is the US is really between the middle and the right. I don’t really think any self respecting left-winger could actually get elected in that country.

Has political rhetoric gone too far? As Sarah Palin might say if she was a thinking person, “You betcha.” But of course Sarah is all about being cranky and plays a larger than life role as a right-wing cheerleader. You probably know this already but her website, until a very short time ago had a map of the USA posted there with gun sight images over states that she suggested should be targeted by Republicans. One of those “targeted” was Ms. Giffords.

I am not suggesting for a moment that Ms. Palin was suggesting that the Democrat be “targeted” in the manner she was but the imaginary is chilling.

Could we end up in the same place here in Canada?

There is a difference but in recent years the rhetoric from the Harper camp, and others, has been building exponentially. Most of us are disgusted by it but a cross section of the population buys in.

Generally, Canadians don’t think it is acceptable to carry around concealed weapons or to have the unfettered right to purchase handguns but, if you took the time to scratched a little bit below the surface during the Gun Registry debate, like me, you would have been shocked.   You don’t have to take my word for it. Try a few web searches. There are some real crazies here too.

So, let’s take a deep breath and let’s hope our American friends do the same. Time to chill a bit.

What a Way to Spend a Saturday Night

This all seemed like a good idea when we ran into Will Chabun from the Leader Post at the Fieldhouse at some point before Christmas and he told us he was planning to spend an evening working at the Bodega's Ice Bar. "Its for a good cause" he said. "It is a fund raiser and all proceeds go to Transition House." 


Eric thought, "You know, our Friday Night Floor Hockey team could do that" and before we could say "Vanilla vodka" we were committed.


So, we dropped in for a drink. We got tips from Will about how to dress for an evening outside, tending a bar made completely of ice. We stood chatting around the fire and Will  Chabun got a column out of it. 


The Ice Bar was built by Peter Fogerty and sits inside the courtyard at La Bodega, probably my favorite Regina restaurants. La Bodega's owner, Adam Sperling has the ice bar built every winter and all the money raised from the bar goes to Transition House, which provides safe refuge for women and children affected by violence. It has been the ice bar's charity of choice for the fourth straight year 


In advance of all this we dug up all our warmest clothes and we monitored the extended forecast  day by day and things looked good - warming up - perhaps some light flurries - light wind - then, just our luck, Saturday arrived along with snow, strong winds and minus 15 with a wind chill that brought it below - 25. In a word "cold."


Yvette did the first shift, Eric and Donna were there all evening and Shelley and I worked from 8:00 to Midnight. No doubt about it it, there was a chill in the air but, we had a lot of fun.

Friends dropped by, Anne and Dave brought cookies, customers dropped in telling us they come every year because it is so much fun and one women came to have her picture taken at the bar because she was flying to Mexico the next day and wanted to show everyone around the pool how we do it in Canada.


At some point a limo pulled up and 16 young women in high heels  and higher spirits swooped into the bar for a shot of vodka - we obviously were't their first stop. They were all in short sleeve tops, no coats and having a ball. Eighty dollars later out they went, whooping and hollering, back to the limo and on to the next bar.


By the time midnight rolled around we were pretty damn cold but as we warmed up in the restaurant we felt pretty good about the fact that we'd raised over $700.


Just as the feeling was starting to come back to my toes Eric said, "You know, maybe we should do this again in February."  I must have been in shock from the hyporthermia because before I could stop myself I answered, "Sure Eric, lets."


If you can't make it to the ice bar this winter but still want to support Transition House you can donate on line through their website.

I thought I was Cynical

I always find it interesting when the "law and order" Harper government acts as though they are above the law and ignores its own rules and regulations. Particularly when they wrote the rules themselves.

The government developed rules around websites which would make the line between what is government information and what is party propaganda fairly clear. The rules which only came into effect in 2009, set standards for government websites to make sure that they are credible, technically accessible, uniform and non-partisan. Then along came the economic downturn and the Economic Action Plan and any notion of things being non-partisan flew out the window.

Remember those times? Harper's communications people got busy setting up photo-ops with Tory MPs handing out oversized cheques with Conservative logos plastered all over them as often as they could. The re-announced funding for projects that had been trundled out months before. It was enough to make even the most cynical government watcher’s stomach turn over.

Well included in that orgy of partisanship was their flag ship Economic Action Plan website. It was as you might imagine, knowing these guys, a pretty flashy thing complete with lots and lots of photographs of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Canadian Press reports that senior civil servants advised the government before it went up that the website violated their own rules and that there was no way justify bending those rules to exempt the government in this case.

Any Prime Minister who thinks it is justified to shut down Parliament at whim isn’t about to be deterred by a few regs. He made sure it was approved anyway. It was pretty simple. He had Treasury Board President Vic Toews ignore the rules and give the project the go ahead using a lame excuse about their intentions to change to rules soon anyway. Of course they haven't. They can't afford the criticism.

These guys just don’t get it. Come on Canada. They have to go.

My Sentiments Exactly

Banksy says it all