Category: politics

This was a free magazine distributed to all the downtown businesses and restaurants. Unfortunately, it appeared the Day after the Election. I might have had a better chance if it appeared earlier.

Ottawa Citizen, October 18, 1977, the Day after TV was introduced into the House of Commons for the 1st Time. Even though it was 34 years ago, they’re still debating the same issues Today in a less civil way. It just goes to show the Truth of the old adage ‘The more things change, the more they remain the same.’

The following CBC report is by former news reporter Peter Kent, now Canadian Minister of the Environment.

Picture from The Ottawa Citizen, Saturday, September 1, 1984 ‘Fringe candidates add color, little challenge in campaign’

Once again the people have the opportunity to make a judgment and render a verdict on the performance their government and how they exercise power – it’s actions compared to it’s words. The People often forget it’s their power, and we only lend it to the politicians to see how they will use it to promote the Common Good for all the People in the Commonwealth of CanaDa.

I ran for the Seat of Ottawa-Centre as an Independent twice in my life. The 1st time was in 1984 when it cost $200 to register as a Candidate for Parliament. The last time I ran in 1997, it cost $1000 to register.

The 1st time in 1984 was on a sudden impulse. I knew I didn’t stand a chance having no money, no organization or volunteer campaign workers. I had just come into a very small inheritance upon the death of my earthly father and put it all into the campaign.

What made me run was for the symbolic reason of  George Orwell’s book ‘1984.’ We are way beyond 1984 and there is no doubt the language has changed so much since then. My campaign vision was God, Country, Peace, Love, Freedom and the legalization of Marijuana.  People are concerned with earthly matters, money and things.  The earthly mind cannot grasp Spiritual Vision.

I was pleased to see the Marijuana Party come into existence after that election having nothing to do with it’s creation as a Political Party. I could drop that from my campaign and focus on the Spiritual Vision.

The last time I ran as an Independent for Ottawa-Centre in the General Election of 1997 I was concerned with more earthly matters, government corruption in high places. I was sick of reading about big money changing hands with people who already had big money at the expense of the worker barely surviving from pay to pay.

In the 1997 election neither the news media nor the Opposition talked about government corruption. It was not an issue for the people, probably because the media did not make it one. It did become THE ISSUE in the following election.

I did have better financing for the 1997 campaign because local small business owners that knew me donated money so it didn’t cost anything out of my pocket, not even the $1000 registration fee.

That time I had campaign literature printed at below cost from Magic Reproductions, a local Print Shop that enabled me to distribute 20,000 copies in the riding.

In the literature I called for minority government and we have had an unprecedented 3 consecutive minority governments in CanaDa since then. I also called for change long before anyone heard of Obama. I called for Democracy and I am so pleased to see discussion of it as an issue in this election. As a matter of fact, while I didn’t win the Seat, all the issues that concerned me and causing me to run are now at the top of the agenda.

1997 Campaign Literature

Electors of Ottawa Centre,

The race continues to convince you to put your trust, power and money into the hands of the Liberal, Conservative, Reform or New Democratic Party. They call themselves Parties because whoever forms the government decides who gets how much of your money. And do they party!

Who among you can afford $700 on lunch for two? Who among you can fly to some luxury tropical resort in the dead of winter for some obscure conference? They know how to spend your money on themselves and the many parties they attend or give in government service. After you pay your rent, hydro, telephone, mortgage and other basic living expenses, do you have money left over to party with friends?

The news media are asking why the Liberal Party is calling an expensive election now? It’s a majority government, and they have a year and a half left in their mandate. They are running on their record of four budgets. Many provisions of those budgets do not kick in until after June 2. That’s when the s . . . will hit the fan! They want five more years of power before it hits you.

The Liberals will claim they got a handle on the deficit. They did put many Ottawa residents out of work, but they transferred and downloaded the deficit to the provinces, who are downloading it to the cities, who are putting it on you. After the June election, it will hit you like you never realized while they were doing it.

Politicians count on voters having short memories. What was the emphasis of the Liberals in the last election? Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Scrapping the GST! Do you remember them emphasizing Deficit Reduction? That became the priority after they had your power. They had the gall to pounce on Kim Campbell when she had the honesty to say there would be no improvements in the job picture until the year 2000. They said, “not under a Liberal government!” You bought it. It turns out she was telling the Truth, and the Liberals couldn’t deliver. The Political Parties will say and do anything to get control of spending your money.

There are valid and important issues in this election. In various forms, fees, and taxes, government takes over half of the money the average worker earns. Do the people work for government, or does government work for the people? Does the compact government has with business exist to serve the people, or do we exist to serve government and business? These fundamental questions are unlikely to be discussed by the parties – unless you make them issues they must respond to. That is the power you have for now, if you use it wisely during the remaining days of this shortest election campaign since 1910. It is short so that the people do not have time to think of the deeper issues and questions begging to be answered.

Jean Chretien, the little guy from Shawinigan, is related by marriage to one of the wealthiest families in Canada. In the last Parliament, the Liberals passed a tax measure that had the effect of transferring $2 billion in taxes, Canada’s rich were supposed to pay here, to the United States treasury. Rich Canadians having a minimum of $1 million in property in the U.S., upon their death, had to pay U.S death taxes. The Liberal’s tax law allows those taxes paid to the U.S., to be claimed as a tax credit on Canadian taxes. That doesn’t include the $2billion tax giveaway to the Bromphman family when they moved their wealth to the U.S. What an insult to the average working Canadian. What blind arrogance when the poorest and weakest among us have to bear the brunt of that $2 billion tax break for the rich. Brunt of it coming soon to middle class neighbourhoods everywhere after this election.

In today’s climate of downsizing, governments are divesting of public assets funded by your grandparent’s taxes they paid when they were young. DeHaviland Aircraft was sold to U.S. Boeing Aircraft for $90 million. Months later, your government gave a free grant of $170 million to Boeing for safety upgrades to plant facilities. Boeing managed the plant for 2 years, then threatened to close it. The federal and Ontario governments, along with Bombardier as a partner, bought it back from Boeing for $500 million. Is that a good deal with your money? It was your money. Your government in the last 6 months gave almost $500 million of your dollars to Bombardier on the promise of payback if Bombardier makes a profit with DeHaviland and Canadair. That’s a lot of health care and other services ordinary people need. The full effects won’t be felt until after the election. Small business employs more workers than big business.

The Air Canada giveaway was another sweet deal for some industrialists or brokerage House. Your government offered it for sale in two parts. The 1st part brought in about $345 million. This was after the $1.6 billion Airbus purchase. The taxpayers who paid for Air Canada didn’t even see that money returned to the treasury for their investment. It was used to pay down Air Canada’s debt. All of Air Canada, planes, maintenance facilities, buildings, property, trucks, computers and other valuable assets were sold for $375 million. Canadians should have been outraged at the time. To put this in another perspective, compare Air Canada’s value to the Liberal government just buying the Pearson Airport Terminal for $719 million, plus $178 million in related costs. That is the Public Trust. The opposition parties should have raised the roof of the House. High placed Liberals & Conservatives are involved in Pearson Airport deals.

In 1968, at 24, my pay package was $25,000 a year. That bought the things that require $100,000 in today’s dollars. In 1975, I held a position with the title, National Marketing Representative, Mining Division, Dominion Engineering Works, Ltd. I sold million $ machines to the mining industry. I soon realized no company would open a mine in Canada and pay workers $25/hr in pay and benefits, when they could mine the Third World and pay the workers $5 a day with no benefits. My logic and reason told me if this was happening to basic resources in 1975, it would not be long before other manufactured products and jobs would go the same route. It started as U.S.-Canada free trade, then U.S.-Canada-Mexico free trade, and now globalization of the economy.

Thirteen years ago, I ran as an Independent candidate for the seat of Ottawa Centre. The people chose Brian Mulroney. You must decide for 1997 and the hereafter. I want to represent you in the next Parliament of Canada. It is my opinion this election is the most important in our Nation’s history. The issue for me in this election is whether the people will find their job creating a True Democracy, or continue in a theory of democracy that is in reality, a Plutocracy.

Webster’s dictionary defines that as A class in a community that controls the government by it’s wealth. With your help and support, I would like to participate in reclaiming The House of Commons for the common people and the common good, first in Ottawa Centre, and later, The Commonwealth of Canada. No political party in this race will offer you that alternative.

Not one party leader will talk to you about true democracy. The goal of democracy is a country where all the people feel empowered and integral to the function of the state. Today we have the technology to implement direct democracy. You have a bank card with a pin number. Every voter could have a personal voter number. That could be an incentive for ordinary people to take an interest in politics on a daily basis. If jobs are being eliminated, politician’s jobs should be on the table as well. In my view, a good political or religious leader should be speaking themselves out of a job of preeminence.

The theory of democracy, as it is practised, allows you to vote every 3-5 years. Voting is the only time all the people are equal. The politicians come to the common people for their vote. Once the government is in power, they do what they want without consulting you. There is no business conducted in the House of Commons, but for voting on legislation the government brings down. A party MP has no more power to control finances or policy than I would as your Independent member. Power is with cabinet ministers and their un-elected aides. That business is exercised in private offices, fine restaurants, hotel suites, or mansions of the wealthy. The public does not see it. Party backbench members are there to make the PM and cabinet members and other party leaders look good on TV.

From what I experienced, and the direction the economy was taking, I stood up on the Sparks Street Mall in 1977 to speak my vision. I believed in a democracy, anyone could do that if they didn’t have money to advertise and rent halls. Some of you may have been witness to those events. Large crowds gathered, and were growing. Unfortunately, I could never finish my speech. The police would stop my speaking and arrest me for “shouting, causing a disturbance.” This happened 10 or 12 different days, as the crowds grew, interested in my vision. I was convicted, given a 1 day suspended sentence, and 1 year probation with only one condition typed in, “not to attend on the Sparks Street Mall, or any other street in the City of Ottawa, for the purpose of speaking or shouting.” Can you believe that could happen to anyone in a True Democracy?

The defenders of democracy sitting in the House were aware of it. It made the papers and news big time. Jean Chretien was Minister of Justice. Surely, some of his aides read the papers? How could those words, the letter of the law, be put on anyone in a democracy? I waited for any MP to come forward and say, “Wait a minute! This is not right.” Silence. So there would be no excuse for pleading ignorance, on the 1st day of television in the House of Commons, I sat quietly in the visitor’s gallery wearing a gag over my mouth with the words written, FEAR OF THE TRUTH. I was violently ejected. It made the papers, and they all knew about it. It is marked in time, and cannot be altered. That is why I do not trust this government. I was sent to prison for 30 days for breach of that probation, and went on a 21 day hunger fast, protesting such blatantly undemocratic state intervention.

With experience as a small businessman, I will pursue banking and tax reform that will benefit not only business, but all the people. I would also like to bring about electoral reform so that the common people have more influence than the big banks and multi-national corporations. We cannot consider ourselves truly free if the financial and emotional costs continue to rise.

The residents of Ottawa Centre have shown themselves in the past to be politically astute. The choice for you this time is the way it’s been, or taking the 1st step on a 10,000 mile journey . An Independent has never been elected in Ottawa Centre since Confederation. It would be the biggest political upset in Canada, and the loudest possible signal demanding change. The government would have to listen, and hopefully, a minority government.

Canada’s unity struggle is rooted on the Plains of Abraham. We cannot be blind to what is happening in the rest of the world. The peace process could collapse between the Israelis and Palestinians in the Old World Plains of Abraham. What we do in the New World could make the difference. The popes of Rome exercised almost absolute political power in Europe for 1000 of the last 2000 years. They didn’t get it right in all that time. We must get back on track to a kinder, gentler society. Enough of this leaner, meaner business! This is a National goal larger than any one person or term of Parliament.. This time, your vote will count – for a change.

The Peace process did collapse after that election and is not back on track yet which is a present danger for the whole world.

This was written 14 years ago and times do change. Canadian voters know power corrupts and no matter what the Party name is, big money changes hands behind the scenes. Canadians understand while Brian Mulroney was caught holding a bag of cash, he is not the 1st or the last to succumb to the temptation of  access to big time cash unknown by the Public and Taxman.

Jesus was tempted by that when the Devil brought him up to a high mountain showing him all the Riches, the Power and the Glory of this world.

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward very hungry.
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If you BE the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple,
And sad to him, If you BE the Son of God, jump off: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning you: and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone.
Jesus said to him, It is written again, You shalt not tempt the Lord your God.
Again, the devil took him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
And said to him, All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.
Then Jesus said to him, Get outta here, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.
Then the devil left him, and, behold, angels came and ministered to him. 

Matthew 4:1-11

The Devil took him up into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple the Book confirms. Imagine that! Is that the same Devil God commanded  “save” the life of Job so many centuries earlier?

In their wisdom, the Canadian voter banished the Liberals to a period in the wilderness of the Opposition for some soul searching, no longer being in government, and able to issue the cheques and rightly so.

We have had five years to watch Stephen Harper abandon every principle he committed to in seeking power, and the hands in the cookie jar now are Conservative. Getting away with it in a Minority government, is not a good sign for the possibilities with a Majority Conservative government.

The Canadian taxpayer reimbursed every Conservative Candidate that claimed the expense of the National Conservative Party Advertising as a local expense even though they didn’t actually spend that money as a legitimate expense in their Local election campaign. That actual un-prosecuted Fraud is over and above the Law the Conservatives broke in National advertising spending beyond the limits set by Elections Canada.

Personally, I would like to see every conservative Member who went along with the in-out affair charged with Fraud against the Canadian Taxpayer because that’s what it is. They took money they were not entitled to breaking the Law of The Land. So much for the squeaky clean Conservatives.

While Harper inherited the Afghanistan war, most NATO countries did not participate in the military action in Afghanistan and there is no compelling reason Canada should incur the $millions to undertake military action in Libya when most NATO Countries are so much closer to the arena of war in their backyard. It may be nothing more than Harper liking to be included among the Big Boys Club.

I think it is wrong to commit  Canadians to paying $30 billion or more for the most expensive weapons of mass destruction the world has produced to date, the F-35 fighter. There is so much need for infrastructure building and other programs to lift up the ordinary worker-taxpayer surviving from pay to pay.

Feeling strongly about this issue, I sent the following to Harper and the other Party Leaders. It is only sole sourced to reduce the unit costs for the Americans. There are other jet fighters available totally adequate for Canadian needs at a fraction of the cost.