Tim Hudak - Too wishy washy to lead Ontario?

Tim Hudak wants to be the next Premier of Ontario, desperately so by all appearances.  Canada is caught up in something of a Conservative wave right now, and Hudak looks eager as hell to cash in and grab the mantle of power at Queens Park.

But on important issues such as wind power Hudak needs to provide some clarity and do better than wavering weak rhetoric.  Polls show Ontarians are overwhelmingly supportive of green energy programs like wind power...but with that being said its fair game to oppose wind farms. 

The question is, with Ontario being a leader in the manufacture of wind turbines...How do the Tories propose to replace all the jobs being created given their campaing pledge to axe the program?  We in this province are at the forefront of a burgeoning industry, something I thought Conservatives would be supportive of.

It definitely has this voter thinking twice about Hudak, and I'm a voter who has voted for Ontario's Conservatives in the past.  

And the flip flopping wishy washiness doesn't stop there.  On abortion the PC leader says he favours the status quo, this despite signing a petition just a couple years back to withdraw public funding.  Then there's the Ontario Human Rights Commission, one day he's all for abolishing it, now he says he just wants to fix it.  

Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals haven't done a perfect job, no government ever does.  But if you want to replace them you have to do more than alter the campaign script every time your audience changes.  These are challenging time and leadership matters.  

Turbines need to move with the direction of the wind, but politicians doing the same end up looking weak and indecisive. 

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Feeling a bit depressed and needing a lift, Church revived my spirit

Its been an eventful couple of past weeks for this blogger readers, since I last updated my little corner of cyber space I celebrated yet another birthday, my 45th. But that's not the reason for my recent funk, at least not directly.

I'm currently situated in Kingston Ontario, and travel back to the Toronto area most weekends to see my father, my kids and my girlfriend. The past two weeks however provided me with a much appreciated break as the course I'm on shut down for a fortnight.

Wanting to give my kids a super holiday I rented a place here in the Limestone City and had them with me for seven full days, ending this past Friday. My girlfriend spent most of the week here as well, and on Sunday almost the whole clan came down for a get together. The Princess Raspberry and I even baked a cake, with a little help from a guy named Duncan.

Old Fort Henry, swimming almost every day, playing some hoops with Buddy basketball star, hikes to the lake, catching fireflies. What reason would I have to be depressed? None, well not until this past Friday at least. After having breakfast my ex came to pick up the kids, which is super of her, I'm glad we're getting along well.

But then, I was alone, and that's when a bit of depression set in. Being a divorced father is tough, especially when you're away from your kids. Friday night I was back in my room, no Honey Bunny to read 'The Secret Garden' to before tucking her into bed. No games of cribbage with the big guy before hitting the sack, just me and my thoughts.

Saturday to keep busy I took a long walk downtown , about 3 hours in total just shuffling around. Kingston has a number of beautiful old churches, and that's when I decided that a little worship time might just be what the doctor ordered.

Now, dedicated readers of this blog will likely be aware that I'm not big on religion. But with that being said I think my writings do give evidence to a strong spiritual side every now and again. Those of the fundamentalist persuasion will view me as something of a heretic given that I don't consider the Bible to be the irrefutable and undeniable word of God. As a matter of fact I don't even believe in the Trinity or in as Jesus as Lord. What I do believe in is a Higher Power, and calling that power God is acceptable to me given the limitations of human language.

So how does a heathen such as myself find peace and comfort in a Christian church service? I'll tell you.

One of the scripture readings yesterday was from Mathew, it was the story about the loaves of bread and the fishes. Readers of the Bible will know it well, thousands had gathered to hear Jesus teach and to be healed. Later Jesus' disciples came to their teacher and said the crowd was hungry, and Jesus instructed them to bring what food they had to him. It totalled five loaves of bread and two fishes, (or the other way around, it doesn't really matter though). The food was distributed to the multitude and all were fed with and abundance left over.

A miracle? Maybe, but personally I don't believe it, something doesn't need to be miraculous to have meaning. Probably some exaggeration from where I sit, that or a hidden cache of extra food. But miracle or not, the story still has spiritual meaning.

What this passage says to me, and the point the pastor drove home with his sermon, is that God provides. God, the Higher Power, (chose your own definition) is both a part of us and all around us.

Life throws things at us we don't expect, in my case divorce, for others it might be a death, job loss...life can be stressful. As stressful as trying to feed thousands with only enough for food for two or three.

The peace I walked away with Sunday morning was the peace that comes from knowing I'm not alone, that I'm part of something much bigger. Instead of being depressed about being alone, I rejoiced in the time I had with my kids, with more plans for the future.

Those of us who identify ourselves as progressive and liberal also tend toward being very humanistic and secular a lot of the time. That's all well and good, but sometimes religion can provide a much needed boost and a tonic for a depressed spirit.

It beats Prozac.

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IQT client Bell Canada should step up and help affected workers

Hundreds of Canadian workers should not be left in the lurch by the sudden closing of call centres in Trois-Rivières, Laval, and Oshawa. 

According to an on-line news article in the The Tennessean:

"The affected call center employees performed customer and technical help services for Bell Canada".  (READ IT HERE)

This is how the call centre industry works.  Companies like Bell Canada outsource their telemarketing to third party service bureaus like IQT, by doing so they avoid having to pay employees directly and have the flexibility to expand and contract telemarketing activity at reduced cost and bottom line risk.

But Bell Canada has a moral obligation to partner itself with companies that operate with integrity in my opinion, something they obviously didn't do in hiring IQT.  Now its  time for Bell to step up and help those workers left in the lurch by their business partner, and the same holds true for other IQT clients.

Companies that owe monies to IQT should divert any remittances to the affected workers first, and should give consideration to ever using IQT's services again. 



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The Tea Party movement - Defending the undertaxed from the overtaxed

Although the debt ceiling crisis playing out in Washington is an American concern, it is an issue with huge ramifications here in Canada and across the world. 

American historian Bernard Berenson is credited with this famous quote:

"Governments last only as long as the under taxed can defend themselves against the overtaxed". 

The wisdom of that statement is playing out right now as the U.S. rushes head long with August 2nd when they will hit their legislated debt ceiling of $14.3 trillion.  The Obama administration is putting pretty much everything on the table in terms of cuts to government and social programs to bring the debt under control.  That's the carrot for the so called Tea Party element of the Republican party, champions of the Libertarian ideal of smaller government.

The stick is increases to taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans and a closing of loop holes that allow both individuals and corporations to  avoid paying taxes they would otherwise incur.  Somehting to which Tea Party advocates are adamantly opposed. 

That is the beauty of the Tea Party movement.  America's über-rich have trailer park conservatives convinced that asking the wealthy to contribute their fair share is somehow un-American.  The argument is the affluent already do their bit by contributing to wealth creation through investment and hiring.  Increasing or requiring taxes on the wealthy will discourage investment and job creation, that's the argument being put forth.

I for one don't buy it. 

Increased taxation on those most able to afford it would likely mean lower bonuses, decreased dividends, a trimming of massive net worths for a very small percentage of those most able to afford it.  The benefits of increased taxation on millionaires  and billion dollar companies on the other hand would be enormous.

For the economy it would signal to the world that America's wealthy elite are serious about helping their government get itself on solid fiscal  footing.  But sadly I don't think the über-rich are that patriotic.  Its been said by many before me that money knows no nationality, the same can be said by those who possess it. 

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