CFRU Federal Election Radio – Live from The Albion on Election Night

CFRU 93.3fm Federal Election Radio will be broadcasting live from The Albion, Downtown Guelph from 9.00 p.m. till Midnight on Federal General Election Night, October 14, 2008.

Come on down to join the fun or listen live at CFRU 93.3fm or www.cfru.ca!

Get Informed, Get Engaged, Vote on October 14th!

Candidate Interviews – Green Mike Nagy on CFRU

The Green Party Candidate, Mike Nagy, joined us on CFRU on August 28th as part of the by-election campaign.

The Guelph Mercury announced on Thursday morning that they were endorsing Nagy as the best choice for Guelph.

“…The Guelph riding would be best served by choosing an equally distinctive voice in the next Parliament, and that voice can be found in the veteran federal candidate Mike Nagy,

…the economy and the environment are not mutually exclusive, and of all the Guelph candidates, Nagy has best grasped that.

Mike Nagy has a solid vision of green-job creation here, and a complex understanding of local and national environmental issues.

…Think of a Nagy mantra: vote for what you really want.”

Listen to the interview here:

Candidate Interviews – Liberal Frank Valeriote on CFRU

Frank Valeriote, the Liberal candidate joined us on Federal Election Radio on August 28th.

Listen to the interview here:

Candidate Interviews – New Democrat Tom King on CFRU

Tom King, the New Democratic Party candidate joined us on Federal Election Radio for an interview on September 4th.

This was lots of fun. Wish we could have had him back to do it all again.

Listen to the interview here:

Candidate Interviews – Marijuana Party Candidate Kornelis Klevering

Marijuana Party candidate Kornelis “Brother Case” Klevering joined us in the studio on October 9th for a relaxing chat about his party’s policies.

Brother case clearly demonstrates the benefit of having the fringe parties in the election.

A fun interview. Definitely worth another listen.

Listen to the interview here:

Candidate Interviews – Independent John Turmel

The independent candidate John “Anti-poverty Engineer” Turmel joined us by phone on CFRU on October 9th.

You admire his passion although sometimes you wonder if he’s actually listening to you!

At the end of the interview you can also enjoy James Gordon’s scathing critique in song of the bottled water industry, “Scam of the Century”. It was too good to cut it off.

Listen to the interview here:

The Show – October 9

The final Federal Election Radio show of the federal general election campaign, hosted by Jan Andrea Hall and Emory Davis.

Kyle “the Numbers Guy” Mackie joined us in the first hour to discuss some of the latest developments in the campaign.

A Liberal full-page advertisement on the back of the Ontarion came in for some serious criticism. The ad features a poll for Guelph from the strategic voting website, voteforenvironment.ca that purports to show a tight race in Guelph between the Conservative, Gloria Kovach and Liberal, Frank Valeriote with the Tory just out in front.

Unfortunately the figures the Liberals decided to use are not a true poll at all but according to Joseph Angalono, Frank Valeriote’s media guy, a “predictive poll of the current situation based on the actual 2006 numbers with regional poll trends from one of the polling companies for this campaign”.

This is all highly misleading.

The voteforevironment.ca website is questionably non-partisan. The website was developed by Kevin Grandia, a well-known liberal activist to encourage people to vote strategically to defeat Stephen Harper’s tories.

Looking at the scope of the site it is clear that it was not cheap to put together. Although the site will occasionably recommend voting for an NDP candidate in a particular constituency, the rest of the time it recommends voting for the Liberal. Needless to say, they never recommend voting for a Green.

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

A clear attempt to steer progressives to voting for the Liberals.

Its very disappointing to see the Guelph Liberals using scare tactics to try and ensure that they retain the seat.

The fact that the Guelph Mercury has endorsed Mike Nagy, the Green Party candidate is a clear indication that this campaign in this city still some way to run.

Our recommendation is vote with your heart, vote for who best represents your values.

Don’t follow the recommendations of strategic voting sites. They are highly unlikely to be non-partisan even if they claim to be so.

Later in the first hour Kornelis Klevering, the Marijuana Party candidate joined us for a chat about his campaign. The very persistent Independent candidate, John Turmel also joined us on the phone in the second half for a chat to deliver his own take on what ails our economy.

Both these interviews are worth a listen. I’ll post them separately from the show later.

Listen to the show here:
Part 1

Part 2

The Graduate Students Debate at the U of G

This is the audio for The U of G Grad Students Debate at the U of G. Seven of the 10 candidates standing in the federal election were present. Philip Bender (Libertarian Party of Canada), Manuel Couto (Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada) and Drew Garvie (Communist Party of Canada) were absent.

It’s a short debate at 40 minutes but still worthwhile as it focuses on the issues of university research, academic freedom and the need for better protection for whistleblowers.

Gloria Kovach actually turned up for this one.

Intrigued?

Listen to the debate here:

Coming Up on Federal Election Radio, CFRU 93.3fm…

Busy day at CFRU Election Central…

The big news is that the Merc has endorsed Mike Nagy. We think that’s what they are saying but they were a bit oblique.

“…The Guelph riding would be best served by choosing an equally distinctive voice in the next Parliament, and that voice can be found in the veteran federal candidate Mike Nagy,

…the economy and the environment are not mutually exclusive, and of all the Guelph candidates, Nagy has best grasped that.

Mike Nagy has a solid vision of green-job creation here, and a complex understanding of local and national environmental issues.

…Think of a Nagy mantra: vote for what you really want.”

We’re thinking they mean they endorse him, just don’t want to come right out and use the word. Obviously didn’t want to offend anyone else.

You can read the whole thing here.

There’s also supposed to be a new Guelph poll in the offing… we’ll bring you news on that when we get it.

At CFRU we’re all working hard on today’s show.

We currently expecting to have Kyle “The Numbers Guy” Mackie in the studio and visits by Marijuana Party candidate, Kornelius “Brother Case” Klevering and Independent, John “The Poverty Engineer” Turmel.

Don’t you just love the fringe candidates?

They are so much more refreshing than those from the main parties.

None of that restraint that comes with being concerned about being actually elected and making sure you don’t put a foot wrong in the meantime.

I love that they have these other names…

It’s a bit like announcing wrestlers…

“Ladies and Gentlemen, let me present from your edification tonight… Frank “The Honest Lawyer” Valeriote, Mike “Treehugger” Nagy, Tom “The Witty Writer” King and Gloria “The Blue Phantom” Kovach” (because she’s missed so many debates).

Sorry, that last one just slipped out…

Anyway, should be a fun show.

See you at 4.00 p.m. on CFRU 93.3fm, Guelph’s Campus-Community Radio Station.

Candidate Interviews – Animal Alliance Environmental Voters’ Karen Levenson on CFRU

Karen Levenson from the Animal Alliance Environmental Voters Party came into CFRU for an interview on August 28 during the by-election campaign.

Although a fringe party, Karen was determined to make sure that animal rights issues made it on to the agenda of the campaign.

A feisty debater, she famously got into a spat with Tom King regarding the seal hunt at the very first debate at Action Read. To her credit she was able to get Mike Nagy, Frank Valeriote and Tom King to all agree that the seal hunt should be phased out in favour of alternative employment opportunities. I’m not sure if she ever got Gloria Kovach to say where she stands on the seal hunt. 

In the most memorable exchange in the Guelph Mercury debate, Karen zinged economist Stephen Harper for claiming to have predicted the burgeoning US recession while not bothering to tell Canadians about it or do much to mitigate its impact.

Listen to the interview here:

Promises… Promises… Finally We Can Compare Platforms

Still unsure how you are going to vote?

The electionradio.ca website has lots of information on the race in Guelph including candidate interviews and audio from debates and forums.

Now that Stephen Harper has finally released a platform you can actually compare the platforms side by side using a nice interactive feature produced by the Globe and Mail.

The Globe and Mail even has a feature to allow you to compare the cost of the individual party platforms.

Editorial, The Toronto Star – Be Careful What You Ask For

So, Stephen Harper has finally released an election platform?

Its a little odd that he thought he could get right through an election campaign without one but there you are. He obviously knows better than the rest of us.

This really does seem to have been a bit of an afterthought…

I’m sure the conversation with his backroom boys must have gone something like this:

Stephen: Oh, well… if they really think they need to see a platform to let us have our majority, lets put something together over the weekend.

Tory Strategist: We can cobble together what we have from some of the announcements we’ve made and throw a few extra things in to get them all off our backs. I‘ll even put something in for manufacturing to shut Layton up. And I tell you what, why don’t we roll back some of our cuts to the film industry to keep those layabout artist types happy? Make it look like we heard what they were saying.  Ha! Ha!

Assistant: Sounds great. Will that work for you, Stephen?

Stephen: Sure. That will shut them up. Though what gets me is… why they think they need all of this?

Tory Strategist: Do you think we should put something in about the coming economic crisis?

Stephen: Absolutely not. We’ll deal with that after the election. No sense scaring them more than we need to. I tell you what I’ll use that anecdote about me being Noah. That’s sure to help…

Tory Strategist: Good. Do we need to say anything more about what we are going to do about climate change?

Stephen Harper: (laughing) What? And give them an idea we really don’t have a clue? No. (laughing again). Don’t worry, I’m sure I can find another biblical quote to deal with that if necessary. Tell you what, maybe I’ll use the Noah one again… that talks about climate.

Tory strategist: Great! I’ll come over to 24 Sussex this weekend to take some pictures. You know…. more of the sweater wearing family man and we’ll also take some of you looking all presidential… I mean, prime ministerial…”

Assistant: (gushing) Gosh. Great job, Stephen!

Here’s what the Toronto Star had to say in an editorial. Pretty damning.

I italicised certain portions for emphasis.

Editorial, The Toronto Star
October 8 2008 

More than a month after calling the election – and only a week before Canadians cast their ballots – Prime Minister Stephen Harper released his party’s election platform yesterday.

That he would wait until the 11th hour to unveil his master plan says a great deal. That the 41-page plan would say so little speaks volumes about Harper’s calculations. And that it would feature 22 colour photos of the Prime Minister in its 41 large-font pages says it all.

Embarrassed by the absence of any action plan in the midst of an economic crisis – for which his opponents excoriated him in the televised debates – Harper laid it all out:

There is $200 million in repayable loans for both the aerospace and auto industries. And $345 million in tariff cuts for imported equipment, of which there will be little in recessionary times.

The platform helpfully undoes the damage of the last Conservative minority government by quashing a controversial plan to take tax credits away from controversial film or television productions deemed offensive.

But the platform also foolishly returns to the subject of Senate reform, thereby inviting fresh constitutional tempests with the provinces when Canadians are concerned about economic storms on the horizon.

The biggest backward step is a previously announced cut in diesel fuel taxes, which would suck $730 million a year out of the federal treasury and undermine global efforts to discourage pollution.

As a one-time president of the right-wing National Citizens Coalition and head of the old Canadian Alliance party, Harper is often accused of harbouring a hidden agenda.

If the platform released yesterday is all he is willing to disclose to the public at campaign’s end, Canadians might reasonably assume there’s more to come, after Oct. 14th.

Wish We had Proportional Representation?

Sick of all this talk about strategic voting?

I know I am. I personally think that people should always vote for the candidate of their choice.

Vote with your heart.

This wonderful article was in the Winnipeg Free Press. Well worth repeating.

I hadn’t realised that the NDP had the chance to support a push for proportional representation in 1988.

What do they say about hindsight?

 

A Harper Majority Would Have Minority Support
By: Frances Russell
Winnipeg Free Press, October 1, 2008

Five political parties and an archaic and politically toxic first-past-the-post electoral system have long turned Canadian federal elections into a crapshoot. The Oct. 14 election promises to be the wildest crapshoot of them all.

The Harper Conservatives, with little more than the same 36-per cent support (124 seats) they obtained in 2006, could win a near or absolute majority government. Imagine, 31 more seats with no increase in votes.

Pollster Nik Nanos of Nanos Research says a majority is mathematically possible. There are close four-way races in B.C. and Montreal where seats can be won with as little as 32 per cent of the vote. “We could have more strategic voting in this election than before.”

The Greens have taken five points from the Liberals, leaving the 64 per cent of centre/left Canadians split more evenly than ever before among the Liberals, the New Democrats, the Bloc Québecois and the Greens.

The electoral crapshoot would long be a thing of the past had NDP leader Ed Broadbent and his caucus seized a never-before-disclosed offer from prime minister Pierre Trudeau immediately after the 1980 election. The Liberals captured 147 of 282 seats with 44 per cent of the popular vote, but failed to elect a single MP west of Winnipeg despite the support of about 25 per cent of western voters.

A Liberal majority with no western seats ignited western rage. Not only do ongoing unrepresentative and perverse electoral outcomes undermine democratic legitimacy and suppress turnout, they rupture the bonds holding the country together, artificially fomenting regional alienation and fracturing national unity.

Trudeau invited Broadbent to his office for a chat. The NDP had captured 26 of its 32 seats in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and B.C. with about one-third of the vote. Trudeau said he would introduce legislation for proportional representation if the NDP would co-sponsor it.

According to well-placed sources, Broadbent said he would take the proposal to his caucus. The answer was no.

Broadbent told the prime minister NDP MPs were afraid of losing their seats. Trudeau declined to forge ahead alone.

So here we are. On almost every major issue of this campaign, from funding for culture and the arts to crime and punishment to the role of government, the four parties of the centre and the left are all closer to each other than they are to Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. Yet they and the two-thirds of Canadians they represent could be shut out for four years.

Sick and tired of waiting for their politicians, Canadians are taking matters into their own hands and resorting to strategic voting. Two websites, www.voteforenvironment.ca and www.democraticspace.com/canada2008, offer updated riding-by-riding information on which candidate can defeat the Conservative.

Kevin Grandia, founder of voteforenvironment.ca, reports nearly 39,000 unique visitors to his website in its first three days and 234,335 pageviews. “We have a massive split of the progressive left vote,” he says. “There’s 17 days left in this election and if we keep pushing hard we could realistically spread the…message to more than one million Canadians…” Democraticspace.com urges visitors to ask themselves “what Harper would do with a majority.”

A historian and an English professor who specializes in the use of language for cultural purposes say a Harper majority government or even a strengthened Harper minority would remake the face of Canada.

Trent University historian Dimitry Anastakis says Canada “will be a smaller country. (Harper’s) modus operandi is to grind government to a halt through tax cuts or spending cuts and gridlock created by a pseudo-elected Senate, more powers to the provinces and the end of the federal spending power.”

Ottawa will do little more than manage national defence.

“(Harper) doesn’t like government. He’s quite happy to see the provinces usurp the federal government to be the key drivers in how the Canadian economy and key social policies work. So you will see a Canada that can’t control greenhouse gas emissions, create social policies, achieve educational goals. The collective approach for dealing with social and economic problems will be out the window.”

McMaster University English and cultural studies professor Marc Ouellette says the Harper Conservatives aren’t interested in building a Big Tent party. Secure in their 35 per cent ideological base, they are using wedge issues and U.S. Republican-style “culture wars” to smash the coalitions of the other parties. Again, like the Republicans, they hope to win and govern by pitting all against all outside their own Small Tent.

“By playing on peoples’ fear of difference, you can get allies from groups who would otherwise be against one another,” Ouellette says. “(Ontario Premier Mike) Harris got the doctors’ support with tax cuts and the working poor to back him by slashing ‘handouts’ to people on social assistance.

“It will be: If you get sick, it’s your fault; If you’re out of work, it’s your fault. People will be on their own.”

Canadians could face a real revolution after Oct. 14, a revolution desired by little more than a third of us, a revolution courtesy of a broken electoral system.

The Guelph Mercury Debate – Where’s Waldo… I mean Manuel?

Where’s Waldo… I mean, Manuel?

Manuel Couto from the Marxist-Leninist Party?

He’s running in the federal general election in Guelph. Yet, as far as I’m aware he hasn’t set foot here yet.

He was the only candidate missing from the Mercury debate this evening.

What gives? Why run if you don’t let people know what you stand for?

Apparently this is the third time he’s run in Guelph too…

Tonight’s debate was very restrained. No Fireworks. I’m sure the Merc wished that this debate could have finished off the by-election campaign and not be delayed for a further six weeks. All the candidates appeared tired, as were most of their responses.

Karen Levenson (Animal Alliance Environmental Voters) made a good point about Stephen Harper’s lack of a plan to deal with the developing recession.

Apparently the Tories anticipated the US financial crisis which is why they are not that concerned about it.

According to Stephen Harper, the Tories new that the economy in the US was going to run into problems a year ago. 

And if that’s the case, asked Karen, why on earth didn’t he do anything about it?

I’m sure people losing their life savings in the stock market would like to know…

Drew Garvie (Communist Party) and Case Klevering (Marijuana Party) both had some good moments. Tohn Turmel was (thankfully) restrained.

A little bit of light humour from Tom King. Otherwise, it was more of the same.

Kovach played the “do you want to be part of the government card?” whereas the other three; Lib, New Dem and Green pointed out that may not be a good idea for the country, never mind, Guelph.

The strategic voting question was avoided by most candidates which was good.

I hope people in Guelph will vote for what they want, not to avoid what they don’t want.

To my mind the best debate to listen to is still the first campus debate. That, and the candidate interviews on CFRU, of course.

Twelve weeks is just too long for an election campaign. Thank you again, Stephen Harper!

A Little Light Relief… Vote Carefully But Vote!

A friend sent me this joke with a serious point. 

John was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), known as ‘pullets,’ and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs.

He kept records and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced.

This took a lot of time, so he bought some tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone, so he could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing.

Now, he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report by just listening to the bells.

John’s favorite rooster, Old Butch, was a very fine specimen, but this morning he noticed Old Butch’s bell hadn’t rung at all!

When he went to investigate, he saw the other roosters were busy chasing the pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the roosters coming, could run for cover.

To John’s amazement, Old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn’t ring.

He’d sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one.

John was so proud of Old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.

The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.

Clearly Old Butch was a politician in the making.

Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren’t paying attention?

Vote carefully this year, the bells are not always audible.

Back Carbon Tax Plan, Economists Say – But Which One?

More than 200 leading economists have told politicians that a carbon tax is the best way to fight climate change however they also point out that the Liberal Green Shift won’t make much of a difference.

The Liberal plan at $10/tonne is a babystep compared to that of the Green Party at $50/tonne.

Needless to say the Harper Conservatives would prefer to do nothing about climate change…

Their policies have favoured the rapid expansion of the environmentally destructive Alberta Tar Sands.

And the NDP?

Well they currently oppose a carbon tax favouring a cap and trade system that David Suzuki and other environmentalists have questioned.

 

Back Carbon Tax, Leading Economists Tell Politicians
The Ottawa Citizen, October 7 2008
Joanna Laucius

More than 230 academic economists have signed an open letter to the leaders of the federal political parties, urging them to acknowledge that putting a price on carbon is “the best approach” to combatting climate change.

In a rare show of agreement, the economists say public policy needs to protect the environment “because in the absence of policy, individuals generally don’t take the environmental consequences of their actions into account, and the result is ‘market failure’ and excessive levels of pollution for all of us.”

The signatories include the godfather of Canadian economics, Richard Lipsey, whose name is familiar to generations of university economics students as lead author of the classic text Economics, now in its 13th edition.

The economists say their purpose is not to support any political platform, but to ground discussion on accepted economic principles.

Prices have to increase to provide incentives to change behaviour, said Nancy Olewiler, an environmental economist at Simon Fraser University who was one of the originators of the letter, along with Ross Finnie of the University of Ottawa and David Green of the University of British Columbia.

“We just wanted to clear the air about these issues,” said Ms. Olewiler, who has been analysing various carbon-pricing scenarios for more than a decade. “It’s supply and demand. We have been teaching this since Adam Smith.”

The three originators of the letter came up with the idea about three weeks ago, then e-mailed a draft to other economics professors last Wednesday.

By Friday, they had about 200 signatures, with more trickling in over the weekend. That’s an astonishing number for academics not typically inclined to act collectively and quickly on policy issues, Mr. Finnie said.

Pricing carbon allows every business and family to decide for itself how it values the things that generate carbon, the letter says. Each can consider the options and everyone has the incentive to change, but does it in a way that’s best for them.

“This is how to get the most bang for the buck,” said Mr. Lipsey, who calls global warming the most important problem of the century. “I think the whole thing should be revenue neutral. You cut other taxes. Low carbon users end up paying less.”

The economists argue that pricing encourages innovation because users of carbon-intensive goods will demand alternatives. Regulation is the most expensive way to meet the goal because users don’t have a choice, the letter says.

In a well-designed carbon-tax strategy, increases would be introduced gradually and announced ahead of time, providing consumers with some certainty and allowing them to make decisions based on what they know is coming.

A “cap and trade system” is another price alternative, although a more complicated one. It works like a quota system, allowing carbon users to buy and sell carbon allowances.

Mr. Finnie said the signatories don’t support one party over another.

“You can say that the Liberals have a carbon tax. Is it a good carbon tax? That’s a whole other question,” he said. “This is not about influencing the election, it’s about clarifying debate.”

Anything But Conservative… An Open Letter from Danny Williams

This is an extraordinary development.

When Conservative Premiers make websites to discourage people from voting for you…

What does that tell you?

An Open Letter from Danny Williams, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador

THIS ELECTION could not be more important. Our choice will shape Canada’s future.

In this campaign, you will hear many promises.

But promises are not on the ballot. People are on the ballot.

And the promises are only as good as the integrity of the people who make them.

In this election, it is our responsibility as voters to serve as judges of character.

Let’s first of all remember that Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party was built on a broken promise.

Peter MacKay promised David Orchard he would not merge the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada with the Canadian Alliance.

That promise was swiftly broken.

And the broken promises have not stopped since.

Stephen Harper, in the last two election campaigns, traveled to Newfoundland and Labrador bearing a promise.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians fully expected Stephen Harper to live up to his words and repeated written promise.

He did not.

He broke his promise after he got his votes. His own MPs and candidates confirm his promise was broken.

Stephen Harper’s actions raise important questions of trust. Of integrity. Of character.

In this election, Canadians have the opportunity – and the obligation – to judge Stephen Harper and his Conservatives by their record.

They have also broken other promises to Canadians.

• They have imposed deep cuts on some of the most vulnerable people in our country.
• They have mocked provincial premiers.
• They have discouraged businesses from investing in Ontario.

These Conservatives are certainly not “Progressive” Conservatives. Their agenda is regressive.

And now the Conservatives are seeking a mandate and a majority government to continue to implement an agenda that is not fully revealed.

Canada deserves better than this.

This election truly is about making Canada strong. Strong and progressive. A country in which values like integrity and trust actually mean something.

The power to shape our future is in our hands.

And the first step is as easy as A-B-C.

Anything But Conservative.

This Just In… More Responses to the Council of Canadians Election Questionnaire

I just received this message from Dave Sills, Co-chair of the Guelph Chapter of the Council of Canadians  with respect to their questionnaire regarding social justice issues that they sent to each candidate in the federal election.

Dave Stills joined us on Federal Election Radio on September 25th.

If you remember the CoC had not received responses from Frank Valeriote (Liberals), Gloria Kovach (Conservatives) and John Turmel (Independent).

Drew Garvie (Communist Party of Canada) and Manuel Couto (Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada) did not enter the election in time to complete the questionnaire the first time.

The good news is that Frank, John and Drew have sent their responses in.

Thank you!

The bads news is that Manuel Couto is still missing in action… and Gloria Kovach has inexplicably not replied.

I say inexplicably because she indicated on CFRU’s Federal Election Radio that she was fully committed to the election process and wanted to represent the whole community of Guelph, not just those that support Conservative policy and share their values.

“You really should have a good tap on the local issues and really know the diverse groups…”

“You do need to be able to represent the whole community, and be able to listen to them and really connect with them.”

“I’m looking forward to going to Ottawa and fully knowing that I will be representing people who voted for me and people who maybe have other policy views and (will) be open to listen to them as well.”

Well, how can this be?

I have to say that this is not the Gloria I know as a committed city councillor or the person I interviewed.

What are the Tories thinking?

I can only assume that the word has come down from above that she should not get involved.

Sad.

I’ve just watched the national press ask Stephen Harper, after he (finally) released his party’s platform, why he doesn’t have empathy for people worried about potential losses in their savings for retirement.

Don’t they get it at all?

For the record, the questions asked of the candidates were as follows:

The questions were:

1. Are you aware of the status of the Canadian government’s national policy on water? What is your position on the commodification of water and Canada’s stance on the human right to water?
2. Would you support renegotiating NAFTA? If so, what parts of the agreement would you like to see renegotiated and why?
3. Would you support changes in our health care system to allow more private-sector participation, or do you believe that our health care system should be run on a not-for-profit basis? Why?
4. What do you feel is the best role for Canada in the Afghanistan conflict?
5. What concrete steps could the federal government take to reduce poverty in Guelph, and across the country?

Did Stephen Harper really think that Gloria couldn’t answer those questions?

Perhaps it was because she didn’t have an election platform document to refer to?

…or do the Conservatives really think that she shouldn’t be engaging with a subversive group of citizens  like the Council of Canadians?

We deserve to know.

You can download the document here:

Council of Canadians Federal Election Voters Guide [Updated]

Hopefully it will help you make your decision about who to vote for.

Be Informed, Be Engaged, Vote on October 14th!

Jan Andrea Hall

Candidate Interviews – Conservative Gloria Kovach on CFRU

Gloria Kovach joined Emory Davis and Jan Andrea Hall on Federal Election Radio on August 28th, during the by-election campaign.

Its definitely worth listening to.

As much as I respect Gloria for all she is done at a council level I’m still not sure that she will provide a strong voice for Guelph in Ottawa as a member of Stephen Harper’s  Conservatives.

I’m also disappointed that although, in the interview, she commits to engage all of the community and listen to their opinions she did not attend the Social Justice/ Make Poverty History debate or reply to the Guelph Chapter of the Council of Canadians questionnaire regarding social justice issues.

She has also missed the debates at Action Read and the campus forum on September 30th.

A coincidence?

She’s either getting bad advice or working with the wrong people.

It would be interesting to compare the debate records for all the candidates in the Guelph federal election.

Listen to the interview here:

Jack Layton Back in Guelph – October 12

Things are hoting up both locally and nationally…

NDP leader Jack Layton will be in Guelph on October 12th 2008 for a campaign event at the Woolwich Arms at 9. 00 p.m.

For those of you who would like to see Slacker Uprising, Michael Moore’s new movie the NDP Youth are having a screening at 8.00 p.m. on October 8th in Room 442 University Centre. The event is free and open to all.

You can also download your own copy. Cool!