Last Post for 2008

I'll briefly comment on senate appointments and then move along. I have heard and read people criticizing Stephen Harper's appointments of senators as if it's another way to manipulate the government. The patronage appointments of the senate are nothing new and have been happening since the beginning of the senate. Whether you like it or not, Stephen Harper does have the right to appoint senators, something he has not done while in office, regardless of there being more important issues to deal with. Harper is also trying to change the senate to be an elected one, which is truly a great improvement from the status quo in existence. Am I in favour of this plan? Actually, no. I'd prefer to see the red chamber abolished, unless there were to be some sort of massive constitutional shakeup in how the country is run. Right now, the senate is irrelevant. I suggest we do away with it, leave things up to parliament and save some cash. It's a valuable spending cut. Let's do it when we get rid of the monarchy and let the GG's house be converted into condos (or a homeless shelter, or a bingo hall as Preston Manning wanted to do to Stornoway, until he actually got a chance to live there and decided it wasn't so bad after all.)

I commented more than I thought I would. Sorry.

I just wanted to wish any readers out there, if there are any, a happy new year. I'll be candid and say 2008 was less than stellar for me and a lot of people. But 2009 is a new year. Don't be resigned to accepting next year as a bad year because the papers say so. For those of you who had a good 2008, I hope your success continues.

For me, this week has been great. A friend from Vancouver Island is visiting and we are having wonderful times. Tomorrow I shall ring in the new year at a party put together by my good friend Clara Blackwood (who is not from Vancouver Island).

Good luck to all.

Coalition Governments Are a Part of Democracy

We'll find out in the next several months if we'll see the first coalition government in Canada in around 90 years.

But isn't it funny how many of those complaining about the unfairness of a Liberal government majority with less than 50 per cent of the vote are now crying the coalition is a threat to democracy? That being said, if there were an NDP led minority about to be toppled by a Harper-led coalition, I'd love to see if Now Magazine issues a front-page story as to why the coalition is suddenly a threat to democracy. Whether or not it was right to prorogue parliament is all based on what part of the political spectrum you are on.

As one who believes in abolishing the monarchy, I have a serious problem with an unelected person, Michaelle Jean, deciding who should be Prime Minister. This is the issue more people should be talking about. People shouldn't have to blindly accept they are subjects of another country's queen.

If people think the coalition government is a threat to democracy, remember you are not in America. Much like the rest of the western world (not named America) we have a parliamentary democracy. In European countries, especially ones like Italy and Austria with proportional representation, coalitions are a norm. Coalition governments are a reality in a parliamentary system, though we've rarely seen them here.

And if you support proportional representation and hate the idea of a coalition, it's time to rethink your stance