The PenOpticon

Blogging has been sporadic for months — hey, I've got my reasons! — but I'm going to crank it up again. Feeling inspired tonight after the U.S election (though you wouldn't know it from the way I'm writing). Feeling inspired but a little rusty. In any case:

Obama's acceptance speech and McCain's concession speech were remarkable for different reasons. Obama is always very much aware of the arc of history and he has an uncanny ability to map paths along that arc for both himself and his audience. I envied the crowd in Chicago as tears of joy rolled down their cheeks in concert with his words.  MLK had a dream and now (finally!) Obama is living it and inviting the world to go along.

As for McCain, while he is not a particularly eloquent speaker, tonight he was gracious, transcendent and real. In fact, this was McCain's most presidential moment since the campaign began and it should be a harbinger of the attitude the Republicans must adopt if they hope to rebuild.

All in all, a truly remarkable evening.

And now, as a Canadian, I wonder how, and if, Stephen Harper can work with Obama. Tomorrow morning Harper may discover that he has gotten up on the wrong side of the ideological spectrum. We shall see. All I know I that I will soon have to change the PenOpticon banner. After all, Tony Blair is gone and Bush and Cheney are starting to pack up their stuff.  Can Harper be far behind?

It is amazing that Americans can shoehorn most of their political views into these two political parties, especially when much of the democratic world requires three, four, five or more parties. As Canada lurches forward with four national parties, it is obvious, that the change we need here is a proportional voting system that will enable these diverse voices to obtain seats in government and work together in a spirit of practical collaboration. Until that day comes, Canada will be cursed with a series of minority governments that will have a hard time getting the job done.

Congratulations President Obama! Now how can Canadians get the change we need?

It’s encouraging to see the Green Party of Canada growing in the polls. According to the January 8th Environics poll, Elizabeth May’s party is tracking at 11% nationally. It seems fitting and right to see the lacklustre NDP slowly tumble while the GPC gains.  Supposedly only 8% of Canadians are still undecided, so it will be interesting to see how many of those votes will go to the greens — and whether they will take even a single seat in the next election.  May’s seat ought to be a shoe-in, but Canada’s a funny place (even more so during elections). Let’s hope Harper doesn’t call the election during the NHL playoffs.

Anyhow, the fact that support for the GPC has essentially doubled since last June is extremely encouraging.  If Canada is in line for another minority government, we need a handful of Greens at the table to negotiate a substantive climate change policy.

One aspect of the Greens that should (but probably won’t) work in their favour is their habit of releasing technical policy and strategic planning documents. Take the recent "Investing in Biodiversity", plan for example. which calls for the completion of Canada’s national parks system, the protection of sensitive marine and land habitats and for the reinstatement of Canadian wildlife researchers.   As far as I know terms such as "nutrient cycling" and "taxonomic research" simply don’t occur in your average Liberal or PC policy paper.

We need a party that understands and invests in the eco sciences, a party that will steer our economic system in a direction that is in sync with the carrying capacity of the land. Let’s hope we are Green enough after the next election.

It’s amazing what a little bad weather and a by-election can accomplish.  In November, a major rainstorm in Vancouver contaminated water reservoirs and forced a million residents to deal with a 12-day boil water advisory (never mind the fact that BWA’s are a sad fact of life in dozens of native communities across Canada). Then, just a day after the Vancouver BWA was lifted, Green Party leader Elizabeth May posted a stunning second place finish in the London North Centre by-election. While the actual voter turnout in that election was disappointing, May took 25% of the votes, clobbering both the Conservative and NDP candidates. She didn’t win, but she decisively proved the Green Party is now a political force to be reckoned with. As May observed "we have just witnessed… the beginning of a major shift in Canadian politics. Canada is going Green."  She — and many others — expect to see at least one GP member in the House after the next federal election.

This renewed focus on the Greens and green politics has the major party leaders falling all over each other to see who can jump highest on the environmental trampoline. With his greenest good intentions, Stephan Dion can at least say he actually sorta did something when the Liberals signed the Kyoto Accord while he was Chretien’s Environment Minister. Unfortunately, as we all know, the Libs never backed up that signature with meaningful action. A few days ago, Jack Layton graciously offered to work together with the other leaders to rewrite Harper’s failed Green Plan, although a mere 6 weeks ago, he was all set to force a confidence vote over the issue. Yesterday Harper told the Canadian Press that the environment issue is now his "top priority".  "We have to point out why the environment is a priority for the public", he arrogantly condescended.  I think we get it Mr. Harper, we’re just wondering how your wonky tax cuts and oils sands subsidies are going to help.

Wouldn’t it be grand if the major parties did sit down and formulate a comprehensive set of tax changes and regulations that would drastically reduce greenhouse gases and emissions?  I expect it would look something like the Green Party’s GP² Green Plan.  Elizabeth May has stated in the past that the Greens would be happy to support any political party that could enact such a plan. It would be a fine thing, but it is hard to be optimistic because for Harper, Dion and Layton, the environment is merely an issue, a portfolio, a file.  It is something that must simply be handled for political survival and electoral gain.

For the Greens, however, the environment is everything.  It’s fundamental and determines the kind of economy and the level of health that is actually possible.

That’s why I’m voting for Green in the next election.

It’s business as usual at Hydro One Inc, Ontario’s largest electricity distribution company. Senior executives and their secretaries are making frequent use of corporate credit cards to purchase "gifts" and God knows what else. According to Jim McCarter, Ontario’s Auditor General, some $127 million was billed last year with almost no receipts to show where and how this money was spent. Meanwhile, us dopey Ontarians fork over extra money every month to retire Ontario Hydro’s infinitely large debt. McCarter also took school boards, hospitals and many other nooks and crannies of the public sector to task for waste and iffy accountability. You can read the gory details yourself if you dare. Much of this abuse stems from the widespread use of purchasing cards — PCards — which have been used to buy DVD’s, eyeglasses, Christmas lights, leather jackets, gift certificates, candy, chocolate, household supplies and a bajillion other items at our expense. And yet, this government has the gall to worry that a few homeless bottle pickers might "cash in" on the newly-announced 20-cent wine bottle deposit program by hoarding older bottles and returning them when the program starts.

The Hydro One accounting anomalies are reminiscent of the furor over Eleanor Clitheroe when she presided as CEO from 2000 to 2002. Those were heady days when the utility was poised to go public. As Canada’s highest paid civil servant, Clitheroe pulled down 2.3 million a year, made use of corporate limos for her children and nanny — and apparently even for her cat. Clitheroe argued that such perks were provided in lieu of her taking maternity leave. There were other allegations involving home renovations that were billed to the corporation and along with personal country club memberships, etc. But, the nuclear waste hit the fan when we learned of a golden handshake deal that would let Clitheroe walk away with a multi-million dollar pension and three years salary for her trouble. Since getting the corporate boot, Clitheroe went on to become an Anglican priest, though she is still suing the Ontario government over her severance package and pension.

There is little point in rehashing any of this, except that last month’s Canadian Business features this gem of an article by Thomas Watson: An Apology for Eleanor Clitheroe. According to Watson, "Reverend Ellie" was actually a victim in the whole affair. Seems she was double-crossed by Ernie Eves and his Conservatives when they sacrificed her in order to try to save themselves. Well, that sounds about right, doesn’t it? But a victim!!!!? After all, Clitheroe was a willing participant in the whole affair and stood to gain considerable personal wealth from the privatization of Hydro One.

Oh well, I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised by the Canadian Business view of the world, but it is sad to see how the media can sometimes be co-opted to defend this kind of rot. It might make the job of cleaning it up (if that is even possible) all that much harder. Ya think?

Apart from a few sound bites on the hourly CBC news, I decided not to torture myself last weekend — I didn’t watch any of the Liberal leadership convention. Fact is, I have to keep smacking the side of the head to remember: "I am not a Liberal!" Slap! "I am not a Liberal!" Slap. "I am not a Liberal!" Slap. And so on. Even if Dion proves to be as intelligent and honest as he seems, he’ll still be surrounded by the big red, slow-moving, patronage-pedaling Liberal machine, won’t he? Dion is supposed to be a green Liberal, — just ask his dog — but who knows how green he’ll be allowed to be if the Liberals form a government in 2007. After all, the Grits learned early on how to posture about the environment better than most other parties. Remember when they signed the Kyoto accord during the Chretien era and then did little else besides pay Rick Mercer to tell us about the One Ton Challenge.

Ah, well. Time will tell, won’t it? In the meantime, welcome back to Ottawa, Stéphane. Keep yer stick on the ice, watch out for Celine, and give Harper a whole lotta Hell. He’s been asking for it!