Life changes, life continues

Our neighbours packed up their min-van, complete with 5 cats, and drove off for Calgary today. I’ll leave it to you to imagine the complexities of driving across country (3000 KM!) in a van packed to the gills with people and cats.

We met our neighbours a few days after we took possession of our condo. I remember when Juan came over to introduce himself and chat: I was here by myself, trying to get the condo ready for repainting and moving in while Kristen was at home with teeny weeny 6 month old Max.  It was a hectic and frazzled time for me, and it was very nice to know I had a friendly neighbour beside my new home.

The next few years flew by, and I regret that I didn’t spend more time with Juan and his family. Somehow, I never managed to make the time to sit outside on the back porch with him and enjoy our neighbourhood together. Of course, when he spent a year working in Toronto, and then went out west to look for work, it made leisurely socializing a little difficult. I remember how happy he was to see all of us when we ran into him at the Colombian Independence celebration-he was so impressed that we were there (there were very few non-Colombians at the festival), that he ran off and brought us a fresh plate of paella from one of his friends. The gift of paella was a warm-hearted, if strange, gesture of friendship.

It was sad to watch them drive off and leave our lives for good. I hope that their wild trip across the country is safe and relatively uneventful, and I wish them a warm and friendly new start in Alberta. Open your arms up Calgary, and give ’em a big hug for me.

2 Important questions for Mayor Fontana

Before we go any further into the debate over taxation levels in London and what changes should be made to next year’s budget,there are 2 very important questions that need to be answered by our mayor and his supporters on council.

1. What are “core services”?

Mayor Fontana has promised that any cuts to spending would not affect core services, but he has been reluctant to define what those services are. We need to know what services he has classified as “core services” so that we can have a better understanding of what’s being proposed, and have clear expectations.  Are libraries core services? Garbage collection? Policing? If we don’t get a clear definition now, it will be very difficult to hold the mayor and his supporters accountable after the fact.

2. Why isn’t the mayor’s plan working?

The promise of a 4-year tax freeze was built upon the assumption that the mayor and city council would be able to generate enough revenue through new development to offset the normal, yearly increase in costs. It hasn’t worked for the first two years, so why should we expect that Mayor Fontana’s plan will start working next year? Are the bulk of his promised 10 000 jobs about to arrive secretly in our city in the next few months? There is very little room to further entice or subsidize new development. Even ignoring all of the rules and processes concerning development won’t create the building boom the mayor dreams of, or leave our city in good shape for the long-term. It’s time to look for a new strategy.

Bridging the Gap

Above policy and the particulars of a campaign, there needs to be a theme that can be clearly communicated, an overall message that sets the course for all further discussions. For The Liberal Party of Canada, I think that theme should be “Bridging the Gap”.

As I talk with my friends and neighbours about the state of our country and the challenges we’re facing, I’m becoming more and more aware of a distance between all of us. We’re being encouraged to set ourselves apart as separate demographic groups, or regions, and forget the shared greatness that we have as a country. Rural citizens are being told that Urban voters are against them, taking away their rights and programs that protect them. People living in the northern part of the country feel distant and estranged from their southern counterparts. Quebec is told that the rules are different for them than they are for the other provinces, while some accuse  Alberta of bringing harm to Ontario by simply having a prosperous resource economy. All of this divides us against ourselves, and makes it difficult to address the real issues.

Instead of relying on a politics of division and alienation, we need to be the party that brings the different groups back together.

  • The partnership between rural and urban citizens is fundamental to our overall success, and the Federal government should work to make sure that the partnership has the infrastructure and support needed to thrive.
  • The challenges faced by Northern residents are markedly different, and the Federal government needs to acknowledge those differences with informed policy and collaboration.
  • The Federal government must make it very clear that Quebec has a distinct but equal part in the future of Canada, and the rules that apply to them apply equally to all.
  • The Federal government should work with Alberta, and any other region that enjoys resource-based prosperity, to ensure that future development meets the paired goals of economic benefit and environmental responsibility.
  • And the Federal government must remember the legal and moral obligation Canada has to honour the treaties and rights of the First Nations. As Canadians, we all share the responsibility to uphold the promises that our leaders of past generations gave to the First Nations people. We also have to recognize that, in making good on our promises to the First Nations, we create conditions of prosperity that will benefit not only the First Nations people, but all of Canada.

We are all made stronger by our collective effort, and when the country of Canada is united, we are a nation that can accomplish great things.