Whatever happened to civil disagreements?

I know it seems like a long time ago. But I'm sure most of us can remember when a political argument didn't immediately devolve into shrill shrieking from either side. A time when the parties in parliament could actually work together to get something done, instead of personal attacks on each other and their party. I don't know maybe I'm being a little pollyanna-ish but I still hope that maybe one day that could happen again.

Larry Zolf, of the CBC, is the one of the latest to launch another attack. He goes on a rant about how PM Stephen Harper is a bigger neo-con that Bush, etcetera. This is not only limited to the left though. The right can be just as bad. Bound by Gravity has a great take on it.

One can only hope we don't descend to the level (if we haven't already) of many of the US media outlets. Be it the Wall Street Journal, Salon.com, the Weekly Standard or DailyKos.

I consider myself a centrist or a small c Conservative. But I have voted Liberal. A lot of the time, I don't totally agree with policies put forth by the government and can appreciate some aspects of the oppositions argument. But all too frequently the situation turns into a "my way or the highway" type argument. I don't know but I always thought that compromise plays a huge part in resolving disputes.

The Liberal Leadership Race

Well maybe this is gonna be more fun than I thought. This Joe Volpe thing just will not die a quiet death, much to the dismay of many in the Liberal party. Already, a few Liberals are starting to call for him to drop out of the race, realizing that this is only reinforcing many Canadians impression of the Liberal party. The National Post has also thrown in its opinion as well.

As well, his campaigns heavy handed tactics in shutting down the youthforjoevolpe.com website has backfired quite badly. Blue Blogging Soapbox has listed several mirrors that sprung up almost immediately after the site was taken down. This episode gives the appearance that the Liberals are trying to stifle free speech, as the registrar of the site took it down after being threatened with legal action by Volpe's campaign. Stephen Taylor has many of the details of the whole thing. A group of bloggers has begun calling out Volpe on the censorship issue, I encourage you to check them out (near the bottom of the article).

One issue that has been brushed aside in this whole deal is the loans that many of the campaigns received. This includes loans made by Ken Dryden and Martha Hall Findlay made to themselves(read more about it here). Now this confuses me, how exactly do you make a loan to yourself? Because I could really use a new car. There is also the fact that several of the candidates received rather large loans from some prominent businessmen and the possibility that these loans won't have to be paid back. Hopefully more details on this will emerge soon.

Harper's First Mis-step?

CTV, theglobeandmail.com and Canadian Press are all reporting that Stephen Harper has promised a free vote on same sex marriage when the House opens in the fall. First question that comes to mind is why? Why would Harper do this while his government is doing so well?

One reason is because of a campaign promise made during election. Now, many are surprised at this, as politicians make promises all the time that are immediately forgotten after the election is over. So once again Harper has shown he is a man of his word.

However, the fact the election promise was made at all is a disappointment to me. Another bit of a goody for the so-cons in the party, I guess. The fact that the vote is a free vote and not a party-line vote is a good thing though. This allows (hopefully) for the true voice of the people to be heard. It also will show that the Conservative party is not the only one with MP's that don't support gay marriage. Make sure to watch which Liberals and/or NDPer's vote against gay marriage(or are suspiciously absent on the day of the vote). Hopefully this issue can then finally be resolved and we can get on with important issues, like running the country.

Also, Dante over at Uncommon Truths, has managed to recreate the "Youth for Volpe" spoof site that was pulled down, check it out if you never got a chance to see the original.

"Oh S***, maybe I screwed up"

Quick update on the Volpe thing. CTV and theglobeandmail.com are reporting that Volpe will be returning 5 of the Apotex family donations, specifically the ones from the children. Alright, where do I start. He still messed up real bad in accepting these donations and the 2-3 days of arguing that there was nothing wrong with them makes this seem that much worse. Wouldn't be surprised to see some members of his staff let go after this thing. Also, some sources say the Elections Canada is investigating and charges are a possibility. Also the fact remains that close to 70% of his donations came from executives at one company.

Now the NDP and Conservatives are having a great time with this, further damaging the Liberal name (not that its worth much anymore), including this great quote from John Baird, president of the Treasury Board:

"While some frontbench members of the Liberal Party were canvassing kindergarten classes, shaking down young children for campaign donations, this team was hard at work providing good government to this country"

Meanwhile, the Liberals believe that their rules on campaign financing don't need to be changed, Steve McKinnon, Liberal Party national director, has said the fact the public outcry resulted in the return of the donations shows that there is a safeguard against bad conduct. I don't know, maybe its just me, but it seems like a good idea politically to ensure this doesn't or can't happen again.

Good ol' Liberals

Well before I get to the Liberals, just wanted to mention a bill the Conservatives will be introducing soon. It proposes to raise the age of consent to 16 (from 14) but will include a so called "close in age" exemption, where if the two people are within 5 years of each other then no problem. I support this solely on a child protection basis. It has been reported that Canada is known in pedophilic circles because you can get away with having sex with 14 year olds (instead of 16 or higher in other countries).

Now to the Liberals. First off the Libs are planning a "vent" session where they will discuss what went wrong in the last election campaign. It'll include both MP's and staffers that worked on the campaign. This sounds like a good idea, but I have a bad feeling that this'll end up being a bitch session at the people who worked on the election team, especially since the main leaders of the election effort will not be present. These people just worked hard and did what they were told to do, and now they're gonna get yelled at?

And then there is Joe Volpe, candidate for the Liberal leadership, and the news coming out about some of the donations he has received. Due to changes in the Election act, donations are no longer allowed from corporations and personal contributions cannot exceed $5,400. Well, Joe has received 20 donations, all at the maximum amount, from current and former executives of the company Apotex (Canada's largest generic-drug maker). This includes two donations from the former vice-president's twin 11 year old daughters. I don't know about you but at 11, I sure as hell would not have donated that much money to a politician, probably would have been gorging myself on candy or something instead. You would think that with all of the recent fuss over corruption and everything else he would have better sense. But then again, sometimes it seems some people never learn.

I honestly think that the Liberals will be shut out of power until they learn from the scandals they caused, and clean their house of all of the people that think this kind of thing is ok. Some partisans argue this is a symptom of the members of the "natural governing party's" arrogance and lust for power. I don't see it this way, but who knows? All I know is that the country will run better when our two major political parties aren't worried about their own problems and instead can hold governing party to account and provide an effective opposition.