It came up when I was talking to some Liberals at Summer Fling Saturday: the recently announced intentions of the Conservative government to eliminate funding for Canadian artists to travel abroad and promote Canadian culture. The following is from a Canadian Press article dated Friday:
"Foreign Affairs officials confirmed Friday that PromArt will lose its $4.7-million budget next spring, effectively killing the program.
"They attempted to play down reports that claimed the decision was motivated by ideological differences with many of the recipients.
"'More than anything it's a budget decision,' said Anne Howland, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson.
"'The government is committed to a more disciplined approach to managing spending.'"
"But Howland didn't deny that the ideological leanings of some recipients did figure in the decision.
"'Certainly we felt some of the groups were not necessarily ones we thought Canadians would agree were the best choices to be representing them internationally,' she said."
The example cited was Toronto-based rock band Holy F#@%. This Juno-nominated band, along with other prize recipients, Howland said, demonstrate a trend that "Some of the groups we felt had little to do with our foreign policy, or how Canadians would want us to be perceived abroad."
This led to comparisons to the governments Bill C-10, which will give them the ability to decide whether or not a film or television project gets funding based on whether or not it meets certain standards of appropriateness or national interest.
Earlier this week, for my day job, I interviewed a band called Problèmes de Communication from Denmark, who were making a tour of Canada based on a similar grant from their government. They told me how it was just one example of how all levels of government help artists pay the bills and get their art to the masses both at home and broad.
It also reminded me of this of an article I wrote for The Ontarion this past spring. You can read the story here. It's about one of Jack Layton's visits to Guelph, which included a meetign with members of Guelph's artistic community.
So, I've been making posts here every day for two solid weeks now. It's been a lot of fun, but a lot of work as well. So I'm taking a spa day of sorts, and will be back refreshed tomorrow.
Coming soon, look for a lengthy chat I had with Frank Valeriote and several high profile Liberals today at Summer Fling and stuff from Elizabeth May's visit on Monday.
It`s been a busy week in press conferences for Tom King in matters both important and trivial. First, Wednesday morning's press gathering at City Hall tackled the matter of the NDP’s Green-Collar Jobs Strategy for Guelph and Southwestern Ontario. King was joined by Windsor MPs Joe Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh) and Brian Masse (Windsor-West), as well as federal candidates, Malcolm Allen (Welland) and Ryan Dolby (Elgin-Middlesex-London).
“We cannot sustain continued job losses with no plan from either Harper or Dion to do something about it," said Comartin in a press release. "We need to talk about good paying, high quality sustainable jobs that are part of the new energy economy. Those are green-collar jobs.”
“High skills training will be needed to power the new energy economy," added King. "The University of Guelph is a world-class institution and Conestoga is a leading community college. We have the infrastructure and capacity in Guelph. Now we just need the political will to make it happen. And that’s what the green-collar jobs plan is all about. New clean, green opportunities for Guelph.”
The NDP green-collar job plan includes: • grants and training spaces for green-collar jobs • new training partnerships with Provincial and Territorial Governments and with First Nations • new labour market tools to measure needs and gaps in the new energy sector, so that recruitment and certification match up with trends and future needs • expanded national green building and retrofit programs, including specific programming for low-income households.
Today, the topic was the new, additional fees for cell-phone text messaging. Jack Layton returned to Guelph to make an announcement on the matter, coincidentally or not so coincidentally, on the same day that Bell Mobility implemented their new fees.
“Cell phone companies want to charge consumers 15 cents for each text message they receive, including spam. While the average CEO in Canada makes more on New Year’s Day than the average Canadian employee makes in a year,” said Layton in a press release. “It’s no wonder a record number of corporations want to hike up prices – the people ordering the price increases can afford them.”
Sure text messaging fees are an important issue to some people, and the Conservative government's response of business is as business does (also known as the never-faltering belief in the free market no matter how many people get screwed, see: Enron), but is it really that close to the top of the list, I wonder. Certainly Layton doesn't need an excuse to come to Guelph. He's been here so much I say let's make him an honorary citizen. Oh, and he's so right about that CEO thing.
Finally, let's everyone take this opportunity to acknowledge candidate number five: Karen Levenson of the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada. "This is an important election, and we believe this is an important riding," Levenson told the Guelph Mercury adding that she's pushing for Guelph-specific policies, in particular an anti-trapping bylaw for the city. "A little dog was killed in December of 2006 in a conibear trap while walking in an area used as an off-leash dog park in the city. There shouldn't be traps set within the city limits of Guelph."
"The Green party probably has the strongest stance in terms of the environment, but nobody is really talking about animals," Levenson added. "They are the voiceless and they need to be talked about."
If it's Thursday, it means a new "Guelph Beat" column in Echo. This week's subject is my candidate profile of NDP nominee Tom King. See the original article at Echo'swebsite here, or find it on newsstands across the tri-cities for the next seven days. Below is the Director's Cut of the interview:
Tom King is standing outside his home, getting his picture taken by a Macleans photographer. Caught between a busy campaigning schedule and a healthy lunch of a sandwich and fruit, I sat with King at his kitchen table to talk shop. “I’m happy that we finally have a by–election at last,” he says between bites. And after a year a half of solid, “unofficial” campaigning, who could blame him.
On waiting for the writ: "When I ran for the nomination, we expected there to be an [general] election within three months," explains King. (Editor's Note: King was officially named the NDP candidate in March 2007-AAD) We expected that because there seemed to be no way that the Liberals could vote on some of the issues that the Conservatives were bringing down. "We were wrong," he adds with a laugh.
On campaigning: "We've been going door to door and going to activites for over a year now, so we've kicked it into higher gear, but not much higher. Sort of like on a long road trip.
This is King’s first go at elected office; the latest in a long line of odd jobs and careers that started with working as a stock boy at J.C. Penny at the age of 17 and went on to include selling shoes, working on a tramp steamer, being an ambulance driver, a photojournalist, a bank teller, even a door-to-door encyclopaedia salesman. “I know what the ‘McJobs’ of the world are like, I’ve done them,” he explains. “I [also] know what being poor is like and that there’s no romance in being poor.”
Lately, King is best known as renowned author, radio host and community activist. He’s a member of the Order of Canada, a Massey Lecturer and a University of Guelph professor. He says that he’s been a “political animal” for most his life (starting in the 60s after he got back to North America after three years in New Zealand) and that running for office now represents a change from doing “nightshift politics” to doing the “dayshift.” “You’re never sure how much a change you’ve actually make and the question I’ve always had is ‘Are there other areas I can get engaged in where I can be more effective?’”
Extra: Why NDP? King was unaffiliated before joining the NDP to run as their candidate. He says that he looked at all the major parties and he went through them one by one. King says he began by looking for a strong and principled leader, then looked for a party with the same general ideas as him. Things he was looking for: a good record on the environment, concerned about social issues, particularly public health, as well as a focus on jobs and the economy.
Conservatives - "Frankly, they weren't available to me," he says. "If their [environmental] program were a car it'd only have reverse as its transmission gear." He adds the Prime Minister Harper has not been keen on public institutions and has steered more towards P3s. King says that while P3s may have some role in certain sectors of the economy, they don't belong in healthcare and education.
Liberals - King says they've "made a lot of noise" about the environment and social programs, but "haven't voted those principles, and this last parliamentary year has been dispicable to be honest." What drives King's disappointment is the Liberal abstention in 43 important votes in the last year. "What does it say to young people when they scurry for cover whenever there's a hard issue to vote on."
"The two main parties struck me like Old Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, you open the doors and there's not much there."
Green - "I like the Green stand on the environment but I have no idea what they'd do if they got into power. I think they'd do the right thing, but you never know because you would have expected the Liberals to do the right thing." He added that party leader Elizabeth May bothers him because of the one-for-one deal she made with Stephane Dion, where a Liberal would not run for office in May's riding and a Green would not run in Dion's. King calls it a "deal made with the devil" (not the first though) and says that he can't understand how Green supporters can be okay with it.
NDP - King mentions Bill C-377, the Climate Change Accountability Act, as proof that the NDP are change while the others just talk change. (Learn more about C-377 here.) He also likes the party's commitment to the homeless, low income earners, seniors, public health and education.
One of the places where King is already effective is his role as a satirist. He says that having humour is an important character trait when dealing with politics. That and a “decent brain” along with a willingness to back anyone with a good idea, (and a willingness to fight anyone with a bad idea) King says, makes him a good candidate. “I’ve gotten to an age where I’m reasonably fearless,” he adds. “I want to do it because I think it should be done well.”
When King was asked by an Ottawa reporter about why he wanted to run, he said, “It was high time we elected someone to Parliament that’s trying to be funny,” (an old Will Rogers line) adding that “the poor guy looked at me and said, ‘That’s a joke, right?’” Great lines like that are characteristic of King’s wit, but it represents what he’s serious about: changing the tone in Parliament specifically and the people’s views of politics generally.
“We live in an era where politics has a dirty name, something that’s to be practiced in the shadows,” he says. “One of the things I believe in is that politicians cannot make the kinds of changes we need to make until you get the community energized and up and looking at politics as a community activity and making it fun again. ["My job as a politician is to get into the community and say, 'Hey guys! This isn't going to work unless you all come along for the ride, get involved, figure out what the issues are and add your voices to it.' Because in some cases, you'll come up with better ideas than the politicians will."] We can’t lead you anywhere unless you want to go.”
I then brought up the subject of sign vandalism. Just a couple of days earlier, it was reported that one of King's signs was rather blantantly vandalized. Kings seems to have taken it with good humour. "I drove by and someone had pasted a big American flag on my sign, and I thought, 'Okay, who did that?' And I thought, 'That's pretty funny.'" He then quoted another Will Rogers line, about his people greeting the Europeans on the shore when asked how good an American was he."
"It's political bullshit," King says. "What they're trying to do is call attention to the fact that I was born and raised in the US; I lived half my life in the US and half my life in Canada. I chose Canada for a number of reasons, and I don't plan on going anyplace." Unless it is to the US, where he still has dual citizenship, so that he can visit family there. "But to stick that up is to reduce politics to the kind of level of a demolishion derby. It really has the potential to take away from the real issues of the campaign. Is the real issue that King happens to be born in the States? I don't think so.
"As far as having my signs vandalized, the next day I came back and somebody put a Canadian flag on there," he adds with laugh. "As for who's doing it, I'm not going to spend a lot of time trying to guess. It's Mickey Mouse. It's juevinille. So is kicking signs over. Are they vandalized by other political parties? Oh... maybe. Are they vandalized by the guys that roar out of the bar on Friday and Saturday night? Probably. Is it a part of the political season? I guess so, I wish it weren't."
And leadership hasn’t been a problem with King’s campaign. It’s been a source of some humour at just how often NDP leader Jack Layton rolls into the Royal City in order to support his party’s nominee. King says he’s been thrilled by that support and the backing of other prominent members of the party. “[Layton] went door-to-door with me last night, and that’s fairly unusual for a national leader, but he makes the time to do that. I think it says to the electorate that I have the respect of the NDP and the NDP caucus.”
King says he's followed Layton's career since he was a city councillor in Toronto and always believed him to be a principled man. "He's the kind of guy that will vote his principles before he votes his job and that's me." Both King and Layton hope to take this riding for the NDP for the first time. "You'll see as much of Jack as you'll see of me I think." (Editor's Note: To prove the point, Layton will be making another policy announcement tomorrow in Guelph -AAD)
As for his stand on the issues, King says that they’re not hard to figure out because he’s been articulating them for years. “The good thing is that if you want to know what I think about on any of these issues, you can go down and get a book of mine and look it up,” he explains “You don’t have to guess, you don’t have to believe my promises or what I say in speeches, I’ve actually put that into print and I’ve done that for years.”
To learn King's views on the environment, he recommends The Truth About Stories: The Massey Lectures.
But King says above all, he hears the call for a change in direction from the average citizen on the street. “I talk with people, sometimes desperate people, who all they want is a fair share of the wealth of the nation. So in some ways, I’ve listened to the voices that I’m going to hear as an MP.”
As for his own voice, King says he’s had over 20 years on the national stage to hone it and he’s ready to use to represent Guelph. “I think I have that voice and the willingness to use that voice. MPs are normally quiet," he adds. "Oddly enough, the last MP that we had, I never heard her say anything about anything. Seriously, I never heard her raise her voice about an issue having felt strongly about it."
He also told me a funny story about how his Mom's unorthodox job searching techniques helped him get his first job as a stock boy at J.C. Penny, but I'm afraid it loses a lot in the transcription. I'm sure if you ask nicely, he'll tell it to you.
Read Frank Valeriote's Director's Cut interview here and come back next Thursday's for the Director's Cut of my Mike Nagy interview.
Greetings all! I'm caught between shows in Stratford, so I need to be brief.
This the latest edition of the Special Guest pageant. Today's contestants are from all the parties as they host fellow politicians with varying degrees of star-wattage over the next couple of days.
Starting today with the NDP, Tom King held a press conference at City Hall with Windsor MPs, Joe Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh) and Brian Masse (Windsor-West), along with his fellow federal candidates, Malcolm Allen (Welland) and Ryan Dolby (Elgin-Middlesex-London). The topic was Green-Collar job strategy in Ontario and the NDP's plans to address massive job losses in the manufacturing and auto sectors. (More on this tomorrow.)
Next up: the Liberals. And in a weird act of cosmic alignment, the Ontario Young Liberals are having their Summer Fling this weekend at the University of Guelph. (Now I'm not suggesting that it was purposeful since I presume these events are planned far in advance. But still, odd coincidence.) Amongst the speakers at Summer Fling are Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae, Karen Redman and Liz Sandals. Oh yeah, Frank Valeriote will be there too.
Not to be out done by bringing out party youth, the Green Party is having their own young people coming into town this weekend. And of course where the youth go, party leader Elizabeth May can't be far behind. She'll be here Monday for what I'm told is going to be the first of three visits during the campaign.
Finally, Gloria Kovach is calling out he who is probably the second biggest gun (so to speak) in her party: the Defence Minister, Peter MacKay. MacKay will be canvasing with Kovach tomorrow, so keep an eye out for them in your neighbourhood.
In Echotomorrow, look for my profile of Tom King, followed up next week with Mike Nagy.
One of the big components of the US Presidential Race is how well, the candidates are using the new media; You Tube and Facebook mostly. In the case of the later, all the candidates have a presence there in, with Tom King appearing to be leading the derby for the most number of friends (meaning, supporters).
But what about video? Who's doing better with the visual component of the race? Well this video went up on You Tube yesterday:
I don't think its partisan or biased to say that was awesome. Especially the end when it's like Reservoir Dogs, except everybody's Mr. Green. I searched You Tube for other stuff this cool from the candidates but to no avail.
Tom King had some video from appearances by Jack Layton and Howard Hampton in town, as well as the Ottawa intro of him and the other NDP by-election candidates from Quebec. Interestingly, there also appears to be a guitarist named CHRIS Tom King as well as a popular character from the British soap Emmerdale also named Tom King.
For Frank Valeriote all I found was a gotcha video made by somebody in the Red Brick Cafe during Stephane Dion's visit, as the cameraman tries to talk to Dion about the Security, Prosperity and Partnership Program (or SPP). Of course, the video never shows him actually talking Dion, but his notes of the incident on his Facebook page so... check that out, I guess.
Finally, I typed in Gloria Kovach and all I could find was some tape of a Guelph Council meeting from four years ago that only reminded me of how sad that group made me. (Not Gloria actually, it most everyone else. in the horseshoe with a couple of exceptions.) Anyway, the alternative links offered gave me this, which I thought apropos, given some of the tough talk on the campaign trail last week. So for everyone in Camp Kovach, I send this one out to you:
For those of you that don't know, John Galt was Guelph's founder in 1827. He was given the Civic Holiday to call his own a few year ago and now there's festivities and everything.
For me though, I saw it as a unique opportunity to take a break from observing how others treat issues and raise one of my own. Basically, it comes down to this: the calendar might say that this is a holiday, but the fact of the matter is its not a holiday for all. Over the last few years I've seen a disappointing erosion of workers in the service sector's right to a day off; it began with Civic Holiday then Boxing Day and now I see odd shops open on Canada Day and, ironically, Labour Day.
Now I'm not talking about convenience stores; since most of them are owner operated, combined with their stated purpose of offering convenience, they have a right to decide if they want to open or close. I'm talking about big stores and malls. I saw a Food Basics open on Canada Day last year. Why? I heard somebody today say they were going to Dollarama. So tomorrow's too late to go to the dollar store?
I strongly see a future where the only people entitled to their government sanctioned days off are professionals, bank workers and government employees. It bothers me when I hear people complain about not getting a day off in June, when I know for a fact that people out there aren't even getting the days off they already should. It disappointed me to no end when Dalton McGuinty gave us "Family Day" before rectifying the fact that Ontario is one of only two provinces to not recognize Remembrance Day as holiday. (And we all know who already does: the bank.)
Now I speak from personal experience, (I used to work at a Zellers that will remain nameless) and in the beginning everybody made sure to get your permission to work before scheduling you on what should have been a holiday, sign-up sheets and so forth. But as time went on, this fell by the wayside. Why? Because nobody wanted to work on a holiday so management had to rely on the old "voluntold" strategy.
Ever been in a store on Boxing Day? Good. Now image what it's like for the poor people that wear the store uniforms. If you think it's good fun to be asked a dozen times if you have any boxed Christmas cards and then have to tell a dozen people 'No' only to have them retort, "But if you did have any, where would they be?" You're wrong. And if you thinking working the electronics counter's "awesome" than you should definitely be there Boxing Day when irate parents bring back the broken Nintendo systems and scream for a replacement, which you don't have in stock... Then repeat this three of four times with various systems.
Its not that these things don't happen everyday, but their annoyance factor goes up ten fold when you realize these people have a day off and you don't. Naturally, annoyance grows to bitterness and bitterness grows to resentment. And in these tough economic times, you don't want to resent your job. I don't know if its the time or people's general lack of imagination, but if no one scrambled to the mall on their day off, then it wouldn't need to be open.
So next time you think about hitting the stores on national holiday, please remember that you are one of the few, you lucky few, that still gets the most basic of entitlements: a day off as scheduled. Remember the wise words of Dante Hicks: "I'm not even supposed to be here today."
I was out and about today on this, the second Sunday of the campaign, and I couldn't help but notice how quiet it was. For it seemed that the by-election that came screaming out of the gate was oddly silent now, but then again that could have to do with the long weekend.
But then again, maybe a little quiet is a good thing after the verbal throwdowns of the past week that have included a high-profile Liberal calling Gloria Kovach "a sheep." (Actually, it was Scott Brison and the quote was that Kovach was “part of Stephen Harper's flock of sheep.” Jinkies, that sounds pretty bad, but I think there were more diplomatic ways for Brison to make his point, which referenced a Mercury article in which Kovach spoke of Federal compensation for Steven Truscott saying, "The issue of funding is not a local issue and those questions are best directed to the PMO press office."
All this hullabaloo caused a Macleans blogger to observe, "If the by-election in Guelph is any indication, a general election this fall could be among the most dispiriting in recent memory." I think that's kind of hard to judge right now, because I can't be sure that after the months and months and months and a year to build up an election blood lust, if people just aren't getting stuff off their chest. At least I hope they are.
Anyway, Elections Canada now has its list of confirmed candidates online. As you can imagine, it acknowledges the Big Four and no one else, although that may change. Candidates have until August 18th to get their nomination papers in to be put on the ballot.
Also online now is the August 1st edition of the CFRU program "The Press Conference" in which I partook as a guest panelist. We had some good discussion, some groovy tunes and even a caller. If you missed it, you can head over to the CFRU website and look it up on the archives. The show's on 93.3 fm every Friday at 1 pm.
This is a message for all the [blank]holes, presumably drunk although that's not for certain, that spent last night knocking over Frank Valeriote and Gloria Kovach's campaign signs on the corner of Paisley and Silvercreek: Don't be a dick.
Seriously, you went to a lot of trouble to show Valeriote and Kovach who's boss (by process of elimination, I assume its Tom King and Mike Nagy), but honestly we're a week into the election and already people are playing vandal mind games by pretending that knocking over the campaign signs of the candidate you don't like makes any kind of point other than, "I'm a big fat jerk that can't express myself in a normal fashion because I'm either too disengaged or too cowardly."
I brought this up when I talked to Tom King earlier this week, one of King's signs seems to be the first to be vandalized this campaign after an American flag was attached to it. King seemed to take the matter in stride, although he was obviously disappointed. He called it "juvenile" and "Mickey Mouse."
So do what King says: don't be part of the Mickey Mouse Club, and don't be a dick either. You left his signs untouched so I already know you agree with him. Or, to quote one of my all time favourite Simpsons bits, "I look forward to an orderly election that will eliminate the need for a violent bloodbath."
"This isn't a good location, this is a great location," an enthusiastic Mike Nagy tells me. Apparently all the parties were looking at this prime real estate on the corner of Gordon and Wellington, but a little birdie told me that the man that owns the property only had eyes for Green. The location seems indicative of a great generation of excitement over the Green Party's chances here in the election, campaign workers say their up to a volunteer force of 250 workers and counting, and their goal was originally 200 in all.
"We have hope and focus, not fear and baggage," Nagy told a gathering of supports and interested passersby, "We have what the other parties don't: continuous growth."
Nagy thanked everyone that came out, especially the young woman that kayked all the way from Eden Mills, and not to mention the numerous people that had biked to the event. Nagy went on to reiterate that a Green MP in Guelph would make history and that a vote for one of the other three candidates won't effectively change the board enough in Parliament to make a difference, so why not take a gamble on Green?
With that, Nagy and his volunteers moved into the official unveiling of the sign. The wrap was peeled away as the crowd chanted the words "Guelph's Going Green." As you'll notice below, some of the brown paper came off, but a lot of it was left on the sign, forcing Nagy to borrow the kayak paddle to tear down the rest. He took it all in good stride though.
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