Changes

Tags

Canada, Constitution, Governor General, Parliament, The Crown, Trudeau

On the 20 January the USA got a new President and 2 days later Canada saw our Acting Head of State resign under a dark cloud. Our Governor General Julie Payette had to step down after a scathing report on her creating a toxic work place that saw dozens of people quit or go on sick leave, more than 50 people testified against her and her own RCMP security detail had horror stories to tell of how badly she treated them.

Julie Payette was the candidate of our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who once again shows how his idealism and woke agenda coupled with lack of judgement and failure to follow through will always land you in big trouble. Instead of listening to the non-partisan selection committee and doing all the necessary background vetting, Trudeau charged ahead and recommended Payette to the Queen who approved her nomination. Turns out Payette was the worst person for the job, she refused to listen to advice, did not follow protocol, refuse to move into Rideau Hall the Official Residence in Ottawa, preferring to stay in her cottage North of Montreal. Would disappear without notifying anyone including her security detail, which would send alarm bells all around. Refuse patronages which had been on the books for a century, refuse to sign documents or give Royal Assent to Laws preferring to take her time in some cases 5 months. In our Canadian System no royal assent means nothing can go ahead and the government comes to a standstill. She also famously delivered Christmas messages wearing a jump suit like those shoppers at Walmart, there is a relax look but this went far beyond any minimum standard. She did not care and made a point of it.

What really did her in and her good pal and second in command Asunta was her harrassment of staff, majority women. Having screaming rages and tantrums, demanding they answer difficult math problems and name all the planets of the solar system, Payette is a former astronaut, staff were harassed and bullied by a woman who by all public accounts was a shining example of successful feminism, unfortunately no background checks were done. There were rumours about her 2 previous high profile jobs both she quit under a cloud for exactly the same reasons. There was also her tortuous family life with 2 ex-husbands, one pressed charges of battery against her and the un-ending custody battles. How could the Prime Minister be so thoughtless, I would have loved to be listening in on the conversation when he had to call Her Majesty, the big boss, to explain to her why Madame Payette was resigning. Knowing the Queen and her inquisitive mind, I am sure she was well aware of the details before the call and was waiting to see how Trudeau would explain himself for this fiasco. Not to forget that Queen Elizabeth has known him since he was 7 years old.

Incredibly enough Madame Payette in her letter of resignation does not apologize but simply said that that there were some disagreements. Trudeau in Parliament and to the Press lied by stating that the vetting process had not worked well. Everyone knows there was NO process, is he not man enough to simply admit he made a terrible mistake and a costly one at that.

Now the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will take on the duties of Governor General until a new person is named. Hopefully it will not be too long and this time there will be a complete vetting. Life will go on but my faith in Justin Trudeau is shaken, maybe it is time for him to retire, his arrogance has gotten the better of him.

Rideau Hall, Official Residence of the Governor General of Canada, Ottawa.

Absolutism, the modern disease

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absolutism, activists, Canada., Constitution, equality, equity, Men, miracles, women

The word is defined as follows: the acceptance of or belief in absolute principles in political, philosophical, ethical, or theological matters.

It appears to me that we live in an age of absolute beliefs or opinions. The is no room for intelligent discourse, for presenting facts, to argue in a debate and present a counter point. It looks like we are either for or against and with someone or group or against said person or group. People want a solution to any problem which has to be final and absolute, solve this thing once and for all. Problem is we live in an imperfect world but no matter it’s got to be fixed now. How did we ever get to this point? The age of miracles is past, as the song goes, no matter we demand miracles from our elected officials, from anyone in authority.  Otherwise we are not happy, it is almost a nihilistic approach to life, a total rejection of Laws and Institutions or beliefs unless they prove they can provide us with the solution to a better world where everyone is treated fairly and without prejudice or preference.

In discussions people are pigeonholed along gender lines, economic or educational lines, religious beliefs though many claim not to have any and political view points. You are with the left or the right, you cannot be with the centre in terms of opinions. Age and generations is also another great divide, one group blaming the other and vice versa, usually the elderly are to blame for all the problems of the world.

If that was not enough, the media is also trying to tell you how to think and what to think under the guise of informing you. On social media you are afraid to leave a comment because the caustic reply you will get is well beyond any intelligent reasoning.

There have been other ages in human history where absolute thinking has prevailed. In Europe with the protestant Reformation an age of extreme intolerance, war and violence, tens of thousand died and this happened in the age of the Renaissance and Baroque period. In the 20th century extreme ideologies surfaced all over Europe and in Asia with the results we know.

Now in the 21th century a new phenomenon, populist ideology and concepts coming mostly from North America. In Canada with the adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, Canadians saw a huge change in how they perceive themselves and how they see their country. Enshrine in the Canadian Constitution, the Charter has taken on a life of its own, with unforeseen results. It rectified many wrongs and demolished pre-conceived ideas of how society functions. Many of us profited from the advances brought about by the Charter.  Politicians also used it to push the concept of equality amongst all people. By 1995 equality was replaced by equity, not the same thing and not the same meaning either in legal terms, however few paid attention to this change, confusing equality with equity.  Equity is a great example of a word that started out with a general sense that developed more specific senses over time. In Canada today it generally means giving all to one group as compensation for centuries of perceived wrong doing by the other privilege group. A general rejection of the past and historical figures, they were wrong and awful people. We judge the dead, in some cases the long dead and accuse them today of crimes, using today’s standards. I wonder what we will be accused of in 60 years.

As the concept of equity took hold of Canadian society, some thought they could export this concept to other continents, in the spirit of look how good I am, I will show you how to correct the mistakes in your society. A rather arrogant idea coming from people who do not think in terms of justice but in terms of social revolution fuelled by self-absorbed thinking.

In the last 3 years in Canada we have seen the rise of a movement which advocates that women who are victims of violence, sexual or domestic must be believed no matter what the evidence of lack thereof may be. The simple fact that an allegation is made is sufficient to have the judicial system kick into gear. This movement with the help of the media has alleged that all police force in Canada is corrupt and or non-responsive, the Judicial system is broken and dominated by white old men with patriarchal tendencies, our politicians are accused of being biased.  Now Margaret Atwood, the famous feminist writer and acclaimed author is accused by the very same group of being anti-women because she believes in due process of the Law and said that mere allegations against anyone in the #MeToo movement are dangerous for us all, if no investigation takes place and the allegations are not proven in a Court of Law if they are ever pursued at that level how is society to progress.  One activist said to Atwood, maybe you should listen to young vulnerable females who are powerless, Atwood shot back that she had been listening for 63 years. Another activist wrote on Twitter that she was not interested in Justice or due process but in burning down the building of society and starting from scratch, in other word complete revolution, cannot see to many followers of that idea, but the media loves to broadcast the idea. As one editor told me, we are always on the look out for that story that gets public attention.

What is interesting in all this, was the comment made by a feminist writer and jurist who being interviewed explained that Society at large is simply not following the issue of equality or equity and public attitudes are not changing as fast as some would like. So despite the activists, media and some politicians who would like to see a re-ordering of society with new pro-feminist attitudes, few in Society, men and women are actually following or paying attention to any of it. Passing laws, social engineering, imposing quotas in hiring base on gender alone, demanding that private corporations have a balance ration of men and women on boards, or that Courts of Law have an equal balance of men and women sitting on the bench, etc all of it may have a more surface impact than a deeper attitude changing impact on Society at large.  I am still appalled by television Sport channels and hockey in Canada to see the same toxic macho attitudes being presented and watch in bar, pubs and at home, no one says a word about this, hey hockey and sports in general are sacred institutions. Change will come eventually but change in peoples attitudes to any social question will come at snail pace. You cannot legislate how people think.

However in this age of absolute beliefs and instant solutions, one has to be very careful to either say nothing on social media or parsing one’s words carefully as to not offend the activists who believe they hold the truth.  As  a lawyer said to me, this is the result of the electronic age and the internet. That is scary.

An important Anniversary

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150, BNA, Canada., Constitution, Victoria

This article was written by Nathan Tidridge for Maclean’s

The Canadian Constitution known by its formal name of British North America Act is 150 years old this week on Wednesday 29 March. Queen Victoria gave Royal Assent to the Act making it Official now known as the Constitution Act 1867.

She wrote in her journal;

“There will be a great deal to do with the Confederation of N. America which is likely now to be accomplished & which will be a great safeguard against America.” – Queen Victoria’s Personal Journal, April 4th, 1866

 

Nearly every community in Canada harbours a “Queen Street” named for this woman. Perhaps in a cheeky nod to their famously passionate marriage, the community of Waterdown, Ontario, has Victoria and Albert streets intersecting. From British Columbia’s “Victoria,” to Saskatchewan’s “Regina,” and Nova Scotia’s “Victoria County,” the old Queen remains a consistent cultural touchstone for the country. Prince Edward Island was named for her father, Alberta for her daughter, and it was she that came up with the idea to add the “British” to Columbia. The Queen’s visage graces treaty medals, and her birthday is commemorated by cottage-bound Canadians every May.
Whether or not it is a popular myth that Ottawa was personally selected by the Queen, the story makes it clear that the monarch’s blessing was necessary for the new capital’s acceptance. Her daughter Princess Louise was chatelaine of Rideau Hall (1878-1883), and her son served as governor general of Canada (Duke of Connaught, 1911-1916).
However, there is much more to Victoria than simply window-dressing—there is depth beneath her stare. During her long reign (only recently surpassed by her great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth II), the Queen was keenly aware of the goings-on in North America. A union of the British North American colonies was mentioned in her personal diary as early as Feb. 12, 1865, where she fretted about the possibility of an American invasion. Advocating for the defence of Canada, Victoria wrote: “…we must struggle for it, and far the best it would be to let it go as an Independent Kingdom, under an English Prince!” The Queen goes on to discuss her husband—the late Prince Albert’s—hopes that their sons would someday reign over the various British colonies, even suggesting Prince Arthur for Canada.
Victoria’s connection with the realm of Canada dates back to her father’s residency in Quebec City and Halifax from 1791-1800 (the Duke of Kent was a noted supporter of British North American unity). And her ascension to the throne in 1837 was a period marked by the Upper and Lower Canadian rebellions (the Queen regularly—sometimes daily—recorded events that evoked the other odious American rebellion that marred the reign of her grandfather, King George III).
The British North America Act (now called the Constitution Act 1867) was submitted to the Queen on Feb. 11, 1867. Two weeks later, Victoria hosted and noted the Canadian delegates “who have come about the great confederation of British North America”—including a newly remarried Sir John A. Macdonald. The country’s future prime minister famously explained that the purpose of Confederation was “to declare in the most solemn and emphatic manner our resolve to be under the Sovereignty of Your Majesty and your family forever.” On March 29, the Queen formally granted Royal Assent to the act, earning the sobriquet “Mother of Confederation.”
Victoria recorded a council she held for the declaration of the “N. American Province, under the name of Canada” on May 22, 1867, announcing the names of Canada’s first 72 senators and proclaiming that the British North America Act would come into effect on July 1, 1867, allowing the Canadian delegation time to travel back home for the celebrations.

 In truth, the Mother of Confederation had a rich and nuanced relationship with Canada that touched on both the trivial (Victoria loved watching her husband Prince Albert play hockey on a pond near their residence at Frogmore) and consequential. Many of her children spent long periods of time in Canada, including Princess Louise and the Duke of Connaught. The Queen fretted over American expansionism, fostered British North American unity.

Flag of Canada 1868-1921

You do the math

Tags

1864, Canada., champagne, Charlottetown, Conference, Constitution, dancing, drinking, Fathers of Confederation, France, PEI, Spo, USA, Washington

There was 31 delegates at the Charlottetown Conference in 1864 and 17 tons of Champagne on the SS Victoria which brought the delegates to PEI. That is an awful lot of Champagne for one conference on writing up the Canadian Constitution and making a deal to united the colonies into one Country, classic case of In Vino Veritas. Though you will be told that the delegates had their meetings at Province House the Seat of the Legislature, most meetings took place at the Cross Key Tavern on Queen Street and the Bar Keep was both keeping the minutes of the deliberations and serving drinks. All this while the Circus was in town for the first time in 20 years. Unlike France and its bloody civil war dubbed a revolution, or the American tax revolt of 1776 with unhappy landowners like G. Washington and co., we chose to have a party and a stiff drink with much dancing and food every night. They call Canada boring, I cannot think of another country born this way.

This rondelle with snippet of information can be found at the Memorial to the Fathers of Confederation. Canadians are a funny lot.

The Fathers of Confederation at Fanningbank, the Official Residence of the Lieutenant Governor of PEI in Charlottetown.

In 2016 some 152 years later on the same veranda of Fanningbank, Dr. Spo trying to call the Fathers of Confederation on his iPhone, unbelievable.

The front Porch of Fanningbank today, not much changed at all.

Harperman it’s time for you to go!!!!!

Tags

Canada., Constitution, Democracy, Dictatorship, East Germany, Election, Freedom, Lutheran Church, October 19, Parliament, Protest

The Canadian Federal Election will not come soon enough. In the meantime I am publishing here a song that has gone viral thanks to Harperman himself. The idiot Prime Minister of Canada decided to make a martyr of the lead singer of this song. It went on YouTube from 548 views to viral overnight! Yes Harper ordered the suspension of the fellow because he is a Public Servant. You will not criticized the Fuhrer Harper! The USA had Richard Nixon we have Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon combined in the person of Stephen Harper. Can you believe that the people in this video are seen by Harper and his cronies as dangerous activists. This is beyond ridiculous, if you are not worth a laugh you are not worth much as the old saying goes.

So enjoy this Church Group protest song. We should remember that it was the Lutheran Church protest songs and demonstrations in East Germany who was instrumental in toppling the Communist Dictatorship in 1989, maybe we can topple the Harper Dictator on October 19. #StopHarper #Election2015