Party time

Tags

2021, Canada, elections, life, Vote

Friday night at the Club we had the launching of our 25th Anniversary year. This party took some months to organize simply for the logistics of it, food, music, guests list, press release and much communications between various Official guests and VIPs.

The food was Lobster rolls which is always a big hit, we had other nice finger food and a beautiful carrot cake made by one of our members. The Mayor of Charlottetown hosted the party as a Patron of the Club and the Lieutenant Governor was also present as our Vice-regal Patron, the Premier sent his personal representative and ministers of the government were also present. Lots and lots of members came to the event. Our small orchestra played and the entertainment Chair composed a Club song to a famous tune by a well know Jazz composer. We had a lot of fun and it was a great success.

Lieutenant Governor’s limousine arriving at the Club, with the distinctive Royal Flag.

It helped that the weather was sunny and warm like a nice late Summer day and this week it will be more of the same.

This week the Coffee and Conversation series is starting up again and I organized for the TESLA dealership in town to bring cars to the Club so members can hear about it and test drive them. I expect a big turnout.

Well tomorrow is VOTING Day in Canada, because we have 6 time zones, to know the results we will have to wait a few hours until people living on the West Coast vote and their Voting Polls close 3 hours later than ours. In the meantime the news media has endless silly chatter and speculation trying to fill in air time until they are authorize by Elections Canada to announce the results.

The vote is close both main parties have split percentages 32% to 31% and the NDP has a 19% favorable rate. The Bloc Quebecois which only runs candidates in Quebec and only represents Quebec interests or so they say, could play a major role in that province which is vote rich. Ontario and specifically the Greater Toronto Region is also vote rich and very important in terms of the number of seats. Atlantic Canada votes first and the Liberal party has a huge unbeatable lead in the 4 Atlantic provinces.

It very much looks like it will be yet again a minority government Liberal or Conservative not clear yet. However I can see PM Trudeau being forces out by his own party if he cannot give them a majority. Same for the Conservatives who are not supporting the centrist approach in this election of their Leader Erin O’Toole, who looked desperate this weekend. Because the right wing vote is badly split between between right and extreme right and the more extreme fringe controls the conservative party, the possibility of seeing that fringe vote for the Neo-Nazis, ( I use this term because of their ideology), of Maxime Bernier and his People’s Party is very real. A strange coalition of white supremacists (Alberta) and anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Feminist, anti-abortion, anti-vaxxers, anti-jewish, anti-gay, anti-human rights, and very much PRO-Assault rifles.

This election is unlike any other I have seen in my life time, if I think back to 1968. It was one of violence, assaults on candidates, violent demonstrations, hate mongering and very little substance. PM Trudeau did present his program which is progressive and clear with the costing done. The other parties not so much, Conservatives tell us WE have a Plan, really what is it. That is not clear. How much does it cost? Mystery.

The NDP of Jagmeet Sigh have a program but it is mostly about Provincial jurisdictions where the Federal Government cannot intervene. High fantasy in other words. Jagmeet does not appear to know the difference between Provincial and Federal competence. The public follows him because many are themselves ignorant of those differences. The Green party died during this election, it’s leader was totally unprepared for the job and she by taking a strong Pro-Israel stand destroyed her party and she is already saying that if she does not win a seat in the House she will resign.

The wild card is Bernier and his People’s Party, remains to be seen if he will make gains or not. So we shall see.

Nicky says thank you

Tags

Canada, dachshunds, elections, PEI

Well our Nicky is feeling better and he is a little tired of the rice and veal diet. But being born in Italy veal is sort of the thing for him. Nicky was happy for your good wishes and says in his native Italian, mille grazie a tutti.

Other items, well we are back to having to wear face masks everywhere indoors now. The big problem is Alberta out West where the hospital system is about to crash due to too many new Covid cases and the very low vaccination rate. Alberta is our West Virginia, very backwards. The Premier Jason Kenney use to be my Minister at the Federal level years ago, a complete incompetent fool, who caused by his inaction the death in his provinces of thousands of people because he deferred to private business over the public good, dollars before lives.

What is worse the Chief Medical Officer in Alberta Dr Heather Hinshaw went along with Kenney’s policy until yesterday after months of lying to the public, admitted that she was wrong, sorry folks she says. That is why we call them murder clowns.

Ontario is not much better, of the $2.5 billion dollars they received from the Federal Gov. for Covid to help the health sector, they instead sat on the money, did nothing with it. Another fool Premier Doug Ford, who created the fourth wave to help out businesses instead of the people of the province. This is the problem with those conservative premiers, they admire Trump and make no bones about it. I do hope people will vote them out of Office when the Provincial election cycle comes around.

Only 3 days to go before the Federal Election. Let’s hope Canadians will not elect a Trump wanna be.

Pancreatitis, Meetings

Tags

Canada, Dachshund, elections, Nicky, Vet

Well Nicky was not feeling well for the last 3 days and he obviously had some stomach issues.

He has a very delicate digestive system and anything can trigger a malaise. Last night he was very sick and I took him to the Animal Veterinary Hospital of the University of PEI. They are always open 24/7, though for a fee. The service is excellent and you get a Vet with experience and a fourth year student who is doing their practicum learning with the professional vet. Nicky got some blood work done and all was fine. He then got a shot to stop the nausea and he came home. This morning he was a little tired but he is bouncing back. For a thirteen year old he is doing fine. We do worry about them.

Earlier in the day I had meeting at the Club to plan the Friday party with lots of VIPs. At the same time the surge in Covid cases on the Island in schools amongst kids under 12 is worrisome. However what we see now is those who are not vaccinated are getting sick. Since 90% of the Island population is fully vaccinated those who get sick, the unvaccinated, really stand out. We have 22 cases which is not much and testing is going full blast in the last two days. So we should get to the bottom of this pretty soon.

Violence on the campaign is on the rise, one candidate was assaulted in his Office yesterday by a women, the PM got rocks thrown at him, his wife was called a whore by some idiot macho guy. Signs have been defaced with swastikas and the rise of the extreme right wing People’s Party (PPC) of white supremacist is difficult to believe, but they are at 7% in the polls right now. We have never seen this in a Canadian Federal Election before. Only 4 days to go before voting day 20 September.

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Voting, Golf and BBQ

Tags

BBQ, Canada, Charlottetown, elections, Glen Afton Golf, Golf, PEI

On Saturday I went to vote in anticipation. In Canada you can do that a week before the actual date, which is 20 September 2021. Voting in Canada either at the Federal level, Provincial or Municipal is a fairly easy affair. I am registered to vote by completing on the Elections Canada site the info they need to send me a card. The info is simple, your home address, your full name. Elections Canada is an independent body and is not in any way controlled or subject to politicians or political parties. Anyone working at Elections Canada is and must be fully neutral of political views. Same for all the volunteers at polling stations, in some cases you cannot even wear colours which might suggest support for a party, like red or blue or orange.

The advance polling is open from 9am to 9pm and is in one central location. Whereas on election day polling stations are located in neighbourhoods, in our case one block away from home. So I went to vote and the atmosphere is a happy one, helpful staff and a very simple process. I also have to bring with my voter card a piece of ID with my photo and home address, issued by the Provincial Government or the Federal Government. It is checked by the fellow at the door who then quickly directs you to the next person who registers you, then you are sent to the actual voting area, the fellow there has a big paper list, checked my name and crossed it, gave me a paper bulletin to register my vote with a pencil. I voted then return the folded bulletin and put it into the Urn. It took all of about 3 minutes. I really like the paper and pencil way to vote, simple and efficient.

So I am done now for this Federal Election, you can only vote for the candidate who will be, if elected, your member of Parliament. NO we do not vote for the Prime Minister, no matter what people say, you can only vote for your MP where you live. So this means we have 338 candidates to elect to form the House of Commons. The Prime Minister will be one of them. Currently Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is an MP in the riding of Papineau in Montreal.

An interesting fact in our Canadian System, Justin Trudeau continues to be Prime Minister until he resigns. So on election night if the Liberal party is not re-elected with enough seats to form a government, Trudeau will still have to decide to resign or not. If he thinks that he could by doing the math, form a coalition with another party and have enough seats to govern, then he will advise the Governor General accordingly and a vote will be held in the House of Commons to see if he has the confidence of the House. As long as a Government has the confidence of the House, he can continue to rule. An example of this, in 2006 the then Prime Minister Paul Martin, lost the election to Stephen Harper. However for several hours until the next day, Martin did the math and looked around if any other party would help in supporting his party. He needed 51 seats. He quickly realized that no other party would support him and he resigned. Harper was called by the Governor General to form a government.

GOLF AND BBQ

Yesterday was our Club’s Annual Golf Tournament at Glen Afton on the cliff at Rocky Point, which has spectacular views of the Strait of Northumberland. Great sunny day with a bit of wind, nice and around 22C perfect for the game. I was at the Club and set up the BBQ on our deck its a 6 burner and from 2pm to 5pm grilled 65, 10 oz steaks. You really have to watch the meat and I had a thermometer with me to check so I was able to give people what they wanted from rare to medium to well done. Got an ovation from the crowd for my work and many compliments. It was great fun being on the deck and talking to everyone.

We had trophies for the best ball and best team, everyone got a small gift for participating, the President thought this was the most successful tournament in years.

Haviland Club in old Charlottetown.

We are having an election

Tags

Canada, elections, French, harvest, painting

Canada is in election mode and only 3 weeks are left before the vote. This election takes place as the crisis in Afghanistan is getting worse by the day. Canada had promised to take 20,000 Afghans but now it looks like we will take only a few thousands. Canada was totally unprepared and it looks now like the Government really does not care. PM Justin Trudeau is focused in trying to win a majority and the rest is not on his mind.

The election is not going well for him and I have the impression that we will have another minority government. What is coming out is the insufferable arrogance of Trudeau and his constant virtue signalling. The media is quite tired of it and the public is losing faith. We are also entering a 4th wave of COVID and many appear unable to face more lockdowns. In PEI with 80% + fully vaccinated things are good and quiet.

This is harvest time and the choice of vegetables, herbs and salads of all kind is wonderful, the Farmer’s Market is lively. The weather in August is very nice so far and I only wish we could have a few more months of it, but that is not going to be.

I am also looking forward to our Club’s Golf Tournament, I volunteered to drive a Golf Cart so that we can distribute sandwiches to the golfers and a drink called Rum Matcha, which I am told is pretty stiff. After 3pm I will be grilling the steaks at the Club for the dinner. I expect to grill about 60 steaks. I am told they are around 10oz.

This week I also have to get serious and look for a new Apple Computer, mine is developing problems and I now have a line in the middle of the screen. A new one will be around $1500.

Now for those of you who have an eye for art and painting, can anyone tell me the name of this painting and who is the artist? It is French and probably from the 18th century. Is it Fragonard or Watteau? It is a baroque painting. The Goddess Ceres because of the sheaf of wheat (abundance) and Aphrodite with representing Peace, fertility her colour is pink. Ceres colour is green which symbolize agriculture. The Swan could very well be Zeus, lots of symbolism in this painting. But what is it?

Who Gets to be Prime Minister and Why — Philippe Lagassé

Tags

21 October, elections, Parliament, Prime Minister

Philippe Lagassé is an academic and an associate professor and William and Jeanie Barton Chair at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University. His current research focuses on the Crown, the royal prerogative, and legislative-executive relations in Westminster states like Canada.

Currently completing a project on legislative oversight of military affairs and beginning a project prerogative power reform in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Both projects are funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

In addition to his academic work, he is a part-time public office holder with the Government of Canada as a member of the Independent Review Panel for Defence Acquisition.

Professor Lagassé is truly a National treasure in Canada, a very learned fellow for whom I have a great deal of respect. Monday is Election Day in Canada, this is helpful to understand where we are going as Canadians.

 

I recently published an article in Constitutional Forum that analyses the rules of government formation in Canada. You can find the article here (click where it says pdf): https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/constitutional_forum/index.php/constitutional_forum/article/view/29384 To address the current debate about who governs after the 21 October election, I’ve updated my tables:

via Who Gets to be Prime Minister and Why — Philippe Lagassé

Provincial Elections PEI

Tags

23 april, Charlottetown, elections, Green, Green party, PBB, Politics

Well it seems that we are in election season in Canada. Today Alberta elected an Alt-Right Government, but then that is Alberta for you, a wealthy province with a population known for its racism and bigotry and proud of it. The exception being the 2 large Cities of Calgary and Edmonton who tend to be more progressive compared to the rural areas. The new Premier is Jason Kenney, a closet case, former Federal Minister in the Harper Regime. He is a bigot, a racist, etc and when the media brings it up he simply scoffs saying he was misquoted. We all heard that before. Kenney  wants to declare war on Canada, imagine the Premier of a Province with a 3 million population. Sad little man.

Newfoundland and Labrador is going to the Polls on May 12 and in PEI we are in the final days of our election which promises, if the projections hold, to give us the first Green Party Government.  Very exciting for us in PEI it would finally break the old feudal system of a handful of families ruling the Province as personal property. The current Premier Wade MacLaughlan, Liberal, is very unpopular. A man who came in 4 years ago with lots of high promises and hopes that things would change and nothing did. The Conservatives are no where with 6 leaders in 9 years and a fear mongering agenda. The NDP have two or three candidates and no one believes they will be able to have even one person elected. This leaves the Green with Leader Peter Bevan-Baker who has done a superb campaign, people see him as a gentleman, polite and courteous. Addressing every issue and presenting a no nonsense approach to social questions. I have spoken with him several times in the last 3 years and I am impressed by him. I remember the first time I saw him in a coffee shop near the Legislature, he was busy talking to his staff and it looked like a meeting of sorts over coffee. I nonetheless went up to him, apologize for disturbing their conversation, we shook hands and he asked me a few questions and we had a short conversation but it was very natural and interesting. He also during my own campaign for Municipal Office, listen to what I had to say and engaged me in conversation.  On the other hand I had a chance also to speak several times with the Premier but his manner is totally different, more aloof, distant and not interested. A very different experience.

Peter Bevan-Baker, Leader of the Green Party PEI.

PEI needs a change politically, the current system has produced nothing but stagnation for the last 100 years and the same people and families are always in power or in plum jobs. Corruption is rampant, the mafia could take lessons from the old style politicians here.

The hope is that with a Green party in power things can change. That is what we are all hoping for.

Also with this election, a referendum is being held to change the way we vote. Currently we have the old British system of First past the Post (FPTP) and the choice is to change it to MMP or Mix member proportional which makes every vote count and gives a more efficient level of representation. The old parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives are against any change to the voting system. If we adopt MMP system then we will be the first in North America to do so. If the Green’s are elected, the are currently leading we would also be the first in Canada to elect a Green Party Government. So this small island province of 150,000 people could make history.

Already with advance voting, some 30% of the electorate have voted, including me. The actual election day is Tuesday 23 April.

 

Events

Tags

Charlottetown, elections, municipal, PEI, synagogue, Vote, Ward 1, XMAS

So today 5 November is Municipal election day in PEI in the 4 big towns, Charlottetown, Stratford, Cornwall and Summerside. The other places are more resort or settlements with less than 600 people living in any one spot so they simply have assembly meetings and people discuss issues and vote on them.

Charlottetown the Capital has 36,000 people, Summerside 15,000, Stratford 10,000 and Cornwall 6000. In the last 7 days we have had lots of torrential rains and during the past weekend 18 hours of 95 to 130km winds which I am told is hurricane grade, this is what happens here in the Fall and Winter Season, high winds. So canvassing was not possible and many of my electoral campaign signs just vanished or were badly damaged by the wind. What I have learned though is that you only put up your signs in the last 6 days of the campaign, no need for signs prior to that since the most important element is to meet people on their door step and chat. I did that a lot and visited them again reminding them of what we had talked about.

Today I walked around the neighbourhood and met at random people, all told me they had voted for me and why they did. I found that very encouraging, I am hoping for the best. However if I do not win it will not be the end of the world and life goes on, I do have lots of projects and volunteer work and will still keep in touch with what is going on at City Hall, which is not difficult to do in a small town.

Of course now that we are about 7 weeks from XMAS!!!! a lot of fairs and charity events are in full swing. For the Holiday Season there is a lot of food and clothing drives and gift donations for poor children.  There is a lot of poverty in PEI but it is often well hidden until like me you start walking the neighbourhood or go out in the small settlements and see how people live. Makes one wonder how they survive in Winter, when the choices between food or heat becomes stark.

One Charity we like to support is called

Christmas Tree Dress Fashion Show Fundraiser

this is part of the Santa’s Angels Charity drive, the idea is to arrange for a $50 Xmas gift for a child who has never had any gifts on Christmas Morning, it also includes food and clothing for a family who are in need.

There are many other such charity events around the Province, Farmers give out 10 pound bags of potatoes, the CBC our National Broadcaster does a turkey drive and each year will collect over 1000 turkeys for families who cannot afford to buy one. There is also a warm clothing drive for adults and for children. Visits to Seniors home and to Hospitals. The idea being not to leave anyone behind or alone.

All of it done by volunteers, hundreds of them, it is quite the operation.

This is the WESTJET Airline entry into the Xmas Tree Fashion Show.

A group photo of the Fashion show, the idea being that each dress would be appropriate for a Xmas Party event.

 

Yesterday the 4 November around 3pm the small Jewish population of Charlottetown and other residents gathered in front of Founder’s Hall, which is the old Canadian National Railway repair shops now transformed into a market place to commemorate the memory of the 11 victims of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg last week.  A nice quiet service attended by about 100 persons.

 

 

16 October Poll

Tags

#PEIPOLI, Charlottetown, elections, municipal, PEI, Politics, urban

Here is a Poll from The Guardian in PEI on the possible results of the Municipal Election in Ward 1 Charlottetown. Voting Day is November 5.

 

Have your say in our online poll

Today’s question: Who will win in Ward 1

Laurent Beaulieu  46.15%  

 

Paul Haddad  25%  

 

Alanna Jankov  15.38%  

 

Leo Killorn  9.62%  

 

Ron Dowling  3.85%  

 

September 1

Tags

climate change, elections, Food, harvest, tourism, USA, Weather

This is the long Labour Day Weekend, the tourism season is drawing to a close, though the cruise ships are still coming until end October and more tourist restaurants are staying open until either Thanksgiving weekend on 8 October some until mid-December.

We certainly did not have the crowds of last year for the 150th Anniversary of Confederation and I was happy that the numbers were more manageable. Charlottetown is a small capital of 36,000. people and when a cruise ship disgorges 1000+ passengers you really feel it. The weather also was far more humid and well above normal range for the Summer at 35C usually the temperatures are more around 25C in the day time and around 18C at night. So this Summer climate change was very apparent and many felt it was a bit weird, get use to it people this is the future. Some days in fact it was too hot to go to the beach and even the sea water bath water warmish.

There are 65 days left before the Municipal election and I can’t wait for the campaigning to end. At the moment things remain very fluid, tonight one candidate withdrew and another one came into the race. Just in my Ward 1 we are 4 candidates for Councillor. In the other 9 Wards there is either the incumbent or one challenger or no one. Ward 1 attracts a lot of attention because it is the original footprint of the City, the old downtown with all the attractions and activity. It is also a very mix neighbourhood in terms of population. Lots of businesses, government offices, historical sites and the harbour.

We have been promised or I should say the predictions are for a warm Winter, last year we got a lot of rain instead of snow and it made for a miserable gray Winter, more like Northern Europe.

What is nice about this time of the year is the harvest of vegetables and potatoes, prices tend to be good.

Now this coming week we will find out about the results of the NAFTA negotiations with Washington DC. Now that Trump has said he is not negotiating in good faith and does not care if Canada does not accept his terms, many Canadians are starting to think that maybe we should pull out of NAFTA. There was life before this trade agreement and as our Prime Minister said ”better to say no to a bad deal than having to live with it”.

I am afraid that after all the insults of the past year from Trump many Canadians including myself will never be able to see the USA in a favourable light again. It appears that Trump believes that the USA can live without Canada, well let him believe that, eventually he will find out it’s not that simple.