FOUR YEARS AGO

Tags

Canada., home, moving, Ontario, PEI

On May 1, 2016 we crossed the bridge from the Mainland to PEI our new home. A new chapter. Much has happened since some good some average but overall we have made our home here in Charlottetown.

Photo from the International Space Station showing Nova Scotia and our Island in the Gulf of St-Lawrence.

So a new mandate

Tags

Canada., Government, Liberals, Ontario, Parliament, Quebec, Queen, Trudeau

Well the National Election is over and Justin Trudeau got a new mandate, despite all the  dirt the so called conservative party and its leader tried to throw at him. The CPC has a unit which works at unearthing anything that could hurt a candidate and then publicize it through right wing affiliated newspapers like The Sun, CTV network and PostMedia including the once reputable Globe & Mail. The negative stories are written for effect and are often inaccurate or right out lies simply repeated. A very disturbing trend but you have to know the background of it, the owners are long time supporters of alt-right conservative policies, some big business interests, some American oil companies, the Trump administration and the Republican party including the one surviving Koch brother. No it is not the Russians in our case but the US Republican party. The Chinese Communist party (Chinese Government) also played a very negative role, given our current dispute with China over the extradition to the USA of the Huawei executive. Two Canadian have been kidnapped by the People’s Police in China and held in secret jails, denied Canadian Embassy Consular services and put under psychological torture for months now. Unfortunately the Canadian Media has all but forgotten about them. The position of the CPC and its Chief Andrew Scheer has been to side with China with the false narrative that this will help resolve the crisis.

So this election confirmed one thing, Canadians are concerned about climate change now seen as a crisis, Canadian want action (84%) and will not vote for a candidate who denies the crisis or has no plans to fight it, as was the case for Andrew Scheer.
Canadians also do not like a candidate who imitates the American fashion of posing as a born again or evangelical Christian, like Andrew Scheer did. Canadians prefer their candidates and party leader to be neutral and quiet on this topic. There were too many stories about Conservative Candidates who came out as being anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ, pro-gun lobby and supporting the NRA, while we get weekly news from the USA of gun violence, something that horrifies most Canadians. Several also were not shy and made hate filled comments and rants against anyone who is not white or christian, thinking that it was ok to do so. Finally Andrew Scheer was the master of avoiding to answer any question on pretty much any topic. He also refused to denounce or remove a candidate who displayed hateful tendencies. Scheer also refused to attend any PRIDE event or parade during the Summer, all other party leaders did and participated. Trudeau was accused by the CPC of being a deviant and corrupt. What was suppose to be an easy victory for the Conservative turnout to be a defeat despite getting more votes and gaining more seats in the House of Commons, though not a majority. But they failed miserably in the two big provinces of Ontario and Quebec and in the Maritimes which holds the bulk of the population in Canada, some 26 million people out of the 38 million. It is well known that if you cannot secure the votes in Ontario especially around Toronto and in Quebec you cannot win an election in Canada.

So since the Liberal party victory on 21 October, Andrew Scheer has felt the heat of this party who is planning to replace him ASAP. No despite Trudeau having a minority government he has a workable minority and does not need to have a coalition with another party like the Green or NDP. The way our Westminster Parliamentary system works, there is a way to govern and you can always find support here and there in the House to pass your bills. No one wants another election for at least another 14 to 24 months for the simple reason there is no money and the Conservatives will be looking for a new leader soon.

The media also do not help the issue by spreading false concepts borrowed from the USA. Canada is NOT a Republic we are a Kingdom and our Parliamentary system is a copy of Westminster so it is quite different matter.

When the Prime Minister went to see the Governor General Julie Payette to ask she dissolve Parliament as is her role as Head of State, the Prime Minister and the Ministers all remain in Office for the duration of the election. The Prime Minister only  resigns his position after the election if he or she looses the election and IF he or she can no longer hold the Confidence of the House. That is very important to understand, we have had historically cases where the Prime Minister lost an election but stayed in power because he could hold the confidence of the House. Strange but true in Canada, that is our system.

The day after the election the Prime Minister returned to visit the Governor General at Rideau Hall to inform her of what his intentions were for the new Legislative program and priorities. This is largely a courtesy call because the Speech from the Throne (in England it is called the Queen’s Speech) is read by the Head of State in the High Chamber our Senate by the Governor General or the Queen if she is in Ottawa, but it is all written by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The Press got it wrong by talking about Trudeau seeking permission to form a government. What nonsense, he is the PM and remains so, he has a new mandate NOT a term, we don’t have those in Canada. The only thing Trudeau needs is to get the confidence of the House through a formal vote in the House of Commons on the Speech from the Throne or on the Budget bill. Very unlikely that he would not be able to get it under present circumstances. In Canada the role of the Queen or Governor General is to warn on a course of action or counsel the PM, the power to govern rests entirely in the House in Parliament, this is why we have responsible government since 1867. It is quite amazing to see how many journalists and editors get this wrong, watching too much of The West Wing I suppose.

On November 20 the Prime Minister will announce his new Ministry or Cabinet, a shuffle of portfolio is the big challenge for Trudeau or any Prime Minister because they have to make sure they have all regions of Canada represented in Cabinet and this is tough at the moment with no Liberal Member of Parliament from Alberta or Saskatchewan, pop 5 million total, Trudeau will have to be creative but there are various workable solutions.

So the final result of this election Canadians want modern and progressive governments and NO we are not revisiting the Abortion debate it was settled decades ago, we have rights for all including the LGBTQ and same-sex marriage and Canadians don’t want to deny rights to segment of the population, we also want the right to die which was legislated and gun control including hand guns. It should also be a warning to any new conservative leader at the Federal level not to associate with Neo-Nazi elements and other white supremacist hate groups as Andrew Scheer did thinking that it was a winning card.

I do expect that with the beginning of this new mandate the conservatives and their friends in the right wing press will continue negative attacks against Trudeau but hey that’s life. At least we do not have a Conservative government and that is a blessing. No one wanted the sort of horror show we see in Ontario at the Provincial Level with Doug Ford who emulates Donald Trump his hero or the politics of civil war and hate in Alberta with Jason Kenney. Interestingly the Conservative Premier in Manitoba does not want to associate with Kenney or Ford and the Premier in New Brunswick who is himself in a minority situation is walking back on his own extreme positions which are mostly anti-French in a province considered to be  the heart of French Acadia.

 

 

Winter has arrived

Tags

Ontario, PEI, Sicily, winter

The cold has arrived from Upper Canada, bad weather comes from there and usually ends up in the USA, you know terrible cold and snow, no wonder we are in trouble over NAFTA, exporting ice and snow to the USA, I think it is called dumping.

Well they also send it over to the Maritimes. This satellite photo shows PEI surrounded by ice. I think we should impose a tourism visa or build a wall to keep them Upper Canadians out. There is a movement afoot for PEI to secede and join Sicily to avoid Winter weather all together.

 

MacCallum-Jackman Cottage on Georgian Bay

Tags

Canada., Canadian culture, Georgian Bay, Group of 7, Harris, Jackson, Lismer, MacCallum-Jackman, Macdonald, NGC, Ontario, Thomson

Yesterday at the National Gallery I went to look at the re-opened room containing the wall paintings from the MacCallum-Jackman Cottage on West Wind island on Go Home Bay in Georgian Bay, North of Toronto.

The large Cottage was built in 1911 and Dr. James MacCallum was an ophthalmologist and professor at the University of Toronto. He was also a Member of the Arts and Letters Club. He knew a lot of artists in Toronto and he wanted to commission wall paintings on Canadian subjects. He became friends with artists who would later in 1919 become the members of the Group of Seven, the famous Canadian Landscape artists. Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer and Tom Thomson will work as a team on the various murals. On his death Dr MacCallum bequeathed the paintings to the National Gallery, the new owner of the Cottage Mr and Mrs H.R. Jackman asked A.Y. Jackson in 1953 to paint additional more panels for the Cottage. Today the entire collection stands in a room replicating the Cottage living room at the NGC and can be admired by all. The panels are quite beautiful and represent that period in Canadian History in the first half of the 20th Century when all things were Canadian in theme and spirit, they also show Go Home Bay and the Georgian Bay area for all its natural beauty.

But the story does not end there, the son of the Jackman’s Dr Eric Jackman and Mary and the current owners of the storied cottage commissioned artist Sarah Merry to reproduce the original so they could hang again as panels in the living room of the cottage. It took 15 years to do this project and her work was unveiled in 2013 for the whole community to see. Thus the memory of Dr. MacCallum can be commemorated. For Dr. Jackman, the occasion was also deeply personal. “The cottage is the only permanent home that all my children know,”

The original painted panels above the chimney in the cottage living room, as they appear now in the NGC on the first floor. Left panel French settlers and missionaries with natives. Right panel hunters. (Click to enlarge)

Original painted panels decorated the room all around.

a fisherman and painted panels of luxuriant nature very much in the style of the Group of 7 came to be known.

the island like all islands in Georgian Bay are rocky outcrops. The two little framed paintings below the large panels are more of the nature in the area painted by the same artists later in the 1920’s.

this panel was over a window in the cottage which explains the strange shape.

Again a familiar scene the ferry boat which brought people to the islands and also brought mail and groceries during the Summer months when most people would come up from Toronto with family for their vacation period. What is interesting about these painted panels is how they reproduce life as it was then. The area today has not changed very much and is still very picturesque.

In hindsight this project of Dr. MacCallum is somewhat extravagant when one comes to think about it. Of course the painters, his friends, who painted for him these panels were not famous back then and no one could envisage the fame they would encounter as of 1919 and for the rest of their lives. Icons of modern Canadian Landscape painting. We are very lucky that Dr. MacCallum and the Jackman’s had the forethought to protect these paintings for posterity, from a simple cottage to the National Gallery of Canada.

Eccola, Finalmente la Primavera! That’s it, finally Spring!

Tags

Aberdeen, Alstom, Bio, farm, Farmers, Gluten Free, Italy, Lansdowne, LRT, Ontario, Organic, Ottawa, Prince Arthur, Princess Louise of Prussia

Today is a very nice Sunny day and Spring is in the air, mind you it is only 3C but nonetheless it is sufficient to give you a clear message that Winter is finished. I made an appointment with the garage to have my tires changed to Summer and the renovations on both bathrooms will start. The decorator was here this week and she had those ”very fashionable” ideas about design, I am being kind here, I did not like her ideas at all, she is very much in the new concept which says that you do not live in your home, you only use it so sleep and the rest of the time you are at Starbucks entertaining friends, maybe that is why Starbucks will start serving wine and meals.

She proposed that we did not need a medicine cabinet nor a vanity under the sink, we live in a condo building and storage space is essential. So that idea was nixed. She belongs to the Brian Gluckstein school of shlock. Ideas that might work in Southern climes but not in Ottawa with our 6 months of harsh winters.

Anyway the contractor is coming on 9 April and we will go from there.

Today I walked to Lansdowne Park which has just been totally renovated. It is a very old Park, in existence as a race track and agricultural exhibition grounds for well over 130 years, in the 1960’s the agricultural fair gradually disappeared and then the park was use for football games and a carny fair, it was also a huge parking lot, all of it in one of the more up market neighbourhoods ”the glebe”. In the last four years after many Court actions and disputes between City Hall and an ageing group of former Hippies turn rich landowners, the project finally went ahead. What we have now is very nice.

There is also the Farmer’s Market with actual farmers from all the farms around Ottawa in the Valley bringing produce or meat. Lots of fresh Lamb, breads and pies, jams, cheeses, and many other products, all of it is Bio and Organic and Gluten Free, natural and fresh, made at the farm.

Today I was also able to see in the Lady Aberdeen Pavilion the new Light Train Car made by Alstom, WOW! it is exactly like the cars in Rome, Alstom is a French Transport company and their car trains are famous. Same design and colours, very nice indeed. The LRT line will open in 2018 (phase 1) it is well under way and people are excited. This is the biggest project in Ottawa since the construction of the Rideau Canal in 1820. It will put 70% of the city’s population within reach of the Light Train system. Next to the new train was an old city bus no. 5931 in use until 1979, things have changed.

I also looked at old pictures of Ottawa in Winter, very interesting. People played games like Broom ball and Curling, Snowshoeing clubs and Skiing and skating and Tobogganing. The people in the photos all look older and there are no kids.

I found one lady in the Market who was selling all kinds of meat pies and fruit pies, cakes etc. Some where Gluten free, so I bought one Chicken pot pie and a Carrot-Pineapple cake with icing.

Will is going to make Turkey meat balls for dinner, he made Chili yesterday and a beautiful Pulled Pork this week. Our crockpot has really paid for itself.

Rideau Canal near Somerset street, with skiers and a machine that brushes the snow in preparation for the dog sled races down the Canal during the Winter Carnival in 1925.

Dog sled teams near Parliament going to race on the Canal.

HRH Prince Arthur and his wife Princess Louise of Prussia in front of Rideau Hall their Residence in Ottawa with a party of friends 1912.

Snowshoeing Club in 1920 travelling by snowshoe from Ottawa to Montreal, a competition of sorts over 120 Km.

Group of Skiers in 1910 in he locks of the Rideau Canal below the Chateau Laurier seen in the top corner. This was before skying was organized as a sport by Prince George Leuchtenberg-Beauharnais in Saint-Sauveur, Quebec. He owned a small B&B called Pension Leuchtenberg, he died in 1972.

Nicky taking the morning Sun as he usually does after his breakfast.