tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-178596782024-03-12T23:58:43.530-04:00Making Sense with NichollsGerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.comBlogger2136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-60066587399196134232019-10-14T07:41:00.005-04:002019-10-14T07:45:04.407-04:00Remembering What’s Important<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<i>(Note this column, originally appeared in the Ottawa Hill Times on October 14, 2018)</i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I know it’s my job, but right now it’s really difficult for
me to write or even to think about politics.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s because my wife of 30 years, and the person who meant
more to me than anything else in the universe, recently passed away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And it all happened so fast.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Just a few short months ago, Patti and I were a happy
couple, looking forward to growing old together.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now she’s gone; I’ve lost not only my wife, but my best
friend and my soul mate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you might imagine, the grief I’m enduring is almost
unbearable.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the last few weeks of her life, when we knew all hope was
lost, when he knew the cancer within her was unstoppable, I became
her full-time nurse, doing everything I could to make her comfortable.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And it was during that sad period that I was reminded of how
much time we all spend worrying and fretting about things which, in the grand
scheme of life, don’t really matter all that much.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is especially true about politics.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a matter of fact, as I watched my wife’s life slowly fade
away, it seemed so odd to me the way people were working themselves up into an
emotional frenzy over things that more than likely wouldn’t impact their
personal lives.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I mean is, people react to things like the Ontario
Premier invoking the Notwithstanding Clause or a backbench MP crossing the
floor, or a politician tweeting about diversity, as if they were all matters of
life and death.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But they really aren’t.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Indeed, at the end of the day, does it really even matter to
most of us who wins the next federal election?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Probably not; the lives of 99 percent of the Canadian
population will go on as usual no matter who wins in 2019.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In other words, on the day after the 2019 vote, the sun will
still rise as it always has.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, I know for partisans, who like to get emotionally wrapped
up in the issues of political combat, what I’m saying here seems like
blasphemy.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After all, politics has morphed into a zero-sum game
where the players desperately want their political team to win.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, so desperate are the players, that if their
political team doesn’t win, it often sends them off into a deep, dark funk –
they become depressed or angry, they lash out at the “other side.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And in the process of generating this constant state of
anxiety, they end up magnifying in their minds the importance of politics,
making any loss or setback intolerable.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, the media and advocacy groups do everything they
can to keep all sides in politics agitated to the max, because, let’s face it,
conflict and anger make for both good copy and for more donations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So everybody is angry all the time. And that’s not good.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying we shouldn’t
care about politics or about promoting our ideals.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We absolutely should, since that’s what makes democracy
work.</div>
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<br /></div>
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My point is simply, that we need to keep a sense of balance
in our lives; we need to remember what truly matters to us personally.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In short, we should keep our priorities straight.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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And when it comes to our priorities, nothing should matter
more to us than the happiness and health of our loved ones.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s all I’m saying.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the next time you feel yourself getting all upset and
irate because your “side” lost an election or lost a policy fight, just remind
yourself, there’s a lot more important things you could lose.</div>
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Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-45424633019579934212018-11-25T10:47:00.001-05:002018-11-25T10:50:08.412-05:00My Love Letter to Patti<i>On November 18, 2018, a "Celebration of Life" was held in Oakville, Ontario, where my late wife Patti's friends and family could gather to honor her memory.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Below is the talk I gave:</i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before I begin my talk, just let me say I will do everything
in my power to remain stoic and to keep my composure this afternoon, since if there
was anything Patti hated, it was maudlin sentimentality.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s one reason she didn’t like Justin Trudeau.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I promise that’s my last political comment of the day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t want this day to be about politics; I don’t even
want it to be about sadness or grief.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead, I want it to be a day we all remember and celebrate
Patti’s great beauty.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And yes, Patti was beautiful in every sense and every
meaning of that word.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Certainly, I found her beautiful to look at.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, I was attracted to her the very first time I laid
eyes on her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That was back in 1987.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were working in the same building, as a matter of fact
her office was on the same floor as mine; as a matter of fact her office was
strategically located next to the washroom.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That meant I’d take two or three trips a day past her office
and every time I did, I’d see that beautiful blonde lady sitting at her desk.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, now that I think of it, it wasn’t my heart that brought
me to Patti, it was more like my bladder!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, one thing led to another, and before you knew it, we
were exchanging wedding vows.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, things moved fast.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We went on our first date in June 1987 and were married in
May 1988.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Patti wanted that ring on her finger!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But that was just Patti being Patti.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once we were married I began to appreciate the other aspects
of Patti’s beauty.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For instance, she had a beautiful spirit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This manifested itself in what I would call her “infectious
friendliness.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I always said, if you locked Patti in a room with 20
strangers and came back in 15 minutes, you’d find her surrounded by 20 best
friends.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was something about her that exuded happiness and
cheeriness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She was always reaching out and socializing with people,
whether it was a clerk in a store, or a cashier in a supermarket or a random
person on the street.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And to be honest, I sometimes found that to be a bit
annoying.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It meant anytime we took a walk it would talk three times as
long as it should because she had to pet every dog she came across and
compliment every couple with a cute baby and talk to all our neighbors about
their gardens and lawns.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Meanwhile, I was like, “Let’s keep moving so we can get home
and watch Night Court reruns.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But she had to socialize.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That was just Patti being Patti.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Her beautiful spirit was also reflected in her wonderful
sense of humor.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Patti loved to laugh and she loved to make other people
laugh.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, I think one of the secrets to our marriage’s
success, was that we both loved to joke and to poke fun at the world’s
craziness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Certainly Patti liked to poke fun at my fashion sense.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Indeed, sometimes I’d come home and see that as a joke,
she’d thrown out my favourite old baseball cap or T-shirt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though I must admit, she never laughed or smiled when I
rooted them out of the garbage.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But that was just Patti being Patti.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other thing about her spirit, was she loved to have fun.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Let’s have fun” could have been her motto.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And she would use any excuse for a party or celebration.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It’s the first warm day of Spring, let’s have fun”, she’d
say; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or “The Blue Jays won a game; let’s
have fun”; or “you found your missing sock, let’s have fun.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So yes, to be around her was to always have fun.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That was just Patti being Patti.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I don’t want you to think she didn’t have a serious
side.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She did.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, that leads me to the other beautiful part of Patti
– her passions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She had, for example, a great passion for learning.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And let me say first, Patti was an extremely intelligent
woman.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But more than that, she had an intellectual curiosity, a
trait that’s rare these days.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I mean is Patti never wanted to follow the herd or go
along with trends, she always wanted to chart her own path.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Basically, she was an individual.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And by the way, calling someone an “individual” is the
highest compliment I can bestow on a person.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At any rate, when Patti wanted to learn about an issue she
was never satisfied with accepting conventional wisdom.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She always researched stuff with a massive intensity, until
she basically became an expert in whatever topic she was studying.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To give you an example, a few years ago Patti and I were
having dinner in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Toronto</st1:place></st1:city>
with another couple and with a noted American constitutional lawyer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the course of the dinner the topic of Conrad Black’s
trial came up – an issue Patti had extensively studied.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And when this American lawyer expressed an idea that Patti
couldn’t support, she instantly raised her hand and said, “That’s an opinion, I
will not entertain.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She then barraged that poor guy with arguments until he was
forced to wave a white flag.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She wasn’t afraid to express her opinion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But that was Patti being Patti.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another way she expressed her passion, was the way she enthusiastically
took on huge projects.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She wasn’t happy unless she was involved in some complicated
undertaking.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For instance, about eight years ago I was working on a
contract in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>, meaning I was out of the country for
about nine months.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During my absence, Patti – on her own – decided to sell our
house; on her own she hired a real estate agent; on her own she sold our house;
on her own she bought a new house; on her own she moved into that house.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In short, she did virtually everything.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All I did was sign a paper she faxed to me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m just glad she gave me the address to the new house,
because otherwise I’d still be looking for it!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I have to say, even though I loved our old house, I loved
the new one even more.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She did a fantastic job.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But that was Patti being Patti.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Her other passion in life was culture.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks to Patti I was exposed to literature, and to
classical music and to the theatre.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I didn’t want to be exposed to all those things, but I’m
glad I was.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It made me a better person, in fact she made me a better
person in about a million different ways.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That was just Patti being Patti.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But of course, Patti’s greatest passion of all in life was
the opera.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She was an opera fanatic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks to her I learned about opera greats such as Maria
Callas, Jonas Kaufmann, Carlos Bergonzi and her favourite Franco Corelli, whom
she liked to call “Golden Thighs.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t know why she called him that; I didn’t want to know
why she called him that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, Patti listened to opera for hours on the radio, she
listened to opera CDs for hours, she watched opera at the movie theatre; she
attended opera live at the Canadian Opera house.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the internet and social media gave her a whole new avenue
to enjoy opera.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mind you that was a double-edged sword.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the one hand, social media allowed her to communicate
directly with her opera stars.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She liked to go on their Facebook pages to compliment them
on their performances.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And when they responded to her personally with thanks, it
put her cloud 9!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She was so happy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the other hand, social media also exposed Patti to
opinionated opera fans, many of whom were pushing viewpoints she didn’t agree
with.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And that often ruffled her feathers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some person, for instance, might put up a post that was
critical of Maria Callas’s aria sung in the second act of the 1958 Met
production of Aida and that would drive Patti ballistic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So she’d go online and wage savage verbal war trying to
educate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’d tell her to stop, because a) she wasn’t going to change
anyone’s mind and b) she was just putting herself into a negative emotional
state.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eventually, she agreed that I was right and promised to stop
battling opera people online.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But then I’d see her hunched over her tablet, furiously
typing away, and I knew just from looking at her, that she was fighting
someone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I though we agreed to stop taking on these arguments” I’d
say. And she’d reply, saying, “I’m not arguing, I’m just having a polite
conversation.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then two minutes later, she’d turn to me and ask, “How do
you spell ‘rot’ as in ‘may you rot in hell?’”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But that was just Patti being Patti.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, because Patti loved opera so much, as she lay in her
hospital bed, she asked that I get her name engraved on a chair at the Canadian
Opera Company opera house.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, I promised I would.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Only later did I find out how much that would cost.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And let me tell you it was costly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Certainly it was beyond my budget.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I engaged in some fundraising.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And by “fundraising” I mean I annoyed, and harassed and
otherwise pestered all my friends and relatives to help me finance the
engraving.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It worked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of people.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I ended up raising enough money and just recently ordered the
engraving; it should appear in the Opera House in the next few weeks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I know a lot of here people here helped with donations,
so I’d to offer you all a special thanks. That was one promise to Patti I
needed to keep.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Indeed, I’m going to treat that engraving like a belated
anniversary present.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As some of you know, Patti and I celebrated our 30<sup>th</sup>
anniversary earlier this year, in May.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the time I teased her about how 30 years was a long, long
time to be with someone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But now that I stand here, recalling her great beauty, 30
years seems tragically short.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At any rate, I’m going to cut it off here.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I have a strong feeling Patti is looking down on me
from heaven and saying something like,<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Hey Gerry, speaking of short, why don’t you keep your dopey
speech short. The fact is, I’m making all kinds of new friends up here; the
fact is, I’m watching operas 24/7, the fact is I’m working on some special
projects for God.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So stop making everybody sad, and start having fun.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know Patti is saying these things, because even in heaven,
Patti will still be Patti.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thank you.</div>
<br />Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-31737109778163994752017-01-10T09:30:00.000-05:002017-01-10T09:30:42.993-05:00Professionals should respect other professionals<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
Political professionals --- the men and women who work behind the scenes to plot strategy and to make politicians look and sound good – must understand and appreciate the power of emotion in politics, without ever succumbing to it themselves.</div>
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But unfortunately, sometimes they do succumb.</div>
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<br /></div>
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A case in point is pollster Bruce Anderson who recently penned a column for <a data-mce-href="http://www.macleans.ca/politics/why-nick-kouvaliss-politics-dont-deserve-a-platform/" href="http://www.macleans.ca/politics/why-nick-kouvaliss-politics-dont-deserve-a-platform/">Maclean’s magazine</a> which savages the strategies, tactics and methods of political consultant Nick Kouvalis.</div>
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Rather than providing a rational analysis of those tactics, Anderson, who uses phrases like “political thuggery” and “low information vote whisperer” when describing Kouvalis, offers readers nothing but an angry rant.</div>
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And what seems to anger him the most is that Kouvalis is successful.</div>
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Interestingly, he also suggests the media should ignore Kouvalis’s success. (Though ironically, by attacking Kouvalis in Maclean’s magazine, Anderson is giving him more publicity.)</div>
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Now maybe I’m old fashioned, but to my mind such an attack is in poor form.</div>
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It’s one thing for a pollster or a consultant to criticize a candidate or a politician, but it’s quite another thing to go after someone else in your own discipline.</div>
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Certainly, it seems wrong in my mind to use a public forum to harm a competitor’s business or to undermine his or her reputation.</div>
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It violates what should be a code of honour, whereby you respect your fellow professionals, your colleagues.</div>
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That’s not to say Anderson has to admire Kouvalis or like his tactics, but he should at least gracefully accept the fact that other consultants have the right to conduct their business as they see fit.</div>
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Also please note, in his column Anderson does not accuse Kouvalis of doing anything illegal nor does he suggest Kouvalis is cheating in anyway.</div>
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Rather what gives him such moral pain is that the campaign Kouvalis put together for Conservative leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch is “flimsy and cynical.”</div>
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Well, all I can say is if that’s a sin than every political strategist in history is going to hell because those two words can be used to describe virtually all campaigns.</div>
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I mean, Justin Trudeau’s strategy of selfies and photo ops isn’t exactly heavy in intellectual content, is it?</div>
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Anderson also assails Kouvalis for exploiting “fears and resentments.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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But again, exploiting such emotions is par for the course in politics.</div>
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<br /></div>
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To be logically consistent, Anderson should write a column denouncing other strategists who use similar tactics, such as the ones behind the campaigns of Jean Chretien, Kathleen Wynne, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton to name but a few.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Why single out Kouvalis?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Is it personal animosity? Professional jealousy? Partisanship?</div>
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Also, there’s an important ethical question here.</div>
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Whether or not you like the tactics he’s crafted for Leitch, Kouvalis is simply doing his job as best he can; he’s trying to give his client her best shot at winning.</div>
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<br /></div>
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That’s what professionals are supposed to do.</div>
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Would Anderson prefer it, if Kouvalis took Leitch’s money and then ran a campaign he knew would give her less chance for success?</div>
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Wouldn’t that be like taking Leitch’s money under false pretenses?</div>
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<br /></div>
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And let’s not forget a more mundane issue at stake here: It’s simply good business sense to stay on friendly terms with other professionals. After all, it doesn’t really make sense to attack a colleague who might one day want to hire you.</div>
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Due to the ever shifting nature of political circumstances, today’s enemy could be tomorrow’s ally.</div>
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So why poison any wells?</div>
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Besides, at the end of the day, the market will decide.</div>
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If voters find Kouvalis’s tactics unpersuasive or repulsive to, his candidates will lose.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Let wrap this up by saying Anderson isn’t the only professional in the business who engages in public spats with other professionals.</div>
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Indeed, it’s a growing trend.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Social media has made such confrontations all too easy.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Yet I still believe it’s unseemly and which I wish it would stop.</div>
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And yes, I realize that by criticizing Anderson in this blog I am perhaps violating my own code about attacking professionals.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But then again, in his column, Anderson used negative tactics to attack negative campaigning, so I guess that makes us even in the hypocrisy department.</div>
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<br /></div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-79546233618474811512016-03-31T14:10:00.001-04:002016-03-31T14:22:11.151-04:00Here's Why We're All Doomed! I don’t want to unduly alarm anybody, but our civilization is totally doomed.<br />
<br />
And it’s all because of fossil-fueled climate change.<br />
<br />
Any day now, rising world temperatures (or is it lowering world temperatures?) will wreak havoc on the planet and turn our society into something resembling the latest Mad Max movie.<br />
<br />
Yes, I realize some still don’t believe climate change is real, but when it comes to the complicated science of predicting future global climate patterns, I, for one, totally believe what the experts say, and by experts I mean, of course, Hollywood celebrities.<br />
<br />
If Kermit the Frog says climate change is a threat to humanity, that’s good enough for me.<br />
<br />
Anyway, the reason for my pessimism is because we’re told time and time again that the only thing that can stop the impending environmental Armageddon is government.<br />
<br />
Government? Really?<br />
<br />
I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust government to deliver my mail, so how am I supposed to have confidence it can somehow stop global climate change?<br />
<br />
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying government is totally incompetent. Indeed, government can perform some functions exceedingly well, such as putting people in jail and waging wars and ... well actually those are the only two things that come to mind.<br />
<br />
At any rate, my point is, relying on government for our salvation, isn’t much of a hope.<br />
<br />
Certainly the Canadian government’s record when it comes to fighting climate change isn’t all that great.<br />
<br />
Recall, that former Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s scheme to save the planet mainly involved paying lots of money to CBC comedian Rick Mercer, whose job was to appear on TV ads and nag us into joining “The One-Tonne Challenge.”<br />
<br />
Unfortunately that campaign turned out to be a One-Tonne Flop, mainly I suspect because the Canadian government didn’t know how to spell the word “ton.”<br />
<br />
Of course, our current prime minister is Justin Trudeau, and his number three priority (after selfies and photo ops) is to stop climate change in its tracks.<br />
<br />
Yet, I’m dubious he can make much of a difference.<br />
<br />
After all, so far Trudeau’s big environmental idea is to impose a tax on carbon. Oops, silly me, it’s not a carbon “tax”, but a carbon “price.”<br />
<br />
But whether it’s called a “tax” or “price”, the idea is to make gas and heating oil and electricity more expensive, which the government says will provide it with the revenue needed to pay for important green initiatives, such as funding Trudeau’s trips to exotic foreign locations where he can urge capitalists not to invest in Alberta.<br />
<br />
The major problem with this plan is no one really knows where to set the carbon price.<br />
<br />
As a result, this policy is less like economics and more like a TV game show --The Carbon Price is Right.<br />
<br />
If contestants make the carbon price too low, Leonard DiCaprio will cry; if they make it too high, taxpayers will.<br />
<br />
I also don’t have much faith in Trudeau’s other idea, which is to offer government subsidies to “green” industries.<br />
<br />
Sure, I get the concept in theory: government-subsidized companies will invent something amazingly innovative and environmentally friendly, such as machines that run on the warmth generated by Trudeau’s “Sunny ways”.<br />
<br />
Yet, the sad truth of economics is that companies which rely on government handouts are usually only good at innovating one thing: new ways to get government hand outs.<br />
<br />
So you see, for all our sakes we better hope the climate change alarmists are wrong or else we’ve had it.<br />
<br />
It’s not that I’m not a “climate change denier” so much as I’m a “government competence denier.”Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-65979469156232127602015-12-29T10:04:00.000-05:002015-12-29T10:06:42.556-05:00How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Trudeau Hype<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m formally announcing in this blog that I will no longer
resist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unstoppable media charm machine.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From now on, I will just relax, stop thinking and allow
myself to become totally and mindlessly engulfed in all the rainbows and
lollipops razzmatazz.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Believe me, this wasn’t an easy decision to make, since over
the years I’ve come to expect our national leaders to act like, you know …
adults.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is why I initially found Prime Minister Trudeau’s various
narcissistic, cutesy-wutesy, man-child antics somewhat off-putting.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Indeed, I felt my gag reflex trigger every time a sappy
Trudeau photo op graced my newspaper; my cringe muscles were sprained whenever
he uttered one of his childish catchphrases – “Canada’s back,” “Because it’s
2015,” “Sunny Ways” – and when he posed for a steamy photo shoot in Vogue
magazine, I wanted to jump off the highest bridge.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Plus let’s not forget the selfies. Oh my God, the selfies! Will
they ever end?! How much shallow cuteness can a guy take!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sorry. Must calm down.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Anyway, eventually I came to realize that maybe it was just cantankerous,
cynical old me who deplored Trudeau’s steakless sizzle.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps Trudeau’s vapid and inane media tactics perfectly
conform to our celebrity worshiping, social media addicted, reality TV-show
watching society. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Certainly, Trudeau is soaring high in the polls.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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And generally speaking the media – the guardians of our democracy
and the watchdogs of politicians – are more than OK with The Justin Trudeau Show.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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In fact, journalists seem
to love it.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Consider some of the media’s recent “hard-hitting” coverage
of our prime minister: <i>Maclean’s</i>
magazine did an <a href="http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/behind-the-scenes-of-the-trudeaus-vogue-photo-shoot/">indepth interview </a>with Trudeau’s Vogue photographer; the Canadian
Press broke <a href="http://www.guelphtribune.ca/news-story/6197868-pm-says-star-wars-movie-as-good-as-he-hoped/">the important story</a> of Trudeau’s take on the new Star Wars movie
(he loved it); and the <i>Huffington Post</i>
actually ran this maudlin <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/11/26/hadrien-trudeau-photos_n_8655246.html">headline:</a> “Justin Trudeau kids: We could look at
photos of Hadrien all day”.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Somebody please pass me a barf bag.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s like the entire Canadian media industry has turned into
<i>Entertainment Tonight</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I mean if a nuclear war was suddenly to erupt, I have zero
doubt the CBC’s “At Issue” panel would debate whether or not radiation burns
would make Trudeau even more adorable.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And, of course, it would be a ratings blockbuster.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My point is, none of us can escape Trudeau’s publicity
playpen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So given this unalterable reality, my choice was simple: Go
insane or go with the flow.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is why, in the name of my mental health, I’ve decided
to embrace the lovable Trudeau in all his insipid glory. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the saying goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So to all Liberal party spin doctors and to all Trudeau-adoring
media pundits, I say, bring it on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m now psychologically ready to meet with a smile any
Trudeau media stunt you can throw at me, no matter how cloyingly contrived or
embarrassingly juvenile. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you want to arrange a two hour TV special featuring CBC
news anchor Peter Mansbridge and Trudeau belting out hit tunes from the 80s in
a Karaoke bar, I’d cheer it to the heavens.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I’d be deliriously happy if Trudeau did something super
cool, such as ordering his Liberal MPs to appear in the House of Commons dressed
as their favorite Star Trek character.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’d even get Goosebumps and swoon if Trudeau announces his
democratic reforms will include selecting the next prime minister based simply
on whichever candidate gets the most Facebook “likes”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So yeah, no more negativity on my part.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And if at any point I should ever doubt Trudeau’s superficial,
but fun-loving ways, I’ll just recite those awesomely profound and deeply
inspirational words: “<st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>’s back”
“Because it’s 2015”, “Sunny ways.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hooray for pop idol politics! </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-29864021117254664582015-11-19T19:39:00.000-05:002015-11-19T19:43:02.705-05:00Badass History Quotes<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the best quotes attributed to a world leader concerning
the war against <st1:place w:st="on">ISIS</st1:place> turned out to be a hoax.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last week Fox News ran a story claiming Russian President
Vladimir Putin said this of <st1:place w:st="on">ISIS</st1:place>: "To
forgive the terrorists is up to God but to send them to him is up to me."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now you gotta admit that’s an awesomely cool line, but alas
it seems this quote actually came from the movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328107/">Man on Fire</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So Fox got <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/18/fox-news-fail-vladimir-putin-quote-russian_n_8592496.html">fooled.</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But to be fair to Fox, isn’t Putin the kind of guy you’d
expect to articulate such a marvelous, Dirty Harry-style badass quote?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Besides, history teaches us that real life people are perfectly capable of coming up with badass lines
that could have been plucked straight out of a Clint Eastwood or Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To prove my point, here are some of my favorite tough-guy history quotes, in no particular order:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I came, I saw, I conquered.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Julius Caesar</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing
grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the
hills; we shall never surrender.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Winston Churchill</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is where we hold them! This is where we fight! This is
where they die!<br />
Spartan King Leonidas </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>(OK this line is
really from the movie </i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">300</a><i>, but according to the ancient historians
the Spartans were actually the all-time kings of badass quotes, so I'd like to believe this
line is historic.)<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent
a punishment like me upon you.<br />
Genghis Khan</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, well there are
a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don't like to see people with helmets
and guns. All I can say is, go on and bleed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pierre Trudeau<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say
let us give them all they want.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
William Tecumseh
Sherman<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won’t.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George S. Patton</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No man ever did me so much good, or enemy so much harm, but
I repaid him with interest.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Roman dictator)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m a kind person, I’m kind to everyone, but if you are
unkind to me, then kindness is not what you’ll remember me for.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Al Capone</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So yeah, pretty cool stuff, huh?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remember all these lines the next time somebody tells you history is dull.</div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-18393882420022445012015-10-20T14:38:00.001-04:002015-10-20T15:46:51.621-04:00The Taming of the ToriesFriends, Canadians, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s political career, not to praise it.<br />
<br />
The evil that politicians do lives after them; the good is oft interred in their memoirs.<br />
<br />
So let it be with Harper.<br />
<br />
The noble left-wing scribes hath told thou Harper was a black-hearted tyrant who for these past six and three years didst besmirch our wondrous realm with accursed attack ads and with covetous Senatorial minions and with robocalls most foul.<br />
<br />
These are grievous faults, and grievously hath Harper answered them.<br />
<br />
Come I to write at Harper’s political funeral.<br />
<br />
<div>
Yea, my brothers and sisters, as prime minister, Harper did our budget bring to a blessed state of balance, he hath resurrected tales of our long forgotten soldierly deeds, acts so valiant as to make Mars himself take pause; and he did cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war upon our enemies.<br />
<br />
But left-wing scribes say he was a dangerous man.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
And left-wing scribes are honorable people.<br />
<br />
Recall as well my fellow Canadians how when Progressive Conservatives and Reformers of yore, did bicker like the Montagues and Capulets and cry and wail their sad fate at the ballot box, how Harper too hath wept and through a labour to rival that of Hercules did he bring these two parties together into a wedded union of electoral majesty.<br />
<br />
And thus did he give voters a rival to the Liberal leviathan.<br />
<br />
Did this in Harper seem dangerous?<br />
<br />
Yet left-wing scribes say Harper was a dangerous man.<br />
<br />
And left-wing scribes are honorable people.<br />
<br />
You all did see that Harper freed Western grain farmers from the bondage of the Wheat Board monopoly, gun owners from the villainous registry and tax-payers from knavish public subsidies that fattened the purses of political parties.<br />
<br />
Danger should be made of sterner stuff.<br />
<br />
Yet left-wing scribes say he was dangerous.<br />
<br />
And surely, they are honorable people.<br />
<br />
I write not to disprove what left-wing scribes hath spoke.<br />
<br />
But here I am to write what I do know.<br />
<br />
And what I know is this: the fate of politicians lies not in their stars or in their records, but in the polls.<br />
<br />
So it was for Harper.<br />
<br />
When Canadians did feast their eyes upon the young Justin Trudeau, the fair prince of noble name and beauteous visage, whose youthful charisma did Apollo-like dance upon the rays of the sun and whose well-spoke platitudes did fall upon our ears, pleasing those souls which yearned for change.<br />
<br />
So did he promise to end our politics of discontent.<br />
<br />
And Harper, the melancholy Conservative, did suddenly seem so stale.<br />
<br />
Alas poor Harper we knew you well, perhaps too well.<br />
<br />
Out, out, brief mandate!<br />
<br />
Now so will Harper and his Conservative band of brothers shuffle off this mortal political coil, and in his place will come Trudeau the Younger, an ex-drama teacher who will strut and fret his hour upon the Parliamentary stage, full of sound and fury and photo ops, signifying nothing.<br />
<br />
A borrower and a lender will Trudeau be. And red ink will wash across the land, drowning our sorrows in a sea of fiscal troubles.<br />
<br />
Such stuff socialist dreams are made on.<br />
<br />
To tax or not to tax, that will be the question? Aye, there’s the rub. Whether tis nobler to keep running into debt or to fleece the pockets of Canadians on the morrow? (Coles note translation: Trudeau will definitely hiketh our taxes.)<br />
<br />
Yet, perhaps, I doth protest too much.<br />
<br />
For left-wing scribes tell the reign of Trudeau will be all to the good.<br />
<br />
And surely, they are honorable people.<br />
<br /></div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-28912538877731158452015-05-26T12:07:00.000-04:002015-05-27T08:05:13.820-04:00Political Ads for the Elites<div class="MsoNormal">
When it comes to politics, we Canadians have to put up with
a lot of outrageous nonsense: broken campaign promises, sleazy scandals, <st1:city w:st="on">Elizabeth</st1:city> May.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But it seems the people most annoyed by certain workings of the
democratic process are <st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place>’s
media and intellectual elites, i.e. university-educated professionals who are specially
trained to relentlessly lecture us on issues which nobody cares about.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For example, elites are constantly bemoaning the state of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>’s political
advertising, which they argue “dumbs down” our civic discourse and undermines
the country’s democratic purity, which is just their elite way of saying, “these
ads are bad because they help Prime Minister Stephen Harper get elected.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me, I can see both sides of the issue.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the one hand, I can certainly understand why some people
might find political ads annoying, especially since their typically low-budget
production values, along with their general lack of creativity, make them look
as though they were spewed out by an online random ad generator.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the other hand, however, as someone who has written
political ads in both <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>
and the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region>,
I find the ability to boil down a highly complex and nuanced political
statement into a 30 second message that’s so simplistic even a brain-damaged
chimpanzee can understand it, a true art form.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For instance, one my ads artistically juxtaposed a photo of
Bob Rae and a jackass, a spot which was only slightly less cerebral than
another ad I produced which compared MPs to cartoon pigs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At any rate, since I firmly believe elections should be
enjoyable for all Canadians, including elites, I say it’s time our
political parties started producing ads that are crammed with intellectual
content, ads that take on important issues, and ads that make only minimal use
of barnyard animals.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And to help this process along, I’d like to offer my ideas
as to what kind of “high quality” political ads I’d like to see in the upcoming
2015 election.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But before I get to that, however, let me first explain that
when I talk about “quality”, I don’t mean we need to make political ads all
gooey “positive.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Positive ads are actually like Care Bear movies; they seem
harmless, but if you watch too many of them, your brain will gradually turn
into a lump of sugar.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To prove my point, here are two examples of positive
political ads gone horribly wrong:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example 1. The Conservatives once aired a positive TV ad
showcasing Prime Minister Harper wearing a cuddly sweater vest as he gently
chatted about his cutesy-wutesy family in the hopes this would soften his
tough-guy image; instead it just softened everyone’s ability to keep their eyes
open.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example 2. The Liberals produced a positive TV ad in 2009
which featured their then leader Michael Ignatieff cheerfully discussing the
finer points of trade policy while standing alone in the middle of a forest.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unfortunately for the Liberals this ad made Ignatieff
something of a laughing stock (more so than usual I mean), although on the plus
side, it did significantly increase his name recognition among squirrels and
chipmunks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mind you, intellectual elites probably believe positive ads
are superior because they seem so much nicer when compared to so-called
“negative” or “attack” ads. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What they fail to realize is political “attacks” are
actually an important part of our democratic heritage, going all the way back
to the dawn of classical civilization. In fact, the term “political negative
ad” is derived from the ancient Greek phrase “politicos negatotos gyro” which
roughly translated means, “Feel free to take your opponent’s quotes wildly out
of context.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But enough about the history of political ads, it’s time now
to check out my suggestions as to how each party can totally degrade and debase
its rivals in a high quality manner:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Ads to Take Down Trudeau<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Going negative against Liberal leader Justin Trudeau
presents a real challenge because he’s so adorably cute; attacking him is kind
of like kicking a puppy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet, like a puppy, Trudeau also has less intellectual heft
than an average episode of <i>The Bachelor. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And that can be used as a basis for anti-Trudeau attack ads,
such as:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Trudeau TV Attack Ad #1<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visual -- A flattering photo of Trudeau appears on the
screen. (Ordinarily, I’d suggest an unflattering photo be used, but
unfortunately no such photo of Trudeau exists.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Narrator: <i>Here are
some facts about Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Fact: Trudeau’s only
experience in dealing with fiscal issues occurred when he negotiated with his
mother for a raise in his allowance.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Fact: At the time,
Trudeau was 35 years old.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Fact: Trudeau argued
his allowance “should raise itself.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Fact: After hearing
this argument, Trudeau’s mother ended up cutting his allowance.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>And now Trudeau wants
to take control of the federal budget?! Don’t let him use your tax dollars to
raise his allowance.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Trudeau TV Attack Ad # 2<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visual: Side by side photos of Trudeau’s head and a turnip. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Narrator: <i>Have you
ever wondered if Justin Trudeau was smarter than a turnip?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Let’s compare the two.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>A turnip never
expressed admiration for the Communist Chinese government.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Trudeau did.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>A turnip never joked
on a radio show about the explosive situation in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ukraine</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Trudeau did.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>In response to the war
against <st1:place w:st="on">ISIS</st1:place>, a turnip never made a crude
comment about “Whipping out CF-18s”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Trudeau did.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>You wouldn’t trust a
turnip to run <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region>;
why trust Trudeau?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Trudeau TV Attack Ad # 3<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visual: Photo of Justin Trudeau eating a turnip.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Narrator: <i>Remember
when Justin Trudeau said the federal budget will “balance itself”?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Well if you think
that’s bad consider all these other crazy things Trudeau may or may not have
said:<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“I’m not worried about
the XL pipeline, because one day it will just build itself.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“I am calling upon the
UN to demand that Vladimir Putin invade himself”.<br />
<br />
“The best thing about my beautiful hair is it combs itself.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>So if you don’t want a
prime minister who says oddball things vote for Stephen Harper.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>By the way, here’s
some irony, this ad actually wrote itself.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Ads to take Down Harper<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Liberal party has said again and again, that it’s going
to stay positive. This, to use the proper technical political science term, is
a “lie.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Liberals will definitely go negative and they’ll score
big points if they use ads like these:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Harper TV attack ad #1<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visual: A cartoon of Mike Duffy, made to resemble the giant “Stay
Puft Marshmallow Man” from the <i>Ghostbusters</i>
movie, is seen causing havoc in downtown <st1:place w:st="on">Ottawa</st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Narrator: <i>Stephen
Harper actually appointed Mike Duffy to the Senate.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The Canadian Senate.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Duffy with an expense
account.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>In our Senate.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>We did not make this
up.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Harper TV attack ad # 2<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visual: NDP leader Thomas Muclair appears on the screen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Audio: <i>Hi, I’m Thomas Mulcair and one important issue in
this election is how the Harper government has eroded our precious democratic
rights and freedoms.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>In fact, under Bill C-51 the government now has</i> <i>sweeping
powers to invade our privacy and to infringe on our </i>…(sound of static abruptly
drowns out Muclair’s voice, then the
video starts break up …until suddenly
Mulcair’s image is replaced by a screen filling photo of Prime Minister
Harper’s face, staring accusingly with ice cold blue eyes directly at the
viewer)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A cold clinical voice then speaks the following words which
also appear in big bold letters on the screen thusly: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
WARNING: THIS VIDEO TRANSMISSION HAS BEEN DEEMED UNPATRIOTIC
AND A THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY. TO AVOID PROSECUTION, PROCEED IMMEDIATELY TO
THE NEAREST MIND CLEANSING CENTRE FOR RE-ORIENTATION.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A MESSAGE FROM THE TOTALITARIAN ACTION PLAN – WE’RE KEEPING
YOU <st1:street w:st="on">SAFE IN WAYS</st1:street>
THAT SHOULD TERRIFY YOU!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Harper TV Attack ad # 3 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visual: Image of Prime Minister Harper appears on the screen
digitally altered to look like a combination of history’s greatest monsters:
Genghis Khan, Joseph Stalin, Justin Bieber.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Narrator:<i> What you
learn about Prime Minister Harper in this ad will terrify the socks off you.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>A group of scientists, while combing through the wreckage of
the <st1:city w:st="on">Franklin</st1:city>
expedition ship, discovered something thought to be long lost and forgotten: Harper’s
scary right-wing hidden agenda.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br />
This is frightening because it means the Harper government will soon implement
a whole range of scary, right-wing, hidden things, such as forcing every
Canadian to carry a bible, such as forcing every Canadian to carry a gun, such
as forcing every Canadian to carry a gun with a bible attached to it.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Yes, when it comes to scary right-wing hidden agendas nothing
is too impossible to totally make up.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>So be afraid! Be afraid! Be afraid!</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>This ad is paid for by the Stop Conservative Fear Mongering
Committee.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Ads to take Down Mulcair<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Going after the NDP will mean producing ads with a little
more subtlety and a little more sophistication, meaning they will need some
sort catchy tagline, and by “catchy” I mean a phrase, which after you’ve heard
it about a million times on TV and radio, will bore into your subconscious mind
like a voracious parasite and nest there, gnawing away at your cogitative and
reasoning powers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See if you can detect the catch phrase in these ads:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Mulcair TV Attack Ad # 1<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visual: Black and white photo of Thomas Mulcair, with a
sharp focus on his beard.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Narrator: <i>Here’s what
NDP leader Thomas Mulcair doesn’t want you to know.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>He has a beard.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Do you know who else
had a beard?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Karl Marx and Fidel
Castro. </i>(Visuals of Marx and Castro appear on screen)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Are you scared yet?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Mulcair TV Attack ad #2<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visual: Photo of Thomas Mulcair standing between Prime
Minister Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Narrator: <i>NDP leader
Thomas Mulcair –he combines Stephen Harper’s personality with Justin Trudeau’s
foreign policy ideas.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Are you scared yet?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Mulcair TV Attack ad #3<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visual: Vintage photo of NDP convention from the 1960s.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Narrator: <i>Did you know
the New Democratic Party was founded in 1960?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>That’s means the NDP
is more than 50 years old.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Yet, Thomas Mulcair
calls his party the “New” Democratic Party.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>How can something more
than 50 years old be new?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>So if Mulcair is lying
about the “New” part, is he also lying about the “Democratic” part?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Are you scared yet?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By the way, in case you missed it, the “catch phrase” in
each of those ads was, of course, “Thomas Mulcair.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, I could go on and on with more examples of brilliantly
creative political ad ideas, but I think I’ve already achieved my goal here,
which was primarily to pad this blog posting’s word count.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Besides, now that I look back at my ad ideas, I realize they
probably won’t please the elites.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After all let’s face it, eggheads want political ads that
are erudite and classy, like a Margaret Atwood novel; unfortunately this would
result in political ads that are boring and pretentious, like a Margaret Atwood
novel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So like it or not all you elites out there, my ideas are
about as good as you can expect to see in terms of political ads. In fact, I’m
fairly certain that compared to the low brow stuff that will actually air
during the next election, my ad concepts will look positively Shakespearean.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Are you scared yet?<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span>Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-37271391329292617122015-05-23T07:56:00.000-04:002015-05-23T11:22:54.827-04:00Debate Prepping with Justin<div class="MsoNormal">
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau is not only amazingly cute,
he’s also incredibly busy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In addition to his rigorous schedule of posing for charming
photo ops, he’s also prepping like crazy for the upcoming federal leadership
debates.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
True, those debates are still about five months away; but
Liberal party strategists, realizing that pitting their gaffe-prone leader in a
debate against Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, is
like throwing a goldfish into a pond of barracudas, want their leader to be as
prepared as possible.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hence, <a href="https://www.hilltimes.com/news/news/2015/05/18/trudeau-has-been-doing-dry-runs-of-leaders-tv-debates-for-months/42182">media
reports </a>say that for the past two months Trudeau’s been doing full
debate rehearsals, five to six hours a week.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, knowing Trudeau as we all do, we can easily
assume that those debate rehearsals are probably going a lot like this:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CONSULTANT: Justin let’s begin our debate rehearsal, I’ll play
the part of the moderator, and ask you some practice questions OK?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
TRUDEAU: OK, but who am I playing? When I was teaching drama
class, I always made it a point to emphasize the importance of knowing your
character.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CONSULTANT: You’re playing you Justin. Remember this is a
rehearsal for the leadership debates. It’s very important.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
TRUDEAU: Got it. So what’s my motivation in this scene?
Actually, never mind, I’ll just wing it improv-style. Go ahead and ask away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CONSULTANT: Mr. Trudeau, if you were elected prime minister
what would be your top priority?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
TRUDEAU: Easy. My advisors keep telling me that something
called the “middle class” is extremely important to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>, so I’d
try my hardest to help it or help them or help whatever it is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CONSULTANT: Um… we need to work a bit on that answer,
Justin. But don’t worry, it’s my fault for starting you off with such a tough
question. Just to warm you up, let’s try something a little easier. Tell me Mr.
Trudeau what do you love the most about <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
TRUDEAU: I love so much about <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>, only I wish we had a government that was
just as efficient as the government they have in <st1:country-region w:st="on">North Korea</st1:country-region> which
is ….</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CONSULTANT: Hold it, Justin. I’m going to stop you
right there. Didn’t we already spend hours talking about this? Didn’t we
explain to you why that was such a bad thing to say?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
TRUDEAU: Well, as I recall you told me praising communist <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region> was
a bad thing to say. But clearly I just praised <st1:country-region w:st="on">North Korea</st1:country-region>, so honestly I don’t
see the problem</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CONSULTANT: Fine. We’ll come back to that later. Here’s my
last question. Why, Mr. Trudeau, do you want to be prime minster of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
TRUDEAU: Well, mainly it’s because my mother keeps telling me it’s
time I got a real job. And that’s a bit harsh in my ….hey, what’s wrong? Are
you crying?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CONSULTANT: No, I just have something in my eye.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
TRUDEAU: Listen, why do I need to answer all these hard
questions in this stupid debate? By now everybody already knows exactly how
smart I am. Can’t I just stand at the podium balancing a baby on my hand? The
media seems to love it when I do stuff like that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CONSULTANT: But you need to show … oh to heck with it.
Somebody get me a baby.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-88150175852611558742015-05-11T19:43:00.000-04:002015-05-11T19:52:37.625-04:00Speaking of Elizabeth May ...<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Given all the chatter over Green Party leader Elizabeth May's "sleep deprived" antics at the recent Ottawa Press Gallery event, I thought I'd pile on a bit and reproduce a column I wrote which appeared a few years ago in the </i>Ottawa Citizen<i>. </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Green Party Needs a New Name</b>It’s time Green Party leader Elizabeth May changed the name
of her party so that it more accurately reflect its true purpose.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m thinking of something like: “We will do Everything we
can to Help the Liberal Party Even if it Means Undermining our own
Environmental Cause Party.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
OK that moniker might be a bit difficult to fit on a ballot,
but it sure fits the Green Party’s current raison d’etre.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After all, ever since May became Green Party leader, her chief
political goal has been less about promoting Green ideology and more about
helping Liberals get elected.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Recall, for example, that in the 2008 federal election she
decided not to run a Green candidate against then Liberal leader Stephan Dion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And in doing so, she effectively endorsed Dion for prime
minister.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was an odd decision since if May really thought Dion
would make a great prime minister, why was she even running?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And don’t tell me May endorsed Dion because she believed he
was some kind of green activist.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That theory doesn’t hold water because the Liberals at the
time didn’t exactly have a sparkling “green” record.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, the Liberal government, of which Dion was part, had
done precious little to reduce <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>’s
greenhouse gas emissions or to implement the Kyoto Accord.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
That’s why Jamey Heath, an
environmental activist and onetime NDP advisor, called May’s Dion endorsement
“incredibly self-defeating”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He was right.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also seemingly self-defeating was May’s bizarre call during
the 2008 federal election for strategic voting, in which she actually urged
Canadians not to vote for a Green candidate if another candidate (i.e. a
Liberal) had a better chance at defeating a Conservative.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With a friend like May, Green Party candidates didn’t need
enemies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And even though the Liberals have fallen into third place,
May has still not given up promoting their electoral cause.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most recently, she announced the Greens would not be running
a candidate in the upcoming <st1:place w:st="on">Labrador</st1:place>
by-election against ex-Conservative cabinet minister,<span style="background: #F9F9F9; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 6.0pt;"> </span>Peter
Penashue, and she strongly urged the NDP to follow suit, as this would increase
the probability of a Liberal victory. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
May’s point is that such electoral co-operation is needed to
defeat their common enemy, the Conservatives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This might be true, but please note May is not asking the
Liberals to step aside in the name of electoral co-operation, even though as
the <i>Toronto Star</i>’s Chantal Hebert recently pointed out, the provincial
NDP is growing in popularity in <st1:state w:st="on">Newfoundland</st1:state>
and <st1:place w:st="on">Labrador</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clearly, May’s goal isn’t just for the Conservatives to
lose; it’s also for the Liberals to win.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If Green Party supporters aren’t angry about all this, then
they aren’t paying attention because it’s obvious that May is hurting their
cause.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By pulling out of election contests, for instance, May is
undermining the party’s ability to get its message out to voters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Certainly running a Green candidate in the <st1:place w:st="on">Labrador</st1:place>
by-election, which is guaranteed to receive tons of media coverage, would give
the Green Party an amazing chance to promote its cause.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the problem for the Greens goes much deeper than just
losing free publicity. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Much deeper.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The more important question is this: if it doesn’t field
candidates in elections and if its leader keeps promoting another party, why
does the Green Party even exist? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be blunt, if the Green Party doesn’t want to engage in
the political arena as an independent voice, with its own vision and with its
own ideals, than it serves no real or useful function.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You know, now that I think about it, maybe changing the name
of the Green Party isn’t the best answer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe it would be more logical and easier if May simply
changed parties. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Liberals are probably looking for a few more MPs.</div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-70268477724118803312015-04-18T09:57:00.000-04:002015-04-18T10:15:18.553-04:00Harper Faces Frustratingly Fuzzy Future<b>Note: This column first appeared in the <a href="http://www.hilltimes.com/">Ottawa Hill Times</a> in September, 2014; I think the analysis still holds.</b><div class="MsoNormal">
<br />For Prime Minister Stephen Harper this must be a particularly frustrating time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And no, what’s frustrating him isn’t the Conservative Party’s consistently poor showing in public polls, or the scandals which have plagued his government or his increasingly toxic relationship with the media.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />In fact, none of that stuff would really bother Harper.<br /><br />What would irk him, however, is the fuzzy nature of Canada’s political future.<br /><br />Keep in mind that Harper is a meticulous planner and strategist; he’s like a general who won’t commit his troops to battle until he’s accounted and planned for every possible contingency.<br /><br />In short, he doesn’t like surprises; he doesn’t want to improvise a strategy in the heat of combat.<br /><br />Yet, whenever Harper scans the political terrain that will serve as the battle ground for the 2015 election, his view is obstructed by dark clouds of uncertainty.<br /><br />For one thing, no one, including Harper and his strategists, knows how Liberal leader Justin Trudeau will perform once he’s thrown into the lion’s den of a national election campaign.<br /><br />And Trudeau’s performance will matter because for the past year or so, the Conservatives have been airing TV ads telling us that Trudeau is “in over his head.”<br /><br />These ads are meant to plant a seed of doubt in the minds of Canadians, seeds the Conservatives hope will bloom during an election, when voters will start to truly focus on the Liberal leader.<br /><br />If, during the election, Trudeau stumbles, if he commits a series of verbal gaffes, if he performs poorly during the televised leaders’ debate, it will reinforce the Conservative message that he’s not up to the job.<br /><br />But pinning all your hopes on an opponent making mistakes is always a gamble.<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What if Trudeau campaigns like a pro; what if his winning smile charms the electorate?<br /><br />That’s something Harper needs to consider.<br /><br />And the “Trudeau factor” is not the only unknown confounding Harper.<br /><br />He also has to worry about the NDP. More specifically, he must be wondering how the NDP, and its leader Thomas Mulcair, (who like Trudeau has never run a national campaign) will fare against the Liberals.<br /><br />This is a key question because for Harper to succeed in 2015 he needs the NDP to soak votes away from the Liberals. He especially needs the NDP to keep the Liberals from scoring an electoral breakthrough in Quebec.<br /><br />Is the NDP up to the job? Can Mulcair put a dent in Trudeau’s popularity? How will Quebeckers react to a Mulcair vs. Trudeau tilt?<br /><br />Nobody knows. And that puts Harper’s plans in a state of flux.<br /><br />Then to muddle things up even more, Harper also has to consider that the world itself is becoming increasingly unpredictable.<br /><br />Russian President Vladimir Putin is rattling sabers in Eastern Europe; barbaric terrorist organizations are conquering huge swathes of territory in the Middle East; Israel and Hamas are at each other’s throats.<br /><br />Given all this instability, what will the world look like when Canadians go to the polls a year from now? What will our economy be like? Will there be a war? Will there be a terrorist attack in North America or Europe?<br /><br />We just don’t know.<br /><br />And more to the point, Harper doesn’t know.<br /><br />All these unknowns, all these variables, all these question marks, will make it extremely difficult for Harper to calculate a winning political equation.<br /><br />Yet, of course, that won’t stop him and his team from trying to craft such a plan.<br /><br />But just to cover all their bases, they will also have to prepare a Plan “B” and a Plan “C” and maybe even a Plan “D.”<br /> </div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-28152273374570001582015-04-11T10:02:00.000-04:002015-04-12T12:37:22.851-04:00Merv Lavigne RIP<div class="MsoNormal">
It saddened me to learn of the recent passing of a great
Canadian named<a href="http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary/1082001/Lavigne-Mervyn.php"> Merv Lavigne</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I knew Merv way back in the 1980s when he was a community
college teacher from Haileybury, a small town in northern <st1:state w:st="on">Ontario</st1:state>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And what made Merv a great Canadian, at least to my mind,
was his courage and his willingness to fight for what he believed in.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, that’s how Merv and I ended up crossing paths; in
1985 he joined forces with a group I once worked for, the National Citizens
Coalition, to fight a legal battle aimed at changing <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>’s labour laws so that union
bosses would no longer have the power to use forced dues to subsidize their
political propaganda.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Merv, a Liberal activist who had run for federal office,
didn’t like the fact that a portion of his dues was being used to subsidize
the New Democratic Party and other causes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, with the NCC’s moral and financial support, Merv
launched what would prove to be an historic court challenge.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Merv’s argument was simple: Forcing him to associate with a
political party, through his compelled union dues, violated his freedom of
association which was guaranteed in the then newly minted Charter of Rights and
Freedoms.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And although Merv was just one guy, his challenge scared the
bejeezus out of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>’s
entire union movement.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Indeed, just about every big union organization in the
country intervened in this case to oppose him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alas, it was a David vs Goaliath battle where Goliath ended
up winning.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1991 the Supreme Court of Canada<a href="http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/774/index.do"> ruled against Merv</a>,
which is why, by the way, unions today are free to spend millions of dollars in
forced union dues on political propaganda campaigns, whether their unionized employees like
it or not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And a lot of them don’t like it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At any rate, I’ll always remember Merv as a guy who cheerfully
and tirelessly endured six years of arduous legal combat. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a lot of work for a guy who already had a full time
job: He attended fundraising events across the country, spoke to countless
organizations, did hundreds of media interviews.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He also, sadly, endured harassment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But never once did I ever hear him utter a single word of
complaint.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One positive by-product of Merv’s hard work, was it significantly
raised his profile and made him something of a media star. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The NCC’s own internal polling showed he had
incredible favourables. People liked him; they liked his message. And why not? He had proven to be an intelligent and articulate spokesman.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Had he wished to re-enter the political arena, Merv could
have easily got himself elected to Parliament and we told him so.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But, having enough of the limelight, he decided to focus on
his family and his career.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mind you, Merv had already accomplished a lot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He put a key question of individual freedom on the national
agenda; he rattled the establishment’s cage, and he fought a good fight for his
principles.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s a pretty good epitaph.</div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-36285431408441385552015-04-09T13:17:00.002-04:002015-04-09T13:18:18.385-04:00The Five Stages of Justin Trudeaumania<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Stage 1. Euphoria<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh my God! Justin Trudeau, the cutest, most adorable, most
charming man in the history of our planet, is now leader of the Liberal Party.
Actually, he’s more than a man … he’s a <a href="http://www.ipick.ca/bc/download-contender-the-justin-trudeau-story-ebook">Super Hero!</a> His looks, his charisma, his pedigree,
combined with his magical ability to transform normally apathetic and
disengaged young people into disciplined legions of enthusiastic Liberal
voters, make him an unstoppable, unbeatable, invincible political juggernaut! His
victory is inevitable. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Stage 2. Gloating<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ha, ha, ha! The Conservatives are using negative ads to
attack Justin Trudeau. Don’t they realize that since Trudeau is so adored, so
worshipped, so beloved by the masses, such attacks will only make him even more
powerful? Oh well, once Prime Minister Stephen Harper realizes he has zero chance of
stopping Trudeau’s soaring popularity he will do the right thing and <a href="http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blogs-and-comment/stephen-harper-will-resign-2014/">resign</a> <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/06/07/resignation_of_stephen_harper_no_longer_a_farfetched_notion_hbert.html">any</a> <a href="http://theagenda.tvo.org/blog/agenda-blogs/why-stephen-harper-may-step-down-summer">day</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Stage 3. Confusion<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s despicable how Harper is using “fear tactics” to curry votes, such as
Bill C 51, a law which, while popular, would undoubtedly destroy our civil rights and …wait,
what? Trudeau supports Bill C 51? But he's the fun guy! OK forget about that Bill, let's talk about Trudeau’s <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/justin-trudeau-speech-manifesto-individual-liberty">politically savvy</a> stance on the Niqab issue which will certainly
guarantee him a overwhelming victory because only racist, bigoted, rednecks
would support Harper’s position that such garments not be worn during
citizenship ceremonies … what’s that? A poll shows nearly <a href="http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=6796">90 percent of Canadians side with Harper</a>?! Um … let’s talk about Mike Duffy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Stage 4. Bargaining<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You know what’s really awesome? <a href="http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Federal+Liberal+coalition+could+excellent+option/10901637/story.html">Coalition governments.</a> All
the really cool countries in Europe have these, why not <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>? It’s
time we put aside our boring, bland “British” system we’ve been using for the
past 150 years or so and embrace the exciting world of politics Italian-style.
It’d be fun! Or let’s try implementing other cool democratic reforms, such as
mandatory voting or banning negative ads or Rep by Pop. Remember no idea to
radically transform our democracy is too ridiculous or too strange, if it helps Trudeau achieve his destiny.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Stage 5. Acceptance<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>
has only one political leader tough enough and smart enough to defeat Harper in
the next election: His name is <a href="http://www.ipolitics.ca/2015/04/08/could-mulcair-win/">Thomas Mulcair. </a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-68785793811484436862015-03-08T10:51:00.002-04:002015-03-08T10:51:54.054-04:00Me vs. The Digital Columnist<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes I come across an opinion column about politics
that’s so nonsensical, I feel compelled to write a response to it as soon as
humanly possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But that’s pretty rare. <br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Usually what happens is I procrastinate until the urge to
undertake the actual drudgery of composing articulate thoughts and writing them
down slowly fades away.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then I watch TV.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet, for some strange reason the passage of time did not
dull my desire to offer a critique of a <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/from-twitter-to-question-period-some-nasty-talk-in-canadian-politics/article22717310/">Bruce Anderson column</a> which appeared in
the <i>Globe and Mail</i>, way back at the end of January.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You’ve probably heard of <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>; he’s a well-known pollster, he
appears regularly on CBC's The National’s “At Issue” panel, and he is the
Globe’s “digital columnist.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At any rate, the first thing you need to know about <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>’s column is that
you can make anything sound cool and “cutting edge” simply by modifying it with
the word “digital.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Hey Joe, hand me that digital monkey wrench” or “The floor looks much cleaner now that I'm using a digital mop.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See what I mean?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second thing you need to know about Anderson’s column is
that it passionately decries the nastiness of the Conservative Party, a
nastiness which he argues stems from Prime Minister Stephen Harper getting
“lousy advice” from the “cynical and jaded.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This advice, wrote <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>,
has “coarsened our politics, driven away good potential candidates, and caused
a steady decline in turnout at elections.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sounds awful!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although to be fair, <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
actually offers zero proof that “coarsened” politics is driving away “good”
potential candidates or that it’s causing a steady decline in voter turnout.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But let’s set aside that itty bitty objection.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What really struck me about <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>’s arguments is that they come across
as a tad simplistic, and by a “tad simplistic” I mean incredibly, insanely,
five-year-old-child simplistic.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To show you what I mean, let’s take apart <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>’s digital Globe column, digit by
digit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To prove his point about the coarseness of modern politics, <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city> offers us an
anecdote from Question Period.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He notes that in answering a question from NDP leader Thomas
Mulcair about <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>’s
mission in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region>,
Harper said, “I know the opposition thinks it’s a terrible thing that we’re
actually standing up to jihadists. I know they think it’s a terrible thing that
some of these jihadists got killed when they fired on the Canadian military.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This response, says <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>,
was “appalling” and “beneath the office of the Prime Minister.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
recounts about how, after dinging Mulcair, Harper tried to hit Liberal leader
Justin Trudeau “below the belt”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What was Harper’s underhanded blow?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, writes <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>,
while responding to a question about his proposed income splitting plan, Harper
commented, “on the fact that Mr. Trudeau inherited money when his father passed
away.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh the horror! Poor Justin, can you imagine such a terrible
… wait, really? That’s it? Harper just made an offhand comment about Justin
being a rich kid.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Heck, my wife is tougher than that on me when I forget to
bring out the garbage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
was horrified.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As he put it, “It’s as though the Conservative Party
considers receiving an inheritance some sort of character handicap, and that
anyone on the receiving end of a bequest should just shut up and let others
decide things?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, I’m not privy to the Conservative Party’s communication
strategy or anything, but I strongly suspect that Harper’s comments to Mulcair
and Trudeau on that day in the House of Commons were more about tactics than
about simple rudeness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But before I get to that, let’s carry on with our examination.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After detailing the chamber of horrors that was Question Period,
<st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city> puts
forward his reasons as to why we can’t “turn things around” and make our public
discourse more respectable so that it’s less likely to make Justin Trudeau cry
like a baby.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One “newish reason” says <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city> “is the bad chemistry that happens
when you mix rabid partisanship and a social media platform like Twitter.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To make his point, <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
put its in bone-chilling terms:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>But when it comes to
politics, Twitter can also create some pretty nasty neighbourhoods. Places
where the ultra-cynical come to spit and spew, often hiding behind fake names,
making juvenile arguments, and indulging in pathetic name-calling. There are
lots who hate Liberals, or New Democrats, and many who hate Conservatives. Some
loathe the media.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>If you wander into
this neighbourhood, you’ll find a seething, stinking place. And it’s getting
worse. For people who get up in the morning hoping to insult others, success is
about shock value and provocation. Ignore them and they come back with a worse
insult. Reveal annoyance and they’ll double down, overjoyed at the thought
they’ve drawn blood.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wow! For a guy who wants to upgrade the quality of debate in
this country, <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
sure knows how to pile up steaming heaps of derogatory rhetoric! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But did <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
really think social media platforms would be a haven for legions of would be
Aristotles and Voltaires? It’s the wild, wild west of commentary!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Still, <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
does have a valid point. Twitter is a place where partisans go mainly to
reinforce their own belief and to attack the other side.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But so what? How does the rabidly partisan nature of Twitter
impact the greater political world and make it more difficult to “turn things
around”?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unfortunately, <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
never backs up his proposition with any logical argument.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I am forced to surmise that his argument goes something
like this: political parties must cater and pander to their partisan bases,
which thanks to the ungodly powers of social media are now made up of spitting
and spewing mobs of wild-eyed, crazed, fanatics who demand blood!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If that’s true, then logic dictates that banning Twitter and
YouTube, Facebook and Instagram would make our politics more civil, wouldn’t
it?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But on the other hand, spitting and spewing mobs of
wild-eyed, crazed fanatics existed long before anyone ever invented the
Internet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the days of Ancient Rome they used graffiti to
communicate, after the invention of the printing press they used pamphlets,
books and newspapers; in the twentieth century they used radio and TV.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And yes, each form of communication listed above, you could
argue, helped degrade political communication, making politics more of a rough
and tumble business, full of scurrilous attacks, rude language and vicious
invectives. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps then the only true way to create a purer more
pristine political world, one that’s full of rainbows and lollipops and where
all politicians act like Mother Teresa, is to ban not just social media but all
forms of free communication.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They do this in other countries; I understand that politics
in <st1:country-region w:st="on">North Korea</st1:country-region>
is extremely polite.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But now that I think about it, there might be a downside to
living in polite countries that lack freedom.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So maybe allowing a little rude commentary is a small price
to pay to live in a democracy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the great British Prime Minister Leo Durocher once said,
“Democracy is the worst form of government … say it aint so Joe?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Besides, Anderson’s “Blame it on Twitter” thesis is actually
wrong because political parties do more than just communicate with their bases,
they must also communicate in a way that wins votes from all those Canadians
who don’t care about politics, or ideology or partisanship, which by the way is
about 99 percent of the population.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the partisan cesspool of Twitter is largely irrelevant to
a political party’s overall communication strategy. Yes, they want to mobilize
their bases, but they must do so in a way that allows them to win over
non-aligned voters. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That means for political parties, it’s the wants and dreams
and desires of the voting masses that matter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other reason <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
puts forward as to why we can’t turn things around and make politics more of a
genteel, courteous exercise is that Prime Minister Harper has consciously
chosen a dark path.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He writes:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>But as the politician
with the biggest podium in the country, he </i>(Harper)<i> has a lot to do with setting the tone and the standard for political
discourse. He can deliver an argument with style, wit, incisiveness and impact.
But he also knows how to get the blood boiling among the angriest people in his
party.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>So “to be clear,” as
the PM likes to say, it’s a choice.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
helpfully offers this tactical advice:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“But what this
Conservative Party needs to win re-election isn’t more evidence that it likes
to travel on the low road. Or that this Prime Minister is capable of insults.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So according to Anderson, Harper has a better chance of
winning the next election if he sets a new tone, one that’s witty, stylish and
positive, and one that didn’t pander to angry Conservatives. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An interesting hypothesis. But could travelling the high
road really work for Harper?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Somehow I doubt it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remember the children’s fable where the lion decides to lay
down with the lamb, and then the lamb hacks off the sleeping lion’s head off
with a rusty butcher knife?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The moral from that story is clear: if Harper unilaterally
goes positive, it doesn’t mean all his legions of enemies – opposition MPs, big
union bosses, small union bosses, left wing media, environmental groups,
feminists, Rick Mercer, the United Nations, pro-long form census advocates, the
entire country of Russia – who up until now have been doing to Harper what kids
at a birthday party do to an overstuffed piñata, would suddenly cease their
attacks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They’d more than likely continue to hammer away at Harper
with even more reckless abandon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a sense then, <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
is advising Harper to unilaterally disarm on the eve of battle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
OK, hold on, I am beginning to sound a little “jaded” and
“cynical” here, and I certainly don’t want to offend <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>’s delicate sensibilities, so in the
interest of reasoned debate let’s take a step back.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead of arguing back and forth about tactics, let’s
review Canadian political history and examine the style, wit and incisiveness
of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>’s
most successful prime ministers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s see how many of them traveled the high road.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s the list:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
John A. MacDonald – <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>’s first prime minister and a
Father of Confederation<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Alcoholic<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Possibly racist<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Once, likely in an intoxicated state, threw up
during a campaign speech.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
William Lyon Mackenzie King – <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>’s longest serving Prime
Minister<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Talked to his dead mother<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Louis St. Laurent --
Who?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pierre Trudeau – Legendary prime minister and subject of CBC
bio pic<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Gave “The finger” to Canadian citizens.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Once spoke words resembling “fuddle duddle” in
House of Commons<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Called backbench MPs “nobodies”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Desire to experiment with socialism flattened <st1:state w:st="on">Alberta</st1:state>’s economy <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Pirouetted behind the Queen<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Invoked War Measure Act suspending the rights of
every Canadian.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jean Chretien – Won three majorities in a row, now
considered Wise Elder Statesman<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Throttled protester<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Joked about pepper spraying protestors<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Allowed staff to mock the religious beliefs of
political rival<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Referred to Albertans as a different “type”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Government linked to scandals too numerous to
mention<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Subject of a book entitled The Friendly Dictatorship<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Won an election by promising to scrap the GST
(Ha, ha, ha.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Regularly accused political opponents of
secretly wanting to close orphanages, hospitals and abortion clinics, as part
of a plan to impose an “American-style” right-wing, religious theocracy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Engaged in vindictive feud with his own Finance
Minister<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hmmm, maybe Harper isn’t all that bad, at least
comparatively.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now to be fair, we should also contrast the above list with
a list of all those Canadian politicians who acted in a respectful manner.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s that list:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stockwell
Day – Devout nice guy and former Leader of the Canadian Alliance – (a party
which no longer exists)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Um,
….<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So clearly, as the historical record makes clear, the road
to political power is not paved with clever witticisms and stylish arguments.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If it was, the Harvard educated, successful author and all
around intellectual, Michael Ingatieff would be our prime minister.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fact is in political messaging, simplicity and
directness work. If you try to get too complicated and clever and witty you
only alienate voters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So no one should be shocked or surprised that Harper is
using simple and direct methods to define the Liberal and NDP leaders before
they can define themselves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Harper went after Muclair in Question Period on the
jihadism issue, he was defining the NDP leader as a guy who is soft on
terrorism.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And when he made that crack about Trudeau’s inheritance,
Harper was basically saying to Canadians, “Trudeau is a privileged rich kid,
who can’t possibly understand the concerns and fears of average middle class
Canadians.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anderson might find such a defining tactic as “coarse” and
appalling and beneath the dignity of a prime minister; and he might believe
it’s based on “lousy” advice, but all the same, it’s an extremely effective
ploy, one that has worked on innumerable occasions in elections all over the
globe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of those occasions was in 2011, when the Conservatives
won a majority government after they successfully defined then Liberal leader
Michael Ignatieff as an out of touch academic.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And if you think only nasty Conservatives use this approach,
allow me to direct your attention to south of border where everybody’s favorite
progressively sensitive politician, Barack “Hope and Change” Obama, used
devastatingly effective attack ads in the 2012 presidential election to define
his Republican opponent Mitt Romney as a cross between Thurston Howell III,
Ebenezer Scrooge and Darth Vader.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Other examples: the British Columbia Liberals defined the
NDP as Marxist radicals, the Alberta PCs defined Wild Rosers as Bible-thumping
crazies, the Ontario Liberals (or more specifically their union allies)
skewered the PCs as heartless, right-wing monsters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These sorts of attacks work because unlike clever witticisms
or intellectual arguments, they resonate on an emotional level and it’s our emotions,
not our intellects, which motivate us to vote for a certain party.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What’s more, due to a quirk of human nature, negative
emotions make a much greater impact on our minds than positive emotions. This
is why traumatic events – such as visits to the dentist – stick in our memories
for so long.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Keep in mind in too, Harper has all the warmth and
cuddliness of Genghis Khan with a hangover, making it difficult if not
impossible for him to campaign as Mr. Nice. (Anybody remember those horrendous
TV ads where a smiling, sweater-wearing Harper tried to come across as some
sort of Mr. Rogers figure?)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the Conservative political equation is pretty
straightforward. Since Harper can’t make himself more likable, his only option
is to make Mulcair and especially Trudeau less likable.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And please, don’t tell me Trudeau’s Care Bear persona
somehow makes him invincible to attack.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even the Liberals don’t believe that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m pretty sure, for instance, that it was fear of
Conservative attack ads that caused Trudeau (who once believed we could solve
the terrorist problem by inviting ISIS to sit around a campfire and sing
kumbaya) to support the government’s controversial anti-terrorism bill, and to
rethink his opposition to the military mission in Iraq.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Liberals don’t want to see TV ads airing during the next
election that feature a deep-voiced narrator saying something along the lines
of: “Justin Trudeau opposed the war on <st1:place w:st="on">ISIS</st1:place>,
he opposed Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s anti-terrorism bill. He cares more
about protecting the rights of terrorist scum than he does about protecting
you. Vote for a strong and safe <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>!
Vote Conservative.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So yeah, just the fear of potential Tory TV attack ads
pushed the Liberals to try change Trudeau’s image from adorable puppy to
snarling Doberman Pinscher.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By the way, speaking of the Liberals, up until now their
marketing plan was to avoid talking about issues and policies and platforms,
hoping Canadians would vote for Trudeau solely based on his winning
personality, charming smile and famous last name. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some people (not me) might consider such an “idealess”
strategy “cynical” and “jaded.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh and I should note that if
Tory attacks on Trudeau do start to erode his support in the polls, the
Liberals will drop their “Our leader is a boy scout” routine faster than you
can say “drama teacher” and strike back with attacks of their own.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They’d have no choice; as one time manager of the Brooklyn
Dodgers, Winston Churchill, once said, “Nice guys who don’t respond in kind to
effective TV attack ads finish last or else alligators eat them last.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is not to say, of course, that Harper’s aggressive
communications approach doesn’t entail risks or that it’s guaranteed to work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My only point is this: in the context of real world
politics, as opposed to <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>’s
make believe world of fairies, unicorns and gumdrop lanes, Harper’s tough guy
approach makes strategic sense.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Despite what <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city>
writes, Harper is not attacking Trudeau and Mulcair because of the nastiness of
social media or because he’s by nature a rude person or because of jaded
cynical advisors. (OK they might be jaded and cynical but that’s beside the
point.) <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Harper has simply adopted a strategy that offers his party
its best chance of winning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To paraphrase a guy who was paraphrasing the Bible, election
victories don’t always go the side with the best attacks, but that’s the way to
bet.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
At any rate, that’s my “digital” opinion.<o:p></o:p></div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-22960680542638784992014-09-24T12:39:00.003-04:002016-05-21T09:40:34.230-04:00The Trudeau Illusion<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_tutiY9W1BI/V0BlQIfRYtI/AAAAAAAAGK4/k1lu2ZYVSIkMuBBK7xYYdVRILS5RnNxZQCLcB/s1600/trudeau%2Bhat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_tutiY9W1BI/V0BlQIfRYtI/AAAAAAAAGK4/k1lu2ZYVSIkMuBBK7xYYdVRILS5RnNxZQCLcB/s320/trudeau%2Bhat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
While strolling down a downtown street festival recently I spied a little sign, taped to a Liberal Party recruiting
booth and it immediately caught my attention.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It read: “Enter to win a hat signed by Justin Trudeau.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why, I wondered, would anybody consider a hat signed by a
politician to be a prize? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then I remembered, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau is no
ordinary politician, he’s much more important than that – he’s a celebrity!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He has a famous, former prime minster father; he has matinee
idol good looks; he once pummeled a Conservative Senator in a boxing match, all
of which makes him one part handsome prince; one part pop star; one part action
hero.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is why much of the media has bestowed upon Trudeau the
kind of fawning coverage usually reserved for visiting royalty (such as Barack
Obama) or for Rock stars promoting some trendy “celebrity-backed” plan, usually involving creative Twitter #hashtags, to end
African poverty.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And make no mistake, celebrity-hood matters politically
because in our modern, hi-tech, secular society, celebrities are the closest
thing we have left to gods.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We see celebrities as heroic, glamorous, adventurous, beautiful,
rich, privileged -- everything we aspire to be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So we idolize them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We buy the hemorrhoid products celebrities endorse; we dress
(or in some cases undress) like them; we soak up their every word when they
lecture us on the finer points of our national energy policy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We even try to connect to them on some supernatural level by
owning items they may have touched or signed, just as our ancestors in medieval
times sought out holy relics, which is why people might covet an autographed
Trudeau hat. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Part of this worshipping process includes transforming our
celebrities into idealized versions of humanity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After all, what’s the point of paying homage to a regular
schmuck?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So it is that Trudeau’s celebrity status also confers upon
him the aura of a perfect politician, a leader who is imbued with positivity
and idealism, whose motives are completely pure, whose aims are utterly noble, and
whose hair has achieved a divine level of flawlessness. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s why, unlike regular, run-of-the-mill, non-celebrity politicians,
Trudeau doesn’t need policies or platforms or, you know, anything actually
resembling a real idea.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Indeed, the implied Liberal “marketing” message is that
Trudeau, through a combination of celebrity superpowers and Chinese-communist-style
efficiency, will painlessly and effortlessly solve all our problems.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The budget will balance itself; <st1:state w:st="on">Alberta</st1:state> will develop oil sands in a way that
makes the air smell like roses; and once Trudeau discovers the “root causes” of
evil, Vladimir Putin and ISIS will turn away from aggression and dedicate
themselves to helping homeless puppies.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Who can compete with a narrative like that? No wonder Trudeau is soaring in the polls.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, somewhere deep in our hearts, we all realize the
Trudeau story is really just a nice fairy tale, just as we know Kermit the
Frog is really just a piece of felt with buttons for eyes.<br />
<br />
But when it comes to Kermit and Justin we want to suspend reality.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Trudeau fairy tale is one we especially want to
believe. We want to believe there’s a leader out there who can magically make
the country a better place, who can unite us all regardless of race, region or
hockey affiliation, who can rise above partisan political bickering, who will
let us have our cake and eat it too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We don’t want to pull back the curtain and see Trudeau for
what he really is: a likable but inexperienced, gaffe-prone politician who is
probably incapable of uttering anything beyond carefully rehearsed platitudes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That would force us to face the ugly truth: that no
matter who is prime minister, no matter which party is in charge, it won't change the basic reality that politics is a
messy, tough, cynical, scandal-prone business that offers no clear cut or easy
answers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Who wants to contemplate that harshness when it’s so much
easier, so much more satisfying to believe in Trudeau’s rainbows and lollipops
agenda? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Oscar Wilde put it, “illusion is the first of all
pleasures.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Consequently, because it gives us pleasure, Trudeau remains firmly atop his celebrity
pedestal, meaning he has a good chance of
becoming our next prime minister.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then, I guess, we will see what happens when illusion confronts
reality.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Spoiler alert: illusion usually doesn’t do so well.)</div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-88774830132321806152014-04-18T10:58:00.002-04:002014-04-18T20:35:39.373-04:00 Review: Liberal Ad Not a WynneOntario Premier Kathleen Wynne says she doesn't like political attack ads, which is why, I suppose, her own political attack ad is so terrible.<br />
<br />
In fact, her ad is almost a textbook case of what not to do.<br />
<br />
Check it out:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vVS-d_VDlSc" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
So the spot starts off with Wynne ambling along a bland suburban street explaining why she hates negative ads, which as a viewer sets me up to think she is going to spend the next 30 seconds or so explaining her positive vision for Ontario. But no! Instead, almost in mid-sentence, she goes from saying she hates attack ads to launching an attack of her own against PC leader Tim Hudak. That's a mistake because shifting gears and changing the tone of a message in such an abrupt way can jar a viewer and that's not a good thing. In this case, Wynne risks losing her audience in the crucial first seconds of the ad.<br />
<br />
Then, after that odd start, Wynne proceeds to list a litany of "facts", which are supposed to convince voters that Hudak is evil incarnate: he hates labour; he wants to destroy jobs, he wants to eradicate youth employment; he wants to drive down wages; he wantzzzzzzzzzz.<br />
<br />
Oops, sorry... for a second there I dozed off.<br />
<br />
But in my defence, this ad's style is conducive to napping. Wynne not only delivers her lines in a dull, boring monotone voice, but her list of Hudak misdeeds seems to go on forever. It's like Lord of the Rings! The average viewer is going to quickly lose interest. For a political spot, anything longer than 30 seconds is too long. (Even 30 seconds is a bit long.) <br />
<br />
To be effective, to keep a viewer's attention, a video has to make its points briefly and with some sort of dramatic punch. Equally important, a good spot includes interesting visuals that reinforce the message. Even writing out key words on the screen helps. Just having one shot of a ranting Wynne strolling down a street doesn't cut it.<br />
<br />
The biggest problem with this ad, however, is that Wynne <i>herself </i>is<i> </i>doing the attack. That's a major no no. Why? Well, going "negative" has a stigma attached to it, which is why the candidate must always be perceived as being all about rainbows and lollipops. If there's vicious knife work to be done, leave that to your allies in the media or to PR hacks or (most ideally) to Third Parties.<br />
<br />
The more distance between negativity and the candidate, the better.<br />
<br />
Mind you, what's truly troublesome about this ad is how much time it probably took to produce. I mean, there's always something that will spoil a shot when taping in the great outdoors: a car horn tooting, a dog barking, a plane flying overhead, kids making faces in the background. Plus, I'm sure Wynne, not being a professional actor, flubbed her lines more than once. All that translates into a lot of takes. That means a lot of time. Surely the Premier could have allotted that precious time for more useful government purposes, such as deleting emails. (Note to Liberal legal department: that's just a joke, so please don't sue me!)Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-59721314472508548492014-04-08T19:49:00.003-04:002014-04-08T19:57:16.882-04:00A look at Quebec Politics<div>
My friend, <a href="http://matvail2002.wordpress.com/">Mat Vaillancourt</a>, asked me to post his reflections on my blog, so I did.<br />
<br />
Check it out:<br />
<br />
<b>Five Lessons from the Quebec provincial election</b><br />
<br />
<b>1) Campaigns matters</b><br />
Pauline Marois did badly in places where she did not campaign like the Îles-de-la-Madeleine and the Abitibi region.<br />
<br />
<div>
Otherwise, the CAQ leader won seats where he met people: shopping malls, at sugar shacks, at community centres. The CAQ seemed to have done well with people who voted the same day. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>2)Trying to win everyone at the same time means pleasing no one at the end</b><br />
The PQ is traditionally a centre-left nationalist party changed course in 2013 and started pushing a more ethnic nationalist platform, even more so than during earlier PQ stints in government.<br />
<br />
The strategy behind this change was probably to win some regions in Quebec which are quite conservative.<br />
<br />
Then came the billionaire Pierre-Karl Péladeau who is not seen as a big friend of the labour unions which were traditionally close to the PQ. Many labour unions were not keen on supporting the PQ this time because of Péladeau constituency and the charter of values.<br />
<br />
At the end, this strategy backfired completely as the PQ lost on both sides. They did badly among what they already had and they did not win anything else even in areas where the PQ invested a lot of money in pork barreling projects. The party also had their worse score ever in Montreal being close to be a third party there.<br />
<br />
<b>3)The cool factor:</b><br />
If you want to be PM or premier and you have a good lead at the polls, being cool, calm and seeming to be in charge of the situation could be a good strategy to win.<br />
<br />
Philippe Couillard and Stephen Harper had the same strategy especially in debates. In both cases, it worked.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>4)You have nothing to lose? Go for it.</b><br />
If you are third and have nothing to lose, being on the attack could be a good strategy. Being low in the polls at the start of the campaign and having nothing to lose, François Legault had this strategy and it worked out really well for him to win more seats.<br />
<br />
Even if he lost some seats in the Quebec City area to the Liberals perhaps because of anti-PQ tactical voting, he was able to win quite a few seats in the Montreal suburban areas because of the fall of the PQ and because he was able to be seen as the alternative to both the Liberals and the PQ especially in suburban and exurban areas.<br />
<br />
<b>5)Being seen as the anti-development party could hurt you.</b><br />
The PQ had some major losses in Northern Quebec, especially in areas where mining is a major part of the economy.<br />
<br />
Like for the BCNDP in the last provincial BC election, the PQ being seen as the anti-development party and the mine closings did not help at all to keep these seats. The PQ had a unpredictable policy on mines, which made Quebec a place which scared the mining companies to invest.<br />
<br />
Ungava, the nothermost seat in the Quebec National Assembly was won for the Liberal for the first time ever since its creation in 1981.<br />
<br />
The PQ also finished third in Nicolet-Bécancour, where closing the single biggest employer in the region (the nuclear power plant) the first day in power did not helpl the PQ in a riding which is traditionally péquiste and very rural.<br />
<br />
Are these five rules only applicable in Quebec? Perhaps. But there is no doubt that some of these rules are also applying to other places in Canada and elsewhere in the western world.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-1051386565181343622014-03-27T09:14:00.000-04:002014-03-27T09:15:35.158-04:00Revealed: Table of Contents for Trudeau's memoirs! <div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Don’t ask how, but I
managed to get my hands on the Table of Contents for Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s soon to be
published memoirs tentatively entitled, </i><b>Fifty Shades of Yay!</b><i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>If the chapter titles
are anything to go by, it promises to be a fascinating opus. Take a look:<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<u>Table of Contents<o:p></o:p></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 1. The Kindergarten Years</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 2. What I learned from zany old Uncle Fidel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 3. Why I love <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region> to my very bones, to the
core of my molecules, to the roots of my incredibly thick hair. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 4. Discovering the Middle Class by
observing it through the window of my dad’s limousine.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 5. Albertans running <st1:city w:st="on">Ottawa</st1:city>! Not in my <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 6. Why “Open”
Nominations are good for democracy</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 7. Why
my power to arbitrarily veto Liberal candidates is good for democracy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 8.Communist China: Admirable paradise of efficient
state power.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 9. My take on foreign policy: Putin and a Ukrainian
go into a bar…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 10. The
budget will balance itself and other economic theories I’ve devised while
smoking pot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 11. Harper’s a big Meanie</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Looks great, right? I suspect more chapters might emerge between now and the book's publication. Stay tuned.</i></div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-79185688694872759202014-02-07T09:50:00.000-05:002014-02-07T12:01:42.302-05:00Oh no! Canadian Democracy is Doomed!<div class="MsoNormal">
Our democracy is doomed!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For all the gory details of its demise, check out this <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/02/05/election_bill_reveals_conservatives_view_on_voter_turnout_hbert.html">column</a>
by the<i> Toronto Star</i>’s Chantal Hebert.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She explains how the Conservative government, in its “Fair
Elections Act”, plans to – are you ready for this? -- forbid Elections Canada
from launching “outreach campaigns”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Imagine that! No more Elections Canada outreach campaigns!!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s outrageous! It’s scary! It’s Orwellian! (Note: George
Orwell was a noted political writer who penned the classic anti-totalitarian novel
about a wild college fraternity called <i>Animal Farm House</i>.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If this news doesn't terrify you, it must be because you don't know Elections Canada’s outreach campaign is
a campaign whereby Elections Canada tries to “reach” “out” and motivate people
to vote.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is similar to other government motivational campaigns such
as its stop smoking campaign, its stop taking drugs campaign, its do more exercise
campaign, its recycle your garbage campaign, and its pay more attention to
government motivational ad campaigns campaign.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Technically, such government campaigning is known as “nagging.”
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At any rate, an important part of that Elections Canada “outreach”
campaign is its effort to convince young people that voting is cool and hip.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now you might be thinking there’s no way middle-aged
Elections Canada bureaucrats, whose idea of fun is coming up with “spoiled”
ballot jokes, could ever be “groovy” enough to effectively reach out to today’s
youth.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, if you watch this youth “outreach”
ad you’ll see exactly how much Elections Canada is “with it.”</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Ny_X_C69xEA" width="459"></iframe><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, sir, with this ad airing on
TV, it’s no wonder young people vote by the dozens. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although admittedly some studies
suggest that when young people are exposed to these hip Elections Canada ads, many
of them not only don’t vote, they actually renounce the very concept of
democracy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But whether or not these ads work really isn’t the point.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The point is without the government telling them what to do at
election time, an entire generation of young Canadians will lapse into an X-Box
induced apathetic coma. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That means only non-cool old people will vote!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But wait, there’s more bad news.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we all know, if young people don’t vote in large enough
numbers, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau might (gasp) lose the next election.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And Hebert fears despite his Teenbeat model looks, despite his
promise to legalize marijuana, despite his idealistic persona and despite his
party’s sophisticated GOTV measures, without Election Canada ads to energize
apathetic young people, Trudeau won’t be
able mobilize his Liberal Youth Legions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In other words, stopping Elections Canada from advertising
to help Trudeau probably violates the British North America Act, because surely
the Fathers of Confederation never meant for us to have non-Liberal government!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what can we do to protect our democratic values from this
vicious assault?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, there’s only one thing we can do: wait for guidance
from a hip and cool government ad.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-10494297751075988372013-12-28T09:48:00.000-05:002013-12-28T09:57:11.084-05:00Reviewing the Year in Politics (Sort of)Whenever a New Year approaches, I like to take my eyes off the road ahead and stare intently for a long period of time at the rear view mirror of history.<br />
<div>
<br />
Yes, metaphorically-speaking, it’s reckless driving, but it’s also the only way to gather the facts needed for my annual “Year in Review” column, which highlights the key political events of the past twelve months.<br />
<br />
And this year’s review of 2013 is chock-full of exciting highlights. Check it out:<br />
<br />
(Please note: Nothing you read from here on is meant to be taken seriously and is for entertainment purposes only.)<br />
<br />
<b>January:</b><br />
* Idle No More movement leader, Chief Theresa Spence, threatens to “bring Canada’s economy down to its knees.” NDP leader Thomas Mulcair immediately objects saying: “Hey, bringing the economy down to its knees is my job!”<br />
<br />
* NDP says a "bare” majority enough for Quebec to separate from Canada; nudists rejoice.<br />
<br />
<b>February:</b><br />
* Taking a cue from the Idle No More movement, the groundhog refuses to look for his shadow unless the Governor-General is present.<br />
<br />
<div>
* The federal Liberals face lawsuits when their “imaginative” TV leadership debate format bores several viewers to death.<br />
<br />
<b>March:</b><br />
* During a speech before the House of Commons, Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty admits the Conservative government’s entire budgetary plan consists of “putting up a bunch of Economic Action Plan billboards all over the place.”<br />
<br />
<b>April</b><br />
* Justin Trudeau is elected leader of the Liberal Party, finishing ahead of Liberal MP Joyce Murray who wanted to co-operate with the NDP, proving once again that in politics having no ideas is much better than having bad ideas.<br />
<br />
* The NDP holds a policy convention at which it drops the word “socialism” from its constitution and replaces it with the Canadian equivalent of socialism: “Economic Action Planning.”</div>
<div>
<br />
<b>May</b><br />
* Toronto Mayor Rob Ford starts clever PR campaign, which successfully puts his city on the map.<br />
<br />
* The Conservative Party, which had already adopted Liberal-style economic policies, decides to also adopt Liberal-style scandals. Enter Senator Mike Duffy.<br />
<br />
<b>June</b><br />
* Prime Minister Harper leaves for Europe saying his visit will result in several key photo opportunities.<br />
<br />
* Worried about its worsening image the Senate takes a pre-emptive step: it passes a resolution to abolish the NDP.<br />
<br />
* Controversy erupts when it’s learned Liberal leader Trudeau received pay for speaking at charity events, leading many Canadians to voice a key question: why in the world would anyone pay money to hear a politician speak?<br />
<br />
<b>July</b><br />
* Prime Minister Harper denounces those who say he is making government too partisan. Later that day Canada Day is officially renamed “Harper Day.”<br />
<br />
* The media becomes completely obsessed with the "royal child," or as he’s otherwise known, Justin Trudeau.<br />
<b><br />August</b></div>
<div>
* Absolutely nothing happens.<br />
<br />
<b>September</b><br />
* After watching Russian President Vladimir Putin out maneuver President Barack Obama over the Syrian chemical weapon crisis, Prime Minister Harper asks Putin to negotiate the Keystone pipeline deal.<br />
<br />
<b>October</b><br />
* Senator Mike Duffy stuns the country when he reveals that he taped the infamous Mayor Rob Ford “crack video.”<br />
<br />
<b>November</b><br />
* The RCMP says it will investigate the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff for possible illegal activity, causing Harper to boast that his “law and order agenda is clearly working.”<br />
<b><br />December</b><br />
* Conservative MP Michael Chong introduces a Bill to give backbench MPs more power; as a reward, he is quickly named Canada’s ambassador to Siberia.<br />
<br />
So as you can see, 2013 was an extremely interesting year. And 2014 promises to provide us more of the same.<br />
<br />
Oh well, try and have a Happy New Year anyway.<br />
<br />
<i>(This article originally appeared in the <a href="http://www.hilltimes.com/">Hill Times.)</a></i></div>
</div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-36211277631045747202013-12-13T12:57:00.001-05:002013-12-13T13:29:01.150-05:00Tory fundraising Pitch Suffers from Blandness<div class="MsoNormal">
Given that for the past ten years or so, the Conservative
Party has been something of a fundraising juggernaut, I’m hesitant to criticize
their methods.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clearly, whatever they are doing is working.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet, a recent Tory fundraising appeal, which somehow made
its way into my email inbox, leaves me cold. (Mind you, it’s possible my
coldness might be due to the wind chill.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At any rate, here’s the Conservative missive:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Friend,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The success of our
Party over the last 10 years has been a result of our ability to consistently
raise more money than our opposition.
And as one of our key supporters you've been a critical part of that
success. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Justin Trudeau and the
Liberals have made fundraising their top priority, and they are working hard to
close the gap.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>We cannot let that
happen.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Our Party can only win
the next election if we keep our fundraising advantage and the 2015 election is
right around the corner. If we want to win, we need to get ready now.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>That's why we are
launching the Seize the Moment campaign to raise $2 million by the end of the
year.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>This is an ambitious
goal for our Party, but I know that you, my fellow members, donors and
supporters will stand with us. I am asking you today – will you donate $5 or
whatever you can afford today to help us reach our $2 million goal?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Make your $5 gift
today and help us Seize the Moment – we're counting on you.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>John Walsh<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>President,
Conservative Party of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what’s wrong with this message?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Plenty, if you ask me. (Which admittedly, nobody did.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In my mind, a successful fundraising letter has to make some
sort of emotional connection with the donor while at the same time creating a
sense of urgency.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This appeal does neither.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead, the Tories offer what I’d call a bland “structural”
pitch, i.e. they are essentially saying give us money because: a) you are a
Conservative, and b) we are the Conservative Party.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The only hook beyond that basic message is: “We can’t let
the other team out fundraise us”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s not exactly a rallying cry to political activists,
who are seldom motivated by cold financial calculations and who don’t necessarily
see politics as a fundraising competition.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They donate money because they want to advance an
ideological agenda or because they want to defend their values or more bluntly they
do it for primal emotional reasons: they are afraid, or angry or hopeful.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Asking them to “Seize the moment” so that the Tory balance
sheet looks good might motivate accountants, but it will likely underwhelm a
large chunk of the donor base.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Plus there has to be a sense that their support is needed
right away, that they can’t put off signing that cheque or making that online
donation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But this Tory pitch is about amassing money in a bank vault
for the 2015 election, which is more than a year off and I’m sorry that’s not “right
around the corner.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A better approach for the Tories would have been to say
something like this:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Friend:<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>As you know the left
wing media has been unfairly attacking our party and our leader.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>What’s more the
Liberal Party has been inundating the TV airwaves with advertisements,
promoting their new leader Justin Trudeau.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>We need to fight back!
We need to get our message out so that Canadians know what’s at stake.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>That’s why our party
has been running a series of our own TV ads to warn Canadians that Trudeau is “in
over his head,” that he lacks the experience and expertise it will take to
manage <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
economy.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>We think our ads will
work but they cost a lot of money.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>In fact, the bills are
landing on my desk right now.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>I am hoping that I can
count on your generous financial support so that we can pay for these ads and continue
to stand up against those who want bigger government and higher taxes. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Only the Conservatives
can provide the good government you deserve and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region> needs.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Please make a donation
today.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
OK that’s just a rough draft, but you get the idea. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To energize donors you need a little more punch, you need to
give them something beyond an abstract far off goal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All that said, this message will still garner the Tories
lots of dough.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But they are also likely leaving a lot of money on the
table.</div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-57002866449090334202013-12-12T09:48:00.000-05:002013-12-12T09:50:32.004-05:00Is Santa a Tory?<i>Liberal leader Justin Trudeau's recent comment about <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/santa-claus-is-canadian-justin-trudeau-says-1.2460445">Santa Claus being a Canadian</a> reminded me of a column I wrote a few years ago, concerning a David Suzuki fundraising<a href="http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/12/03/rex-murphy-give-us-money-or-santa-gets-it/"> campaign that exploited Saint Nick.</a></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>So given its sudden relevance and its seasonal theme, I thought I'd reproduce it below:</i><br />
<br />
<b>Santa vs Suzuki</b><br />
<div>
<br />
Canada’s famed environmentalist David Suzuki had better watch out, he better not pout and he better not cry and I am telling you why.<br />
<br />
Santa Claus is coming to town and he is not a happy camper.<br />
<br />
That’s right, reliable sources say the Jolly Old Elf is not at all jolly about Suzuki’s latest fear- mongering fundraising ploy<br />
<br />
You may have heard about it. Suzuki’s Foundation has set up a website which claims Santa Claus needs to be relocated on account of all the North Pole ice has melted thanks to industrial-induced climate change.<br />
<br />
And, of course, the only way to save Santa Claus is to send the Suzuki Foundation lots and lots of cash.<br />
<br />
It’s not clear how Suzuki came up with this tawdry idea. Perhaps he imbibed too much eggnog, or maybe he suffered a concussion while engaged in Christmas combat shopping, or maybe his heart is just three sizes too small.<br />
<br />
But in the end it doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that Suzuki’s propaganda stunt has apparently enraged the world’s most beloved Christmas icon.<br />
<br />
And why shouldn’t Santa Claus be angry? First off, Suzuki is cutting Santa and his elves out of the action. They won’t get a single dime out of whatever money the “Let’s save Santa” campaign raises. The same thing happened, by the way, when Santa didn’t receive any royalties from the classic book, T’was the Night Before Christmas.<br />
<br />
Secondly, it probably never occurred to Suzuki that Santa might actually welcome a little global warming in the North Pole. I mean let’s face it, Santa’s frigid village makes Winnipeg look like a tropical paradise.<br />
<br />
Thirdly, Santa is probably no lover of the green movement. I am sure, for instance, those “clean energy” giant wind turbines, which green power advocates love so much, have cut to pieces more than one unwary reindeer flying too low on Christmas Eve.<br />
<br />
And lastly, I bet Santa Claus is actually a strong supporter of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He does, after all, fit the Tory voter demographic to a tee: white, older male who lives in a non-urban environment. In fact, my theory is he moved to the North Pole either to escape high taxes or because he didn’t want to register his firearms.<br />
<br />
This is why I fully suspect Santa Claus will hit back at Suzuki and his Foundation by doing everything he can to help the Conservative government achieve its agenda.<br />
<br />
For instance, rather than riding on military helicopters, Defence Minister Peter MacKay will now get free lifts whenever he needs it on Santa’s sleigh with Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer leading the way.<br />
<br />
And the next time tree-hugging American celebrities amass inWashington DC to protest the Keystone XL pipeline, watch for Santa Claus to air drop a battalion of hungry man-eating polar bears into their ranks.<br />
<br />
Then just to stick it to the green crowd even more, I can envision Santa’s elves starting up a new business: selling melted glacier water in non-renewable plastic bottles. They will call it “Ethical Water.”<br />
<br />
Plus Santa Claus will also likely offer the Tories invaluable political intelligence. His “Naughty or Nice” list (which contains much more data than the old mandatory long form census) could provide a lot of useful ammunition for the next round of Conservative Party attack ads, if you get my drift.<br />
<br />
But what about Suzuki himself? Will he suffer any repercussions personally because of his ill-advised fundraising campaign?<br />
<br />
Well, let’s put it this way. On Christmas morning Suzuki will almost certainly find his stocking stuffed with Alberta tar sands.<br />
<br />
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.<br />
<br />
(This article originally appeared in the <a href="http://www.hilltimes.com/">Ottawa Hill Times</a>)</div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-24825915097107976872013-12-07T10:49:00.002-05:002013-12-07T12:48:43.328-05:00Why I'm Not Excited about the Reform Act<div class="MsoNormal">
Solon’s laws for Athens, the Magna Carta, the Emancipation Proclamation,
all key milestones in the history of democracy which pale into insignificance when
compared to Conservative MP Michael Chong’s Great Reform Act of 2013.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or so says the hype emanating from that alternate reality dimension
known as the “Ottawa Bubble”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ottawa Bubblonians -- columnists, pundits, editorial writers
-- are gleefully extolling Chong’s bill
-- which would “empower” backbench MPs by, among other things, making it easier
for them to dispatch their leaders -- because they love the idea of returning
to a purer 19<sup>th</sup> century-style British parliamentary democracy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ha just kidding!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, they really love this Bill for a more basic
reason: they believe it’s embarrassing to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what do I think about Chong’s bill? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, even though I love 19<sup>th</sup> century political
conventions as much as the next guy, I really can’t work up too much excitement
about a bill that simply shifts the balance of power on Parliament Hill. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By the way, I suspect it’s the same for most non-Ottawa
Bubblonian Canadians.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I doubt very much, for instance, that people get up in the
morning saying, “Forget about the economy and the threat of nuclear war, if
only we could restore our ancient Westminster British Parliamentary traditions
so that my MP could have more power.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not that such indifference matters to the Ottawa Bubblonians
who would argue that if Canadians only stopped watching mindless TV and spent
more time reading Hansard, they would also love Chong’s bill because it would
loosen the iron grip of party leaders on their MPs and thus usher in a Golden
Age of Good Government. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And even if it doesn’t usher in a Golden Age, Chong’s Bill
might at least encourage more MPs to openly defy their leaders and speak their
mind, which would undeniably strengthen the Parliamentary Press Gallery’s
democratic right to write more juicy and gossipy stories. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet, even those powerful arguments don’t move me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For one thing, I doubt Chong’s Bill, even if passed without amendments, would do much in practical terms to weaken party leaders. After all,
it was more than 40 years ago that then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau mocked
backbench MPs as nobodies and ever since then political power has been
inexorably centralized in the leader’s office.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I’m sorry, but one parliamentary bill isn’t going to reverse
that flow of power, the parliamentary toothpaste is out of the tube -- like it
or not, for a whole bunch of reasons, our system has evolved so that party leaders
are the undisputed “Kings of the Hill.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But even if the pro-Reform Act enthusiasts are correct, even
if this bill would empower MPs and reduce the leader’s clout, I’d still ask
that most important of all questions: “So
what?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why should anybody who lives outside the Ottawa Bubble really
care if the power dynamic on Parliament Hill has been altered?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Certainly, Chong’s proposed changes won’t make our system
any more democratic, unless you call giving a small cabal of disgruntled MPs the
power to “fire” a prime minister -- who was elected to the job by millions of
people -- democratic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(OK, I realize Canadians don’t directly elect the prime
minister, but let’s be honest, when most people vote it’s usually not the local
guy they are thinking about when they write down their X on the ballot. They
are really voting for the party leader they like best.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the very least, allowing a small group of MPs to undo a
democratic decision is an idea that runs counter to the Reformist-populist
ideal of devolving power to the grassroots.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Traditionalists, of course, might contend that making MPs
more powerful is actually good for democracy because it means they will act as
a bulwark against tyranny.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The idea is that if some future prime minister starts
getting all Julius Ceasary, the Reform Act will give MPs the power to grab
metaphorical daggers so they can quickly and efficiently strike a blow for
liberty.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And that’s a great argument, except that it overlooks one
key fact: MPs are first and foremost politicians, which is to say they are usually
guided by their own political self-interest, meaning the only time they will go
all “Ides of March” on a leader will be when they reckon he or she has become
an electoral liability and thus a threat to their own future.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To put it another way, when MPs decide whether or not to
depose their leader, things like principles and democracy and liberty, will be
less important to their calculations than the most recent polling numbers.
Indeed, it’s possible we could see a prime minister deposed simply because he
or she is enacting necessary but unpopular measures.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So when you boil it down to its basics, all Chong’s Bill
will do is make it easier for jittery MPs to save their own electoral skins.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To that I say, “Big whooping deal!”<br />
<br />
As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one meaningful way to reform government power – and that’s to reduce it<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Asking me to get excited about the Reform Act is
like asking a deer to get excited because a pack of wolves has come up with an
easier way to replace its dominant male..</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-54667675879476785282013-11-24T11:33:00.001-05:002013-11-24T11:38:54.751-05:00Gerry's Winner and Loser of the Week<b>Winner - John F. Kennedy</b><br />
<br />
Even though Kennedy was assassinated 50 years ago, his almost mystical status as a legendary leader continues to survive, as evidenced by the massive coverage networks both in Canada and in the United States dedicated to commemorating the anniversary of his untimely death. Mind you, perhaps as the boomer generation fades away, so too will Kennedy's aura.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Loser - Prime Minister Stephen Harper</b><br />
<br />
For a while there it looked like the Senate scandal, which had been bubbling away for 6 months or so, was starting to subside. Even the scandal hungry media began to focus on more important issues, such as Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's sex life. Then the RCMP released a "bombshell" (the media's favorite word when discussing the Senate scandal) of an affidavit that put the whole sordid mess back on the front pages. Once again, the Prime Minister had to deny, deny, deny. And as they say in the communications business, when your denying, you're dying.Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17859678.post-8112353742037565102013-11-17T14:14:00.000-05:002013-11-17T14:14:02.041-05:00Gerry's Winner and Loser of the Week<b>Winner -- The Conservative Party</b><br />
<br />
Imagine this: An entire week went by with no real mention of Mike Duffy or Pamela Wallin or Senate scandals! This gave the Conservative government a chance to unveil its "Economic Update" which was packed full with good news items -- budget soon to be balanced, tax cuts on the horizon, strong economy. The Tories, in other words, were back on message.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Loser -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford</b><br />
<br />
This is the third time in a row Ford has claimed the "loser of the week" title. I might have to create a special category just for him! At any rate, this past week Ford once again made international headlines for all the wrong reasons when allegations surfaced connecting the Mayor to prostitutes and drunk driving. In response Ford used language cruder than anything you'd ever hear on HBO comedy specials. Later, the Toronto City Council stripped Ford of some of his mayoralty powers. Surely the Mayor (and I know this is tempting fate) has officially hit rock bottom.Gerry Nichollshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496716615185797501noreply@blogger.com0