Walk a Kb or Two in my Moccasins- Nobody 'splained it to me like that!

Simple answers to Complex Questions and Complex Answers to Simple Questions. In real life, I'm a Greater-Toronto (Canada) Realtor with RE/MAX Hallmark Realty Ltd, Brokerage. I first joined RE/MAX in 1983 and was first Registered to Trade in Real Estate in Ontario in 1974. Formerly known as "Two-Finger Ramblings of a Forensic Acuitant turned Community Synthesizer"

My Photo
Name:
Location: Province of Greater Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Autochthonous Title, Uniformity of Laws, $615 Billion Debt, Citizenship, Pollution, ElectionsCanada Advertising, Fool-the-Public, Private Businesses

Here and there, somebody's talking about these issues, but there's no real coverage, no public debate and ... no progress.

All the well-paid, nice-looking boys & girls in the Media are getting briefed by their well-compensated, sweet-speaking pals from the 3 &1/2 & 1/8 Publicly-Funded, Private-Businesses-in-the-Fool-the-Public-game (aka Registered Political Party) and the Media types are asking questions based on those briefings.

Lots of bloggers are venting their spleens about their own personal, 'favourite', two/three issues with a little 'election spin' on the same old tripe .

Lots of Media types are talking ABOUT the bloggers (me too, I really like this one) and about WHAT the bloggers are talking about and about HOW the bloggers are talking and about WHO has done something dumb on/brilliant with/because of /etc their blog.

This is fine, but a little light, 'content-wise', don'cha think?

THE (2nd) GREATEST POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF THE CENTURY (or 3rd depending on when you start counting centuries)

Already I'm bored with the one-a-day promise dropping and resulting counter-promises.


Okay, it's just the pre-Christmas, front-end-loader of the campaign ... the good stuff's coming after New Years, right?

I'd certainly love that, but I'm not counting on it.

On Jan 20th what'll we have -
- Lib's promising $X in grants, plans and programs plus oh, $Y in tax-breaks,
- Reform v. 3.01 promising $X less 20% in plans and programs with $Y plus 20% in tax-breaks,
- UnioNDP out-promising both of 'em put together (with the assurance that they'll never ...),
- the Blocquites ranting about Canadian Imperialism (no, not the CIBC, the humiliation of extra-special, kid-glove treatment) and the sweet smell of referendums roasting on an open fire,
- the Greens walking quietly over tranquil hills and dales to the bank (ed. no, credit union) with their quarterly $266,686 welfare cheque from Elections Canada that's payable Jan '06).


Really Canada, do you want to vote (again) based on the froth, window-dressing and vote-buy Pablum that the 3 &1/2 & 1/8 Fool-some-of-the-People(again)-this-time Parties are offering up?

How 'bout these? Stevie, Jacko? Jr? M. Duceppe? Mr Harris?


Aboriginal Land Title Claim Settlements.
This is Canada's #1 societal problem and #1 fiscal contingent liability. If gov'ts keep settling with all 600+ Band/Nations at the same rate as the 10+ they've done so far we'll be ANOTHER $600 billion in debt (see Biggest Budget Line Item, below) and have created 600+ new quasi-provinces (each with it's own special-heritage qualifications).


Section 94 Uniformity of Laws in non-Civil Code Jurisdictions.
In 1867 section 94 set out the authority for the provinces (other than Quebec) to synchronize their laws - heck why DO we have different laws/ regulations/ bureaus/red-tape in each province - for exactly the same thing?

Imagine being a lawyer or realtor or ___ and being licensed for all of Canada - why not!!


Un-bundling powers accumulated in PMO (and by PM in PCO) - ok this is my favourite and it's been done by me soooo many times even my mother just cannot GET IT and couldn't read past the first page of the newest version - try it, if this is your first time.

Political Parable/Analogy: You're playing baseball - the rules book says 6 outs per inning - 3 each team, right? But, when you play 'canuckball' at the Wm Lyon Mackenzie KINGdome, the KING says, "Yup/Oui, 6 outs, you're right on that, we get 5 you get 1 per inning, that's how we play the game around here" (editor, guess who always loses?)


Biggest Budget Line Item - Debt interest Payments.
The Public Accounts Mar 31/05 says there's $615.268 billion in Debt outstanding (PDF pg. 14, text 1.8) that generates $34.118 billion in interest charges annually.
NB The $179.808 billion in Public Sector Pension plans costs us 6.9%/yr and the $435.460 billion in "market debt" averages 5.0% (PDF pg. 15, text 1.9)- Tell me again why the Pension stuff garners a 38% premium over 'regular borrowings'?

-Surely we can finance this pile of dough cheaper? as a sovereign nation?
-Can anybody account for what we GOT (that we didn't pay for yet) worth $600 billion?
Denis Desautel (Prior Auditor General) knew and he laid it all out in the 1993 A/G Annual Report (want a copy? scroll down to para. 5.41 - you'll be amazed)


Elevating the Value of Citizenship.
Come to Canada, any way you can, and bingo, you enjoy every privilege and right that Mr/Ms Work-For-30 years has.

The crazy, condition-ridden (Section 1) (Section 33) Charter is NOT perfect - IT WAS written by a committee, with a deadline & pushed by a powerful INDIVIDUAL with a deadline AND a Legacy-Agenda.

The Charter recognizes 'Any person' & 'Everyone', 'Every Individual', 'Any member of the Public' as well as Any Citizen (mobility, language, voting) - are these all DIFFERENT constituencies that had to be satisfied?
I'm pleading for simplicity, consistency & uniformity AND an elevation of the staus of CITIZEN.

Becoming a Canadian is more than just showing up - it means believing in and living a moral (vs amoral or immoral) life that unthinkingly gives respect to others and unspokenly commands respect in return.

Becoming Canadian is more than just sharing in our hugest-public-pool social programs, it means knowingly and willingly contributing TO those programs through taxes AND purposefully NOT abusing the right/privilege to RECEIVE the benefits offered on 'the honour system'.


Kyoto Ain't about Pollution.
No. it's about something else - carbon credits available for purchase BY carbon gas producing countries FROM under/non/never-will-be developed countries.

Current science research says the sun (you know, up in the sky - source of all heat) is causing 'Global Warming' and if every David-Suzuki's-dream was to come true re: Kyoto and carbon gases, it would counter-act something like 2% of what the sun is doing.

Commit the government to motivate the public to stop Littering the streets and throwing 'recyclables' in the garage, before you try counter-acting the effects of the sun (for heaven's sake).


Election Canada Advertising.
Another government monopoly's budget-gone-crazy.
Ads out of country to tell non-residents that there is an election?
Ads in theatres?
Full page ads in national newspapers?

Ridiculous.

Ya know, one of the primary reasons so much latitude was given to political parties (pre-modern communication) was to communicate the fact there WAS an election and what it was all about.

Elections Canada got more powerful recently to regulate the abuse-of-power-and influence that was part and parcel of how the political parties operated.

Now, since the parties aren't really telling us what the election is about, but just encouraging us to vote (for themselves), I guess Elections Canada has to spend tons more money to do the job that they originally gave to the Parties (in addition to the money the Parties voted to give to themselves to do the job Elections Canada wanted them to do)


More sometime soon

Peace Love & Understanding



Politics Blog Top Sites