Perspective on 11 Points - My Platform & Reasons for Participating

Robert Ede
Independent Candidate
London North Centre By-election


Let this By-election be forever known as the beginning of
"The Great Peace of the Canadian Confederation"

Introducing
U.C.L - United Canadian Loyalist
a designation for "ordinary” Canadians, no matter where you (or your people) came from, or no matter what province, or region, or town you live in and no matter your race, colour, religion, sex, age or mental/physical state.
The only qualification being that you are truly happy to be a Canadian and happy to let everyone know it.
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London North Centre is hosting a Federal by-election and the person selected will hold office until the next General Election, probably in the Spring of 2007. This by-election will be closely watched by all Canadians, through the media, as a real-time indicator of the public's receptiveness towards the current government, the competing Parties and the issues discussed or not discussed.

I have come to London to introduce to the national Agenda, perspectives on 11 Issues that I do not see in any Party Platform. I represent no party, just these policy issues.

I have launched this campaign in London, because the by-election is here & the national media is going to be here.

Second, because London has a proud history and a sophisticated population well-informed of the significance of that history – you more than most, will appreciate the United Canadian Loyalist (U.C.L.) idea in both concept and context.

Third, because I'm a city-boy, actually suburbs of the city-boy (Etobicoke, Scarborough, Richmond Hill, Markham) and in my travelling around the riding I see neighbourhood here just like the Annex, Markham, the U of T, Clarkson, Ajax, Long Branch, Birchcliff, Erin Mills, Leaside, Princess Margaret ... Tim Horton's here and there - I feel right at home.

Finally, London is particularly well-suited for introduction of my democratic/constitutional institution reform, because you have a Board of Control - a senior financial committee elected at-large, dedicated to fiscal planning and management and intended to reduce the tendency for personal weaknesses and favouritism to enter into political decisions (particularly the Big $$ ones).


My Purpose in this By-election is to engage the Voters of London and Canada in discussing:

1) Re-Define "The Crown" in Canada and Re-Define "Ministerial Responsibility"
-constitutionally our governments are responsible only to "The Crown", but these days "The Crown" equals Government
-few human beings (never mind politicians) can be expected to be solely responsible to themselves for very long without human nature influencing their decisions
-redefine “The Crown" as the Citizens of Canada – achieved through a deemed disposition of the Crown's Assets to the citizens collectively.

2) Citizenship & Immigration
-if Canada will now belong to Canadians, we should be purposeful in establishing rules for joining the club and sharing the benefits
-being a Canadian must mean something - acceptance of established norms in behaviour, tolerance, loyalty etc
-we should consider phasing out the split-loyalty of Dual Citizenship over 5-10 years

3) Acknowledge, Accept and Welcome the fact that the Aboriginal Peoples are the Original Canadians
-embrace the principles of the “Great Peace of the Iroquois Confederacy” as guidelines for governance
-find points of agreement to reconcile past, less-than-perfect policies of land-taking, culture assimilation, band/nation administration
-the current hodgepodge of one-of Land Claim, Aboriginal Rights & Treaty settlements will bankrupt us and potentially create 600+ each-one-different, citizenship-plus, sort-of-self-governing "nations .. within the bosom" of Canada
-Either create new provinces to settle these claims and correct past injustices OR make land/money settlements with each aboriginal individual and encourage them to keep their heritage, but join into the citizenry of Canada

4) Accept that People live in Cities - Create New Provinces based on City-and-Environs Watershed Models
-Canada's provinces are blatantly Unequal -some too big, some too small, some with extra revenue, some with not sufficient
-the private and local matters of most big cities are very similar, but much different than in smaller centres
-implement the essence of the BNA/Constitution's respect for local administration by creating 2-12-20 new city-centred provinces
-allow the people in non-city settings to be free of the constraints necessary to regulate densely populated, big-city life

5) Stop the Tyranny of the 50%+1 Majority - Prime Minister as 'Elected Dictator'

i) Return to the As-Written Constitutional Structure of Executive & Legislative Powers
-separate the Privy Council from the Cabinet (only merged in 1940),
-return the Governor General to Chief Executive Officer position, (elected to that office if needs be) aided by His/Her own Executive Council of independent advisors - the Privy Council (BNA s.11),
-re-instate the Comptroller General as pre-spending gatekeeper of the Treasury,
-re-instate the Senate to its rightful place by adjusting their $4,000 Property & Net-Worth Qualifications for inflation,
-re-instate the Commons to its rightful place as House of Assembly for ALL points of view.
OR
ii) institute 66 2/3% as the threshold for agreement in the Houses of Parliament.

6) Revenue Collection, Distribution & Re-Distribution
-simplify the tax code, simplify the intra-& inter-governmental transfer and grant programs, allow Canadians to follow the money flows without needing a Forensic Accountant
-stop subsidizing everything. Every 'give-away' just creates another tax to compensate for the loss of revenue.
-shared-cost programs based on insurance-principles are fine, robbing Peter to pay Paul, just gets Peter angry.

7) Canada's Debt & Balance Sheet
-consolidate all the provincial debts (as in 1867) and refinance at the lowest rates possible (should clear up "Fiscal Imbalance")
-as an example, re-examine the premium (6.9% vs. 5.0%) paid on $179.9 billion in the Public Service "Pension & other accounts" component of our Interest-bearing Debt
-place all the assets of Canada - Real, Tangible, Financial, - ON the Statement of Assets and Liabilities

8) Make Healthcare a National/Federal Responsibility (simultaneous with provincial Debt assumption) & Take Healthcare OFF the Budget
-provinces are only constitutionally-empowered to look after Hospitals & Charitable institutions (BNA s.92-7), nothing at all like our current, pay-as-you-go, all-inclusive "Group Health Insurance".
-the unlimited public demand for free Healthcare is overwhelming provincial Budgets - upload it to the Federal level and spread the risk across the entire country - the bigger the group, the lower the cost per contributor.
-institute deductibles - Canadians could provide (or insure themselves) for the first $2,500 in medical expenses annually
-take Healthcare OFF the Budget, (like CPP) and dedicate a commensurate amount of the Personal Income Tax to funding Healthcare through a giant, national, Health Management Organization
–allow local innovation in service delivery models; centralize administration and practitioner qualification standards

9) Rehabilitate the Notwithstanding Clause Section 33 of the 1982 changes to the BNA/Constitution Acts
-the Charter of Rights would not have been approved by the Premiers without this Legislative Over-ride provision
-it is just as valid as any other part of our as-written BNA/Constitution, no government should be fearful of using it, nor apprehensive of any negative public or media or judicial backlash from using it
-without an overt effort to remove s.33's current negative image and fully and widely explain its purpose, it will only get harder to use, negating the intentions and vision of the 1982 framers who insisted on its inclusion to preserve the position of our Legislative power.



10) Re-consideration of Canada's first WRITTEN definition of Marriage
-until the 2003 Ontario Court of Appeals’ Halpern decision, Canada had no written definition of marriage.
-previously it had been assumed that every man, woman and innocent child knew what it meant, but it wasn't written down.
-the 3 judges on Roy McMurty's Ontario court decided for all of Canadians how marriage could/should be defined.
-the Halpern case was not appealed by either Ontario or the Federal governments and the Supreme Court (regardless of the then-Justice Minister’s interpretative spin) deigned NOT to make a determination on the validity of the old "unwritten" definition, because a) they did not have an 'actual case' before their court and b) the-then government had declared its intention to act irrespective of the Reference's conclusions.
-did YOU feel consulted before the initial decision? Would you appreciate an opportunity to examine all the facts?

11) The Four ‘Silos’ of Climate Change
The Environment is not ONE thing or issue, it is everything - where else can you live, work, breathe ... be?

Consider the Earth as a human body - while functioning as a physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social entity, it produces solid, liquid and gaseous by-products. Some are truly waste and poisonous, some re-cycle-able, some are naturally useful to other beings and some others make that body an uncomfortable presence for others nearby.

To consider Climate Change as a political issue or develop policy to create/recover the best possible environment for Canada, I believe the topic of "Climate Change" must be divided into 4 separate "silos" of information and then an overarching policy devised.

Silo 'A' - Pollution - noxious waste, creation of which to be minimized; waste disposal to be lasting & comprehensive

Silo 'B' - Greenhouse Effect - The currently accepted theory of accumulated earth-generated gases creating a heat-trapping 'roof' in the atmosphere. The trapped heat is interfering with the natural heat dissipation cycle of the earth affecting the temperature, weather and climate.

Silo 'C' - The Kyoto Protocol - An international treaty of co-operation to lessen the creation of greenhouse gases and to create a system of emission-credit trading enabling over-producers to buy credits from under-producers. It is NOT about pollution.
Some of the world's most developed nations have not signed, some of the world's greatest greenhouse-gas (and pollution) producing countries are exempted from signing and all of the countries not deemed "developed" are not included in the agreement.
It is a "good start" in establishing international co-operation and in establishing trans-world, multi-national responsibility for creating a cleaner environment.

Silo 'D' - Global Warming - A currently observed condition of higher temperature readings in the oceans, at many points on land and at the Poles than when temperature records began (and much farther back using sophisticated ice, soil & tree coring technologies). Not always mentioned is the fact that many places on land are much differently used and more densely populated than when the base temperatures were taken.

Currently a great number of respected scientists and scholars assert that the rise in temperatures is due to the Greenhouse Effect. They recommend that the nations of the world move as quickly as possible to reduce/eliminate the creation of human-made greenhouse gases and therefore support the Kyoto Protocol since that is its stated objective.

Another smaller number of scientists assert that the primary cause of the temperature increase is the sun and very few have offered solutions to counter-act or modify the operation of ‘old Sol’.

"Global Dimming" is another phenomenon that some scientists have noted. This dimming (the diminution of the penetration of the sun's rays and heating power) is created by accumulation of dust, dirt, chemicals etc (pollution) in the atmosphere.
It seems the pollution is lessening the warming effect of the sun. Our efforts to reduce pollution will reverse this dimming and allow more heat to penetrate to earth. ….. it's quite a conundrum.

Unfortunately, having some of the heavy-generators of greenhouse gases buy credits from un-developed countries (while the credit-buying countries continue to operate as before AND while many important greenhouse gas-producing nations are exempt or are not participating) isn't really doing much of anything - particularly if the ‘Sun’ theory is verified.

The inter-related and conflicting aspects of these “4 Silos” demonstrates the difficulty in formulating a national policy (with negative repercussions to some regions) and illustrates the near-impossibility of creating a world-wide agreement, with inherently greater resistances - hence the reason for even the harshest opponent of Kyoto to acknowledge it as a ‘good start’ towards co-operation and to congratulate its organizers on a momentous achievement of co-ordination.

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These are my perspectives on these topics. I hope this communication conveys my approach to this By-election and thought processes regarding Canada’s governance system. In my opinion Canada will not make meaningful progress towards fulfilling its Manifest Destiny as the finest country in the world until we address these key issues.

"There is no shame in turning back, when you discover you're on the wrong path" R.C.E.


Kim Campbell was misquoted by a reporter to say "an election campaign is no time to discuss serious issues".
NB. Her actual phrase was more like "During the election campaign ... discussing a complete overhaul of Canada's … policies in all their complexities cannot be done in just 47 days"

Well, I'm going to do it anyway!!


"The future of Canada belongs to those who will build it" (P.E. Trudeau)
The future begins now.
Are you a builder?

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Robert Ede

25 Dersingham Cres.,
Thornhill, ON L3T 4P5
Toronto 416-819-7333
London 519-282-8303

robertede@gmail.com

Background/Bio and Photos on Blog

Political Blog
http://robertede.blogspot.com/

Nom-de-Web Blog -Stephen(dot)Leacock
http://stephenleacock.blogspot.com/

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Personal request to all Canadians inside and outside the London North Centre riding
I plan to hold small/medium/large meetings in homes, restaurants, anywhere - I need to spread the word about my campaign (until the media picks it up) and as always in a campaign financial support can be put to good use

- can you arrange a meeting with your circle of associates?
- arrange a gathering in London North Centre?
- can you furnish me with contact info for someone you know in London North Centre, who might be an ally?

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Tax-Receipts for Contributions available soon -
Please make cheques payable to "Keum Ra Strachan, official agent"



Authorized by Keum Ra Strachan, official agent, Campaign for Robert Ede