Tag: History

If I Could Change the Government of Canada

The first thing I want to start out with is a call I received earlier this week from fundraisers for the Conservative Party. Now I have always supported the party, and in ways still do. This brings me back to March 2005 in Montreal when the party had its last national meeting. Those long sessions debating the policies and constitution of the newly created party. The ideals of trying to give balance to the bottom-up Alliance to the top-down Progressive Conservatives. Now to see the current leader Stephen Harper disgraces the party by not knowing when to give up. Too many times in history have leaders like Idi Amin, Fidel Castro, Joseph Stalin and too many others repeat the same level of seeing themselves as the alternative to the status quo, then gain a position of power and do whatever they can to remain in office. Harper has blatantly in his struggle to maintain power thrown away the policies and constitution of the Conservative Party. One must remember that although the Conservative Party has more MPs the House of Commons does not have a majority and needs to work together. There needs to be reforms in the way government works,…

I knew this would happen.

I decided to sit and watch the new council, and once again I am truly appalled how the new council is directing itself back into the dark ages. If any group of people could burst Saint John’s economic bubble it would be this group. Item 10.2 was the request to start the progress by approving a letter of understanding from the City about the proposed Irving Oil offices on Long Wharf. This is a project that has a time line that in reality by the time the Port Act procedures (3-4 months with public consultation), assessment and land negotiations (2-3 months), design and planning (3-4 months), and the city’s rezoning procedures (1-2 months). This delay to delay for a period of almost two months, with persistent criticism from groups like the ILA is just a repeat of the KC Irving Statue fiasco of early 90’s. In the end it will probably not happen. Then if that was not appalling enough the disregard by the Mayor himself for the rules of procedure just to grandstand is going to make this session of council one of the least productive in this city’s entire 223 year history. The fact that the last meeting of council took…

Journal Entry Sept 17, 2002

The CBC 50th Anniversary Special on the History of News and Reporting was on. It included a roundtable at where I believe was the University of Regina. Many of the panellists were former and current broadcasters and reporters, including my favourite two Peter Mansbridge and Adrian Arseneault. I found this program particularly interesting, as it should the transition from the only Canadian broadcaster to one of the lofty standards.

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2nd, 1869, in the Kathiawar Peninsula. He was born into the second lowest Hindu caste, the Vaisya. Gandhi’s father and grandfather had prime ministers of their principalities, which made their family although lower in class very prominent and well-respected. He was expected to follow his family tradition of public service; so, he went to London, UK, in 1888 to study law. When arrived back in India he failed as a barrister in both Bombay and Rajkot.  Gandhi was an extremely shy person. He later gained work as a legal advisor for the ruling prince of Pomander. He decided that public service was not for him and received a job to look after the legal affairs of the Dada Abdulla & Co. in South Africa. He stayed in South Africa from 1893 until 1914. While in South Africa Gandhi he had faced much embarrassment. One of these times was while he was on a train to Durban he was asked to leave his seat in first class and move to the baggage compartment, he did not comply and instead left the train. Gandhi was opposed to this treatment and got the South African Indians together to…