Why more seats?

It’s time to start talking about the Emperor’s new clothes again. The federal government is trotting out the old chestnut that we need more members of parliament. Considering we don’t even know what half of them do now, why do we need more?

The justification for fiddling with the numbers in the House of Commons is that some areas are under-represented. However, instead of explaining what representation is all about, the proponents of more seats say that Canadians in the so-called under-represented provinces feel that they are being treated differently than Canadians in other provinces. Interestingly, when you look at charts on how the House is divided up by MPs, they are organized by party, not region.

Here’s where the Emperor’s clothes come in. People get all balled up in talking about how unfair things are, and how not fair it is that PEI has four seats for a population that should be represented by one person. Actually, no one EVER mentions PEI, for some reason. No, it’s usually about how the West doesn’t have enough representatives.

Interestingly, this time around, the government is proposing to add more seats to Ontario, the province with already the largest number of MPs. They will add some to the west too, and then claim representation has been made more equitable. I don’t see how adding more seats across the board makes things fairer. Doesn’t it just bloat things more?

Right now, we have 308 MPs to represent 35 million people. How will adding 30 more MPs, howsoever distributed, help people to be better represented? As the child in the street pointing to the Emperor in his underwear, I want to know how adding 18 more seats to Ontario will help the people of Ontario to be better represented.

Don’t bamboozle me with rhetoric about fairness. I want a proper answer to my question.

1 Comment

Julia, October 28th 2011 | Tags: , ,
Posted in Ethics, Federal government, Letters to the editor, accountability

Was it sarcasm?

This headline on page A3 in the Citizen had me shaking my head this morning:

“50 years on the Hill leaves senator seeking change”

What, it only took him 50 years to realize that change was needed? 50 years at taxpayer expense, during which time, he did… what, exactly? Foment change? Apparently not. And he only realizes that change is needed now that he is required to retire at the age of 75 and can no longer take a public pay cheque? Thank goodness he gets a pension too.

Good grief.

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Julia, October 18th 2011 | Tags: , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

The Wall Street protest

People (who haven’t been aware from the beginning) are looking for meaning in the Wall Street protests. It’s like when Forrest Gump starting running across America. He was running just to run, because he was sad, but then people wanted to know why. He told them but they joined him anyway and started making up their own reasons, what it was all about.

The occupy Wall Street movement started because people were angry that rich banks got billions in a bail-out and now the banks are richer than ever. So the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It has always been that way (generally speaking) – there has always been a huge gulf between the rich and the poor. But these days, we have instant access to information with the internet and now, everybody knows just how the rich got rich. People aren’t ignorant like they used to be, in the days before the internet.

I don’t belong to the zero-sum academic set that believes there is only so much wealth to go around. I also don’t believe in redistributing so-called wealth (because that’s what some of the late-to-the-party protestors are talking about). But what I do believe is that big financial institutions got a bail-out that not only did they not need (apparently), but they did not deserve. They were the authors of their own misfortune – they defrauded the public – and then they were rewarded for their malfeasance. That’s why I’m mad as hell.

We can only hope that the US government attached some strings to the bail-out money and that maybe, they can force the banks to give some of it back now that they are making money again. Better than that for me however, would be open up the process by which banks (and not just banks but all those financial institutions) make their billions in profits and force them into accountability. They say they are accountable to their shareholders but that’s not enough – when the shareholders are benefiting from the massive profits, why are they going to complain? It’s time to make the rest of the US population shareholders too.

The system has to change and I am on the side of the Wall Street protestors when it comes to that.

3 Comments

Julia, October 15th 2011 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Financial, accountability

Update on the park path

Be-still my beating heart. One of the two spots on the path that needed fixing, has been fixed.
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Here it is, freshly paved, but not looking a lot higher than the ground around it. The proof will be after a rain, I thought.
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Sure enough, a puddle has formed on one side. Maybe that’s why they haven’t started on the worst part of the path – they are waiting to see how this one went?
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Here’s the worst spot, where a lake forms and there is a huge mess and ice hazard all winter.
Anyway, I am glad to see work being done.
The geese are heading south. They like to use the park as a rest stop.
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1 Comment

Julia, September 30th 2011 | Tags: ,
Posted in Maintenance

A bumpy start to the Ottawa area electioneering

Suppose they gave a debate and no one came? That’s almost what happened on Monday. The Municipal Taxpayer Advocacy Group organized a debate around Hydro and Municipal Affairs. Participants were listed as:

Liberal MPP Ottawa West Nepean, Bob Chiarelli
Liberal MPP Ottawa Centre, Yasser Naqvi
NDP Candidate Ottawa Centre, Anil Naidoo
PC Candidate Ottawa West Nepean, Randall Denley
PC Candidate Carleton Mississippi Mills, Jack MacLaren

MTAG sent out invitations to the public for this debate on August 31, with the debate set for September 12. At 5pm on the 12th, the audience of about 40 people was informed by the moderator that the Liberal candidate Bob Chiarelli had cancelled due to a scheduling conflict. According to the moderator, when the PC candidate Randall Denley was told this, he cancelled because he wanted to debate Mr. Chiarelli. The organizers found Liberal Candidate Madeleine Meilleur MPP willing to sit in for Mr. Chiarelli but this was not enough to coax the other participants back.

When Ms Meilleur showed up, she looked around and asked, “am I alone?” Only NDP candidate Anil Naidoo was there, out of the original five candidates. The debate went on as planned, with pre-approved questions being presented to the two candidates. They did their best to give gravity to the proceedings but from the not-so-sotto-voce heckling, it appeared that some of the audience at least, was predisposed to want to hear answers from Conservative candidates.

Nothing new came from the debate. The candidates stuck to their party lines and talking points, even when they received unrehearsed questions from the audience. I asked a particular question about committing to smart electrical grids and neither candidate addressed the question except to talk about clean energy and hydro rates. It would have been easier to stay home and look at their websites.

What I did take from this however, was that some candidates are not taking some aspects of the election seriously. If candidates want the voting public to take them seriously, then they need to start showing up, no matter what changes to the schedule occur. Of course, it would help if the organization of the events is better coordinated. I realize that most people have an axe to grind — even the organizers of some events can have a political agenda. Yes! It’s true. But if you have committed to an event, then go. Don’t commit in the first place, if you are leery about the event.

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Julia, September 16th 2011 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Provincial election

Bad vibrations

I’ve been hearing for some years that the noise vibration from those giant turbine, windmills makes some people go crazy. It’s the reason some people protest new windmill “farms”, such as the one on Wolfe Island. In 2008, I had the opportunity to go on a guided tour of the brand new Wolfe Island wind farm and stood outside near one of the actively turning machines for quite some time. I never heard or felt a thing, which is not to say that others don’t or that I might not have felt something on another day.

The other day, as a pedestrian, I was near the Queensway here in Ottawa (a few blocks away from it and behind the noise-reduction barriers), and the constant roar and vibration made me beat a hasty retreat. I wondered at the folks who are unfortunate enough to live near this monster. I suppose they get used to it. Maybe they love their own cars enough that they forgive the noise of others. Maybe they have lived with the idea that cars and high speed multi-lane highways are a necessity, for long enough, that they accept this “this is just the way things are.”

If anyone is looking for a cogent argument against the doom-sayers who are against the noise and vibration of windmills, here it is.

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Julia, August 29th 2011 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Environment, traffic

Is there an election coming?

Recently spotted sign near Nepean City Hall

Recently spotted sign near Nepean City Hall

This sign was just spotted. It is by a bike cage that has been there for years, which is outside the old Nortel building which is now a city hall building at Centrepointe. I am not saying the bike cage was built by Nortel – it probably wasn’t. But the sign is new. If you can’t read it, it is a sign that says “Investing in cycling facilities” and appears to be part of a federal government initiative called “Canada’s Economic Action Plan”, as well as a joint provincial-city government program called “creating jobs”. I wonder if this could fall under some category of election spending?

Don’t get me wrong. I am glad some money is being spent on cycling infrastructure. I just don’t think the government needs to bang me over the head with bragging about it.

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Julia, August 28th 2011 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Financial, Provincial election, cycling

Baseline Cowboys

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I did my good deed for the day. I gathered up all my potent potable empties and gave them to the Baseline Cowboys this afternoon. You can read more about them here and here.

We all have some super power (according to my husband, I have several and one is being able to read legislation). If we are not seduced by the Dark Side, we can always find a way to use our super powers for good and not for evil. (Yes, I have been watching a little too much sci-fi lately.) Recognize the super power within you and use it for the good of the planet. You’ll never be sorry.

2 Comments

Julia, August 3rd 2011 | Tags: , ,
Posted in Community involvement

Lansdowne update

Ken Gray has written a column today that I pass on to you, as I could not have written it better myself. It’s a good analysis of Lansdowne and strikes me as objective and dispassionate. I would like to see some objective people (which the planners at the City should be) working to make the plan as good as it can be, and especially redesigning the public buildings/stores so they don’t look like 1960s garages. What is wrong with architects!?

Here is what he wrote:

So what have we learned from the controversial Lansdowne issue? Quite a bit now that the courts have ruled on the project.
Here is a list of some of those things after the significant decision quashing the allegations of the Friends of Lansdowne concerning the redevelopment project to be built by the City of Ottawa and its partner Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group:

1. The court has ruled that the Lansdowne partnership stayed within the bounds of the law in its plan for the asphalt park, but did it do the right thing? Yes, but with reservations. Political insiders say the lack of a request for proposal at Lansdowne was unseemly. They are right. And the foolish thing about this is that with a request for proposal, there is little doubt that the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group would have won any Lansdowne contest. Local ownership at OSEG with three of the best developers and business people in town and expert sports management from the Ottawa 67’s owner Jeff Hunt would have been almost impossible to beat. Nevertheless, one of the most important projects in the city’s history should have been subject to a competition. The project had the appearance of an inside deal when it did not have to. The best people won, but at what cost to the credibility of the city? It’s a good project worth supporting, but the process was very poorly handled;

2. The development community and Ottawa’s city staff are far too close. City staff should constantly be on the outlook for the citizens of this community and the lack of a RFP on this project shows that process was dispatched for no good reason. City manager Kent Kirkpatrick apologized for abandoning the Lansdowne design competition and well he should have. That shows the power of the development industry in civic government. During a similar debate over the Westboro Convent, one opponent of the project said to a city staff member: “Who do you work for?” in a telling moment. That has resonated in me for some time and has caused me much unease about the future of this community. Mayor Jim Watson, planning committee chairman Peter Hume and Kirkpatrick must overhaul the planning department immediately or they will lose the moderates in our neighbourhoods who fear that development is overwhelming democracy in our city. Those are the votes that get people like Watson and Hume elected;

3. If the anti-Lansdowne opponents accomplished anything on this project, they made it better. Criticism forced the city and OSEG to turn to some of the most respected people in the field to make the project a handsome addition to the community. If the Lansdowne foes have something of which to be proud, it is that they took this project from quite good to outstanding. That will be a monument to their hard work;

4. There are people in Ottawa who are prepared to go to all ends to keep good development out of their neighbourhoods. Don’t be surprised by an appeal of last week’s court decision. Is the OSEG plan better than the current state of Lansdowne Park? Of course. Is it a good plan? There are certainly benefits to it, such as professional football, second-tier soccer, a refurbished arena, parkland and a stadium that can hold the kinds of events that a G8 capital should undertake. Had OSEG not come along, the asphalt park would have remained the asphalt park. That’s not good for Ottawa;

5. More than anything else, the whole Lansdowne issue, the lack of a competitive bidding process, and the fact the city is working closely with developers, has contributed to a lack of trust of Ottawa City Hall. That first came to the fore with the huge cancellation costs and delays of the light-rail project; the odd regime of former mayor Larry O’Brien; the lack of any conviction at City Hall to intensify with sensitivity to established neighbourhoods; and the planning department’s and elected officials’ refusal to defend zoning, height restrictions and secondary plans. In fact with the city — rightly — encouraging intensification and the Ontario Municipal Board unnecessarily and unilaterally expanding the urban boundary, developers have the best of both worlds. They’ve got their opportunity to construct low-cost, high-profit tract housing in the suburbs and rural areas while being encouraged to erect astonishingly lucrative highrise towers in residential areas. Residents, many of whom are property owners, wonder if the development community runs this municipality and if the city, overruled by the OMB, can do anything about it. Downtown residents are seeing the enjoyment of their neighbourhoods bulldozed by out-of-scale development. That’s the public impression left by the handling of Lansdowne.

Why signs have even been popping up on front lawns of Island Park Drive mansions, not usually the site of cabals of insurrection, condemning over-development. When disenchantment goes that far, Lansdowne is just the opening shot of a war in which residents will fight to preserve the quality of their neighbourhoods.

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Julia, August 3rd 2011 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Community involvement, Ethics, Growth, Lansdowne Park, Philosophy, urban planning

That old path in the park (updated!)

UPDATE July 20, 2011
In the morning, when I passed through the park, I noticed that City vehicles were out, repairing the fresh dents in the fresh dirt, made by other city trucks. They were sprinkling fresh grass seed on top of the new dirt too. I despaired anew. Then, when I passed through the park in the later afternoon, I saw, to my amazement, orange spray paint on the two sections of the path that need lifting! There was a line on either end of the section, with an arrow pointing toward the middle, indicating the part that needs lifting. The lines were right where I would cut the path to lift the section. And there were four such lines, meaning that the two sections that pond, were so marked. Stay tuned! I will give proper kudos when work is actually done.
More updating:
My husband noticed that they had spray-painted the words “lift”, as in “lift this section up”, on the path by the lines with arrows I mentioned and took a picture for me. I noticed it too, but after I blogged above.
Julia's persistence gets action from City Hall

Original entry:
After I blogged the update on the path, I got a personal email back from Mr. Chiarelli’s assistant, and then I got one from a city staffer, saying they would “fix the path”. Unfortunately, what they meant and what they did was to just put dirt in the dents and sprinkle grass seed on the dirt.
DSCN2537
As I knew would happen, the path still holds standing water after a rain. Even on a bicycle with fenders, I had to slow down to go through the water. Pedestrians cannot wade through this pond unless they have rubber boots on.

I will post pictures of the inevitable after the garbage truck goes through. Stay tuned (but don’t hold your breath while you wait). I will be the first one to cheer when I see the path assessed by engineers and then lifted as it should be.

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Julia, July 18th 2011 | Tags: , ,
Posted in Maintenance, Parks
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